tnt

...and then you would hear from fans that say, how do you sit your 2nd leading goal scorer when you have issues scoring goals.

When this has basically been the sentiment for all 3 of the major sports at UND, I think more than coaching changes should be on the table.

When did Ryan commit to Minnesota, because I believe he was 16 when Grant was already with the gophers.

If they are just kids, then they should be playing for the love of the sport, and NIL money wouldn't be as big as it has become. With pay, and a free education come expectations.

So if Berry did that, and our biggest rival won two National Championships because of it, you would never let him forget that. Probably lost out on 3 great college players because of that, because UND probably would have got Danny Irmen as well.

The thing about players like Parise, Toews and Oshie is that they were super skilled, but they were also the hardest workers, just relentless. Don't know that we have had many of our best players being the hardest workers lately. It is kind of hard for the other less skilled guys to be slacking, when you see the elite players with a dog on bone attitude.

The student section has quite the dilemma then, because the next coach might not be as receptive to the "Sioux Forever" chant!

Having a lame duck coach that will be making recruiting decisions isn’t great though. Even if he gets a few studs, the new coach is going to have to re-recruit them. If a player is torn between a few programs, are they going to commit to a coach that could be gone the next year? Tough position to be in if you don’t expect Berry to be the coach, unless he has a good year, and even then, does 1 good year deserve another extension?

Are we certain they chanted this? I heard some were chanting "We want Hobie"! Did they chant both things, or did people hear "Fire Berry" when it was actually "We want Hobie"?

But it wasn't the points that won Denver the championship, it was the defense. Most of those points came in the regular season, where we actually won the league title. Denver didn't score much in the national tournament, they just held the other team to basically nothing.

Regardless of the coach, another year under the belt of Swanson, Boisvert, Perron and Livanavage, along with the addition of Zellers and Laurila and you have a nice group of skill. Most guys take a bit to figure it out and become real confident, and I think Swanson can really take that big step next year. Boisvert has really met expectation, but he hasn’t got as much support from the upperclassmen as we need to be successful.

Wonder what the incentives are on both contracts.

We’ve become all too good at doing that in the National tournament as well!

We can’t all be as smart as you, who wanted Bubba over DeBoer and were quite happy with the selection of Chaves as AD. When can we fire you?

Yeah, not seeing him or Portz changing the outcome very much, as we always heard that guys like Strinden weren’t being used enough.

Suffice it to say, that when you turn over your whole defensive group from a couple years ago to try and start fresh, then we’re right back in a poor situation a couple years later, when teams like Western have turned over most of their roster during the same period and are thriving, you have a problem. Your leaders like Jamernik and Strinden aren’t exactly leading by example either. I expect those type guys to go through a wall for the program, and you don’t see that extra effort you would expect from them. We’ll see if a few weeks dwelling on this will turn their attention to the next series in St. Cloud, because I know Larsen will have St. Cloud ready. If UND lays an egg, the heat will really be turned up.

Is that why UND has so many turnovers at the blue line going the other way? They are hardly a grind team anymore like they were under Hakstol. Don’t cycle the puck as much either.

More money. Better ability to recruit high end players. Better facilities. More NIL opportunities. Better fanbase. Probably for the same reason you think we should win a Natty every year. If he just wants to maintain a head coaching job without much pressure, then absolutely stay put, but most competitive people want access to the best opportunity to win it all.

Gotta tell you, if we are up by two in the third (which seldom happens), I am super nervous, and if we are behind by two in the first, I am almost resigned to a loss. When that mindset is even in the back of the players minds, we are in deep trouble!

Yeah, with Laurila taking a back seat to some of the talent on the NDTP program, I was super impressed when I saw his poise and smarts in the prospects game. Think that extra year will pay huge dividends going forward.

Will Zellers with almost .25 more points per game than the next closest in the USHL, with 8 goals, 2 assists in his last 3 games.

Did this happen, or are you saying “if” it happens?

If there is someone you’re convinced is the next David Carle, then you absolutely go that route. If someone thinks that is Garrett Raboin, then I don’t know that someone who is already a coach is going to move to an assistant or associate coach even if he is the heir apparent at a program like North Dakota. I think it would be the same for Smaby, he is either going to be head coach or stay put. Of course this is all conjecture and premature, as this season isn’t over. It doesn’t seem likely, but if UND went on a run like Hakstol’s teams and you have all the major guys coming back, who knows what you do with a lame duck coach.

If he is in town, it would be negligent of Chaves to not at least broach the subject with him. I am sure, like Schmidt did when he left, Hakstol has learned quite a bit at the highest level. How attractive would a two time NHL coach be to many recruits aspiring to reach that level. Yes, we’ve seen that you can’t always go home and it works out like in the movies, but I would be open to the possibility, just like I am excited for Eric Schmidt. Maybe that won’t work out either, but the sense of excitement about that has the fanbase engaged again. Can’t afford to hold off as long as Minnesota did with Lucia, where there were half empty seats at Mariucci.

Hey, if we could bring back a guy that would be laser focused on that missing element of his legacy, and get our culture back on track in the meantime, I wouldn’t mind having a coach for about 5 years, and have an assistant as an heir apparent that will continue that culture. Right now, somewhere in the transition we have lost that.