farce poobah

The contrarian might say that we really NEED a School of Forestry.

Dave, my compliments on a well written, passionate viewpoint. Keep up the good work. Your time travelling brought me into the wayback machine, sitting in the orange seats of the old St Paul Civic Center, surrounded by a sea of Badger Cardinal and White and Gopher Maroon and Gold. Year after year, and UND not there. Then came the upturn in 1994-1995, when the Sioux won their first playoff series in 4 years, on the road at St Cloud, and I remember being really excited because I saw a change in how we played the game. Anyway, my response is mostly along the lines of "North Dakota's 8th National Title Starts off 20 Seasons of Success". Fundamentally, UND hockey is in much stronger position now than 20 years ago. And I have no idea about the roster over the next 20 years, but the behind the scenes foundation - excuse me if I call these drivers of success - are unbeaten when mapped against any other NCAA school, and in a lot stronger position than in 1996. First, in the modern NCAA, its all about the Benjamins. UND's incredible fan base supports at home on the road, whenever and whereever. (I would place a bet that we outdraw BC in Madison Square Garden, but don't expect any takers.) This translates into an incredible revenue stream. Hockey Benjamins support a lot more than hockey, and I'm fine with that. I'm also happy that it gives us the flexibility needed to fund other drivers of success. Second is coaching. It's been a strength since Gasparini took over (count me as someone who will light off my Farce helmet anytime he comes in the room), and it was time for Blais to replace him, but those two searches took over a month because the AD at the time wanted to see what was out there. By contrast, the last two searches have taken zero time, indicating that succession planning had been discussed. This is evidence of strong management and strong planning. Its also a sign of how good the program is when guys stay here as assistants when they could be going elsewhere for a head job. I had wondered in recent years why Brad Berry had stayed; that became obvious last May. No disruption of talent pipelines, no disruption of systems, processes, structures, and an already strong program may have gotten a bit stronger as part of the change. With 2 NHL head coaches and 2 more assistants, getting a reputation as a place that develops coaches as well as players is emerging and can only help attract future talent. (I am also a huge fan of Cary Eades, and yes back in the day, toasted his ring at a local tavern. But after the fact, it seems to me that change also helped strengthen the coaching staff.) Third is culture. Player interviews in recent years have increasingly mentioned these "bigger picture" elements. Believe it, earn it, raise it is a great summary. "Through These Doors Walk Champions", "Speed Kills", the daily reminder from NHL media machines of exploits of recent players. Gasparini was an exceptional leader, and I don't think the actual culture has changed all THAT much over the last 40 years, but I think its now articulated more concisely and talked about more. Fourth is facilities. That's not just the part that fans regularly see, the best arena around, but also the weight room, the rehab facilities, the experienced training staff, etc etc. This gets talked about a lot, so I will just note that 20 years ago we were "on par" at best, and now nobody's better. Fifth is recruitment. Its time consuming, its all about relationships, but UND is now in position to compete selectively for guys that fit. 20 years ago, we had a draft choice or two (the 1997 and 2000 teams were almost all undrafted, which makes their accomplishments all the more amazing). Kudos here to recruitment, as it seems we recruit captains disproportionately compared to some other NCAA teams (you know who I'm talking about), and character seems to be a staple of candidate selection. Also, its now a case of selecting guys that fit, and using the ever expanding network of ex-players, ex-coaches, ex-teammates as a way to gain information needed to select guys that will fit. Put another way, its hard to think of a recruiting mistake (and this in a competitive environment where a couple guys that don't pan out can really set the whole program back). Sixth is peers / conference. We're finally in a conference of like minded schools. Schools where hockey is #1 on campus, and schools that are like minded about attracting NHL-caliber talent and preparing guys for the next level. The WCHA is falling behind fairly rapidly, not because they are smaller but because of their attitudes (insulated schedule, no 3x3 overtime, no shootout, refereeing stuck in the 1990's, etc etc). Big Ten hockey is easily rebutted in a competitive recruiting scenario as "irrelevant" on Big Ten campuses ( behind volleyball, M&W basketball, football, and wrestling). Hockey East has a few great teams at the top, but too many cupcakes which hampers player development. We're in the right conference, for the right reasons, and this will continue to emerge over time as the right choice. Much stronger position than in 1996. Seventh is FCOA. In a 25-man roster, I've felt it patently unfair to have only 18 scholarships to pass around. FCOA is roughly a one-third increase in money payable to athletes, which translates roughly out to 24 scholarships ... This is a big boost to our competitiveness, not only against the rest of NCAA but more importantly against Canadian Junior Hockey. Count me as one who would love to see the number of scholarships increase to 25 and enough to allow the occasional voluntary redshirt athlete to develop (but I am also realistic enough to know its unlikely to happen). In any case, going forward, a UND commitment to FCOA strengthens us compared to the past 20 years. To conclude, I'm not going to predict outcomes for the next 20 years, but I will note that the drivers of success are in much stronger condition than 20 years ago. The rest is up to the boys in the room. Aloha.

Dallas' Roussel is a !@#!$!. Capital D as in Diver. Call him just once and I bet it stops.

Thank you for inserting some facts into the discussion. Much appreciated. I would observe that UND has done a nice job of managing their affairs so as to achieve a balance in gender equity.

Very astute. Please don't feed the troll. .

OMG!!! A broken beer bottle! I hope they were able to recover the beer.

Shades of 1987 ...

That makes it even.

I was happy at the karma of the second UND goal, coming right after a couple Q interferences that could have been called.

It wasn't real people posting. It was that crazy Microsoft social media robot.

Also, I was impressed - again! - with Cam Johnson. When some other guys got nervous, he stayed focused. Hats off to Cam.

I note the Pacific Rim line was minus 5 tonight. Clearly, they are better than the CCM line.

As it stands today, Russia's track and field athletes are not eligible to compete in the 2016 Olympics. The cynic in me says they sold down the river the U18 team, in order to be able to say they are now seriously implementing a real anti-doping program. I'm not buying it for a minute.

Nice candidate - I am not familiar with Kaufman, but he sounds like their version of Steph Pattyn. I've been a fan of Eades since his days as a player - as intense off the ice as on it. If the head guy was anyone but Blais, I can't see him pursuing this scenario. But maybe ... if he gets along with the AD.

On a totally different subject, it will be interesting to see who applies at Nebraska Omaha. Given Blais' age, and the lack of an heir apparent coaching elsewhere who would come "home", I think a lot of the NCHC/WCHA/Big Ten assistants have this job on the radar, as a stepping stone to a high-profile head coaching job in a couple years. Any buzz?

Its also crap that Duncan Keith's 6 games is the longest suspension of the year.

As long as we get to post mortem on Michigan's season (which is fun when it happens that we're still playing), I think their season long preparation left them short. They only played 3 games against tournament teams. UND's pace, puck pursuit, physicality all seemed to catch them by surprise.

Agree that its a huge loss - SCSU starts next fall with no goaltenders with any college experience. I'm surprised only 3 SCSU players have been drafted AND I'd be surprised if they don't lose a couple more underclassmen.

Its cool when the UND departures don't hit this list until mid April.

If there's a contest for #2 all-time North Dakota sports story behind Mr Maris, I vote for Fritz Pollard. He went into the heart of Nazi Germany in the 1936 Olympics and won a silver medal. Pretty damn brave. http://und.edu/news/2016/02/fritz-pollard.cfm And, to the thread topic, I bet he could beat Forrest Gump, too.

Classy reaction from Michigan's Alex Kile:

I think Quinnipiac has enough speed and skill to keep up with BC. Difference is BC has a lot of experience at the Frozen Four, and all its distractions.

UMD needs a heavy line.

I like that Compher was the one that passed the puck to Johnson for UND's 2nd goal. Thanks Dude.