Non-UND College Hockey 2021-22

[brianvf]

2 hours ago, AJS said:

#1 Seed this year. They return.

• Jack LaFontaine (Mike Richter Award Winner). Elite Goaltending.
• Defensively, it was my understanding that they were on Par w/ UND last year. They return everybody but Rossini. They'll be better next year than this past year with LaCombe / Faber / Koster / Johnson / Brinkman all being a year older.

Goaltending / Defensively they were elite last year and return everyone of importance. 

• Offensively. They do lose Ranta / Reedy / McManus, but return a lot as well. Have one of the best recruiting classes, plus just picked up Cruikshank.

They are stacked. Far from a guarantee they'll win it all, but it's hard to argue they aren't one of the favorites.

Yes they will be a very good team for sure.  Especially playing in the B10.
I would put their defense a level or two below UND's last team...and I would even put it a level below next year's UND team.  But still a very solid core especially with LaFontaine returning.

Offensive they lose some key contributors...it will interesting to see how Lucius does as a freshman, he has the potential to be a very good goal scorer for them.  And Cruikshank will do very well on the big ice.

Then it will just depend on how many (if any) players that Michigan loses before next season.
Should be a battle between those two teams for the B10 trophies though.

[AJS]

40 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Wrong comparison.  

Compare Johnson/LaCombe/Faber/Koster (and Staudacher and Brinkman) with Frisch/Sanderson/Kleven/Moore (and Jandric and Ferner). 

It's a fun comparison. Don't get me wrong, I think UND's D-Core is going to be really good next year. I've said it before, but Sanderson as a Sophomore makes UND's D-Core so unique as he'll be the most dominant player in College hockey next year. 

[planet2county]

Minot State will play in ACHA D1 finals.  Mary will play in ACHA D2 finals.  Minot State women lost in semi-finals.

[jk]

It will be interesting to watch Sanderson and Power next year, especially if Power goes 1OA this year in the NHL draft.  Different draft years, but Sanderson is only four months older.  That might be the hobey race.  

[SIOUXFAN97]

non und and non college but i saw the bloomington jefferson womens head coach was thrown off a set of steps and landed on his head and dead in st paul over the weekend....wow

[brianvf]

WMU and SCSU both returning nearly all their players (seniors coming back):

Quote

Western Michigan announced forwards Josh Passolt, Ethen Frank and Paul Washe will come back for their fifth year with the Broncos, while defenseman Ronnie Attard, a Philadelphia Flyers pick, is returning for his junior year. That means the Broncos could have their top 10 scorers back.

St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson said in an interview that senior forward Easton Brodzinski and senior defenseman Seamus Donohue will be back for their fifth year, while he also thinks it's likely that defenseman Nick Perbix and forwards Sam Hentges and Kevin Fitzgerald will return.

 

[tnt]

16 minutes ago, jk said:

It will be interesting to watch Sanderson and Power next year, especially if Power goes 1OA this year in the NHL draft.  Different draft years, but Sanderson is only four months older.  That might be the hobey race.  

...and we know that Michigan will probably score a ton, which is what the voters focus on.  At least next year there will be non conference games to help with comparisons.  

[tnt]

7 minutes ago, brianvf said:

WMU and SCSU both returning nearly all their players (seniors coming back):

 

I have contended from the start that the extra Covid year would hurt UND badly compared to other teams simply because I did not see any of the guys like Kawaguchi, Kiersted, Mismash or Adams coming back regardless.  I held out hope for Adams, simply because he was a mid round pick without the size, but I knew it probably wasn't in the cards. That, and the probability of JBD and Pinto leaving as well really puts us in a difficult situation.  We need to really find another impact player in the portal.   Like people said, Berry is really going to have to earn his paycheck this year.  I think the rest of the league should hold their own in Non-conference, but UND is really going to have to bear down against teams like Penn State and Minnesota because I think those leagues will be competing for extra tourney spots next year.  

[iluvdebbies]

38 minutes ago, brianvf said:

WMU and SCSU both returning nearly all their players (seniors coming back):

 

Duluth just announced they have 4 seniors coming back

[iluvdebbies]

 

 

[gfhockey]

6 minutes ago, iluvdebbies said:

 

 

The players love sandy 

[The Sicatoka]

So WMU, SCSU, and UMD are keeping their "extra year" seniors. 

Tell me how that works out when their freshmen don't get playing time and are still effectively freshmen as sophomores. 

[hky]

4 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

So WMU, SCSU, and UMD are keeping their "extra year" seniors. 

Tell me how that works out when their freshmen don't get playing time and are still effectively freshmen as sophomores. 

Agreed.  If freshmen don't play and prospects stack up at the junior level, that has consequences.  For the record, Cates is a junior returning for his senior season, similar to what UND's juniors did last year. 

[tnt]

3 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

So WMU, SCSU, and UMD are keeping their "extra year" seniors. 

Tell me how that works out when their freshmen don't get playing time and are still effectively freshmen as sophomores. 

If their recruits don't mind sitting in Juniors another year and it doesn't dramatically throw off the class balance then I would think it would be good to get guys back that are that experienced, especially if you think you can win it all, which I am sure is what St. Cloud is thinking.   I think it is just going to be such a balancing act for a while because those same teams might need the next batch of guys to stay another year as well to keep the classes balanced.  I suppose the portal will also create problems in those configurations.  

[siouxfaninseattle]

5 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

So WMU, SCSU, and UMD are keeping their "extra year" seniors. 

Tell me how that works out when their freshmen don't get playing time and are still effectively freshmen as sophomores. 

Not very good. I can see UND being hurt in the short term by all the 5th year players at other schools but will be in better shape long term as the recruiting classes mature.

[tnt]

12 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

The players love sandy 

Where were any of them but Cates going to go?   I suppose Roth could play somewhere, but another year before going to Europe isn't going to make or break him. 

[jk]

For next year anyway, they're pretty easy picks to finish top 3 in the NCHC.  Yikes, the league is going to be a nightmare.  DU and Omaha perhaps challenging UND for fourth, with Miami and CC trailing. As someone mentioned, nonconference games will be even more important than usual. 

[iluvdebbies]

4 minutes ago, jk said:

For next year anyway, they're pretty easy picks to finish top 3 in the NCHC.  Yikes, the league is going to be a nightmare.  DU and Omaha perhaps challenging UND for fourth, with Miami and CC trailing. As someone mentioned, nonconference games will be even more important than usual. 

UND finishes top two.....book it! 

[jk]

2 minutes ago, iluvdebbies said:

UND finishes top two.....book it! 

Would love that and I see it as possible.  Driscoll has to be good, and I think they'll have the league's best player in Sanderson, at a position where he can heavily influence play. 

[cberkas]

18 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

So WMU, SCSU, and UMD are keeping their "extra year" seniors. 

Tell me how that works out when their freshmen don't get playing time and are still effectively freshmen as sophomores. 

Western Michigan brought in some of the Freshman that would have came in this season last season. The Seniors that came back for Western Michigan were the most they could have brought back.

[cberkas]

11 minutes ago, jk said:

For next year anyway, they're pretty easy picks to finish top 3 in the NCHC.  Yikes, the league is going to be a nightmare.  DU and Omaha perhaps challenging UND for fourth, with Miami and CC trailing. As someone mentioned, nonconference games will be even more important than usual. 

Denver is looking like they will have a big Freshman class is year

[SiouxFanatic]

28 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

The players love sandy 

And so do you. @gfhockey #obsession #restrainingorder

[tnt]

27 minutes ago, jk said:

For next year anyway, they're pretty easy picks to finish top 3 in the NCHC.  Yikes, the league is going to be a nightmare.  DU and Omaha perhaps challenging UND for fourth, with Miami and CC trailing. As someone mentioned, nonconference games will be even more important than usual. 

I can see St. Cloud and Western, but Duluth lost a lot and didn't score a ton to begin with.  

[I Ranger]

42 minutes ago, tnt said:

Where were any of them but Cates going to go?   I suppose Roth could play somewhere, but another year before going to Europe isn't going to make or break him. 

Exactly! They kept 4 seniors that have little to no pro-level potential (nhl/ahl). It's not like Sandy talked them out of any contracts more so just saying he would gladly take them back for another year with the losses they had. 

[siouxweet]

48 minutes ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

Not very good. I can see UND being hurt in the short term by all the 5th year players at other schools but will be in better shape long term as the recruiting classes mature.

So UND loses in the regional final again