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This was in Schloss’ article on modernizing recruiting. “Players from the three Canadian major junior hockey leagues — the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League — will become eligible Aug. 1 due to an NCAA rules change.” Does this mean we should expect lots of announcements around college hockey on Aug 1? What has allowed some Canadian recruits to announce their intentions already? Or can they announce at any time but not join the program until 8/1?

Per Schloss’ article today, “He (Jax) will hire a general manager as one of his assistant coaches. That person will be dedicated to roster management.” It sounds like this is the role that is currently open and is expected to be filled next week The other assistant position will be opened at a later time.

Anyone else have a mild heart attack with this quote? I read “Zellers won’t attend North Dakota, as planned” and may have let a few four letter words slip. 🤬 Then I went back and read the full quote only to see he was basically confirming that his commitment has not changed at this point. 😆. What a roller coaster.

After they posted the single job, and now after these comments, it really seems like they are after someone on a staff that doesn’t want to announce it until after the season. Now that could be NCAA or any of the other active leagues.

I believe most fans on here (in normal circumstances) understand mistakes are part of the maturation process of young players especially in the first half of the year. In fact, many were advocating putting our most talented younger players in key moments even if that meant mistakes. The issue with the last several years has been the lack of improvement throughout the season. The same mistakes in game 1, were the same mistakes at the end of the year with the season on the line. Then add the fact that it was our “senior” class making those mistakes, not the young guns, and you get a mutiny. In the current world of NIL, the challenge is that we have to get better as a team. If we keep producing one or two young studs a year while the team continues to struggle; then we simply become a farm system and the rich get richer. WMU is showing us the path to relevance. Build a team that plays the right way with hard working players then hope we can poach a few chippaz that will want to stick around.

One of the two open assistant jobs has been posted and closes tomorrow night. Here are the minimum and preferred qualifications. Discuss https://careers.und.edu/jobs/assistant-coach-men-s-hockey-grand-forks-north-dakota-united-states-43ca7627-8f70-4d4f-8689-4a5f14fcb984

This would stay in his lockbox unless there is more to the story. This is either Schloss; 1) throwing his support behind Chyzyk or 2) creating a segway directly into his next story about how UND is the first to follow NCAA football by hiring a GM assistant coach. The article did say Dane will be hiring an assistant coach.

🤣 I will say it brought back lot of names that used to be very active on this site but tapered off over the last few years.

Definitely saw numbers and sent him into the boards. With his shoulders turned I didn’t think they would call it a major. Don’t think he deserved a misconduct but that was the second review for that player so maybe the refs had seen enough.

I thought about this angle as well. However, in this situation I sure hope this was done to get the full picture prior to firing Berry. Schloss reported that many players and staff had already taken the opportunity to meet with Chaves (both in season and post-Berry dismissal). The other explanation is they might be interviewing plausible “finalists” they can name publicly to protect the identities of any external finalists. My guess is any currently employed coaches aren’t going to want their names on the finalist list if they don’t get it. So enter Simpson and Karl.

So which is it? Karl is a strong enough candidate to get an interview for HC. But if Jax is hired, he needs to clean house which would include Karl. I know logic isn’t a high priority around this place these days but it sure makes it tough to follow along at home.

A conference champion that loses in the first round does seem very on brand. 🤣 Completely kidding. He would be a great get if he would be willing to head west.

I did not see it last night but after the chatter I expected it to be far more egregious. Penalty early in the game…100%. I can see why in overtime it was let go being it was center ice, not an odd man situation, and he went down pretty easily. If you go back, I bet five or six similar no-calls were made in the third and early overtime. I personally wish they would consistently call the game from start to finish but once you start to look the other way then it has to continue. The only time you will see a penalty is on a breakaway or a loose puck in the slot.

Will KEM announce a NIL donation to coincide with the new coach presser? The lollipop to mask the disappointing trip to the doctor’s office…

Best AI could do on a quick turn. The Jolly Greene Giant?

https://waterlooblackhawks.com/news/2023/9/21/general-chyzyk-hawks-agree-on-extension.aspx “In May, Chyzyk was named the 2022/23 United States Hockey League General Manager of the Year. It was just his second season wielding the GM title and his third with the Black Hawks organization.” "Bryn's peers rightfully recognized what our organization learned very quickly: Bryn is very dedicated, talented, and has a bright future in the game," said Black Hawks Managing Director Eric Petersen. "Most importantly, Bryn puts players in situations where they can develop to their full potential, which is our fundamental mission as an organization.” If you read even one of the 50+ pages of the “Fire Berry” thread; it should be crystal clear that players not developing to their full potential is one of the biggest concerns with the program currently. Bringing in someone that has excelled with that exact thing at the next level down should be a no-brainer. Then you add that he is a UND guy.

Buy-out is the biggest piece to the puzzle. A longer deal is good optics for future commits that this is our guy. The safeguard is a low buy-out so if it doesn’t work out then that doesn’t become a barrier to making a change.

Definitely feel a little better about Jax after listening to them. If you are after the hockey update jump to 33 min. They cover Chyzyk as GM and what type of leader Dane will be. Trigger warning for some - there is a fair amount of BB love at the start.

In all seriousness, Jax is not Berry (nor is he Hak) so we really have no idea how he’ll lead this team. I’ll convince myself by next fall to give him the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully he makes a few statements between now and then that makes it clear he wants to return to a much more exciting brand of hockey and embrace the new age of NIL. It is a tough spot for him however because his leash will be very short with the baggage he brings from the last few years. Here’s to hoping we are pleasantly surprised which is certainly within the realm of possibility. We do know he is loyal.

Maybe they should structure the new contract like an AHL/NHL deal. “He signed a four year, two-way deal that will pay him $450k per year as HC/$225k as AC. Do the same thing with the top two assistants as well and they can just rotate them around when frustrations rise. It is essentially what happens now but without the buyouts. 😏

I agree we have been using the portal too much and not putting enough emphasis on letting our younger players develop. With that said, I was surprised to hear Western Michigan has 16 new players this year; 10 freshman and 6 from the portal. It isn’t an ideal situation but clearly they’ve made it work. New or returning; you need a program that the team buys into.

Picking up RJ Egna to join Raboin as his top assistant. According to sources, RJ is most interested in the job to “finally get the advantage of pucks being dropped closer to HIS team and the home stat crew skewing shots on goal in his favor.” 🤣

I need the lawyers to weight in. Does he get 50% credit on the “ties to either having attended or through employment” preferred qualification since his wife is an alum? 😏

Conquered UND in an exhibition game earlier this year. 🤣 He has an upstart Augustana team relevant already while starting from scratch. I’m no Rabion expert, but I think you would have to take a look if he was interested.

There is a separate WBB thread for in depth reaction but Chaves has been a busy man. Internal hire done immediately. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2025/3/24/womens-basketball-mallory-bernhard-to-step-down-dennis-hutter-named-next-head-coach.aspx