Brett0909

In fairness to the east coast fans being ragged on, while it’s fun to do — we had to endure 10 pages on this forum whining about the screw-job and lack of fairness from the committee, east coast bias, etc…before the brackets were even announced. All fanbases are biased on what they think is fair, and we’d probably (collectively) be embarrassed if some of those posts were being picked up elsewhere to reflect the “UND victim mentality” around here at times.

Hate to say it but after what we witnessed against UMD last weekend, I’m not feeling at all confident UND isn’t one of the higher risks for a 1 seed loss in the opener. MSU has to be on upset alert watch too, with how they’ve been playing down the stretch. Of course, the way these things go…watch the Wolverines get bounced in the first round after looking every bit the part of the number one overall, while UND sails through.

My honest hope is KV (and others) were playing at limited capacity with the bug going around because he was a borderline liability out there too often - and UMD knew how to expose him and were relentless at doing so. It was really noticeable even before Jake started calling it out, and he isn’t one to key in on a player without cause. That can be true while still acknowledging he’s an incredibly talented player and it was an uncharacteristic performance while he’s earned his top-4 role. I’m nowhere near saying he needs to be benched (he’ll be playing), and clearly the whole team was off but it'll be interesting to see what adjustments Jax makes overall - will he manage underclassman’s minutes / pairings differently now that games will be tighter and less room for high risk/high reward play? Will he trust the guys and give them some reins? He’s put them in positions to succeed all year and prepare them for this, which I love - and I hope he’ll live or die by that, while getting them to play their best. Tough choices, especially with other teams looking to exploit any weaknesses with UMDs whomping for game tape prep. BUT who knows -maybe it was all just a rope-a-dope to rest up and throw off future game prep (no really, go after Liv and KV all game, that’s the winning strategy)…😜

One foot out the door already and not bothering to show up when he doesn’t feel like it…sounds about right. Glad the staff took a stance, sounds like he needs it. I took his transfer as a gut punch for the teams chances at the start of the season. Never would’ve guessed I would be relieved and happy he left when all was said and done. Hope he gets his head on straight, too much talent to waste with this kind of crap.

Love it. The most interesting part to me is Jan comes in as a strong but not elite recruit in the first year in recent history that UND doesn’t have a (NCAA championship winning) goalie coach on the bench…and they finally get back to having a top goalie, the first to win it as a freshman no less. After years of poaching proven goalies from other teams, with mixed results…who often regressed here vs. their prior teams. I wouldn’t have guessed it would play out this way after Karl’s departure but Jax just keeps showing he knows exactly what needed to be done. Congrats to Jan and team. Just a couple more boxes to check!

I’m going to overly-simplify this…but for all those condoning McKenna for his actions, I wonder how you’d feel if this turned out differently. Regardless of the existing consequences he’ll already face. Equally probable scenario: Dude runs his mouth and is overall a POS. McKenna does what he did and is the instigator, attempting to assault him. Dude is a fighter (MMA, BJJ, take your pick - y’know, the ones who often go around picking fights like this) and in this scenario is the one to “cold cock” McKenna. McKenna’s lights out with a broken jaw or worse, potentially career/life altering injury. Dude walks away with no charges due to self defense - or maybe a minor harassment charge. We all still hyping McKenna up as doing the right thing? Trying to teach some ahole a lesson? Serious question. Lots of people out there that we wish would “get taught a lesson”, but assault is assault for a reason, unless the video concludes he was physically threatened, all signs point that he could’ve just kept walking. I’m not going to character assassinate him for it, but it was stupid, could’ve turned out much worse, and I’m good with the consequences he faces.

Maybe someone here can confirm, but have to wonder if there’s a clause on behavior that nullifies his NIL payment. Would think if you are academically ineligible, self-select not to compete (transfer/etc.), or gross misconduct there’d be a waiver of some kind to protect the NIL involved.

What could’ve been if Porter Martone had ended up here. Dude’s a gamer.

Michigan looks dominant but a bit less world-beating when you look closer at their results. They’ve split with every team they’ve played better than the top 30 except their week 2 sweep of Providence and an OT sweep against Harvard…otherwise they’ve feasted on the bottom with lopsided scores. Splits with the top half of the B10 in Mich St, PSU, Sconnie, and the lone NCHC team in WMU don’t scream “they’re out of our league” to me. They're undefeated in game 1 of series this year though, so teams will have to figure that out. UND’s struggles came in week 2 & 3 before an OT loss to UMD to start week 4 and undefeated since… given a huge incoming class and overhaul of systems with the coaching carousel, I’d say they’re way ahead of schedule. Weird to think that Mich is likely more battle tested than UND so far though, but TBD how strong the B10 is, as always. How often have they been overrated and gotten half their conference into the postseason, only to lose out in the first round to lower ranked NCHC teams? Hopefully a pattern that continues.

If Gavin does fall down the draft board, it’ll be interesting to see how that affects perspective on top CHL draft picks taking the NCAA route. Obviously Verhoeff and others being watched closely as well. On one side, the CHL will be pushing the narrative that it hurts your draft stock and he’s under performing because the NCAA is “bad” in some way, not because the level of play in the CHL (and consequently how it prepares you for the next level) is lower. On the other side, and this is how I feel, if he’s not ready to dominate the NCAA he definitely isn’t ready for the NHL. What would dominating against CHL kids this year have done for his development, versus the NCAA exposing his opportunities and challenging him to raise his performance to meet? I’m sure it will depend on the kid and his family/advisors whether his ego wants to believe he’s the best and needs to be drafted number one, or he’s realistic about doing the hard work to become the best.

Definitely. I just feel so bad for them. Especially after all of the insinuations about what it meant that they were able to poach UND’s “best players”. 🤣 And to think, they went out and spent a bunch of money so they could turn their irresponsible play issues into much bigger (and more expensive) issues…while Jax turned around the locker room issues and gained the flexibility to reinvest into players like Verhoeff and Reschny. Gotta love it.

Tough to speculate on how Jonny feels about UND, he’s done some media for the school but doesn’t seem to have the same long-term connection as many others. It’s hard to imagine Captain Serious of all people overreacting to playing time management of a family member- he’s always had a good head on his shoulders and worked harder than everyone around him to earn his spot- and expected the same from other players. I’ll trust IF he didn’t like how it was handled, there’s probably a reason behind the scenes beyond family loyalty. Hopefully no hard feelings, his time at UND mattered for the team, in future recruiting, exposure, and legacy. I’ll always be a fan, and I hope to see him do one last skate someday.

I definitely didn’t have Perron with the best xfer season so far, with OMac playing alright and Boisvert totally invisible. Has to be some pressure if Boisvert got a 6 figure or close NIL as some were reporting. At this rate, looking like the one big outside drawback of Berry’s departure (Boisvert’s hitting the road) may have been a net-win if the locker room reports and problems off the ice were accurate.

Obviously a tough loss. Couple bad decisions marred an otherwise learn and grow kinda game against a pretty good opponent. Jax tried to prepare us for this, but the early results made many of us forget it would be bumpy at first. Completely new PP and PK (coaches and systems). This showed. Every coach either new or playing a new role. Attempting to implement new expectations, culture, and systems to improve where they needed to from the last decade. Record setting turnover to new players and some tough losses from the core. All of the above makes for an almost total reset and rebuild…but Jax has them in the thick of it, vs. settling for multi-year rebuild. Showed some grit at the end to tie it up and flashes of pretty good play through the night. They recruited the players they need to have success, and they’ll grow into their roles. Faced their best opponent by far this year - didn’t have all the answers early but they were visibly settling in and improving as a team throughout the game and will be a better team for it. And they’re a top 10 team who got 45% of a NPI win against a 8-1 UMD team that no one’s had good answers playing, yet. Just my take…It was definitely frustrating at times, but the mistakes are addressable, the systems are getting closer to clicking, and the team’s in a good spot nationally if they can grind through some wins while continuing to build. Probably in as good of a spot as most of us would’ve hoped for right now, before the season. Now, let’s go out and win big tonight!

Pretty telling how much they’ve collectively emphasized a new era of hockey / moving on with accountability and “nobody’s bigger than the program”. Hopefully it translates to wins on the ice (and better effort/continuity). I read it as nobody in that locker room seems to think things were going well before and they’re just making some adjustments to Jax’s style of coaching...

Interesting that with focus on UND’s top-notch facilities, dedicated strength and conditioning, nutrition, etc. advantages that beyond Strinden it’s all freshmen and transfers rounding out the top 5. Hopefully not affected too much by the injuries holding them out from full participation, it’s too early to be dealing with injury limitations.

Interesting collection of NCAA bound player perspectives on the new CHL > NCAA route to the pros. Some UND callouts deeper into the read, once the obligatory McKenna/PSU focus gets out of the way. https://www.nhl.com/news/ncaa-college-hockey-becoming-major-pathway-to-nhl

Seems pretty salty for an organization that has unabashedly recruited / flipped NCAA players - reportedly even broken their own leagues rules in offering cash. IIRC even grabbing players at winter break (Humphrey’s from Mich in January?). Not blaming him for being frustrated, but the hypocrisy to attack the player is laughable.

Definitely creates new and interesting dynamics. With a significantly larger pool of players that you can pull from but only expect one year out of, it may be harder to do when there’s some uncertainty with the serious lower back injury. These types of players have to be taken as what can you give me now, because you likely won’t have a second year. Not saying that UND passed on him, because I have no idea and would be pretty excited if he chose UND over Providence, but certainly adds a new element to how you evaluate talent, and who can immediately make your team better.

FOUR B1G teams with betting odds over the defending champs and a Denver team that seems to be a coin toss to win it all any given year, lately. Seems they’re taking Bucci’s advice on betting on whoever has the sauciest hands and knows where they keep the cookie jar? Not much love for the NCHC which just keeps winning it all. Granted it’s hard not to like those top three, but same could be said for the last decade. Should make for an interesting year.

Right? That one was definitely a surprise. The one that hurt me was seeing Weatherby playing in Czechia. His late departure after all the raving we heard about his camp performance, combined with “what could’ve been” if he’d stayed, wouldn’t sting nearly as much if he’d at least locked down an NHL position. But Czechia?

After what certainly felt like a rough patch all the way around for UND hockey, loving all of the positive news for future and past UND alums. Wishing Kleven and Malone tons of future success!

The speculation is fun and as someone mentioned obviously great for clickbait and excitement. But seems to me all signs are pointing at him being very much undecided. I’ll take some comfort in UND having been linked early on as a top contender, and no reason to believe he’s ruled it out. Even if the recent mention of two more schools to visit is true, that doesn’t mean he didn’t already visit some schools who are still in the running as well. Should be fun to watch, but definitely feeling better about UND’s chances after recently loading up with some top talent. And also feeling better that we’ll be fine either way even if McKenna does land somewhere else.

Hindsight is always an interesting thing. There’s probably a lesson here for many of us… it wasn’t that long ago when some were wholeheartedly defending Barry and challenging anyone who suggested that recruiting, team morale, and effort weren’t where they needed to be. The forum was divisive and split. That whole debate about whether UND was sinking toward mediocrity and if anyone else could lead the team in a better direction. And just earlier today, some were still arguing against landing these recruits or them coming in this year. Not calling others out for this, just something we’ve all been guilty of from time to time and can learn from. We certainly don’t know what the product on the ice will look like, but it’s been very energizing to see how quickly UND could bounce back into being a national player again. This staff definitely has edge and drive that seemed lacking, and I’m relieved the damage was short term. I can’t wait to see how all of this builds into the product on the ice and future rosters. Look out!

Here’s hoping we don’t start to see a lot more “competing interest” just to drive up the NIL offers in this new landscape. Not saying that’s happening here, just occurred to me some will be trying to create bidding wars. Still recall UND being used as a threat for some prospective targets to manipulate the draft by their preferred CHL team. Strange new world…