jk

That's not on Moore at all. I'm not down on James, big fan, but that was his guy that roared past him. I'm sure he feels terrible about it.

I'm not scared to put the fourth line out.

I think the other team is trying too.

I can see why they called it because his head hit the boards, but it was shoulder to shoulder. I'm sure on review, they thought, yeah, two, max.

Five.

Seems to me that UND's fate may depend on whether Omaha is good or not. UND played them five times over the last two weeks, and if they're good, then UND is up to speed with playing good teams. If they actually kind of stink, then UND is in for a rude awakening playing good teams this weekend.

The major risks to "steal" a spot this year are NMU and either UND or CC. Bubble teams are big fans of Denver, SC and Mankato.

For the same reason, I'm getting Strinden, Costantini and Portz in. Fresh and super motivated to play well. Sorry for whoever comes out, but most of the forwards on the team seem pretty interchangeable.

I do not understand how so many here seem to hope for the worst for the team. There is understanding reality and accepting it, but still hoping for the best, and then there is actively hoping for a negative outcome for the team, coaches, players and program, likely so you can feel vindicated in an opinion.

It's either the coaches or it's the players, but the coaches picked the players, so ultimately a poor season is entirely on the coaches. I pull for all the coaches and all the players, all of whom are giving everything they have and living this adventure 100 times more than the fans in the stands. As to whether coaches can make bad judgement calls, as it relates to the lineup, of course they can. However, we are not in a position to make that judgement, because we don't have all the information they have. In fact, we probably don't have 10% of the information they do. We see a player play for 30 minutes in a weekend. They see them for hours and hours each week. It would be like a blind person arguing about a painting with someone who can see it (apologies to any offended blind people). As to roster construction last summer, we're coming off a period of years where Duluth and Mankato have thrived with older players. UND was returning most of a conference title team, and adding (or retaining) some older players, men, really, to push around some of the boys on the other teams, seemed sensible. If they had not done that and this season had gone similarly sideways, I'm certain the complaints would be that they missed the chance to be older and heavier and if only they would have retained the fifth year guys, it would have worked. I would love to know why they made certain decisions, but rather than think they're just stupid or I know better, I realize that I don't have access to their information. It's ultimately about results, and this is a big year coming up. Considering the likely returning roster and the pipeline, I'm very excited about the forwards, and concerned about the defense and goaltending. I personally prefer a bigger goalie, so I hope they go that way.

For all the questions about the lineup at forward and defense, I'm pretty sure if you could sit down with a coach and ask them, they would have very specific reasons for each one, and when you heard them, they would make sense. But they can't say those things publicly, because they can't be throwing players under the bus. Along the same lines, they probably have pretty strong ideas on why things went sideways this season. I'd love to know them, but, again, there's not much they can say without tearing guys down in public.

They did show a replay, and I looked at it again. The puck is just a blur, but I'm pretty sure it did not go in. I will grant you that it came off at an angle that makes no sense, which is why I took a second look, but it does not advance to the back of the net and come out from there. The path of the rebound is clearly away from the crossbar, not the back of the net.

Nobody's happy about losing, but yes, I would continue to roll Ness, Albrecht and Kunz out for their shifts.

I didn't think they played nearly as badly as the board consensus. Could have won.

I see urgency, just not execution.

Do you consider 6 on 3 here?

Over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Best shift of the game, and I think there were a bunch of undrafted guys out there for it. Not sure how they're even on the team.

This is not true. UND has gone long stretches in the past without top national blue chips. I'm sure I'm missing some, but there weren't many between the Oshie/Toews class and when Schmaltz and Boeser came along, and that was nearly a decade. I actually think UND is in the running for maybe even more big names now than in the recent past. The big 10 is on a heater right now, so UND has been the bridesmaid lately, but at least they're on the stage. And the current pipeline has a number of really promising forwards. I think the next few years are going to be very exciting offensively.

If we're relitigating officiating from last weekend, the most egregious miss to me was not calling a trip when OM was, um, tripped, with four minutes left in the third Friday with a clear path to the goalie. Of course UND may very well have blown it anyway, but some calls have to be made, and a PP there may have made a difference.

So these last ten games after the horrible WMU weekend went 3-2 in regulation and 3-0-2 in OT. For PWR purposes that works out to 6-4. Not terrible but not good enough.

If UND can get one more, Omaha will have them right where they want them.

Regarding the forward lineup, I'd go with this process, which is backwards but so what. I start with a fourth line of Ness, Albrecht and Portz, because they drove the team in its second half run last year, and often were the team's best line down the stretch. Their job is to change the game's momentum by getting it deep and causing havoc. Next is a third line of Senden, Hain and Jamernik, with one objective, neutralize the opponent's top line. That only leaves six spots. Your top centers are Schmaltz and McLaughlin, and your two difference-makers are Gaber and Blake. That leaves only two spots for a group of Caulfield, Costantini, Kunz, James and Strinden. From them I take James for sure. This leaves several good players in suits, but for me it would be the best shot at winning.

Seems like we have more high end forwards lined up than we've had for quite some time. Blake is here, then Perron, Swanson, And Boisvert. Slipec was a big get, but he seems to have slippecd.

After the trade deadline, Ottawa's GM said they consider Kleven very close to NHL ready. They need his size on the blueline. He'll sign and get some pro lessons in the AHL and then he'll spend some time with the big club next year. There just are not many guys his size who can skate as well as he can.