Holy Cross @ UND - Friday SEASON OPENING Gameday!

[jk]

Brent Johnson looked like a completely different player.  Now I understand how he got drafted in the third round.  He and Blake are more skilled than anyone in the lineup down the stretch last year.  (Johnson last year was in the lineup but was not this player.)

[Vegas_Sioux]

5 hours ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Well, we didn't play the entire 60 the way we hoped, but at the end of the day, that game was exciting. 6-0 against any team in a home opener is no joke.

My takes:

- Remember our 15-16 big question mark? Cam Johnson was pretty good that year, eh? I feel like DeRidder may be CJ 2.0. Keep that kid with limited chances like tonight, he'll make the big time saves and we'll win a lot of games in front of him

- Oofa, that top PP has A LOT of skill and dare I say, some chemistry?? After one game?? That could be fun.

- The Hain Sendo Jammer line must stay. They have legit chemistry and made some nasty plays tonight and set the standard for pace and edge. Defensively, that is a trio that can slow down ANY line in the country.

- Jackson Blake ... Gonna be star. 

- Noticable jumps in skill/progression ... Jandric, Costantini, Schmaltz (he's nearly a true No. 1 center as a Soph), Johnson

- Dumb penalties. Would some of those be called in January? No excuses, tho. That's gotta stop

Very excited about tonight. I see no visible holes in this team.

Bull Schmidt was back to his usual I’m reffing the scoreboard on some of that last night. 

[scpa0305]

5 hours ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Well, we didn't play the entire 60 the way we hoped, but at the end of the day, that game was exciting. 6-0 against any team in a home opener is no joke.

My takes:

- Remember our 15-16 big question mark? Cam Johnson was pretty good that year, eh? I feel like DeRidder may be CJ 2.0. Keep that kid with limited chances like tonight, he'll make the big time saves and we'll win a lot of games in front of him

- Oofa, that top PP has A LOT of skill and dare I say, some chemistry?? After one game?? That could be fun.

- The Hain Sendo Jammer line must stay. They have legit chemistry and made some nasty plays tonight and set the standard for pace and edge. Defensively, that is a trio that can slow down ANY line in the country.

- Jackson Blake ... Gonna be star. 

- Noticable jumps in skill/progression ... Jandric, Costantini, Schmaltz (he's nearly a true No. 1 center as a Soph), Johnson

- Dumb penalties. Would some of those be called in January? No excuses, tho. That's gotta stop

Very excited about tonight. I see no visible holes in this team.

Agreed on the Hain line (sendon specifically) they were really good/noticeable. Super old, that will help us this year. Top line was noticeable too but gaber is still trying to do a bit too much. Hopefully the coaches are preaching a simple game mentality with him. I’d definitely get Kunz in over ness tonight as that line didn’t do anything. I didn’t notice James at all. I do think they had one flurry in the first. Overall, I came away impressed.

[jk]

Probably Kunz and Portz in for Strinden and Ness.  Albrecht was so good late last year and there's no room currently. Injuries will happen again, but this year it appears the team will not be running out of good players unless it gets really bad.

[I Ranger]

1 minute ago, jk said:

Probably Kunz and Portz in for Strinden and Ness.  Albrecht was so good late last year and there's no room currently. Injuries will happen again, but this year it appears the team will not be running out of good players unless it gets really bad.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes tonight. I would suspect if so it is because they were basically pre-planned before the weekend to mix in some guys as Berry has a history of if winning the lineup remains the same unless injuries. 

[scpa0305]

11 minutes ago, jk said:

Probably Kunz and Portz in for Strinden and Ness.  Albrecht was so good late last year and there's no room currently. Injuries will happen again, but this year it appears the team will not be running out of good players unless it gets really bad.

I’d keep strinden in…I thought he may be a casualty but I’ve been fairly impressed. He goes hard. 

The current first line doesn’t impress me right now. We out skilled HC however i didn’t really notice that 1st at even strength. Gaber holding onto pucks a bit long takes away from schmaltz/constantini who like to dish and move it around. Put Blake with those two and gaber with OM.

[Goon]

6 hours ago, brianvf said:

How great is it to see a Blake scoring goals for UND again???  Love it.

I can't believe how fast he is. Frankly, this team is really fast. The Freshman have some serious talent. 

[burd]

Tonight could be a much closer game. HC carried play a fair amount of time after the first period.  They work hard at taking away space;  their talent level is just quite a bit short of UNDs

[UND WFO78]

View from the lower bowl (2):

 

Blake is the real deal and soooooo much fun to watch already.

 

James did not get the same amount of chance as the other freshies tonight, I want to see him more on Saturday!

 

Honestly, I did not see any defensive lapses at all tonight.  If defense wins championships, then we are in an amazing spot early in the year!

 

DeRidder looks good in the black pads!  Man, he looks comfortable and loose on the ice.  Love it.

 

Matteo will net one soon.  He look like a different player from last year, and I really like what he brings.

 

Gonna be a closer game tonight, but a sweep is definitely in the cards!

[Goon]

Cooper Moore's play impressed me last night. 

[Wilbur]

9 minutes ago, Goon said:

Cooper Moore's play impressed me last night. 

Kid is just a bull on the blue line.  His skating is light years ahead of where it was when he arrived.  The major penalty that HC took may have been worse if it was someone besides him that took the hit. 

[108498]

After last night's game I decided to get a month prescription, so I can watch games from Wyoming. This year's team should be fun to watch. 

[siouxforce19]

1 hour ago, scpa0305 said:

I’d keep strinden in…I thought he may be a casualty but I’ve been fairly impressed. He goes hard. 

The current first line doesn’t impress me right now. We out skilled HC however i didn’t really notice that 1st at even strength. Gaber holding onto pucks a bit long takes away from schmaltz/constantini who like to dish and move it around. Put Blake with those two and gaber with OM.

There’s no one to play center if you take both Strinden and Ness out. So I don’t think Strinden is coming out. They’d have to move either Senden or Costantini to 4th line center and that’s definitely not going to happen. 
 

I agree with you on the top line. I’m not a fan of it right now. I think they want to keep Gaber and Schmaltz together because they played all last year together, but I’d rather we try something different. 

[Goon]

34 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Kid is just a bull on the blue line.  His skating is light years ahead of where it was when he arrived.  The major penalty that HC took may have been worse if it was someone besides him that took the hit. 

His shot was a howitzer. 

[tnt]

1 hour ago, I Ranger said:

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes tonight. I would suspect if so it is because they were basically pre-planned before the weekend to mix in some guys as Berry has a history of if winning the lineup remains the same unless injuries. 

What will be interesting to see is what they do in goal.  How do you take someone out who had a shutout, but if Berry is looking to get a look at Hellsten’s progression from last year, this may be the best opportunity in a while with Quinnipiac, Minnesota, and the Hall of Fame game on the horizon.

 

[farce poobah]

8 hours ago, brianvf said:

How great is it to see a Blake scoring goals for UND again???  Love it.

 

1 hour ago, Goon said:

I can't believe how fast he is. Frankly, this team is really fast. The Freshman have some serious talent. 

HOBEY BLAKER!!!

[Goon]

Just now, farce poobah said:

 

HOBEY BLAKER!!!

Schloss asked Jackson if his dad scored in his first game, he said yep, against DU. Didn't even hesitate. 

[farce poobah]

1 minute ago, Goon said:

Schloss asked Jackson if his dad scored in his first game, he said yep, against DU. Didn't even hesitate. 

There was great anticipation about how good would Jason be.  He answered any questions very quickly.

Like father, like son.

[tnt]

2 hours ago, jk said:

Probably Kunz and Portz in for Strinden and Ness.  Albrecht was so good late last year and there's no room currently. Injuries will happen again, but this year it appears the team will not be running out of good players unless it gets really bad.

Do you put Albrecht in as the extra, rather than an extra defenseman and get him spot duty like they did with Sidorski last night?

[tnt]

2 minutes ago, farce poobah said:

There was great anticipation about how good would Jason be.  He answered any questions very quickly.

Like father, like son.

But to be fair he had already played a year of college hockey at Ferris State and had to sit out a year at UND for transferring, so he had quite a bit of experience.

[tnt]

I remember the anticipation about Jason because you kept hearing how he would be a difference maker having to wait out that transfer year.  To say the least, he was worth the wait, similar to hearing about Jackson’s skills early on and waiting for him to get on campus.

[farce poobah]

6 minutes ago, tnt said:

I remember the anticipation about Jason because you kept hearing how he would be a difference maker having to wait out that transfer year.  To say the least, he was worth the wait, similar to hearing about Jackson’s skills early on and waiting for him to get on campus.

And ... the rapid improvement in team performance after Blais' first two years, multiplied by the banner drought of 9 years.

[burd]

15 minutes ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

Moore is electric. Gaber needs to move the puck more. He’s gripping the stick too tight.

Most of us seem to agree about Gaber.   Thing is, he seems to be the consummate team player, just trying to do too much.   As the other skilled forwards continue to improve, Gaber will feel less personally responsible for generating scoring opportunities.  

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

3 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

To be really fair…they were throwing everything they could at the net. Basically Everytime they crossed the blue they let it go. We we’re holding onto pucks and playing a possession game. Waiting for the right opportunities. I actually loved it.

We controlled the puck, had good passes through out the ice and some great passes to down in front of the net. 
SOG were not a indication of even play.
I like reading your after game posts, thx.

Could be a closer game today.

[SiouxFan100]

Can’t expect to win 6-0 very often. 
 

we win by three goals tonight 

game never in doubt