Denver travels to REA.

[Wilbur]

Something has to give.  They haven't lost in regulation for over a month.  We haven't lost in regulation since November 3rd.

They smoked Omaha this past weekend, we saw UND play some of their best hockey in a while in a tough place to play.

I think their weakness is in the net.  They make up for it with being great offensively.  

Ludvig looked solid this weekend.  Think he's back on track. 

[burd]

About this time I miss Puck Swami’s contributions to college hockey discussions generally and DU specifically.  I don’t recall whether he posted on this board, but he added a great deal to any discussion he joined.  

[nodak651]

20 hours ago, burd said:

About this time I miss Puck Swami’s contributions to college hockey discussions generally and DU specifically.  I don’t recall whether he posted on this board, but he added a great deal to any discussion he joined.  

Did he pass away?

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

#NeverForget

 

Definitely watching this every day this week...

 

 

[burd]

1 hour ago, nodak651 said:

Did he pass away?

No, unless he did so recently.   He just stopped posting over on uscho hockey threads after some people were apparently getting personal.   Wonderful fund of hockey knowledge, and he stayed away from the political threads, as I recall.   He would post here now and then when UND and DU played each other.

[brianvf]

DU still on fire offensively. UND is going to have to play very good defensively to keep them in check, plus we’ll need a huge weekend from Persson again. 

[Wilbur]

3 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

#NeverForget

 

Definitely watching this every day this week...

 

 

I forgot its another LETSGODU Blog weekend.  I've honestly been sitting at the edge of my chair since the last time these teams faced off waiting for a fresh dose of funny from the guy.  I won't eat or drink anything before he puts it up, don't want to get a stomach ache from all the laughing I'm likely to do.  

[SiouxFanatic]

2 hours ago, burd said:

No, unless he did so recently.   He just stopped posting over on uscho hockey threads after some people were apparently getting personal.   Wonderful fund of hockey knowledge, and he stayed away from the political threads, as I recall.   He would post here now and then when UND and DU played each other.

Swami comments on LetsGODU blog still and has done the occasional article for them I believe. Always a good read when he writes about something.

[thUNDer]

4 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

#NeverForget

 

Definitely watching this every day this week...

 

 

Awesome snipe show by the boys that night. Thanks for posting. Our fans always show up at DU. They were so loud & the look on pio fans faces was precious!

[puck swami]

Happy to check in here to assure all of you that I'm still around, still quite ambulatory and looking forward to a great series between two of the best teams in the country this weekend.

As a Denver fan with a few miles on the tread, I can tell you that this Denver team is the probably the best offensive Denver team that I can remember, but the goaltending is the worst (.885 team saves pct.) since the days of Stephen Wagner in the late 1990s. That makes every weekend a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Pio fans.  Just when you think the boys are cruising, you find your self cringing on every PK, awaiting the odd soft goal to puncture the mood and perhaps lead to catastrophe.  Last weekend was somewhat encouraging, as the Pios hung 12 on the Mavs and Davis let in only 5 goals on the weekend (average goaltending), which is far more respectable than many weekends past, yet Omaha scored on 42% of its PPs, so much work to do.  Davis (and Halyk before him) were also dealing with a lot of youth on the back end, and that means turnovers.  I'd like think that with a full half season under their belts that the turnovers are in decline.

Having watched a good chunk of UND this year, I've been really impressed, especially on defense.  Berry's gamble to basically replace the entire d-corps was a move I've never seen in all my years of college hockey fandom, and it has paid off with far more panache than I could have possibly imagined.  Berry has blended the skills, roles and experience of guys who had never played together into a defense that has already grown into the top third of college defences, in front of a very experienced netminder in Persson, who never had that level of defense at Miami in front of him.  Inserting a 5th year leader like Pyke to produce has he has, was really a master stroke, and watching a young guys like Livanage and Weibe step in and play like vets as freshmen bodes well. Offensively, those top 2 lines can score with anyone, and are especially strong on the right side, where Blake and Gaber are two of the best at what they do, both with and without the puck.  If there is a vulnerability on this team, it likely is offensive depth, especially on the left side where the production is a shadow of what it is on the right.

I think this weekend will come down to three key areas:

1) UND's forecheck causing turnovers in the Denver Zone.  If UND can do that efficiently and convert their chances, they've got a good chance to sweep. Denver's goaltending is often leaky. That's been the blueprint all year for those teams who have beaten Denver, including UND earlier this year. The forecheck not only causes turnovers, but disrupts DU's transition speed out of the d zone and forces DU to take penalties, where their PK has been brutal (#42) nationally at just 78%.

2) Denver's ability to get offensively production from 3rd line. Sure DU has a great top six, but where DU is perhaps most dangerous is getting production from the third line, which is why they average over five goals per game leading the nation in scoring. This is where Denver has a big edge on most teams, as few teams have this extra level production. Will be interesting to see how Berry matches up on this.

3) Denver's goaltending. Typically, if DU can keep opposition goals at three or below each night, the five-goal offense usually means DU will have a great chance of winning.  I don't see DU dropping 10 goals on UND this weekend on the road, so my guess is that DU will need Davis to play exceptionally well, which is not something that DU has been able to count on.  

All in all, this looks like a split weekend. 

[Sweethockey]

Good read Swami! Thanks

[brianvf]

7 minutes ago, puck swami said:

1) UND's forecheck causing turnovers in the Denver Zone.  If UND can do that efficiently and convert their chances, they've got a good chance to sweep. Denver's goaltending is often leaky. That's been the blueprint all year for those teams who have beaten Denver, including UND earlier this year. The forecheck not only causes turnovers, but disrupts DU's transition speed out of the d zone and forces DU to take penalties, where their PK has been brutal (#42) nationally at just 78%.

2) Denver's ability to get offensively production from 3rd line. Sure DU has a great top six, but where DU is perhaps most dangerous is getting production from the third line, which is why they average over five goals per game leading the nation in scoring. This is where Denver has a big edge on most teams, as few teams have this extra level production. Will be interesting to see how Berry matches up on this.

3) Denver's goaltending. Typically, if DU can keep opposition goals at three or below each night, the five-goal offense usually means DU will have a great chance of winning.  I don't see DU dropping 10 goals on UND this weekend on the road, so my guess is that DU will need Davis to play exceptionally well, which is not something that DU has been able to count on.  

All in all, this looks like a split weekend. 

Great to hear from you, Puck Swami!  I always enjoyed your posts on USCHO back when I was a consistent poster there.  Thanks for stopping by over here!

I wasn't aware that DU had such a poor PK, that's a surprise to be honest.  UND had a pretty poor PP to start the season...it's trending better since the New Year but certainly not to the level that it was last season, when UND relied on it so much more.  UND's PP seems to do better when not pressured...if the PK wingers attack the points they tend to cough it up or make a poor pass that gets cleared.

DU's offensive depth is indeed impressive.  That certainly could set them up for a good postseason run.
I too am interested to see how Berry matches up lines now that he has last change at home.  I'm also interested to see what he does with the lines, especially if Johannes is back in the lineup after missing Sat game against SCSU.

I know the popular phrase is "sweep at home, split on the road", but if UND ends up with 3-4 points this weekend, I think that would be viewed as a successful weekend against a very strong DU team. 

[burd]

So good to hear from you, Swami.   (Raises glass):   To a weekend of exciting hockey between two worthy adversaries.  

[BusinessSiouxt]

6 hours ago, brianvf said:

DU still on fire offensively. UND is going to have to play very good defensively to keep them in check, plus we’ll need a huge weekend from Persson again. 

15 power plays (with 4 5x3’s) tends to help that offense over a weekend…

[Wilbur]

Yeah Puck Swami needs to do the DU blog from now on.  

[TwamleyShuffle]

Thinking we will get the NODAK jerseys with the national audience watching on Friday

 

[siouxfan512]

On 1/22/2024 at 3:39 PM, puck swami said:

Happy to check in here to assure all of you that I'm still around, still quite ambulatory and looking forward to a great series between two of the best teams in the country this weekend.

As a Denver fan with a few miles on the tread, I can tell you that this Denver team is the probably the best offensive Denver team that I can remember, but the goaltending is the worst (.885 team saves pct.) since the days of Stephen Wagner in the late 1990s. That makes every weekend a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Pio fans.  Just when you think the boys are cruising, you find your self cringing on every PK, awaiting the odd soft goal to puncture the mood and perhaps lead to catastrophe.  Last weekend was somewhat encouraging, as the Pios hung 12 on the Mavs and Davis let in only 5 goals on the weekend (average goaltending), which is far more respectable than many weekends past, yet Omaha scored on 42% of its PPs, so much work to do.  Davis (and Halyk before him) were also dealing with a lot of youth on the back end, and that means turnovers.  I'd like think that with a full half season under their belts that the turnovers are in decline.

Having watched a good chunk of UND this year, I've been really impressed, especially on defense.  Berry's gamble to basically replace the entire d-corps was a move I've never seen in all my years of college hockey fandom, and it has paid off with far more panache than I could have possibly imagined.  Berry has blended the skills, roles and experience of guys who had never played together into a defense that has already grown into the top third of college defences, in front of a very experienced netminder in Persson, who never had that level of defense at Miami in front of him.  Inserting a 5th year leader like Pyke to produce has he has, was really a master stroke, and watching a young guys like Livanage and Weibe step in and play like vets as freshmen bodes well. Offensively, those top 2 lines can score with anyone, and are especially strong on the right side, where Blake and Gaber are two of the best at what they do, both with and without the puck.  If there is a vulnerability on this team, it likely is offensive depth, especially on the left side where the production is a shadow of what it is on the right.

I think this weekend will come down to three key areas:

1) UND's forecheck causing turnovers in the Denver Zone.  If UND can do that efficiently and convert their chances, they've got a good chance to sweep. Denver's goaltending is often leaky. That's been the blueprint all year for those teams who have beaten Denver, including UND earlier this year. The forecheck not only causes turnovers, but disrupts DU's transition speed out of the d zone and forces DU to take penalties, where their PK has been brutal (#42) nationally at just 78%.

2) Denver's ability to get offensively production from 3rd line. Sure DU has a great top six, but where DU is perhaps most dangerous is getting production from the third line, which is why they average over five goals per game leading the nation in scoring. This is where Denver has a big edge on most teams, as few teams have this extra level production. Will be interesting to see how Berry matches up on this.

3) Denver's goaltending. Typically, if DU can keep opposition goals at three or below each night, the five-goal offense usually means DU will have a great chance of winning.  I don't see DU dropping 10 goals on UND this weekend on the road, so my guess is that DU will need Davis to play exceptionally well, which is not something that DU has been able to count on.  

All in all, this looks like a split weekend. 

How dare you come onto a public forum and post a reasonable, well thought out, informative statement like this. There is no room for this type of post. The expectation is senseless uneducated banter. 

JK, great input and looking forward to a few awesome games!

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, TwamleyShuffle said:

Thinking we will get the NODAK jerseys with the national audience watching on Friday

We can wear whatever we want as long as we get 6 points.

[90siouxfan]

45 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

We can wear whatever we want as long as we get 6 points.

Are you calling for a Ned Braden homage to the crowd after saturday's TCoS?

 

[tnt]

If UND players hate Denver as much as they let on, this weekend would go a long ways in preventing them from an NCHC conference champion three-peat.  Let's put another conference championship on our side of the ledger instead!

[TwamleyShuffle]

Does DU still do the “sticks up” celebration after goals?

[brianvf]

12 minutes ago, TwamleyShuffle said:

Does DU still do the “sticks up” celebration after goals?

Hopefully we don’t find out this weekend. 
That’s right, I’m calling for back to back shutouts of the highest scoring team in the country. 

[stoneySIOUX]

16 minutes ago, TwamleyShuffle said:

Does DU still do the “sticks up” celebration after goals?

They have definitely continued to do it.

[brianvf]

Johannes is out this weekend against DU:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/hunter-johannes-to-miss-this-weekends-series-against-denver

Said that they will re-evaluate him again next week to see if he'll be able to play against Miami.

[brianvf]

I'm thinking this would be great to see for lines then:

Perron/Berg/Gaber
James/OMac/Blake
Jammer/Strinden/Ness
Kunz/Schmaltz/Albrecht

I'm guessing that Berry will more than likely have Strinden and Schmaltz flipped on those lines though.