TNF

For those in the “give Berry another year (or more) camp”, how do you define success or failure for that timeframe? Another Penrose? At least one ncaa win? Or two? Trying to answer these questions have moved me into the “time is now” camp. Getting an NCAA win or two next year would be a starting point but lack of consistency has been another huge struggle. So good enough to get an extension and then what happens if we quickly regress? The only option to avoid that situation is a short term deal. Good luck getting recruits with a lame duck coach. It just creates more issues. Looking around the NCHC and college hockey as a whole; there is no doubt a handful of coaches have done far far more with much less in this current era. This isn’t a one year experiment where the team chemistry just didn’t line up. And then I go back to never learning from our shortcomings. Ever since BC beat us in a frozen four over a decade ago, teams have learned UND can’t beat a full ice high-pressure trap. You don’t have to look any farther than one of the stains on this year’s resume…Bemidji. If it wasn’t for the pure puck moving abilities of Troy Stetcher and CBS, we’d still be looking for #8. They succeeded despite our systems not because of them. I’m not someone who typically blames the coach for everything but I just don’t see more than a year or two blip of improvement followed by down years. Not the standard we should be comfortable at UND. And for a lifelong fan, this was the first year I was okay turning off a game or skipping a scheduled weekend in GF. If I’m willing to tune out so are lots of other fans. Why wait and let it get worse?

^This^ plus encourage officials to actually call penalties in the third period and in overtime(s). One of the biggest reasons these games drag on is the fact there are zero special team situations even when they are more than warranted. And it doesn’t have to be power plays. Two guys get into after the whistle…match them up and go 4x4. And to be clear, I’m okay with continuing to ignore the ticky-tak penalties that don’t directly impact the play. But far too often the whistles get completely swallowed including infractions on scoring opportunities

Croal may add himself to this list before his time is done at UND. The game has changed over the years so he may fall more into the Malone/Gardner category. I believe we will look back at the end of the year and realize his injury had a bigger impact on the start of the season than we thought. He has a motor that doesn’t quit and he’ll lay a hit any time he can. That sort of stuff is contagious and directly leads to other teammates doing the same thing.

Let me rephrase. One of the many reasons people are coming after Berry is the laser focus on winning the Penrose. To do so, you ride older portal goaltenders in games you are favored in instead of getting your younger guys much needed reps. You ride your top d-pair in key situations often logging crazy minutes instead of developing the next pair. Denver is the perfect example. They are okay to drop games along the way if it means developing as a team Even in a high profile road series, it wasn’t exclusively the Devine, Buium, etc show down the stretch. They roll their lines and trust their development throughout the year. And over several years, they have guys up and down the lineup they trust in any situation. And if their start is any indication, they aren’t even sacrificing regular season wins at this point.

The focus needs to be on getting healthy, finding chemistry in line combinations, potting a key goal or two that unlocks a player ready to raise their play to a new level, and getting out of here with two much needed wins. Being hyper-focused on Pairwise at this point is the exact reason people are coming after Berry. We need to spend this first half of the year developing young players and learning to play as a team through adversity. Try different players at center (for Berg) so they get experience for later in the season when injuries come back around or gain key experience for players that will be asked to do it next year. This is how you build success, not only for this year, but use this time to get players ready for future roles.

Rachel Doerrier in her ESPN+ Draft article today has Emery going to the Maple Leafs at #23 and Boisvert going #26 to the Canadiens. First time I’ve seen the order flipped but she seems pretty sure Emery will go to Toronto unless he is already off the board.

^edited to match the three rules of hitting a good golf shot Keep your head down Keep your head down Keep you god d*^m head down

Nope, he will be good to go tomorrow. The only thing that could possibly keep him out is supplemental disciple from the league and that hit doesn’t reach that level.

Assist to stripes for getting in the way on the pass from Persson.

Everything looks just fine on Midco. Do they use separate cameras for the webcast? I would assume just like The Ralph it is the same production just sent different places.

Kunz parked in front taking away the eyes of the goalie is huge too. DU’s goalie didn’t see at least one of the goals each night due to his play on the PP.

A(l/t)titude game - meaning both Altitude & Attitude to capture each of the themes And of course we’ll take the swagger (t - attitude) with us and leave the (l) behind in Denver.

Last few Fridays it took until late in the 2nd or early 3rd for the boys to get going. With a 7:00 pm central start that puts the time around 8:45 pm. Last night it took 10 - 15 minutes for the boys to get into it. With an 8:30 pm central start that puts the time at 8:45 pm. So clearly the key to winning Friday hockey games…8:45 pm central start times!

Where can I sign the petition to stop the non-sweep TCoS? Seems like we are celebrating a participation trophy. Tonight was a great win. But it is supposed to take a great weekend for a stick salute.