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That's how I saw it also, MI was down 3-0 in the 3rd & they were still flying around the ice. A lot of tenacity & pride in those guys and they played a full 60. No doubt a reflection of their coach, in part. Even though they lost, they left everything on the ice. That's all you can ask for as a coach & a fan. Despite them being one of the Axis of Evils, they did their school proud.

And in DU's two regional games they still won despite not having one of their highest-scoring Fs playing: Rizzo. That would be akin to us beating MI & MSU in our regional this year without Berg. Pretty impressive. One commonality shared between all the teams that won their game(s) in the tournament this year is that none of them went into a shell for 10 minutes in the third period. <ahem>

Like most here, not crazy about DU possibly getting to #10 this weekend .. but at the same time, they deserve mega kudos for repping the NCHC so well & keeping it the dominant conference in the country. They sure know how to run a hockey program & I can admire that in a nauseated kind of way. Perhaps Coach Berry can learn a few things from the ascending red-haired Master; because Carle is clearly a more competent coach when it comes to preparing his team for the playoffs & it's not even close. The results speak for themselves.

Good call. He was effectively boxing the BC player out of the crease & the puck ping-ponged off his skates & into the net. MI certainly is playing them tight & not intimidated.

Thanks, I needed a chuckle. But knowing our luck, BC would have their title forfeited to the runner-up: DU.

Amazing, & in my naivete I thought those BC freshmen were there solely because a good chunk of them were from Mass. & they liked the HC. I'm assuming UND better have a competitive NIL in place in future years to contend with some of these bigger schools; because it sounds like the REA alone as a selling point might not be enough.

Blake could have waited until after his 3rd season & Carolina still would have retained his rights & could have signed him then (up to August '25, I think). I know they're fielding a minor team next season & need extra cogs, but they still could have given him another year to develop at this level; both physically & emotionally, instead of throwing him in the deep end & risk "josting" him. Are NIL dollar amounts received by athletes available to the public? I'm wondering what ballpark figures these hockey players are receiving. 20k, 30k, more? And did Ralph leave a little extra in the piggy bank for the team to use for contingencies like this?

That's what I was wondering, if there is a tendency sometimes (unconsciously) for a team to sit back & let the star players carry the team offensively. Perhaps the team will put in extra effort up & down the lineup next year to get more balanced scoring now that Blake is gone.

Snuggerud: drafted 1st round, #23 overall; 6'2" 190ish, physically able for pro game now, opts for 3rd yr with Gophers. Blake: drafted 4th round, #109 overall; a generous 5'11" & about 170, goes pro after 2nd year. Would be interesting to know how much NIL, or lack therof, impacted the above 2 players' decisions.

If one can keep a lighthearted approach, there is comedic gold to be found in some of these replies. Like most here, am focused on the Blake situation but got sidetracked into this dead-end.

Come now, Mr. Agnew, good vibes only. Asking for a definition of what a great college hockey coach is was an innocent enough question, or so I thought, & I was genuinely curious in reading people's opinions. It had the opposite effect of triggering some into thinking their coach was being attacked. Funny how the mind works sometimes.

No worries, the brutal & overwhelming negativity has passed & the forecast for this afternoon is sunshine & lollipops.

Like I said, thanks for your time.

I have a feeling that this extended wait is going to hurt even more should 1 or both sign. It gets our hopes up a little, then BAM, the depression kicks in all the harder. Like someone mentioned earlier, just pull the dang ripcord already so Sioux fans can start worrying about where the offensive production will come next season!

Was simply looking for what qualifies a D1 hockey coach as great. If a person can make that claim about the current coach but not back it up, then they prove nothing. And double-spaced is fine.

Thanks for your time. If anyone can present sound reasons on why UND's current head hockey coach is great, I'm all ears.

If you're going to call someone great in his field, especially one who pulls home over 400k/year, you need to have solid reasons to back it up. If not, then your claim has no teeth. Has nothing to do with a pissing match, genuinely curious why Berry is a great coach in your eyes. I agree also that Berry is a good, but not great, coach. Appreciate your honesty.

You didn't describe the qualities of a great D1 college hockey coach. Please elaborate on why Berry deserves to be called great.

I'll extend the question to you as well as Goon: Kindly describe what makes a college hockey coach great at the D1 level in this day & age?

Ok then, what was it about Dean Blais & Jerry York that made them great college hockey coaches? I was mostly directing the question at Goon, but it's open to anyone, I guess.

What's your definition of a great college hockey coach?

It has nothing to do with "jiggering the numbers" or spinning a narrative; he's making a valid comparison between 3 coaches. No HC making close to half a million/year is above criticism.

Gee, that's a head-scratcher. It certainly isn't because of their head coaches. Successful teams rely on luck, culture & tradition to peak at the right time & go deep in the playoffs year-in, year-out.

Because he's making a comparison between 3 coaches. 94-95 would have been a more accurate start date, because that would have then encompassed the coaching careers of both Blais & Hakstol in their entirety; starting at '88 only includes less than a 1/3 of Gasparini's career. But his point still stands.

Indeed. I think Berry puts so much emphasis on winning the Penrose (one of his "checking the boxes" as he's fond of saying) that the players get a little burned out from trying to win the conference every year; like there's a big drop in energy after the players finally scale Mt. Penrose & plant the team flag atop of it. Case in point: they won the Penrose against Miami, then get swept in Omaha the following weekend; although there were signs that they were on the decline before that. I can't think of any other reason the team may be peaking too early than this. But like you said earlier, I'm not sure he's even aware that something's 'off'; and looking at this team's performance in this year's tournament vs other teams' performances, something was definitely 'off'. My theory is that it's a mismanagement of the team's energy, causing the players to get mentally drained & 'check out' as it gets late into the season; possibly due to being hyper-focused on winning the Penrose for 5 months.