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2024-25 University of North Dakota Hockey Season


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4 hours ago, Irish said:

In my opinion we had talent equal to Denver last year - in addition to peaking too early and losing intensity once again I think that the Goalie stability of Denver for the last few years has been the difference.  While we need a portal goalie almost every year Denver has recruited talent and developed them.  No question in my mind that a hot goalie was the difference for Denver - especially in the tourney where they faced several teams with a lot of firepower.  The final game was the cap in their season and the goalie was lights out.  

The crazy thing was how crappy Davis was for a good chunk of the early season. He was definitely the weak link on that team for most of the season. But, he certainly pulled it out when it mattered most for his team. 

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1 hour ago, brianvf said:

The crazy thing was how crappy Davis was for a good chunk of the early season. He was definitely the weak link on that team for most of the season. But, he certainly pulled it out when it mattered most for his team. 

He basically went from being average, at best, the entire season to making Patrick Roy look like an amateur during the playoffs. I can't remember a college goalie who was that lights-out over the course of 4 games. So in-the-zone he was. The moral of the story being, you can have a team chalked full of NHL-caliber players like BC had, but if you have a goalie who sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver, it doesn't really matter. If you put last December's version of Davis in net in April, DU doesn't win it all. Something clicked for him mentally at the right time where he had a razor-sharp focus & everything seemed to slow down for him, just in time for the playoffs. 

That coupled with his team playing solid hockey & hitting their stride when it mattered most earned them #10. 

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15 hours ago, Benny Baker said:

Davis only played 5 games the first half of the season and was 3-1-1.  He did not play at all in November or December.

Perhaps his back up, Halyk, wasn’t the greatest during that stretch Davis was out though?

Davis wasn’t good to start the season but Denver was scoring a lot so it didn’t really affect their win/loss record. Denver’s team save percentage was sub .900 for quite a while. Backup wasn’t good either. 

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22 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Some people on here have convinced themselves that winning the last game of the season in April simply doesn't matter.

 

21 hours ago, burd said:

Interesting.  Who said it doesn’t matter?

No one has ever said this on here.

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12 hours ago, siouxforce19 said:

Davis wasn’t good to start the season but Denver was scoring a lot so it didn’t really affect their win/loss record. Denver’s team save percentage was sub .900 for quite a while. Backup wasn’t good either. 

Hey man, whatever floats your boat. 

I was more confused by the earlier comments that Davis was “crappy” “for a good chunk of the early season” and, particularly, .357’s comment about “last December’s version of Davis” when Davis only played 5 of Denver’s first 17 games (losing just 1) and never played in December, at all. 

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10 hours ago, Blackheart said:

Don't mean to break up the DU lovefest here...tickets vs the Purple Cows of Mankato went on sale today and our group will be attending Saturday, October 19.  Hope to see a lot of green there!

Blackheart...thanks for the heads up. Got tickets for Saturday night. Go Sioux!

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32 minutes ago, Benny Baker said:

Hey man, whatever floats your boat. 

I was more confused by the earlier comments that Davis was “crappy” “for a good chunk of the early season” and, particularly, .357’s comment about “last December’s version of Davis” when Davis only played 5 of Denver’s first 17 games (losing just 1) and never played in December, at all. 

Because Davis got hurt that season Denver had to bring in their backup for this year in last year.

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25 minutes ago, cberkas said:

Because Davis got hurt that season Denver had to bring in their backup for this year in last year.

Right. I think that was the point someone was trying to make earlier; folks are confusing Davis with Halyk. 

On 9/15/2024 at 5:29 PM, Benny Baker said:

Davis only played 5 games the first half of the season and was 3-1-1.  He did not play at all in November or December.

Perhaps his back up, Halyk, wasn’t the greatest during that stretch Davis was out though?

 

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2 hours ago, Benny Baker said:

Hey man, whatever floats your boat. 

I was more confused by the earlier comments that Davis was “crappy” “for a good chunk of the early season” and, particularly, .357’s comment about “last December’s version of Davis” when Davis only played 5 of Denver’s first 17 games (losing just 1) and never played in December, at all. 

Uff da, I stand corrected on saying December, but the gist of my post was that Davis was on a completely different level during the playoffs, compared to the reg. season where even though he was very good, he was still beatable & hadn't sold his soul at that point. Per the denverpioneers website, Davis was ... "Recognized as both the NCAA Frozen Four and Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player after finishing the four-game national tournament with a 0.63 goals-against average, .979 save percentage." 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, .357 said:

Uff da, I stand corrected on saying December, but the gist of my post was that Davis was on a completely different level during the playoffs, compared to the reg. season where even though he was very good, he was still beatable & hadn't sold his soul at that point. Per the denverpioneers website, Davis was ... "Recognized as both the NCAA Frozen Four and Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player after finishing the four-game national tournament with a 0.63 goals-against average, .979 save percentage." 

 

 

Yup, I agree he was a very good goalie last year but on a completely different level during the playoffs.  That’s how you win championships. 

5 losses in 31 starts isn’t that bad for a starting goalie.

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10 hours ago, Benny Baker said:

Yup, I agree he was a very good goalie last year but on a completely different level during the playoffs.  That’s how you win championships. 

5 losses in 31 starts isn’t that bad for a starting goalie.

My point is that Denver is developing good goalies who have peaked at the right time - we are continually in the portal for a one year fix.  With Karl (who is a great goalie coach) on staff I have no idea why this is continually happening.  A young prospect should be able to be sold on having a solid team in front of him, a great goalie coach, our facilities, and our great tradition.  I hate it that other teams - especially Denver - are having tourney success and here we are.

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14 minutes ago, Irish said:

My point is that Denver is developing good goalies who have peaked at the right time - we are continually in the portal for an one year fix.  With Karl (who is a great goalie coach) on staff I have no idea why this is continually happening.  A young prospect should be able to be sold on having a solid team in front of him, a great goalie coach, our facilities, and our great tradition.  I hate it that other teams - especially Denver - are having tourney success and here we are.

It’s happening because for some strange, stupid reason UND only has one goalie recruit committed at one time. Hobie Hedquist was the only goalie recruit for years and we kept deferring him, hence the transfer goalies. And now we have Caleb Heil, who unless has an absolutely monster year I don’t see them bringing him in next year. He’s still pretty young. So the cycle repeats. 

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I don’t see the trend breaking anytime soon because they like to go to the portal. Heil is still a year out and I don’t see why Johnson would come back next season. They need to get 2 or 3 goalies in the pipeline, but they will get one and find a portal goalie. 

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Schloss had his NCHC Preview on his podcast.  Lengthy overview of the league.
Brief synopsis:

ASU - great forward group, not sure who will take the reigns for goalie, experienced group, not much offense from the blueline
CC - excellent goalie, great top 6 forwards, unproven d-corps after their top 4 left or graduated from last year
DU - lot of losses up front, can Davis repeat his performance, not many question marks, Buium Hobey candidate + Pohlkamp addition huge
Miami - had a lot of injuries last year, good depth at center, they'll be better but maybe not enough to move up
UMD - not a ton of depth, great recruiting class, will be young but talented, season result will depend on how quickly the frosh develop
UND - will go more in depth during next week's podcast, but did touch on the team's excellent center depth
UNO - ton of turnover, unknown center depth/leadership/scoring, good portal pickups
SCSU - good returning group, big losses at D, improvement at F, goalie question mark, Schloss' surprise pick at 3rd behind DU/UND
WMU - ton of turnover - especially at F, offense question mark, reliant on freshmen, similar to UMD...will need frosh to develop quickly, goalie battle

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1 hour ago, brianvf said:

 

  • Berry & Jammer want to switch focus from Penrose to peaking in late March/early April

That is exactly what I've been harping on for the last 6 months. Too much focus on the Penrose in years past may have caused the team to experience an energy-dump in early March, peaking too early; kudos to Berry for shifting gears. My main concern for the team this year wasn't necessarily the players, but would the coaching staff tone down their hype of winning the Penrose. The focus should be doing well week-to-week, instead of the players & staff being overly concerned the entire season about finishing first. Play hard, enjoy the moment & let the chips fall where they may. 

On the ice, my biggest concern is how the team will respond to heavy forechecking, & will they be able to transition out of the d-zone more effectively this year.

Will be interesting to see how Mac adjusts to the faster, stronger NCHC.

Would like to see a defining year for Kunz, park his large frame in front of the goalie early & often for screens & deflections.

Will the coaches relegate James to a checking line again, or is this the season he has a breakout year offensively?

Perhaps Croal, Schmaltz & Wilkie on a checking/energy line.

 

 

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6 hours ago, .357 said:

That is exactly what I've been harping on for the last 6 months. Too much focus on the Penrose in years past may have caused the team to experience an energy-dump in early March, peaking too early; kudos to Berry for shifting gears. My main concern for the team this year wasn't necessarily the players, but would the coaching staff tone down their hype of winning the Penrose. The focus should be doing well week-to-week, instead of the players & staff being overly concerned the entire season about finishing first. Play hard, enjoy the moment & let the chips fall where they may. 

On the ice, my biggest concern is how the team will respond to heavy forechecking, & will they be able to transition out of the d-zone more effectively this year.

Will be interesting to see how Mac adjusts to the faster, stronger NCHC.

Would like to see a defining year for Kunz, park his large frame in front of the goalie early & often for screens & deflections.

Will the coaches relegate James to a checking line again, or is this the season he has a breakout year offensively?

Perhaps Croal, Schmaltz & Wilkie on a checking/energy line.

 

 

Depending on how the first 10 games go, they may need to be focusing on doing really well in the NCHC.   On the other hand, they could really set themselves up well to be getting the young players a ton of experience in the NCHC games and not have to be ultra concerned about whether that will cost them a tournament bid. 

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7 hours ago, .357 said:

That is exactly what I've been harping on for the last 6 months. Too much focus on the Penrose in years past may have caused the team to experience an energy-dump in early March, peaking too early; kudos to Berry for shifting gears. My main concern for the team this year wasn't necessarily the players, but would the coaching staff tone down their hype of winning the Penrose. The focus should be doing well week-to-week, instead of the players & staff being overly concerned the entire season about finishing first. Play hard, enjoy the moment & let the chips fall where they may. 

On the ice, my biggest concern is how the team will respond to heavy forechecking, & will they be able to transition out of the d-zone more effectively this year.

Will be interesting to see how Mac adjusts to the faster, stronger NCHC.

Would like to see a defining year for Kunz, park his large frame in front of the goalie early & often for screens & deflections.

Will the coaches relegate James to a checking line again, or is this the season he has a breakout year offensively?

Perhaps Croal, Schmaltz & Wilkie on a checking/energy line.

 

 

I'd like to hear what that actually means though, follow up questions in pressers would be great.  What changes? Do you sit guys towards the end of the year to prevent injuries if an NCAA spot is locked up despite it costing you seeding and potentially better placement? Do you place more emphasis on the non-conference games? 

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7 hours ago, .357 said:

That is exactly what I've been harping on for the last 6 months. Too much focus on the Penrose in years past may have caused the team to experience an energy-dump in early March, peaking too early; kudos to Berry for shifting gears. My main concern for the team this year wasn't necessarily the players, but would the coaching staff tone down their hype of winning the Penrose. The focus should be doing well week-to-week, instead of the players & staff being overly concerned the entire season about finishing first. Play hard, enjoy the moment & let the chips fall where they may. 

On the ice, my biggest concern is how the team will respond to heavy forechecking, & will they be able to transition out of the d-zone more effectively this year.

Will be interesting to see how Mac adjusts to the faster, stronger NCHC.

Would like to see a defining year for Kunz, park his large frame in front of the goalie early & often for screens & deflections.

Will the coaches relegate James to a checking line again, or is this the season he has a breakout year offensively?

Perhaps Croal, Schmaltz & Wilkie on a checking/energy line.

 

 

I thought Wilkie was brought in for offensive production?

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