tnt

If the other Bubba got extended, chances are Berry would be too. I think we could go down the same path for the next 6 years and not win a tourney game and there wouldn't be an impetus to change as long as we make the tourney half the time.

That would be a huge indictment on the mental toughness if that was the case. Yes, it was a disappointing goal to give up, but I would argue the response to it was far more disappointing. Good teams react positively to adversity, not fold under a small bit of adversity.

So if another year isn’t going to make a difference in development, why not start getting paid in the AHL or another league before deciding if you would want to go to Europe or something. Even those scenarios pay pretty well compared to what the average guy makes.

Gone are the days of players making a pact to come back to finish the job. Of course, most of the time that happened in situations like Minnesota's where they fell just shy of winning a title. It's not like UND can say "we were so close". Obviously, Blake was being pressed by Carolina, and I can understand their need to sign him so they don't lose him next year. Just sad that Minnesota is holding on to players, where in the past guys would stay around here because they wanted to make another push for a championship. So this obviously is going to give Berry even more grace, because we lost Blake and Berg, so we lost our top scoring threats. You know, if you are going to lose guys anyway, might as well recruit like Michigan and BU. Very disappointing.

Now do tournament winning percentage.

Maybe don’t have an offensive superstar, but we probably will be a bit better defensively, and a little harder to play against. Rather than the power play running through Blake, they’ll need to whip the puck around a little faster to get those cross ice openings for some one timers from Berg and Perron. Hopefully Perron recognizes this as an opportunity for him to be the man on the power play, and to be more of a trigger man period with his shot.

If you look back after the Notre Dame loss, many that are in the we are unlucky crowd were saying that it wasn’t ideal and that Berry would have pressure the following year because they should be better and we’ll see how things go. Well, we missed the NCAA tourney again the next year, and we’re one and done this year. I am sick of trying to defend Berry to people, and once again that graph brought it home for me that it is well beyond time to put up rather than talk about woulda, coulda, shoulda. If it takes playing an AIC or some like team, then take care of business before that so you get to play them, and in an advantageous location no less. They have blown at least 3 chances for those advantages that have nothing to do with luck. I wonder how many more years will go by with people using the unlucky bounces mantra, when indeed it has been shown that UND has been recipient of quite a bit of luck themselves. I think this coaching staff has the ability to get this team over the hump and go back to back and totally refute any negative narratives, but it is far beyond time for a program like North Dakota that they and their players don’t talk about getting revenge or that they have higher goals than league championships and just go out and get it done.

Since his high school season ended, and he rejoined Tri City, Cooper Simpson has really picked up his scoring, with 2 goals and an assist tonight on 8 shots.

Don’t forget, that once they experienced the absolute pain of losing a game like the Duluth game to a rival, they had a reprieve like BU did against us with an offsides call. I remember thinking to myself that this was the positive karma going our way from the BU loss. Not many teams get that second chance after your season has ended. We basically also got that second chance again against Notre Dame. The thing is, good teams take advantage of unbelievable luck like that, and don’t let it happen again. For those suggesting we are only losing because we don’t get the luck, at some point when you get the luck you have to take advantage of it.

Hastings isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. He isn’t going to put up with lack of effort and not playing both ends of the ice. I have a feeling, he is fine with some leaving so he can get everyone to buy into his system. Not quite sure it will be easy to completely change his recruiting philosophy from Minnesota State, and might be difficult to get younger high end guys to buy into his defensive system. Wonder if Logan Hensler would reconsider his commitment with all the turnover, but he might have already signed.

Which is why it is baffling that we can be taken to the woodshed by Omaha, a team that has been raided the last few years, and we even took one of their best players. Having never been swept by them, to losing 4 of 5 under those circumstances suggests one team is outworking the other. It isn’t just the NCAA tournament, but all the destination games and Frozen Faceoffs as well. To have all those advantages and recruiting advantages to put up about 3 wins compared to about 14 losses doesn’t equate.

Could also be that UND doesn’t get those greasy goals because they are trying for the perfect shot, and many times don’t even get shots to the net. UND used to live off of those type goals, but now they don’t get to the net enough, which is the reason they don’t take as many penalties.

Yeah, may reunite with Shaugabay at Duluth.

Well, if Carle got Pohlkamp because he is an American, then Berry should be able to pull Wood away from the Canadian-hating Minnesota crowd. (...and yes, despite Close, there are still a few of them.)

With how much all these players want NIL money and leverage, he sure would be giving up a lot. If he stayed and became a free agent he could have his pick of teams, including the hometown Minnesota Wild who don't have a lot of cap room and would love a hometown kid with a rookie contract.

So it's just not direct, but the coaches still need to let the NIL know they are recruiting somebody in order for them to offer the NIL money.

Since when was Denver on Highway 2?

It does rotate, so we will see them 4 times some years, but yeah, it is a great gauge for where we need to be against a very skilled team. We obviously play them a lot better in Grand Forks.

With the Pod system next year in the league and playing teams 4 times even less, winning the league title will be more determined on the strength of your POD any given year, so UND should be more focused on just building their game throughout the year. Probably a good thing for Western, Omaha and Miami that they are in the same pod, as Omaha and Western lose a lot, and Miami… is Miami. Denver’s pod with Arizona & CC could be good, but traditionally ours will be toughest with Duluth and St. Cloud. Hopefully that will sharpen us a little better, and we might not have to play CC and Omaha, so we can have a better record. Think Duluth will be more skilled, but young, and St. Cloud will have to replace studs on defense, and not sure if Veeti Miettinen is back or not. I won’t be sad if this means we won’t have to always play Omaha the last weekend, because I liked it when who you played was a crapshoot. Will be different for sure, and to me with even less interaction between top teams, kind of takes away from the league title. I can see a perceived weaker pod like the Omaha one next year still in the running for high league or home ice finish if they can really take advantage and beat up on their pod and play average hockey beyond that.

So, how does the NIL work in regards to recruiting for someone like Wood or Pohlkamp? Obviously the coaches would have to let the collective know who they are interested in, so is it then up to the collective to offer the athlete, or do they then work through the coaches?

Oh, I’ll take them, but they could be 2 year players, which is fine if you have built the roster around them with some experience. I get more excited about guys like Swanson that could be with us for a couple championships. If Blake leaves it will be disappointing because I saw him as at least a three year player. Was hoping he would give us a father/son tandem that both won National Championships. Also love players like Cole Smith that are so competitive that they never let up and invest everything in their game. I know guys like Toews, Oshie, Zajac and Parise never won a championship, but would love to see that kind of first round talent, where your hardest workers are also your most talented players. A lot of times first round talent have always just been head and shoulders above the competition and don’t always have that extra push. We’ve all seen guys that think it is about them, Lucius, cough, cough!

If one of them win it this year, doesn’t mean much when you have other teams that have been rolling in first round draft picks the last decade and don’t even have league titles to show for it.

…and in the past we agreed that recruit rankings and high draft picks don’t mean you are going to win it all. In fact someone pointed out the number of first round picks Denver has had. Seemed like Minnesota always had higher ranked classes, even in the Blais era. Agree we need to see results, but don’t know if that entails getting this certain player, or that player, but moreso a change in mindset or philosophy in the postseason to make sure we are playing our best hockey that time of year, rather than peaking early.

Maybe Carle sold him on all the doobie rolling they do in Colorado, which may mean Pohlkamp won’t amount to “jack squat”.

Will take the exchange of Pohlkamp for Zeev Buium if that ends up happening.