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Augustana @ UND (Exhibition) October 5


fightingsioux4life

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-Just so many poor choice / blind passes to nobody that killed rushes and turned it over to Augie.
-Berg had the nice PP snipe but otherwise not much
-Swanson looked good for game #1...I think he'll be a special player for 3-4 years in a UND uni
-there is offensive skill on this team, they only seemed to appear for that one 2-3 min spurt...players like OMac, Perron, James, Strinden need to up their game from last year if this team wants to still be playing in April
-TJ had an ok first game I thought...the nice breakaway save...might have wanted to control the rebound on that 1st goal better...but otherwise seemed capable

Rough first game, but hopefully this team can turn it around quick, fix some issues, and come out with some fire against Providence.

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"I just thought we were soft," UND defenseman Bennett Zmolek said. "We were losing a lot of battles. We didn't have the jump. The bench was quiet. I felt like the energy should have been up."

 

I can understand if there are a couple of passengers in a game, but what I don't get is how almost the entire team can take the night off. Most of them hadn't played competitive hockey for 6 months, you'd think they would be self-motivated enough to go out there & hustle and put on a good show for the fans. Instead, we get a snoozapalooza. The rhetoric from Berry during the week (stated a few days ago how he was impressed with the intensity during the practices) in no way matched the behavior we saw on the ice tonight. It's like someone flipped a switch causing most of the players to check out for the evening.

Kudos to Swanson for showing his teammates how a Fighting Sioux should play. Lastly, it would've been nice for Berry to call a timeout when they were down 0-2 or 0-3 & they were sputtering and going nowhere; do at least something to try & snap his guys out of their zombie state. Maybe the mood was already set for the night & it wouldn't have helped, but may as well try.

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41 minutes ago, brianvf said:

This game happened about a year ago:

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20231027/aug/den/

Augie tied DU at Magness (in a game that mattered) and even scored 5 goals on Frozen Four MVP Matt Davis.
DU's season ended up ok for them...so I have hope that UND can turn this one around as well.  ;) 

Hopefully Semptimphelter didn’t sustain the same lower-body injury that Davis did against Augie last year that kept him out the next 2 months.  I didn’t even see Hedquist in the lineup, right; is he out too then?  Not sure how comfortable I’d be with Johnson until December given the upcoming schedule.

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I've never seen a season opener that left me less optimistic about a season than this one.  Pathetic showing.

What does this remind me of?  How about a few years ago, when they were ranked top 5 pre-season, but missed the playoffs.

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4 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Lest we forget, they had to be pretty emotionally charged losing a coach. Not excusing anything on our end, but they were playing for someone's memory. Glad it didn't have any bearing on PW.

It's not so much the loss that is troubling, but the manner in which they lost. I cannot tolerate complacency. 

One or two guys not performing? Fine, sit them out the next game. But essentially the whole team, minus Swanson, can't get motivated after not playing for 6 months? If they lost 5-4 or 4-3 but at least competed hard, that's a lot easier pill to swallow. 

The team better have a Come-to-Jesus meeting this week & get their act together. The coaches & leaders have 6 days to pull their heads out of their arses. Next week's game against Providence will probably be a good indication as to how this team will do this year.

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I'll never be able to understand not getting jacked up to play in front of 11,000 people.  I get these are college kids, but come on.  That looked like a Sunday afternoon exhibition game against Manitoba coming off Christmas break.

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I really wish they would have pulled the goalie at some point within the last few minutes. At least to get some 6 on 5 practice. Thats a situation that will come about in the season and to not even take a whack at it for the sake of reps seemed like an odd coaching decision. 

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I know it's first game and I know it is an exhibition game...blah blah blah

"Tough to play against" "culture" ....blah blah blah

I know it is one game, even an exhibition game at start of the season but If I am Berry last night I stop the guys wearing the C and the A's on the way to the locker room last night and simply tell them that effort is completely unacceptable and I won't have leadership that thinks it is, the room is yours...and then I go to Bonzers and send Dane and Simpson to Joe Black's.

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12 hours ago, Oldguy said:

I've never seen a season opener that left me less optimistic about a season than this one.  Pathetic showing.

What does this remind me of?  How about a few years ago, when they were ranked top 5 pre-season, but missed the playoffs.

I’m not taking it that far. But definitely a head scratcher. You’re not supposed to get beat up first exhibition of the year by a team like augustana. You’re supposed to put on a show for the fans. 

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4 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

I’m not taking it that far. But definitely a head scratcher. You’re not supposed to get beat up first exhibition of the year by a team like augustana. You’re supposed to put on a show for the fans. 

For the home fans...

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UND looked like ACHA team was playing a NCAA D1 team. Leadership wasn’t there and that falls on Brad to have them prepared and to make in game adjustments. The whole “nothing to worry about the game didn’t count”, well that wasn’t Manitoba they were playing that was a D1 team. The effort last night is concerning. 

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13 minutes ago, cberkas said:

UND looked like ACHA team was playing a NCAA D1 team. Leadership wasn’t there and that falls on Brad to have them prepared and to make in game adjustments. The whole “nothing to worry about the game didn’t count”, well that wasn’t Manitoba they were playing that was a D1 team. The effort last night is concerning. 

Still trying to wrap my mind around how an entire team can take not just a period off, but the entire game. Zmolek said afterwards that there was no energy on the bench; this isn't March & the team can't be fatigued. It's as if they weren't motivated to play. Berry said before the game that the team had excellent practices during the week, & then POOF, 60 minutes of uninspired hockey. That's what baffles me. For whatever reason, Swanson was the only player immune from whatever was affecting the team.

A continuation of the regional last March in terms of disappearing for large chunks off time. And like you said, where are the in-game adjustments from the coach (ie, like calling a timeout) & the pep talks of the leaders when they're getting dominated? Do at least something to change the momentum. 

Providence will be the litmus test for how this team will do this year.

 

 

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On 10/5/2024 at 10:06 PM, planetearth said:

Not sure if this was mentioned on the forum or at tonight’s game, but a member of Augustana’s coaching staff, Grafton, ND native Chad Demers, recently passed away. Condolence's to the Demers family.


https://goaugie.com/news/2024/10/4/mens-hockey-augustana-mourns-the-loss-of-coach-chad-demers.aspx

 

 

 

It was announced at the Ralph, along with the passing of a handful of former Sioux guys, and there was a moment of silence.  Indeed, Augustana might have been playing for a little more tonight and some extra motivation that had then flying around the ice compared to UND.

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