tnt

Really need Denver to win that series, as Hockey East seems to be doing better in pairwise with UConn at #15 with an 8-7-1 record. Of course saying that, Denver will lose. Will Buium be back for the series?

You mean the same NDSU team you said would win 4 games this year. Perhaps the most absurd prediction ever seen on this board.

I was going to say, why not throw a Hail Mary.

Just wondering when you would consider it a rut for hockey like it was for football. Both seem to get to the playoffs but just can’t make the next level.

“Laughing out loud, although pointed a pointed question I think Dubay is right, the effort of the Sioux sucked in the first half. Goaltending D- Defense D Forwards C- PK D PP B Coaching D Intangables F The team hovered around 50+ on the PK nationally Not good, the Power Play was as high as 7th nationally but has sunk to about 17th nationally. That D is pretty accurate. “ I seem to recall more negative posts like this back when there wasn’t a presence in the press box. Guess who posted this? I get it, it is human nature to not be negative with people you know and might have relationships with, but realize that the objectivity can also take a bit of a hit.

Let's just say that being a top ten NHL Draft pick James Patrick the first half of his freshman season had people wondering about that lofty draft status. After that, not so much, as he adjusted quite well to the college game after a short learning curve. Frankly, that is what gives me quite a bit of hope about this team still is that they aren't heavily slanted to veteran portal players. With Zmolek out of the lineup we don't have one upperclassmen at defense. If all the young guys take a jump the second half, there may still be some very good things that could happen going forward. Starting to see a whole lot of confidence in Boisvert and Swanson. Even guys like Wiebe are still growing into new roles, as I am sure Zmolek would have been the go to guy in many situations.

I think your teachers were asking the same thing!

Like I said before, I think if you finish in the top 2 or 3 in the league, the pairwise will take care of itself.

Part of the problem with our programs the past several years is that they have a great performance and have peaked the interest of the fans, but they subsequently can't capitalize on that and sustain any momentum going forward. Hopefully this is different, but just look at many of the game threads from one game to the next, and you get optimism, then it turns to pessimism shortly thereafter.

Right, just like Minnesota might not be in the same position without Snuggerud. With Minnesota being so close the last 3 years, I am sure Snuggerud could envision Minnesota winning it all.

Another year of cheering for anyone other than North Dakota at the national tournament is another year the fans tune out. You can only watch and cheer for the lesser of the evils when it comes to Minnesota, Denver, Michigan, Boston College, Boston University, etc., so much before you become jaded. I have spent far too much time in the past 8-9 years cheering against teams, than cheering for my own. Don't think the recruits don't notice the teams that are consistently contending either. One has to question if Jackson Blake would be here another year if he thought we had a realistic chance to win it all.

No matter, they all were rejuvenated when the bloom was off the rose with their old coaches. Not saying it is time yet, but another year or two with stagnant results in the tourney, and it may be time for some new blood as well. We might have never had the run with Blais if Wanless didn't decide that it was time for a change. How many more years should he have waited, five, ten? We might have missed two national championships. At one time we had a case to make as the elite program in the country, with our high winning percentage in the national tournament and titles. We no longer have the highest winning percentage in the tournament, and overall wins we are being left behind as well.

Benak is mentioned as a possible first rounder as an undersized guy. Is there any buzz as to whether he will be playing college hockey and who might be in the running?

Team of the week. Chaves is no doubt looking at a five year extension as we speak.

How many have changed coaches since then? Apparently it wasn't good enough for those other schools either, so subsequently most of them are top teams now.

"Better fan experience" meaning we sold less tickets than we thought. I thought Nashville atmosphere was fine, until of course UND took the ice. The best fan experience would be if they bring their "A" game with some intensity.

Doesn’t the Ralph actually replay every shot to make sure their stats are accurate. Enga goes on about being professional, then whines about shots on goal stats and that the refs drop the puck wrong? Guess St. Cloud is looking to put up a shots on goal banner at their arena. I would be pissed at Berry if we had the same outcome as St. Cloud did and he complained about those two things. Questionable penalties in close games, perhaps, but shots on goal? UND fans should buy up all the tickets for the rematch in St. Cloud, and bring some imaginative signs.

Let's just say their sense of urgency doesn't always kick in when it should. It shouldn't take being behind late to start buzzing. I saw that urgency last weekend quite often, which gives me hope, but often times if we don't score first, we're not winning. They fought from behind Saturday so, maybe that gives them more confidence going forward if they don't score first. If they can find a way to sweep Arizona State after the New Year, I think they will do enough to make the tournament on Pairwise because they have a lot of teams that if they split with, they are still hovering, and they hopefully would have home ice to gain pairwise as well. Finish top 3 of the league and you should at least be in the running around playoff time.

All I will say is that Berry has to say we took a period off way too often in his postgame interviews.

Because we used to actually have the culture that they always talk about. We have gotten away from the work ethic that made us what we were. Just curious if Mitchell Miller fit that culture?

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.