tnt

I have a feeling if St. Cloud has Hrenak in net that wouldn’t be the case. The fact St. Cloud was in that game with that kind of goaltending is hard to believe.

They just said that the Notre Dame coach said the difference in the game against us was their culture. Does that mean their culture is better than ours?

…and he looks up at the official then stays down.

So according to Schlossman UND is the only team in the top 9 in Pairwise ranking to lose in the first round. #culture?

Agree, sometimes you reap what you sow. Maybe UND’s exits are Karma to give some of our fan base a sense of humility.

Thanks!

Wouldn’t be so sure they are going to lose, as I suspect they will get a power play in the third to tie it. I think we may see another overtime. I had a friend with an early call on a gopher loss that resulted in their first national title in 23 years, so I am skeptical until the clock is at zero.

Vernon had almost 91 percent save percentage and Basse not quite 89 percent, along with a half goal difference as well. Not sure that discrepancy is something to take a chance on.

I am for whatever is going to give us the best chance to win a National Championship. We have seen every year that we never have had enough defensemen when it came to injuries. If we get caught having to play someone who has more growing and learning to do, and it is the difference in games down the stretch I'm not so sure the trade off is worth it. The bottom line is don't rush someone through juniors who isn't ready physically or mentally at the next level just so your classes are balanced better by one less freshman defenseman. I know it is rare, but Duluth did wonders with 5 freshmen defensemen that one year, but I would venture to say they all were somewhat ready to play at the college level.

Dunbar, Not Dumb Bear, Dances With Wolves - Bing video

Yeah, I like how Brent Johnson improved over the year, but every time he was on the ice in the tight game yesterday, I cringed thinking about a turnover or him not being able to handle one of their big guys. Let him get more experience in juniors.

Did Halliday get passed over in two NHL drafts? If that is the case, then there is some reason that someone his size didn't get drafted yet. Not saying he won't be a good college player, but sometimes big guys take a while to adjust to college because they can't just overpower guys anymore. Think Seth Ambroz as a guy that scored well in juniors but took a while to adjust to the college level. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how he plays in the wide open Big Ten.

Tim Hennessey has been saying this on his broadcasts. He said he thinks the plan was to stay, but if he can't play his game that could change things. I would guess he should come back and be more of the go to guy next year.

I kind of see Spicer as a Jackson Kunz/ Dane Montgomery situation, he will probably be better served to play another year in Juniors, but if we need him, we can bring him in. The reason Mankato always does so well, is because many of their players are men playing against really young men that need some more weight and strength added. Many of their players have several years of junior hockey under their belt. Unless a player is a draft pick that will be a major threat to leave early, another year of juniors will only make it that more likely that they can make an impact when they do come in.

Especially when you were willing to take a huge chance on Mitchell Miller. To me, that makes no sense at all, and the fact that Brent Johnson was injured at the end of last year, and really couldn't get back to a full training regimen until much later makes that decision even more of a head scratcher.

Sometimes I think the staff thinks they can win on the "culture" alone. When it gets down to games like these, you need some difference makers to make that extra play, or just have the talent to bury one when most wouldn't. Duluth doesn't really have the difference makers either, but they are so disciplined that they all stick to their roles and they don't make the mistakes like the first goal we gave up last night. Let's face it, Berry isn't a disciplinarian, we could tell that with the whole Rhett Gardner situation when he didn't sit him until the whole fanbase was wondering what was going on. Thankfully, with a bump in the existing class, and the talent coming in next year, we should be able to make waves again next year with the regional in Fargo. Could be quite a bit of pressure in that regional, because of all the past circumstances. Really need to recruit with the premise that you are going to lose more skilled guys, so recruit more to replace them, because inevitably all of them won't pan out. Just really hope we don't have to listen to Duluth, Denver, Minnesota or Michigan celebrate a Natty, as that would definitely add insult to injury.

Perhaps a Jasper Weatherby, thus a better power play away!

Gaber is our guy going forward, but he needs to use his line mates better and pass when the situation dictates, as ultimately it would open up more space for himself. Sometimes it seems teammates are waiting for a return pass and I sense it is like a black hole that will never be returned. It is nice to have someone who actually wants to shoot the puck, but it might be a little too predictable. Have no doubt that Jackson Blake would love to set him up with his passing skill set.

The disappointing thing for me is that they regressed, rather than progressed. If it wasn’t for a poor CC team we may have ended the season on a five game losing streak. That, and all the big games where UND fans traveled, Nashville, the Frozen Faceoff and the regional, UND laid an egg. I was kind of surprised by the attendance at the Frozen Faceoff after UND was out. It appears Duluth’s fan base is expanding, let’s make sure ours doesn’t become jaded.

That seemed to be the line of thinking back then.

Just the opposite for me. The second year in a row where they felt the pain of losing then were given a second chance to make sure they wouldn’t feel that again. We say how lucky Duluth is to win in overtime time and again, and we can’t even do it with second chances. Losing in overtime doesn’t seem like much consolation when your rival has lost only once in about ten or so NCAA playoff games. Duluth has got a swagger to them, and we don’t right now. Seems to follow their coaches personality. With the upperclassmen losses in our league, next year needs to have a better outcome.

Well going to the Frozen Four wasn’t good enough for you, you railed on Hakstol to no end.

Our third period was the best of the night.

I would say this is all part of the “winning the championship in your first year jinx, but this doesn’t compare to all the other circumstances in the bad things that have happened since then, as they had two chances to win, and they just can’t seem to get out of there own way in special teams and mistakes. One thing Duluth doesn’t do is beat themselves. Even with Brent Johnson scoring the only goal, Berry might have sealed his fate when Sanderson went down by not having another everyday threat on the back end like Morrow. If special teams are so important, we need more special players on them. May need to try and flip a few guys like Matthew Wood, and they should be on the recruiting trail ASAP.

My only problem is that you have to expect your skilled guys to grow, and have opportunity to move on, so recruit accordingly. Don’t want to get in a situation where every 2-3 years we are going to have to listen to the refrain, this is how they have to play to be successful. That was the same situation that happened to Mike Eaves. They did great with what they had to work with this year, and our fans would have understood, even expected a 3rd or 4th place finish, as long as we continued to develop and grow through the playoffs, but this team peaked a while ago now.