Big A HG

Some video I took while leaving Fargo to head up to the hockey game yesterday.

I cannot express into words how happy today makes me. Enjoy it fam.

F-Kats. Formerly Known as the Sioux.

Like Miracle Whip, but generic. It's not "salad dressing" as in the lettuce dish definition of the word. Like this:

Don't question Brad Berry on these forums. We've only won one NCAA game in seven years, but One More Year™!

I understand that Red Pepper hardly claims to be Mexican, and I also realize that there are plenty of GF/UND folks down in AZ, but you're talking about putting a semi-Mexicanish restaurant in arguably the heart of the best Mexican cuisine in the USA. If ya gotta have a grinder in Arizona, just order off Goldbelly.

"If I have to chat with one more UND fan, I'm going to retire!" ...in walks Goon.

The Hobey Baker Award was one year too late for Mark Taylor. He would have been an easy choice that year.

I don't think the NCAA cares much about the schools themselves. The whole idea is allowing a young adult make the best decision for their individual future. I agree with your sentiment, but sadly I don't think much is going to change or there will be more lawsuits.

All I have done is quote other messages and make counterpoints. You only don't like what I have to say, which is fair, but what are you trying to accomplish? This post of yours is more off track than any of mine have been.

I suppose you're right, they were playing some of their best hockey of the year if that's how you want to look at it. But, they were also playing some mediocre competition and many of those games were down to a single goal, very few were super convincing wins. After new year they were still only 1-5-1 in games against teams that made the NCAA tournament including a loss when it mattered most in St Paul to St Cloud.

Who's to say they would have won a single tourney game in 2020? What if they lost in the first round with another "loaded" team...would that change your opinion any? They didn't play any games so it's entirely meaningless for both sides of the argument. As good as they were, that team was nowhere near as talented as the 2015-16 team, and that 15-16 team almost didn't make it past the national semifinal. The teams the following two years were plenty talented and only managed to beat AIC in the tourney. UND hasn't won a regional in seven seasons with or without teams talented enough to win a conference title. That natty was awesome, but is no longer recent memory. How many more patchwork teams do we have to bear witness to before more people realize that UND dragged their feet and wasted time for nothing?

What color are the Average Pairwise Finish Banners in the Ralph? Are we trending up or down? Are high end recruits interested in UND lately? How many of our players that played well under Berry and gave some regular season success had their scouting and recruitment start under Hakstol?

There is no nightmare scenario....we loaded up on portal transfers. All is good.

I've lost count, but I've been here 12-13-14 years or something. The fact you're first saying this now shows you'd be incorrect. Though Hak never won a title, he continued to grow the program in a positive direction and made UND hockey fun and competitive. Berry started on a high note and has not only failed to continue that growth, but our program has waned under his watch. I've given Berry his chances after earlier program hardships which is why I wasn't vocal then, but when it's time to call a spade a spade, I'm not going to sit here and not voice my opinion. That's what we're all here for, is it not? Or, do many of you just want a safe space echo chamber of positivity? Some are okay with where UND is at. I don't get it, but fine...so be it. I'm not happy and won't accept where our program is right now. Everyone wants to give Berry more chances, but keep in mind, this isn't his first misstep. Covid fog is gettin' to many of you.

Thanks for checking on me! No rest for the wicked!

So your first point is that the outgoing kids were subpar on a talent level and/or unwilling/unable to learn. Berry is a self-proclaimed "culture" guy yet has had numerous bad culture players on one team? We've seldom had players in the past unwilling to put in the work and Berry is a lifelong defensive guy from his time as a player and as a coach. On paper, there aren't many in the NCAA with Berry's type of resume in that regard. So, Berry either recruited the wrong kids or couldn't coach them...or both. A failure on his part either way. Second, you're impressed with a group of transfers who haven't even played a game for UND yet. How do we know they're legitimate? Maybe they will be great, maybe they won't, but the fact that we're relying on the portal to make our team instead of using it as a means of enhancing our team is a failure on its own. There's nothing wrong with a portal guy or two each year...UND should definitely take advantage of that when able, but Berry's poor roster management has led to a situation where we HAVE to use it instead of WANT to use it. In my opinion, it shows Berry has very little control over the program at the moment. I see none of our rivals encountering roster mismanagement to this degree, especially considering Berry is playing with a stacked hand factoring in the facilities, history, fanbase, etc. Instead of holding Berry to the high standard our program deserves, everyone wants to keep lowering the bar for him. I guess it's a sign of the times....

Make a list of all NCAA teams. Remove the teams ranked in the top half this past season. Now, with the remaining teams make a list of all goaltenders. Next, remove all starting goaltenders leaving just the backup goalies for the bottom half teams. Once you have that list, remove all goalies except those who will be a junior for the '23-24 season. Once this coming season is over, I imagine a few of those will hit the portal for their senior year in 2024-25 and it will likely be one of those that Berry ends up recruiting.

What would you deem incorrect or false?

You don't understand and I don't know if you're playing ignorant on purpose or just don't get it, but I'll humor you nonetheless. We've won one NCAA game in the past seven years...against AIC....one. Woopdeedoo. We've missed three NCAA tournaments on merit since our title many years ago. The Ralph is emptying and big time recruits are less interested in UND than ever since the new Ralph opened. We used to get excited about all the first round picks we'd land, now we're excited about Carson Pilgrim...a very good player, but overly exaggerated only because the rest of Berry's recruits lately have been so lackluster. Berry's accountability with the roster has led to an ENTIRE defense leaving all at the same time, both of our top goalies leaving at the same time, and a bunch of forwards on top of that. It's normal to have the odd player or two leave earlier than expected, but it's not normal to lose that many kids at once unless you have someone incompetent running the program. Because of incompetent roster management, the best we can do is pluck players from Alaska and Lindenwood. Then, our head coach secretly trademarked a logo through various levels of anonymity and still got caught, only to have it swept under the rug. We're the UNIVERSITY of NORTH DAKOTA. We should be setting the f'ing standard with college hockey. Instead, we've looked like a bunch of buffoons while Duluth and Denver are winning championships and the Goofs are playing in title games too. I'm sorry you set the bar so low that you can't see anything but rainbows and tulips, but I have a higher standard for North Dakota hockey.

Complacency kills.

Who said Duluth wanted him?

Way to go Wooly!

Really? Wow! Here we have a kid who WAS a Sioux fan at a young age watching Hak's program. Then, after watching UND under Berry's control he ends up a Duluth fan?

Been here for 16 years and have hardly been all that negative. I'm sure after thousands of posts a few have slipped in. The sudden change is that I, and many others, have given Berry his multiple chances to get the program back on track, but the program keeps getting worse while rival programs have had success. Our program seemingly had multiple good recruits every year, not just the occasional good recruit maybe every couple of years. We had more accountability top-to-bottom and now there seems like there is none when you see what kind of roster turnover and the fact we are relying on the portal more than peers to even make a roster.