Dustin

Potulny isn't exactly tearing up the AHL, and coaches don't seem to last too long at that level, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was interested. Raboin was the drum I was beating last March for UND, so he would be a solid pick as well. It's a job that should get a lot of interest, but unlike other sports at U of M, results are actually expected.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/dane-jackson-named-nchc-herb-brooks-coach-of-the-year "When Dane Jackson was named head coach on the evening of March 29, he didn't have much time to enjoy the moment. He inherited a decimated roster, and rival teams were working to get even more players in the portal. It looked bleak in the moment, but it didn't turn out that way." What a brilliant turnaround. You know what would be a nice first year anniversary gift - a trip to Las Vegas.

I guess where I was going with all this was wondering what Jackson's going to do when put in the same situation next week.

That's fair. For curiosity, I watched the start of the 2016 Frozen Four semi-final vs. Denver (Our first Frozen Four playing of the post-Hakstol era), trying to pay close attention to any mention of what line is playing, short shifts, double shifts, etc. 19:45 "Big line of North Dakota out there to start" - Referring to the CBS line. Denver started their third line. 19:37 "Quick line change for Brad Berry" - basically a stop in play at 19:42 and already a line change (18 second shift). Went to the "heavy" line against Denver's Pac-Rim line. 18:53 "The big line is right back out there for North Dakota" - there was not a third line played before bringing CBS line back. 17:49 "The fourth line out there" - I think he's referring to Denver, but I think UND's fourth line was also out there. On the ice were Chyzyk, Janatuinen, Shaw, Sanderson, Thompson. 17:18 line change was completed after a zone clear. On ice for UND now are Olson, Gersich, Ausmus, Stecher, Simonson. At 17:00, they were called the "grinding fourth line," so maybe the Chyzyk line was considered third line. 16:43 "Heavy line..." - against the Pac-Rim line again. 16:25 CBS line is out after a puck went out of play. 15:30 Line change is complete after an earlier partial change - now out: Chyzyk, Ausmus, Stecher, Sanderson, Janatuinen. 15:15 Stop in play, and another new line out: Johnson, Poganski, Gardner, Poolman, LaDue. 14:40 Deep zone dump and a line change: Simonson, Gersich, Olson, Thompson, Shaw. 14:05 Begin partial change. 13:43 (after change to CBS line is complete) "Playing that line a lot. Seems like their double shifting." So, it seems that Berry was very deliberate about short shifts and getting his top line out often. I feel Hakstol would have just rolled lines

Regarding long TV timeouts, roster depth, and playing 4 lines, this was one area I felt Hakstol didn't manage very well. I felt he was generally out-coached by the opponent during the NCAA tournament, especially the Frozen Four. I don't have any statistical analysis or even specific cases off the top my head, but that was my general perception when watching those games.

Agree. I think the loss was a blessing in disguise. As long as any illness is over, we are entering the NCAA with a healthy, very deep roster, that should be able to wear down any team.

I would agree - ESPN will choose early/late games based on potential viewers. I would guess UND would be late, almost regardless of who they play, because that game would have the best optics for television.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/info/?d=npi Over-emphasis on the 1-16, 2-15 seeding: The NPI -- and KRACH, for that matter -- is not precise enough for the committee to confine itself so strictly to a 1-16 ordering of the teams based upon it. It's a good method for selecting teams -- because at least an objective system, even if flawed, eliminates the problems with subjectivity. But in seeding, there's no need to be so locked into the numbers when they are so close. These are too small sample sizes to do that to yourself.

Yes, I know that's a possibility, I was using that grouping of 3 as an example to showcase that those teams are essentially equal and it doesn't bother if the committee wants to place them interchangeably. The NPI is still useful in that case as it shows those 3 teams are essentially equals, at least based on the metrics input to calculate NPI.

I guess to me, if it's a matter of either UConn (or UMass) or St. Thomas to be the #4 seed in Sioux Falls, it makes sense for it to be St. Thomas.

This may be a bastardization of the "selection and seeding" literature, but I now take it as the "selection" to be any of the teams not receiving their conference AQ to make a 16-team field, and "seeding" is not a literal 1-16 seed, but bands of 1-4 that can be interchanged for travel/attendance/conference purposes. Is that the right interpretation? I don't know. But I also don't see much of difference in teams when NPI is separated by hundredths.

No, in my scenario, one of pods would play their semifinals (2 games) on Thursday, and the other pod would play their semifinals (games) on Friday. Then the regional finals would be on Saturday (1 game) and Sunday (1 game).

I think Denver is enough of draw for Loveland, so I don’t think they’d stack another high drawing school with them, especially considering the two eastern regionals will probably be kinda dead. UND to Sioux makes the most sense on multiple levels.

Yeah, that would be the downside of trying to cram in that many games at one site. speaking of playoff overtime, I would be ok with the first OT being 5x5, the second being 4x4, and the third (and any thereafter) being 3x3, just to save on time and exhaustion.

With the 2021 UND-UMD 5 OT game being the reason for the extra day, I would think they would stick with the Thursday/Saturday and Friday/Sunday groupings.