tnt

Jackson Blake’s dad beat Mac Swanson’s dad in the semifinals when we won our 1997 National Championship. Was hoping the two would team up and win one together, but Mac will have to help bring us number 9, which would probably make him even more memorable than Blake.

Maybe he told him to prove himself at St. Thomas, then he can enter the portal!

Yeah, we complain about guys like Albrecht in the lineup, can you imagine if that was the coach’s kid!

I don’t know, but finishing 2nd in the CCHA this early into their tenure and beating teams like St. Cloud, Duluth and Minnesota State, and taking the gophers to overtime is already more impressive than what Miami has done, and they didn’t have a shiny new arena to recruit to yet.

"His final three years" may be wishful thinking if he impresses.

Agree, I think they are just there to get the fans talking and interested for the upcoming season.

Sadly, UND and "rolling" haven't been connected in any sport lately.

It's a new year, the rankings are on the perception of what the new year is going to bring. If SDSU lost their whole offensive line to FBS, they should still be ranked #1?

The point is, this program would probably have 2-3 less National Championships without guys that came in with little fanfare and were exceptions, rather than the rule. Two NCAA MVP’s were walk ons in Phil Sykes and Matt Henderson. Not saying this guy can even crack the lineup, but you need guys that are willing to work hard and do what they are told. Need more players that aren’t afraid to get dirty and go to the hard areas if for no other reason than to keep the guys that are in the lineup honest.

Zajac played in the BCHL and I think that league doesn’t produce as much NHL talent as it used to, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice college career or as some have pointed out, even move to the next level.

I’m thinking it might be Berube.

No birds on the list? This must not be the NCAA.

Anyone know anything about Heikki Ruohonen who went first in Phase 2 of the USHL draft? Is he a Denver type guy, or do we dip our toes into some more Scandinavian players? Who was our last, Ludvig Hoff or Joel Janatuinen, or am I missing somebody obvious. Could use another Spirko type talent.

I see Dubuque took Cole Spicer in phase 2 of the USHL draft. Guess they are thinking school may not go well again.

Maybe Scott Arniel takes over and brings in Berry again, and Hak ends up back here!

I think the smaller schools that keep embracing this because they don’t think they’ll host are not doing what is in the interest of college hockey as a whole, and even though I think the transfer portal is not in the best interest either, I hope the schools that keep supporting the empty regionals get what they deserve and get raided in the portal.

I would think that if he had the character of the kitty, he would just break ties and move on. Instead, he had to get in one not so veiled shot. A relative seemed to like it though.

If I were TJ, I would ride off into the sunset with what health he has left, and spend his time practicing for the American Century Celebrity golf tournament. Would hate to see him get injured more and not be able to enjoy life after hockey as much. It's not like Washington is going to compete for the Stanley Cup next year.

You never know when you need games in other sports, or maybe even conference affiliation for a move to FBS, with all the conference shifting.

Wasn't there talk about Dane Jackson joining Hakstol in Seattle when he first got the job? If so, I bet Jackson is glad he didn't go that direction. If you last 5 years in the NHL it must seem like a lifetime.

Don't kid yourself, in every sport players have a ton of leverage, especially if there are several of them. It is easier to fire one person, rather than deal with a bunch of unhappy players that aren't going to put forth maximum effort if they don't get their way. I hope Seattle goes years without making the playoffs.

Word is that some of the players said they didn't want to play for Hakstol. Other than the covid season, the last time the Flyers made the playoffs was under Hakstol, so I wonder if the same will be said of the Kraken in the next half decade. Would be interesting to know if the player discontent is due to style of play, or the Hakstol stare.

That's the thing, no way was Seattle going to be able to do the same after every team saw the outcome the first time around. That's why I thought Seattle was doing the sensible thing by building draft capital and developing their young players. Guess we'll see if they have changed their philosophy and spend on high end offensive talent.

If Francis hires his buddy Dean Evason then we'll know where this came from. Will be interesting to see if he does that if they spend a ton of money to be more competitive offensively.

If you're going to scapegoat the coach because they haven't done what Vegas has done, at least spend the money on free agency like Vegas did.