tnt

I think Gross would either finish his career at St. Cloud or turn pro.

He seems really invested on being a leader on this team. Nobody would surprise me, but I think he knows he could benefit by another year with more responsibility.

If we don’t win a title this year, I can see him wanting to be a part of a championship team, knowing we would be contenders. Would assume if he chose to do so we would lose someone, either a recruit or someone currently on the team. You would possibly have pairings: Liv - Verhoeff Mackenzie - Emery Strathmann/Laurila - Carels Strathmann /Laurila - Lindberg Jubenvil - Engels Someone would certainly leave in that scenario. Experience on defense is huge if you want a championship run, so Liv staying would be huge. Hopefully it would be going for back to backs.

If so, you lose a lot of development and are starting from scratch, albeit with very talented players. Think of us a couple years ago with a very young defensive crew. Not a great recipe for a National Championship team with one or two upperclassmen.

Personally, I think Bob is either doing his best to recruit replacement guys like Jackson did when we looked like a mess, or they will show him the door. Be interesting to see if they are active recruiting players in the CHL beyond the already committed Kvasnicka. I think Bob probably is feeling the pressure to turn it around quick, so we’ll see if he is stubborn, or if he changes his philosophy a bit. So many good defensemen in the CHL, that maybe Minnesota could even pull one if they move that direction. Personally, I hope teams use the “All Minnesota” provincialism against them on the recruiting trail in Canada.

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.