tnt

It really depends on who we get in the portal, and how they are able to be dependable playing big minutes. Yes, it isn’t good we lost our only returner, but I don’t look at Moore as a make or break our season guy. If we can get a freshman or two that surprises in their freshmen year like Frisch did when he supplanted Tychonick, then the progression of the guys up front could make us formidable. Part of the guarded optimism is looking at some of the guys other teams that finished above us lost as well. Western may lose 3 or 4 to the pros besides their Seniors; St. Cloud lost 3 experienced defense and one to portal as well as senior forwards; Duluth lost Kaiser and Howard along with Seniors and a few portals; Omaha, well they are Omaha. Denver is clearly going to be the favorite again even without Chrona. Again, it all depends on who they get in the portal and whether they can be difference makers like Anhorn was for St. Cloud. So part of the optimism comes from others pain as well, and the hope that as many of our portal guys work out as possible.

Both Minnesota and Mankato will both be breaking in new talent on the back end as well, so hopefully if UND focuses on bonding early in the summer like they did a couple seasons ago when they had a lot of turnover, they can get some chemistry started. I just don’t think they had the same focus last off season as they did the previous, and I think they took success for granted, as evidenced by how many players regressed from the previous season. The off season work ethic will tell the tale of whether we can mitigate all of the losses on the back end.

I know there will be some growing pains next season, even so I don’t want to hear Hennessy keep saying how young they are on the back end, because the last time I checked the coaches are the ones that are supposed to make sure the pipeline and roster are balanced. With the talent we have up front, we can’t decide we need to stay back and play a trap so we can try make up for the inexperience on the back end. Keep it in the offensive end and play to our strength and draw penalties and hope our power play is as good as last year, and five on five gets better.

Not saying this is the case, but if there were some bad attitudes and they sat down with players and discussed issues in the year end meetings, and these decisions were what came of it, then I’m o.k. if the chemistry this year was a result of a cancerous attitude. Would be nice if Schlossman can ask if these were expected, or mutual partings. Maybe the realization the culture isn’t right and they needed a reboot. Need to start hearing some positive news, either with the weather, the team, or hopefully both!

Plus he hasn't got to work with Ulmer yet.

Portz probably worked out best because he still had a few years left, as would Berg. Since they need to get their class sizes back in a little better order, don't know how Larson could fit in without pushing someone in the pipeline down the road further.

But to me, that is like us not wanting a big minute eater like Frisch back. Just seemed curious, especially when you do have a young group coming in.

With Warren playing so many minutes for BC, I am very curious why they didn't bring him back with such a great group of freshmen coming in. Does anyone have any info as to why he isn't going back there?

True. But to me it would have been nice if the players actually did contemplate the year ending loss last year to Notre Dame rather than just using it as a promotional video for the Ralph before games. At some point something needs to motivate these players, and waiting until they are too far down in the pairwise and having to win out as the only scenario doesn't inspire confidence. There seems to have been a level of satisfaction after last year, rather than a contemplation on how to take it a step further, as witnessed by very poor starts by a number of players, veterans included. I am hoping this offseason is focused like the one previous, but the expectation level for this program needs to be more consistent. It seems like the talk is there, but the actions don't always seem to follow.

For me the biggest puzzle is Bast. He was injured almost until Thanksgiving, and still saw a bunch of games after that despite being behind on conditioning and game speed.

You were way off!

Looks like Berg is better than 50% in the circle, and is actually bigger than I thought he was, so no worries about getting too small up front.

With his numbers, he would have been 4th in scoring on UND. It would be nice though if they could get a big two-way center with faceoff ability that they can count on in the clutch.

But in the same token, how often have the coaches said that they have to do their due diligence and make sure the guys they get in the portal fit? Apparently they didn't follow their plan. I also don't think it is fair to insinuate that Calder and Budy weren't good teammates without knowing what is going on in the locker room. We did win a championship with them, so maybe it is this year where there were personality conflicts.

Agree, I am sure UND would have tweeted something similar. Frankly, I don't know what will motivate them anymore. Right when I think they should come out of the gate on fire, they lay an egg. I see so many teams that are "doing the little things" and "putting it all on the line" way more often than I see it on our side of the ledger. I am starting to question if we lack the competitive edge we had under Hakstol. Don't see us outcompeting teams very often, or haven't heard the phrase "they are hard to play against" regarding UND much anymore.

If Berry didn't force his players to watch the selection show, and subsequent takeover of Scheels Arena by rivals, maybe he needs to show them that those rivals are now mocking us.

I saw Panzer had a goal and two assists today and was plus 3, but it was curious he didn’t get a star of the game, but Maddox Fleming was third star with no points and -2. Maybe the stats were wrong, but it seems odd.

Can’t wait for the gopher version of the Vikings “Love Boat” episode. After what happened to Motzko’s son, I would hope that any functions at this place would have some supervision.

So you are good with 1 season ending in a win, and most ending well before the Frozen Four.

Agree, UND needs to be way more aggressive when they get up, but you can still be aggressive and not play wide open giving up a ton of odd man rushes. They need to keep forechecking, not go conservative. I would say that is going to be really necessary next year, because they will need to be staying out of our end as much as possible, like Caulfield suggested.

…and if Quinnipiac wins it all, do we adapt or die by going even further into the portal with 5th year seniors. I guess we aren’t saying why can’t we be more like Duluth anymore. Why can’t we be more like that high flying team Denver that didn’t score in the last two games? Yes, yesterday was eye opening, but so was the drop off of Denver.

Exactly, which is why they need Moore to revert back to his sophomore season. Find two reliable portals and have one play with Strathmann, one with Livanavage, and pair Moore with Wiebe. Who knows how things work out, I know most of us weren’t expecting Frisch to play a lot his freshman year, but he played so well he forced Tychonick out the door. Hopefully we get a few pleasant surprises. Maybe a guy like Benoit becomes a steady guy for us.

Let's not forget the defensemen on this gopher team took some pretty big lumps against us when they were freshmen. They will lose a lot after this year as well. Yes, they have some great players waiting in the wings, but dominance as freshmen isn't always a given.

I think it’s because Carle doesn’t let them play!

Plus 23 blocked shots. The rope a dope isn’t a recipe against Minnesota.