NewUNDAlum

Man, we are SOFT inside.

Refed a few of Heidlebaugh's games over the past couple years. Throws a nice deep ball. Good touch. Tough kid. Great size. He's going to have to get really study the game as he hasn't seen a whole lot of defenses with the teams he was going against. Nice to get a local kid though.

I didn't get to watch the game last night so I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how Minot native Bryce Schmidt looked?

I guess I view a blue chip prospect as a first round or early second round type pick. I view an elite prospect as a potential top 10 pick.

Well, 2 minutes in and I can already tell that the camera man is incompetent.

I don't see where the worry comes from of the NCHC all the sudden falling apart if ASU would join and then leave. We would be in the exact same spot we are now. If we add a tenth team and ASU leave we would poach another team to make it 10 again. If ASU joins and then 10 years later leaves the NCHC isn't going to become irrelevant. CC and DU won't leave with ASU, thats nonsense. If the PAC12 comes to fruition it will be comprised of PAC12 teams. In my opinion, I really don't see a downside to ASU joining. They may or may not stay but in the meantime it gives UND more name recognition out West, more money in the bank and more leverage for negotiating better TV deals. Plus it would almost assuredly put us in good graces going forward with the PAC12. Thats not only good for hockey but its good for football. As far as the PAC12 starting up a conference, I agree. Its most definitely in the planning stages. However, this thing isn't going to come to fruition in 2 or 3 years. Yes, the first PAC12 team is starting up in D1 hockey. They still have 5 more to go and it isn't as simple as schools just saying "hey, we're starting a team." It doesn't work that way. These other schools are going to use ASU as a case study for whether or not its feasible for them to start up a team. If/when it is determined they have a good chance they will start to get the ball rolling on raising money to start it. Look how long ASU and Penn State were looking at starting hockey. Its been in the works for years. Thats just 2 schools. Now you need 5 more. Thats tough sledding. I don't see the PAC12 conference starting for a minimum of 10 years and probably closer to 15 or 20. This stuff takes a really long time to make happen.

So how would people rank our guys that have signed as of now?

Finally, this is the blue line pairing that I have been waiting to see.

So how good is Peski? What level of prospect did we pick up here? Is he a draft pick level pickup? 1st round draft pick kinda of pickup? An unheralded kind of player that fits the system? I guess I'm just not familiar with him.

Oops. Brain fart. Thank you.

Agreed. Personally, I would like the school year to start after Labor Day. However, I am much more inclined to give the local population in an area the choice. If the parents feel strongly about starting after Labor Day then they should take it up with their local school board.

Current results as of 9:10 p.m, albeit with less than half the precincts reporting: Measure 1: Yes- 36.41% No- 63.59% Measure 2: Yes- 76.74% No- 23.26% Measure 3: Yes- 25.85% No- 74.15% Measure 4: Yes- 44.63% No- 55.37% Measure 5: Yes- 20.00% No- 80.00% Measure 6: Yes- 37.54% No- 62.46% Measure 7: Yes- 41.82% No- 58.18% Measure 8: Yes- 43.95% No- 56.05%

Thompson > Mattson Thompson > Ausmus Thompson > Stetcher Just my opinion. I think the debate of who should play on the back end should be between Ausmus, Stetcher and Mattson. Right now I would try: Schmatlz-Ladue Thompson-Poolman Stetcher-Ausmus I love the length, scoring ability and two way play of the first two pairing. The third pairing gives us a combination of physicality in Ausmus with a heady player in Stetcher. I just don't think Mattson does anything great. Don't get me wrong, he is a good player but outside of experience what does he bring to the table that the other guys don't?

Still don't get why Thompson isn't in the lineup.

Does Mattson sit for Thompson, that is the question.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Thompson not being in the lineup. I'd rather have him in there than Ausmus and Mattson.

There is a rumor going around that a petro plant or a refinery is in the works in Minot as well. Minot is in the process of moving dirt for the Port of North Dakota. Plans are for it to be the biggest railroad export hub between Seattle and Chicago. Another note of development for the Minot area, apparently Cosco might be building a store in SW Minot as well as WholeFoods looking at the market. SW Minot has a couple of impressive developments called Southgate and Southwest Crossing. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the area but it is seeing a boom in commercial growth including: 2 hotels, Cash Wise grocery store, Sonic, Fudruckers, Wells Fargo, Gordmans, luxury apartments, as well as a few more restaurants and retail stores. Currently being built is a professional office park, a single family home development called Beaver Creek, supposedly Cosco and signs just went up for a new hospital coming soon. Pretty exciting stuff going on throughout North Dakota.

Dang its too bad Rocco left. A line of Rocco, Johnson and Schmaltz could have put up enormous points.

Here is my lineup: Caggiula-MacMillan-Parks Poganski-Schmaltz-Johnson Pattyn-Gaarder-OD Chyzk-St. Clair- Olson LaDue-Schmaltz Thompson-Mattson Stecher-Poolman McIntyre Reasoning: 1. Group has been together for awhile and has been productive. No need to fix something that isn't broke. Should produce big points this year. 2. This is the boom or bust. The offensive potential is something to behold. Start with it early. See how it works, if it doesn't it can always be changed. 3. Old school Sioux line. Grit all the way. Some offensive potential but they are a bunch of tough SOBs that will punch you in the teeth. 4. I thought Chyzk and St. Clair played well down the stretch. Olson seems to fit well with these two. High motor guys that will get after it. 1. Always been a fan of putting your top 2 dmen together. Both will see a ton of ice time. May not be a better defensive pair in the country. 2. I hope to see more improvement out of Thompson. I'm still luke warm on Mattson. If they play to their potential this unit will be fantastic. 3. I love Stecher. Smart player. Nothing fancy. Just gets the job done. Poolman is the wild card. He could very well come in and be a stud like LaDue. G: Might be the best in the nation so yeah.

That "grand hall" is fantastic.

I would personally rather watch class A matchups. Bismarck High vs. Minot High, Bismarck High vs. Century, Dickinson vs. Minot. I ref class A, class B, and 9 man football and can fully appreciate the rivalries of class B. I just struggle to watch the talent level of the teams in class B.

Just for fun, how many games do people think we would win if we had last years or the prior years offense with this defense?

I think people need to decide on what their expectations for this program should be. Very rarely, in anything in life, does expectation level not have a direct correlation to level of success one achieves. If your expectations are that beating Robert Morris in the manner that we did is alright and is a stepping stone then I would suspect this entire rebuilding process is going to be much longer than any of us anticipate. Personally, my expectation level, regardless of our current situation, is to become a perennial playoff team. That means beating the likes of Robert Morris by multiple touchdowns. Anything less should be unacceptable and is putting lipstick on a pig. Tough love is a must in our current situation. Take the win but call a spade a spade.

Simmons is not very good. He runs so tentatively. Doesn't like contact one bit.

Here is my assessment of this team as is: Coaching Staff: I like the direction that this staff is trying to take us. Its obvious that we lack talent at certain position and we have obvious limitations because of it. However, I think this staff is making the best out of it. The kids play hard and try to be physical. Not a whole lot of quit in them and that is something that couldn't be said last year. Quarterback: Mollberg needs to play better. The physical tools are there. The mental side of the game needs some drastic improvement. Too many dumb decisions. He tries to do more than he is capable of. He needs to develop some consistency in his game. Wideouts: Losing Galloday was an absolute killer for this group. I think we all anticipated that would be the case though. We still have some decent talent and appear to have some young guys that could develop into good players. Backs: Terrible. All around terrible. Obviously, others may see it differently but, in my opinion, this group is as soft as warm butter. I'm looking forward to some recruits coming in because these guys are tough to watch. Soft. Soft. Soft. Oline: Lacks talent. Very very limited in what they can do. It could be worse, but they have no identity. Really struggle to generate any sort of push and they aren't athletic. We need some bruisers up front if we intend to be a team that pounds the rock. Dline: This is not an FCS level group. We are terribly undersized in the interior and they get pushed around. We have what appears to be some young talent that might turn out to be pretty good over the next couple years but this group needs some work. Hopefully that kid from Newtown can come in and make a difference inside for us. Backers: Far and away the most impressive positional group on the team. They play physical and they are pretty athletic. This group stacks up pretty well against other FCS teams. Very impressed thus far and next year they should be even better. Secondary: Better than previous year but still lacks talent. We may see some more JUCO guys coming in next year to help out this group. All in all, if we win 5 games I would be impressed. We need to recruit size and we need to recruit guys that are physical. This is a 3-4 year project to get this turned around.