tnt

The problem is that if the talent of the players is the problem, then it was the coaches who recruited "water" instead of "wine".

NDSU seems to be doing well with some local players in key positions. I can't believe there is that big of a disparity in talent, but as you say how that talent is coached and their work ethic is a different story. Do the players NDSU recruits care more about their program than the recruits UND brings in. Do some of the players that come into our system think the program is lucky to have them, or the other way around. Did guys like Dan Hendrickson give more to the program than some who don't have a stake in the program's history? As far as coaches go, does UND have the elite coaches required to recruit and game plan with the best of them. I will only say that it is curious that some of NDSU's former coaches end up in big-time programs, while some of our former coaches end up at the Jamestown Colleges of the football world.

Adam Tambellini moved into second in the BCHL scoring race after being named #1 star with a 3 goal, 3 assist performance.

Remember, UND had goalies with awesome numbers before NCAA tournament time, and even some that seemed to be on a roll. The bottom line is you can't have one bad game or be off a bit in the NCAA tournament, and even if you accomplish that, the other goalie can't have the game of his life like the Michigan goalie did. Hopefully Saunders is that guy, but regular season play isn't going to tell us if that is the case or not.

If you read Schlossman's blog today, you see more circumstantial evidence of Lucia's lack of motivation for getting a schedule worked out with UND. When you call the Wisconsin rivalry "a healthy rivalry and not over the top" you know what rivalry he is talking about that he considers over the top. Minnesota fans can claim all they want that Lucia really wants to keep the rivalry going, but his words and actions speak otherwise.

Maybe if they played both games at the "X". Not sure either team would want to go from the large surface one day to the small surface the next. Not sure Minnesota would want to give up the advantage of playing all the time on the large ice surface against UND. But as we saw with Mankato giving up a home game to play at the "X", money talks. The other thing is how do you move non-season ticket holders over that bought specific tickets already for this series?

Yes, but even Michael Vick would agree that a cornered Bulldog is a formidable opponent!

If memory serves, I believe they lost a couple times to CC as well, who at the time were perennial doormats.

I mean comparatively speaking, not as much as some other teams should have. Denver is one team I thought would struggle early because of the departure of many top guns, but they have come out of the gates strong.

Totally agree. Whatever systems they put in place seems to take time to build from year to year, but you would think there wouldn't be that big of a learning curve with a veteran group. Hopefully we won't find out what it feels like to just miss the tourney, but just saying we haven't heard anything with the "Fire Hak" crowd compared to what it would be like in that circumstance.

If they can't break through with a sweep this weekend, I fear they might very well end up within 1 game of .500 by Christmas because with road games at Notre Dame, CC and Tech I don't know if a sweep is a sure thing, and Denver here could be another split. Surely the Sioux could sweep any of those weekends, but if they don't have the urgency now, will they then? Sometimes I think the team thinks it's a badge of honor to make their second half run, and that it is a given every year. We know with how tight the Pairwise gets in the second half, that there are no guarantees and it will take once coming up just shy for the fans to voice their displeasure more than they do now. I think fans have been conditioned for the second half run, which makes them accept some subpar performances the first half.

Didn't see the hit, but when you check, you don't keep both of your arms straight down at your side, you follow through. Again, won't comment on this situation, but if following through is illegal, then MacWilliam deserved to be booted against Boston University because even though he initially hit the guy with his body, his arm came through after and made contact with the head.

Perhaps bringing Adams into the NCHC is a brilliant move. It assures that he won't be officiating an NCAA hockey game involving teams from the NCHC, when it really counts. Perhaps they should bring along the Sheppards and Todd Anderson as well.

Don't know if the major penalty changed anything in the way of outcome or not, but wonder if St. Cloud scoring after the penalty was over took the wind out of the sails. I do think that 5-minute majors can really impact the outcome of a game one way or the other, perhaps more than any single goal could. It wouldn't totally bother me to see any check from behind reviewed like some goals are, simply because they basically could have the same effect on a game.

The inconsistency of these calls is also my pet peeve.

I expected to have that call last weekend when Gaarder got hit from behind, but then again, it was Sheppard officiating the game.

Oh, I guess I just looked at the page with the new additions, and none of them were listed after they verbaled.

Am I missing something? I haven't seen Wade Murphy, Christian Evers, nor Tucker Poolman listed on the 2013 Heisenberg recruiting comittments. Anybody know why they wouldn't be listed on his site?

You never know, but his brother did go to Michigan, so hopefully his college experience was positive.

Adam Tambellini is the BCHL player of the week with 6 points in two games over the weekend.

I guess I wonder with the defense as bad as it has been, why weren't those redshirts pulled? We seemed to pull Golladay's redshirt even though we have more depth at that position than any other.

Was it Hardin, or Ramon Bridges that let the ball roll out?

Too bad UND isn't playing the critical non-conference games after Christmas, because now getting swept at Notre Dame could really put the hurt on this team in the pairwise. I think a timeout could have been warranted in the third period even when UND was holding on to a 2-1 lead. It felt like it was just a matter of time. Maybe if you do that too much early in the year, they don't hold the same authority as they do for the Final Five type timeout. Hopefully were not in for a frustrating first half of the year that will make every game crucial in the second half. At least UND hopefully learned a painful lesson the last two weekends that will help them in league play in the weeks to come.

Don't feel quite as bad about this as the others, simply because I have a feeling he could have had penalty problems in the NCAA as well, but who knows what he would have added on offense and character. He wasn't going to be here for a couple years anyway, so like you said, I think UND has the type of program, that given time to find an elite replacement, will be high up on many recruits list. Would feel worse if they lose Schmaltz.

I believe Lemieux was the recruit that said that when he hung out in the lockerroom when his dad played in pro hockey that the guys who had a college education were the most respected. So much for that I guess. Just hope that Nick Schmaltz doesn't follow suit.