Brett0909

Right? The concept is right up there with not being an @$$ for no reason…then doubling down on it when people react. Taylor was always incredibly prepared and professional, no background in hockey AFAIK but she obviously challenged herself to learn and got better and better over time. She ran her segments efficiently, even when her guests were generally all over the place. What, are you expecting Dave Starman to show up every home weekend, doing live intermission updates for peanuts? Taylor IS the bar here, let’s hope they find someone who can grow to do it as well as she did.

Love your positivity, Shayla! Wish more of us on the board (myself included) consistently brought good energy like you do. Thanks for your contributions around here.

Oops, that’s right. Meant Rudolph, but got them twisted with the talk of Reid possibly sneaking into top 5. Guess we’ll just have to settle for Rudolph and DuPont then, after Carels commits.

Just being greedy here, but I think there’s a reason to be optimistic. Who had Keaton as potentially the second highest drafted defenseman on our team from this draft class? Carels or Reid would be great. But really, it’s not like I’m suggesting all three of them or anything crazy. Right, Bryn??

All good comps, but all indications are Carels is at a similar level of development heading into next year as Verhoeff (based on scouts and international performance), and I don’t think anyone here’s expecting two more years from Keaton(?). Honestly, I’m not even as sure as most seem to be that we should confidently expect one more year… Takeaway for me is this fan base is believing (and expecting) big things out of this team and talent again, after a year of Jax. And that’s a great feeling.

My thought exactly…how can you be the best in the ECHL this long and not uplevel? Unless he likes being the best and where he is?

Agreed…This would probably feel different for me if so many “in-the-know” folks weren’t confidently sharing the equivalent of a silent commit all the way back to Brad when Keaton and Cole first committed. Now time’s ticking and suddenly everybody is tempering expectations instead and Jax is filling the roster with solid transfers. I’m sure the team will be fine either way, but hard not to feel some letdown if Chyz doesn’t make at least one splash.

Tough to be sure about this. Verhoeff had several interviews where he was talking about how driven he was to become the number one overall pick. Making statements like it’s irrelevant is too simple, they all care about where they get picked to various extents and the teams definitely distinguish and have different expectations between a number one and number five overall. I’m not saying I agree with it, but if Gavin had fallen out of the top five, there’d be a lot of kids and advisors thinking twice about exposing weaknesses in the NCAA in their draft year. Net-net, the projected number one is still expected to go first and Keaton was generally expected to go in the top five, and still is. So it would seem to be a generally positive outcome for the NCAA as it didn’t significantly alter their path - while I think it is broadly recognized that both players will be more ready for the next level than they would be if they stayed in the CHL.

I’m trusting in Chyzyk to make a splash with the remaining roster spots. Will definitely be disappointed if they don’t fill the need for some elite/game changers this team needs to be a true contender, and replace some high-end senior & pro departures. This is Chyzyk’s only job all year, and takes away an on-ice coaching and skill development spot (dedicated goalie coach, etc). So far, the roster management feels solid but achievable without him being on-the-road all year - how he finishes here feels like it’s where he earns his keep. Can he beat out other schools with bigger budgets for the best of the best CHLers?

Definitely makes the game of recruit-dominoes interesting when you have the CHL on a completely different timeline - at least, as long as the kids don’t/feel comfortable announcing until their CHL season and career is over. Just waiting on the CHL commissioner to announce they’re extending their season into July as the next attempt to slow down CHL -> NCAA pathway. 🤣

Have to say, I’m here for Tyler Young jumping into breaking this news and scooping Schloss. Good stuff, can’t help but like this dude. Too bad we only had him for one year - while I don’t love the new transfer era, strikes me the staff’s continued to bring in some good character guys through it, at least.

As always, this aged well. Standing by this take still? Good thing Carle had his team ready to go and would never let his team look flat, unlike Jax and the UND players who just didn’t even bother, right? No way Wisco was just a legitimate contender that was good enough to beat Mich St, UND, and put a historical domination on DU for 2 1/2 periods. 🤫 Of course the players and staff are disappointed, but this “they don’t care/didn’t try” take is trash.

Who knows. They completely knocked UND off their game (#2 in the country and steamrolling through the regional..even if we’re frustrated they didn’t have their best game) and forechecked and took away space better than I saw DU or UM in the following game. They beat Mich. St. and had success regular season against the best in their conference. Hastings almost got it done a couple times with the resources/talent at MANKATO. Sure they’ve been inconsistent, but I’m not considering this a gimme, even if it seems like Carle always just finds a way.

Every coach out there is trying to figure out how Carle does it. Yes, he puts his team in positions to win. But anyone paying attention knows that Denver got badly outplayed both overtimes and almost lost in regulation. Yet most of us expected they would somehow find a way to win (Carle gonna Carle) - and they did. Their players weren’t better prepared, more poised, more confident, more talented, more conditioned, or out chancing Michigan. They didn’t get better goaltending, and systems and coaching didn’t win them that game. They should have lost. It’s frustrating, but short of a deal with the devil it’s hard to define what he’s doing that others aren’t. Acknowledging that isn’t being a defeatist, or making excuses for UND. Hopefully Jax figures out some new secret sauce that nobody else can match for a time, but for now it is what it is, and those of us being realistic about this being a highly successful year are not just losers accepting it. UND had a bad period and didn’t have it for the night, but were still just a bounce away from winning that game. Denver had at least three bad periods where they looked totally outclassed, and somehow still managed to win against a better team. Onward and forward, excited for next year!

Definitely took some stones for Chavez to make the change. I was ready for it, but still surprised when he made the call. Seems even more obvious in hindsight than I thought at the time that it was needed - but if Jax struggles this year, Bill’s taking some serious heat. He made a gutsy call - good on him (and us) that it’s paying off.