as15

Both Kawaguchi and Perunovich were juniors this year.

Where was the confirmation that JBD is coming back? I don't have a subsciption to the Herald, so I apologize if it was in one of the articles posted today.

Mismash - Adams - Kawaguchi Blaisdell - Pinto - Gaber Rizzo - Weatherby - Caulfield Hain - Senden - Ness I'm pretty close with you what you had. I know Gaber will be an older freshman, but his G/GP this year in the USHL was .72 , compared to .61 for Brock Boeser's last year in the USHL. Kid can score. The center depth on next year's team will be pretty ridiculous. I can see Weatherby being moved up with Pinto similar to some of the last few games of this year just to get him on the ice more.

Not an early departure.

It's now three straight seasons that we have missed the NCAA tournament. Fire berry?

So sad, really feel for the seniors (especially Captain Poolman) that came back for another shot at the title. Let's hang banner 9.5 next year.

I tend to agree with you, and I think most voters will. It is very close, but Pinto's goal totals and the fact that he plays center very effectively puts him over the top. How many times this year has he taken and won a key defensive zone draw? Pretty rare to trust a freshman like that.

So does Pinto beat out Bobby Brink for NCHC Rookie of the Year? You can easily make a case for either of them.

Jayson Shaughabay of Warroad. Leading scorer for freshman in the state and second leading scorer for #1 in class A Warroad. No inside knowledge, but I would hope we are the front runner for him.

Totally agree. It'll be interesting to see where he is used next year, as it looks like we should return all of the center's from this years team (Adams, Pinto, Senden, Weatherby). Great problem to have. I could see a "Carter Rowney-like" Junior year out of Weatherby next year.

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Definitely not since coming back from injury.

Bast is a proven commodity, Peski has played himself into the clear cut #4 on this team (in my opinion), and how do you take Frisch out with how steady he has been lately? Frisch is playing on his offside tonight with Bast, we shall see how that it affects his play.

Definitely. Has to be a frustrating situation for him. NCAA doesn't track this stat, but his Points/60 has to be just about best on the team. For sure among defensemen.

I'm more worried about what an NHL team that invests a 2nd round pick in Kleven thinks about seeing 5 proven NCAA defensemen, and his NTDP teammate (Sanderson) in front of him on the depth chart.

Definitely an option, but not ideal. If a player is recruited as a dman, develop him to be a dman. Poolman was moved up due to lack of depth at forward, plus he had aged out of juniors at that point. Wolanin and Shaw basically split time as freshmen. They were fighting for the 6/7 spot on the 15-16 team. Both of them got into a game every weekend. If everyone comes back, Moore, Frisch, and Kleven are all fighting for the last dman spot. Definitely not ideal, and if I'm a high pick like Kleven will be, I'm looking to play elsewhere.

If they don't sit, then that means one of Kiersted, JBD, Tychonick, Bast, Sanderson, and Frisch will be sitting. That is not good for anyone. I said losing them "would be beneficial to the programs long term health". If I am the Ottawa Senators, and JBD is NHL ready after two years at UND, I am pushing alot of my prospects to look at going there. If I am an undrafted free agent defenseman (ala Kiersted), and I am offered an NHL contract after 3 three years at UND, that is one heck of a pat on the back for UND's development system. If player is a ready for the NHL, I say go. Having successful NHL players is UND's best recruiting tool.

I totally agree. Get the kid back on track and forget about this two week "rough" patch.

I think it would be beneficial to the programs long term health if we do indeed have one early departure on defense. Developing players that are ready for the NHL after 2-3 years at UND is a big draw for recruits. There are reinforcements coming year after year. If everyone returns, we'd have a starting six of Kiersted, JBD, Tychonick, Bast, Sanderson, and Frisch. Will Kleven or Moore come in to sit on the bench all season? In my mind Kiersted is ready to move on (probably a better NHL prospect than Poolman at this point), and JBD is pretty close. I could definitely see JBD coming back another year to be the clear cut #1 guy. Right now an argument can be made that he is anywhere from the #1 to #3 d on this team. A top pairing of Sanderson-JBD next year could be pretty unreal.

I think the writing was on the wall for him. Look at all the recruited walked on's from the BCHL lately. Albrecht, Jamernick, etc. All of them are producing at about a PPG pace. That seems to be the minimum production needed at be considered for a spot here. Costello isn't anywhere close to that, in his third full year of junior hockey. Barely a division 1 prospect at this point, let alone UND.

What positions are screwed up? Gersich-Gardner-Poganski: Those players played 95% of games at those positions this year Adams-Hoff-Janatuinen: Adams played LW all of last year, some C this year. Hoff played both this year. Janatuinen has played both wings for UND. Mismash-Kawaguchi-Wilkie: Mismash plays LW for the USNTDP, Kawaguchi plays C, although he might be a wing in the NCAA. Wilkie has always been a RW. Olson-Simonson-Bowen: Olson has played both wings at UND, Simonson is always a C, Bowen can play C, but also played RW this year.

My thoughts. First line is all upper classmen, should be by far best offensive and defensive line. Second line is two potentially good offensive producers in Adams and Hoff. JJ brings veteran 2-way play while still producing solid offense. Third line will be a train wreck defensively, but could be very good offensively. 4th line is a pretty proven energy line, substitute Yon possibly. Colton Poolman is ready to be the #1 next year. With his progress this year and given his age, I'm worried that his sophomore year could be his last at UND. If Wolanin can round out his defensive game a bit more, he might be gone next year as well. Gersich-Gardner-Poganski Adams-Hoff-Janatuinen Mismash-Kawaguchi-WIlkie Olson-Simonson-Bowen Wolanin-Poolman Shaw-Peski Johnson-Bast

I'm really not trying to argue, but I have an extremely hard time believing that the Chicago Blackhawks, arguably the best organization in the NHL, told one of their bottom-tier forward prospects (Iacopelli) that if he scored 15 goals (coming off a one goal season as a 21 year old freshman!) he would be given an NHL contract. I'll admit that I don't know enough about Molino to comment, and I know Allison is a good prospect as I followed him in the USHL. No offense to WMU, but everything about these guys points to them being above-average college players (similar to Poganski, Gardner, etc. on UND), and not the elite NHL prospects you are playing them out to be. For context, Drake Caggiula (now with Edmonton) played 4 years for UND, is 5 months younger than Molino. Due to the age differences in NCAA hockey, age has to be factored into each players production to help project success at the pro levels. A 22 years old player putting up .75 PPG in the NCAA will have a hard time getting an NHL contract. I am not going to give you examples, as there are undoubtedly hundreds.

So you're telling me that three underclassmen (Molino, Iacopelli, and Allison) are going to leave early for the pro's? You do realize that only 10 underclassmen (FR and SO), on average, leave the NCAA early for an NHL contract. I could see Allison signing an NHL contract and playing in Major Junior next year, Molino has mediocre below PPG production for a 22 year old sophomore, and I just can't see the Blackhawks wasting a contract spot on a sophomore NCAA player that won't be ready for the NHL for another two years, if ever. UND's Shane Gersich (Sophomore), is outscoring all three players by quite a bit, and I don't think anyone here is expecting to lose him after this year. It's just not how the NHL works unless you are a first rounder or an absolutely elite, proven player at the NCAA level (think Danton Heinen, back to back 45+ point seasons his freshman and soph years).

The only other player on the roster that is eligible for this tournament is Tomek. Not sure of Slovakia's goalie situation, but you would imagine that a player that hasn't played a game in almost two years wouldn't be in contention for a spot.