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University of North Dakota Hockey 2015-16 season


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5 minutes ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

So the new RRHS jerseys look very familiar.  Switch the red to green and this may have been an option for our new jersey had Roughriders been selected as the nickname!!

RR.jpg

UND.jpg

I didn't think the Grand Forks schools put their nicknames on the their jerseys.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think many of us are hoping against hope that Schmaltz will stay so Jost can join those two.  Don't think it will happen, but a girl can dream. 

But man, there could be some serious departures at the blue line. 

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I think it is smart for Vancouver to keep him at UND for at least another year.  We have seen the so called sophomore slump.  It would be good for him to have that offseason to put on weight.  Blue line will lose at least 2.  I don't see Stetcher back next year.  Ladue will be gone for sure.  Then as for the others, I would say it is a toss up. 

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31 minutes ago, ringneck28 said:

I think it is smart for Vancouver to keep him at UND for at least another year.  We have seen the so called sophomore slump.  It would be good for him to have that offseason to put on weight.  Blue line will lose at least 2.  I don't see Stetcher back next year.  Ladue will be gone for sure.  Then as for the others, I would say it is a toss up. 

Stetcher bleeds kelly green......I am not saying your are wrong, but I would not be surprised if he stuck around for his senior year. He has only gotten better each year. It may all come down to how the season ends. Winning a National Championship may be the trigger the helps some guys on the fence move on to the pros. A bad loss in the playoffs could push them to stay and try again.

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3 hours ago, Just Curious said:

Stetcher bleeds kelly green......I am not saying your are wrong, but I would not be surprised if he stuck around for his senior year. He has only gotten better each year. It may all come down to how the season ends. Winning a National Championship may be the trigger the helps some guys on the fence move on to the pros. A bad loss in the playoffs could push them to stay and try again.

I think Stecher has an advantage that he can literally pick whomever he wants. He's not getting pressured from any particular team. I won't be surprised if he decides to stay. I think LaDue is gone, for sure. KT, Stecher, Ausmus and Poolman stay. And with those four plus Wolanin and Shaw, we have the best blue line in the country, again.

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55 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

I think Stecher has an advantage that he can literally pick whomever he wants. He's not getting pressured from any particular team. I won't be surprised if he decides to stay. I think LaDue is gone, for sure. KT, Gage, Ausmus and Poolman stay. And with those four plus Wolanin and Shaw, we have the best blue line in the country, again.

Agree.  Ladue is absolutely gone and Stecher is probably 80%+ gone.  The rest of the blue has no business leaving just yet.  Given Poolman's age I could definitely see him thinking about leaving but there are aspects of his game that he can still improve. 

Early in the year I would have said Schmaltz is 100% leaving, now I'm sitting at closer to 85% and that's only due to how much pressure he'll get from CHI to sign (their prospect pool is depleted due to all the trades they've been making).  As it stands today, I think Schmaltz should probably stay and continue to develop.  He's gotten a lot better since his freshman year but there are still aspects of his game that he must work on to become an NHL player.  Now he could do that in the AHL as well but I would be shocked if he wouldn't want to compete for a natty or HB (especially given his young age, there should be no rush).  If he left after this year, he would almost certainly spend at least a year in the A, which I guess is not that bad but playing through a junior year at UND has its perks as well.

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15 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Agree.  Ladue is absolutely gone and Stecher is probably 80%+ gone.  The rest of the blue has no business leaving just yet.  Given Poolman's age I could definitely see him thinking about leaving but there are aspects of his game that he can still improve. 

Early in the year I would have said Schmaltz is 100% leaving, now I'm sitting at closer to 85% and that's only due to how much pressure he'll get from CHI to sign (their prospect pool is deleted due to all the trades they've been making).  As it stands today, I think Schmaltz should probably stay and continue to develop.  He's gotten a lot better since his freshman year but there are still aspects of his game that he must work on to become an NHL player.  Now he could do that in the AHL as well but I would be shocked if he wouldn't want to compete for a natty or HB (especially given his young age, there should be no rush).  If he left after this year, he would almost certainly spend at least a year in the A, which I guess is not that bad but playing through a junior year at UND has its perks as well.

I'm hopeful Nick sticks around.  Jordan stayed three years, so there is that precedent.  Reading between the lines regarding Senior night, one got the feeling that Jordan really missed his time and teammates at UND.  Hopefully that's the case and his brother has gotten the message.  Nick has to like the prospects of playing with Boeser one more year, assuming Brock stays.

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IMO, Schmaltz stays next year.  To go play in the AHL, I think his injury bug only gets magnified.  He has sat out portions of both years with upper body issues.  Not to mention the step up he took this year, in addition to another good year in the weight room, he could really make a splash.  I do think CHI will put the pressure on because they need prospects. 

Boeser and Stecher will come back, Ladue is gone. 

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2 minutes ago, MoreSiouxForYou said:

IMO, Schmaltz stays next year.  To go play in the AHL, I think his injury bug only gets magnified.  He has sat out portions of both years with upper body issues.  Not to mention the step up he took this year, in addition to another good year in the weight room, he could really make a splash.  I do think CHI will put the pressure on because they need prospects. 

Boeser and Stecher will come back, Ladue is gone. 

I agree with this assessment on Schmaltz as well. His strength improvement from freshman to sophomore year was undeniably noticeable right from the get go this season but he still has been dinged quite a bit. I think another summer in the weight room and junior year would be greatly beneficial to have the possibility of stepping right into the NHL after his junior season as to playing in the AHL next season. I think Boeser needs another year to gain strength as well.

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I hate to talk about players leaving while the season is still going on. Let's try to enjoy these guys as much as we can.

That being said :) Ladue is gone, Thompson is gone (they wanted him last year. His improvement has slowed this year even though he has an excuse since he is the one that gets the freshman D rotating with him every other game), Schmaltz is gone even though I think he needs one more year of development to make it right away in the bigs. Poolman stays  to play with his brother.  Stecher will get many offers and it could go either way.

The pressing question is Boeser gone too? I cannot remember a player that left after his freshman year except Kevin Maxwell  but Kevin left to join the Canadian National Team from 1979-1980. Back in those days there were no pros so you played with the national team an entire year before the Olympics. I think Boeser is actually ready for the pros physically. Who knows.?

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4 minutes ago, Stack said:

I hate to talk about players leaving while the season is still going on. Let's try to enjoy these guys as much as we can.

That being said :) Ladue is gone, Thompson is gone (they wanted him last year. His improvement has slowed this year even though he has an excuse since he is the one that gets the freshman D rotating with him every other game), Schmaltz is gone even though I think he needs one more year of development to make it right away in the bigs. Poolman stays  to play with his brother.  Stecher will get many offers and it could go either way.

The pressing question is Boeser gone too? I cannot remember a player that left after his freshman year except Kevin Maxwell  but Kevin left to join the Canadian National Team from 1979-1980. Back in those days there were no pros so you played with the national team an entire year before the Olympics. I think Boeser is actually ready for the pros physically. Who knows.?

I still think he needs to improve his skating. Have to think Vancouver is definitely ok with Brock spending an offseason getting into beast mode with Mr. Poolman :)

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12 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

I still think he needs to improve his skating. Have to think Vancouver is definitely ok with Brock spending an offseason getting into beast mode with Mr. Poolman :)

I think Boeser needs to work on his defense.  He works hard and back-checks, but he has a tendency to be careless in our zone.  Does that require professional experience?  I don't know. 

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23 minutes ago, burd said:

I think Boeser needs to work on his defense.  He works hard and back-checks, but he has a tendency to be careless in our zone.  Does that require professional experience?  I don't know. 

Seems like an age thing. He can grow up just fine in Grand Forks :)

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Schmaltz needs to stay to get a little bigger and stronger. As a result he'll become more durable, faster, stronger on the puck, and most importantly his shot will get better. His skill is NHL level but his body isn't there yet. Tbag doesn't seem like something the AHL will help him with. Too many games and not enough time to train like he needs to.

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Personally, I think it was interesting when the four seniors ... and LaDue ... started Senior Night. In poker that's a tell: LaDue is gone. 

I'm hoping that:
- Ausmus realizes he still needs to work on his speed and offensive game
- Poolman wants to play one season with his brother
- Stecher understands a defenseman under six feet tall will have real issues trying to reach the NHL
- Thompson faces reality that he looks worse this year than last (yeah, I said it) 

My guess at the order of departure risk: LaDue, Stecher, Poolman, Ausmus, Thompson. 

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