siouxfan512

I would never tell a kid not to go for it, if he wants to play at the next level. Like you said, there is a level for everyone. Just wasn't as impressed with his film as I am by some others. Then again, I'm not football guru when it comes to recruiting and what to look for.

Agreed, props to the kid for getting out their and trying to get himself some looks, but definitely didn't look like a D1 player.

got it, makes sense.

Is this speculation? I thought Joels tweet was regarding the Schmelzle kid. I don't see anything on this Julio guy, and none of the coaches follow him on twitter.

Do we know how practices have been going? Any info on the team? I would think Miller would have a periodic write up, but I haven't see anything. 360 guys, we need football stuff!

So much for that.

With early signing day only around a month away, is anyone concerned by how quiet it has been? Clearly an abnormal year in terms of recruiting and playing, but kids still need to make plans for after they graduate. Why are we not hearing more here? Should we expect more surprises than usual on signing day? Is this supposed to be a smaller class, given what we have coming back? I wonder if we will see Damien Owens sign early. He was pretty clear in his commitment that if a bigger offer came, he was still open to hearing it. Really hope they are going hard after after both Ethan George and Mike Leatherdale. Thoughts anyone?

Miller couldn't have put together an actual article?

Just seems like Omaha would snatch the kid.

Is anything happening with recruiting? It has been very quiet for a while, minus losing Koziol.

The article is from July. Just stating that Rizzo asked for a release from his LOI, and is reopening his recruitment. It still list MM as a commit in the article ... just old news.

Its admirable how much better you think you are than MM. Your intentions may be the opposite of him, but your attitude puts you right in the same camp.

Agreed, the biggest and best thing anyone in this family can do at this point, is make clear they are sad and disappoint for MM, acknowledge that they understand why this happened, express some real sorrow for the victim and the fact that this ever took place, and hope for the best for both the victim, and their son/brother/relative going forward. Then again, if they were a family capable of all of this, the scenarios may never have become what they are today.

You're pretty quick to judge the 8th grader. Yes, he should have known it was wrong, but look at how he was raised. I feel bad for the kid, and not because his whole future is unraveling, but because he was clearly raised by parent who put status and hockey ahead of teaching him morals in principles. The kid who was bullied was absolutely a victim here, BUT there were a lot of people who failed MM along the way. If you are raised to be an A-hole and think you are better than everyone, that is exactly who you will become. Its a sad breakdown here, and as much as MM may not understand why he is losing all of these opportunities, my guess is his parent are probably filled with anger, rather than remorse. They should be upset at how they have raised their kid, and where they got it wrong, not upset that he is losing out on his hockey future. This whole situation, beginning to end, should be a case study used by schools and athletic teams as to the ramifications of what bullying can really do. Not just the horrible experience for the victim, but also the cost for the bully. Maybe it will get some kids to think twice. @gfNDfan I totally get the anger at this kid for being a jerk, but when you completely write people off with the F him attitude, do you ever expect him to change? This kid did some terrible stuff, and clearly has some moral issues, but if you give him a big " F You", he is going to give it right back. That is the mentality this kid has been programmed with. He probably won't ever take the high road with anything, unless someone shows him what the high road actually is.

I don't disagree, my only issue with all of this still comes down to the timing. UND played this as as though they though they might slip past the court of public opinion, and when they realized the story got out, they didn't stick by their decision. MM's ethics are obviously questionable based on what he did, even more questionable if he truly never apologized or expressed remorse for what he did, and even more questionable given what we continue to learn about the family antics. BUT now we are seeing the questionable ethics on UND's part .... again, not the decision, but the timing and the motives for them to change their course of action. Their decision was not based on anything ethical as Armacost would have you believe, but is 100% for the image of the school. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is NOT the same thing as doing the right thing. UND should be ashamed as a school for the manner in which they handles this entire situation from offering the kid, to letting him get to campus to supporting him one day, to letting him go the next. The key figures should have met on this long ago, discussed their approach and stuck to it one way or the other.

Accurate though, the guy pretty much nailed it.

I can't imagine they didn't, and if that is their excuse they need to seriously re-evaluate how they go about their recruiting. Even if they didn't know right now, hasn't the kid been committed for like two years? If nobody was following up on this, until 3 months into school, that part is on UND. Its even worse with AZ, a multi-million dollar sports team, with endless resources for this type of thing, can assess the situation prior to drafting him. Again, I want to be clear on this. My frustration with this situation has zero to do with MM being on the team or off the team ... I could care less. It is how a top notch college hockey program and a NHL organization can be so backwards on their processes. They should have been way in front of this issue and they weren't. Rather than saying we made a mistake but we will move forward, they try to save face, and make themselves look even dumber in doing so. Not impressed at all.

This doesn't surprise me in the least. Now I don't know any of them, but I think we can ready about this and all know the type. Think MM did something bad, I'm sure we would be shocked and appalled by what his parent would have to say about all of this behind closed doors.

Meanwhile its takes them months to update the football roster with new players and updates weights.

Wrong! Had the school handled this proactively, I may agree with you. They made a bad situation worse; by handling this retroactively. This decision should have reviewed long before this kid ever set foot on campus. The Coyotes botched the way they handled this, and UND has followed suit. UND just showed there lack of leadership here; had they cut the cord on this in June or July, it would have made way more sense. Deciding half way through the first semester, and a day after the coyotes cut them, show that they are just following suit and appeasing the status quo. To be clear, I am not making an argument for this kid to be on the team, and I'm certainly not going to defend what he did. I don't give a rat's a$$ if he is the #1 draft pick. MM issues are 1 part of the equation here. UND's handling of the situation is the other. They accepted the risk on the kid, knowing what they were taking on, then changed course. I'm not saying anyone should or shouldn't feel bad for this kid. He has clearly done some terrible things and I have no idea where is head is at now, but I cannot even imagine the rollercoaster of being 18, going to UND to play hockey, starting school, making new friends, getting drafted, then having everything pulled back like that. What a mind

Just my opinion, committing to a kid, bringing him to campus, letting him start school, having him practice with the team, then kicking him to the curb because of the public opinion of issues you already knew were in place would be an equally big black eye. The argument can absolutely be made as to whether or not this kid deserved to be a part of UND or any program, but UND already made that decision; knowing full well what they were taking on. They made a decision, they need to own that decision, take whatever criticism comes with it, and make the best of it.

Exactly .... I don't think there is a person out there that would defend what MM did, but from a program standpoint, this looks really dumb for the Coyotes. Hoping UND does not follow suit on this one. You made a decision, you made a commitment, stick it out, make the best of it, use it as a opportunity to teach others. If this kid is going to play for UND, I think he should have some exceptional circumstances, be held to a higher standard than others, and truly be forced to face what he did every day. Saying he wants to help create change against bullying in a form letter sent to NHL teams or a public statement is worthless, get out and actually do it; and the coaches should shoulder some responsibility in helping to make this happen.

I understand the Coyotes doing this, though what a disaster of a way to run your program. Why did they draft him in the first place then. At this point, I don't want to see UND do the same thing, and this is why .... If UND didn't want to deal with a PR nightmare, they shouldn't have brought him in. They knew exactly what they were dealing with, and what baggage would come along with it, and made the decision to move forward with this. Now the kid has been on campus, going to school and practicing with the team. UND and Berry needs to speak up and address this, more so than the canned responses that we have heard, but they need to own their decision. Cutting the kid at this point is simply saying we don't want to deal with the problem ..... that is something they should have though about before ever bringing the kid to campus.

Interesting podcast by Miller. Good point for discussion. Nice to hear someone who has had the opportunity of playing at a school like UND speak to the issue, and he does make some solid points. Do I think the kid should be condemned for life, No. Though the podcast does have me somewhat reconsidering my position on does this kid deserve to play at one of the most prestigious schools in the country? He may have made a mistake, but those mistake do have some consequences. UND could have easily washed their hands of this and moved on. At this point, I think it would be tacky to do so, because it would have nothing to do with their opinion of the kid, or the situation or taking a moral stance. It would only be because it is becoming a public spectacle in the hockey world; something they should have seen coming. I would not go as far as Miller does, to say the kid should never play in the NHL. Maybe he has to go a different route, maybe he should have gotten drafted when he did, and should have needed to find another way to work his way up. But we don't get to control all of that either. Truth is, if UND didn't take him, another school would have, or a major junior team ... trying to make an ethical point from one perspective won't convince everyone else to take that same approach. Its sad, but there are too many schools, programs, etc. that are going to say (not publicly) the kid is just too talented to not take. I am hoping it wasn't that direct with UND, as they could have found other top talent. Hopefully they did their due diligence on the situation, set the expectations, and assessed the risk in bringing in a kid with this type of history. What a bizarre story for UND though.

She also claimed that him rollerblading past their house was him taunting the family. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Who is going to give the entire truth on this, and again, where the heck are his parent on all of this? - I really feel for the kid that was bullied - I seriously question the bullied kid's parents to a degree as well, as they clearly have some issues of their own. Not questioning whether any bullying took place, clearly it did, but did the bullying actually continue as recently as two years ago? Who knows? - I assume the coaches saw something in the kid, other than hockey skill to make him worth taking a chance on; but I think a better statement from Berry and the school, and Miller are warranted here. - I'm already sick of hearing about this story, purely from a hockey fan perspective. That's not intended to be insensitive .... I watch sports to get away from all other crap, sucks when this stuff seeps into what should be entertainment.