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Saturday night with Duluth-Spicer's Revenge???


Wilbur

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3 hours ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Wondering what happens to players when they get here, Johnson, James , McLaughlin , and others were awesome players in juniors the they get here and get worse , maybe trying that round hole square peg thing. You can’t even spin this , this coaching staff does not develop players at all. Time for a fresh start IMHO. 

So, what about Howard and Spicer from Duluth, both of them haven’t done much, and Howard is a 1st rounder.  It isn’t uncommon for players to take a while.  Blake has far exceeded Howard in his first year, despite his lower draft status, but it doesn’t mean it won’t change drastically in the future.

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31 minutes ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

I wonder if someone told Blake that there is a rule against passing the puck. Every time he had the puck last night he tried to get through every UMD player and ended up turning it over.

He has been a turnover machine all year long, but the upside of him having the puck is still very high.  He makes things happen offensively.

Similarly, 22 looks slick as heck, such a nice skater, but the play has been dying on his stick a lot lately.  I suspect next year a lot of the things he's trying will work.  Reminds me of N. Schmaltz in that way.  Not the same upside, but Schmaltz just couldn't get his passes to connect as a freshman, then they did the next year.

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2 hours ago, AJS said:

How much ice time are the two 5th years getting? How old are they comparable to others? I sure hope they would be in the top 1/2 in goals / points. Who on the team wouldn’t with their opportunities. 

Then wouldn’t it also mean that on a bad team, their plus/minus should be among the worst?  The fact that they are playing against the other team’s best lines is also something to consider, being that many top lines have NHL talent.  They more than hold their own, meaning it is free for our other lines to play against less talented players.

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Let’s not forget, the reason we lost last night was due to a turnover by a guy that people are desperate to get back as a fifth year guy.  No doubt if we get him back, and we struggle, people will wonder why they brought back a fifth year guy who was negative in plus/minus.

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2 hours ago, jk said:

There's no doubt that goaltending has had a huge impact, but at this point they're not even playing well beyond that.  There may be something to the idea that bad goaltending breaks teams, I don't know. 

I think the porous defense is a bigger problem than goaltending.  Horrible coverage and turnovers/bad puck play right in front of the goalie is a staple of this year’s d-men.  

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17 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Hahaha......cherry picking. He was the NCHC defensive Dman of the year last season. Bad play last night. Struggled early on this season but has been the only reliable Dman night in and night out for weeks. To put him coming back in same bucket as a couple this year is honestly laughable.

There are only a couple this year, Senden and Hain, and yes I would consider the three of them to be roughly in the same group.  How many times has any of them made a boneheaded play this year that left you shaking your head?  Hardly ever.  Although last night's play was disappointing, I can give Frisch a pass because he touches the puck so many times a game there are bound to be mistakes.  

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On Frisch:

Quote

"I couldn't wait until Sunday or Monday, a day or two from now," Berry said. "I grabbed him right away and said, 'Hey, you've been a warrior for us for four years here. I can count on one hand how many mistakes you've made.' It wasn't that (play) that lost us the game. At the end of the day, maybe should have made a stronger play, but at the end of the day, he's not the culprit. He's got to know that he's been a backbone and a solid citizen for us all four years. We've got 10 games left here to get going and he's going to be a big part of it."

 

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3 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

Simple question.  Could our D problem be that we have too many offensive defensemen who want to act like a forward?  

Possibly,  but I don’t think we are suddenly going to recruit defensive defensemen either. We would target the guys who can do both. 
 

I had originally wondered earlier in the season if we have too many smaller defenders and could use a little more size but when I looked up our defense it didn’t seem as bad as I thought. 

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4 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Hahaha......cherry picking. He was the NCHC defensive Dman of the year last season. Bad play last night. Struggled early on this season but has been the only reliable Dman night in and night out for weeks. To put him coming back in same bucket as a couple this year is honestly laughable.

No, but that is my point.  Bringing Senden and Hain back wasn’t a bad decision either when you look at what they do for the squad.  

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33 minutes ago, burd said:

I know most teams have similar approaches to break-out, but it seems to me that the first pass, often the first two, for UND are always to stationary targets and easy to defend.  

Our attempts at break-outs last night were brutal.

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With two minutes left Frisch made a poor play. Where was Kleven at that time to give him a better option? And Senden said post-game to Hennessy that he didn’t come back hard enough to cover up the middle. Lots of fail there. 

It was an issue because earlier in the game four white jerseys went below the defensive goal line and left Howard all alone. Shall we name those four? 

That last play wouldn’t be of any note if not for DeRidder making a couple “on zero” saves he had no business making. UMD should’ve had four or five on the board if not for 34. 

Point at 15, but it was a total team loss effort. 

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44 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Does anyone truly want a defense of 4, 6, 24, with four freshmen, and a portal?  (I see 25 signing.) 

Folks should be hoping and praying 15, the 2022 NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year, comes back to teach the freshmen. 

I hope that all of 4, 6, & 24 return and none enter the portal as has been discussed here.

IMO, our success next season hinges on the decision of 15 & 17 and the coaches ability to pick up a quality goalie (either from portal or recruit).

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1 hour ago, burd said:

I know most teams have similar approaches to break-out, but it seems to me that the first pass, often the first two, for UND are always to stationary targets and easy to defend.  

I was noticing that the "breakout" was often just flipping the puck high to center ice, and it seemed like it was Kleven every time. Must have been due to forwards out of position or well covered.

44 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Does anyone truly want a defense of 4, 6, 24, with four freshmen, and a portal?  (I see 25 signing.

Folks should be hoping and praying 15, the 2022 NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year, comes back to teach the freshmen. 

I agree. And I hope 15 comes back.

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8 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

So we shouldn't question decisions, tactics and strategies that simply have not worked? And a coaching staff that is clearly lost as to how to turn it around? Whatever makes you sleep better at night, I guess.

Never said that, but the negativity on the board is reaching epic proportions. There is little wonder that our opponents are enjoying this, given the behavior when we are winning. I’m just saying things are neither that good, nor that bad. BB isn’t on the ice, not responsible for their play, merely for their preparation. Everyone drooled at the incoming year after year, these are different players, not raised like us. They don’t respond to tradition, hard work nor ‘frank discussion’. The stars ARE the problem, not the solution. I see a lot of individual play, no more than that. Shuffle the deck, start over, from the ground up.

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1 hour ago, BusinessSiouxt said:

Never said that, but the negativity on the board is reaching epic proportions. There is little wonder that our opponents are enjoying this, given the behavior when we are winning. I’m just saying things are neither that good, nor that bad. BB isn’t on the ice, not responsible for their play, merely for their preparation. Everyone drooled at the incoming year after year, these are different players, not raised like us. They don’t respond to tradition, hard work nor ‘frank discussion’. The stars ARE the problem, not the solution. I see a lot of individual play, no more than that. Shuffle the deck, start over, from the ground up.

I’m guilty oh this, I guess that’s why we’re fanatics , we should wait a day or two until posting just to be fair to coaches and players. 

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After reflecting on last night's loss to UMD, I found myself with 3 hypotheses about why we played so poorly, and why its a recurring pattern.

One guess (hypothesis) is poor chemistry in the locker room, leading to poor communication and the eventual finger pointing.

Second guess is "senioritis" for lack of a better term.

Third guess is that practices aren't played at game speed.  (Thinking back to the 97-99 teams which were legendary speed, both games and practices.)

I've got no information to explain why we have underperformed so many nights this year.  But I'm seeing patterns that I don't like ...

 

PS I agree with those hoping 15 returns, wears a C, and gets that success on his resume for eventual pro experience.

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