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University of North Dakota 2018-19 Season


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12 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I’m on the assumption that Gersich and Wolanin are gone.  Zero idea what kind of guy Nick Jones is, but with how he played this year he or Poolman would be my choice to captain the squad.

I’m glad I won’t have to watch Olson on the power play any more......thank God....

Would have to believe that if Gardner returns he would have strong consideration to be a captain.

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Pogo's goal yesterday sums up the season: Pogo shows no reaction; Jones almost jumps over the glass with joy. Pogo and yes, Gersich, just never showed "it" to me as far as leadership. No emotion. No inspiration. And dare I say, no heart? At some point you have to quit being satisfied with being as good (ties) and want to be better (win). 

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3 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Pogo's goal yesterday sums up the season: Pogo shows no reaction; Jones almost jumps over the glass with joy. Pogo and yes, Gersich, just never showed "it" to me as far as leadership. No emotion. No inspiration. And dare I say, no heart? At some point you have to quit being satisfied with being as good (ties) and want to be better (win). 

That was an ongoing joke about Pogo, that he never celebrates goals. He was made fun of during the You Sit segment by other players. But I'll agree a little bit. Emotional leadership is important. None of us really know what that was like in the locker room, though.

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Well I sure hope the sting of not making the tournament this year is seared into the minds of all our players and coaches and they can get things figured out. Very,very disappointing to watch the selection show and not see us listed. 

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A serious concern I had this season was with the lineup changes all year long. Last year the lines were eventually put together, but pretty late. I would think locker room problems could spill over into line chemistry. Why could Berry not figure out the lineups?

I noticed someone's post on here yesterday that Hak didn't have off ice problems with his players. There were plenty with Hak.

Blaise, Geno, & Rube all had challenges with their party players of the ice. Always the potential for a challenge for the coach?

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3 hours ago, AJS said:

I'll start with coaching, what has me slightly concerned is the last two years I would put in the "underachieved" category. They basically made the tournament by one game last year and missed it by one this year. Far from terrible years, but much too inconsistent. This was the first year, that I've ever really questioned the line-ups UND went with, if given the choice, everyone is taking the Saturday lineup this past weekend over Friday afternoons. I'll never understand putting Johnson at Forward and basically having two lines that can't score, while leaving some of the guys they did in the stands. 

Next year, my hope relies on a couple things (1) Addition by subtraction - from a talent standpoint, there were a couple Seniors that saw big ice time, that will be easily replaced on the score sheet. Either by incoming freshman or players with another year under their belts. (2) Summer and time off fixes the locker room issues, not putting this all on the leadership group this year, but hopefully a change of guard, they can hit the reset button. 

There was a lot to like with this years team, as disappointing as it was, they were close to being a really good team. They took the #1 team in the country to OT three of their last six games. Played Denver close every game. Had a very solid start to the season. They just couldn't put everything together consistently enough. 

The outlook for next year will be much clearer once decisions are made from Gersich, Wolanin, Gardner and Poolman. They won't all stay, but if they did, they'd be a Top 5 team next year. Right now, I'd be happy if two of the four stay. 

Sure, they played St Cloud and Denver tough but they also had a had a nasty habit of normally playing to the level of the team they played, whether it be Union, Bemidji, Miami, CC, etc.  I suppose you could translate that to UND being an average hockey team this season.   

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20 minutes ago, GDPritch said:

Sure, they played St Cloud and Denver tough but they also had a had a nasty habit of normally playing to the level of the team they played, whether it be Union, Bemidji, Miami, CC, etc.  I suppose you could translate that to UND being an average hockey team this season.   

Wow, reading some of these posts you would think we are destined to be the Cleveland Browns of college hockey.  Disappointing season to say the least but far from as bad as some people make it.  Injuries to Gardner, Jones, Bast, etc. definitely had a big effect on our pairwise predicament.  We are far from needing to clean house.  Couple of breaks and things would be much different.  

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I know he performed below expectations, but would not be surprised and fully expect Mismash to take a big step forward next year.  He definitely has the talent as his high draft status confirms.  Part of development is learning what it takes to be a professional and as he matures hopefully the light bulb will come on.  In regards to Gersich, he probably should talk to Caggiula.  Part of the difficult decisions these young men have to make is there is no going back.  Go too early and you may never realize your dream of playing in the NHL.  The Sioux have alot of players that are in the NHL but there are alot more who went early never to realize their dream.

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14 minutes ago, fsioux said:

I know he performed below expectations, but would not be surprised and fully expect Mismash to take a big step forward next year.  He definitely has the talent as his high draft status confirms.  Part of development is learning what it takes to be a professional and as he matures hopefully the light bulb will come on.  In regards to Gersich, he probably should talk to Caggiula.  Part of the difficult decisions these young men have to make is there is no going back.  Go too early and you may never realize your dream of playing in the NHL.  The Sioux have alot of players that are in the NHL but there are alot more who went early never to realize their dream.

Gregoire, paging Jason Gregoire.

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Really easy way to make this team better: score some goals. 2.92 goals per game didn't cut it, and next year will college hockey will be even more open.
Berry has to find a couple 20 goal scorers. Not BCJHL 20-goal guys.

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6 minutes ago, mikejm said:

Really easy way to make this team better: score some goals. 2.92 goals per game didn't cut it, and next year will college hockey will be even more open.
Berry has to find a couple 20 goal scorers. Not BCJHL 20-goal guys.

Could not agree more - we had a serious lack of puck skills up front - from the break-out to stick handling and puck possession to shooting accurately.  How many times did we bobble the puck on a rush or missed a pass and how many times have we missed open nets.  A D man led this team in scoring and although there was some potential it was hard to find a scorer in the bunch.  I have been a fan for over 45 years and it is hard to remember a team with less firepower (although perhaps I have mentally erased the Bjorkman years.  Many other teams have scorers up front and there are many frosh and sophs in the league who are lighting it up.  Hard to think we have missed recruiting for several years now.  Time to get serious.

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3 minutes ago, Irish said:

Could not agree more - we had a serious lack of puck skills up front - from the break-out to stick handling and puck possession to shooting accurately.  How many times did we bobble the puck on a rush or missed a pass and how many times have we missed open nets.  A D man led this team in scoring and although there was some potential it was hard to find a scorer in the bunch.  I have been a fan for over 45 years and it is hard to remember a team with less firepower (although perhaps I have mentally erased the Bjorkman years.  Many other teams have scorers up front and there are many frosh and sophs in the league who are lighting it up.  Hard to think we have missed recruiting for several years now.  Time to get serious.

Think Northeastern who was the only Boston area school to recruit Adam Gaudette. Boy, did BC and BU miss out on this hidden gem.

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14 minutes ago, mikejm said:

Really easy way to make this team better: score some goals. 2.92 goals per game didn't cut it, and next year will college hockey will be even more open.
Berry has to find a couple 20 goal scorers. Not BCJHL 20-goal guys.

Less grinders, more skill.

Stop playing defensemen as forwards if you don’t have to. 

Give the most playing time to your best offensive players. 

 

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Maybe the emphasis on forwards being defensively responsible has hindered creativity.  Or not enough Greed when it comes to taking the shots...  seemed like speed wise we are lacking, puck battles werr seldom won    I noticed hustle to get to puck or players not seeming to happen.  Hope improvements can be made, definitely will be back next year cheering

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