tnt

Yes, by all means let’s start over next year with 10 new forwards, that’s a recipe for success.

You are not going to get production by everyone you bring in next year, even if you cut all those players and replace them. We may not have won the National Championship in 2016 if we cut non producers like Coltyn Sanderson and Colton St. Clair.

Have all of Miami recruits signed their letters of intent?

I just don't think they would pull the trigger after next year. I think he has two years to right the ship.

The scary part for UND should be that with the huge downturn in attendance, it is getting harder for season ticket holders to sell their tickets when they can't go, and when they do, it is for the fraction of the price they would garner in the past. If attendance at UND continues to diminish, it might be more worthwhile to skip season tickets and pay a premium for certain games, then get the rest on the cheap. The same goes for the regionals. If fans continue to take a hit, they might just quit buying and pay a premium during the years they do make it. The culture of UND hockey is changing and it isn't for the better. If I were in charge of the Ralph, I would figure out a way to make it easier for fans to attend by figuring out a better parking situation, because if the product isn't enticing people as much, you better not make the other things around the game a headache to deal with.

...and since Brad won’t touch this, 10 goal scorers each year since 2004-2005 have been 6,6,6,4,6,6,6,5,5,4,6 and under Berry 7, 4,4, and 1 this year, and that one only came about because of an overtime goal last weekend. We had a few years there when guys like Parks and Macmillan were key players that we weren’t overly talented, but still managed quite a few guys that could get to ten goals.

Goals scored have gone down each year under Berry. 162, 127, 117, to 93 this year. The further away from the Hakstol era, the worse things are getting. That is a pretty significant decline to just blame on puck luck.

They have a lot in common, that’s for sure. If you are being objective you would have to say that hard work will most likely be successful more often than not if players have enough talent and are put in a position by coaches to be successful. Either we don’t have the talent or the talent we have isn’t put in the position to succeed, either way, that is the coaches responsibility.

...and Denver lost three guys this past offseason that were all major contributors, yet a first year coach seemed to keep them in the mix. No doubt Schlossman secretly hopes Poolman will leave so he can keep that talking point going. The first two years after the Championship it was relevant because of the number and quality they lost, but should be someone to pick up the slack and put up decent numbers by now. Waiting to hear a story about the historic lack of scoring.

What does bother me is hearing Berry talking about guys like Scheel and Jones and others being hurt, but then saying they don’t make excuses. I am sure Denver would have liked to have Larson the whole first half as well.

So, I don’t suppose you got stuck with Regional tickets for the second year in a row either. They may be killing the Golden Goose with these last two years, because don’t know if I want to go down that road again, and imagine others have reservations as well.

...and it doesn’t help that it coincides with one of the most brutal winters weather wise as well!

Yes, and as bad as things went at times, they still put forth the effort, which gives me hope. I think the coaches have things they need to figure out, because one 10 goal scorer isn’t a reflection of the offensive talent of some of these guys.

If they truly find a way to fix the power play and get any kind of help from freshmen in scoring, they can get back, but words aren’t going to help. Would be interesting to see from Schlossman the last time our leading goal scorer only reached ten. Not a high bar to attain.

Seeing that Tucker has spent most of this year in the minors should weigh into his decision.

So Brad Berry once again promises they’ll be back next year and that they need to fix the power play. Sounds familiar! Next year we’ll hear that the non conference games against weak competition are huge in the pairwise.

I said it a year ago, culture is changing. When you wait until a night before Senior night to discipline a player that has been undisciplined for years — that’s culture. When you are telling the media last year what a tight knit group you have, all the while they are fighting beyond normal everyday frustration— that’s culture. When you have a guy who hasn’t scored in twenty plus games and a defenseman who isn’t an offensive threat on your first power play unit — well, that is just very strange and does not do much for the culture for the rest of the team. If Berry sends out a letter next fall to the remaining season ticket holders saying how hard his team worked over the summer and how great of a year it is going to be, I hope a bunch send it back with the reply “Talk is cheap and action speaks louder than words.”

How about coming out to cut down the angle Thome.

Berry said last week that they need to improve on the average power play. Their power play is not average. If they did have an average power play, they would be in a lot better position. All of this with the focus coming into the season on improving the power play. Not good.

Our problem isn’t recruits scoring before they get here, it is with them scoring when they get here.

This may be true, but it certainly doesn’t absolve him from the responsibility of recruiting guys that can score so you can have a line or two that can go out there and just hold serve. When you don’t have guys like that you need scoring by committee, and having defensemen turned forward like Rieger and Johnson don’t chip in often enough to take that load off.

How is he figuring participated in, because Jones was only here two years and both he and Gardner missed a bunch of games the last few years. How many games did Anderson actually participate in?

So what are the odds during a down year that we have more fans show up in Denver than Minnesota had at Mariucci last weekend against a “rival”?

Losing that game at home in the final seconds of OT against Denver is the difference between UND hosting the series rather than Denver. Would have helped immensely in the pairwise as well. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, I guess it’s time to change the outcome on the ice!

Wow, Mariucci is just a big echo chamber once again today!