2023-24 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[sparky8701]

I think it's a multi-year process, involving a season of pain. Abandon the transfer portal and 5th year players unless there's an extenuating circumstance (late decommit/injury/signing) or the player is a game changer. 

Recruiting and then managing that pipeline I think is at the heart of our problems, and how things get fixed. 

I'm not sure why Stephen Halliday changed his commitment to OSU, former teammate of Gaber's too - they were electric together in the USHL. 

We know with certainty that Scott Morrow, Massimo Rizzo, and Cole Spicer did not want to play another year of junior and as a result decommitted.

Spicer has potential to be a good 3-4 year player. The other 3 listed are legit difference makers. 

Meanwhile we bring in Farmer, Sidorski + Jandric and Ferner the year before on D. Scott Morrow was a star at Shattuck and high in NHL CSS rankings, yet coaching staff insisted he play in the USHL for a season. That's either a skill evaluation misstep, or a cop out due to being logjammed at D. 

Moore and Johnson haven't taken steps. Bast is just a head scratcher. Look at his junior numbers - nothing there indicates he could become a meaningful player at this level. 

5th years from Hain and Senden, who are both fine but don't move the needle much, takes minutes from players that we needed development from this season. We got 1 decent season from Ashton Calder. 

We've done nothing to recruit or develop a goalie since Scheel left. 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, sparky8701 said:

I think it's a multi-year process, involving a season of pain. Abandon the transfer portal and 5th year players unless there's an extenuating circumstance (late decommit/injury/signing) or the player is a game changer.

I would much rather watch a young team learn as the season goes on than a bunch of fifth year portal guys who were cast-offs from their former teams. And no, I would not be the first person on here complaining about the early season struggles. Those struggles would be worth it if it led to the development of a confident and talented team come March.

[Oxbow6]

22 is Nick Schmaltz Lite.  Kid has great hands and vision. If this staff is constantly worried about grinding out 2-1 or 0-0 shootout wins this kid will be wasted moving forward. Has to be at worst 2nd line center next season. 

[dustnyou]

4 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

22 is Nick Schmaltz Lite.  Kid has great hands and vision. If this staff is constantly worried about grinding out 2-1 or 0-0 shootout wins this kid will be wasted moving forward. Has to be at worst 2nd line center next season. 

Hopefully 22 makes a similar fresh to soph jump as Scmaltz did defensively. 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, dustnyou said:

Hopefully 22 makes a similar fresh to soph jump as Scmaltz did defensively. 

Which will only happen if he gets actual playing time. And not just during the Manitoba and/or U.S. Under 18 games.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

41 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

You know who was not mentioned in that article?   

 

 

 

18

I noticed that too. Brad must not have any insight on him, but he isn't getting much if any scholarship money next season.

[Irish]

1 hour ago, sparky8701 said:

I think it's a multi-year process, involving a season of pain. Abandon the transfer portal and 5th year players unless there's an extenuating circumstance (late decommit/injury/signing) or the player is a game changer. 

Recruiting and then managing that pipeline I think is at the heart of our problems, and how things get fixed. 

I'm not sure why Stephen Halliday changed his commitment to OSU, former teammate of Gaber's too - they were electric together in the USHL. 

We know with certainty that Scott Morrow, Massimo Rizzo, and Cole Spicer did not want to play another year of junior and as a result decommitted.

Spicer has potential to be a good 3-4 year player. The other 3 listed are legit difference makers. 

Meanwhile we bring in Farmer, Sidorski + Jandric and Ferner the year before on D. Scott Morrow was a star at Shattuck and high in NHL CSS rankings, yet coaching staff insisted he play in the USHL for a season. That's either a skill evaluation misstep, or a cop out due to being logjammed at D. 

Moore and Johnson haven't taken steps. Bast is just a head scratcher. Look at his junior numbers - nothing there indicates he could become a meaningful player at this level. 

5th years from Hain and Senden, who are both fine but don't move the needle much, takes minutes from players that we needed development from this season. We got 1 decent season from Ashton Calder. 

We've done nothing to recruit or develop a goalie since Scheel left. 

This is exactly accurate - and quite an eyeopener as to how our current coaching staff operates - throw in slow play and here we are.

[nodakgirl93]

2 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

Reading the schloss article this morning makes me hate the portal even more. Talking about picking up 1-2 D and potentially a F…are we trying to hide the fact we’re pushing out good young players?

Develop the players we have. Open spot on the top pp for a transfer? We’re bringing in multiple skilled Dmen…we have Moore who should get that opp. Not sure what’s going on anymore. 

This right here. Can u imagine being an underclassman on this team in and out of the lineup just for berry to pick a senior out of the portal and give them ice time over you. 

[iluvdebbies]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I would much rather watch a young team learn as the season goes on than a bunch of fifth year portal guys who were cast-offs from their former teams. And no, I would not be the first person on here complaining about the early season struggles. Those struggles would be worth it if it led to the development of a confident and talented team come March.

Yeah ok ...you bitched nonstop about slow starts under Hak.... what do you think he was doing during the first half of the season #development.

[Kevin G]

On 3/18/2023 at 11:14 AM, Kevin G said:

 

If next year's d-core is as young as we expect, then the gauntlet has been laid at the coaching staff's feet. Here you go, coaches, show us what you can do (with a young, promising roster). The progress of next year's d-core should be a metric used to determine whether we've got the right staff in place.

Addendum: Filling up next year's roster with more portal players than absolutely necessary and thereby burying young, promising players in our own pipeline would equal a failure of coaching.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 minute ago, iluvdebbies said:

Yeah ok ...you bitched nonstop about slow starts under Hak.... what do you think he was doing during the first half of the season #development.

Some of those slow starts involved teams that shouldn't have started slow. But people like you would not tolerate any criticism of Hakstol and denigrated anyone who dared question anything he did. But if you want to defend our current approach, then by all means do so.

[Oxbow6]

2 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

22 is Nick Schmaltz Lite.  Kid has great hands and vision. If this staff is constantly worried about grinding out 2-1 or 0-0 shootout wins this kid will be wasted moving forward. Has to be at worst 2nd line center next season. 

To piggyback onto this....if 28 comes back he'll play top 6 minutes like 10 did this season. 17 28 centered by 22. Getter setter scorer. Other top 6. 9 8 26. 

BB can figure out the bottom 6.

[The Sicatoka]

But somebody get 22 a sandwich. 

[Kevin G]

21 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

But somebody get 22 a sandwich. 

He's going to need something like this.

 

[tnt]

2 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Which will only happen if he gets actual playing time. And not just during the Manitoba and/or U.S. Under 18 games.

You don’t think he got playing time this year?  He got way more than Dylan James.

[jk]

2 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

The portal should be used to plug holes that come up every once in a while, not as a substitute for recruiting and developing your own players. Despite all the upheaval in collegiate athletics the past couple of seasons, that remains the heart and soul of every successful program. If Berry and company cannot do that, it will be time to move on.

Next season is huge for this coaching staff and the program as a whole. The early 1990's were ugly and I have no wish to relive them.

Haven't you just described how they have used the portal?  They had issues at G and D and plugged those holes with the portal.  There was not one portal forward on the team this year..

Not in reply to you necessarily, but the bulk of the complaints are about forward usage.  I'm sorry people's pet forward did not earn the ice time or line placement you desired, because they weren't good enough and didn't earn it.  18 got his shot and for whatever reason did not have it.  It's hard for fans to let go of their imagined ceilings for guys, but you have to open your eyes.  Likewise, 22 is going to be a great player, but early he struggled defending, and in the O zone the play was dying on his stick.  He needed to be moved down.  He's a gorgeous skater and I expect him to be great in the next few years.

Goaltending is a huge issue and I have no idea how they let it come to this.  To me it's the giant question mark hanging over KG.  I assume he calls the shots on both recruiting and development there (maybe I'm wrong), but having to go three straight years without a home grown goalie is not acceptable.

On defense, since Sanderson and Kleven they've just missed.  Either missed on guys they wanted or went after the wrong ones.  This next batch has to hit or it will likely be the end of the current regime.  I'd say portal usage to fix the D misses has been very good.  Jandric and Sidorski were both better than solid, and Farmer was just ok. 

[AJS]

56 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

To piggyback onto this....if 28 comes back he'll play top 6 minutes like 10 did this season. 17 28 centered by 22. Getter setter scorer. Other top 6. 9 8 26. 

BB can figure out the bottom 6.

8 is not a Top 6 talent imo

[Oxbow6]

11 minutes ago, jk said:

Haven't you just described how they have used the portal?  They had issues at G and D and plugged those holes with the portal.  There was not one portal forward on the team this year..

Not in reply to you necessarily, but the bulk of the complaints are about forward usage.  I'm sorry people's pet forward did not earn the ice time or line placement you desired, because they weren't good enough and didn't earn it.  18 got his shot and for whatever reason did not have it.  It's hard for fans to let go of their imagined ceilings for guys, but you have to open your eyes.  Likewise, 22 is going to be a great player, but early he struggled defending, and in the O zone the play was dying on his stick.  He needed to be moved down.  He's a gorgeous skater and I expect him to be great in the next few years.

Goaltending is a huge issue and I have no idea how they let it come to this.  To me it's the giant question mark hanging over KG.  I assume he calls the shots on both recruiting and development there (maybe I'm wrong), but having to go three straight years without a home grown goalie is not acceptable.

On defense, since Sanderson and Kleven they've just missed.  Either missed on guys they wanted or went after the wrong ones.  This next batch has to hit or it will likely be the end of the current regime.  I'd say portal usage to fix the D misses has been very good.  Jandric and Sidorski were both better than solid, and Farmer was just ok. 

What was 10 19 27 and 28 ceiling? What we witnessed 2 or 3 seasons ago is the correct answer.

"Pet forward".....BB is holding on line 2 for you.

[Oxbow6]

8 minutes ago, AJS said:

8 is not a Top 6 if the Forward group is solid. 

I'll disagree.  If he centers you and me he wouldn't shine either. 

[Kevin G]

12 minutes ago, AJS said:

8 is not a Top 6 talent imo

Maybe, maybe not...but we need 8 to keep growing into his ceiling because he's likely going to get top-6 minutes by virtue of being the team's best faceoff man. 

[sparky8701]

6 minutes ago, jk said:

 

On defense, since Sanderson and Kleven they've just missed.  Either missed on guys they wanted or went after the wrong ones.  This next batch has to hit or it will likely be the end of the current regime.  I'd say portal usage to fix the D misses has been very good.  Jandric and Sidorski were both better than solid, and Farmer was just ok. 

I'm in agreement with you on most everything, except the last part. 

Sidorski has been just okay, at best. His peak was the Omaha series where he was not noticeable - a win for him.

Farmer varied between bad and just okay. The coaching staff knows it too - how many times a game do you see the Kleven/Frisch pair broken up, or one them getting an extra shift because they don't trust the 3rd pair guys on their own?

Jandric was solid though. Any gripes I have with his game, aren't of his doing. On the bluelines of years past, a guy like him isn't relied on to kill penalties or eat big defensive minutes or we'd have a better partner to compliment his game/shore up his defending. Good PP guy and run him out there more when we need a goal. 

Going back to last year, Brady Ferner brought nothing - I'd rather have one of the young D getting reps in, struggling at times knowing it could pay dividends for another 2-3 years down the road. Maybe with more experience and confidence Moore, Johnson, or Bast look better this season. 

Obviously the goaltending had it's immense struggles in the first half, but a not-insignificant part of that was the blueline in front of it, so I'd hesitate to say the portal usage to shore up the D has been "very good." 

Something is awry with our recruiting process. This is from the Umass newspaper on Scott Morrow. He's got 64 pts in 72 NCAA games, 40th overall pick. 
Stephen Halliday and Massimo Rizzo are both over ppg players and walked. 
 

Quote

He did play a few games in the USHL despite turning the league down multiple times. He played a total of eight games, two being with the Youngstown Phantoms and six playoff games with the Fargo Force.

With the lack of USHL games, the college that Scott had originally committed to, the University of North Dakota, told him that he must play a year in the USHL to come play for them and start his freshman season in 2022-23. Scott wanted a college that believed in him, so he decided to decommit from North Dakota and find a better fit elsewhere.

 

[tnt]

14 minutes ago, sparky8701 said:

I'm in agreement with you on most everything, except the last part. 

Sidorski has been just okay, at best. His peak was the Omaha series where he was not noticeable - a win for him.

Farmer varied between bad and just okay. The coaching staff knows it too - how many times a game do you see the Kleven/Frisch pair broken up, or one them getting an extra shift because they don't trust the 3rd pair guys on their own?

Jandric was solid though. Any gripes I have with his game, aren't of his doing. On the bluelines of years past, a guy like him isn't relied on to kill penalties or eat big defensive minutes or we'd have a better partner to compliment his game/shore up his defending. Good PP guy and run him out there more when we need a goal. 

Going back to last year, Brady Ferner brought nothing - I'd rather have one of the young D getting reps in, struggling at times knowing it could pay dividends for another 2-3 years down the road. Maybe with more experience and confidence Moore, Johnson, or Bast look better this season. 

Obviously the goaltending had it's immense struggles in the first half, but a not-insignificant part of that was the blueline in front of it, so I'd hesitate to say the portal usage to shore up the D has been "very good." 

Something is awry with our recruiting process. This is from the Umass newspaper on Scott Morrow. He's got 64 pts in 72 NCAA games, 40th overall pick. 
Stephen Halliday and Massimo Rizzo are both over ppg players and walked. 
 

 

Moore has nothing to do with playing time, as he stood out as a pleasant surprise last year.  He has just regressed, and it appears to be more mental than physical.

[brianvf]

21 minutes ago, sparky8701 said:

Something is awry with our recruiting process. This is from the Umass newspaper on Scott Morrow. He's got 64 pts in 72 NCAA games, 40th overall pick. 

Stephen Halliday and Massimo Rizzo are both over ppg players and walked. 

It’s no question that there have been some recent recruiting misses on some big time recruits. Morrow, Halliday, and Rizzo should all have been at UND and the skill level would be noticeably higher (last year and this year) with the three of them wearing green and white. 
And then the near miss on Cooley as well. 
If even two of those four make it to campus, we’re looking much better the last couple seasons. 

[tnt]

Next season starts by the coaches forcing themselves and their team to watch the NCAA selection show today and knowing they all had a hand in us watching rivals being seeded in what should have been our regional.  Maybe they will work this off-season to correct that.

[Godsmack]

12 minutes ago, tnt said:

Next season starts by the coaches forcing themselves and their team to watch the NCAA selection show today and knowing they all had a hand in us watching rivals being seeded in what should have been our regional.  Maybe they will work this off-season to correct that.

Definitely not much fun here as a UND fan to be watching the selection show but I’m going to suck it up and watch. I hope you’re right that Berry and the team also watch as well.