2021-22 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[stoneySIOUX]

17 minutes ago, AJS said:

Rizzo was originally announced with the Sanderson class, when UND released the incoming Freshman. Shortly after, it was announced he was no longer coming. The Weatherby situation had nothing to do with it, wrong year. 

Really? So, that was like 18 months+ ago?! That makes A LOT more sense and fills the blanks with Siouxforce's question. Time is irrelevant lolol.

[gfhockey]

Did we even want him?

[I Ranger]

51 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Really? So, that was like 18 months+ ago?! That makes A LOT more sense and fills the blanks with Siouxforce's question. Time is irrelevant lolol.

From what I've heard, Rizzo's decommitment caught the staff off guard. They weren't expecting it even after asking him to play another year of juniors. 

[Benny Baker]

7 minutes ago, I Ranger said:

From what I've heard, Rizzo's decommitment caught the staff off guard. They weren't expecting it even after asking him to play another year of juniors. 

This has to be more likely. If he didn’t want to play another year of juniors, why de-commit and play another year of juniors?

Rizzo didn’t commit to Denver until last January.  And, at least at that time, claimed he went back to juniors to play his way into a better situation.

My guess is Rizzo wasn’t going to get a the top 6 role or power play time he wanted with the caliber of last year’s team.

 

[stoneySIOUX]

1 hour ago, I Ranger said:

From what I've heard, Rizzo's decommitment caught the staff off guard. They weren't expecting it even after asking him to play another year of juniors. 

Yeah, I definitely agree that they didn't see it coming. 

 

1 hour ago, Benny Baker said:

This has to be more likely. If he didn’t want to play another year of juniors, why de-commit and play another year of juniors?

Rizzo didn’t commit to Denver until last January.  And, at least at that time, claimed he went back to juniors to play his way into a better situation.

My guess is Rizzo wasn’t going to get a the top 6 role or power play time he wanted with the caliber of last year’s team.

 

He definitely wasn't

[Tbone]

2 hours ago, gfhockey said:

Did we even want him?

Good catch gfhockey.
If it was the case, that Rizzo did not want to bide his time with the talent in front of him, to work his way into a top six role, that is not much of a team first mentality. Especially a first year player.

[sioux rube]

Sanderson ranked the 9th best player under 21 by The Hockey News 

 

 

[burd]

IMO, Berry has done a superb job with this group so far this year.

[SiouxForever]

1 hour ago, burd said:

IMO, Berry has done a superb job with this group so far this year.

Concur. 

After Christmas, need the following:

Ford = a few more goals 

J. Kunz = continue speed/conditioning + evolving 

Judd = Maybe slightly injured atm? Need more 

Ness = Get 1st goal and who knows what happens w/ confidence/first goal 

[SiouxFan100]

Now wth am I to do till next year?

[The Sicatoka]

They don’t give out trophies for winning the first half. It’s been impressive so far but there’s much more to be done.

Rest. Enjoy. But the work starts again in three weeks. 

[mattim]

2 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Now wth am I to do till next year?

At least we should be 100% healthy, although not knowing who will be in or out of the lineup makes it interesting. 

[brianvf]

25 minutes ago, mattim said:

At least we should be 100% healthy, although not knowing who will be in or out of the lineup makes it interesting. 

Just hoping for no more Sanderson injuries/illnesses in the 2nd half.
The boys have done well in the times that he's been out of the lineup, but we'll need him if UND wants to make a postseason run.

[I Ranger]

4 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Just hoping for no more Sanderson injuries/illnesses in the 2nd half.
The boys have done well in the times that he's been out of the lineup, but we'll need him if UND wants to make a postseason run.

And also hoping he comes back on a mission like he did after the World Juniors last year. He was night and day better the second half last year compared to how he looked in his limited time in the bubble. 

[siouxnatty#8]

On 12/2/2021 at 2:29 PM, AJS said:

Rizzo was originally announced with the Sanderson class, when UND released the incoming Freshman. Shortly after, it was announced he was no longer coming. The Weatherby situation had nothing to do with it, wrong year. 

Just curious who replaced Rizzo?

[Oxbow6]

Judd needs to find his game and get his face of the milk carton.  Kid is way too talented and skilled to be invisible for big chunks of games. He needs to have a big 2nd half.

[AJS]

1 hour ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

Just curious who replaced Rizzo?

Nobody originally, but ultimately Jamernik in the second half of the season. 

[siouxfaninseattle]

2 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Judd needs to find his game and get his face of the milk carton.  Kid is way too talented and skilled to be invisible for big chunks of games. He needs to have a big 2nd half.

He seems to have a bit of Rocco in him. Makes a lot of great plays away from the net but has a hard time scoring.

[siouxnatty#8]

2 hours ago, AJS said:

Nobody originally, but ultimately Jamernik in the second half of the season. 

Ok now Jamernik coming in after Christmas makes more sense.  Not a bad trade off so far.

[AJS]

This has been without a doubt the weirdest first half of the season I can ever remember. On one hand you had four of the most lopsided losses (both score / appeared talent discrepancy) we've seen in some time along with to this point historically bad goalie save %, but when you look at what matters, you have a Top 4 team in the pairwise, leading the NCHC in points. It's so bizarre. Injuries are part of the game, but between true injuries and sickness, this team has really been hit hard and hit much earlier than normal. If you asked Berry his ideal lineup, has he been able to try that even once in the first half? 

This break is at a perfect time, give everyone a few weeks to heal up. The second half schedule although difficult, has a nice 5 to 3 home vs away series breakdown. This isn't ideal, but with the turnover / amount of players out the 1st half, I really would like to see some experimenting in January. For me, concentrating on Hellsten / Driscoll, even games to see who plays better. Watching these games, the goals given up haven't been really that egregious, but still, the numbers being what they are, Driscoll hasn't proven that he deserves the % of starts he's gotten. I would like to also see more experimentation with that # 6 spot on defense. Unless you're an uber talent, defense in the NCHC probably over any other position takes that most time to develop. You only get that by playing minutes. I would like to see Bast / Johnson get more and more minutes. I thought Bast looked fine against CC. 

Really looking forward to the second half. As bizarre of a first half as its been, you get the feeling that this team hasn't even come close to scratching the surface. Overall, great job by Berry and the staff, absolutely, ahead of where I'm guessing everyone thought they'd be.

[Godsmack]

14 hours ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

He seems to have a bit of Rocco in him. Makes a lot of great plays away from the net but has a hard time scoring.

All Swede, no finish? 

[The Sicatoka]

37 minutes ago, AJS said:

I would like to also see more experimentation with that # 6 spot on defense.

You're going to get your wish whether you want it or not. 

I expect Sanderson and Kleven to be gone and unavailable due to WJC (in Sweden) to Monday January 10. 

Eight defensemen on roster, minus two, leaves game day six.

Your top four in that scenario? 15, 7, 4, 2. (Did you notice the ice 4/2 got the last couple weekends? There's a reason. And this will be the chance for 24 and 6 to show if they've grown any whiskers.) 

[Godsmack]

36 minutes ago, AJS said:

This has been without a doubt the weirdest first half of the season I can ever remember. On one hand you had four of the most lopsided losses (both score / appeared talent discrepancy) we've seen in some time along with to this point historically bad goalie save %, but when you look at what matters, you have a Top 4 team in the pairwise, leading the NCHC in points. It's so bizarre. Injuries are part of the game, but between true injuries and sickness, this team has really been hit hard and hit much earlier than normal. If you asked Berry his ideal lineup, has he been able to try that even once in the first half? 

This break is at a perfect time, give everyone a few weeks to heal up. The second half schedule although difficult, has a nice 5 to 3 home vs away series breakdown. This isn't ideal, but with the turnover / amount of players out the 1st half, I really would like to see some experimenting in January. For me, concentrating on Hellsten / Driscoll, even games to see who plays better. Watching these games, the goals given up haven't been really that egregious, but still, the numbers being what they are, Driscoll hasn't proven that he deserves the % of starts he's gotten. I would like to also see more experimentation with that # 6 spot on defense. Unless you're an uber talent, defense in the NCHC probably over any other position takes that most time to develop. You only get that by playing minutes. I would like to see Bast / Johnson get more and more minutes. I thought Bast looked fine against CC. 

Really looking forward to the second half. As bizarre of a first half as its been, you get the feeling that this team hasn't even come close to scratching the surface. Overall, great job by Berry and the staff, absolutely, ahead of where I'm guessing everyone thought they'd be.

And the penalty trouble is odd too given we are one of the better teams in the nation. Typically, you find it’s the lesser skilled teams who tend to take more penalties. Given our success this season despite all the 5 minute majors and leading the conference (and country if Im not mistaken?) in penalties makes this story even more remarkable. 

[iluvdebbies]

WJC is in Canada.... gold medal game is Jan 5th.

[The Sicatoka]

2 minutes ago, iluvdebbies said:

WJC is in Canada.... gold medal game is Jan 5th.

Then Google is having a bad day.
https://www.google.com/search?q=2022+wjc&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS929US929&oq=2022+wjc&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0i131i433i512j0i512l3j0i131i433i512j0i512l4.3056j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 

2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

Description

The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships will be the 46th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It will begin on December 26, 2021, and will end with the gold medal game being played on January 5, 2022. Wikipedia

Location: Frölundaborg, Scandinavium Trending

Teams: 10

Dates: Sun, Dec 26, 2021 – Wed, Jan 5, 2022