COMMITTED UND Recruits

[gfhockey]

There’s a lot of speculation and rumors going on. People should have srouces

[scpa0305]

11 hours ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

I think he's a great get. When his coach says he plays "Sioux" hockey, that's a pretty big compliment.

I really hope so. And i do really mean that. I like the add from a long term prospective. There’s some things I like (he’s old, bigger kid, scored in a tough league, etc) but there are also question marks (he’s old, uncommitted before?, came out of nowhere, undrafted, etc). I do trust Bryn though.

[scpa0305]

8 hours ago, .357 said:

The only way the fans & admin could have known about the drop-off in recruiting is if the beat reporter had written about it. But it's difficult to ascertain if he had known about this deficiency before the firing or not.

I’ve been hinting at it for a couple years. I saw where most of the blue chips were going. Every commit we get is the greatest on this forum…until the following year when they’re written off as underclassmen. Or “look at how good our incoming class is”? Last year was solid but it’s been just above avg for a little while now.

[Blackheart]

1 hour ago, gfhockey said:

There’s a lot of speculation and rumors going on. People should have srouces

Source?

[Frozen4sioux]

3 hours ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Don’t think it stopped just not a lot of energy or resources put into it. I would guess lots of text messages and zoomed calls. 

Rumors guesses rumors....   lot of sticks being added to the fire but little facts it seems

 

also need to remember the timeframe of the coaching tenure, the years of uncertainty and changes in how business was conducted during the covid behavioral manipulation era, certainly had similar changes and adaptations in the coaching recruiting world.....   could it be that selective memory is going into these general assumptions?

Who knows, id love to say just move on but it is important to learn from the past.  

[tnt]

3 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

I’ve been hinting at it for a couple years. I saw where most of the blue chips were going. Every commit we get is the greatest on this forum…until the following year when they’re written off as underclassmen. Or “look at how good our incoming class is”? Last year was solid but it’s been just above avg for a little while now.

I truly believe it is about having some elite guys then filling in with guys that will go through a wall for the program.  Like Schlossman said, the last team to win the National Championship with more than one first round draft pick was UND.  

Well, we had the same number of first round draft picks this year, only we didn’t have enough of the Troy Stecher and Drake Caggiula types who were all about the program.  Instead we had soft guys like a few that left that were conspiring to go elsewhere while still in the midst of the season.  

You might not see any more than a few of the high end guys, but you hopefully will see more guys that are going to play a full 60 because they want to go through a wall for the program like Menghini. From the bits and pieces given about Kernan and Zakreski, they both sound like that type as well.  

[Brett0909]

12 hours ago, Username Taken said:

That’s part of the problem. How are we supposed to know as fans that BB just basically stopped recruiting? We had some studs under the Berry tenure. Crazy to think of what could have been if he actually put some effort into it. 

There were signs. All coaches on the bench every game. Not winning many of the highly contested recruiting battles. What the recruits did (and didn’t) say about their experience - ie, no mention of how committed the coaches were to landing them (things we heard regularly under Hakstol), portal goalie U, and the overall drop in quality.  Remember how Hak landed Boeser from Wisconsin. That level of commitment vs. convenience matters. Singular incident, but does BB get put on a championship pedestal his first year without Boeser?

Some on here have been calling these things out for years. This part is pure speculation but I wonder if Brad took the Covid switch to zoom etc like many companies- began relying on virtual meetings for interviews, scouting, follow-up, etc. If one coach shows up to your house and games regularly pumping you up and building a relationship with your family, while another is more apt to setup zoom meetings and relying on YouTube selling your facilities, outside of you making a visit on your own dime …I know I’d draw my own conclusions. 

Other areas like discipline, playing soft, not getting player progression year over year, etc. that many have been pushing on as signs to move on from BB have also been directly or indirectly supported from the post-BB reporting and Jax’s interviews. 

Tough part is there’s also plenty of criticism here that isn’t warranted and hindsight is 20/20…but there were signs. 

In good news, in spite of this, BB’s teams weren’t very far away from being contenders at times. Razor thin margin, and hopefully Jax can tune these areas with help from a better staff and get the team back on top. 

[Blackheart]

8 minutes ago, Brett0909 said:

There were signs. All coaches on the bench every game. Not winning many of the highly contested recruiting battles. What the recruits did (and didn’t) say about their experience - ie, no mention of how committed the coaches were to landing them (things we heard regularly under Hakstol), portal goalie U, and the overall drop in quality.  Remember how Hak landed Boeser from Wisconsin. That level of commitment vs. convenience matters. Singular incident, but does BB get put on a championship pedestal his first year without Boeser?

I think we can safely answer NO to that question.  Kid put up 60+ points and was a team guy; tough to replace that.

[Kevin G]

13 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Zakreski with a PP goal. Played bumper for almost 2 minutes of 5x3 and finally put it home.

I’m loving these first-hand scouting reports. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

4 hours ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Don’t think it stopped just not a lot of energy or resources put into it. I would guess lots of text messages and zoomed calls. 

zoom calls....wonder where he got that idea that route is effective (looks up a seat above the shitter in the betty)

[hockeytherapy13]

3 hours ago, tnt said:

I truly believe it is about having some elite guys then filling in with guys that will go through a wall for the program.  Like Schlossman said, the last team to win the National Championship with more than one first round draft pick was UND.  

Well, we had the same number of first round draft picks this year, only we didn’t have enough of the Troy Stecher and Drake Caggiula types who were all about the program.  Instead we had soft guys like a few that left that were conspiring to go elsewhere while still in the midst of the season.  

You might not see any more than a few of the high end guys, but you hopefully will see more guys that are going to play a full 60 because they want to go through a wall for the program like Menghini. From the bits and pieces given about Kernan and Zakreski, they both sound like that type as well.  

Plus we have a couple already in Croal and Littler. It’s going to be fun seeing them develop under proper playing time. They will be terrors to play against: Littler with his size and Croal with his grit.  

[The Sicatoka]

Give Blais the 2024-25 roster and he gets four more wins from better line up cards alone. 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Give Blais the 2024-25 roster and he gets four more wins from better line up cards alone. 

Blais almost always got the most out of what he had to work with.

[brianvf]

 

[scpa0305]

6 hours ago, tnt said:

I truly believe it is about having some elite guys then filling in with guys that will go through a wall for the program.  Like Schlossman said, the last team to win the National Championship with more than one first round draft pick was UND.  

Well, we had the same number of first round draft picks this year, only we didn’t have enough of the Troy Stecher and Drake Caggiula types who were all about the program.  Instead we had soft guys like a few that left that were conspiring to go elsewhere while still in the midst of the season.  

You might not see any more than a few of the high end guys, but you hopefully will see more guys that are going to play a full 60 because they want to go through a wall for the program like Menghini. From the bits and pieces given about Kernan and Zakreski, they both sound like that type as well.  

It’s easy to say all that, buts those are some of the guys we’ve been getting the past 5-7 years. I’m hoping these guys end up high end college players. But to say these guys are going to be awesome is a bit premature. That’s all I’m saying. Time will tell. Every commit “is that next guy” on this forum…until they have an avg/below avg year  

[hockeytherapy13]

2 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

Give Blais the 2024-25 roster and he gets four more wins from better line up cards alone. 

Only four? You could probably double that without batting an eyelash. 

[tnt]

9 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

It’s easy to say all that, buts those are some of the guys we’ve been getting the past 5-7 years. I’m hoping these guys end up high end college players. But to say these guys are going to be awesome is a bit premature. That’s all I’m saying. Time will tell. Every commit “is that next guy” on this forum…until they have an avg/below avg year  

Welcome to the world of college hockey.  Plenty of guys that have been considered big gets all across college hockey that end up being average college players, and I would rather have a hard working average player than one who has only relied on their talent and now that isn’t enough.

[fightingsioux4life]

19 minutes ago, tnt said:

Welcome to the world of college hockey.  Plenty of guys that have been considered big gets all across college hockey that end up being average college players, and I would rather have a hard working average player than one who has only relied on their talent and now that isn’t enough.

Several unheralded guys were key players on the 2016 team.

[scpa0305]

11 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Several unheralded guys were key players on the 2016 team.

There always are

[The Sicatoka]

4 hours ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

Only four? You could probably double that without batting an eyelash. 

Four from line ups. At least two more from Blais and his skate or sit mindset. 

[nascar99]

Kernan, Klee, and Zakreski coming in as older culture guys who can score & will likely spend at least 3 years at UND: good recipe for roster balance & future success!

[Esoteric]

On 4/19/2025 at 2:06 PM, brianvf said:

 

Is Caleb coming to UND for sure next hockey season?  

[The Sicatoka]

There is speculation of a second USHL season.

[brianvf]

1 hour ago, Esoteric said:

Is Caleb coming to UND for sure next hockey season?  

59 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

There is speculation of a second USHL season.

Yeah, if I were a betting man, I'd bet on a 2nd USHL season.  He is still only 18yo...pretty young for a NCAA goalie.
One more year of "seasoning" and he'll be ready to step in IMO.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Zakreski and the Winterhawks up 3-2 with 10 minutes left in game 7 against DuPont and the Silvertips. Tune in on Victory Plus, both will be on the ice a ton. Zak is 28 on white, dupont is 9 on green.