Is it time to Fire Hak?

[mikejm]

...Let's come out early and play well; lots of other teams do it, why can't we?...

Um, the Sioux were 7-3-1 on 20 November this season.

Nobody plans for having your best player taken away from your team 11 games into the season.

[HKNTSMN]

Yes and when the Sioux lose players early every year the younger guys need some time to get adjusted I think they just were a little flat and if the penalty shot goes in they win and then they hammer BC..

[ringneck28]

Um, the Sioux were 7-3-1 on 20 November this season.

Nobody plans for having your best player taken away from your team 11 games into the season.

I don't think that most people look at it this way. But this is exactly what happened. We lost Chay and had to figure out how to re align. Plus we had Hextall out for a while in the middle of the year. He comes back and look what happened. The ifs and buts of it all do not matter. We can now look forward to what is promising to be a very good season next year.

[yababy8]

That's exactly the problem under Hakstol. Every year we have to push down the stretch to get home ice and into the NCAA's. Our players have nothing left once we get there. They are either pooped out or hurt. This is a pattern I would like to see changed. Let's come out early and play well; lots of other teams do it, why can't we? Let's try to rest some of the key players prior to the NCAA's instead of playing them with injuries just to get there. UND needs to put it together sooner during the season so we're not in playoff mode in January! Playoffs wear a team out. Being in playoff mode for 2 1/2 months wears a team out. I don't like this pattern and if we keep doing it we'll keep getting the same results. Hak needs to figure out how to motivate his teams earlier. For once it would be nice to go into the playoffs healthy and with some energy. We had none in the first 2 periods against Yale....and BC scored 9 goals on them! Ok, I'm done.....

Ya but on the other hand I could name many teams every year in the WCHA alone that play a really good game and get hot early in the year and then spiral out in the last month or two and get smoked in the playoffs.

CC for one does this every year. UMD this year, the gophs many times are hot the first half only to melt down toward the end.

How about this concept?;

I think it is just a matter of Hak getting a little more focused on offensive playmaking.

He needs to take his top offensive player, respect the player for those talents and DEVELOPE a SCHEME around that guy.

That is what the greatest coaches do. Just look at fellow UND allum coach- Phil Jackson- he creates offense around the specific abilities of his star player.

[82SiouxGuy]

I don't think that most people look at it this way. But this is exactly what happened. We lost Chay and had to figure out how to re align. Plus we had Hextall out for a while in the middle of the year. He comes back and look what happened. The ifs and buts of it all do not matter. We can now look forward to what is promising to be a very good season next year.

Don't forget that Zajac had surgery and missed several weeks at the same time Hextall was out. And Knight went out during that period, just as he was starting to score. And shortly after Chay's injury, Vande Velde wasn't supposed to play because he was injured. All of those injuries, plus probably others that we don't know, happened between mid November and mid January. It's kind of hard to build some momentum when you keep losing key players to injury.

[brianvf]

We had none in the first 2 periods against Yale....and BC scored 9 goals on them! Ok, I'm done.....

Of course, Yale also scored 7 goals on BC.

Yale probably did UND a favor. Even if UND had squeaked out a win against Yale, it appears that BC would have hung another 6-1 on UND.

For some reason, I don't think so.

I think this BC team was ripe for the picking. Their defense and goaltending were certainly not as strong as the last time we faced BC in the playoffs. If the Sioux team that played in the F5 showed up for that regional, I think that they would have beaten both Yale and BC.

Of course, all we can do is speculate on that now...

That said, I fully expect Miami to take out BC rather easily next Thursday to advance to the title game.

After watching both the BC/Yale and the Miami/Mich games, I don't think Miami will have too much trouble with BC.

[Siouxman]

How about this concept?;

I think it is just a matter of Hak getting a little more focused on offensive playmaking.

He needs to take his top offensive player, respect the player for those talents and DEVELOPE a SCHEME around that guy.

That is what Hak did. The player was Genoway, and then he got hurt. There went the whole scheme. You cannot coach based on one single player cause all your eggs are in one tiny basket.

Phil Jackson developed the triangle offense, which doesn't key on just one player. It provides options. He couldn't do it at Chicago with just MJ, they needed more players around him for it to work.

[sagard]

I think this BC team was ripe for the picking. Their defense and goaltending were certainly not as strong as the last time we faced BC in the playoffs. If the Sioux team that played in the F5 showed up for that regional, I think that they would have beaten both Yale and BC.

Of course, all we can do is speculate on that now...

That said, I fully expect Miami to take out BC rather easily next Thursday to advance to the title game.

After watching both the BC/Yale and the Miami/Mich games, I don't think Miami will have too much trouble with BC.

Yep. This BC wouldn't have been a problem for the Sioux and most days I think Yale would have been either. Miami has some serious demons to exercise with BC as well, so who knows how that semi will go. I'm guessing BC beats them, and then lays down for the filthy Badgers. Just like in '06.

Two guys that Lucia needed. Gilbert and McDonough.

[oldralph]

Um, the Sioux were 7-3-1 on 20 November this season.

Nobody plans for having your best player taken away from your team 11 games into the season.

Yes, this year they actually had a decent start. How about the other 5 years under Hakstol? Who did we lose those years? I hear a lot of excuses but we had a team that was red hot and didn't even show up until the 3rd period against Yale. I don't know what the real problem is but the only Sioux team that showed up in the final game of the NCAA's with a real good effort was Hak's first team. If Denver doesn't get the bounces we would have beaten them...we sure outplayed them. The other times we fell behind every game (except New Hampshire where we found a way to lose it late-real late) and had to come charging back. Our NCAA appearances are a reflection of our regular season. We start very slow then come on late. I think it's too little too late. We need to be ready for the drop of the puck whether it's for the season or for a game. Same thing with St. Cloud in the WCHA Championship game this year. Same thing against Wisconsin a couple years ago in Madison....down 2-0 after 2 and tied it up and won in OT. I just don't understand the lack of preparation and mental attitude in these big games. If it's the goofers we're raring to go. Tell em they're playing the goofers and I say they come out flying. Something has to change or we're never going to win another NCAA championship.

[siouxforeverbaby]

Yes, this year they actually had a decent start. How about the other 5 years under Hakstol? Who did we lose those years? I hear a lot of excuses but we had a team that was red hot and didn't even show up until the 3rd period against Yale. I don't know what the real problem is but the only Sioux team that showed up in the final game of the NCAA's with a real good effort was Hak's first team. If Denver doesn't get the bounces we would have beaten them...we sure outplayed them. The other times we fell behind every game (except New Hampshire where we found a way to lose it late-real late) and had to come charging back. Our NCAA appearances are a reflection of our regular season. We start very slow then come on late. I think it's too little too late. We need to be ready for the drop of the puck whether it's for the season or for a game. Same thing with St. Cloud in the WCHA Championship game this year. Same thing against Wisconsin a couple years ago in Madison....down 2-0 after 2 and tied it up and won in OT. I just don't understand the lack of preparation and mental attitude in these big games. If it's the goofers we're raring to go. Tell em they're playing the goofers and I say they come out flying. Something has to change or we're never going to win another NCAA championship.

Just because I was interested, I looked this up. If you go 36 games in the regular season, the first 18 games count as the first half of the season and when they fall all depends on the season. The only exception to this is when we played Michigan State for the HOF game (Fall of 2007), for some odd reason I only counted 35 games in the regular season that year.

Hak's First Half Records as Coach using the first 18 games:

04-05: 10-6-2

05-06: 10-7-1

06-07: 7-10-1

07-08: 9-8-1

08-09: 9-8-1

09-10: 9-6-3

Now, as Sioux fans we consistently complain about our teams slow starts under Hak...but with the exception of one year, we have had winning records to start the season. 06-07 was the year that Tech swept us at home to close out the first half and was the year of the DOT line.

Just saying?

[mikejm]

^This (along with the general sentiment of this thread) illustrates perfectly the scourge of great expectations.

The only measure of success to many fans is a goal only one team can reach.

Anything else is failure.

I understand, but I don't get it.

[USA Hockey]

Yes, this year they actually had a decent start. How about the other 5 years under Hakstol? Who did we lose those years? I hear a lot of excuses but we had a team that was red hot and didn't even show up until the 3rd period against Yale. I don't know what the real problem is but the only Sioux team that showed up in the final game of the NCAA's with a real good effort was Hak's first team. If Denver doesn't get the bounces we would have beaten them...we sure outplayed them. The other times we fell behind every game (except New Hampshire where we found a way to lose it late-real late) and had to come charging back. Our NCAA appearances are a reflection of our regular season. We start very slow then come on late. I think it's too little too late. We need to be ready for the drop of the puck whether it's for the season or for a game. Same thing with St. Cloud in the WCHA Championship game this year. Same thing against Wisconsin a couple years ago in Madison....down 2-0 after 2 and tied it up and won in OT. I just don't understand the lack of preparation and mental attitude in these big games. If it's the goofers we're raring to go. Tell em they're playing the goofers and I say they come out flying. Something has to change or we're never going to win another NCAA championship.

In Hakstol's six years we have 10 more playoff wins than any other WCHA school, I don't think not winning a national championship in the last 6 years is necessarily the coaches fault. Much of the time, the leadership in these big games and at the end of the regular season comes from the players (captains). These games come down to execution, and there are times when the coaches are saying one thing and the players are not executing. That type of leadership has to come from the captains.

[jk]

They were just plain out of gas. It was evident in the number of 50/50 pucks they lost to Yale, and in fact to SCSU in the last half of that game. No one's fault really. They played their guts out to go from down 0-2 to SC to up 4-2, and I think that was it. The tank was empty and they couldn't get it more than half full over the week.

[Brasco]

Just because I was interested, I looked this up. If you go 36 games in the regular season, the first 18 games count as the first half of the season and when they fall all depends on the season. The only exception to this is when we played Michigan State for the HOF game (Fall of 2007), for some odd reason I only counted 35 games in the regular season that year.

Hak's First Half Records as Coach using the first 18 games:

04-05: 10-6-2

05-06: 10-7-1

06-07: 7-10-1

07-08: 9-8-1

08-09: 9-8-1

09-10: 9-6-3

Now, as Sioux fans we consistently complain about our teams slow starts under Hak...but with the exception of one year, we have had winning records to start the season. 06-07 was the year that Tech swept us at home to close out the first half and was the year of the DOT line.

Just saying?

Just for fun take those first half numbers and multiply by 2 to get a projected record based on the first half of those seasons:

04-05: 20-12-4 44 points

05-06: 20-14-2 42

06-07: 14-20-2 30

07-08: 18-16-2 38

08-09: 18-16-2 38

09-10: 18-12-6 42

Now compare these records to the actual UND regular season records (by my counting):

04-05: 18-13-5 41 (-3 compared to projected)

05-06: 22-13-1 45 (+3)

06-07: 19-12-5 43 (+13)

07-08: 23-8-4 50 (+12)

08-09: 21-11-4 46 (+8)

09-10: 20-11-4 44 (+2)

This averages out to 5.8 points above the projected over the past 6 seasons. Possibly a more interesting observation is the curve this sets up.... starting negative, turning into positive points, leveling off at double digits in the positive, and now decreasing again.

[mikejm]

I read somewhere that 73.27% of all statistics are made up.

The other 19.54% are simply wrong.

[siouxnami]

I read somewhere that 73.27% of all statistics are made up.

The other 19.54% are simply wrong.

There are 3 kinds of people in the world, those that can count and those that can't...

[Blackheart]

I read somewhere that 73.27% of all statistics are made up.

The other 19.54% are simply wrong.

What about the other 34.76%?

[oldralph]

Just because I was interested, I looked this up. If you go 36 games in the regular season, the first 18 games count as the first half of the season and when they fall all depends on the season. The only exception to this is when we played Michigan State for the HOF game (Fall of 2007), for some odd reason I only counted 35 games in the regular season that year.

Hak's First Half Records as Coach using the first 18 games:

04-05: 10-6-2

05-06: 10-7-1

06-07: 7-10-1

07-08: 9-8-1

08-09: 9-8-1

09-10: 9-6-3

Now, as Sioux fans we consistently complain about our teams slow starts under Hak...but with the exception of one year, we have had winning records to start the season. 06-07 was the year that Tech swept us at home to close out the first half and was the year of the DOT line.

Just saying?

I'm not one that's into stats, but I'm wondering where we stood in league play and the Pairwise at this point of each year; wouldn't that be a more telling factor then if we're a game or two over 500 and have a "winning" record? I don't know because I'm getting old and my memory is not so good anymore, but I'd guess middle of the pack WCHA and bubble or worse in Pairwise. Whose got the time to research it??? I'd be interested

[siouxforeverbaby]

I'm not one that's into stats, but I'm wondering where we stood in league play and the Pairwise at this point of each year; wouldn't that be a more telling factor then if we're a game or two over 500 and have a "winning" record? I don't know because I'm getting old and my memory is not so good anymore, but I'd guess middle of the pack WCHA and bubble or worse in Pairwise. Whose got the time to research it??? I'd be interested

If I remember correctly, Pairwise isn't normally up in the first half on uscho.com. So, if someone understands it and could figure that out...go ahead....it would take a lot of research i think though. As would league play, I don't even know where you would start to look....wikipedia?

[Iceman778]

I thought it might be a good time to dust of some comments from a few of our internet coaching experts. There's a reason why Hak, Cary & Dane get paid to lead/coach the team and there's also a reason why 11,500 of us have to pay to sit in The Ralph and watch the team. JK said it very well in another thread....as well as the coaching staff has done since Hak took over, this might be the best job of coaching that Hak, Cary & Dane have done. When you come into the season with only 3 seniors and you're playing 17 freshmen and sophomores, the expectations shouldn't be out in the stratosphere. Then we lose the best defenseman in college hockey and we're down to two seniors. Then we lose VandeVelde and Hextall to injuries for lengthy periods of time but the coaching staff is able to hold the team together even though we were down to one senior.

How this team managed to get to a tie for #4 in the pairwise and win the Final Five is quite amazing. We're actually getting bonus hockey now that we probably had no reason to expect. Even with all the adversity the team faced after Genoway went down, they were very competitive when they went out to Denver and deserved to win one of those games. As the second half rolled around, Hak kept saying they were close and it turns out he was right.

Here are some of the Internet Coaching experts comments.....

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OETKB

Just a weak season. No real fight.

They try to compete, but they don't have nearly the grit they are given credit for.

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Oxbow6

If I hear "We're close" from Hak in post game...

No you are not close, but you are close to being out of time this season!

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Shawn-O

Kiss home ice goodbye.

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fightingsioux4life

Here is the remaining schedule for this team and my predictions for what I think will happen:

2/13 @St. Cloud (L)....this time Lee is the "hero" in net.

2/19-20 UM-Duluth(W)(L)....boys win on Friday, party too much and lose on Saturday.

2/26-27 @Colorado College (L)(L)....the World Arena has been tough on our great teams, this could get ugly.

3/5-6 Michigan Tech (W)(W)....this is Grand Forks, not Hougton and it's not the Winter Carnival. Thus, a home sweep.

3/12-14 WCHA First Round, on the road (L)(W)(L)....doesn't matter where this series is held, I don't see us in St. Paul.

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SIOUXELEVENS

This will be the first year, no home playoffs, no final five.

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ticklethetwine

1 win out of 3 with Minny 0 wins out of 4 Denver.

I say fire his a@@.

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ticklethetwine

Every week we hear oh this team is due and they should really get it going they are just having some bad luck. The funny thing is we keep saying that every weekend but nothing changes. Our leaders don't step up

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gfhockey

scott sandelin???

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BringDeanBack

I feel bad for Genoway, his season is done, and his team doesn't seem to care.

hmm some feelins resides in heart for some players

[GeauxSioux]

What is Hakstol thinking starting the first half the year like this?? The Sioux are never supposed to be in first place at this point. Is he nuts?? He needs to go NOW!!

[Goon]

04-05: 10-6-2

05-06: 10-7-1

06-07: 7-10-1

07-08: 9-8-1

08-09: 9-8-1

09-10: 9-6-3

10-11: 13-5-2

Looks like a pretty good start...

[sagard]

04-05: 10-6-2

05-06: 10-7-1

06-07: 7-10-1

07-08: 9-8-1

08-09: 9-8-1

09-10: 9-6-3

10-11: 13-5-2

Looks like a pretty good start...

Not good enough. Fire Hak!

[Big A HG]

If I remember correctly, Pairwise isn't normally up in the first half on uscho.com. So, if someone understands it and could figure that out...go ahead....it would take a lot of research i think though. As would league play, I don't even know where you would start to look....wikipedia?

Pairwise is up. I've been checking out some of the numbers. If Robert Morris can remain a TUC for the remainder of the season, that would be a huge weekend for us to sweep. That Maine weekend may end up being the difference between a 1 and 2 seed come the end of the season.

Other than that, I like our chances of getting a one seed where we are at and with our upcoming schedule.

[Rick]

What is Hakstol thinking starting the first half the year like this?? The Sioux are never supposed to be in first place at this point. Is he nuts?? He needs to go NOW!!

GeauxSioux -- You make a very valid point there. Whatever happened to the successful "rope-a-dope" philosophy of Hak's first 6 years?

I realize that other teams are catching on to this tactic so he probably feels it's time to start something new, but I've been kind of enjoying these second half surges. Most of them aren't able to duplicate it anyway. Just look at the Gophers. For the last 3-4 years The Don has been trying to implement a variant of the "rope-a-dope", but his players keep forgetting that they have to abandon the "dope" systems before the end of March rolls around.