jk

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.

Miami, right? Then two losses to Denver, then 5 ot games.

I'm probably rolling two D pairs the rest of the game.

Which mediocre transfer had his spot again?

Like I said.

There've been a lot of nice PPs this year that have not resulted in goals, then there was that horrible thing that got one in.

Moore is having himself a period.

James had such a scoring touch last year I thought he had a good chance to convert that.

The team did score one goal in six periods last weekend. Mixing the lines up seems a reasonable response.

Now can they play 30 minutes of smart hockey?

Savage just plain ran into Strinden.

I'll watch to the end, because of this. A while ago when the team was struggling in the second half, a former player said to a mutual friend that he thought they'd be ok, and his reason was that he knew how good the coaches were. Despite the derision heaped upon them lately, they've demonstrated as recently as last year that they are in fact very good coaches, and perhaps unlike many here, I don't think they've tragically forgotten how to coach. So I'll continue to hope they manage to convince everyone to back check like they did a year ago and go on a little late run. I'm certain no one will give up.

A long time ago, a few forward commits plateaued prematurely, and the Alberta-raised coaches went home for a back-up plan, signing Rodwell and Rowney out of the AJHL. Is this deja vu all over again?

I'd personally add Kleven and Portz to the improved list.

There are only a couple this year, Senden and Hain, and yes I would consider the three of them to be roughly in the same group. How many times has any of them made a boneheaded play this year that left you shaking your head? Hardly ever. Although last night's play was disappointing, I can give Frisch a pass because he touches the puck so many times a game there are bound to be mistakes.

He has been a turnover machine all year long, but the upside of him having the puck is still very high. He makes things happen offensively. Similarly, 22 looks slick as heck, such a nice skater, but the play has been dying on his stick a lot lately. I suspect next year a lot of the things he's trying will work. Reminds me of N. Schmaltz in that way. Not the same upside, but Schmaltz just couldn't get his passes to connect as a freshman, then they did the next year.

Who's happy about this season? Not me. I thought UND returned almost the whole team from last year and added some talent up front. Given how last year's team played, I thought this year's version would at least be tough to play against again. I had super high expectations. There's no doubt that goaltending has had a huge impact, but at this point they're not even playing well beyond that. There may be something to the idea that bad goaltending breaks teams, I don't know. As to your questions, I'd broaden them. Who are any of the goaltenders, or the defensemen? I don't know. I bet the coaches could pencil in about 90% of next season's opening lineup though. Just because we don't know the plan doesn't mean there isn't one. As for the forward group, I'm again pretty optimistic. Lots of returning talent and some strong additions. But the returners need to take steps that not many took this year.