tnt

So it's just not direct, but the coaches still need to let the NIL know they are recruiting somebody in order for them to offer the NIL money.

Since when was Denver on Highway 2?

It does rotate, so we will see them 4 times some years, but yeah, it is a great gauge for where we need to be against a very skilled team. We obviously play them a lot better in Grand Forks.

With the Pod system next year in the league and playing teams 4 times even less, winning the league title will be more determined on the strength of your POD any given year, so UND should be more focused on just building their game throughout the year. Probably a good thing for Western, Omaha and Miami that they are in the same pod, as Omaha and Western lose a lot, and Miami… is Miami. Denver’s pod with Arizona & CC could be good, but traditionally ours will be toughest with Duluth and St. Cloud. Hopefully that will sharpen us a little better, and we might not have to play CC and Omaha, so we can have a better record. Think Duluth will be more skilled, but young, and St. Cloud will have to replace studs on defense, and not sure if Veeti Miettinen is back or not. I won’t be sad if this means we won’t have to always play Omaha the last weekend, because I liked it when who you played was a crapshoot. Will be different for sure, and to me with even less interaction between top teams, kind of takes away from the league title. I can see a perceived weaker pod like the Omaha one next year still in the running for high league or home ice finish if they can really take advantage and beat up on their pod and play average hockey beyond that.

So, how does the NIL work in regards to recruiting for someone like Wood or Pohlkamp? Obviously the coaches would have to let the collective know who they are interested in, so is it then up to the collective to offer the athlete, or do they then work through the coaches?

Oh, I’ll take them, but they could be 2 year players, which is fine if you have built the roster around them with some experience. I get more excited about guys like Swanson that could be with us for a couple championships. If Blake leaves it will be disappointing because I saw him as at least a three year player. Was hoping he would give us a father/son tandem that both won National Championships. Also love players like Cole Smith that are so competitive that they never let up and invest everything in their game. I know guys like Toews, Oshie, Zajac and Parise never won a championship, but would love to see that kind of first round talent, where your hardest workers are also your most talented players. A lot of times first round talent have always just been head and shoulders above the competition and don’t always have that extra push. We’ve all seen guys that think it is about them, Lucius, cough, cough!

If one of them win it this year, doesn’t mean much when you have other teams that have been rolling in first round draft picks the last decade and don’t even have league titles to show for it.

…and in the past we agreed that recruit rankings and high draft picks don’t mean you are going to win it all. In fact someone pointed out the number of first round picks Denver has had. Seemed like Minnesota always had higher ranked classes, even in the Blais era. Agree we need to see results, but don’t know if that entails getting this certain player, or that player, but moreso a change in mindset or philosophy in the postseason to make sure we are playing our best hockey that time of year, rather than peaking early.

Maybe Carle sold him on all the doobie rolling they do in Colorado, which may mean Pohlkamp won’t amount to “jack squat”.

Will take the exchange of Pohlkamp for Zeev Buium if that ends up happening.

I say compromise and either play 7 minutes of overtime 4 on 4, or 5 on 5, and call it a tie after that.

I remember Parise liking the smaller campus feel that was like Shattuck. Each recruit is different, some like the big cities and big campuses, some like a small town feel. Some, the amenities mean a lot, some are sold on educational opportunities that suit their pursuits.

Hopefully Dillon Simpson can use his personality to bond with these guys and convince them this is a nice place to play college hockey.

... and UND wasn't beaten with a lead after two periods all year, 20-0. Guess this means that we need to use Hobie for shootouts now!

Yeah, it's like UND men's basketball, kind of hard to be totally invested when every time you develop and have good talent they take off for greener pastures.

How many are actually sports fans, and how many are people that don't give a rip about sports and think it would be wrong to get rid of someone especially in something as unimportant as sports.

I definitely think we lose a few players as well.

Which is why I don't understand how people can want them to win next week. It is hard to recruit against them now, it will be more difficult if they keep racking up titles. We recruit sometimes against BC and BU, but we are recruiting against Denver most of the time.

The point is they want a more proven commodity if they feel it could be needed to make a run.

That will give half the fans the opportunity to say what a mistake it was to start__________. We already saw that at the Frozen Faceoff.

As Schlossman said a while ago, advisors are gauging interest as early as January, so it could be a quick process, and guessing it wouldn’t be a lock at that point, even if they knew Persson was leaving. Being that TJ was injured, why commit until you know he comes back well from the injury.

Was going to say Semper Fi, “always faithful’”, but being a two time transfer that wouldn’t fit, and Marines might not appreciate that.

This is a bit of a concern, especially when we talk about culture. Don’t want people to come because they are pampered.

I think Schlossman pointed out a long time ago that advisors were testing the waters mid season and that most had already had some idea where they wanted to go, so Sandelin’s point is common knowledge. I think most of us think it is insane. The thing is, it could get worse if indeed NHL teams try pushing their draft picks to certain teams. Don’t know how you fix it at this point, as the cat is out of the bag.

What about Berg, Boisvert, Jamernik, or Swanson and Wilkie? Obviously we won a league championship with McLaughlin at center, but they want to clean up a few issues they had with faceoffs and puck possession late in the year.