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Gotta tell you, if we are up by two in the third (which seldom happens), I am super nervous, and if we are behind by two in the first, I am almost resigned to a loss. When that mindset is even in the back of the players minds, we are in deep trouble!

Yeah, with Laurila taking a back seat to some of the talent on the NDTP program, I was super impressed when I saw his poise and smarts in the prospects game. Think that extra year will pay huge dividends going forward.

Will Zellers with almost .25 more points per game than the next closest in the USHL, with 8 goals, 2 assists in his last 3 games.

Did this happen, or are you saying “if” it happens?

If there is someone you’re convinced is the next David Carle, then you absolutely go that route. If someone thinks that is Garrett Raboin, then I don’t know that someone who is already a coach is going to move to an assistant or associate coach even if he is the heir apparent at a program like North Dakota. I think it would be the same for Smaby, he is either going to be head coach or stay put. Of course this is all conjecture and premature, as this season isn’t over. It doesn’t seem likely, but if UND went on a run like Hakstol’s teams and you have all the major guys coming back, who knows what you do with a lame duck coach.

If he is in town, it would be negligent of Chaves to not at least broach the subject with him. I am sure, like Schmidt did when he left, Hakstol has learned quite a bit at the highest level. How attractive would a two time NHL coach be to many recruits aspiring to reach that level. Yes, we’ve seen that you can’t always go home and it works out like in the movies, but I would be open to the possibility, just like I am excited for Eric Schmidt. Maybe that won’t work out either, but the sense of excitement about that has the fanbase engaged again. Can’t afford to hold off as long as Minnesota did with Lucia, where there were half empty seats at Mariucci.

Hey, if we could bring back a guy that would be laser focused on that missing element of his legacy, and get our culture back on track in the meantime, I wouldn’t mind having a coach for about 5 years, and have an assistant as an heir apparent that will continue that culture. Right now, somewhere in the transition we have lost that.

Is Hakstol living in Grand Forks? Heard nothing but rumor and speculation that he wouldn’t mind another crack at it. Might be wishful thinking passed on as a possibility. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a long term thing, but I think it would be good to at least move our culture back in the right direction. Yes, purely speculation and rumor, but this is a message board. Regardless, could use an heir apparent that would bring that culture. Lot of young talented coaches out there as well. Will take a lot to turn around this season, and things could really go south if the leadership in the locker room can’t hold things together. At least we haven’t seen the likes of that during Berry’s tenure, but let’s face it, UND aspires to much more than being average and an afterthought on the National scene.

How many times can Berry use the phrase “need to play a full 60” before it falls on him? When he says we’ve been playing some good hockey, I don’t know what he is looking at. I remember when UND would consistently hold teams to 20 shots or less, not 40. Say what you want about Jake Brandt, he wasn’t afraid to call out bad play. Scanlan doesn’t seem to want to call out anyone.

Let’s just say culture matters. Western has it, we don’t. Western lost the majority of their top scorers, but Western still plays to their identity. What is our identity? Don’t see anyone going hard to the net or being hard to play against. The sign of a good coach is doing more with less, instead of vice versa, which seems to be the case for us.

So in a game you needed in the worst way, you have a 1-0 lead and know that the next goal could go a long way in determining the game, and Western comes out in the second with the intensity. Kind of reminds me of our loss to Michigan in the tournament last year. I know games ebb and flow all the time, but when you come out of crucial intermissions and are totally overwhelmed, that is a problem with your intensity, especially when you are getting closer to desperation mode.

Exactly, by leading by example by still giving everything in practice despite not seeing the ice all the time. Frankly, if it is basically a wash between him and a young guy, I would rather the young guy get time, so if this year doesn’t turn around we at least have a bit more experience going forward with potentially a bigger upside.

Yes, and the biggest problem for this inconsistent team is it doesn’t give them any room for error the second half, especially against those teams behind them in the pairwise. I do not want to hear Berry touting at the end of the season that if we could have got in the tournament we were playing well like they said a few years ago when St. Cloud ended their season in overtime at the Frozen Faceoff.

Yes, those games are killers, but even if they won them, they would still need to play well down the stretch. There are probably top 10 teams in the pairwise right now that will be watching the tournament on tv, because you can move up or down quite a bit from weekend to weekend, much less with all league games from here on out.

But I thought Grand Forks boys were such great players.

I do think Berry needs to hold some guys like McLaughlin accountable for all the back pass turnovers or blue line dangling he continues to make game after game. Perron has the same issues. If we have to cheat that much to try and get offense, it wouldn’t bode well for us, even if we did get to a one and done tournament. Need to turn that around soon.

Exactly! Even if you think it was iffy, you don’t give a ref a chance to even it up. Refs don’t like to decide the game, so Kunz made it easy for them.

It’s like the hockey team is trying to outdo the women’s basketball team for a mythical turnover crown! How many times did they back pass giving Western outnumbered situations going the other way.

Was very impressed with his game last night in the prospects game. Seems like he will be a nice penalty killer. Would take it if he could develop into an Austin Poganski type player for us. Really thought all our guys in that game played pretty well. After watching Benak as well, someone will be getting a really nice player.

Western hasn't exactly done anything in the National Tournament either, so why is that "winning" so much better, considering they haven't won league titles either.

Would be nice to make it 5 and add Benak to the list.

If there was division, wouldn't they be at a totally different bar?

So, then once again, name the source.

So by your definition, every team that Hakstol had at UND had a divided locker room.

Source?