OshieRoll

I would guess Eichel would be more like <0.5% likely to stay. I don't think I would be so quick to automatically send Matthews to BU either. They will lose a ton next year. They only have 3 seniors but Hohmann and Rodrigues had over 90 pts combined last year. Their stud goalie in O'Connor also already has one foot out the door and has already been in contact with NHL teams. Behind him they will have a sophomore who only started 6 games for them last year (not sure how good he is but his stats look pretty average and he will have big shoes to fill). They also have several juniors who could easily jump to the next level after big years this past season in O'Regan (5th round, SJ), Oksanen (FA) and Grzelcyk (3rd round, BOS). So they are basically losing their entire first line, their goalie and they could potentially lose any of their next 3 best remaining skaters (points wise). That would be hard for any team to replace much and they weren't an especially deep team last year either.

I challenge you to find one announcer that wouldn't have talked about Eichel all game. He was the biggest name in college hockey this year so of course they are going to talk about them. Buccigross did get excited when they won just like he gets excited about everything. He even said after the game that we were the better team that night and that he loves how we play. I would rather have a Buccigross broadcast that isn't a cookie-cutter presentation every single time than listen to the same cut-and-paste broadcast that guys like Joe Buck give. You honestly never know what the guy is going to talk about next.

It must be sort of a generational thing... Everyone I know that's my age loves Buccigross. Sure he is different, but he for sure doesn't drone on like some of the other major hockey announcers. I would rather listen to him mix it up than hear Pierre McGuire tell me where every single guy played peewee hockey twice a game. I would also take Bucci over Matvick any day. At least Buccigross can stay neutral even if he talks about one team more than another. With Matvick everything was North Dakota's fault during the regionals.

Do you win fake championships?

Tippett was listed in the top 5 for NHL based on the list I saw. Yeo makes about $1 million Babcock makes about $2 but is about to make northwards of $4 I saw Gretzky was making over $8 million when he was coach/GM The figure I see for Hak is $435,000 with max bonuses

Yeah, but why would you replace a guy you fired with one of his former assistants and mentees? That's like firing Belichick and replacing him with Josh McDaniels... And no I'm not comparing Hak to Bellichick... It's just the only example I could come up with that everyone would know who the assistant was.

That's my gift to you.

Tippett is unrealistic. And I you are whining about Hak's postseason record take a look at how this guy has done. His teams have gotten swept in 7 a game series multiple times. Imagine how he would fair in one-and-done formats. Sandelin wouldn't leave the comfort of UMD even though he played here. He is comfortable there and has job security. Plus only 5 tourney appearances in 15 years? And Duluth isn't exactly a little-sister of the poor when it comes to hockey. Blais would be awesome to get back but it's just not gonna happen. You might as well hold out hope for Gino or the ghost of Herb Brooks. Eades would be realistic but he doesn't exactly have the best playoff record either. Plus if you want to move away from Hak do you really want to replace him with a guy that spent most of his time as a coach under Hak's system?

I guess I'll just keep waiting for names then... And the crickets keep chirping.

I think you nailed that. You have all these idiots on here calling for Hak's head but none of them can give you an actual reason besides we haven't won the big one yet. But when you ask who they want to replace him? Crickets. I've never seen anyone say that they don't think he has improved as a coach over the years. I'm still waiting for one person to tell me how Hak has been outcoached in the NCAA tournament in recent years or what he could do better? Once again crickets. I've also been waiting for anyone to find one reputable coach/player/analyst/reporter that thinks Hak should be fired... Guess what? It's those crickets again. I mean even that mouth-breather Ryan Lambert can see how stupid that is but somehow there are still a few geniuses here that can't see that. Hak has recruited well. Hak has developed well. Hak has been able to win consistently. That's all you can realistically demand from a coach.

True. Every once and a while another team will come up and be really good for a couple years like the two you list plus SMU and A&M at various times. But UT has been far-and-away the most successful and storied program in that state and they always should be. I think they are much like the Gophers in this regard. I think a much better comparison as far as colleges that do well in recruiting but have to venture out of there state and into rival territory for their talent would be Oklahoma. Of course a new coach would use this to their advantage but its not like Hakstol is some terrible coach. I don't think anyone here could tell me with a straight face that they wouldn't take what Hak has done in his tenure here over what Lucia has accomplished in the same time frame. I also don't think people would trade in what we have accomplished under Hak for one championship with Eades and all the misery that has followed that. People just need to be more realistic with their expectations. Jack Parker won 3 championships in 40 years of coaching and he is widely considered a college hockey coaching great. Berenson has 2 in over 30 years at Michigan and he is another name near the top of a lot of lists.

UND doesn't exactly struggle when it comes to recruiting but we don't have nearly the natural recruiting area that UT has in Texas. They can pretty much hand-pick every players they get out of the state that is debatably the biggest hot-bed for talent in the sport in the country. We can't get our recruit from one specific area or state like Texas. Our two biggest recruiting areas historically have been northern Minnesota and Southern Manitoba. In northern Minnesota we have to compete with the Gophers, Bemidji and Duluth for guys and the traditional powerhouses like Roseau and Warroad have been down the last several years compared to where the used to be. In Southern Manitoba the kids are much more inclined to go the juniors route so we have to compete with that. This has led to our team having to recruit from all over the country and Canada. Two of our best players in the last decade or so in Parise and Toews have some from Shattuck which is less than an hour away for Minnesota's campus and firmly within Gophers territory. UT simply does not have to go out of state very often to get there talent as about 90% of their roster on any given year comes from Texas.

A sober Doug Woog?

Or Pattyn... A low end scholarship guy that ended his career with a C on his chest.

I think the Grant comparison is pretty fair outside of the fact that football coaches have much more control over the outcomes of games than hockey coaches do. I don't agree with the Mack Brown comparison though. It was pretty clear that Mack had reached the end of his coaching career before he left. He was in his sixties and hadn't won any conference hardware in 4 years. Mack is also in a sport where even the best players play 3 years in college and there is not any alternative routes like there is in football like their is in hockey with juniors. Plus that school pretty much recruits itself and always has. Hak is still in his mid-40s and he's seems to continually be growing as a coach year after year. I don't think we have seen his best yet and that could be scary good for us.

^this. Our guys have always dished out their fair share of hits and we always seem to be putting our bodies on the line to block shots. You quite simply do not do that if you are just biding your time until you get to the next level. The prairie rats to the east have a MUCH bigger problem with this than we do. I don't see anything wrong with our guys having goals.

If this isn't the most short-sighted and narrow-minded comment I've ever seen... If you take out the first year he was there he had a record of 96-63 and made the playoffs all 3 of those years. Why would you ignore the first year? Because it was his first year as a head coach and that team was an absolute dumpster fire that would make the Flint City Tropics look like the New York Yankees. Some simple digging reveals several reason why you can throw out that year: 1. Hak didn't start the year as the head coach. David Lohrei coached one game and then was replaced by Hakstol. (That should tell you everything you need to know about Sioux City that year because coaches don't leave after one game very often) 2. The fifth leading scorer on that team went on to score 9 points TOTAL in 4 years of college hockey (He was a forward). The leading scorer went on to Bemidji State when they were in the NCHA (D-III). 3. They went through 41 skaters and 7 goalies that year. The Wild used 5 last year and everyone freaked out. 4. The next year with a full offseason to prepare he went 35-18 and won Coach of the Year for the league. That should tell you all you need to know about what people in the league thought of him. There is a reason that everyone with actual hockey knowledge from Gasparini to Blais and from Parise to Kristo has lined up behind this guy in support. They might know a little bit more than the bunch of whiny toddlers that keep showing up here. We have out-shot the other team in 6 of the 7 Frozen Four loses that we have had under Hak so its not like he hasn't been getting the boys ready to play. Goofy things can happen in a one game playoff.

FIRE HIM!!!

This is NOT a chink in our armor. Minnesota was the best team in the country at faceoffs and they won 55.6%. Here is how the 4 teams still alive have done this year and their rank in the category: 5. Providence 54.4 % 10. North Dakota 52.9% 38. Boston University 49.1% 44. Nebraska-Omaha 48.2% For comparison's sake SCSU was tied for 30th in the country and they won exactly 50% this year. We won 57.5% of our faceoffs against them on Saturday. One goal off a faceoff early in a game does not mean a trend. You and your friends might want to make a group trip to the eye doctor.