UND @ Western

[stoneySIOUX]

Been a bit quiet around here with how important this weekend is.

Western is really frickin' good and after the mess that was Cornell followed by the COVID nonsense, this is a really important weekend up in Kalamazoo. 

What team shows up?

[tnt]

28 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Been a bit quiet around here with how important this weekend is.

Western is really frickin' good and after the mess that was Cornell followed by the COVID nonsense, this is a really important weekend up in Kalamazoo. 

What team shows up?

I would say the next 4 games with Jake Sanderson will determine if this could go really south in a hurry and turn a promising year into a collapse.  If they come out and just go through the motions figuring they always rebound from off games, then it may not bode well for the rest of the year, especially when much of it will be without Sanderson.   

[stoneySIOUX]

4 minutes ago, tnt said:

I would say the next 4 games with Jake Sanderson will determine if this could go really south in a hurry and turn a promising year into a collapse.  If they come out and just go through the motions figuring they always rebound from off games, then it may not bode well for the rest of the year, especially when much of it will be without Sanderson.   

Yep. Need to play well right away. No coasting into the weekend as the Broncs will blow us out of the water if we do.

[AJS]

NTDP / Cornell / Covid weekend, momentum is non-existent right now. I'd be shocked if they don't get swept. Hope they prove me wrong. 

 

 

[gfhockey]

56 minutes ago, AJS said:

NTDP / Cornell / Covid weekend, momentum is non-existent right now. I'd be shocked if they don't get swept. Hope they prove me wrong. 

 

 

I think lot of fans of lost interest. Not much buzz around forks when I was in town last weekend and not much buzz out here either

[stoneySIOUX]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

NTDP / Cornell / Covid weekend, momentum is non-existent right now. I'd be shocked if they don't get swept. Hope they prove me wrong. 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

I think lot of fans of lost interest. Not much buzz around forks when I was in town last weekend and not much buzz out here either

A couple of wins against a Top 5 team should help, eh? Gotta be ready to go.

[gfhockey]

6 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

 

A couple of wins against a Top 5 team should help, eh? Gotta be ready to go.

I would agree with you in that

 

how about thst list you said you were going to give me of future recruits we beat out Michigan minessota the bostons on?

[AJS]

Keep splitting the weekend at goal, but I would like to see Berry switch it up and go Hellsten on Friday / Driscoll Saturday. Might just be me, but Driscoll losing another Friday would be more frustrating than Hellsten.

[AJS]

@gfhockey Strathmann's final 5 teams were UND, UMass, BC, BU and Wisconsin. No Michigan or Minnesota, maybe they didn't make his Top 5. He's one of the Top '05 Dman in the country. That was a good recruiting win.

[stoneySIOUX]

15 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

I would agree with you in that

 

how about thst list you said you were going to give me of future recruits we beat out Michigan minessota the bostons on?

 

10 minutes ago, AJS said:

@gfhockey Strathmann's final 5 teams were UND, UMass, BC, BU and Wisconsin. No Michigan or Minnesota, maybe they didn't make his Top 5. He's one of the Top '05 Dman in the country. That was a good recruiting win.

Sorry, buddy! I thought I touched on it, but more succinctly, like @AJS said, basically anyone from that '05 class is what I'm looking at and add Jackson Blake. Perron had everyone in on him. Blake definitely had Minny and Michigan. Strathmann, as pointed out here, fits your criteria. I am fine with the "criticism" that we should be getting a legacy guy like Blake no matter what, but the deal still had to get done. Plenty of kids, much like Perron, grew up wanting to go to a specific school and went elsewhere. Getting Perron is a big, big deal.  

[Sioux>Bison]

Need to split this series at a minimum. If they want to get back on track and silence the critics they need to sweep them. Play like it’s the playoffs, can’t afford to slide anymore 

[brianvf]

No Hain for several more weeks:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/und-will-be-without-gavin-hain-for-the-near-future?fbclid=IwAR0Ui4WBVia-S8sZOIkzBzcGFANQ6nZqOMi18ldaG9bvVXiehgnOqoK237g

Quote

UND is still hoping the Grand Rapids, Minn., product will be able to return at some point this season, but no exact timetable has been set for his recovery.

When asked if Hain could be available again this season, UND coach Brad Berry said: "Not in the short term. That's all I can give you right now. We are hopeful he will be in our lineup before the playoffs come, but right now, he's out short term and hopeful longterm to be back in."

Also talks about Caulfield's drought:

Quote

The Grand Forks Central product started the season by tallying eight points in nine games, but he's on a career-long 12-game point drought since picking up an assist against Denver on Nov. 6.

"By the way," Berry said, "he had a really good week of practice. I think it's simplifying his game and getting back to early in the year what gave him success — a north brand of hockey and being simple."

Berry said he'd like to see Caulfield shoot the puck more often instead of look to pass.

"Judd's an outstanding young man," Berry said. "He's a team-first guy. He's a great teammate — sometimes to a point where he probably wants to see his teammate do well before him, meaning that when he has the puck, he's got to shoot the puck a little more."

 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

Tough to get a sweep. Also be tough to get a split, as the Broncos are playing pretty good.

Don't play the horses Friday - put them in suits, get everyone from the bottom up on the lineup sheet. Odds are pretty high Western gets the W anyway.
Shake up like this might get the team on the right track.
Saturday dress the best available to get the W.
Or, pull a Michigan and don't play Friday since some on the team might still be a little weak?

[tnt]

15 minutes ago, BarnWinterSportsEngelstad said:

Tough to get a sweep. Also be tough to get a split, as the Broncos are playing pretty good.

Don't play the horses Friday - put them in suits, get everyone from the bottom up on the lineup sheet. Odds are pretty high Western gets the W anyway.
Shake up like this might get the team on the right track.
Saturday dress the best available to get the W.
Or, pull a Michigan and don't play Friday since some on the team might still be a little weak?

Would agree that a split would be great, but not sure that a first place team has to feel that a loss is a foregone conclusion either night.  

[brianvf]

I don’t have a good feeling about this series. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the winless 2022 streak continue a bit longer. Western is 1 or 2 levels above Cornell, and now the team has had a week off to get rusty and forget the sting of being swept at home by an ECAC team. 

[cberkas]

7 and 3 at Western Michigan, swept them every time there but twice and were swept there in 16-17. 

[brianvf]

1 hour ago, cberkas said:

7 and 3 at Western Michigan, swept them every time there but twice and were swept there in 16-17. 

This year is different. 
I'm guessing that Western wasn't ranked higher than us in any of those other visits (and this year they deserve to be ranked higher than us).

They've always been a tough team to play against.  Especially at home.
This year they have a lot more skill to play with.

[bcblues]

This will be a tough series. Even on a good day. We haven't had many good days lately. It could be a long weekend. I say start the Swede Friday.

[siouxnatty#8]

On 1/19/2022 at 12:44 PM, stoneySIOUX said:

Yep. Need to play well right away. No coasting into the weekend as the Broncs will blow us out of the water if we do.

My guess is that Western smells blood in the water and is going to come out with a fierce forecheck.  I would also like to see Hellsten on Friday and if he plays well I would like to see him Saturday also.  Hellsten has shown in his starts that he is very capable of stealing a game.  Driscoll just hasn't been very impressive and Hellsten has earned the starting nod imo.  Will we see Portz on the Senden line.  

 

[siouxnatty#8]

6 minutes ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

My guess is that Western smells blood in the water and is going to come out with a fierce forecheck.  I would also like to see Hellsten on Friday and if he plays well I would like to see him Saturday also.  Hellsten has shown in his starts that he is very capable of stealing a game.  Driscoll just hasn't been very impressive and Hellsten has earned the starting nod imo.  Will we see Portz on the Senden line.  

 

An excerpt from Hellsten's bio: Before UND: Will become the first Swedish-born player to play at North Dakota … Has represented Sweden on the international level at the IIHF U-16, U-17 and U-18 World Championships … Made three starts in the 2017 U-17 World Championships, posting a 1.00 GAA, .955 save percentage and a 3-0-0 record … Spent last season with the Halmstad Hammers HC … Made 24 starts, winning 15 of them … Posted a 2.62 GAA and .908 save percentage with the Hammers … Was dominant for Leksands IF U-20 squad during the 2018-20 seasons … Went 18-11-0 in his first season with a 2.06 GAA and .925 save percentage … Followed it up with a 23-8-0 record, 1.93 GAA and .919 save percentage the following year.

I say we try ride Hellsten.  His save % is sub 900 but I think he may be up to the task.  I was high on Driscoll earlier this year but sub 900 save % with that large a body of work ain't gonna cut mustard in the NCHC.

[crb1]

After the NTDP and the Cornell debacle I don’t have a lot of confidence in this team right now. Regardless it is going to be a tough weekend for this team. Too many passengers at this point. It’s crazy to me that a WMU team is much better than UND, but here we are. 

[Oxbow6]

Will UND get a goalie to have a save % above .900 in a game this weekend?

Will Judd finally register a point since around Thanksgiving?

Will Sanderson play tonight or will he be out again with food poisoning after eating Egg Foo Young and Kung Pao Chicken from the Campus Wok last night in preparation for the Olympics?

[Blackheart]

Need an effort tonight like against DU earlier this season.  Man, that seems like a long time ago.

[siouxfan512]

On 1/19/2022 at 12:05 PM, stoneySIOUX said:

Been a bit quiet around here with how important this weekend is.

Western is really frickin' good and after the mess that was Cornell followed by the COVID nonsense, this is a really important weekend up in Kalamazoo. 

What team shows up?

This is the key isn't it. This is one of the most bi-polar teams I've seen. The talent is there, the chemistry is not. Not all that surprising given all the new players this season. 

I know there is some lack of excitement for me compared to other years based on the play. Win or lose, the games just have not seems great. You never really leave a win feeling like we dominated, and after a loss I don't often feel like we ever had a chance or were competitive. That play itself reminds me of back in 2017/2018 time frame when we seemed to lack energy, creativity and excitement.

Of course then we were relying on guys like Hoff for goals and the talent seemed down. At least we have guys like Gaber, Sanderson, etc. which helps our cause now, but this team still seems to be lacking something.

Hope they can figure it out and make a run, but they better figure it out fast. Between the Penn State debacle, Friday night losses, the blowout by SCSU, and getting swept at home by Cornell, we are lucky to be ranked where we are right now. Here is to a Hakstol type run to finish the season!

[tnt]

Maybe the fans are bipolar because the play on the ice seems to be inconsistent, but I think as a fanbase we need to be thankful for where we are right now, and hope they can gain a level of consistency in the second half.   You can say that we lost more than any other team in the country after last year, but we are still fighting it out for a possible league championship and NCAA tourney appearance.  Funny how all of the people that were down on Hakstol and kept saying why can't we be more like Boston College are now using other measuring sticks.  Yes, that is what great programs do, but I think we need to be a bit more realistic after losing such a dynamic group -- after all we could be like Boston College!