2022-23 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[scpa0305]

16 minutes ago, MafiaMan said:

I’m sorry, but Boston College?  

I thought the same thing, they’ve been iffy if not bad the last two years. But they have really nice freshman class and they’re bringing in some super high end talent next season and better the year after I believe. I have them bouncing back pretty significantly next year.

[Siouxfancrazy92]

22 minutes ago, MafiaMan said:

I’m sorry, but Boston College?  

BC next season 6 NTDP coming in

UND next season 0 NTDP coming in. 

[1972]

2 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Are we really going to use the climate excuse for hockey?

Schools like UM-Twin Cities and UM-Duluth are not in "tropical climates" either, but that doesn't stop them from recruiting and winning.

I hate the whole "our climate is bad" in the MBB threads and it makes even less sense for hockey.

well, to be honest, the climate is better in the twin cities, and they have more interesting things to do...Duluth is a similar climate, but the number of things to do there in infinetly better than Grand Forks.  yes, being in Grand Forks is starting to hinder recruting.  i think the ag college down south is starting to feel the effects of living in the red river valley as well....it just isnt great here...and i have lived here my whole life, but i wont be retiring here

[Irish]

18 minutes ago, Siouxfancrazy92 said:

BC next season 6 NTDP coming in

UND next season 0 NTDP coming in. 

This really illustrates how far our recruiting has dropped off - I knew it was down but come on - we need to get our program back on track.  Berry and Co. need to figure it out right soon.

 

[brianvf]

32 minutes ago, Siouxfancrazy92 said:

BC next season 6 NTDP coming in

UND next season 0 NTDP coming in. 

And they have the right ones coming in too.
Their entire top line of Perreault, Smith, and Leonard plus Vote and dmen Minnetian and Fortescue.
They cleaned up from that U18 team.

[Irish]

6 minutes ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

Our recruits haven’t panned out. I thought James was supposed to be a stud? I’ve seen glimpses of speed, but that’s about it.

Which makes you wonder - are we mid-judging them, are we putting them in a system that doesn't work for them,  or are we not developing them? 

[brianvf]

BC got all the stud U18 team players and UMN got all the stud U17 players with Whipple, Eiserman, and Ziemer.
Going in cycles it seems.
Hopefully it comes back around to UND again at some point.

[brianvf]

9 minutes ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

Our recruits haven’t panned out. I thought James was supposed to be a stud? I’ve seen glimpses of speed, but that’s about it.

I think James will be one that has a great SO/JR seasons...he's put up a respectable 11 pts while seeing most of his ice time from the 3rd/4th line with no PP time.
Next season he'll be put into more of a scoring role and I bet he'll do well.

[siouxfaninseattle]

The conversation about recruiting to Grand Forks is not a new one. I mentioned that it is probably hard to convince recruits to come to UND several years ago due to the weather and lack of things to do. Someone replied and said we recruit a lot from Canada and the weather is something the kids are used to. At the time I think that was an accurate statement but I think we are missing out now partly because we are recruiting more American kids that don't want to suffer through North Dakota winters.

[stoneySIOUX]

16 minutes ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

Our recruits haven’t panned out. I thought James was supposed to be a stud? I’ve seen glimpses of speed, but that’s about it.

He's a freshman. Not every freshman blows up their first year on campus. He's been a solid contributor, IMO. Gotten more minutes as the year progresses, too.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, 1972 said:

well, to be honest, the climate is better in the twin cities, and they have more interesting things to do...Duluth is a similar climate, but the number of things to do there in infinetly better than Grand Forks.  yes, being in Grand Forks is starting to hinder recruting.  i think the ag college down south is starting to feel the effects of living in the red river valley as well....it just isnt great here...and i have lived here my whole life, but i wont be retiring here

NDSU wouldn't have had the success they have had in FB if the climate was such a big problem. We are complaining about things that have been in place forever, but it didn't stop us from hanging lots of green and white banners. Berry and company need to figure it out and fast.

[fightingsioux4life]

52 minutes ago, brianvf said:

BC got all the stud U18 team players and UMN got all the stud U17 players with Whipple, Eiserman, and Ziemer.
Going in cycles it seems.
Hopefully it comes back around to UND again at some point.

How many of those "studs" will stick around longer than 1 or 2 years? A balance between 1-2 and 3-4 year players is needed or else you are starting over every season.

[brianvf]

5 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

How many of those "studs" will stick around longer than 1 or 2 years? A balance between 1-2 and 3-4 year players is needed or else you are starting over every season.

Not many.  I'm guessing none of the current UMN stud players will ever play with any of their U17 recruits.

[SIOUXELEVENS]

Regarding Berry and players why do so many players seem to regress under him , trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? McLaughlin, James and Johnson come to mind off this years club. 

[brianvf]

1 minute ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Regarding Berry and players why do so many players seem to regress under him , trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? McLaughlin, James and Johnson come to mind off this years club. 

I think it is hard to say that a freshman is regressing, being that they have no collegiate body of work to compare them to.
What would we call Blake then?  Since he is playing better than expected...is he getting better under Berry's leadership?   

And even saying that...I'd say that both OwenMc and James have shown improvement this year as the season has progressed.  Still some mistakes in their games from time to time, but they'll both be excellent players for us in upcoming years.

Johnson is another case entirely.  I am guessing there is something going on behind the scenes there that we don't see.

[scpa0305]

2 hours ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

Our recruits haven’t panned out. I thought James was supposed to be a stud? I’ve seen glimpses of speed, but that’s about it.

He’s been bottom 4 the whole year basically. Almost no pp time. Hain has one more point in as many games and is locked in concrete on the pp. There’s been these head scratchers for a bit now (not only speaking to this year either).

[tnt]

3 hours ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Regarding Berry and players why do so many players seem to regress under him , trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? McLaughlin, James and Johnson come to mind off this years club. 

So is Isaac Howard regressing under Sandelin?  He was a first round draft pick, and Blake, a fourth rounder has outperformed him by a bit.  Howard may end up better, because everyone transitions at a different rate, even some so called Blue Chippers.

[tnt]

2 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

He’s been bottom 4 the whole year basically. Almost no pp time. Hain has one more point in as many games and is locked in concrete on the pp. There’s been these head scratchers for a bit now (not only speaking to this year either).

This is definitely not the year to be questioning our pp.

[Goon]

5 hours ago, Irish said:

It's not the climate as much as Berry's playing style - Denver let's them play, we seem to stifle scorers.

The same playing style that won back-to-back-to-back Penrose Cups. Now, can one make the argument that winning said cups emptied the tank?  Maybe. 

[tnt]

14 minutes ago, Goon said:

The same playing style that won back-to-back-to-back Penrose Cups. Now, can one make the argument that winning said cups emptied the tank?  Maybe. 

Not sure what you’re getting at. Are you saying we are exhausted from the grind?  If anyone should be tired from the grind, it should be Denver who shared the Penrose and has had longer seasons than us, with longer post seasons. If anything, I think this team had Fat Cat syndrome at the beginning of the year, thinking that post season and home ice would be a given. They had St. Cloud as a lesson from last year, and they still didn’t come back with a passion, and it looks to me with the regression of many, especially on the back end, that they didn’t put in the extra work over the summer to bring their game to the next level. Watching the pregame video they created for this year, showing the disappointment from the season ending loss to Notre Dame, sure didn’t seem to manifest itself how they came into this season.  I assume they still have season ending talks about expectations coming into the year for each individual, so not sure why so much regression.

[Irish]

1 hour ago, Goon said:

The same playing style that won back-to-back-to-back Penrose Cups. Now, can one make the argument that winning said cups emptied the tank?  Maybe. 

How do you like us now?

[Irish]

Here's the million dollar question - Does hockey Bubba have the introspection to question why we are losing Blue Chippers who want to play under a better system, why we have the worst goaltending in the country, why many players have regressed during the offseason, why we seem to rely on the portal instead of getting top recruits, why we play with absolutely no discipline - from lack of defensive positioning to lazy passes to giving up leads to our studs taking horrible 5 penalties without regard to the team?  Can he look at himself and staff and make changes?  Or is he more like Football Bubba who doubles down for more of the same.  I hope he can take a hard look at things or we need to strap in for a bumpy ride.  And expect no help from our absent AD.  There is absolutely no reason we should miss the playoffs or expect St. Clown to come in and kick our A**.  Time to get it done or move on.

[mattim]

On 2/11/2023 at 11:10 PM, brianvf said:

But this team has way more talent than that team...which makes this year all the more frustrating.
On paper, this team should have a much better record than what they have.  On paper, that is.

Goaltending?

[siouxweet]

15 hours ago, 1972 said:

well, to be honest, the climate is better in the twin cities, and they have more interesting things to do...Duluth is a similar climate, but the number of things to do there in infinetly better than Grand Forks.  yes, being in Grand Forks is starting to hinder recruting.  i think the ag college down south is starting to feel the effects of living in the red river valley as well....it just isnt great here...and i have lived here my whole life, but i wont be retiring here

So the climate hasn't been an issue with recruiting until the last 6 or 7 years??  I don't buy that.  The problem has been the man in charge.

[The Sicatoka]

15 hours ago, Siouxfancrazy92 said:

BC next season 6 NTDP coming in

And 5 of the 6 are from MA, NY, or NJ. (The other is IL.)