2020-21 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[siouxforce19]

I will sidetrack from banners to some details on next year’s schedule. 
 

UND @ Cornell - Oct 30-31 —> this was announced by Cornell today. It will be their season opener. 

other non conference opponents I’m aware of or seen mentioned on the schedules thread on USCHO are Penn State (Nashville), Bemidji (home and home), Minnesota (home), Niagara (home) and Northern Michigan (Home)

NCHC will release the conference schedule on 4/8 according to a poster on USCHO. 

[Blackheart]

2 minutes ago, siouxforce19 said:

I will sidetrack from banners to some details on next year’s schedule. 
 

UND @ Cornell - Oct 30-31 —> this was announced by Cornell today. It will be their season opener. 

other non conference opponents I’m aware of or seen mentioned on the schedules thread on USCHO are Penn State (Nashville), Bemidji (home and home), Minnesota (home), Niagara (home) and Northern Michigan (Home)

NCHC will release the conference schedule on 4/8 according to a poster on USCHO. 

I didn’t think those EZAC teams started their season until January.

[siouxforce19]

1 minute ago, Blackheart said:

I didn’t think those EZAC teams started their season until January.

just the Ivy’s  

[Brett0909]

54 minutes ago, siouxforce19 said:

I will sidetrack from banners to some details on next year’s schedule. 
 

UND @ Cornell - Oct 30-31 —> this was announced by Cornell today. It will be their season opener. 

other non conference opponents I’m aware of or seen mentioned on the schedules thread on USCHO are Penn State (Nashville), Bemidji (home and home), Minnesota (home), Niagara (home) and Northern Michigan (Home)

NCHC will release the conference schedule on 4/8 according to a poster on USCHO. 

Big series to open the season. Two of the top teams from the season that never ended...odds that some fans from whichever team wins the series will be re-crowning themselves the de facto champs? 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

5 minutes ago, Brett0909 said:

Big series to open the season. Two of the top teams from the season that never ended...odds that some fans from whichever team wins the series will be re-crowning themselves the de facto champs? 

This series could really be played up in the week prior to the match up.

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

6 hours ago, MafiaMan said:

At the risk of being banned from this site, I have an issue with #23 being retired, but that’s just my opinion.  

I do get misty-eyed, however, at the new era-specific banners hanging in the rafters.  They’re gorgeous.

[geaux_sioux]

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

[burd]

4 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

And Poolman's leadership

[UND99]

17 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

That guy is already on the team. Mark Senden. Two year captain.

[Irish]

23 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

I love what those two brought to the team - I am confident that others will pick up the role.  What had been missing in our down years is scorers and it looks like we are loaded.  Expecting a fabulous year - I hope some others have break-thru years to go with Kawaguchi and Pinto.  We could be deadly up front.

[Oxbow6]

26 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

Weatherby has some Smith in him. 

[geaux_sioux]

10 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Weatherby has some Smith in him. 

The speed though?

[NoDakZ11]

40 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do we have anyone coming in who can replace what Cole Smith brought to the table? How about Michaud? Seemed like those two guys were the attitude of the team. They brought the sandpaper and other guys fed off of it.

I think it’s pretty safe to say we might not see a player like Smith again for quite a while. Certain players might be able to replace parts of his game, but likely not the complete package. Combination of speed, size, motor, toughness, puck protection. Once he became more disciplined, he was quite the player. I do agree with the Weatherby suggestion as maybe the closest thing. 

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Where I am most concerned is losing mentality, the motor and penalty kill abilities of the players that graduated. Cole Smith, Westin Michaud and Dixon Bowen(surprising right?) will not be easily replaced. Colton Poolman was also incredibly reliable and seemed to keep the team on an even keel. I don't see us having issues scoring goals but last season's team was exceptionally good at not getting too high or too low no matter what situation they found themselves in.  I think the seniors were the reason for that. 

[Snake]

We also can’t ignore the fact that nobody on next year’s team will have played a single game of NCAA tournament hockey. 

[geaux_sioux]

33 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

Where I am most concerned is losing mentality, the motor and penalty kill abilities of the players that graduated. Cole Smith, Westin Michaud and Dixon Bowen(surprising right?) will not be easily replaced. Colton Poolman was also incredibly reliable and seemed to keep the team on an even keel. I don't see us having issues scoring goals but last season's team was exceptionally good at not getting too high or too low no matter what situation they found themselves in.  I think the seniors were the reason for that. 

I bet the guys will be pissed all year because they got robbed by a stupid virus of a very real national title run opportunity.

[geaux_sioux]

Just now, Snake said:

We also can’t ignore the fact that nobody on next year’s team will have played a single game of NCAA tournament hockey. 

My God, when was the last time that happened for us?

[tnt]

5 minutes ago, Snake said:

We also can’t ignore the fact that nobody on next year’s team will have played a single game of NCAA tournament hockey. 

Which is why win or lose it would have been nice to get that experience this year. Most guys have had post season experience in Juniors, but not in a one and done situation.

[mattim]

45 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

Where I am most concerned is losing mentality, the motor and penalty kill abilities of the players that graduated. Cole Smith, Westin Michaud and Dixon Bowen(surprising right?) will not be easily replaced. Colton Poolman was also incredibly reliable and seemed to keep the team on an even keel. I don't see us having issues scoring goals but last season's team was exceptionally good at not getting too high or too low no matter what situation they found themselves in.  I think the seniors were the reason for that. 

I see those already suggested, Senden and Weatherby taking on big roles as leaders by example. Also think that Blaisdell has some Michaud/Bowen type ability that will come out as he matures, I think he will be a very good guy on PK. Kierstad too will step up and maybe someone will surprise us. Their is a ton of talent on this team and most of those guys were leaders and/or captains of other teams they have played on.  

[siouxforce19]

12 minutes ago, tnt said:

Which is why win or lose it would have been nice to get that experience this year. Most guys have had post season experience in Juniors, but not in a one and done situation.

Except the RBC Cup in Canada - It’s not 100 percent one and done since prelims are round robin format, but the semis and finals are one game. A few of our guys have played in this. 
 

Definitely not the same as NCAA’s though. 

[siouxforce19]

3 minutes ago, mattim said:

I see those already suggested, Senden and Weatherby taking on big roles as leaders by example. Also think that Blaisdell has some Michaud/Bowen type ability that will come out as he matures, I think he will be a very good guy on PK. Kierstad too will step up and maybe someone will surprise us. Their is a ton of talent on this team and most of those guys were leaders and/or captains of other teams they have played on.  

Yes. I immediately thought of him. With more ice time I could definitely see him take on the Michaud role on this team. He already got some PK time this year, would imagine that will increase. 

[tnt]

When Keane is in the lineup, he is another motor guy.  

[nodakvindy]

2 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

My God, when was the last time that happened for us?

1997.  Season ended OK.

[Brett0909]

Now that things for the 2020/21 season are at least starting to come into focus, and I was bored, I started looking at the team's known scoring losses and what would be necessary to make those up to be on-par with this year's team. Probably no surprise to this group, but for those who don't follow as close, there are some pretty strong stats from the departing players, with obviously large impacts from Michaud and Smith. Overall, the departing group averaged more Pts/G than the remaining group, had a higher shooting %, and accounted for 28% of points, 32% of goals, and 31% of PPGs. All in all, that leaves the team in pretty good shape compared to a lot of years, especially with a talented group incoming and a number of talented players who should be ready to take a step. In good news, the team returns 81% of it's GWG. All of this assumes JBD and Pinto's return, which would significantly hurt if not, of course. I didn't bother to do any conjecture of what these numbers would look like without Guch, Kierstad, and some of the other potential departures though, which would have likely meant rebuilding vs reloading. Enjoy and happy Sunday!

	GP	G	A	P	Pts/G	Shots	Shot %	PM	GWG	PPG	SHG	+/-
Jordan Kawaguchi, F, Jr	33	15	30	45	1.36	71	21.1	8	5	2	0	21
Matt Kiersted, D, Jr	33	6	23	29	0.88	54	11.1	50	1	2	0	22
Shane Pinto, F, Fr	33	16	12	28	0.85	91	17.6	46	3	5	0	19
Collin Adams, F, Jr	35	12	16	28	0.8	92	13	18	6	1	0	25
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D, So	32	7	18	25	0.78	55	12.7	12	0	4	0	21
Grant Mismash, F, Jr	35	8	12	20	0.57	83	9.6	18	1	0	0	17
Jasper Weatherby, F, So	35	10	8	18	0.51	88	11.4	20	1	4	0	9
Judd Caulfield, F, Fr	29	4	8	12	0.41	28	14.3	7	1	1	0	13
Harrison Blaisdell, F, Fr	32	2	10	12	0.38	31	6.5	16	0	0	0	10
Mark Senden, F, So	35	5	6	11	0.31	53	9.4	10	1	0	0	4
Gavin Hain, F, So	28	2	8	10	0.36	36	5.6	13	1	0	0	3
Jackson Keane, F, So	19	1	4	5	0.26	11	9.1	0	0	0	0	-3
Gabe Bast, D, Jr	22	2	3	5	0.23	28	7.1	18	0	1	0	1
Ethan Frisch, D, Fr	31	1	4	5	0.16	22	4.5	17	0	0	0	9
Adam Scheel, G, So	26	0	2	2	0.08	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Rieger, D, Jr	9	1	0	1	0.11	9	11.1	6	1	0	0	0
Peter Thome, G, Jr	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
***Not Returning***
Westin Michaud, F, Sr	35	16	12	28	0.8	101	15.8	14	3	4	1	19
Cole Smith, F, Sr	34	11	7	18	0.53	68	16.2	37	1	3	1	6
Colton Poolman, D, Sr	31	4	13	17	0.55	37	10.8	4	0	1	1	15
Jonny Tychonick, D, So	24	4	7	11	0.46	12	33.3	14	1	0	0	20
Dixon Bowen, F, Sr	33	6	4	10	0.3	35	17.1	10	0	1	0	7
Andrew Peski, D, Sr	35	1	9	10	0.29	25	4	12	0	0	0	17
Zach Yon, F, Sr	16	0	4	4	0.25	14	0	0	0	0	0	2
Casey Johnson, F/D, Sr	16	1	0	1	0.06	12	8.3	2	0	0	0	0
2019/2020 Team Totals	28.1	135	220	355	10.14	1056	12.8	352	26	29	3	257
2020/2021 Returning Totals	28.1	92	164	256	8.05	752	9.7	259	21	20	0	171
% Returning		68%	75%	72%	79%	71%	75%	74%	81%	69%	0%	67%

[burd]

I wonder who will emerge as the leader(s) on this team.   Poolman was a difference maker in that regard, IMO.