2024-25 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[cberkas]

1 hour ago, .357 said:

Drag the old lady with you, plus parking, food/drinks & it's probably close to $900 for a UND game at Mullett. It better be a resounding Sioux victory for that price.

Sounds about right. $20 for parking (Uber, Lyft, and Waymo would save on that with Waymo being the cheapest), $13 for food (a slice of pizza is 1/4th of a full large pizza), $13-15 for a beer. 

[brianvf]

1 hour ago, .357 said:

Drag the old lady with you, plus parking, food/drinks & it's probably close to $900 for a UND game at Mullett. It better be a resounding Sioux victory for that price.

I was looking forward to going to the series with it being a short drive away for me...but not at those prices. 
Guess I'll be watching on NCHC.tv for this one, unfortunately.

I'm pretty sure I spent less than that last year on my trip back to ND for a series...and that included airfare for both my son and I. 

[Oxbow6]

8 minutes ago, brianvf said:

I was looking forward to going to the series with it being a short drive away for me...but not at those prices. 
Guess I'll be watching on NCHC.tv for this one, unfortunately.

I'm pretty sure I spent less than that last year on my trip back to ND for a series...and that included airfare for both my son and I. 

Maybe we all can just take in a Coyotes game instead.

 

 

 

......wait nevermind.

[stoneySIOUX]

1 hour ago, Oxbow6 said:

So UND fans can gouge other UND fans and Gopher fans like last year and that's all good?

Um, did I say that? Goodness. Two wrongs don't make a right, brother.

[.357]

4 hours ago, cberkas said:

Sounds about right. $20 for parking (Uber, Lyft, and Waymo would save on that with Waymo being the cheapest), $13 for food (a slice of pizza is 1/4th of a full large pizza), $13-15 for a beer. 

With my luck, I'd be sitting there halfway through the 3rd period with UND down 1-4 & playing one of their worst games in recent memory, wondering why I even went, with the wife chirping in the ear about where that $900 could have gone instead...I was seriously considering going since I live only 15-20 minutes away, but it's just not worth it for a mid-season game.

4 hours ago, brianvf said:

I was looking forward to going to the series with it being a short drive away for me...but not at those prices. 
Guess I'll be watching on NCHC.tv for this one, unfortunately.

I'm pretty sure I spent less than that last year on my trip back to ND for a series...and that included airfare for both my son and I. 

A number of states define price gouging as raising prices by more than 10% on basic necessities compared to pre-emergency prices. Hockey isn't a basic necessity like food (maybe it's a necessity in GF, but not in most places;)), but I would still call it price gouging. If a ticket normally costs $50, but it jumps to $400, that's a 700% increase; this compared to the 40-80% increases in groceries over the last 4 years at my local supermarket. I would spend $400 for a NC because that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, most definitely, but not for some game in January. 

[cberkas]

17 minutes ago, .357 said:

With my luck, I'd be sitting there halfway through the 3rd period with UND down 1-4 & playing one of their worst games in recent memory, wondering why I even went, with the wife chirping in the ear about where that $900 could have gone instead...I was seriously considering going since I live only 15-20 minutes away, but it's just not worth it for a mid-season game.

A number of states define price gouging as raising prices by more than 10% on basic necessities compared to pre-emergency prices. Hockey isn't a basic necessity like food (maybe it's a necessity in GF, but not in most places;)), but I would still call it price gouging. If a ticket normally costs $50, but it jumps to $400, that's a 700% increase; this compared to the 40-80% increases in groceries over the last 4 years at my local supermarket. I would spend $400 for a NC because that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, most definitely, but not for some game in January. 

There is one going for just under $1k per ticket. 

[Langster019]

Colorado College tickets were expensive like this when their new rink opened. Be patient.  They’ll only go down. Or get on Craigslist and other avenues for better prices from people trying not to gouge by selling “more local” if that makes sense. We got tickets to CC that way their opening season. Was a season ticket holder just looking to move them vs make money. 

[brianvf]

Strinden won the Ironman competition for the 2nd year in a row:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/ben-strinden-wins-second-straight-und-hockey-iron-man-competition

Quote

Sophomore forward Jayden Perron finished second in the Iron Man competition, followed by freshman defenseman E.J. Emery, senior forward Jake Schmaltz and junior forward Dylan James.

Perron, Schmaltz and James all finished in the top five last year, too.

 

[.357]

2 hours ago, brianvf said:

Strinden won the Ironman competition for the 2nd year in a row:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/ben-strinden-wins-second-straight-und-hockey-iron-man-competition

 

Was that a standard Ironman being a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride & 26.2-mile run, or was it a shorter version of these?

[hockeytherapy13]

7 minutes ago, .357 said:

Was that a standard Ironman being a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride & 26.2-mile run, or was it a shorter version of these?

Always hard to tell online if this is sarcasm or not haha. But if it’s not: their Ironman is a series of challenges UND does preseason to test strength, speed, endurance, etc. I believe there is a point system for each challenge.
 

With Perron finishing so high this year I’m hoping they means he starts to go through guys while carrying the puck more often. We badly need him to get closer to his potential to fill some of the gap from Blake leaving.  

[.357]

23 minutes ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

Always hard to tell online if this is sarcasm or not haha. But if it’s not: their Ironman is a series of challenges UND does preseason to test strength, speed, endurance, etc. I believe there is a point system for each challenge.

Was being serious, didn't know the format of their competition. Thanks for explaining it.

 

 

[brianvf]

2 hours ago, .357 said:

Was being serious, didn't know the format of their competition. Thanks for explaining it.

Here are the "events" in the annual UND Ironman competition:

Quote

The 12 Iron Man tests are the isometric belt jump, squat jump, on-ice 6-meter acceleration, on-ice 35-meter acceleration, on-ice acceleration between 10 and 20 meters, on-ice 4x4 conditioning test, broad jump, single leg lateral jump, pull-ups, maximum velocity bench press, VO2 max on Wattbike and the mile run.

 

[cberkas]

After seeing the preseason poll and rosters 

1. North Dakota - They seem to win Penrose Cups. But they do what they do best and lose the first game in Fargo and the fans get the pitchforks (barrowed from ASU) and torches if that happens again.
2. Denver - Bring back 18 players but they are more focused on 11 and lose the Penrose Cup
3. Western Michigan - A team that is always plays tough and they get their first NCAA win this year
4. CC - They finally end the 68-year drought beat Denver for their 3rd National Title
5. Arizona State - They surprise people and make the Frozen Face Off and make the NCAA tournament. 
6. St. Cloud - I think they make the NCAA over Omaha as a 4 seed.
7. Omaha - Not high on Omaha and they might be the first team out of the NCAA's
8. Duluth - Young team and someone has to finish last in the "pod of death"
9. Miami - Still going to be here, in two years should move up. They get 4 conference wins 

I could see 6 teams making the NCAAs with goaltending being a strength of the teams. 4 through 7 could be a toss-up on where they finish, just like I could see UND being the worst team in the "pod of death" and miss the NCAAs. 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, cberkas said:

After seeing the preseason poll and rosters 

1. North Dakota - They seem to win Penrose Cups. But they do what they do best and lose the first game in Fargo and the fans get the pitchforks (barrowed from ASU) and torches if that happens again.
2. Denver - Bring back 18 players but they are more focused on 11 and lose the Penrose Cup
3. Western Michigan - A team that is always plays tough and they get their first NCAA win this year
4. CC - They finally end the 68-year drought beat Denver for their 3rd National Title
5. Arizona State - They surprise people and make the Frozen Face Off and make the NCAA tournament. 
6. St. Cloud - I think they make the NCAA over Omaha as a 4 seed.
7. Omaha - Not high on Omaha and they might be the first team out of the NCAA's
8. Duluth - Young team and someone has to finish last in the "pod of death"
9. Miami - Still going to be here, in two years should move up. They get 4 conference wins 

I could see 6 teams making the NCAAs with goaltending being a strength of the teams. 4 through 7 could be a toss-up on where they finish, just like I could see UND being the worst team in the "pod of death" and miss the NCAAs. 

It's high time UND focuses on hanging #9 and not focus too much on the Penrose. Only total homers will insist that UND had a better season last year than Denver.

Green > White 

[.357]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

It's high time UND focuses on hanging #9 and not focus too much on the Penrose. 

It sure seems like the coaching staff focuses an inordinate amount of energy on winning the Penrose. Looking at the players hootin' & hollerin' last year after they clinched the Penrose, only to have a major drop in their performance thereafter. Amost like they peaked too soon & didn't have enough left in the tank. Part of being a successful coach is having enough insight to change course when the old philosophy isn't getting you the desired result: a championship, or at the very least a deep run into the playoffs most years. The team has more than enough talent most years to inflict its share of postseason damage, they just seem to fizzle out mentally late in the season. 

All this based on an outsider's perspective who has no idea what is emphasized or talked about behind closed doors between the coach & his players. Am basing my opinion on what I hear Berry say to the media, the players' response to winning the Penrose & their subsequent play in the postseason. 

[hockeytherapy13]

12 hours ago, cberkas said:

After seeing the preseason poll and rosters 

1. North Dakota - They seem to win Penrose Cups. But they do what they do best and lose the first game in Fargo and the fans get the pitchforks (barrowed from ASU) and torches if that happens again.
2. Denver - Bring back 18 players but they are more focused on 11 and lose the Penrose Cup
3. Western Michigan - A team that is always plays tough and they get their first NCAA win this year
4. CC - They finally end the 68-year drought beat Denver for their 3rd National Title
5. Arizona State - They surprise people and make the Frozen Face Off and make the NCAA tournament. 
6. St. Cloud - I think they make the NCAA over Omaha as a 4 seed.
7. Omaha - Not high on Omaha and they might be the first team out of the NCAA's
8. Duluth - Young team and someone has to finish last in the "pod of death"
9. Miami - Still going to be here, in two years should move up. They get 4 conference wins 

I could see 6 teams making the NCAAs with goaltending being a strength of the teams. 4 through 7 could be a toss-up on where they finish, just like I could see UND being the worst team in the "pod of death" and miss the NCAAs. 

We may have a pretty good idea of whether or not our guys will make the NCAAs after the first month. We have an absolute battery of a non-conference slate which could make or break our pairwise. BU obviously is a top-4 team, Cornell might be top 7-10 and providence top 10-15. Mankato will be no slouch either since they are older and heavy.
Bubs set us up with a beast a few years ago when putting this together haha. With the NCHC being deeper than ever, we need to make hay non-conference.

However, if we come out of those first 4 weeks cleanly above .500 that will be a solid start and a crazy way to acclimate freshmen to what the big boys looks like. 

[AJS]

I’ll say this after and before every season. IMO, the key is for the coaching staff to project what lineup will have the highest ceiling in March and play that in October. They have not done that in the past. Favoring low ceiling experience over high ceiling youth. 
 

Edit: I really want to emphasize LOW ceiling experience. 

[Oldguy]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

I’ll say this after and before every season. IMO, the key is for the coaching staff to project what lineup will have the highest ceiling in March and play that in October. They have not done that in the past. Favoring low ceiling experience over high ceiling youth. 
 

Edit: I really want to emphasize LOW ceiling experience. 

The difficult part of deciding the roster early in the year is that the season can be over before it gets going if young guys cost you games.  So little wiggle room with the schedules that UND plays.

[Kevin G]

19 hours ago, brianvf said:

The 12 Iron Man tests are the isometric belt jump, squat jump, on-ice 6-meter acceleration, on-ice 35-meter acceleration, on-ice acceleration between 10 and 20 meters, on-ice 4x4 conditioning test, broad jump, single leg lateral jump, pull-ups, maximum velocity bench press, VO2 max on Wattbike and the mile run.

I’d bet all the pennies in my penny jar on who won the jumping tests. 

[.357]

3 hours ago, AJS said:

I’ll say this after and before every season. IMO, the key is for the coaching staff to project what lineup will have the highest ceiling in March and play that in October. They have not done that in the past. Favoring low ceiling experience over high ceiling youth. 
 

Edit: I really want to emphasize LOW ceiling experience. 

Whatever the issue is, be it lineups, coaching philosophy, leadership, training, etc., something ain't working when the playoffs roll around. What has been successful in October has been not so successful in March; it's beyond anything flukey or bad luck-ish & has become a predictable pattern. Hopefully the coaching staff took a long, hard look in the mirror this off-season & made some changes with how they manage the team; instead of trying to pound the same square peg into a round hole & hoping it'll somehow fit this time. But old habits in old men die hard, so we'll see. I don't claim to know the core issue(s) causing UND to nosedive every spring, but something needs to change.

 

Even though MI lost against BC 0-4 in the FF last year, they played hard & fast every shift; giving it their all until the final whistle, even though the game was all but over halfway through the 3rd period. I really admired that tenacity. Contrasted to how UND played 2 weeks earlier in the regional, in which they basically got pushed around & lost all intensity for 10-12 minutes in the 3rd period. That kind of disappearing act simply cannot happen in the playoffs. It's incumbent on the coaches to examine why that prolonged lapse happened so it won't be repeated in the future. 

[hockeytherapy13]

8 hours ago, AJS said:

I’ll say this after and before every season. IMO, the key is for the coaching staff to project what lineup will have the highest ceiling in March and play that in October. They have not done that in the past. Favoring low ceiling experience over high ceiling youth. 
 

Edit: I really want to emphasize LOW ceiling experience. 

And by this you mean: if we see Schmaltz in a top 6 role and frequent power play minutes we are in trouble… cuz he he could be awesome as a 4th line center to give this teams lot of depth; let’s not try to turn him into something he’s not 

[LuvHockey]

20 days till the drop

[Irish]

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.  

 

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour 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.  

Whatever the causes, our program must figure it out. Some people on here have convinced themselves that winning the last game of the season in April simply doesn't matter. I respectfully disagree; it does matter. And we need to figure out what is causing these late season burnouts.

[burd]

17 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Whatever the causes, our program must figure it out. Some people on here have convinced themselves that winning the last game of the season in April simply doesn't matter. I respectfully disagree; it does matter. And we need to figure out what is causing these late season burnouts.

Interesting.  Who said it doesn’t matter?