tho0505

For Tomek, why on earth wasn't he medically red shirted? With how long it takes for goalies to develop, it would be great to get an extra year out of him potentially. I also see him and Cam splitting time next year; I'd be nice to get 5-10 starts to get his feet wet. Cam's two career starts wasn't ideally before this year...although that worked out ok....! ## Name GP-GS Minutes GA Avg Saves Pct W L T Sho PP SH EN Pen SOG 33 Cam Johnson 34-33 1918:19 53 1.66 759 .935 24 4 2 5 14 2 0 0 0 Doesn't get much better than that stat line for a goalie...

I still can't tell what it truly is. Looks like an outline of a hawk. I always felt like this looked like a cherry pie. How on earth would this make it passed approval?!

Isn't that the truth! It's like a high-schooler came up with the logo for his intramural team...We can all rest assured that the logo will not be that bad. Speaking of Sit Down and Cheer episode with St Peter, he made a great point of that he was always more proud of being from North Dakota than being a part of the Sioux (although a huge supporter of the logo and name). I hope we keep a strong focus with North Dakota on the forefront with the new logo slowly implemented.

Seeing the panthers new logo makes me nervous for ours.... I'm imaging a clean looking generic hawk that could be a motor oil logo.

I disagree completely. It was a great game, but after the top line and a half of each team there was a huge talent gap. Back and forth setting up plays and easy breakouts and transitions. Again, comparing the two leagues is apples to oranges; it just doesn't work.

I rooted for London all year long, solid team and will have a bunch of NHLers on the roster. As for them beating the Sioux, not going to happen. I watched two of their games in the Memorial Cup (best of the best) and the pace and flow compared to an NCAA tournament game is completely different. The lack of physicality and excessive time and space is clear. You're not going to see a team get beat 9-1 in the Frozen Four.

Love this debate. Comparing leagues is unfair, but clearly the NCAA is harder to play in, just look at the stats. The lack of defense, physicality, and at times really poor goal tending makes for inflated point totals. I think the CHL is great, I lived in Spokane where the WHL reigns and it's great hockey. It all comes down to age and development, NOT that one league has "better" players. A 16 year old would get demolished in the NCAA. In some cases we are talking about a 8 year age difference, if a player in the NCAA is 24. Of course, the NCAA team is going to be faster, stronger, and more mature, thus, why you see the NCAA far more competitive across all teams. A 24 year old might be a better player currently than a 16 year old, but the 16 year old is just starting to develop his game. Apples to oranges in league comparisons.

We'll be lucky to get him for more than a year.

I agree, keep Jost/Schmaltz/Boeser together and this team shouldn't miss a beat offensively. Defensively still has some question marks, but we have some solid players coming in in relief and with the bookends of TPoolman and Ausmus they'll adjust quickly. When that class of Ladue, Thompson, Stecher, Ausmus came in, I knew we had something special on defense. All came together in 2016! This class incoming feels like a depth building class to me, with the majority of players that will play 3-4 years. Let's hope for 2 years with Jost.

Same here. I've been extremely frustrated not being able to use my Chromecast with my subscription to NCHC.

Glad you and your source made it public, yet him not wanting anything said yet... Until he announces officially, this could easily change.

My count we have 8 open spots. Who else on Forward comes in? Collin Adams? Cakebread? Jones? Jones should be eligible considering he sat out a year after leaving Ohio State. I'd be surprised to see Keane next year.

Tyson Jost F Fr. Penticton, BC Zach Yon F Fr. Roseau, MN Dixon Bowen F Fr. East Grand Forks, MN Ludvig Hoff F Fr. Norway Colton Poolman D Fr. East Grand Forks, MN Casey Johnson D Fr. Grand Forks, ND Gabe Bast D Fr. Penticton, BC Here is my best guess for our current class coming in now. Assuming Schmaltz stays of course, wishful thinking!

With players committing so young and being from Canada, the WHL is really hard to turned down as Canadians push it hard for top tier players. Still 3+ years before he's on campus too...Hope for the best, but as we know, our UND staff is one of the best in the country at preparing and filling the cupboard full.

Great point. Our team has definitely been redefined from hit 'em in the mouth type defensemen. Definitely a different league now and our teams of the mid 2000s would be so hard to beat in a 7 game series, but in a one and done type situation, speed kills.

I felt that the concern was where is the offense going to come from? Assuming Mittlestadt is a top 30 pick in the 2017 draft, having him for that extra year, like Toews, helps fill in holes and you get an extra year out of him. UND has been lucky avoiding the one and done type players, but Toews would have been one and done as well had he not accelerated his schooling and came in at 17. The pressure on top 30 picks to sign early is immense considering college players can keep playing out their eligibility and sign anywhere. If I were a GM, I would sign a top pick a year early, just to avoid a possibility of losing him to free agency (ie Jordan Schmaltz, Forbort, etc).

Being in a weak defensive big ten league really masked a lot of Gopher issues. Definitely agree that their defense was an issue, but they have some big holes to fill. Like UND they were extremely young last year, so the depth will fill in in 2016-17. Fasching is a huge lost going into next season though. Having Drake back for his Senior year made all the difference for us guiding a young team to a national title.

Gopher Puck Live sounds rather frustrated with both Mittlestadt and Pitlick not coming next year. With Pitlick leading the USHL in scoring, I'm surprised he's not coming in next year (2016). They'll be reaching for scoring next season, not saying Mittlestadt is necessarily ready, but it might be a long year in Dinkytown. Poehling is the first player in SCSU history to come in at 17 years old. That's a tough jump from being a junior in HS into college. Here is a good article from the St Cloud times. http://www.sctimes.com/story/sports/college/hockey/husky-hockey/2016/05/15/ryan-poehling-bypassing-senior-year-join-scsu/84384928/ SCSU did have a bunch of players to replace this year, but a year of juniors wouldn't have hurt.

A little late to the discussion, but i have ordered from AliExpress before. It is a gamble, but so is eBay, I ordered a Northstars jersey (with parise nameplate) and it came quickly and is pretty nice. Now it is a big gamble with the Sioux logo as it is so intricate.

Because Western Michigan and CC are so much better for their pairwise ranking.... Every conference has weak links, but to say adding Minn State and Mich Tech would weaken the league is far from true. They will be solid for years to come with the coaches they have in place. Would they be a top team in the NCHC? No, but they would be both solid additions to the league to fill it out more. Who else would be better to add to the NCHC honestly? Adding Arizona State isn't any better and could potentially be embarrassing if the team doesn't get a rink and build a solid program. The league needs to expand, we all can agree on that, who else is there to add? Air Force makes sense and adding solid teams with a history of stability is key.

I love the "rivalry" with BSU. It's nice to have them year in and year out. I feel like it's a nod to history and a big brother type role. I just wish it was in the NCHC (WCHA ideally). Here's to hoping that we add old WCHA rivals back into the NCHC. (MSUM BSU Mich Tech) I would love to have 10+ teams in the NCHC, 12 preferably.

Nice catch. Yeah, three overagers allowed on each team.

Exactly, the age old debate of CHL vs NCAA will forever continue. It's comparing apples to oranges. CHL (WHL,OHL, QMJHL) has players ranging from 16-21, including 60 teams. NCAA has players ranging from 18-25, 60 teams. I would bet the average age for the NCAA is around 21 and for the CHL 18. Huge difference is mental maturity and physical maturity between the two leagues. I would agree that the CHL is easy to play in for higher end recruits, as you see with the point totals, but to say one league is better than the other is impossible to know (my personal opinion is that the NCAA route is still the better route hands down).

Speaking of Schmaltz leaving or staying. Again he should take his time in deciding and no it doesn't leave UND in a bad place. We have the committed recruits to backfill. Yes, it will hurt to lose arguably the best passer in college hockey and a 1st round pick, but let's not forget our culture at UND is second to none. Our culture promotes and praises our players for reaching the next level pro, semi pro, overseas; we will be lucky to have him another year. I'm sure he'll wait until after prospect camp as a lot of players do who are on the fence...and he SHOULD wait until then to make an informed decision about his future.

Sour grapes? This thread has turned petty pretty quick... Tambellini leaving the season early hurts, but it's still okay to wish him well at the next level. He's got a great chance with his frame to make the NHL. He had a solid first season in AHL as well. JT Miller situation was completely different; just decommitted and headed north (as lot of top end players are tempted to do). Would have loved to have him on campus, but his career is turning out okay....... You win some and you lose some in recruiting in any sport. What hurts is when it happens mid-year, ie Tambellini, Okposo, it's nearly impossible to fill a void like that. Our coaches plan during recruiting to lose a view players to the CHL, lack of develop, etc. We have far more players committed come to GF then spots to fill year in and year out, so we'll be just fine.