tnt

Thankfully, there are only five DU fans that had to put up with the ads!

Portz scores his first two goals of the season and is first star in a 2-1 win.

Which makes you wonder if Kleven can adjust to the need to back off hits simply because officials can’t distinguish on borderline plays and always error on the side of a penalty.

Would be a huge fail. Then it would be all about politics of the advertisers and whether they are politically correct or not. Then they would cancel out the “wrong” advertisers.

There were a couple times when that line had St. Cloud hemmed up in their own zone for a while. Ness made a bad play not chipping it up the boards on one of their goals, but I think he hasn't been too bad.

We get it, you have a vendetta against Wentz.

Should be asterisks with the 3 on 3. Liked it much better when an overtime win meant more. Hopefully Duluth and St. Cloud go to overtime every time they play the second half.

Lot’s of borderline calls. Thought it was odd they didn’t check for a major when Kiersted was rocked in the second. Of course that was only too many men.

I certainly don’t think it’s been a lack of effort just dumb plays like being caught from behind and not getting the puck out.

Chipping it off the glass should be a no brainer late in the period with a 2 goal lead. If it was one of the tired guys that cheated on that play, it makes even less sense. Hockey 101. Too bad they don’t have the luxury to do a bag skate for a play like that. That could very well come back to haunt them.

You haven’t been able to get the puck out of your zone in the final minutes of the period, and you cheat on the offensive side at the blue line. Really?

Maybe if Boardwalk would have just disguised it as a protest, Minnesota would have taken the hands off approach of "nothing to see here".

I expect I won’t hear anyone get all worked up if UND loses to a team with 5 regulars out of the lineup.

Can’t tell if they lost some of their swagger from last year, or if they think things are going to come easy. When things didn’t go their way last year, Cole Smith would step up physically or with a big play. Need someone to take over in those situations, that’s what leaders do. Hopefully Kawaguchi starts to bury his chances. Shouldn’t have to wait for a couple of freshmen to come back to get to the next level, no matter how talented they are.

It seems like every championship team goes through some adversity that hardens them, and allows them to recall lessons from it. Let’s hope they show some resolve and come out on the other side as a better team as a result. The 2016 team got swept by Denver late in the year and then didn’t do much at the Frozen Faceoff before running the table.

But I don't think a tie against Duluth is going to create a lot of doubt in the people picking the field.

That's my point. Duluth has shown you can barely make it into the tournament, so why do people go nuts when it is basically meaningless unless you are on the bubble of not getting into the tournament.

So let me get this straight, two years ago people thought we were terrible and didn't have any talent, and even with two talented freshmen gone to the World Juniors, now people think that games against top 5 teams in the country shouldn't come down to the wire and a bounce here or there?

Are you really surprised people are so down on UND. It happens every year. If Duluth fans went by the regular season, don't know if Sandelin would still be there. What's it been, 30 years since Duluth won a league title? This could be their year since if they get out of the POD even or better, they won't have to worry about Denver and UND anymore.

That’s the saving grace from this game is that it wasn’t a loss. Thought for sure Koepke was going to bury one late in the penalty. I’m thinking Koepke turns out a better pro than Kawaguchi, as he has the size and speed for the next level. Hope I am wrong.

Don’t forget giving up a late goal to Denver in the first game, which lost a point as well.

Both teams have players at the World Juniors, so it is hard to get a good read on how it will play out down the road in the Big Ten. Minnesota is taking a big step forward because their young defense from last year are very talented and confident this year. So, being that Minnesota didn't play the non-conference games here this year, do they owe us games here next year, or do we have to go to Mariucci again?

I know none of us were relishing the prospects of Western getting in and UND potentially having to play them in the NCAA tourney. Of course in retrospect having a post season would have been great for any team.

Even so, I would feel a whole lot better if they had to play Western and Miami in an environment with fans, but it is what it is. UND just needs to take care of business against Duluth and St. Cloud.

Definitely need this one, which will make Denver even more desperate when they play Duluth and St. Cloud again.