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Makes you wonder if Kvasnicka would have played instead of Zellers had Vanbiesbrouck not stepped in to include Zellers.

You playing in the UND golf outing?

Beyond Carels, don’t know how much room you have for another defenseman with MacKenzie and Lindberg coming in. Assuming we lose Wiebe, Livanavage and Zmolek. Emery could go, but would be wise to stay. Need to keep some experience on the back end, as we know that there is a bigger learning curve for defensemen.

In the same token, how can the Bears throw a Hail Mary 40 yards and the defender not be right on top of the receiver?

Even worse, they only had one timeout left. That’s just saying we want to make it look closer in the final score,

…and looking at him play, I would be surprised if he is really the 5’10” that they have him listed as.

Someone break up Mercyhurst, they won again tonight.

They are also saying they should come up with NIL money and raid UND and UMD’s rosters. They could maybe get guys who aren’t happy with playing time, but do you honestly think a guy like Zellers would leave to get sat on the bench while guys like Mooney get tons of ice time? Bob has lost his team, and if anybody should be raiding, it should be other teams’ raiding Minnesota’s decent incoming recruits. Wonder if Bob is given an ultimatum, to preserve the recruits they do have. Cullen plays the game the right way, and should steer clear of that situation, rather than needing to be the savior that can help get their talent to play together. Wish he would come to that conclusion on his own and seek out a team that is in concert with the way he plays the game. Hey Wyatt, UND is just that type of team.

While I think Dane is getting players to play the right way, I’m not so sure any coach is going to prevent college students from being college students. He can’t make guys like each other with opposite personalities. Thankfully, these guys all seem to like each other, which is great for team chemistry, but I do think if there were conflicts that Dane would make it known, you don’t have to like each other off the ice, but you will not be bringing that dislike into the locker room and that being a professional is to set that aside for the betterment of the team, much as in any organization.

Yeah, plenty of times guys ranked in that area don’t get taken at all. Only takes one team to like your game that thinks your game would suit a certain role.

Really think both Laurila and Strathmann have been very good, plus losing one defenseman to a blocked shot puts us short, especially if another one gets a penalty that is used a lot killing penalties. True there are forwards that need and deserve ice time as well, so if everyone becomes healthy I can see that on occasion.

Good problem to have, but who comes out? Menghini and Young have been playing great lately, and while Klee hasn’t been putting up the points quite as much, he is playing well with those two.

Would like to see him shoot more just to keep the other team honest. He did have a couple shots tonight where the goalie had a horseshoe in his pocket.

The opposing teams broadcast team said they were surprised Andrew O’Neill was only #126 on Central Scouting ranking because he has so much grit to his game. He had 2 goals tonight in a loss.

I think many questioned if hiring Jackson was the right move because he was an assistant and wondered how much difference there would be. I think we can see the passion and fire Jackson has compared to Berry. If you haven’t watched Through these Doors this week, I urge you to do so, as it shows that passion. When we were trailing after one period on Saturday he went off on the team, basically saying that just wearing the Black Business suits wasn’t doing anything, although he had a more colorful vocabulary. I’ve been wanting to hear that for years, that the business suits only represented how hard you were going to work because it was time to keep the focus and make sure there were no regrets or anything held back after the game. Keeping the pedal to the metal tonight was another sign in the mentality change, and as Jackson told the team in the clip, that the CC coach told him, North Dakota has their mentality back.

After tonight, St. Cloud up to 16 and Denver down to #13 NPI.

DU isn’t a great program because they pack it in after a poor loss. If our program came out the next night after a 5-0 loss with another poor effort, this site would be overwhelmed with pitchforks. I fully expect to see a different Denver team tomorrow, and UND had better be expecting it as well.

Like you said, I think it was more about Notre Dame keeping their own TV deal, which I think the NCHC viewed as them being treated special. Not a great precedent for a new conference.

You would think some team would offer them for next year, which would make it difficult for us to make room for two if they are a package deal, and if they are interested in the college route.

Which is why it is surprising he hasn’t been drafted yet, as he put up nice numbers last year as well.

Weird that Woo is one goal short of making Medicine Hat’s two leading goal scorers and points leaders as defensemen.

That’s why UND needs to hang on to guys who are willing to play an extra year of juniors who are second tier guys, so they can plug and play with more experience if you lose more high end guys than you expect in any given year. Hopefully the coaches keep a better mix of short term and long term players than other teams have.

You’re right, probably talking more about potential. Assuming being an overage who has great numbers with no talk about being drafted that there might be a gap in his game. I know being a bit undersized plays a factor. Probably could work out better for Arizona State, because he might be more likely to stick around. The guys I thought had a bigger upside because of being young and are nice draft prospects are: Carels, Lin, Rudolph, DuPont, Villeneuve, Vanecek, Pantelas, Mackenzie, and even Klimpke, and Pickford, although I believe he has signed with Montreal. Like you, I don’t follow the OHL, but assume there are a few there as well. No doubt Arizona State is getting a guy that could be running their power play for a while, but like I said, so many great players out there so compete level may be a determining factor who becomes a stud, and who is just a bit above average in college. Might be wishing we had a player of his caliber for longer rather than a shorter stint of a guy who takes a year or so to get up to speed, but when they do is signed by their draft team.

I think Button has over emphasized the World Junior Championship in this latest ranking. We have seen that offense is more abundant (and sometimes defense lacking), in that setting. I would take more account on how these guys play against other age groups. We’ve seen guys go off in the World Juniors and have almost as many goals there as they have in the whole college season. Ryan Poehling comes to mind. It should definitely be part of the evaluation, but I would weigh it accordingly. Do you give McKenna points for being a top scorer, or do you weigh the opponent when he got most of his points?

…and Zakreski committed under Berry if I’m not mistaken.