tnt

While I agree with your thoughts, the contention that we would have won the regional championship may be a bit of a leap considering we lost to Duluth in the NCHC Championship game the week before with Tucker Poolman playing some of that game. That said, I would have loved to seen that game happen, as UND would have had a big chip on their shoulder because of some of the things that went down in that NCHC final.

That is my biggest concern is that we should have guys that were the top scorers in their league at least having moderate success their freshmen seasons. Like I said, Kawaguchi just didn't lead the playoffs in scoring in the BCHL, he obliterated the next closest guy. Watching guys produce that weren't even close to him and basically the same situation with Weatherby this year, has me pondering the reasons why? Next year to me will really be a reflection, because with Jones and Gardner gone, the freshmen will get plenty of playing time, and even though these freshmen aren't at the very top of their leagues in scoring like Weatherby and Kawaguchi, they are all very highly touted. If we can't get a 10 goal scorer out of one or two of them, it will really concern me, and will not bode well for us next year. You always have the expectation of the upperclassmen picking it up and carrying the load, but that hasn't been the case so much this season, which is why things haven't gone that well.

Good call. Teams that open themselves up a little more probably are giving us a few better looks and odd man rushes, which is probably what this team needs to score more. That's likely what we will be seeing the rest of the year, so fingers crossed.

With a sweep this weekend and Miami getting swept by Western and I would guess we would be up to 18 or 19 already. I'm not a pairwise calculator guy, and the bottom line is we don't need "ifs" right now anyway, we just need to win.

Michigan did lose at home to #51 Merrimack tonight, so there is that. I guess misery loves company.

Maybe this is the year they take advantage of the Frozen Faceoff winner automatic bid. We certainly are due. I think UND will have to find a way to get home ice for the first round though, as it would be quite the gauntlet otherwise.

Minus 9 though, not exactly a recipe for winning hockey. Would be interested to see if anyone on UND is minus 9.

Why, so you can talk about how great the program is when they are losing to Canisius? I prefer to go into every year thinking they have a chance to win it. So because Trevor Olson didn't get the five minute major against Denver like many thought he should have we won a Championship, so that must make someone a better coach. To each his own I guess.

This picture confuses me. Why is Eades wearing #16 with the “C” on it. Marc Chorney was captain when Eades was a Junior and wore #16. Eades always wore #22 and was Captain as a Senior. Odd he would take a photo with someone else’s jersey on.

...and if they do, why?

You may need to go to exotic locations to watch Fighting Hawks hockey because bidding on regionals might not become fiscally attractive in the future should things deteriorate further. Just curious, are you a season ticket holder? I get what you are saying, but I also don’t want to end up like Wisconsin under Mike Eaves. It’s like I said earlier, if you win with that kind of defensive system, fans can live with it, but scoring once or twice a game and losing, well ... that brings us to this frustration level. Thankfully we have guys in the pipeline that will hopefully turn that trend, but if not, you lose those elite prospects that want to score goals.

I would argue also that if they were going to come out against Canisius, it should have been Friday to let the guys know that they couldn't come out like they did, and that losing against them would absolutely crush the Pairwise for us.

True, but those stats can lie as well. The coaches talked a blue streak last year about the puck possession numbers of Simonson and Olson, and even had them playing frequently when we needed a goal to catch up. You absolutely need guys like that on your team, but not so sure the ice time down the stretch was warranted simply because they possessed the puck well. Another thing that jumps out at me that points to lack of aggression is our shorthanded goals over the past two years. It was nice that Senden got one the other night, but it would be interesting to see shorthanded goals for and against across college hockey the last few years.

We will win twice this weekend, and really if our talent is as bad as it appears at times we shouldn't be able to sweep. But I think you will see how they can play when they really put their mind to it and feel like they have something to prove. I guess we'll see if I'm right about that.

Shouldn't we also be concerned then that our coach that is out recruiting says that this is the most talented team since the Championship team?

I know, but that was his direct response to my point that goals are the most important analytic.

I said the only analytic that matters is scoring more than you give up, and you said you disagreed.

That's my concern, that next year we will hear that you can't count on freshmen to lead you, then the next year, well we lost JBD or someone else, and so on... The fact is Denver isn't missing a beat with a rookie coach who lost all of his elite players. Could Denver come back down to earth a bit, sure, but don't see them slipping out of the tournament at this point.

So you're saying Corsi is more important than goals? You're arguing just for the sake of arguing.

You stress that we work hard. Do you think the most talented guy on our roster, Grant Mismash, works hard consistently?

Maybe that is part of the problem. The coaching staff is big into analytics, but to me there is only one analytic that matters, and that is did you score more than you gave up.

This isn't something in the fire Bubba category, nor was I in the fire Hak camp, but I think who runs the power play should change. So if you don't have finishers, get guys in front and fire away. You can't do any worse.

Because we missed on one class? How is it that Denver can lose Borgstrom, Terry, Gambrell, etc. and be as high as they are in the pairwise? I realize we could still finish ahead of them, but they aren't exactly lacking for offense. The fact is that under Hakstol UND won either a regional, or the league title, or the Frozen Faceoff/WCHA Final five just about every year, if not every year, thus adding to the culture of UND. Unless we somehow win the Frozen Faceoff, this will be 3 straight years with nothing added to the culture. Since becoming part of the NCHC, one could surely argue that St. Cloud and Denver have owned the league far more than UND. Add to that losing to an Atlantic team for the not only the first but second time in one weekend, and Duluth having a run against us like they haven't had, and you wonder why there is some concern. I was the one always arguing that losing players to the NHL has been the cause of most of our issues, but other programs like Duluth and Denver have lost quite a bit more than us the last few years and still seem to thrive. Bottom line is that in today's age of college hockey, you have to score on the power play to win, and we still haven't seemed to figure that out. Until the US lost to Finland last weekend the team with the best power play in the tourney had won the Gold, that tells you where the nexus for change needs to start.

Friday, first period they weren't on it, and that is even according to Berry. So now, instead of possibly taking the lead and play from in front, they allow the other team to think they are able to compete. My biggest pet peeve is where UND comes out disinterested then play super hard the last period or two to show they can dominate. Same scenario with Anchorage the second night, only they were lucky to turn that one around.

Hockey is different, but the point is being ready to play consistently.