tnt

I agree it is nice to have that as a way to fill in the gap, especially like we had a couple years ago when we had no returning defensemen. I would however say that scenario is a failure in management of your classes and really your recruits that didn't fit/meet expectations. If the "culture" that they always talk about is real, then outside of filling a gap here or there, why would you continue to pull from other team's culture rather than developing your own and knowing exactly what you have in your locker room? I think we are all guilty of looking at the portal as a fix all and a bunch of shiny new objects, but sometimes you have to trust in your own development methods.

I also don't think Berry has it in him to make changes to his coaching staff. I tend to agree with Blais, that ten years at a place, and then you start to get stale. When you are locked into making a pretty nice salary for college hockey, I think whether you like to believe it or not, you get comfortable. Heck, when I first started my current position, I wouldn't have ever been on a fan forum during work hours. I think it is human nature to get comfortable. I think we saw out of Gino his loyalty to his assistants, and I think it hurt him having basically two goaltending coaches. Sure you can grow into different roles, but really having someone with an expertise sometimes is very helpful. Sometimes a youthful enthusiasm combined with that expertise can pay huge dividends -- See David Carle.

So, under the other Bubba, we made the playoffs a good portion of the time. Why did Goon think it was time for a change there? Me thinks his objectivity is clouded a bit. Whether Schmidt takes the program to another level is still to be seen, but there is a fire in the fanbase that has been absent for quite some time. I would argue the fire in the hockey fanbase is trending the wrong direction as well, but I am willing to see where this year heads from here. Maybe Berry truly can focus the team to actually peaking at the right time this year. I am still hopeful that will happen. If they miss the tournament again, there needs to be some soul searching.

Under two of those coaches my expectation was that we would win, or at least show up for big games. Right now, when we get big games, destination games, WCHA Final Five games, my expectation is we will most likely be going home early. I think our fanbase has gone from that of being confident of a win in those situations, to a resigned fanbase of being hopeful, but not very confident. I admit some of our fans needed to be humbled a bit, because our cockiness was beginning to rival Minnesota's, but if it continues it may kill the golden goose which has had UND amongst the elite teams in college hockey. We can't afford to fall off the face with the fans like Minnesota did for a while, because we don't have the corporate money. We also can't afford missing out on the National media attention that deep runs in the National tournament gives teams. Year in, and year out our team would be one of the teams always talked about as a title contender. Not so much anymore. I think you can see that in us not being in the top 3 or 4 teams for most of the guys that are Top Ten NHL draft prospects.

You can say it is on the players, and it is, but at some point the players need to be held accountable. You wouldn't want to cross Gino, Blais, Hakstol, or even Eades by lack of effort, but I don't think Berry has that kind of presence. What absolutely dumbfounds me is when your team hasn't won a tournament game in forever, and you have the lead going into the third against Michigan, only to come out and be outworked. When all the fans know that in a one and done, you can't have a few shifts off, nevermind a whole period, I don't know how they can't get that concept through to the players.

...and if you look at how long Minnesota waited to replace Doug Woog with Don Lucia, you wonder if Minnesota would be equal with UND in National Championships had they not waited to move on from the nice guy. Basically I think it is time for UND to make some progress in the National tourney, because it isn't just all bad luck in a one and done situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Woog

If college sports is going the way of professional sports, expecting fans to contribute above and beyond not only season ticket prices, Champions Club memberships, but now to basically pay the players to come here because an education isn't enough, then I think some expectations go with that. Frankly, I thought UND hockey had expectations before all that began, but I guess I was wrong.

I would be very surprised if Berry takes another hockey job after UND, even if he was let go. I think he would just go watch his kid play.

After your prediction earlier this year concerning the Bison, it is kind of hard to take you seriously.

We both know he isn't getting fired no matter the result of the rest of the season, whether they make the tournament or not. The latter sure would lead to interesting decisions though, as to what they would do as far as an extension to keep recruiting transparent for the recruits. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

I guess I would say that before most of those injuries happened, we got swept by Cornell for the 2nd time in about 3 years, and this is when we had about 6 games under our belt compared to their first game of the year. Also, I would think a split with Bemidji should be the minimum result because of the disparity in resources, regardless of injuries. Most people I think would like to see how the year plays out, and what kind of progress they make. If they are making big strides and they are coming together, that is one thing, if they come out in the final period of a tournament game and get manhandled again, then I would wonder if it was because they are inexperienced or poorly prepared. At some point you have to win the tournament games to get that experience.

I would think the second half of this year should weigh heavily into what you do with Berry's contract. If they really can build and become a team that is peaking at the right time and make a run, I think that will play a huge part in what they do in terms of extension. Without that run, any talk of extension needs to be short term and incentive laden based on future post season results. I would argue that should be the case regardless.

Hopefully finishing top 2 or 3 in the league and things will take care of themselves.

Yep, and still as cringeworthy!

Your St. Cloud State education is showing. Lose all your money one night, then gamble with credit the next — brilliant!

Do you ever watch hockey? Players can almost just look at a goalie wrong and there will be a reaction from their teammates.

Yeah, it’s too bad we couldn’t pull out that second game against Denver because we would basically have about the same record. Need to make up with a sweep tomorrow, then we have the gauntlet of teams that could make or break our season with guys getting healthy.

I really like Cody Croal’s game. Hopefully all the time and situations these guys are playing in, will pay dividends down the road.

I don’t know, but I would bet Larsen is the type of coach that will have his players bring it tomorrow because I’m sure he isn’t happy with his teams game tonight. Will Berry have his team as fired up after the confrontation?

It’s not like we haven’t missed almost as many.

If you are going to use the dump back pass this late in the game, you better be 100 percent sure.

Exactly!

Biggest period of the year coming up! How do they respond?

So, do they play like that in the third, or do they sit back and try defend the lead? We get scored on once and it often snowballs from there. They need to stay on the offensive.