burd

I think you miss my point, Irish. If the coach, whoever it is, does everything you expect of him but fails to win the NC, some people demand he be replaced for that reason alone. Another coach could do virtually the same thing as a coach, get a few bounces, and win two NCs in the same period of time and folks would call for his induction into the hockey hall of fame. It is stupifyingly obvious that results count: most of us live with that in our work. But those who cling to that one factor without identifying what it is about Hak's (or anyone else's) actual coaching and without identifying someone who would come and who would do those things better, it's all just white noise. The difference between a great coach and a failed coach is not a bad bounce or a pipe. That may be the difference between a great season ending and heartache, for sure. For some fans, it's more about the bragging rights of a NC than it is about watching good, well coached hockey year after year. And I've never understood that, since we fans do nothing but sit and watch and bloviate here and other places but have nothing to brag about ourselves. (Giving Gopher fans shat about the Banner count has a value, though, no question) Now, criticizing Hak for his actual on-ice coaching and saying he should be replaced because of it is another matter, and some do focus on the coaching itself and not simply on the Banner count. I've been critical of his game coaching in the past, thinking he could even be the best program coach UND has ever had but he's not quite there as a game coach. But I don't really know enough about the college game at this point to say much more than that, so it's pretty empty criticism too.

Blais would have hung 7 on those guys.

boys need to be careful not to give up the momentum by watching the game from the PB

The boys forechecking like demons tonight

Watching pregame. Hammer. The guy just seems like nothing about hockey comes naturally for him but he tries so hard. It makes me like him more. He's like the walk-on who becomes a fan favorite because of his attitude not because of his talent level. Who else has a Hammer? Here's hoping for a traditional circle of sticks on Saturday.

This will be a very good opportunity to get a feel of where this team is at. I don't think we can tell yet, from playing Manitoba, Bemidji, and CC, though I have a feeling Bemidji will give some good teams fits this year.

Excluding National Championships but using win percentage and frozen four appearances for any 10 consecutive year period, how does Hak rank with other coaches in Sioux history ?

Strunk is the word we used back in the day, and it had quite a different meaning.

Blais woulda hung 8 on this team. Easy.

After 40? Boy are you in for a ride.

Am I watching the same game? Good connection, bad camera work and 3-1 with about 11:00 left in 2nd. PP-CC

I think you might be thinking of last year's Wisconsin team.

How old is TH? I will surely miss him when he's gone.

Those are all imaginary applicants until you can identify someone who would come (can't count York, for example, or Lucia) and who is likely to do better. Who is that person, in your mind?

I suppose every team suffers this at times, but our guys, IMO, have shown a tendency to glide into the corners and boards too often. As if the urgency level is not quite there until it has to be. The dmen do this at times when it looks like it is a positioning strategy they are taught, and it might be. I don't have the expertise to know. Nice to get a Friday win on the road, though. Anywhere. Get four or more tonight.

I think old timer Al Hangsleben, who I think is one of UND's best defensemen ever, played at Hartford, so there is that UND connection.

Please tell me we won't have to watch floating tiger heads if we subscribed to the NCHC broadcast.

Frankly, I think UND players have taken a lot of real stupid penalties in recent years in the name of so called "old time hockey." We need a physical presence in front of and behind the net, both on offense and defense, and a good solid hit is a good thing, but give me a player who works hard, knows where he is supposed to be, understands the way rules are enforced in the game today and is smart enough to keep his wits about him. There's old time hockey, and there's new time rules.

Very discouraging. He was on fire before he hurt his knee? in Toronto, then let a prime opportunity in L.A. slip away. I wonder if he's keeping it together off ice.

Where is Matt Frattin?

I'm all for physical hockey like what we got from McWilliam, but not the kind of chippy, tough-guy, stupid stuff that puts us a man down. McWilliam got the box a lot, but mostly because he hit people so hard the refs felt there had to be a penalty.

True. BC isn't wining more titles than anyone because they have a lot of players recruited to say 4 years. They have a great coach, but their roster is high end. And yes, UND always has a bunch of draft picks, but they're not getting the level of talent BC or Minny is getting. Like everybody, I'm looking to see if Hak can become as good a game coach as he is a program coach, at which he has few equals.

That's good, because we lost a LOT of faceoffs last night. Listening to TH, it sounded like the Beavers won a lot of stick battles, on faceoffs and on the boards. Maybe it just sounded that way.

People who want to fire Hakstol for the sole reason that we have not won a NC under him have shown that their only real skill is being able to count to one--nothing more.

Another thing I think we learned last night is that the time and space they had to make plays against Manitoba, including young Schwartz, had a lot to do with Manitoba and a little to do with North Dakota.