brianvf

I don't see scoring being a problem next season. Kristo, Frattin, Gregoire, Hextall, Malone, Trupp, etc...all those guys will be scoring threats next season. Not to mention having the best offensive dman in college hockey is always a plus. I look for our PP to be a step or two above where it was this past season. Having a high-end frosh class is nice...but UND won't have to rely on our freshmen like other schools. We'll only have 3 or 4 incoming recruits. When you compare that to the huge classes coming in to DU, UW, UMN, etc...those schools absolutely NEED their freshmen to contribute, where UND has the luxury of having a strong corp of experienced returning upperclassmen to rely on.

Hey, WCHA league and playoff titles count in that too!

Sounds like Poulin has committed to BU.

Youtube video of Oshie's shootout heroics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRYrIMOQJ8Y

Sucks. Doesn't he want to play for championships each year, instead of battling for WCHA home ice? Big pickup for the Gophers.

http://wiki.siouxsports.com/doku.php/2010-11_schedule

A Gopher poster over on USCHO mentioned that Canadian goalie recruit Joel Vienneau has committed to UMN for the 2011 season. It was down to the Gophers and Michigan for him evidently. Darn those Gophers recruiting those "overage" Canadians!

What happened to Toews?

Awards from last season were announced (from Brad):

Any recent word on the Rau brothers? Wouldn't mind seeing them, Grimaldi, and Ebert all in the green&white. Is that too selfish?

He would be a huge pickup for the Sioux. I hope that either we get him...or Denver doesn't.

From Brad: Not sure if he was even being recruited by UND.

No doubt! Put the Lammy twins and Karvinen on a line together. They'll put up 2-3 goals a night! The UND team should really move up the WCHA standings next season...

The other posters were referring to Nick Mattson, not Danny. Supposedly Nick didn't get along with Walters, so that was the tipping point in him committing to UND over UMN. I've read elsewhere that Nick was a big UND fan prior to his commitment, so I'm sure how much stock should be put in those other comments.

Way to go JPL!

From Brad's blog:

We certainly won't be "thin" at defense next season.

Top 2 in the league. First Round 1 vs 12 2 vs 11 3 vs 10 4 vs 9 5 vs 8 6 vs 7 First round winners advance to the F5. Bottom four seeds play each other on Thursday and the top 2 get a bye to the semi-finals on Friday.

Oct. 3 MANITOBA (exh) Oct. 8-9 Nye Classic in Anchorage (vs. UAA and UAF) Oct. 15-16 at Bemidji State Oct. 22-23 at Maine Oct. 29-30 DENVER Nov. 5-6 DULUTH Nov. 12-13 at Wisconsin Nov. 19-20 at Omaha Nov. 26-27 NOTRE DAME Dec. 3-4 ST. CLOUD STATE Dec. 10-11 at Mankato Dec. 18 U.S. UNDER 18 Dec. 30 at Duluth (Hall of Fame Game) Jan. 7-8 ROBERT MORRIS Jan. 14-15 MINNESOTA Jan. 21-22 OMAHA Jan. 28-29 at Colorado College Feb. 11-12 ANCHORAGE Feb. 18-19 at St. Cloud State Feb. 25-26 BEMIDJI STATE March 4-5 at Michigan Tech

BC is going to be very strong next season as well. They don't lose too much, unless they have some unexpected early departures. But those little fast guys of theirs usually stick around all four years...

Sundogs is horrible, it's no wonder that BRIDGES would approve of that. As a side note, what are the people of BRIDGES going to spend their time doing now? Their life goal is now accomplished, they have nothing left to live for now.

If this is the last season that UND will be the Fighting Sioux (from what Brad's blog states), then I say the boys should go out in style by bringing home the title. They'll certainly have the team to do it. I was checking out the players that could be returning to the F4 teams, and it looks like BC is going to be stacked again next year. They don't lose much unless they have some early departures. Miami loses a couple of talented seniors, and then they have 4 very talented juniors. If any of those juniors leave, they could be hurting a bit. Wisconsin is hosed next season. They lose 7 seniors and will very likely lose both Stepan and Smith to the pros early as well. That would leave their top returning point getter as frosh Craig Smith (who had 8 goals) and their 2nd returning point getter will be freshman dman Justin Schultz with 22 points. If both Stepan and Smith go pro early (likely IMO), they would lose 7 of their top 8 scorers from this season.

Here's my guess as to who will be coming/going: VV, Zajac, Fienhage leaving Genoway staying Forbort and maybe Simpson come in at D this fall. Nelson and Rodwell come in at F this fall. Then next year with Trupp, Malone, & Frattin graduating, plus probably Gregoire (Kristo?) leaving early, you bring in St. Clair, O'Donnell, Parks, and D Mattson. On defense we would graduate LaPoint and Marto, plus probably Blood (MacWilliam?) leaving early. So N Mattson and Simpson (if he doesn't come this fall) come in.

Tampa Bay Lightning