SJHovey

I did watch it again. First, Rau doesn't even get the pass until he's at our blue line, so there isn't going to be any walking of Jordan at the red line. Second, the blocked shot was perfect. In fact, if Pattyn had been back checking like he was supposed to, or if the puck had caromed a slightly different angle, all we would talk about is the great stick block.

Seriously? Jordan played that rush perfectly. In fact, it was his stick that blocked the initial shot, made possible by being in the right position, that lead to the fluke bounce, and ultimately the goal. Go back and take a look at the video.

I disagree with this. Any number of posters have complained about Schmaltz' play, suggesting he plays without passion, takes shifts off, etc... Part of it is his game. He is not, and is never going to be, a Stecher or Genoway type of player who goes on these mad rushes up the ice. And because of his height/size, he's one of those guys who never really looks like he's skating. He never delivered the booming hits. In other words, he never did the things that fans get a kick out of, but which may not necessarily be what is required for playing his position. He was always played perfect position defense. You never had to worry about him when the opposing team rushed the puck because his spacing was impeccable. I think UND fans have terribly underestimated the quality of Jordan's play while at UND.

The ECAC actually had 17 teams in 1981-82. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/ecac19671982.html Strangely enough the WCHA was the small league that year, with only 6 teams. The CCHA had 11. Then there were a handful of independents that I recall (Alaska schools?, Northern Arizona University, maybe Air Force and Army, US international? )

By my count, Minnesota has "hosted" six regionals in that span, and Michigan two. BC has never hosted a regional in the 16 team format.

By my count, and if you include BSU and Minnesota as both being "west of the Mississippi", there are 11 of the 59 teams west of the Mississippi, and 11 of the 52 regional games have been played west of the Mississippi, again counting the Twin Cities. We, out west, have to remember the big geographical differences between east and west. There have been 26 eastern regionals and 26 western regionals under the 16 team format. The east has done a better(?) job of putting them in just a couple of locations. This probably has more to do with the availability of large arenas out east than anything else. East Worchester - 7 Manchester - 6 Albany - 4 Bridgeport - 4 Providence - 3 Rochester - 1 Amherst - 1 That's basically 5 different arenas that host out east. West Grand Rapids - 5 Minneapolis - 3 St. Paul - 3 Green Bay - 3 Colorado Springs - 2 Ann Arbor, Grand Forks, Denver, Madison, Fort Wayne, St. Louis, Toledo, Cincinnati, Fargo and South Bend, once each.

The NCAA went to a 16 team format for the 2002-03 season. If, at that point, we had let the 4 top seeds host a four team regional in their home rink, here are the schools who would have hosted, and the number of times they would have hosted: Minnesota - 7 BC - 6 UND - 5 Miami - 4 3 times UNH BU Michigan DU Wisconsin Notre Dame 2 times Union CC 1 time Cornell Maine Mich. St. Clarkson Yale Quinnipiac Mass-Lowell Mankato Knowing that, I'm not surprised by the vote. There would have been 52 total host site regionals. 40 of them hosted by just 10 schools.

I'm one of those fans that actually goes to the regional games and doesn't whine that the NCAA isn't it making it more convenient for me to do so.

Smells like a ploy to negotiate a better "education" package out of Everett, or some other Canadian team.

Meh. I find it hard to get too worked up over this subject. In the last two decades the NCAA, over virtually no opposition from the coaches or schools, moved towards the non-campus regionals and the single game elimination. As a result, it gave the "overwhelming majority" of the schools, the ones that realistically year in and year out aren't likely to compete for the championship, a "punchers chance" on that one year they do make it. Going to be hard to get them to give that up. I really don't know why fans cry about empty regionals. Frankly, I've always found it a plus. Good, cheap seats are plentiful for last minute decisions to go. No problem getting hotel rooms. There is the "no atmosphere" that tv and other media complain about, but so what.

IMHO the chances of Matthews landing here are probably less than 5%. Gotta be at least a 70% chance he heads north. If he does go the college route I suspect all his discussions with Eichel will have included comments about Eichel's time in Boston, so BU and BC are probably college frontrunners. Michigan probably has a slight advantage over us in that Ann Arbor is a known quantity to Matthews.

Matthews decision might be in the next two weeks. http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=39532

I don't think it's us that's kidding ourselves. UND is not the first team to switch from an Indian mascot/nickname to a new one. Four most of us may be familiar with include Quinnipiac (formerly the Braves), Colgate (formerly the Red Raiders), Miami of Ohio (formerly the Redskins) and even Dickinson St. (formerly the Savages). Google pictures of their fans. Pretty hard to find the old mascot (there are always a couple here and there). Posters who say the Fighting Sioux jerseys and logos will disappear are right. It'll take time, but 20 years from now you'll look around the stands and see no more than a handful, tops.

I'm not sure there is a direct correlation. According to the USCHO stats, Lucia has had seven recruiting classes with 8 or more freshmen in it (last year's team had 8). 1999-00: 8 freshmen, 20-19-2, missed the NCAAs 2001-02: 9 freshmen, 32-8-4, NCAA champions 2004-05: 9 freshmen, 28-15-1, Lost in NCAA semis 2006-07: 9 freshmen, 31-10-3, Lost in NCAA qtrs 2008-09: 11 freshmen, 17-13-7, missed NCAAs 2010-11: 10 freshmen, 16-14-6, missed NCAAs 2013-14: 8 freshmen, 28-7-6, lost in NCAA final

Why would Sanderson leave now? He's been here 3 years and barely played? Seems kind of silly to leave for his senior year? Seems to me Sanderson is more of a team guy who has accepted the fact that he will not be a professional hockey player, so he wants to get a good education and enjoy his 4 years as part of a quality team and program.

If Schmaltz, Stecher and LaDue all returned, I think Poolman is more likely to play forward. They'll give one of the freshmen D some playing time for sure. I even think that on the crazy chance LaDue and Stecher return, but not Schmaltz, that Poolman sees some time at forward. He was pretty solid in that position as the year went on, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Hak go with LaDue, Stecher, Thompson and Ausmus, with two freshmen D mixed in, at least early on to see what they have.

Some talented freshmen forwards coming in, to be sure, but not much in the way of returning goal scoring up front. By my count, less than 40 goals scored by the returning forwards, without Drake, and 8 of those were Poolman who could find himself back on defense next season. Contrast that to last year where our forwards started this past season having scored over 70 goals the year before. Without Drake, this is what it looks like: Nick Schmaltz 5 goals last year Luke Johnson 8 goals last year Tucker Poolman 8 goals last year (maybe moved to defense Austin Poganski 4 goals last year Bryn Chyzyk 7 goals last year Colten St. Clair 3 goals last year Trevor Olson 3 goals last year Sanderson, Simonson and Murphy all with 0 career goals. I like our incoming class, but I don't remember many teams where our returning forwards had this few goals scored the year before.

We're going to lose Jordan. Simply no way around it. He's a major talent. We were very fortunate to have him for three years, especially to the extent that it helped to recruit Nick to the school. People are kidding themselves if they think he'll be back for his senior season. To my way of thinking the key will be Drake. We're going to be really, really thin up front next year if he jumps early, and he's certainly going to get his chance. If we could keep Drake and either Stecher or LaDue, we ought to consider ourselves lucky. Anyone else is just found money.

In my opinion, the further along you get in the tournament, the better the competition. As a general rule the teams we have faced in rounds one and two have been weaker than the teams we have faced in the Frozen Four. Also, this notion that we are beating all these teams in the regular season, then failing in the Frozen Four is false. In 2005 DU absolutely dominated us all year long. Beat us at home in the only two regular season games, beat us at the X, and then in Columbus. In fact, imho the game in Columbus was the best game we played against them that year. Same in 2006. Wisconsin beat us both games at home in the regular season. We beat them at the X, when Elliot was just returning from his injury, but they were clearly the class of the WCHA that year, and were likely to win the championship whether we got there or not. I personally would like to see us play more eastern teams in the regular season, since candidly the better teams are out east right now.

People write that like a coach controls that. No coach controls that. Here is what coaches control: 1. What players they recruit 2. How those players are trained physically 3. How the players are taught/trained from a skills standpoint 4. Which players play, and in what line combinations 5. What style of play they implement, designed plays to be used, and in game adjustments to those plays, all in the context of available players 6. Proper motivation of the players to work hard, train hard and play hard, using the skills taught Is there something else Hakstol, or any other coach controls? After that, you just send them out there and see what happens. I don't have a problem with Hak on any of those things. I think he's recruited great, and continues to do so. Sure we lose some players early, or to Canada, but everyone does. I've never felt that Hak's teams were physically out of shape or not properly trained. They play as hard as any team in college hockey from an effort standpoint. So again I ask, where do you think he is deficient in terms of his coaching, and why? What's your basis for claiming your way is better? By the way, I'm still waiting for a link to any third party who thinks Hak should be on a short leash with respect to this job.

I find it funny that the anti-Hakstol posters on this board all profess they are not calling for him to be fired, and can't tell us what he is doing incorrectly with respect to the team or the program, except for the "he hasn't won me a natty" refrain. So I guess my question is, if you don't think he should be fired, why are you guys here whining? Either call for his head (and suffer the public ridicule that goes with putting your name to an idea that anyone who is even remotely neutral thinks is crazy), or quit whining. You don't get to have it both ways. And if you think he is making mistakes as a coach that has caused UND to lose these games, lets hear it. What mistake, exactly, did Hakstol make in the BU game? Should he have started Cam Johnson in goal? Was there a different line combination that he should have used? And tell me why these decisions caused us to lose? I'll hang up and listen.

Maybe, maybe not. Hak has shown that he has the ability to get his team to do whatever is necessary to get in the tournament, whether that's winning the conference tournament or whatever. I'll also just throw this out there for people to consider. On this Board, we're obviously all biased. First, in favor of UND hockey generally, and then one way or the other with respect to the coach. Can anyone point to a commentator, a beat writer, a past or present player, a coach, or even a blogger who has even hinted or suggested that Hakstol's continued employment as our coach should be looked at? There are a fair number I've read that say our fanbase is crazy for even talking about it, but of course most of those people think we're crazy anyway. But has anyone seen a neutral party suggest that Hakstol has had his chance, and its time for us to look in another direction?

I don't know about 11 goals, but I agree with this too. I really liked the way Murphy played these last few games. I expect he is going to get consistent ice time this next season. By the way, and I know I'm changing the subject here a bit, but did anyone else go "wut?" when Melrose picked Murphy as his "impact" player or "player to watch" or whatever it was for UND during the pregame? Edit: Ahh, I see siouxstudent saw that as well.

I don't think anyone is saying the program would suddenly go into a 30 year tailspin or something if Hakstol were fired. I assume we could find another coach, and a good one, and I assume that with the advantages our program has, that coach would have some good success. I count myself in the pro-Hakstol crowd, but I will only speak for myself. The reason I don't think we should fire Hakstol is why fire a guy who is leading the program in the direction you want to go? Seems kind of silly. People are fond of comparing Hakstol to York, or Berenson or Lucia or Mack Brown, or Bud Grant, etc... I don't know the answer to this, but has anyone ever been fired for taking a basketball team to 7 Final Fours in 11 years? The NCAA tournament, today, is a bit of a crapshoot. I saw somewhere that with the past 3 champions all winning for the first time, that's the first time that has happened since the first 3 champions in NCAA history. That's pretty amazing, if true, and speaks to the parity in the game. I think the NCAA records book requires a coach to have coached in at least 8 games before qualifying for certain records. I think if you look at that record book after this season you will see that only 3 active coaches have a better tournament winning percentage than Dave Hakstol (York, Sandelin and Jackson). That means that when the season is on the line, playing a team from another conference you haven't seen before, Hakstol is about as good as it gets, and that's with the 1-7 Frozen Four record everyone is fond of pointing out. I was in school for the Gino championships. Those were cakewalks. In the first one, we got selected for the tournament and only had to win two games. In 1982 we got two games against Clarkson at home, then 2 games in the Frozen Four. In 1987, the same. Two games against St. Larry's at home, then 2 games at the Frozen Four. Even Blais only had to win 3 games. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Dave Hakstol's job is safe, and candidly, I'm happy about that.

PC was certainly the aggressor in the Omaha game, and maybe even better in the 3rd period of the BU game, but this was no high flying offensive juggernaut. Tied for 18th in goal scoring. 38th on the power play. You have to go a long way down the national scoring list to find a PC player. Just a handful of guys in double digits in goals scored. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this PC team was built exactly like this year's UND team. The primary difference in the Frozen Four was goaltending. Zane played an average game against BU, while Gillies was superb.