stoneySIOUX

Garret Smith + Nick Cagnetto = Richard Ramirez

I've heard this before, and I still think the same way. As much as I hate Crosby now, I would have liked him had he come to UND. So, I think it worked out for the best

Haha I'm well aware of how that noisy party ordinance works! My buddy took a digger off the bus before we got to the Alerus. From the top step. To the curb. It was pretty brutal, but he's good now

Mine was OAR. I'd say you won this battle, although I enjoy OAR

I still feel, without a shadow of a doubt, our players, especially the forwards, are the ones that are going to get us out of the slide. I expect to see a great jump in scoring.

The discussion was based around the NCHC standings. No one is arguing we should have swept Canisius.

Ratt?! That felt like that came out of nowhere hahaha. Good call, though. I'm all in on you being the DJ, Godsmack haha.

I've heard that Pinto is clearly the best freshman, not surprisingly. Said he was looking like he fit right in before he left for the WJC showcase. Should be an immediate contributor. I'm very hopeful this season. I think we can replace our lost scoring and make a jump there, easily. Coupling that with a really, really good d-corps and Scheel could be really fun. As far as I'm concerned, I think Scheel was our best player last year. He was absolutely dominant for a huge stretch last year.

The changes that I was speaking to aren't huge in terms of I don't know if we've changed power play systems, offensive strategies, in-game planning, etc. I'd be surprised if we made wholesale changes to that kind of stuff. The changes I'm referring to are more subtle and are minute in nature, but could help psychologically. How the team conducts its business, so to say. Don't overthink this haha. They are little things, but again, it shows me that Bubbs took a hard look at this program top to bottom and I like that. We can sell all of those things and kids still have their own decision to make. Not every kid needs the most fans in the arena or a plethora of natties. St. Cloud and UMD have found their niche of players recently that has brought them success just like we have MANY times over the years. I'm hoping the beginning of our new core is there now. Yes! Love having Goehring back. Think it was a phenomenal move. I've taken this to the bank over the past few years, been saying it for two years now, that I think our scoring improves starting this season. I like the additions a lot.

Your definition of "consistently" is the big problem, here. Three years is too small of a sample size. That's less than ONE graduating class. Kind of like our run 13-16 with 2 NCHC titles and a natty. That's not consistency. Making 15 straight tournaments is. UND, on the other hand, has done this many times over the years of existence. Clown and UMD have not. I'm betting on our program to turn it back to our standards. Call it what you want, but down "stretches" happen just like up ones do. Why is it totally unacceptable? Because we're mighty UND and they have to lie down for us? I feel like there's the misguided belief that just because UND is who they are, we ALWAYS get the best players, we ALWAYS the right mix of talent, we ALWAYS get all the breaks. No. Duluth and Clown have had a good run and it's not an excuse, it's a statement of fact. We haven't played well enough and up to their level. Simple as that. They have good enough coaches and resources, too. I hope that changes, starting this season.

I'm not so worried about their motivation. They know the standards. I think the level of execution and our overall goal scoring ability improves with another year of development and adding guys like Pinto, Michaud and Blaisdell.

Did we under perform, especially in the goal scoring department the past two seasons? Absolutely. However, with poor scoring, we were a bubble NCAA team. So, we get more scoring, we get back to where we want to be, right? I see nothing wrong with saying that other teams have been better than us the past two or three seasons.

Again, not just "really good"... historically the best they've ever had. 2015-16 and the lead up to that title were one of the best runs we've ever had and we won a title. See where I'm coming from? The point isn't "we can't win because these other teams are really good", it's because they've never been that good and that's why they beat us. It won't continue. It doesn't for any team, forever. I'm hoping our success is going to come back starting this year and lasts a really long time.

Saying things happen isn't an excuse. Simply pointing out facts. All things have to align to win a natty. Kind of why we went 16 years between them. Pointing out that other good teams are in our conference that are trying to achieve the same goal isn't an excuse.

Again, certainly not saying we shouldn't/can do better, but SCSU and Duluth had likely their best three-year run in their program's histories. Hopefully we just ran into them at the wrong time. DU also had two outstanding teams in there and a national championship.

Certainly not thinking we shouldn't do better, but the NCHC obviously has something to do with this.

Sorry? Also, I never said they'd be "big", you did. But I guess that's subjective, anyway. I happen to think a lot of "little" changes could absolutely turn into something "big".

The huge difference between and Grand Forks and the cities in which those B1G arenas are? Options. UND hockey is much more woven into the fabric of what people do on a winter Friday and Saturday night.

Keep an eye out. That's all I'll say. It's all good stuff.

Yeah, definitely. I certainly don't expect it. Kid is a emerging star and for however longer we have him, we're lucky to have him on this team. Really loved JT's game in the second half of last year. I think he'll be an elite play-making D man, ala Stechy, by the time he leaves campus.

Awesome stuff. Man, if we can keep both these guys for three more years.

I said this on another board, but I've heard we should expect to hear and see a lot of changes that this team/program has gone through/is going through, in the near future. Sounds like Bubbs took a real hard look at the program after last year. Maybe naming captains later is one of them?

I LOVE that. Immediately gets them involved and embrace them. Helped with Michaud, too.

I think he could absolutely wear the C next year. Colton jumped from his Soph year right into the C. I think it's more likely he wear an A next year, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's the C.

Wouldn't surprise me if it's the C.