2024-25 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[SuhakiYeahYeah]

Luckily Providence hasn't lost a game since they came to the Ralph 

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

15 hours ago, .357 said:

For sure it'll progress someone else's skill set, but probably at a cost. He's a difference-maker in most games he plays. Other forwards will need to go above & beyond to compensate for his absence (especially Wilke, just 1 g, 2a in 9 games so far..need more production from him pronto). If they can somehow gut out a split with DU & manage to go 6-0 against the PWR-killer teams before break ... Glass half-full for now.

 

You would think, but they were missing Berg at Cornell also, & they looked rather disjointed on Friday & made quite a few fundamental mistakes in that series. We shall see if they've learned anything since then. 

Cornell is leagues above Miami, RMU, BSU. Cornell is a team that was a goal away from the Frozen Four and lost ONE single player and replaced him with a stud freshman.  Cornell is a Frozen Four team, none of the aforementioned teams will make the tourney save a conference tournament championship.

[hockeytherapy13]

We are lucky that our 2 most challenging series through the calendar year (Denver and St Cloud) are at home so that we can dictate some of the matchups. Of course the other side of that is it hurts the pairwise more to lose home games so it may bite us hard. I'm concerned that we will drop at least one, maybe 2 games during the sequence of RMU, BSU, and Miami. It almost seems like a given that Bemidji will snag one due to them always playing us hard. They aren't that good but they are good enough to grind out a win against us and worsen our pairwise problem against the CCHA. RMU and Miami scare me because I'm not sure how mentally tough we are so those games will be a test of how well we can get dialed in and not have moments of complacency. 

[tnt]

15 minutes ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

We are lucky that our 2 most challenging series through the calendar year (Denver and St Cloud) are at home so that we can dictate some of the matchups. Of course the other side of that is it hurts the pairwise more to lose home games so it may bite us hard. I'm concerned that we will drop at least one, maybe 2 games during the sequence of RMU, BSU, and Miami. It almost seems like a given that Bemidji will snag one due to them always playing us hard. They aren't that good but they are good enough to grind out a win against us and worsen our pairwise problem against the CCHA. RMU and Miami scare me because I'm not sure how mentally tough we are so those games will be a test of how well we can get dialed in and not have moments of complacency. 

   Actually, I think we are unlucky to have those games at home while we are having injury issues.  I would rather we have the ability to make up ground if we need to later in the season by having those higher ranked teams at home.  I share your concerns that we may drop a game or two to those teams we need to be beating.  My concern is that we haven't taken advantage of the regionals we host and that if we do drop some of those games we will be behind the eight ball again in that regard.  Not getting to regionals is one thing, but then when you do get there not even making a dent is a combination they definitely need to break. 

[brianvf]

3 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

No…these are flukey. 

Yes, for sure.
Just ridiculous the injury issues this team is already facing a month into the season.
You hope that they are using up all their injuries now.

[cberkas]

This team could end up playing the first round of the NCHC Tournament on the road in St. Cloud, Western Michigan, or CC. 

[brianvf]

10 minutes ago, cberkas said:

This team could end up playing the first round of the NCHC Tournament on the road in St. Cloud, Western Michigan, or CC. 

I think this team plays first round at home.  DU is the class of the league.  Miami and UMD are at bottom.
We'll see how things stack up when we play SCSU, WMU, and CC...but from what I've watched of those teams, I think we can take points from them.

[siouxweet]

As of today this isn't a team it is a group of individuals with absolute zero chemistry.

[Kevin G]

It's almost like they're injury-riddled and missing some of their most crucial pieces. 

[SIOUXELEVENS]

14 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

As of today this isn't a team it is a group of individuals with absolute zero chemistry.

Hard to get chemistry when they swap lines every game

[brianvf]

32 minutes ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

Hard to get chemistry when they swap lines every game

Hard to keep lines intact with players dropping like flies with injuries.
Regardless, this team still hasn't found its offensive flow.  We've seen it in bursts, need it to happen for a few games in a row.  We'll see if they can do that this season.  Jury is still out on that.

[SIOUXELEVENS]

Berg is the only hard one but he is on one line three other lines don’t need to change   

[90siouxfan]

Do other programs juggle lines as much as UND?

[fargosioux]

Hypothetical question. If/when the next coaching change happens, would UND ever hire from outside? Up to this point it's always been hiring from within the UND family. But is it time to rethink that strategy? I look at a guy like Eric Lang and what he did to build with a program with extremely little resources. Seems to me a guy like that could potentially do amazing things at a program like UND.

[cberkas]

4 minutes ago, fargosioux said:

Hypothetical question. If/when the next coaching change happens, would UND ever hire from outside? Up to this point it's always been hiring from within the UND family. But is it time to rethink that strategy? I look at a guy like Eric Lang and what he did to build with a program with extremely little resources. Seems to me a guy like that could potentially do amazing things at a program like UND.

It sounds like Lang wants to stay in that area because of a family member. 

[SIOUXELEVENS]

I think you hire the best candidate regardless 

[fightingsioux4life]

14 hours ago, brianvf said:

I think this team plays first round at home.  DU is the class of the league.  Miami and UMD are at bottom.
We'll see how things stack up when we play SCSU, WMU, and CC...but from what I've watched of those teams, I think we can take points from them.

So that's what we are reduced to? Waiting for weaker opponents so we can win games and grab some league points? That's a one way ticket to perennial mediocrity. This whole athletic department is trending that way.

[SIOUXELEVENS]

#culture, Berrys such a nice guy. 

[brianvf]

19 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

So that's what we are reduced to? Waiting for weaker opponents so we can win games and grab some league points?

We’re not reduced to anything. I still think we finish top half…wouldn’t be surprised at finishing 2nd in the league. If we can get healthy…and stay healthy…2nd would be fine with me. It worked out for DU last year. 

[Godsmack]

8 minutes ago, brianvf said:

We’re not reduced to anything. I still think we finish top half…wouldn’t be surprised at finishing 2nd in the league. If we can get healthy…and stay healthy…2nd would be fine with me. It worked out for DU last year. 

I don’t know about 2nd, Western Michigan is looking pretty darn good right now. But I hope you’re right that we will finish in the top half. 

[SIOUXELEVENS]

Yes St. Cloud , cc and western could make it quite a contest for home ice. 

[siouxweet]

This is a group of individuals that lost to Augustana on home ice.  Let me repeat that lost to Augustana on home ice.  Finishing in the bottom half of the league would not be a surprising turn of events.

[fightingsioux4life]

49 minutes ago, brianvf said:

We’re not reduced to anything. I still think we finish top half…wouldn’t be surprised at finishing 2nd in the league. If we can get healthy…and stay healthy…2nd would be fine with me. It worked out for DU last year. 

I'm just very bearish on UND athletics right now. Too much mediocrity and too little concern for it.

[brianvf]

2 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I'm just very bearish on UND athletics right now. Too much mediocrity and too little concern for it.

For sure.  Hasn't been a good last couple months...years...certainly.

[.357]

26 minutes ago, brianvf said:

We’re not reduced to anything. I still think we finish top half…wouldn’t be surprised at finishing 2nd in the league. If we can get healthy…and stay healthy…2nd would be fine with me. It worked out for DU last year. 

They would first have to fix their massive inconsistency & play a sound, disciplined team-game to even get a sniff of 2nd place. Right now they look like a bunch of individuals without an identity. The team's predicament falls squarely in the lap of the coaching staff.