2023-24 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[tnt]

12 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Let our underclassmen develop. Thats how you smooth things over year to year. We really didn’t need the portal heading into this year. It cost us for sure. 

Under Hakstol, UND had a conviction with a process of bringing guys in, and it seemed they always had some guy waiting in the wings with Junior experience.  Now it seems we are just throwing darts at the board and hoping things work out. 

I know the transfer portal has put a wrench into everything, but our classes are so unbalanced right now it is amazing.  Maybe Berry took the NHL approach and decided to go all in this year with the transfer portal thinking they could win the National Championship.  Well it didn't work, and now it looks like there could be issues going forward with the defensive side of the equation.  

 My concern is we will waste all of the offensive talent we have coming in because we will be lacking experienced defensemen that know our system.  I am sure they had conversations with Frisch and Kleven, so they had to know what could happen at the end of the season.  With that knowledge, they still chose to not develop guys like Bast and Johnson.   Very disappointed how we went from great roster management, to the state we are in today.  

We should be blending guys into our culture, not depending on another team's culture to supply us with stop gaps. 

[AJS]

7 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Maybe it's a defense of the guys we did get from the portal in Farmer and Sidorski? Farmer was inconsistent, but Sidorski was our 3rd or 4th best defensemen for most of the season. Point still stands, I would have liked to have more than just Cooper Moore coming back for 23-24. Now, portal is a must. 

This one just doesn't seem like a hindsight is 20/20 deal. Not having a single d-man that can come into a great position? I just feel this one is indefensible. Hard to gloss over the Farmer part as well. He wasn't good (for a portal guy). 

It's over and done with. What I'll say though is this off-season I'm going to be a portal fan. A Love that it looks like they are bringing in 5 Freshman D. Don't mind at all the portal for the other 2. 

[stoneySIOUX]

4 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

I know this is beating a dead horse but how about working with Johnson instead of letting him get splinters in his rear and walking.  

Again, can we drop this premise that Johnson would have some how magically progressed had he played more games? The decision not to play him was based on games and practice. If he was progressing in practice, he would have gotten ice.

[AJS]

Just now, stoneySIOUX said:

Again, can we drop this premise that Johnson would have some how magically progressed had he played more games? The decision not to play him was based on games and practice. If he was progressing in practice, he would have gotten ice.

Worked his Freshman year. 

[stoneySIOUX]

1 minute ago, AJS said:

This one just doesn't seem like a hindsight is 20/20 deal. Not having a single d-man that can come into a great position? I just feel this one is indefensible. Hard to gloss over the Farmer part as well. 

It's over and done with. What I'll say though is this off-season I'm going to be a portal fan. A Love that it looks like they are bringing in 5 Freshman D. Don't mind at all the portal for the other 2. 

Oh, I agree with you. I was just saying that I think that could have been the defense of why it happened. 

Very happy they are likely to bring in a bunch of freshman. Gonna be a rough start to 23-24, but it'll do nothing but make things better down the line.

[stoneySIOUX]

Just now, AJS said:

Worked his Freshman year. 

Did it though? He started playing well his last handful of games, but he never showed enough defensively, IMO. 

[AJS]

Just now, stoneySIOUX said:

Oh, I agree with you. I was just saying that I think that could have been the defense of why it happened. 

Very happy they are likely to bring in a bunch of freshman. Gonna be a rough start to 23-24, but it'll do nothing but make things better down the line.

I'm excited for it. I don't mind seeing Freshman take their lumps. Who knows, maybe we'll get a Duluth situation from a few years back!

[petey23]

4 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Again, can we drop this premise that Johnson would have some how magically progressed had he played more games? The decision not to play him was based on games and practice. If he was progressing in practice, he would have gotten ice.

You can try but it is tough to make chicken out of chicken soup.

[AJS]

1 minute ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Did it though? He started playing well his last handful of games, but he never showed enough defensively, IMO. 

I thought he progressed nicely. Not trying to pick on Farmer, but even at the end of the year that 3rd pair was inconsistent at best. That was one of my issues. It would have been one thing if the 6 that were playing were all lights out. That wasn't the case.

[stoneySIOUX]

1 minute ago, AJS said:

I thought he progressed nicely. Not trying to pick on Farmer, but even at the end of the year that 3rd pair was inconsistent at best. That was one of my issues. It would have been one thing if the 6 that were playing were all lights out. That wasn't the case.

Fair enough. Farmer bummed me out. Kid was really, really good at UMass on the defensive side. C'est la vie, no?

[brianvf]

If we’re picking up two portal D, it’d be fantastic if at least one had more than one year of eligibility remaining. 

[jdub27]

 

10 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Again, can we drop this premise that Johnson would have some how magically progressed had he played more games? The decision not to play him was based on games and practice. If he was progressing in practice, he would have gotten ice.

People complain the staff doesn't try new things when clearly they focused on a defensive minded game plan the second half of the year after trying to have a more offensive focused players in the lineup the first half of the year.

People complain the staff doesn't try new combinations because they weren't winning, yet win they did start winning, people complained about who was in the stands. 

I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but it's almost like people just want to complain.

[stoneySIOUX]

2 minutes ago, brianvf said:

If we’re picking up two portal D, it’d be fantastic if at least one had more than one year of eligibility remaining. 

I'd guess that is a major priority.

[stoneySIOUX]

Just now, jdub27 said:

 

People complain the staff doesn't try new things when clearly they focused on a defensive minded game plan the second half of the year after trying to have a more offensive focused players in the lineup the first half of the year.

People complain the staff doesn't try new combinations because they weren't winning, yet win they did start winning, people complained about who was in the stands. 

I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but it's almost like people just want to complain.

I think both can happen -- most like to complain, and they can have legit gripes. There's A LOT left to be desired from this season's team, but pinning a players progression, or regression for that matter, only on the coaching staff is just dumb. Feels like a lack of accountability pressed towards the player. Both sides needed to grow quicker.

Overall, I'd say the staff was slow to adjust this season. They eventually took the steps to become a defensive team, but it was just too late. 

[tnt]

Maybe what UND needs is to have all these freshmen defensemen come in and grow together.  That tight team feeling is what seems to be missing a bit lately with guys like Calder and some of the other transfer guys.  When you see on senior night all of the guys that have fought together for years, that is where the team unity comes from.  I think they need to get back to those tight relationships so everyone is battling for each other.  If all the players go their separate ways after practice, that isn't much team building.  

[SiouxFanSince1990]

Just now, tnt said:

Maybe what UND needs is to have all these freshmen defensemen come in and grow together.  That tight team feeling is what seems to be missing a bit lately with guys like Calder and some of the other transfer guys.  When you see on senior night all of the guys that have fought together for years, that is where the team unity comes from.  I think they need to get back to those tight relationships so everyone is battling for each other.  If all the players go their separate ways after practice, that isn't much team building.  

Yes, bring in five of our defenseman recruits. Better than take a chance with one and done portal guys.

[fightingsioux4life]

25 minutes ago, tnt said:

I know the transfer portal has put a wrench into everything, but our classes are so unbalanced right now it is amazing.  Maybe Berry took the NHL approach and decided to go all in this year with the transfer portal thinking they could win the National Championship.  Well it didn't work, and now it looks like there could be issues going forward with the defensive side of the equation.

The biggest problem is that extra COVID year. It has screwed up the pipeline and caused younger players to sit and watch, which ruins their development. As time goes on, this problem should go away by itself.

[Godsmack]

11 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Fair enough. Farmer bummed me out. Kid was really, really good at UMass on the defensive side. C'est la vie, no?

Farmer’s no look pass into the middle of our D zone that got intercepted by the DU forward and led to the first goal of the game on Friday night at Magness, which led UND to chasing the game will be etched in my brain for a long time. I know all players make mistakes but that was so unexpected coming from him given his experience and pedigree. 

[fightingsioux4life]

11 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

I think both can happen -- most like to complain, and they can have legit gripes. There's A LOT left to be desired from this season's team, but pinning a players progression, or regression for that matter, only on the coaching staff is just dumb. Feels like a lack of accountability pressed towards the player. Both sides needed to grow quicker.

Overall, I'd say the staff was slow to adjust this season. They eventually took the steps to become a defensive team, but it was just too late. 

There is no substitute for live, in-game action. You cannot replicate that in practice. So if a younger guy is kept out of the lineup because the coaching staff prefers veterans, that is on the coaching staff and no one else.

As for lack of accountability, that is one issue that I am concerned with. It feels like the entire team is not held accountable for bad effort, porous defense and stupid penalties. I know neither Blais nor Hakstol would have tolerated those things for long. Berry and company need to improve this.

[1966guy]

15 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

 

People complain the staff doesn't try new things when clearly they focused on a defensive minded game plan the second half of the year after trying to have a more offensive focused players in the lineup the first half of the year.

People complain the staff doesn't try new combinations because they weren't winning, yet win they did start winning, people complained about who was in the stands. 

I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but it's almost like people just want to complain.

Your not wrong, in fact your spot on!!

[tnt]

3 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

I think both can happen -- most like to complain, and they can have legit gripes. There's A LOT left to be desired from this season's team, but pinning a players progression, or regression for that matter, only on the coaching staff is just dumb. Feels like a lack of accountability pressed towards the player. Both sides needed to grow quicker.

Overall, I'd say the staff was slow to adjust this season. They eventually took the steps to become a defensive team, but it was just too late. 

I would say accountability goes both ways.  Berry chose to bring in Johnson who was slight and coming off a major injury.  Not sure what he saw that would cause him to bring him in under those circumstances.  If the argument is that Morrow wasn't going to be a character guy, then I guess I look at our current roster and see several guys that don't fit that bill.  

[SIOUXELEVENS]

So if Albrecht doesn’t come back we have 14 forwards need at least one more , do they portal or bring in Croal along with Perron and Emerson. I guess we now know why they needed 2 D from the portal, can a player come back to a team once he is in the portal ?

[ChadR]

50 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Fair enough. Farmer bummed me out. Kid was really, really good at UMass on the defensive side. C'est la vie, no?

Was he though? 

[The Sicatoka]

4 minutes ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

... can a player come back to a team once he is in the portal ?

Yes. 
Think of the portal as a hallway in a hotel. You've stepped out of a room into the hall. You can go into another room if they'll have you. You can go back into the same room if they'll have you. Or you can end up without a room and leaving the hotel. 

[scpa0305]

1 hour ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Again, can we drop this premise that Johnson would have some how magically progressed had he played more games? The decision not to play him was based on games and practice. If he was progressing in practice, he would have gotten ice.

I honestly think there was something more to it. I hate to speculate but underclassmen are going to make mistakes. This should be known and very obvious. Farmer, Moore, etc all made their fair share of mistakes. Heck, kleven and Frisch made their fair share early in this year too. Johnson’s numbers were decent and he showed a few glimpses early in the year on that second pp. 

Overall, tough situation and Berry has always developed dmen fairly well. Bubs is the coach, have to trust him even though it was a bigger head scratcher.