2025-26 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[Goon]

11 minutes ago, brianvf said:

A talk with Smaby about the 1st half for UND and looking forward:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/und-returns-from-christmas-break-putting-focus-on-ending-the-season-strong

Smaby was a great hire by Dane. 

[Smitty_6]

Zellars with 2 goals and and assist tonight! And Bobby wanted to leave him off what a shame

[sioux rube]

 

[Sodbuster]

Did Emery even play last night? I never heard his name.

[cberkas]

Just now, Sodbuster said:

Did Emery even play last night? I never heard his name.

Didn't dress

[Blackheart]

10 minutes ago, cberkas said:

Didn't dress

No love from the Motzko?

[brianvf]

Zellers proving them wrong:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/will-zellers-proves-late-addition-to-usas-roster-was-the-right-call-in-wjc-breakout-2

And this made me chuckle...it wasn't even Motzko that finally made the decision to add Zellers to the team:

Quote

“The bottom line is he was always in the mix,” USA coach Bob Motzko said. “There were some that were left off that still could’ve been at camp. … He really started to heat up on the power play, and he’s got a great stick. (Vanbiesbrouck) made the call and said, ‘I think we need to add him.’ I said, ‘Absolutely. Let’s do it.’ From Day 1, we’ve seen that stick. I said to trust the process … that’s one thing I learned to get the group you want. It was a great call that they made.”

There were rumors that McMorrow would transfer here before the season, maybe we can get him in the portal another year  :

Quote

“We started playing together in seventh grade,” McMorrow said. “He’s pretty similar to how he is now. He's super flashy and has really good hands. He has a nose for the net. We’re really good buddies off the ice, too. We golf in the summer and our parents are really good friends. Our relationship goes deeper than just me and him. Getting to play with him here and have it come full circle, it’s really special. It’s funny how life works.”

 

[brianvf]

UND up to #3 in NPI thanks to ASU's win over Dartmouth!

Moving up while not even playing, noice.    

[Tradition]

If Arizona State wins again tomorrow, Dartmouth drops to 8. If Dartmouth wins they move back up to 4. So either way UND heads into the new year 3 in NPI. Nice job team! The Fighting Sioux are back!

[tnt]

45 minutes ago, Tradition said:

If Arizona State wins again tomorrow, Dartmouth drops to 8. If Dartmouth wins they move back up to 4. So either way UND heads into the new year 3 in NPI. Nice job team! The Fighting Sioux are back!

How much would Arizona State move up if they sweep?

[cberkas]

5 minutes ago, tnt said:

How much would Arizona State move up if they sweep?

18 without doing the other games

[Blackheart]

4 hours ago, brianvf said:

UND up to #3 in NPI thanks to ASU's win over Dartmouth!

Moving up while not even playing, noice.    

Dartmouth was just a mathematical anomaly...I'm sure they'll settle into the middle of the pack.

[Blackheart]

5 hours ago, brianvf said:

UND up to #3 in NPI thanks to ASU's win over Dartmouth!

Moving up while not even playing, noice.    

So just for fun, I google what the difference was between the Pairwise ranking system and the new NPI.  When they moved to NPI this year I thought it was kinda crazy but this explanation makes sense on the surface.  Either way, it's much better than the fiasco that college football goes through every year determining who's in or out of their fake ESPN influenced playoff field.

 

The main difference is that Pairwise was a multi-step comparison system using RPI, common opponents, and head-to-head results to rank teams by wins, while the new NCAA Power Index (NPI) is a single, iterative formula (like KRACH) that combines winning percentage (25%) with a much more robust, recursive strength of schedule (75%), dropping low-value games and aiming for a more accurate, less quirky ranking by focusing on overall schedule strength rather than just common opponents. 

Pairwise (The Old System)

• Method: Compared teams head-to-head (H2H), against common opponents (CO), and via their RPI (Rating Percentage Index).
• Process: Teams earned "points" for winning these comparisons, and the team with more points "won" the comparison. Final rankings were based on the total comparisons won, with NPI (or another metric) as a tiebreaker.
• Weakness: Could produce odd results from small head-to-head wins or weak schedules, leading to controversy. 

NPI (The New System)

• Method: A single, holistic formula combining winning percentage (25%) and strength of schedule (75%).
• Strength of Schedule: Calculated recursively, similar to KRACH, by averaging the NPI of opponents, giving more weight to the overall strength of the schedule.
• Key Changes:
  • Drops low-value games: Focuses on overall strength, so bad losses don't disproportionately hurt as much, and quirky schedules matter less.
  • More accurate SOS: Replaces the old RPI's complex SOS calculation with a more direct, iterative one.
  • Quality Wins: Includes quality win bonuses and adjusted home/away/overtime weights, but within one unified index.
• Goal: To provide a fairer, less controversial picture of the best teams by emphasizing overall performance and schedule strength. 

In essence, NPI simplifies and refines the process by embedding all factors into one powerful algorithm, moving away from the sometimes confusing "comparison" ladder of Pairwise. 

[cberkas]

Until its March idc about the NPI.