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2023-24 University of North Dakota Hockey Season


AlphaMikeFoxtrot

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5 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

One more D is mandatory to get to 8D and 26-man roster (right now guessing it's not Strathmann and he plays one more USHL year). 

Now the question: If they run 27-man roster is it 16F or 9D? 

16F. @I Ranger called it... that decision is directly tied to the uncertainty with Montgomery. 

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31 minutes ago, AJS said:

How I think about this is Pehrson might not be the top NHL caliber defenseman that was in the portal, but for what UND desperately needed, he was most likely the most coveted player for the UND coaching staff that was in the portal. The addition of Pehrson changes expectations for next year. Here's where we're at now defensively.

  • Pyke / Pehrson would be a great Top pairing.
  • Zmolek would be a great Second pairing RHD 

Now, you can look at the talented LHD Freshman class and whoever proves it, can step into that 2nd pairing. 

The scouting reports on all three of the portal defenseman has to give everyone so much optimism. Defense first. That's exactly what they need for next year (from those portal additions).

Or split them up and pair one experienced dman with one freshman to break those guys in as well.
The team has certainly come together quickly.

Last season all these decisions took a few more months to work themselves out.

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Expected Roster as of 4/14/23 -

Going by a somewhat typical 26-man roster (15 F / 8 D / 3 G):

Forwards (15)
Fr - Emerson / Perron
So - Blake / James / McLaughlin / Strinden / Montgomery (RS)
Jr - Schmaltz / Kunz / Berg
Sr - Gaber / Jamernik / Ness
Gr - Albrecht / Johannes

Defense (8)
Fr - Benoit / Komzak / Wiebe / Livanavage / Strathmann
So - Zmolek
Gr - Pyke / Pehrson

Goalies (3)
Fr - Hedquist
So - Johnson
Sr - Persson

Portal and/or Recruit
D - Maybe one more (depending on Strathmann decision on playing another year of juniors)
F - Maybe one more (been hinted that we might carry 16F again this year)

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@brianvfI'd honestly only claim 7D for now until Strathmann is official one way or the other.

Also, Albrecht, Persson, Jamernik, Gaber, and Ness each have two seasons of play yet remaining. By eligibility they'd be "Jr". (They all played the 2020-21 year which doesn't count and 'never happened'.) 

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1 hour ago, AJS said:

How I think about this is Pehrson might not be the top NHL caliber defenseman that was in the portal, but for what UND desperately needed, he was most likely the most coveted player for the UND coaching staff that was in the portal. The addition of Pehrson changes expectations for next year. Here's where we're at now defensively.

  • Pyke / Pehrson would be a great Top pairing.
  • Zmolek would be a great Second pairing RHD 

Now, you can look at the talented LHD Freshman class and whoever proves it, can step into that 2nd pairing. 

The scouting reports on all three of the portal defenseman has to give everyone so much optimism. Defense first. That's exactly what they need for next year (from those portal additions).

Pehrson definitely fits the defense first or maybe defense only role. Not sure which game he scored in as a freshman but he currently is riding a 92+ game streak of not scoring a goal. Also of note, he had ZERO penalties in 39 games last season.

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21 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Or split them up and pair one experienced dman with one freshman to break those guys in as well.
The team has certainly come together quickly.

Last season all these decisions took a few more months to work themselves out.

My thought is there are only a handful of Freshman defenseman that would be top-pair caliber guys on a tournament team. 

I'm really going back and forth on what I hope happens with the 8th spot. I'm starting to lean more toward if it's truly this Fall or Fall of 24, that Strathmann delays to 24. Ideally, you get another Higher-End (i.e. 2nd or 3rd pair) RH shot. This is putting stock that Komzak would be that #8 guy, then you have 2 Freshman that would be 2nd / 3rd pair guys nightly, with the 3rd as an extra skater. Pretty ideal situation for everyone. 

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21 minutes ago, petey23 said:

Pehrson definitely fits the defense first or maybe defense only role. Not sure which game he scored in as a freshman but he currently is riding a 92+ game streak of not scoring a goal. Also of note, he had ZERO penalties in 39 games last season.

That zero penalty factoid does not work in our culture. 

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1 hour ago, SiouxForever said:

Chemistry and true leadership (or a true leader stepping up on this team) will drive this team to how far it'll go next year imho!

They'll have to gel and teach the freshie D-man and the freshie D-man will need incremental jump/progress for the 2nd half of the season. 

The importance of leadership on the player side is hard to overstate. Last season there just seemed to be something a bit off in that department. 

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1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

Also, Albrecht, Persson, Jamernik, Gaber, and Ness each have two seasons of play yet remaining. By eligibility they'd be "Jr". (They all played the 2020-21 year which doesn't count and 'never happened'.) 

We'll cross all those bridges when we get to them next season.  ;) 
Until then, I'm just impressed that Berry assembled this entire team within a couple weeks of the season ending.  :0

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1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

This pushes back against the whole "B1G Taking Over The World" narrative pushed by some on here.

Great pick up! :)

This really doesn’t do anything unless it works out.  The guy we got was most likely not invited back to Michigan. It’s exciting that it looks like he fills a need, but many were super excited when we got Farmer too, and not everyone was happy with him.

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