fightingsioux4life

We can call it The Jasper Weatherbye Rule.

Let's leave the best conference in college hockey alone. The NCHC is where it's at. Improve on it, don't blow it up.

Cool logo and name. Wish we had adopted it a few years ago.

Thankfully the title game was on TBS so those KX4 idiots couldn't preempt "One Shining Moment" with their late local news like they did last year.

Who wins the men's title tonight? I'm going with Kansas.

I'll believe it when he is still on the roster the day Fall 2022 classes start. #yesiamcynical

All that matters are the NHL prospect camps.

And other years, we do better against them. You will always have ebbs and flows with that.

Red stuck around too long. The program suffered as a result. The same may be true of Jerry York.

I agree with you 100%. Both Michigan and Minnesota have substantial upgrades at head coach (Pearson is a big upgrade from Red and Motzko is a big upgrade from Lucia). It makes sense their recruiting would pick up from what it was. The rest of that conference is nothing special. Also, hockey is 2nd or 3rd at best on the food chain at most of these schools (Minnesota is a notable exception to this). Hockey is not basketball or football. The failure of the current regional system in hockey is the direct result of trying to model the NCAA hockey tournament after March Madness (all neutral sites). Also, NIL won't be the same as for basketball and football, since hockey doesn't draw big media and corporate sponsor attention like the aforementioned sports do. Bottom Line: UND is not going anywhere, whether Mel Pearson likes it or not. We will not settle for being a plucky little mid-major.

The Oilers need goaltending help, do they not?

Now we are getting back to the topic of what constitutes a "blue chip" recruit? That is a subjective measure in itself. Whatever you call them, they obviously have some good ones. I do think this forward class coming in has the potential to make us a Top 5 program again next season, assuming we don't have another bloodbath of players leaving early like last offseason.

I looked up the photos online (inside with fans in them) and they look very nice. Just my 2 cents.

Union won it all in 2014 (over the Goofs). UMass won it all in 2021. Quinnipiac has been to two NCAA title games and I believe will get over the hump eventually. And Mankato is in the Frozen Four for the second consecutive year. Maybe more isn't appropriate, but either the same or close to the same level of success is. And those are small fish in the world of collegiate athletics. Not winning Nattys and not getting to the Frozen Four has consequences when it comes to recruiting. And those problems feed unto themselves. The sooner we turn it around, the better.

That is what some people on here are making us sound like. I do not agree with it and I sure as heck don't want it to come true.

So we are a plucky mid-major now? Really? I simply do not agree with that. No one gets all the blue chip recruits, but we shouldn't lose as many recruiting battles as we have the past couple of years. We have a nice class coming in for Fall 2022, but I am more concerned about after that.

Here are my takes on your list: Ed Robson Arena...nice looking, a little more than half the size of the Old REA, nice atmosphere if you have the fans and energy. Pegula Ice Arena....nice looking, about the size of Old REA, nice atmosphere if you have the fans and energy. Kohl Center...older than the Current REA, dual basketball-hockey arena, seats about 5,500 more people. Mayo Clinic Health Systems Event Center.....the Mankato Civil Center, really? Value City Arena.....older than the Current REA, a little bigger than Kohl Center, dual basketball-hockey arena. Baxter Arena.....a little bigger than the Old REA, dual basketball-hockey arena, nice atmosphere if you have the fans and energy. Amsoil Arena.....a little bigger than the Old REA, nice atmosphere if you have the fans and energy. Arizona State University's (will be super nice once completed).....will be a little smaller than the Old REA, should have a nice atmosphere if you have the fans and energy. The newer arenas seem to be built smaller and more compact, which creates an awesome atmosphere if the fans are present and active. And I would have no problem with UND playing in such a building if we didn't have REA. But calling them superior to REA because they are newer? I just don't see it.

So we are destined to be relegated to being a plucky mid-major in the world of Division I college hockey? That is the ultimate nightmare scenario for UND and it must not be allowed to happen. If we need to make changes to how we recruit, fundraise or whatever else, we better do it before it is too late. And you still haven't explained away how Quinnipiac, UMass-Amherst, Union and MSU-Mankato can arguably have more national success than we do. Those are not high-profile schools in the world of athletics by any stretch.

Better wait until those NHL prospect camps are over.

Based on this, we should never have become a national power, must less have 8 NCAA title banners hanging in REA. Grand Forks has never been as "flashy" of a destination, but we still managed to win 2 NCAA titles in a WPA-built, unheated barn and 5 in the Old REA, which seated about half of what the current version of REA does. Also, you have schools like Quinnipiac, UMass-Amherst, Union and MSU-Mankato either winning or coming close to winning NCAA titles over the past 10 years or so. And none of those schools have the same tradition, history, facilities and reputation in the hockey world that we do. We are an underachieving blue blood program, not a plucky mid-major overachieving and doing more with less.

And their home rink is Yost Ice Arena, which is a converted basketball arena and is about 100 years old. If someone wants to argue that REA isn't a big advantage over that, please go right on ahead.

I wasn't just talking about the arena. We just spent millions to upgrade the locker rooms at REA. We also have training equipment in REA that is top-notch. And every few years, we are upgrading this or that in REA. I would imagine most schools are not upgrading their facilities that often. And our program is talked about favorably by a lot of people in the hockey world (collegiate and professional). So I think we still have all the tools to recruit high-end talent.

Which schools have anything close to REA?

Cripes, we cannot afford another bloodbath off-season like last year. This has been a bad two+ weeks for this program.