Oxbow6

Our D isn't progressing...yet. Worst it's been in years to date. Saunders has covered up for alot of miscues. If we win tonight 5-3-2 will have little to do w our overall D. Point is Hak brought in a NHL defensive guru who inheritated NHL draft picks and so far what should be the backbone of this team is easily it's weakness.

Hak got rid of Eades and hand picked Berry. 9 games in Berry should have made more of a positive impact than he has IMO. Things will turn the corner. Just surprised it's been this slow to happen especially w all the high end talent on the blue line.

One thing this team would like to have is Nelson...Brock Nelson was a true goal scorer and was a better 2 way player than given credit for. His departure IMO was one of the biggest losses to a UND team in awhile when one takes into account the totality of the situation.

IMO MacMillan has flurished since he has moved to center. I'd swap him and Rocco.

Bryn can center 4th line. Colton w Drake between Easy Mac would be great IMO. Rocco with Kristo is a mismatch like BC throws out there every yr.

The cross check to Kristo included at stick blade under his chin as well. How that sequence was a wash I have no clue...but then again neither did 'lil Shep or Anderson.

Nothing to disagree with here...this team is marginally average right now. Not grit and totally got outworked last night, but the coaching and schemes are at the root of this team's play right night. Giving up the most SOG in 7 years say it all. Berry has totally put our Dman in retreat mode all the time IMO. There were numerous times when there was a 50/50 puck in open ice and our D constantly backpeddle immediately. No pinching whatsoever. PP is just flat out brutal. Our guys have no clue as to how to get the puck thru a clogged neutral zone. Without question this one of the hardest game to watch at the Ralph in a long time...very disappointed with the overall effort. Individually: Gleason has to sit...awful is sugar coating it. Rowney gives the top line very little. He has basically become a non-factor most nights. And Knight doesn't look like Knight from last year. Really liked Colton with Drake and Rocco...Colton has some size and can skate. Drake is better than I thought he would be. Let Bryn center 4th line...maybe minus Pattyn. He really is just looking to lay the wood to someone and UND needs better than that from him. MacMillan was great last night and outside of Kristo is our most consistant forward every game. Clark was very good last night, but misplayed a cover up that lead to goal 3 and should have had goal 4. That was right in front of us. Seemed to over challenge and got caught flat footed. Would like to see Zane get time but not with the D play as it is. Watched Parks in warm-ups and looked tentative. Thought carried over in 1st period. Looked like a shoulder injury forced his early exit. 46 SOG vs. a Dog's team that has lower half WCHA offensive skill IMO is unacceptable. With effort last night and our Saturday night funk to date, not very comfortable about tonight's game. No doubt there was one team disappointed with one point last night and one team that was probably happy to escape with a point.

Gleason 1 UND 1. Big fan but his play is brutal currently. A game off might do him good.

4-1 Sioux.

Does Bryn move down to 4th line and sit the General?? Or does Bryn sit? I like what Bryn brings in all 3 zones.

Saunders>Dell>BE Saunders is the real deal. Zane reminds me alot of BE with his style and play. If the 18 guys play decent in front of Saunders tonight, if he starts, a shut out is likely IMO.

Last 3 years, '09-'11, it's been roughly .500 on Saturdays prior to the Christmas break.

If UMD is down as some suggest, this would be the weekend IMO to put Rocco up on the top line. Rowney IMO needs to center the 2nd line with Easy Mac going back to wing. It's not like this squad is lighting it up offensively. Rocco can fly and so can Kristo. That is just a total mismatch for anyone.

Split it is. No way Dogs get swept 2 weekends in a row. Again has anyone seen this UND team play the last 4 Saturdays???

Gona go out on a limb....split. UND wins Friday. Until they can show they can put together a full weekend I don't think one can expect anything else.

They looked better this past weekend IMO than the BU squad I watched play the Gpohers at the X during last year's regional.

Last 10 years in St. Cloud per Schloss, UND is winless (0-6-4) on Fridays and undefeated (10-0-0) on Saturdays. Goes against this year's trend. I think a split is a given though. Knight, Rowney and Easy Mac need to step up offensively. Kristo has been dynamic as has Rocco. Been getting good minutes from Gaarder and some freshman, but Knight and Rowney specifically need to start burying their grade A chances.

Those in our section were saying the same thing this weekend. Substitute Brock for Carter and Brock gets at least 2 goals if not 3 in this past series.

It is tough to watch Hak's teams play the trap style. Basically they have a history of stinking at it. It's like the vaunted prevent D in FB...prevents you from winning. Let em skate, be aggressive and take our chance that way.

This...^^^^^^^^^^

Under...SUU had 520 UND only 308 2 plays were key to the win IMO: Hardin's KO TD return and roughing the punter on SUU in 3rd that keep UND socoring drive alive. Was nice to see old UND FB...running it up between the tackles with success. With a marginal D, and that's being generous, running the ball and keeping the D off the field is paramount to success moving forward into next season.

Agree...was a great series to watch. It's the way college hockey should be played. Would love to see more top end east teams come to Ralph down the road. Parker said the team that played better won both nights...hard to argue with that.

Couple other notes: Overall I thought Zane was solid, but I know he isn't happy about the 1st goal. Even without his stick, it was glove side...soft IMO. Hit up off the top of his shoulder. I'm a huge Gleason fan, but as many have mentioned, he really had a brutal series. Ouch... Defensively, I'd say Schmaltz is our steadiest Dman to date. This team needs consistancy on the back end before games like UAA and last night stop occuring. Bottom line, Carter buries one of 2 point blank goal mouth chances in the early 3rd and we are all rejoicing a sweep. No way BU comes back from 3-1 with the big Mo on UND's side at that point. Our top guys have to finish and they will...at some point. It is terribly frustrating to watch early season games year after year...at worse this squad should be 4-2. Really should be 5-1. Loss to Alaska and tie to UAA are typical results for an early season Hak team. What 1st halves of seasons under Hak do is make the 2nd half really fun to watch as all those games become sooooo much more important because of games wasted early on. Making the NCAA tourney won't be an issue, but getting sent into someone else's barn (or close to it) as a #2 seed is always a possibility and tall order. I know...it's "early" and in Hak, we trust. Going to be tough series at SCSU...need 2 points for sure.

3-0 Fridays 4.33 goals/game 0-2-1 Saturdays 2.00 goals/game Twice...coincidence? 3 times...trend?

I sat there watching thinking the same thing. Haks teams struggle to play w leads when they strictly switch to a defensive mode. My gut was uneasy when we blew the PP to start 3rd and went into the D shell. Didn't think it was going to hold a 2-1 lead.