Dustin

From the aforementioned linked Bracketology article: "First, I’d love to get Wisconsin to Maryland Heights, which is a community known for its love of the Badgers." What's the connection there?

I alluded to that back on Saturday.

I'm super excited for the next several days: hockey Friday and Saturday, basketball Sunday, and hopefully basketball Monday and Tuesday.

UND certainly has some hockey-only fans, but I would say most fans of UND's other popular sports (FB, BB, VB) are also hockey fans. I don't know many FB/BB/VB-only fans, so having those sports compete with hockey reduces potential crowds. So having SL Tourney games on non-hockey nights is good for UND, IMO. I also think it's good for the Summit League itself because they get some Championship Week exposure without the P5 conferences dominating the media coverage.

Unless he gets offered with an NHL job (either head or assistant), I think Berry will coach through UND hosting the Frozen Four in 2026. As the next HC, Dane Jackson has been with the staff a very long time. I assume he would have the best chance, but I also don't think there's be any regrets hiring Karl Goehring.

I would start Hobie one of the games. Not sure if matters which one. For all you coaches and former players, would it be better to tell the back up he starting the first game or second game of a series? I hope some of our normally healthy scratches (are there any?) get playing time as well.

If UND is a 1 seed and Denver a 2 seed, are they put in the same regional due to geography? Or since Denver would fly to whatever regional they go to, the committee is at ease to put them wherever?

That is bold.

I didn’t either. Not sure if I even heard his name called on the broadcast.

Same. The 4 teams in the middle of the standings will have huge quarterfinal matchups. Will be very fun to watch. The losers go home, I think.

The thing is, UND wasn't even the top team going into the tournament during the Hak years. UND made it to the Frozen Four as all four different seeds, and was never the overall top seed. 1 seed in a regional: 2008* (3rd overall seed), 2011* (2nd overall seed), 2012 (4th overall seed), 2015* (2nd overall seed) 2 seed in a regional: 2005*, 2006*, 2009, 2010, 2013 3 seed in a regional: 2007* 4 seed in a regional: 2014* *denotes Frozen Four year

I remember that after Hak took the NHL job I told my dad that we’d finally be able to win the national championship. I was excited to see him go. That sounds harsh, but the common denominator for all the failures on the biggest stage were him.

I’m guessing this year’s tournament was already scheduled before the media rights switched. I could see that changing in the future, but isn’t it actually better to own your night early in the week on championship week, rather than get lost in Power 5 tournaments games later in the week?

All of Hakstol’s teams left me in heartbreak. I mean how many F-ing times do you need to get it done?? Once we finally won in 2016 (I sometimes still have to think “did that really happen?”) it was such elation that what happened in hockey after that didn’t matter as much to me. Berry’s had other teams that could have gotten the job done as well but ran into circumstances that I lay no blame on the coach (2017 bad reffing, 2020 pandemic, 2021 five overtimes). Now for Berry’s other seasons, yeah there’s been some clunkers in the style that Hakstol never had. I feel that’s how things “normally” go in the real world of athletics. Winning 1 semifinal game in 7 chances over 11 seasons isn’t “normal.” Statistics/analytics would show that you would win more than once (I would think).

After head to head, it’s your record against the highest seeded opponent (that’s not one of two schools).

Penne Rosa time! What great weekend.

Keep winning and you’ve got 3 games in prime time. Couldn’t ask for better opportunity in terms of exposure.

I won’t this year but would like to someday. Very much Looking forward to watching it. The good news is that we’ve already beaten all of the potential opponents that stand between us and championship game. A Quarterfinal loss would diminish the season’s success without a doubt, but this season gave me a lot of hope in UND basketball. Next year should be even better in theory right?

Geographically, Kansas City is surrounded by some schools that put a big emphasis on basketball: Kansas, Creighton, Wichita State, plus other Power 5 schools (Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas State) all within 3 hours. I’m sure recruiting there is tough.

In my years of watching hockey, how teams play in the third period is a good indicator of their championship mettle.

It may turn out that getting swept at CC is exactly what this team needed.

Ok, wasn’t sure what those numbers mean and how games affect them. My rationale was that we will play Miami for (hopefully) 2 games. No pairwise gained there. Then we could end playing Denver in the NCHC finals or semifinals, which could be a loss.

So on the topic of #2 vs #3 overall seed, are people excited about potentially getting to #2 so the first game is a much lower pairwise opponent? Right now, St. Cloud State is #14, but with them a NCHC team, would the committee flip to #13 Michigan?? it would be the difference between playing one of them and RIT (#22). I was initially pretty indifferent about being #3 vs #2 but I can see a clear advantage to being #2 so count me in on wanting that as well. One downside of Denver sweeping SCSU which allowed us to win the Cup, is that Denver is now top 4 pairwise right behind UND. I could see them sneaking ahead of us before selection Sunday with all the games yet to be played. In that case, would they steal our spot in Sioux Falls?? Denver is 2 hours closer to SF than Maryland Heights, but still a long ways. I would hope the committee would honor the attendance potential of UND in Sioux falls.

I’m going to change my tune on this. IF UMass is a 3 seed (currently the case at #11 pairwise), then the eastern 1 seeds can stay east, and western 1 seeds can stay west. Put UND in Sioux Falls and make sure Omaha is eliminated and I’m good with the rest.

Very nice win today. Way to take care of business.