2022-23 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[SIOUXELEVENS]

They have been ahead or tied for a majority of games and lose it in the third.  I think imho that Berry has to be more of a head coach and not a assistant. His job is to win  not make friends. 

[stoneySIOUX]

3 minutes ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

They have been ahead or tied for a majority of games and lose it in the third.  I think imho that Berry has to be more of a head coach and not a assistant. His job is to win  not make friends. 

What is it that you believe is causing the team to fall apart in the third? Things like confidence, mental toughness, etc., I don't think are on Bubs. 

The old school mentality of being a "tough coach" just isn't a part of college sport now. There are essentially no coaches out there that coach by fear. Right or not, I think if Berry is going, we're not going to see an old type of coach at UND because players don't really feel like get screamed at at all hours of practices and games anymore. 

[Oxbow6]

I for one am comfortable where this team is currently at because based on the xG metrics UND is #7 in the Pairwise. So glad I bought West Regional tickets.

[stoneySIOUX]

2 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

I for one am comfortable where this team is currently at because based on the xG metrics UND is #7 in the Pairwise. So glad I bought West Regional tickets.

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly what I'm referring to when I say our fanbase is overreacting to everything.

Great example! #FerDa

[Oxbow6]

4 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly what I'm referring to when I say our fanbase is overreacting to everything.

Great example! #FerDa

If the meaningless metrics and analytics make you feel more comfortable about this team's actual W/L record and Pairwise position make sure to leave cookies and milk out on the night of the 24th. 

[stoneySIOUX]

Just now, Oxbow6 said:

If the meaningless metrics and analytics make you feel more comfortable about this team's actual W/L record and Pairwise position make sure to leave cookies and milk out on the night of the 24th. 

Do I honestly have to explain this? Honestly??

Goodness.

- I don't feel good about it and I never said I was, nor suggested it. It's frustrating that we have been statistically performing very well in areas where most games lead to wins and not winning. Wins matter most and it's not close. Stop putting words in my mouth. That's annoying.
- Stats and analytics are not without outliers. UND is an outlier right now.
- Ignoring analytics and statistics is just stupid. Like I said, look at the leaders in xG and you'll see the leaders in PWR with very few exceptions.
- With these stats, there's an assumed adjustment to the mean. That could mean we win more games and could also mean we bottom out.

Anything else?

 

[SKondrashkin]

1 hour ago, siouxkid12 said:

Dave Hakstol has saved many seasons with second half surges; we have not seen them with Berry in his time here. 

 

Huh?  What do you think happened last year? 

They were a pedestrian 13-10-0 through late January.  From that point they went 9-2-1 to finish the regular season enroute to an NCHC title.  What's perplexing is they did it with the exact same D-core they have now as Sanderson was injured.

 

I'm not ready to write this team off just yet, but, man, they better turn it around fast.  They can't dig themselves into too big a hole.  

 

 

[SIOUXELEVENS]

29 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

What is it that you believe is causing the team to fall apart in the third? Things like confidence, mental toughness, etc., I don't think are on Bubs. 

The old school mentality of being a "tough coach" just isn't a part of college sport now. There are essentially no coaches out there that coach by fear. Right or not, I think if Berry is going, we're not going to see an old type of coach at UND because players don't really feel like get screamed at at all hours of practices and games anymore. 

Maybe my eyes deceive and others also when we think this team looks gassed in the third. When you have leads and piss them down your leg and the team looks tired doing it , that’s on the coaching staff they need to make sure the team is ready to compete for the proverbial 60. Not saying you have to yell or scream but it’s his job , and he’s payed well for it, to figure it out. That is being the “head coach”

[stoneySIOUX]

Just now, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Maybe my eyes deceive and others also when we think this team looks gassed in the third. When you have leads and piss them down your leg and the team looks tired doing it , that’s on the coaching staff they need to make sure the team is ready to compete for the proverbial 60. Not saying you have to yell or scream but it’s his job , and he’s payed well for it, to figure it out

Yeah, I feel ya man. I just don't know what it is. Such a weird season. I think the players deserve much of the "blame"... turnovers have been the biggest problem for this team, IMO and to me that's clearly on their shoulders. Looking gassed can certainly come from chasing the game and not playing confident, too. 

I feel like a turnaround is going to come from leaning on program successes and belief in the talent to execute. That is on Bubs to drive into them, but also on the players to actually do it. 

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Do I honestly have to explain this? Honestly??

Goodness.

- I don't feel good about it and I never said I was, nor suggested it. It's frustrating that we have been statistically performing very well in areas where most games lead to wins and not winning. Wins matter most and it's not close. Stop putting words in my mouth. That's annoying.
- Stats and analytics are not without outliers. UND is an outlier right now.
- Ignoring analytics and statistics is just stupid. Like I said, look at the leaders in xG and you'll see the leaders in PWR with very few exceptions.
- With these stats, there's an assumed adjustment to the mean. That could mean we win more games and could also mean we bottom out.

Anything else?

You can spin this anyway you want, but this is what the season has devolved into:

Edited December 6, 2022 by fightingsioux4life
Changed program to season

[stoneySIOUX]

29 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

You can spin this anyway you want, but this is what the program has devolved into:

Lololol you have an INCREDIBLY loose definition of dumpster fire. The lack of timing and perspective on this post is mind-blowing to me.

Also, it's also not spin. I said nothing but factual statements.

I'll give you an out... Did you honestly mean the program is a dumpster fire? This season, I can absolutely see... The program? Honestly?

[SIOUXELEVENS]

I would think most people believe this season is a dumpster fire and hopefully the program recovers from it. 

[brianvf]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

You can spin this anyway you want, but this is what the program has devolved into:

The whole program?  Not sure I agree with that.
This season has been pretty dismal, sure, but I'm not about to write off the entire program because of one bad half-season.

[fightingsioux4life]

Just now, brianvf said:

The whole program?  Not sure I agree with that.
This season has been pretty dismal, sure, but I'm not about to write off the entire program because of one bad half-season.

We have been slowly decaying as a program since hanging #8 in 2016. Since that glorious night in Tampa, we:

-Have one NCAA tournament win vs. AIC.

-Are losing recruiting battles like we haven't since the early 1990's.

-Seem to fade towards the end of seasons, which contribute to our poor NCAA showings.

-Have looked worse this season than we have in a very long time (the 2001-02 season immediately comes to mind). I haven't seen such poor defensive play and lack of stamina in a long, long time.

If the program isn't a dumpster fire yet, it certainly is headed in that direction. This year just feels different from our other underachieving first halves. I do not want to end up like Wisconsin.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Lololol you have an INCREDIBLY loose definition of dumpster fire. The lack of timing and perspective on this post is mind-blowing to me.

Also, it's also not spin. I said nothing but factual statements.

I'll give you an out... Did you honestly mean the program is a dumpster fire? This season, I can absolutely see... The program? Honestly?

I changed program to season. My concern is that if we keep going in this direction, the program will end up like Wisconsin post-Eaves.

[stoneySIOUX]

Just now, fightingsioux4life said:

I changed program to season. My concern is that if we keep going in this direction, the program will end up like Wisconsin post-Eaves.

Hey man, that's fair. I'm not there mentally yet, but yes, if we keep having bad seasons, I see where you're going with that. 

[dustnyou]

6 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

We have been slowly decaying as a program since hanging #8 in 2016. Since that glorious night in Tampa, we:

-Have one NCAA tournament win vs. AIC.

-Are losing recruiting battles like we haven't since the early 1990's.

-Seem to fade towards the end of seasons, which contribute to our poor NCAA showings.

-Have looked worse this season than we have in a very long time (the 2001-02 season immediately comes to mind). I haven't seen such poor defensive play and lack of stamina in a long, long time.

If the program isn't a dumpster fire yet, it certainly is headed in that direction. This year just feels different from our other underachieving first halves. I do not want to end up like Wisconsin.

- three straight NCHC regular season championships * 

[fightingsioux4life]

Just now, dustnyou said:

- three straight NCHC regular season championships * 

Those white banners are great. However, we used to get better as the season went on. That hasn't happened as much in recent years.

[jdub27]

9 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

We have been slowly decaying as a program since hanging #8 in 2016. Since that glorious night in Tampa, we:

-Have one NCAA tournament win vs. AIC.

-Are losing recruiting battles like we haven't since the early 1990's.

-Seem to fade towards the end of seasons, which contribute to our poor NCAA showings.

-Have looked worse this season than we have in a very long time (the 2001-02 season immediately comes to mind). I haven't seen such poor defensive play and lack of stamina in a long, long time.

If the program isn't a dumpster fire yet, it certainly is headed in that direction. This year just feels different from our other underachieving first halves. I do not want to end up like Wisconsin.

 

[fightingsioux4life]

3 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

 

If I am wrong and this team catches fire after Christmas, I will eat all the crow you want me to eat. I just wouldn't bet the farm on it.

[jk]

11 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

We have been slowly decaying as a program since hanging #8 in 2016. Since that glorious night in Tampa, we:

-Have one NCAA tournament win vs. AIC.

-Are losing recruiting battles like we haven't since the early 1990's.

-Seem to fade towards the end of seasons, which contribute to our poor NCAA showings.

-Have looked worse this season than we have in a very long time (the 2001-02 season immediately comes to mind). I haven't seen such poor defensive play and lack of stamina in a long, long time.

If the program isn't a dumpster fire yet, it certainly is headed in that direction. This year just feels different from our other underachieving first halves. I do not want to end up like Wisconsin.

Some things look like excuses, but they're just facts.  They finished PWR 1 in back to back years, but in the first of those years the postseason was cancelled, and in the second they got screwed because their lower ranked opponent got a bye while UND played a night game the day before.  No guarantees, but in normal circumstances, they probably get more than one tourney win.

The recruiting pipeline has some very nice players in it.  If we assume every team adds six freshmen every year (might not be quite right in these post pandemic times), then there are something like 360 commitments every year.  Do we really need a frowny face emoji after the 354 that commit elsewhere? 

I'm gonna guess they didn't fade at the end of either of the PWR 1 years, as it would seem to be almost impossible to have accomplished that with a fade, and I know they didn't last year, as it was the big second half run that won the unexpected third title.  Now if you mean from 2017-2019, you may be right, but that would seem to indicate they fixed that issue.

I will grant you that this year has sucked so far.  I hope they can turn it around.

[siouxfaninseattle]

3 hours ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Plus/minus is a team stat in that it's hard to lay it on the individual player. Again, I just don't see a player on this team that has genuinely gotten worse. Some are certainly not playing up to a previous level, but that doesn't mean that will finish the season that way. Laying it back on the coaching staff, are we (not necessarily you) suggesting Berry is the reason for this? Could it, heaven forbid, that we play a really good schedule and we're not getting a bounce or two a game? (UNACCEPTABLE, I know lol) I just don't see anything to indicate a guy like Frisch or Kleven have gotten worse as players. 

 There are other players that are not performing at the level they did last year based on the numbers. 28 got his first point in the 9th game of the season. 18 has 2 points. 29 has 2 points. 8 has 8 points (.47 pt/gm vs .62 last year). No that doesn't necessarily mean they won't pick it up in the second half but it has certainly contributed to the team's record to this point. No I'm not in with the blame Berry crowd. It has been a very tough schedule - we are currently #5. A bounce or two our way could be the difference in being under .500 vs a winning record, but what seems to be really leading to losses is bone-headed plays. No look passes that end up on the stick of a player on the other team, losing puck battles, shooting the puck into the shinpads of a player three feet away leading to a breakaway or odd man rush. Poor goaltending is obviously a big part of the problem. 

[brianvf]

CHN article on Blake:

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2022/12/05_UND-Freshman-Blake-Thriving.php

[Goon]

2 hours ago, dustnyou said:

- three straight NCHC regular season championships * 

That's absolutely horrible. We suck. 

[The Sicatoka]

Allow me a wildly optimistic take:

The staff knows they've been fading late in seasons recently so they are intentionally not hammering down early in the season to leave more in the tank come March.

It'd be a dangerous balance with little margin for error but large potential payoff.