fightingsioux4life

Wow, where did you get that from? You just love trying to start arguments on here, don't you?

That depends on what we have coming in and how quickly they adjust to the college game.

It is what it is. Unlike some people on here, I am not predicting inevitable doom for the program based on one bad season.

If he isn't done, the AD's office will need a new boss.

I suppose the shots are 40-10 in UND's favor?

When is it not?

The attitude toward bullying in our society is that it is a "Rite of Passage" and "Part of Growing Up" and "Kids need to be allowed to sow their wild oats" and whatever other garbage is come up with to justify this type of behavior. Thank you JParisien17 for setting the record straight for us. Knowing this, I wish Bismarck had put up 30 goals on the scoreboard.

I think the big, steaming turd that UND laid on the ice has something to do with that!

This is the perspective I am adopting and encouraging other fans to adopt.

Wait a minute! I thought it was all about the players and the only thing the head coach was responsible for was putting together a line-up card and then sitting back to see what happens? At least that is what the "In Hak We Trust" crowd has been saying for years. I do think Berry has to take a second look at a lot of things this offseason, and I think he will, but to say Hakstol would have us fighting for the Penrose again is pure wishful thinking. And if Berry ends up not being able to do this job in the long-run, we'll find somebody else. The program is bigger than any one coach or player. In any event, we will never know how Hakstol would have handled this team.

I'll admit I was thinking "Here we go again." And any fan of this team who says they weren't thinking it is not being honest with themselves or anyone else. And I imagine some of the players were thinking it too.

You are correct. I will not deny that winning #8 last year makes a tough year easier to live with.

Believe what you want to believe. Hakstol rarely had to deal with losing five top notch upperclassmen at once (along with four seniors, several of whom contributed a lot to our 8th NCAA title team. If he had actually won a national title during his time here, I think he would have experienced a similar exodus and he would have been in the same position as Berry was this year. Of course, we'll never know how he would have handled it.

I don't know, possibly. I still like the idea of staying in Grand Forks and watching both hockey and basketball March Madness and saving all that money.

I think he was being a smart-a$$ about it.

Here we go with the "Hak would have had us in first place now" theory. I don't think Herb Brooks would have us in first place, this team simply does not have it. And yes Rebel_Sioux, we did lose too much talent over the off-season. It's not an excuse. It's a fact. We lost 5 underclassmen, along with 4 seniors. Most of whom were significant contributors to our NCAA title team. Most years, we would lose one or two guys early. And some of those guys were itching to leave as soon as they could (yes Brian Lee, I am talking to you). The type of mass exodus (especially of important players) we saw last year hasn't happened in a while. Both Hakstol and Berry are responsible for this "recruiting gap" being talked about right now. Which means this kind of year was coming regardless of whether or not Hakstol left to coach the Flyers or not. And all of us have talked about a down year for our program being inevitable at some point. Now that it has finally happened, people are panicking and coming up with all sorts of dystopian scenarios for the program going forward. I am not doing that. It will take a couple of years to determine whether or not Berry is the long-term solution as head coach of our program. And if he isn't, well we can always hire Cary Eades!

You seem to forget that Berry was also involved in the recruitment of last year's team and this year's team. So there obviously is a gap in recruiting that is showing up now. That is on both Berry and Hakstol. From here on out, it is on Berry to fix whatever is broken with our recruiting. I think he will do that.

Okay. Sorry I took your comment so seriously. This is our worst season since 2001-02 and I am honestly looking forward to it being over.

Considering they haven't won it all since 2012, I don't think I would be talking like that. I don't think it will happen because I don't think they are one of the top teams this year.

This is a game they would have lost last year. Congratulations to the team and coaching staff. Well done!

Exactly. Two different years. Two different teams.

You made your cute little comment BEFORE the game even started. That is trolling. Now, of course, it is easy for you to come on here after the fact and dance in the endzone because you were right. 20/20 Hindsight is pretty good, isn't it?

I am not convinced that we are headed back to what the program was like before Gino was forced out in 1994. We took some major steps back this year, but the cupboard isn't that bare.

And some of that falls on Hakstol, since he was involved in recruiting most of these kids. Now it is Berry's job to figure out what is missing in the recruiting process and fix it.

I am saying the pieces were not in place to begin with. We haven't lost that many players (9) in one off-season in a long time. The complaints about Hakstol were rooted in having talent up and down the line-up and then choking in the clutch when it mattered most (Frozen Four). This program is not going down the toilet like some people think. We will be back.