SJHovey

Here's an interesting statistic. Excluding Cam Johnson, only one player for UND has a minus for his +/- rating thus far this year -- Steph Pattyn. http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/teamstats/ndkm

There is a ton of hockey to be played. UMD and Miami aren't far behind, UND, UMD, UNO and Miami have a lot of games left against each other. DU still has a say in it. I'll take a split on the road and stay in the hunt.

I'm kind of curious who all these 1st rounders were who played on the 4th line. Half our first rounders were defensemen, and I don't ever remember Landon Wilson, Parise, Stafford, Zajac, Oshie, Toews, Nelson or Schmaltz on the 4th line. Maybe it's just me, but I find these discussions funny. People always talk about the glory years of UND hockey. It was unheard of to have first rounders on the team back when I was in Grand Forks and going to school at UND. I could be wrong, but I think James Patrick holds the distinction of being the only 1st round draft pick to win a national championship at UND (1982).

A couple of UND recruits that are having some success in the USHL each scored in the USHL/NHL showcase game Tuesday night. Wolanin scored the 5th goal for the East in the first period as they got off to a 6-0 lead on Chris Wilkie's West team. Wilkie also scored as the West lost 7-4. http://www.ushl.com/news_article/show/466165?referrer_id=1348814

Yet apparently some here want us to be. Win that one championship surrounded by years of mediocrity. But we have that "natty!"

Jeff Jackson won 2 in his first 4 years. It was pretty obvious, even back then, that he'd win those 7 national titles over his 20+ year career. Oh, wait....

Minnesota will be fine. 10 of their 16 remaining conference games are at home, and the six road games are against Wisconsin, OSU and Penn St. They've got a pretty soft schedule for the next month, except for the North Star Cup. If they do anything but lay an egg in the North Star, they should easily be a top 10 PWR by the time it's all said and done. But it is going to be an interesting year. I could easily see where there are only 12 at large teams. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see a team like DU or SCSU win the NCHC tournament, or someone other than Michigan or Minnesota win the Big 10.

The weakest schedule I recall is Zach Parise's freshman season. Played Canisius 3 times, Brown, two against Niagara, one against BSU and one each against Princeton and Yale, when both sucked. Only decent game was Michigan in an early season tournament. In addition to the neutral ice tournament, the team played only 4 road games before January 10th, and two of those were the aforementioned Yale and Princeton games. Probably the weakest schedule in UND history.

Chris Wilkie named to USHL/NHL prospects game. Congrats Chris.

I was thinking the other day, I wonder if the NCHC dodged a bullet with Notre Dame. They have a great "brand", but Ohio State has a great brand and I don't know that they are going to cause the Big 10 to be a super hockey conference. That Notre Dame program seems a mess right now. Jackson probably benefits a bit in that hockey is an afterthought at the school. I'll admit, I'm old enough to remember when Notre Dame was a part of our conference. They sucked. They added nothing to the conference and certainly didn't cause our recruiting to improve just based upon playing Notre Dame in hockey. You can't minimize public exposure and tv contracts, but...

We're fine. This early in the PWR there are always a bunch of swings. You look at the adjusted RPI, which is so important, and we're presently in good shape. There is a huge gap between us and #12. There are about 5 teams in front of us within that same point gap. We're going to have a chance to get some quality wins the second half of the season. I think you will see the WCHA come back to earth a bit these next couple of weekends. Play good hockey in the second half and we'll be in great shape. Certainly better than sweating it out down in PWR #20, or that area.

I guess my view on the season thus far is the team has generally done what it has to do. I wouldn't characterize it as a very good start to the season, or anything like that. I would just grade it as satisfactory. I don't think we've played that tough of a schedule. If you look at the 10 games we played against decent teams (Providence, Miami, UNO, Denver and SCSU) we are 5-3-2, with six of the games at home. That's ok, but I certainly don't think it qualifies as something to get overly excited about. The key is we haven't hurt ourselves, and coupled with the good out of conference record of the NCHC, they aren't going to have to play .700 hockey to grab an at large position in the tournament. Positives include the play of Zane and the defense. Drake and Bryn have really improved. Tucker P. has been a real nice surprise and Poganski and Simonson seem capable of playing the college game. I have some concerns. We are not physically strong on the blue line. The team can really struggle when you get some big, strong forwards grinding away. They don't have a Ben Blood type defenseman who can just go in and clear out the middle of the net, or physically handle any sized forward who is grinding along the boards. The power play worries me as well. We were a blue line in power play, and the good teams have really figured out how to pressure us out top. Until we can start to figure out how to make them pay down low, with our forwards, ala a Ryan Duncan, I don't see us having a ton of power play success. I like the competitiveness of the team. Too often in the last couple of years it has seemed that a two goal, or even one goal lead heading into the third was insurmountable, but I don't feel that way about this team. I'd really like to see Jordan S. step up and start to take over games like we know he is capable of in the second half. I'd like to see O'Donnell become an offensive force like I think he can be. It should be fun. Great teams in the conference this year and it's going to be a grind, and a great conference post-season.

I'm not sure how awesome it would be. It will take away an at-large bid from a deserving team. If it's UND, I'm going to be bitter. If it's a deserving NCHC team, I'll be unhappy. If it happened to be someone like BC, MN or Michigan, we might be moving towards awesome.

The college hockey fans between here and Wisconsin are getting a pretty big kick out of Wisconsin's fall. But that could really come back to haunt them. In rivalry games you can throw out the records. They have to play Wisconsin at least 4 times this year, and a loss or two will not help MN's pwr at all.

I was thinking the same thing. "Hey, we're #1 in both polls. FIRE HAK!!!"

Wasn't the point of my post. My point is, no one is forced to follow or be a fan of the UND hockey program. It's a voluntary activity. As it is, we have it pretty good. I personally can't think of another program that I'd rather be a fan of than this one. I don't go to bed at night wishing, gee I wish our program was as successful as "X program." There is no other program whose success or history I would rather have. So if that's the case, what in the heck are we complaining about? Here is another thing to consider for those who are so frustrated with no national championship in recent years. My dad first took me to UND hockey games sometime back in the 60's, back when they played in the old barn and there was no amount of hot chocolate that would keep you warm. I know what it was like when there was a generation that couldn't recall ever seeing UND win a national title until Gino helped us do it in 1980. There is nothing sweeter. The 1980 title, followed up by the 1982 title. Nothing better. The wait made it all that more enjoyable. It was great winning in 2000. Thoroughly enjoyed it. But I will tell you from personal experience it didn't feel the same. Not having just won in 1997 and with the great 1998 and 1999 teams. There is a line from a Bruce Springsteen song that I've always liked, and that I've always viewed as a bit of a cautionary warning against envy controlling your life. The line is, "Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, the king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything." I sometimes feel sports fans, us included, fall into that trap.

Gino got fired. And he won over 40% of our "nattys." This whole discussion, each time it occurs, is silly. But of course it draws me and everyone else in. I just keep reminding myself that probably 90%+ of all college hockey fans, or even sports fans in general, would do anything to have their team have the success our program has. The school has to be doing something right.

I think sports fans are hilarious. We have a great college hockey program. Fans continue to support the team as well as any other time in the past, and greater than pretty much every other college hockey program in the country. UND contends for a title every year. And 50% of all threads around here turn into "Fire Hak!" "We haven't won a 'natty'". And you just know that if UND were to win this year, and three years from now we are in the midst of a two year drought from making the NCAA's the same "Fire Hak" refrain would start up again. "It's unacceptable we aren't in the tournament." As others have pointed out MN has won two championships since our last one in 2000. (This, by the way, is my personal opinion as to why this is such a major issue around here. I've often wondered what these discussions would be like if MN hadn't won any since back in 1979, and it was BU or some other team that we didn't care about that won in 2002 and 2003, but that's a discussion for another day.) So with two championships in the last dozen years, statues should be erected to the head coach, right? Yet a few years ago the drumbeat of MN fans was to send Lucia packing because MN wasn't making the tournament anymore. Same now with Eaves at Wisconsin. He's won the all important, takes precendence over all other things on earth national championship. He's getting fried by Wisconsin supporters. Here is my advice. Free and easy to implement. If you don't like the way a program is running things, and the program won't change because a large majority thinks things are being run just fine, find another program to support.

I don't think we have to worry about it. Jordan Schmaltz gave a verbal to Wisconsin. Jason Gregoire gave a verbal to Denver. Both decommitted and came here and played under Hakstol.

Hammy at MN and Andy Johnson from Wisconsin are reporting that Brent Gates, Jr., just decommitted from Notre Dame.

You are going to see more and more of these decommits, in my opinion. It seems like every year now we see at least one, if not more, top prospects decommit. It's like a divorce. Once there is no longer a stigma attached to something, it just becomes more common. Kids change their mind. As they work their way through the junior ranks, new teammates talk to them about switching schools. The Canadian junior leagues are always there. I would hate to be a college hockey recruiter, especially going forward. It's going to be the wild, wild west.

Would we want to? I think it's great ASU is adding hockey, and I hope others follow. However, I'm not sold on the idea of adding ASU into the NCHC, especially if it means adding additional teams (we all know how they love an even number). ASU will go to the NCHC, WCHA or even the BTHC only until other schools out west add hockey. Then you are right back into the situation we faced a couple of years ago when MN and Wisconsin bailed. If you can tell me only ASU and U of A will add hockey, and they will be members of the NCHC for the next 50+ years, great, bring them in.

I think if you read any of their blogs or fan sites, or articles about the games, the general consensus is that they aren't getting any production out of their older forwards. If you have half a dozen juniors and seniors on your forward lines, and if they produce a half dozen goals total, it's pretty hard to have a ton of success. There seems to be some feeling that BC "missed" with a couple of their classes, which of course is bound to happen. UND has gone through it. MN has gone through it. Michigan and Wisconsin have gone (are going?) through it.

Pretty sure he's not getting them from here. http://www.mcubed.net/ncaaf/tvc/sec/big10.shtml But since it was me who made the comparison between the NCHC conference this year and the SEC West, I apololgize for getting the thread off track.

This reminds me of that old game, "which of these isn't like the others."