jk

Most importantly for us here, I'll watch with interest to see if the terms change in a way that makes it more or less likely for players to leave college early.

That Knight behind the net to Kristo for the open net play looked a lot like 21 to 20 in 1987. Not that the players are similar, but the play looked familiar. For you oldtimers.

OD was in the BCHL one year, and Mitch was already gone. (I think)

Pattyn took a penalty right after a goal earlier in the second period as well. I believe that resulted in the SHG, but it was still not a good move for the fourth line.

Old Barn Guy: Thank you. It was getting a little silly.

I think they need to take the body a lot more, which is why I don't mind one bit Pattyn choosing a check over the puck. It's also why I won't complain about MacWilliam taking penalties. They're almost always for hits, and I can take that. Rodwell was supposed to add that physical element as well, but I haven't seen it much this year. Subtracting Blood and Mario (and also Parks, who throws his body around some) is something this team hasn't adjusted to yet physically. Panzarella and Jim might help in that department as well. Not sure who you take out, but I'm sure they can find someone who wasn't going full speed. It was disappointing to see the all-senior top line bottled up in their own end in the third by a line with two freshmen.

I'm happy with Saunders as well, but Dell gets too little respect. When it counted most, he allowed 2 goals in 3 NCAA tournament games. He faced 67 shots, with a save pct. of .970 and GAA of about .667. Some of the earlier years may be attrbutable to faltering goaltending on the big stage, but not 2011. He was also outstanding in the Spring of 2012; although the numbers aren't as strong, he carried an overmatched team to the Final Five title. Among the many reasons the 2011 failure is a shame is that Dell won't go down in UND history as one of the best to play the position. Which he was.

They did lose eight games, including one to US International, from San Diego (I think). If there had been an internet, this group would have melted down after each and every one of them.

Loved Grimaldi trying to go soccer and deflect the flying puck in with his chest. Had he not been checked I'll bet it would have worked, and that would have been one for the highlight reel. It takes some real presence to not try to knock it in with a stick or hand, which are the instinctive moves.

Dell was a great college goalie, my favorite at UND since Goehring, and really only Goehring and Belfour are in the discussion since I started watching in the 1980s. His success was not a product of a good team in front of him; he was in fact a huge reason the teams in front of him were good. He had some easier playoff games and did his job, but he also had difficult ones and did an exceptional job keeping the team in those games. Memorably, the team had no legs left in OT in the 2011 Final Five title game against Denver, but he held on while the team recovered. One year later, UND was completely outclassed for 35 minutes against MN, and should have trailed by much more than 3-0; only Dell made it possible for UND to mount that historic comeback. I doubted him when he first took over for Eidness. His first appearance that year was shaky, and I remembered subpar efforts from the year before. But he won me over with his play (not numbers). No overcommitment, very quick recovery and most of all, he didn't spend a lot of time laying in the crease hoping the puck didn't find the wrong stick. With his size and sound positioning, he blocked a lot of shots just by being there. I personally think he will play in the NHL eventually. His route out of college might seem a bit unorthodox, but I think he'll succeed in time. I thank him for his huge contributions the last two years and wish him nothing but the best.

Good catch, but two came down the stairs, one of whom will be working closely with Jordan over the next few years.

I expect these guys to all be in the lineup if healthy: Knight, Kristo, Rowney, Rodwell, Parks, MacMillan, O'Donnell, Grimaldi. Grimaldi could well end up the most talented player on the team, and as a result he'll eventually be playing with the other best players; they'll make the positions work somehow. It's hard to say that (being fixtures in the lineup) about any of the freshmen without seeing them. Beating out Gaarder and Pattyn won't be easy as they appear to be Hak's type of guys, trustworthy on the ice, and they earned a lot of goodwill this year. They could easily become fixtures on the fourth line, even though fans may long for "more talented" freshmen to play instead. I'm also pretty interested to see what kind of player Jim could become. Say what you want about his pedigree and the comedic value of his skating mishaps, but with his size and reach it was tough to get the puck away from him when he got it in the corner. He had surprisingly good hands and a frequent inclination to take a cycled puck straight to the net.

A 21 year old freshman from Moose Jaw. I don't think some rival fans will be able to handle it.

TJ Oshie has not played one game in the minors. Since leaving Warroad, he's played for the Sioux Falls Stampede, the UND Fighting Sioux and the St. Louis Blues. He's also had at least one stint in a USA sweater. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=81042

I know he was in Minot in 1979-80 because he was my phy-ed teacher that year.

Dell could have gone after last season, when he had a great year. He was more up and down this most recent year, but was still very solid. He's probably my favorite Sioux goalie of the last long time, because he makes a lot of saves simply by being in position, and doesn't end up flopping after being forced to make an acrobatic save. I don't think he'll be playing in the ECHL. I think he's an AHL goalie, and I think he has a shot to one day play in the NHL. I thank him for his contributions and wish him well.

Losing Friday in the Final Five would have been fine for a couple reasons: resting Saturday, and avoiding the X the following week. The problem is that you can't try to do anything but win every game. If MN wants to lay down and not cover guys in the slot, you go there and try to score. It's just how players are programmed.

It's amazing that a myth like the CHL being better for elite talents is believed even here. The CHL churns out more NHLers because the CHL gets more elite prospects to start with. Look at a list of Everett products in the NHL (if you can find any) and compare it to UND's over the last 10 years. If I'm an elite talent (potential #1 overall) and I'm choosing between Everett and UND, hands down I'm in Grand Forks.

He wasn't "made" captain; he was voted captain. Yeah, I'll bet his teammates really cared about his last name. How people can congratulate the coaches for overcoming adversity and not recognize the role the captains played is beyond me. Especially the one who set the tone by playing much of the season when he had no business being on the ice due to injuries

FWIW, that shot went glove, post, then off. The replay was pretty clear. And it was a bad sign when it happened.

The story of UND hockey this season has been, without a doubt, the players not on the ice, beginning after the draft when a recruit chose the CHL route. Since then it's been one hit after another. The team seems to be trying to write another story, about the players in the lineup. It's important to remember that, just as there's more than one way to win a hockey game (credit Sagard), there's more than one type of team to win with. Here's what the Sioux have going for them: 1. Dell - Among the best I've seen at UND in the last 3 decades. For me, only Belfour and Goehring are in the discussion. I appreciate his size and positioning. The Sioux have had some brave little battlers, but I don't miss the flopping that seems to come with the athletic saves needed to be made by smaller goalies. 2. Two dominant shutdown defensemen in Blood and MacWiliam, who fit nicely in the line from Commodore to Greene, Jones and Smaby. 3. A top line that isn't surpassed by many, with probably at least two future NHL players and maybe three. The balance of the lineup has a mixture of talent and heart, but it is inexperienced and thin. On the plus side relative to the inexperience, while there are a lot of freshmen, none are true freshmen, so they are at least physically more mature than their class would indicate. It may not sound like much, but a few recent teams with similarly incomplete make-ups managed to accomplish quite a bit. The Sioux team that lost the title game to BC in overtime in 2001 was thin on elite talent, with five players leading the way: Goehring, Roche and the line of fire of Panzer, Lundbohm and Bayda. Behind that were quick gritty penalty killers Spiewak and Notermann and not much else. Yet they almost pulled it off. Likewise, the team that lost the 2005 title game to Denver despite outplaying them became dominant when it had little business doing so. They rode a red-hot Jordan Parise in goal and the most wicked group of physical defensemen the college game has likely seen, with Schneider added to the aforementioned Greene, Jones and Smaby. There was one dominant offensive line, with Spirko, Stafford and Zajac. The lineup shrank with key injuries down the stretch, but they kept winning anyway, aided by the tenacity of the grinder line of Canady, Massen and Fabian. I think this team can still similarly accomplish things this year. They still have as much talent as most teams, although they would certainly be the less talented team in several postseason matchups. Also, it's very possible they would need to win about 7 or 8 elimination games in a row to go far. Having seen them do it before seemingly with smoke and mirrors, I can still see it happening.

I only caught the third period, but the Sioux were great then. Definitely deserved to win, and it would have been a shame if they had lost.

Just to clarify, the surgery was going to be season-ending whenever it occurs; he would not have been back by now. His injury is a very unusual situation; it'll be easy afterward to see what the right course should have been, but there's no roadmap for something you basically haven't seen before. There seems to be an unfounded undercurrent of specualtion in some posts that the team has mishandled injuries. Let the professionals who actually have the information and experience do their jobs, and the team will have to go with the players it has. Also, in each of these cases, you can be sure the NHL teams which own the players' rights are involved.

No doubt he is the rock on which this team is built. For coming back for his senior year we owe a debt of gratitude.

To me, Gregoire and Hextall leaving was an ordinary event for UND. In fact, UND was lucky to have Gregoire for that year, and I think they're fortunate to have Kristo and Blood back this year. By contrast, Miller and St. Clair failing to arrive for the reasons they did is pretty unusual for UND.