SJHovey

UMD will get plenty of love this year from the pollsters. They're a good team. The problem is there are about 6 really good teams in the NCHC this year. It's going to be a little like the SEC West in football. Every week you are playing a team that is probably good enough to make a serious run in the NCAA's. Teams are going to take their lumps, so I don't see an NCHC team going on a long run that propels it to the top of the polls. But that said, a solid non-conference performance thus far should keep 5-6 of the teams in the running for NCAA spots as we head through the second half. Probably more likely that UNO falls back a bit, and I've yet to see DU play. But should be a wild ride.

The kid is from the Twin Cities. He is playing in the USHL with a bunch of kids who have verbally committed to MN. He originally gave his verbal to Wisconsin, but as with a lot of kids, they sometimes change their minds. My guess is that as the signing date got closer he started to think about whether he wanted to go home to the Twin Cities to play college hockey, started thinking about whether he wanted to play with his teammates who have said they're going to Minnesota, and just decided to hold off on signing the LOI. He probably just wasn't ready to take that next step. No big deal. I certainly wouldn't ascribe a bunch of nefarious behind the scenes dealings to either Lucia or York in this case. He just wasn't ready to put pen to paper. That said, I suspect MN has the inside track, perhaps followed by Wisconsin or BC.

I agree with you. Should be a desperate Wisconsin team this weekend. Hopefully we can get on them early before they can shake off 3 weeks of rust.

Told you guys so.

Well, Denver was 4-0 against us that season, with exactly zero games played in Denver, so there's that. They also had the best player in the nation that year, were the defending champs, had probably the best goaltender, and were laden with upperclassmen. Greene, Zajac and Stafford have had nice NHL careers, and Porter is getting his shot. But Stastny, Carle and Skinner haven't fared too poorly either.

I don't make the claim that UND or Hak has had bad luck in the Frozen Fours, certainly not any more or less than anyone else. My take on those Frozen Fours is this. In 2005 (Denver) and 2014 (Minnesota) I thought Hak did a masterful job of preparing his team to play a superior opponent. In both instances I thought UND outplayed the opponent, but they didn't win. That happens. In 2011 I thought we were the best team, and were clearly better than Michigan. But again, I have no complaint about how the team performed or how the staff prepared them. I thought in 2007 and in 2008 we were probably pretty evenly matched against our opponents, but I don't think the UND staff did as good a job getting the team ready to play. We had a great team in 2006, but they simply made too many mistakes in that game. No question it's been disappointing UND hasn't won a title since 2000. There are a lot of people, myself included, who think UND's best team during that timeframe was the 2003-04 team coached by Blais that also failed to win a title. But the reasons I cut Hak some slack are these. First, his teams have always been "in the hunt." That is, there has not been a time where we didn't make the tournament, and furthermore weren't considered one of the few dangerous teams left in that tournament, while he has been coach. Second, I think he is as good as anyone in developing a team over the course of a season. To take a group of individuals and make them perform at a higher level as a team, not just a collection of individuals. Third, I think he gets a lot out of each player. UND has always had very talented players come through the program, but let's be candid. The talent level that we see now as compared with the years of Parise, Toews, Oshie, etc..., is not the same. But he is able to take late additions like Gaarder, Pattyn, etc..., and turn them into useful team players. Fourth, Hak has had some obstacles that have come up during his tenure that were more substantial than what either Blais or Gasparini dealt with, most not of his doing. Some late season defections of very talented commits, the top rated freshman bolting last year mid-season, some key injuries to guys like Toews, Genoway, Grimaldi, Kristo, O'Donnell, Gregoire. Every coach has to deal with those things. But they certainly make it less likely all the pieces come together for a title.

A bit of a "trap" game for UND this weekend. Unheralded opponent. UND coming off of an important non-conference series with a top 5 ranked opponent. Big series against an old rival the following weekend. No time for slip ups. UND's non-conference opponents are a combined 4-27-1 right now (3-25 without the UND games). We've had the one loss we can afford against them (if we could even afford that one.)

What is true is this. Jerry York, Ron Mason, George Gwozdecky, Don Lucia, Red Berenson, Jeff Sauer, and "Badger" Bob Johnson were all D-1 college hockey coaches for 10 or more years before they won a title, and most of those guys have had a pretty good run. True, there have been guys like Dean Blais or Jeff Johnson who came in and won one or two right away. But there have been guys like that who won right away, then spent the rest of their career trying to recapture it. I don't care what kind of advantages or disadvantages a program gives to a coach. It can take very good coaches time to figure out how to win, so to speak. What works, what doesn't work. To adapt to changes in recruiting. If or when the program falls on hard times like it did a bit in the later part of Gino's tenure, I'll have no problem if the school wants to look in another direction. But right now the program is in the running for a title each year, so I'll take my chances.

My guess is they probably had some light interest. MN has a tendency to recruit fewer of the grinder type of players this kid sounds like. Really just comes down to a style of coaching. Sounds like he should be a good fit for us.

Tomorrow is hump day. The 89th day of 177 days without UND hockey this summer. Thank God!

Interesting article on NCAA hockey as it pertains to the NHL draft, relying almost exclusively on Hak for quotes. http://www.washingto...-and-heres-why/

If Rowe doesn't get a shot, he has no one to blame but himself. UND will have, I think, 6 senior forwards on the roster next season. That, together with a possible "one and done" situation with N. Schmaltz, means there are going to be a ton of forward positions open next fall. You figure Yon, Gardner, Gersich and Wilkie come in, and maybe Cakebread. Clearly a team with an open spot or two. As a 21 year old with a ton of time in the juniors, Rowe should have no excuses. I also kind of like how old some of these "kids" are as they hit campus. Poolman, Olson and Simonson are all 21 already, and haven't played a game. Rowe would be 21 before he gets here. Cam Johnson turns 21 next summer. There have been some eastern teams in recent years who have had a lot of success using less heralded recruits who are 25 by the time they are seniors. Plus, it has two side benefits. It aggravates rodent fans to the east, and reduces the risk of those pesky underage drinking issues.

I expect Rocco to be gone. As noted by others, he's already been here 3 years. I seem to recall an interview on draft day where he expressed hope that he could move on to pro hockey within a year, or as quickly as possible. With the possibility of free agency looming for him, as I understand it, I'm sure Florida will look to get him signed. Finally, I'm one of those who think Rocco is actually ready to move on. I think he's the type of player who will thrive in a game that is even faster than the college game, and by playing with players who have a higher skill level than those he's presently with. It'll be a big loss, but the program will survive. Always does.

I agree. Even though his choice may have been dictated in part by a family connection, it would be nice to get a toehold into the Grand Rapids recruiting market. Pretty solid hockey program, and candidly one in which we haven't nabbed a notable player since Jon Casey. I hope the kid progresses as he ages and becomes a force for Grand Rapids, and later for us.

They are in a 3-way tie for 5th.

I'm one of the people who don't know why Eades and UND parted ways. But candidly, I really don't want anyone to post the "reason" on this or any other public message board, for a couple of reasons. First, that "reason" may not be true, and if it isn't I really have no interest in besmirching Eades or UND with a false accusation. Second, even if the "reason" is true, it obviously hasn't been made public by Eades, or for that matter, the University. From Eades' standpoint, that's probably because he just prefers it that way. Why run someone's name through the mud, if in fact the "reason" is either embarassing or bad, especially someone with the connections to the school that Carey has, just because a bunch of message board posters want to speculate as to whether there is bad blood between the parties.

One of my media guides indicates that we beat them twice at home in December 1973. Ah, Dave beat me to it.

My guess is he's instagramming them to Hak every day, 'cause that's just how he rolls, apparently.

BSU is home and away. Wisconsin is away. The rest are at home.

That really is a terrific story. One of the nice things about the story is that Ambroz really didn't have a lot of connection with the New Prague hockey team, at least at the high school level. He left early to head to the USHL, as I recall, so if anything you might think there would be a tiny bit of unhappiness that the family pulled the kid out of what is generally a pretty unheralded MN high school hockey program. Instead, it's pretty obvious those associated with the school think pretty highly of the Ambroz family. I'm glad they got a chance to see their son play. Had to have been a pretty big thrill.

Brad has BSU, Lake St., Providence, Wisconsin and Niagara

The beauty of that simple math? They now have 7 championship game losses to our 5.

Lucia is 4 years older than Guentzel, almost to the day. I have no idea of Lucia's plans, but he doesn't strike me as someone looking to make the move into the NHL now, at age 55 (almost 56). NHL coaching is a young man's job. You don't see them hiring a lot of 56 year olds for a first time position. I don't see Lucia moving to another college program. So unless he just decides to cash it in early due to health or family issues, or unless he gets canned, he'll likely finish out his coaching career at MN. If you're Guentzel do you want to wait for that? I could see Guentzel taking the CC job, or maybe waiting to see if Sandelin or someone likes that gets the ax. I just don't see him ever coaching at MN has the head guy.

Well, since he's signed through 2019 he'd better have thought of an "unless CC offers me their job" out clause or he ain't going anywhere. http://www.masslive...._coach_ric.html

Why in the world would Rick Bennett go to CC? A clear step down, imho. Contrary to our "western world view" of hockey out here, not everyone in the hockey world thinks that upper echelon ECAC or Hockey East jobs are just stepping stones to the prime coaching positions out west. There are probably about 6-7 positions that Bennett might consider leaving Union for, and CC isn't one of them. Besides, I think a certain MN assistant coach is going to be a leading candidate for the CC position.