tnt

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=170552 http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196971 For comparison sake, I believe the 2014-2015 season would be Jost’s 16 year old season.

So in your mind Joe Finley was blue chip and Tony Hrkac and Greg Johnson were not?

Which is exactly what I was alluding to when I brought up Joe Finley versus Tychonick or JBD. You can still have a first round draft pick that is a project that isn't expected to have immediate impact at the college level.

I don't exactly call Tony Hrkac and Greg Johnson watered down. There are many players that you heard about that would be the next coming at UND, meaning they would be difference makers from the start, and if you don't call guys like that blue chippers then guys like Gino and Dean didn't have many blue chip recruits. Like I said, by the 1st round definition, guys like Jonathan Toews wasn't a blue chip recruit coming into college because he hadn't been drafted, ditto Paul Kariya. They probably would have been drafted high anyway, but a lot of guys fall quite a bit in a year, and a lot of guys improve a lot in a year. I am sure both Toews and Kariya improved their draft status with their outstanding rookie seasons. With guys like Hrkac, Johnson, Troy Murray and Jason Blake (even though he transfered), there was so much buzz surrounding their first season that it is hard to consider them anything but blue chip, especially when you rarely had first round picks in college years ago.

Don’t think they would want to change the format unless the league pushes them, as it is a recruiting benefit to having destination games.

Involved, as in playing? The only way I see that happening is if they play a tournament type setting with UND guaranteed to play a big name school.

You show me where that definition is. Rocco Grimaldi’s name was thrown around as a Blue Chipper, and because he fell just short of the first round doesn’t change that he was considered as the elite. More people had higher hopes for him than J.T. Miller, and Miller was drafted higher because he fit more into the pro mold. I’m much more excited about Tychonick and JBD than I ever was for Joe Finley. By your definition Jonathan Toews wasn’t a blue chip recruit coming into college because he wasn’t drafted until after his first year.

I think BU recently has skewed the expectations of the number of 1st round picks that college usually gets. They have been good, but you could make an argument that UND has been better with much less talent. People talk about Wolanin being our leading scorer as this huge knock on our recruiting, but in fact he had as many points as anybody on BU as well.

Yes, we could use blue chippers, but if they are going to be here for only a short time, they have to be all in or else I would rather have someone else that is. Don’t need any Kieffer Bellows types that are there to pad stats before they move on. Not sure of Wahlstrom’s motivations, but how will guys that might not be all in react to adversity or put their body on the line. I remember Hakstol having sit downs with guys who had opportunity to move on that announced they were staying to make sure their minds were focused on the right priorities. That is a huge part of it. Guys like Jost gave their all in every situation for the benefit of the team. Find guys like that and I don’t mind leaving after a year or two.

Then what are people complaining about, that it isn't benefiting UND as much as it is hockey. Go figure.

If you believe that was Ralph's main purpose in giving the arena, then I can't help you. Everyone knows that Ralph gave it and set it up as he did to help the hockey program remain at the top, then let it benefit the University through the hockey team staying on top.

You say UND is maxed out in hockey but you say it isn't that profitable, but in the same breath you say it needs to support the other programs like NDSU football does.

I am willing to bet that you would have less than 50 percent of the money that the Champions Club brings in if it wasn't for hockey. The only reason that a lot of people are members is because it is required to get season hockey tickets.

Don't feel too sorry, they will probably be the favorite in our league this year.

Might need to tell that to UND "FOOTBALL FAN" and others that try to wedge one program against the other.

I was under the impression that upgrades were from donations. With so many more football alumni than hockey, you would think that they could get some donations from them for things like that and salary upgrades for coaches.

I know ushers in most venues go to the area to make sure nobody is hurt.

Yeah, sometimes perception is the problem. I know if I was Berry going after a recruit that had NHL aspirations (Rizzo) I would tout my experience of getting people to the next level which depending on the athlete could be a benefit. Carle could use some of the guys who just left, but that probably is attributed more to Monty.

True, but I think Carle still has a lot to learn, and would rather be out on the recruiting trail against him rather than Bazin.

Would think hiring someone that has a ton of experience would help a little more in recruiting, even if David Carle is an up and comer.

We made room for JBD, and would have been pretty good at that position without him coming in a year early, so I agree it wouldn't hurt to have another player comparable to Hain that would give us better odds of having one of them making an impact for us in an area we had problems with last year. I will be watching Weiss closely next year if he plays college. It seems odd that teams like Michigan that have an overabundance of recruits can make room for guys and we can't. I always thought since we didn't over recruit we would be able to maneuver our classes a bit to make room for the late bloomer or transfer. Having the last year junior players that are depth and character guys seems like they should be late recruits, not ones we have had in the pipeline for years, unless they were projected for more than what they ended up being. Like I said, be interested to see where some of these guys end up and how they pan out.

To be fair, he put up similar numbers to Jost. Jost had 16 goals 19 assists in 33 games and Mittelstadt had 11 and 19 in 34, and one could argue a better cast of players for Jost with Poolman, Wolanin and sometimes Boeser.

Have you tried it since they switched the bread? I thought it was pretty good, but I haven't been a grinder regular over the years.

For real?

Something on replay is a lot different than in game speed, and the reaction certainly would lead one to believe that it was a high stick.