Big A HG

Maybe all of our training equipment looks so new because they don't use it?

Not expecting anything other than more of the same. We'll supposedly bring in a couple of talented freshmen, but it will be fleshed out by more mediocre transfer portal talent, and we'll get out-skilled in the tourney if we make it.

Why should one not complain about the slow demise of our UND hockey program? Why do we all have to 'sit down and shut up' like the average fan at The Ralph these days? Keep accepting mediocrity and all you'll get is mediocrity.

Yeah, I did say participate, so my apologies on how I worded it. What my brain was trying to say and how I wrote it were kind of different. I guess what I was implying was the way you "phrased" it...like I participated in a manner that agreed with the subject matter. I don't take any of these conversations personal and actually have an honest, fun time participating back with people such as yourself when the replies are thoughtful like yours. The Penroses are fine and all...would rather win one than not...but they just don't excite the fan base. During the Hak era, you knew you could count on buying a ticket to the Final Five, a regional, or Frozen Four and know UND would show up. The excitement was always buzzing in March and April, even in Hak's worst years...though we all know the Frozen Fours were all heartbreak sadly. Now, fewer and fewer have any excitement to go to these events in fear of yet another lackluster postseason performance....to the detriment of not only the UND Hockey program, but the NCHC and NCAA in a small trickle-down effect. The Ralph has had some pretty blah attendance at times too. No doubt it sucks that somehow we never got over the hurdle and won that 8th title under Hak's leadership, but I think it's just one of those weird statistics that will mar him for no other reason than it was just dumb [bad] luck. But, there was impressive talent that Hak would bring in. The style of play we had was fun to watch. His teams had character and you could define the traits of our team. Now, it's a hodgepodge of mediocre transfer portal kids, some okay talent that I wouldn't consider blue chip in all but a few cases, and the hockey world doesn't look at us with the same respect it used to.

What do I actually complain about? The fact that I don't like Berry and the low bar he's set for the program and ??

None were on the radio. I don't know if he had to do some other media or opted to not saying anything at all.

I like how you referenced I "participated". I did participate twice in that thread before it was locked. And in neither post did I ever reference Firing Hak. In one I defended the fact that it's still a long season and the other was some thoughtful data about our string of championships against the law of averages. Over the umpteen years I've been on here I can't say with 100% certainty that I didn't mention the good ol' #FireHak once in a fit of Frozen Four rage, but I don't recall ever doing it and have never believed firing Hak was ever the right choice like I truly believe that replacing Berry is.

I would guess Mama Gaber was playing with the crowd on Flakebook if that counts.

Who?

Just because there was a big thread about "Fire Hak" doesn't mean I was a participant...nor does it mean anyone calling for Brad's head was a participant of the Hak one...though I won't argue that some would overlap. I am a big fan of Hak and think that young recruits, players, other programs, and the hockey landscape as a whole thought incredibly highly of UND while he was coach. You don't hear those same things nearly as much anymore and we're not recruiting elite talent like we used to.

Defender of mediocrity.

Season results were not what was being discussed. "The bar" was the level of acceptance that fans have of the program that gets lower every year. At this rate, Berry could go 0-fer on the season and people would still defend him at some point.

The bar has been lowering every year since Hak left....

Shoot, my bad...I thought Berry & company recruited and coached the players. So you're implying the players invited themselves to play for UND?

The puck movement and decision making is so slow. There's so little movement and rotation that keeps the opposing PK moving for any consistent amount of time.

Mike Gornall

You act like that's a dig. Chuck E Cheese failed because there are numerous other better options than a crummy, old, run-down Chuck E Cheese. The kids aren't missing out on anything...they themselves don't ask to go there anymore.

Sharks make sauce.

No, she just started posting a couple of years ago on the page and it's just gotten to unhealthy levels of internet stalking because many are disgustingly desperate to make a fake connection to a player's mother. It literally gives me shivers reading some stuff on there.

I'm neutral on Sandelin and an obvious non-fan of Berry. With that said, Sandelin is disadvantaged at every turn compared to everything UND has to offer from a hockey standpoint. Berry took over a top-performing program and it has declined from where he started, despite the reasonable conference success. Sandelin took over a struggling program and built it up to a three time national title winner. I think the fascination comes from wondering what Sandelin could do with what UND has to offer compared to UMD. I don't think Sandelin is the answer these days, but I'm also not convinced of promoting someone within the program that is currently there either.

I had this pinned from awhile back. Not even remotely close to a full game, but a neat clip of Harvard v Sioux.

The neat thing about conference title is you can still win one after losing games. That's what makes the NCAA tourneys so difficult. Hak was a bit snake-bitten and it surely wasn't because of his coaching the team wasn't able to win one. You don't get to 7 Frozen Fours in 11 years as a bad coach. The thing is, a down year for Hak was still making an NCAA tourney and possibly even winning a game or two and making a Frozen Four. Berry was able to get us over the hurdle in 2016, but also started five NHLers and had more on the bench for that title run...of which all those players committed to UND to play for Hakstol. I find it hard to believe Hak also wouldn't have gotten over that hurdle. Once Berry started recruiting his own players, we seldom see the blue chippers nor as much of the international recognition as when we had Hak. That's why Hakstol was able to get an NHL job from college after 30+ years since Badger Bob. The most common outcome in the Hakstol era was a Frozen Four semi-final loss. The most common outcome of a season under Berry is missing the NCAA tourney. The MacNaughton/Penrose was never the number one goal for Hakstol. He broke his teams down at the start of each year in order to rebuild them over the course of the year with the team peaking towards the playoffs. Berry seems to want to get out of the gates hot and fast and try to keep the team there, but the team seldom seems to change much over the course of the season. Either they're good or they're not. I'm not sure which way is right or wrong, but I find it more fun to have chances at Frozen Fours, even if we ultimately lose them all, than win regular season trophies...but that's just me. The Hakstol era was way more fun in the end.

You also can't lose in regulation if you don't play.

I don't discount that things have slightly improved, but why the sudden drop-off after our title? You'd think that Berry would have pulled in a number of much better recruits in a shorter period of time. And, as talented as this team is, it's really no comparison to the 2016 title team. It only seems better because of how poor some recent rosters have been. That 2016 team would blown the doors off of what this team is capable of IMO. We were loaded on both offense and defense and our starting five in the championship all went on to play in the NHL. How many NHLers are we watching on this year's team? In the past it was never a question of if any of the guys were going to play decent NHL careers, not just get a couple of short-term call-ups...it was a question of how many.