tnt

Unless we start seeing some defections, it doesn't seem plausible.

So will old Green Mill gift cards work?

I assume you are taking into account what Minnesota has coming in, because If Nies leaves and Walker doesn’t use his Covid year, they lose their top 4 scorers and other than Brodzinski, UND would have 5 guys returning with more points than Minnesota’s next top scorer, and in a more defensive league. I suppose you can expect Cooley to put up some numbers, but as we’ve seen, making an impact as a freshman isn’t a given. So I wouldn’t say loaded, but hardly “screwed” either, especially as they, as we, should expect a jump in the returning underclassmen.

But isn’t that what this whole argument is all about — producing, not showing you have talent. 2 goals by Adams is what Ness had his second year. I think that is the point why you bring back guys like Hain and Senden, because you know what you are going to get, at both ends of the ice, and fulfilling their roles. We saw flashes of talent from Kunz this year but someone calls him a bust. When you are a coach and have seen time and again how hard it is to be an impact player your first year, you probably lean to what you know you can expect and then figure that you will see the progression in guys like Kunz, Schmaltz, Portz and Johnson.

Oh, make no mistake, they keep reloading with those types of players, but will it be enough when you are constantly adjusting to a new line mate, and never having that familiarity like those lines that have been playing together for a while. I don’t believe it is coincidence that guys like Hain, Jamernik and Senden didn’t produce near as much without being together as they did before Hain got hurt.

I get what you’re saying, and I don’t disagree, but Griffin Ness was top 25 in scoring in the USHL as well, and Portz about top 30 in ppg. Collin Adams was top 6 in the USHL in scoring, yet stayed another year and still didn’t transition well to college hockey. The key word is transition, and there is no guarantee that players will transition well no matter their scoring prowess at the previous level. That is why the coaches need to do their due diligence in figuring that out, because it may be better to hold on to some players that have transitioned and have started to figure out college hockey. No doubt if we found a way to bring in Blake, McGlaughlin, Strinden, James and Spicer, we inevitably will be talking about needing more offense from a few of them a few years down the road. That said, Blake just has the feel of someone who can help with his IQ and skill set, but you never know until he actually makes the transition.

Good, hope Michigan gets him, just means he isn’t going to one of the other schools who know how to build a championship type team. I actually hope Michigan brings Mel back for the same reason.

…and the question is would he head back to the USHL, or the BCHL, where he was headed before Weatherby left.

It seems harsh having him start college because of a need after Weatherby left, but in the end it would give him a chance to get in the lineup more consistently down the road. It’s been done before with guys like Quinn Fylling, Jeff McLean and Kevin McKinnon, the last two came back as huge impact players. There definitely are some hard decisions to be made, but that’s what it takes to be successful in a big time program.

They are the biggest babies over there. Talking about overage in one breath then turning around and say they will take this or that player for an extra Covid year. Would they take Ben Meyers back as a 1998 born player? You bet they would, in fact they would take him for two years with his Covid year. Also don’t hear them trying to get rid of Motzko when he is moving the program in the direction of getting older. It seems to be an obsession with their fan base, so they will cheer for Denver. Guess you might as well cheer for the best league in college hockey.

Yeah, I noticed they didn't follow that rule for all the other sports. I wonder why that is?

I was watching him comment on ESPN not too long ago and it looked like his hand was shaking, so it is certainly possible.

If only he had taken the time to calculate the square root of the hypotenuse and how the angle of the others would have picked up for him!

That is definitely true, but the progression of Brink, Guttman and Stapely from 14 goals total last year to 55 this year sure helps as well, although some of that was injury/covid related. Like they say, a rising tide lifts all boats, so I am sure the freshmen benefited nicely from the rising tide of those 3 as well.

After the Paul Washe fiasco?

So what do those people that thought UND had such a great draw with Mankato in their region think now? They are the kind of team you don’t want to play this time of year because you are going to have to fight for every puck.

But everyone is enticed by junior numbers, even though rarely do they make a huge impact the first year. I think Blake has the chance to be that because of his hockey IQ and passing prowess. Minnesota State sure reminds me of UND teams that were dog on bone on the forecheck. We need to get back to that even when we are up one in the third. UND seems to get more conservative in the forecheck and penalty kill and hopefully with an experienced team they get back to it.

I like how everyone holds out Denver as the model we should follow, when they had many of the same players last year and couldn’t score near as much. The same way we had problems until after Adams, Mismash and Kawaguchi’s sophomore seasons. People progress quite a bit from year to year. Up until Hain’s injury the line with Senden and Jamernik were our most consistent line. People assume junior numbers are going to translate, but that doesn’t always happen, so give me guys that have transitioned and hope guys like Kunz and Schmaltz can use this as a stepping stone to more offense next year, and become consistent contributors next year.

It's all about the culture that Jeff Jackson talks about. Don't understand that with them bringing in Primeau, but if UND didn't make room for Senden and he decided to go elsewhere, I wouldn't have a problem with that. Coaches need to make tough decisions about who they want coming back, depending on how their future roster is constructed.

You would think that something has to give, unless Calder doesn't come back or there is someone else planning on leaving. Even if Budy left, you would think that Strinden and/or James would probably need to go back to juniors to have a manageable roster.

Does Strinden have any Junior eligibility left?

Going forward, how do you get a traditional recruit if you are known to cut your entire roster if you aren't winning. Not easy to go into a potential recruits household and try and convince their parents that Grambling is the right fit for them.

If they have injuries it may be nice to have extra depth, but if they don't have injuries, you could see some players with little ice time take to the portal.

If only he had committed to Duluth, St. Cloud, or Minnesota, we could see the gnashing of teeth for losing a Minnesota Mr. Hockey to them, and the consternation why we aren't winning battles with them.

Seems to me that Ottawa would be a much better team if they developed their talent better. It might be best for them to let UND hold on to the players and develop them for Ottawa. UND seems to bring in a new cast of players and develop them into an NCHC championship team, Ottawa brings in one high draft pick after another and doesn't seem to have progressed. Maybe let UND hold on to someone another year that won't be in your lineup consistently anyway.