[Dane Jackson named head coach]

Why is no one talking about Colten St. Clair as an assistant option?  He's got quite a track record in the USHL in very difficult circumstances.

[COMMITTED UND Recruits]

This Kernan kid sounds like a great addition to the program.  I love the intangibles that his coach talks about.

Cameron Berg type?

[2025 Transfer portal]

19 hours ago, .357 said:

Makes complete sense. A school, after all, usually foots the entire bill of an upper player's scholastic & food expenses while playing for them; plus all the time spent instructing him to elevate his game. Then a player leaves & the school is left without any recompense. A pro team gets compensated when a player leaves outside of free agency, no reason why a college team couldn't either. Almost all relationships these days are transactional.

UND & the other big boys can better absorb these unexpected losses, but it's a precarious & unfair situation for the smaller schools who always have to act as feeder programs for the more established schools. If you want to make it less of an uphill battle for the smaller programs to succeed, a balancing needs to happen. The disparity between the NCHC, BIG10, HEA and the AHA & CCHA will only get wider in the coming years.

Imagine how defeating it is for a team that's already struggling to have 2 of its better players in talks with other teams during the season. Cancer is defined as the uncontrolled growth & spread of abnormal cells ... I'd posit that a cancer in the locker room is the same principle, but instead of mutated cells spreading, you have a lackadaisical attitude that slowly affects your teammates around you because you're not trying as hard as you once did; thereby affecting their play, as well.

Not going as hard into the corners for loose pucks, not sacrificing your body to make a play, gliding instead of skating hard, taking shifts off, backing away from the normal smack talk & scrums between whistles because you just don't care anymore ... it all adds up. Physically there but mentally checked out.

Exactly x2

[2025 Transfer portal]

57 minutes ago, tnt said:

Since everything is getting to be more like pro sports anyway, the team losing a player if it is of the players volition should get some compensation.   

Whatever the NIL deal is, also gets paid to the "losing" school

[2025 Transfer portal]

4 hours ago, 78 und grad said:

Good thoughts. I believe excoach dean b said something like. A und hockey should leave before the 9/10 yr mark. If not, the fans want to run you out of town. I believe i heard or read this somewhere? Go sioux

My recollection was he meant that you lose your edge after about 10 years...and time for a new challenge.

 

4 hours ago, 90siouxfan said:

Perhaps Berry had a sense of honor that is being systematically removed from college hockey, and from society in general.  Hearing that potential players had been told "sorry, we are full" makes me think that Berry commits to a recruit  and will honor that commitment no matter the consequences.  People that left early under him, were they shown the door, or was it more the player deciding to move elsewhere?

Hope this UMD player works out, a new facet of being a fan that I will struggle with is my dislike of an opposing player, mostly due to his play, but now I am supposed to be happy and welcoming....   Does Jax have a class on "how not to dive", seems prudent at this point. 

Things can be in tension.  If you're making a commitment to a recruit and expecting them to honor their side of it, I totally get you can't just Mike Eaves a kid and I respect Berry for standing up to his commitments, regardless how they turn out.

Not saying that's what he did or didn't do.

And I know that can be in tension with winning at all costs.  Tough spot for a coach who feels their word is their bond, especially these days.

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

1 hour ago, DL Sioux said:

That is a valid point, but I wonder if the fact that Herter and Jackson were teammates and the fact that is their alma mater doesn't change that.  That has been my hunch since they didn't open up the 2nd position yet. Have to wait for Herter's season to be over.

Hadn't considered that angle but this feels very plausible. 

Not only the NCAAs but the USHL and other junior leagues (or CHL?) are still playing so maybe he's waiting for any number of attractive options to finish up their seasons (St. Clair, Smaby, Herter, etc...)

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

5 minutes ago, Hayduke1 said:

I am not 100% sure about that.  
 

I remember when the Ivy schools would brag about their hockey players not being on athletic scholarship.  
Turns out many players somehow received scholarships set up by alumni that shockingly went to really good hockey players.  It was amazing 

Anyway, seems that money finds a way to go to really good athletes at colleges…

Niece played basketball at a D3 private school that didn't provide athletic scholarships.  Like you said, they found other scholarships via the educational path to compensate.

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

44 minutes ago, UND1983 said:

REMINDER:  he was on the staff the last 19 years.  Including the last nine where they won 1 NCAA tournament game and he was the lead assistant.  

Everything starts with the head person.  Assistants only have so much ability to affect things because they are not the ultimate authority.  I know this from my career.  People know who has the power and who doesn't.  Who has the ultimate authority.   Doesn't mean assistants are meaningless, but they have less ability to steer the program direction than we might expect.

Agree with those saying talk is cheap, let's see what the play on the ice tells us.  That said, I'd rather have exp players tell us they think this is a good move, not going "well, if they couldn't get anyone else...."

 

[2025 Transfer portal]

13 hours ago, Username Taken said:

Hopefully UND gets some decent portal crumbs after every other team that has their **** together calls dibs. 

If I recall, UND has brought in some very valuable portal players very late in the game (no pun intended)

 

1 hour ago, SJHovey said:

I used to be the same way, but I accept it now without begrudging these kids anything.  I realized it was just the fan in me that was angry.

I went to school, once.  If I had wanted to, I could have switched colleges or universities every year, and so long as they were willing to let me in, I was free to make the move.  Why should college athletes be any different?

The other thing we have to remember is college is likely the only time in their hockey playing career that they get a true choice as to where to go, whether to switch teams, and how long they want to stay with one team.  Hard to be critical of them for taking advantage of it.

I agree.  I hate the portal (as a fan).   But as a student athlete, I can totally understand it.  

As a fan I wish it would go away.  But since it's here, use it.

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

58 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

That was surprising to me as well.  What was Chaves looking for in that meeting or what did Berry say that made Chaves decide to fire Berry?  At the same time he said he doesn't make decisions in a vacuum so that tells me he spoke about the possibility with Armacost before the meeting.  I'm not totally buying everything being sold. 

I don't think this sounds so surprising at all.  Sounds like Chaves had concerns about the direction of the program, like so many here have posted about their own concerns over the course of this season.   If he really does have a standard post-season meeting and Berry came in with "we're almost there, just a few bad breaks, just gotta keep doing what we're doing" plan, then Chaves might have decided "ok, it's time to make a switch".

I'm not saying that's what happened.  But reading that story and thinking about what he said, this is extremely plausible.   

Remember the old saw "The simplest explanation is the most likely".

 

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

10 minutes ago, 78 und grad said:

At first glance probably nothing. However, i believe schloss wrote a column about the nodak logo. Also included documents to show brad berrys daughter owned the rights. This really was a huge red flag. Lack of ethics, integrity, honesty and most importantly…. The university now had reason to be concerned about how bad this looked. After this, the rights to the nodak logo are signed over to und. Next red flag: Berry/a.d. want to add mitchell miller to the hockey team. Mitchell Miller had nationwide exposure due to years of bullying a disabled school classmate. The nhl wouldnt allow him to play. But our athletic dept thought it was smart to add him to the hockey roster. Und president ruled that miller wouldnt be allowed to play hockey here. Now once again, berrys leadership & decision making ability is called into question. As well as his integrity, ethics,etc. This hockey decision had th potential to cause huge problems for und. Special interest groups would have a hayday with this. Issues continued to come up. Now it points to incompetance. Wins and losses pale in comparison to what’s going on. It seems players didnt want to play for coach berry. Some players werent getting along. They wont play as a team.  On ice play got worse. Im not an insider. I have no inside information. I just believe the whole story needs to be told. Not swept under the rug.

Wait.  I thought Schlossman didn't write any stories that cast a negative light on the program.  🤷‍♂️

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

2 minutes ago, dden3 said:

Those guys cost money in the "modern" world. 

Truth

Also, it will not change that in college hockey, an average "man" can be as effective as a young future superstar.  The physical and mental maturity, the experience playing against mature men, are all talent levelers.

You can't win without talent, but juniors and seniors are almost necessary to end of the year success.  See some of the recent past Boston teams full of "blue chippahs".

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

1 hour ago, DL Sioux said:

 

Thank you for this link!

29 minutes ago, SuhakiYeahYeah said:

100% needs to be Chyzyk

I'm good with that but there could be good options the experts on this board aren't aware of, so we'll see how it shakes out.

 

3 minutes ago, .357 said:

Agreed, but he ought to be welcoming also to 1st rounders who will only be at UND 1-2 years.

I don't think he precludes that.  I think he's talking about getting guys who are committed to being here.  if they are good enough to go pro after 2, so be it.  But let's not take a guy who is going to go to another program because he didn't get PP time.

 

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

14 hours ago, Siouxdaddy said:

I will have a 5 min one on one with Dane Jackson. I already have some questions down that were brought up before, but if they aren't asked during the main speech (by other media) I will ask him one on one. 

Dm or quote tweet this if you have anything for Jax. Please make them smart and reasonable lol.

How much NIL money will the hockey program need to remain competitive with the big schools?

[2025 Transfer portal]

1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

… country and western …

Clearly I speak of where to recruit.   

So you're going to get BOTH guys

[2025 Transfer portal]

1 minute ago, RhettRingers said:

Has looked solid this year. Lots more to the story...

👌

[2025 Transfer portal]

5 hours ago, RhettRingers said:

Would love to have Cole Spicer right now...

Has he done much so far?  Plus, seems like he had some eligibility issues?  Or am I mistaken?

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

14 hours ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

Part of me wants to get a message on Thursday reading:

”Head Coach Jackson is currently unavailable to complete the press conference as previously scheduled. He is deep in the trenches of talking with CHL players and coaches, potential recruits, and players in the portal.  He has not slept in the last 72 hours due to rebuilding a roster. If anyone is willing to sponsor 2 weeks of Red Bull to keep his momentum going, please contact AD Chaves for drop off. Thank you” 

Usually a press conference is held immediately when the new coach hits town.  Since Jax is here, guessing every waking moment (and many of the rest) have been spent communicating with players (current or prospective), finalizing assistants, etc.  No time for an earlier presser.

2 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

My hope for Dane's Thursday presser: 

- clarity on what will change in style of play
- a vision of modernization (play, staff)
- acknowledgement on recruiting shortcomings and a plan
- addressing NIL (aka pay for play, which it really is) 
- a tease of what to expect as the roster is presently 6F, 7D, and 1G! 

No need to acknowledge recruiting shortcomings and throw shade at the previous coach.   Just fix it, that's all.  

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

I guess that shows how good we are at speculation-based righteous indignation....

[2025 Transfer portal]

24 minutes ago, Godsmack said:

Agreed.

I wonder if some complacency kicked in with Berry over the last few years between having long tenure and a fat paycheck. 
 

Scotty Owens’ last few years at CC, he wouldn’t even get on the ice for practice. He’d sit up in the stands with a newspaper while he let his assistants run practice. Also, he flew first class on road trips while players and assistants flew coach. Not good optics. 

IIRC Blais, when he left, said something to the effect of his thinking 10 years about about the expiration date in one place.  Of course, that can be different for everyone.  But from my own experience in business I know one can get comfortable in a job over time and as they get older.  Not saying this applies to Berry.  Just a plausible explanation.

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

 

 

12 hours ago, TNF said:

🤣 I will say it brought back lot of names that used to be very active on this site but tapered off over the last few years. 

Guilty as charged! 😄

 

6 hours ago, MGsioux said:

I remember Russ Parent getting in a fight with a running back from the football team that resulted in russ going through the front window and landing in the yard with a chunk of glass in his back.  12 stitches later they were banned from partying with each other 

Thanks!  I was reading thru this thread trying to remember his name and wondering if my memory was still accurate this many years later!

[Dane Jackson named head coach]

Maybe we should just wait and see what he does and who he hires in the near future before we get too bent out of shape?

[Search for a New Head Coach]

This will help for next year

[Search for a New Head Coach]

Congrats Dane!  Well earned.

[Search for a New Head Coach]

Thanks to whoever mentioned the Live in Five podcast with Jordan Schmaltz and Gage Ausmus.   After listening I'm all in on giving Jackson a shot.   They were clear that an assistant can change the tone of a program once they become head coach.   Also, that Jackson is best positioned and committed to instill true Sioux hockey tradition in incoming players, and expect all players to live up to the expectations.  They also said he's got the smarts to plan game strategy and make in-game adjustments.

And let's not forget the guy has toiled away waiting for his chance.  We'll never get anyone more committed.  Does that guarantee success?  No.  But I would rather ride or die with that coach than an unknown from out of the area.  Doesn't mean they couldn't be great.  Just that's how I'd make my choice.