Non-UND College Hockey 2025-26

[cberkas]

 

[RedFrog]

33 minutes ago, cberkas said:

 

What the hell, when did 2008 to 2011 become "way back"??

[Godsmack]

18 hours ago, Goon said:

Carle handed Wodon his ass. It wasn't even a fair fight. I believe that for Wodon it boils down to his beloved Cornel not having to go to a home regional against a school with a loud, packed arena. If you go back to 2005 Minnesota hosted a regional and Cornel was pissed they had to at Marriuci Arena. Obviously, Cornel lost in OT. 

Is it me or did Woden seem awfully evasive (and a tad defensive) when Carle pressed him to provide specifics backing his position on the whole home site issue? Carle handed him his lunch, IMO. 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

20 hours ago, Goon said:

Carle handed Wodon his ass. It wasn't even a fair fight. I believe that for Wodon it boils down to his beloved Cornel not having to go to a home regional against a school with a loud, packed arena. If you go back to 2005 Minnesota hosted a regional and Cornel was pissed they had to at Marriuci Arena. Obviously, Cornel lost in OT. 

https://www.uscho.com/recaps/2005/03/27/waiting-it-out-gophers-top-cornell-in-ot-for-berth-in-columbus/

[Goon]

2 hours ago, Godsmack said:

Is it me or did Woden seem awfully evasive (and a tad defensive) when Carle pressed him to provide specifics backing his position on the whole home site issue? Carle handed him his lunch, IMO. 

Worrying about 8, 9, 10 seeds isn't a reason to hold the rest of us hostage. Carle’s response, win more games. (I am paraphrasing). But he's right. 

[Blackheart]

5 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

https://www.uscho.com/recaps/2005/03/27/waiting-it-out-gophers-top-cornell-in-ot-for-berth-in-columbus/

Well, without the Gofer win against Cornell there wouldn't have been a Frozen Four semi between the Sioux and Minny...and I'm always in for a 4-2 win against the Rodents.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

15 hours ago, Godsmack said:

Is it me or did Woden seem awfully evasive (and a tad defensive) when Carle pressed him to provide specifics backing his position on the whole home site issue? Carle handed him his lunch, IMO. 

Evasive is a great way to describe it

[Benny Baker]

On 6/8/2025 at 11:18 PM, brianvf said:

But he keeps bringing up his Cornell education?    

Adam Wodon attended Ithaca College, no?  I know its close to Cornell, but this isn't horseshoes . . . .

[cberkas]

 

[MGsioux]

22 hours ago, Godsmack said:

Is it me or did Woden seem awfully evasive (and a tad defensive) when Carle pressed him to provide specifics backing his position on the whole home site issue? Carle handed him his lunch, IMO. 

I just listened to this and your right Carle is just wicked smart and direct.  Not a fan of Denver but wow is Carle good for college hockey. 

[cberkas]

Had one year left, health is more important

[petey23]

On 6/12/2025 at 11:48 PM, Blackheart said:

Well, without the Gofer win against Cornell there wouldn't have been a Frozen Four semi between the Sioux and Minny...and I'm always in for a 4-2 win against the Rodents.

We call that the "Tap Out" game. As the game went on when UND's forwards would dump the puck at the blue line the Gopher defensemen were basically saying "no 'mas, take it" a little ways into the 3rd period.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Minnesota announced a hockey-specific NIL. If Motzko wasn't in over his head that would have happened sooner!

[hockey1]

1 hour ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Minnesota announced a hockey-specific NIL. If Motzko wasn't in over his head that would have happened sooner!

Why do you think Motzko is over his head as the head coach of Minnesota?

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

7 hours ago, hockey1 said:

Why do you think Motzko is over his head as the head coach of Minnesota?

It's kinda tongue in cheek on my part. We hold coaches to a high standard on this forum!

[Und Princess]

4 minutes ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

It's kinda tongue on cheek on my part. We hold coaches to a high standard on this forum!

So do I. @AlphaMikeFoxtrot 

[nascar99]

2 hours ago, hockey1 said:

Why do you think Motzko is over his head as the head coach of Minnesota?

He's getting up there in age, is used to how NCAA Hockey & Gophers Hockey have always been, and thus is slow to adapt to change. This is very apparent in the lack of CHL recruiting from the Goofers, more impactful because they lost ~65% of their total points produced from last season due to guys turning pro &/or graduation. Motzko has had a pretty bad calendar year of recruiting, where his only 3 new commits are Mason Moe (very solid), Tate Pritchard (Minnesota State decommit, older, projected middle 6 depth), and Finn McLaughlin (Denver decommit, decent but unspectacular defenseman). Motzko hasn't gotten a single 2008 born commit yet, which is wild for a blue blood IMHO. They have a solid incoming class of freshmen, but they're likely a bubble team in the Pairwise as of now for 2025-26.

[tnt]

11 hours ago, nascar99 said:

He's getting up there in age, is used to how NCAA Hockey & Gophers Hockey have always been, and thus is slow to adapt to change. This is very apparent in the lack of CHL recruiting from the Goofers, more impactful because they lost ~65% of their total points produced from last season due to guys turning pro &/or graduation. Motzko has had a pretty bad calendar year of recruiting, where his only 3 new commits are Mason Moe (very solid), Tate Pritchard (Minnesota State decommit, older, projected middle 6 depth), and Finn McLaughlin (Denver decommit, decent but unspectacular defenseman). Motzko hasn't gotten a single 2008 born commit yet, which is wild for a blue blood IMHO. They have a solid incoming class of freshmen, but they're likely a bubble team in the Pairwise as of now for 2025-26.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota add a CHL guy after the draft.  Remember, we weren’t supposed to be able to get any elite guys either.  Could be some stuff going on behind the scenes.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

6 minutes ago, tnt said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota add a CHL guy after the draft.  Remember, we weren’t supposed to be able to get any elite guys either.  Could be some stuff going on behind the scenes.

They don't even have any smoke on a CHL blue chip though. He may not have a roster full of Edina divas and alumni's offspring, but his roster management isn't nearly as strong as is was when he was recruiting to the concrete palace.

His tenure would be viewed differently if Cooley hadn't taken one of the more ill advised penalties in college hockey history, but as of now all he's done is get them back to status quo after Lucia left it in worse shape than he found it.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

11 hours ago, nascar99 said:

He's getting up there in age, is used to how NCAA Hockey & Gophers Hockey have always been, and thus is slow to adapt to change. This is very apparent in the lack of CHL recruiting from the Goofers, more impactful because they lost ~65% of their total points produced from last season due to guys turning pro &/or graduation. Motzko has had a pretty bad calendar year of recruiting, where his only 3 new commits are Mason Moe (very solid), Tate Pritchard (Minnesota State decommit, older, projected middle 6 depth), and Finn McLaughlin (Denver decommit, decent but unspectacular defenseman). Motzko hasn't gotten a single 2008 born commit yet, which is wild for a blue blood IMHO. They have a solid incoming class of freshmen, but they're likely a bubble team in the Pairwise as of now for 2025-26.

It will never fail to amuse me how they recruited someone that another school thought wasn't ready for college hockey.

[beastandco]

13 minutes ago, tnt said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota add a CHL guy after the draft.  Remember, we weren’t supposed to be able to get any elite guys either.  Could be some stuff going on behind the scenes.

They have recently deferred a forward. He is projected to barely get drafted this year. They now have two forward spots open. This is like us deferring O’Neill, I wouldn’t read into it much. 
 

I just don’t think they have much to attract a CHL kid. Their defensive core is very weak. Their best defenseman would be third pair on UND. Their forwards are currently decent, at best.i just don’t see a stud committing to the gophers to play with Ziemer and Lamb on the first line.

They also have zero connections to the CHL. Even before Reschny and Verhoeff, UND had ties to Western Canada. They will eventually adapt; but this year might be a tough one for the gophers. 

[nascar99]

56 minutes ago, tnt said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota add a CHL guy after the draft.  Remember, we weren’t supposed to be able to get any elite guys either.  Could be some stuff going on behind the scenes.

As @beastandco said (& I've said many times), Minnesota has no real pipeline of connections across minor hockey & major junior hockey in Canada. They've never been in on the first time recruit blue chip Canadians (Wood only transferred there because his dad was a Gophers women's assistant back in the day), Kris Chucko being the only exception and that was in the early/mid 2000s. I would be very surprised if Motzko lands Lakovic (who does follow the Goofers on Instagram), Schmidt, Kindel, Behm, Ravensbergen, Cootes, etc.

And because Minnesota rarely recruits Canadians (overage goalies being the exception), these guys almost never think about the prospect of going there. Which results in Motzko thinking recruiting them is a waste of time, thus creating a self fulfilling loop there. They'll probably adjust and recruit Canadian CHLers a bit better in the future, but then that'll piss off their fans who still want a 90%+ Minnesotan roster, which will be hilarious.

[SIOUXFAN97]

15 hours ago, hockey1 said:

Why do you think Motzko is over his head as the head coach of Minnesota?

yes...i think he is

[cberkas]

 

[tnt]

7 hours ago, beastandco said:

They have recently deferred a forward. He is projected to barely get drafted this year. They now have two forward spots open. This is like us deferring O’Neill, I wouldn’t read into it much. 
 

I just don’t think they have much to attract a CHL kid. Their defensive core is very weak. Their best defenseman would be third pair on UND. Their forwards are currently decent, at best.i just don’t see a stud committing to the gophers to play with Ziemer and Lamb on the first line.

They also have zero connections to the CHL. Even before Reschny and Verhoeff, UND had ties to Western Canada. They will eventually adapt; but this year might be a tough one for the gophers. 

So, we have gone from them outshining us for the past three or four years, to them being terrible so why would anyone commit there?  Wasn’t it just a few months ago people were wondering if we could get any studs to commit here anymore with our track record.  Say what you want, but Motzko’s path has been very similar to Hakstol’s, just hasn’t been able to win the big one.