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But to be honest, the way they were playing when they got those points wasn't conducive to winning the championship they did. They were horrible defensively early in the year, including our big comeback against them. They only scored 8 goals in 4 games in the national tournament, but they shut down the opposition pretty well, with the help of insane goaltending. I still think we could use a high end offensive defenseman like the younger Buium, but I really like that we appear to have defensemen that can play that shutdown game. We just need to make sure we are doing that at the right time of year, as if we would have brought the same mentality we had against Denver the series in Grand Forks, we wouldn't be having the same conversation we have had for the past several seasons.

Work for better is key. You can't just stand pat and think things are going to turn around or your cycle is going to wait as long as CC or Michigan Tech has, or worse yet become the Minnesota Vikings or Minnesota pro sports in general. If some of the other blue bloods like Minnesota, BC and Michigan win titles, that will be the next rallying cry, "well, the Vikings haven't ever won anything"? When we recruit with the premise that expectations are high and we expect to compete for championships consistently, then in the same breath say everything is cyclical, those two don't mesh. If everything is cyclical, then a program with the advantages of UND should hope for longer cycles of consistent success even if we don't win it all, much like under Hakstol. Still waiting for the Bison cycle to really turn downward where they don't even make the playoffs. What is the plan to move past the first round loss cycle and missing out completely, or are they just going by the premise that we will enter a "lucky" cycle soon. The last thing I want is a malaise to develop over the hockey program that has developed in some of our other sports where the expectation isn't even there anymore.

Don't know that Jack Randl seemed like a huge get for them out of Michigan, and that worked out quite well. When I saw Sam Stange play a few years ago, he seemed like a very good player, but I don't think he fit in with Wisconsin's plans. He seemed like a hardworking guy, and Omaha has certainly done well in minimizing any talent advantage against them by outworking teams.

In the new strip mall on the south end it says Little Bangkok coming soon. Is that a chain restaurant?

We don’t even expect to win a first round game anymore. To me, giving the coaching staff a complete pass on that is lowering our standards.

I agree. There were many of us two years ago after the loss to Notre Dame that were saying that the next year with everyone we had coming back would put pressure on Berry if they didn't advance further, and many of us were huge defenders of Berry. Well, we didn't even make the tournament last year and had a first round exit this year. At some point you just can't keep pushing it down the road and say we should be able to change the narrative next year. What you do different, I don't know. I certainly know a number of coaches at the NHL level change lines often, while there are many others that believe you need to keep lines together for quite a while and only change them if things are a complete mess. Having won the league title, don't know that it could have come to that, but they still change lines so frequently. If they are only doing it as a last resort at the big league level where guys can, and should be able to adapt better, maybe they need to let chemistry grow with guys who aren't quite as adaptable. Not really sure that they keep the foot on the pedal when they are in the lead either, but really it only bit them in one game, but that was the game where they couldn't afford to let it bite them. Guess I would like to see some evidence that they have a change of mindset, and when I see Schmaltz on the ice in the last 3 desperation minutes when we need a goal, I'm not sure they are willing to change their mindset. Schmaltz is an important piece as a role player, but should then be used accordingly. If Jordan Schmaltz is expressing this, how long is everybody else going to be fine with the same results? I know some could go another ten years without a win, and would still say that such and such hasn't won either, and we are just having a string of bad luck. Hopefully hearing this from an ex-player, is a huge red flag and does result in them taking a closer look in the mirror, and asking mentors for advice.

I guess I just don't buy the "we weren't that far off" argument because we beat them in the regular season. If that were the case, then CC and Omaha were probably closer than we were.

Schlossman's article about what it takes to win a title talked mainly about goaltending and winning some coin flip games. He also mentioned UND wasn't far off. Well, they were actually 4 games off. In order to get to a coinflip, you have to be mentally prepared for the better part of the game, and not have lapses like UND did. I think there were probably teams outside of the tournament that would have been better prepared to take advantage of that kind of game. By coin flip alone, you would think UND would win a game every once in a while in the tournament. Would have been nice to hear from Schlossman about UND's shortcomings down the stretch rather than saying they weren't far off. Save "weren't far off" for programs like St. Cloud State, Western or Omaha. As Berry says playing for this program isn't easy because you have an expectation to win, and it isn't for everybody, so let's not get to the point where you settle for moral victories.

3rd line, 4th line, it doesn’t really matter if they are put out against the top players of the opposition.

I like Kunz’s net front presence with Berg and Perron’s precision shooting.

Tied for fourth? Where are they getting their information, from Colby & Buccigross?

I was never in the fire Hak crowd, as I loved being relevant every year and having North Dakota being in the national spotlight. It certainly helps recruiting when you are in the Frozen Four every year and the media raves about the program. How many times do you hear North Dakota even mentioned during the tourney as a team that was going to be a significant threat? It also keeps the fanbase involved knowing their team is going to be competitive every year. People would make plans for regional tickets early on, and while many still do the same, most are making plans on how to sell their tickets because UND doesn’t make the tournament, or implode so they don’t get to their desired regional. So as long as the above schools don’t win a title, even though most of them have been quite relevant, we should be fine with not making the tournament or first round exits? No wonder people are fine with Denver winning it all, they have relegated themselves that UND will never catch Denver and Michigan to allow them to be considered the premier program in the country. Maybe we should cheer for Denver every year to make sure none of those other schools win it, so we can say 10 years down the road that at least those schools haven’t won it either. I get it, there are a lot of things that need to go right to win 4 games in the tournament very often, but there needs to be some expectation for a program like ours to make a run and win a couple games consistently. I don’t consider Air Force to be a team that we should need to catch for tourney wins over the last 7-8 years.

Of course it helps if you recruit goaltenders like Chrona and Davis that have potential to play lights out for 4 games.

I get that celebrations are part of what to expect now because it has been such a part of the lower levels of hockey, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Personally when we talk about culture, I think that could be reigned in a bit and not have over the top celebrations on every goal. I much preferred Blake’s overtime winner where he didn’t celebrate at all because he was mad it came to that. Bottom line is act like you’ve been there before and save the huge celebrations for big time games.

Hennessy has always said while they respect Denver, they do not like Denver’s way of going about things, which could simply be on ice behavior or other behind the scenes stuff. To me, how is holding up your sticks skating by the bench after you score a goal any different than the little Chelsea Dagger hand motions UND does, or some of the one off celebrations from guys like Blake or Johannes. Whatever the petty differences, they might need to copy Denver’s recruiting philosophy of getting guys that are used to winning and know what it’s like in big game situations.

Five All-Americans and BC can’t get it done. Those always impressed by the high end talent and the thinking that they were practically unbeatable should learn a bit from history. It is becoming more evident though that the culture that Berry dislikes > the culture that has produced year after year of early tournament losses.

Agree, and we never did get all of the players. I would say our biggest calling card has been we have always been hard to play against and we brought it every night. I would argue that teams like Western, St. Cloud, and Omaha have more consistent work ethics than we have with less talent. In this age when you might get fewer of the super skilled guys, you better have experienced junior guys coming in, and you better have less games where the coach has to repeat “we didn’t come out ready to play”. Not hearing media or coaches talking about how hard North Dakota is to play against, in fact you don’t hear much about the program as a team to be feared at tournament time. It doesn’t help not having any exposure during the Frozen Four, much less the National tournament. That kills recruiting.

If I recall, Blais said that 10 years at one place is about right, as you run the risk of overstaying your welcome. Of course that is when Sandelin started to come into his own at Duluth, so you never know. Gino had his run from approximately 1978-1987 before things started to deteriorate and he was forced out by Wanless. We saw that Gino was loyal to a fault, having two goaltenders as his assistants in Craig Perry and Jim Scanlan. I get the feeling that Berry isn’t going anywhere either unless it comes to the same ugly conclusion. Having said that, we are nowhere near that kind of fall, but we do have more advantages now than we used to. I see Berry being loyal to guys that have been loyal to him, but he needs to look at some things and some players with more of an objective eye. We know who some of those players are/were that seemed to have an extra long leash.

Didn’t watch the game, was it one of those games where the stats were irrelevant, or was BC just more opportunistic? Or did Michigan just start to press when they fell behind?

No, but probably just as angry, if not more!

We don’t want Denver, but are able to have some level of objectivity, you would think that would be required of announcers as well. Again, where are Starman and Alex?

So you’re saying UND is developing players better than Minnesota? Snuggerud seemed like he wasn’t nearly as dynamic without Cooley and Nies (which is expected to some degree), but Blake was the driver of UND’s offense, finishing quite a bit ahead of everyone else.

It may take a bit for him to adapt to the speed and strength at the next level, but he reminds me of Johnny Gaudreau in that he is small but has the hockey sense and shiftiness to be a step ahead of the average player, which should make him successful at some point.

Was there just bad info out on Berg leaving, or has there been some behind the scenes NIL activity?

I'll give you that, but personally I think with all of the recruiting advantages and the portal advantages, I can think of a handful of ex-UND players that could produce the same results we are seeing now.