Non-UND College Hockey 2025-26

[nascar99]

14 minutes ago, cberkas said:

I don't think there is a player on BU I'd want

Ryder Ritchie & Cole Hutson would be the two I'd like. Sasha Boumedienne will be very good in a year or two, but he's just ok right now

[Dustin]

34 minutes ago, TwamleyShuffle said:

It’s a big deal for players from New England. To play your biggest rival in the garden and win this trophy for first time in a decade

Seems crazy that BC hasn’t won the Beanpot in 10 years. 

[nascar99]

Bob "Excuses" Motzko stated on his weekly show that the Gophers expected to only lose 2-3 underclassmen, not 6 after 2024-25. So we can insinuate they didn't expect to lose Moore, Chesley, Kurth, and maybe even Wood. The only two who realistically may have been coming back were Chesley and Kurth. Such bad program strategic planning in Minneapolis

[Johnny Five]

2 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Bob "Excuses" Motzko stated on his weekly show that the Gophers expected to only lose 2-3 underclassmen, not 6 after 2025-26. So we can insinuate they didn't expect to lose Moore, Chesley, Kurth, and maybe even Wood. The only two who realistically may have been coming were Chesley and Kurth. Such bad program strategic planning in Minneapolis

It certainly was an epic fail, a historic one at that.  My fan dome is...NCAA tourney or bust, and anything can happen in single elim, we all know that.  I can stomach one horses rear end season, but if it rolls into next year, peace out Robert.  

The way the NCAA is setup now, blue blood programs should be able to recover faster from recruiting losses.  Robert failed to do that this year.  His job is on the line next year.  

I've literally watched 2 games of Gopher hockey this year and one of them was in person in Grand Forks.  Completely irrelevant to me this season and it sucks.  

[ubish]

10 hours ago, Sweethockey said:

It seems crazy to even think that the goophers would want another coach from Western. They do like PJ though.

I don't know how they put up with that guy, even in our cotton bowl year, half the fans hated him.

[beastandco]

33 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Bob "Excuses" Motzko stated on his weekly show that the Gophers expected to only lose 2-3 underclassmen, not 6 after 2025-26. So we can insinuate they didn't expect to lose Moore, Chesley, Kurth, and maybe even Wood. The only two who realistically may have been coming were Chesley and Kurth. Such bad program strategic planning in Minneapolis

If anything, Bob benefited from players staying longer than expected. Rinzel and Snuggerud were first rounders in 2022 and waited 3 years to turn pro. Wood would have been a senior this year. Kurth had graduated last spring and was ready to move on. Chesley and Moore were a little surprising but they were top 40 picks that had already played 2/3 years. Losing high NHL picks after a couple of years should not sneak up on you. UND added close to 10 guys that were not previously committed or on the team last spring/summer and are a top 3 team. A comment like this would infuriate me if I was a gopher fan.

[nascar99]

Again, they need to prove it in the tournament, but Michigan State is objectively the National Championship favorite at present moment. What Nightingale has built there in 4 years is insane, turning the Spartans around from bottom of the barrel to absolute (regular season) wagon this quickly is very impressive. And they're set up extremely well going forward. If they play to their standard & Augustine holds up in net, it'll be extremely hard to beat them in the tournament 

[.357]

23 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Again, they need to prove it in the tournament, but Michigan State is objectively the National Championship favorite at present moment. What Nightingale has built there in 4 years is insane, turning the Spartans around from bottom of the barrel to absolute (regular season) wagon this quickly is very impressive. And they're set up extremely well going forward. If they play to their standard & Augustine holds up in net, it'll be extremely hard beat them in the tournament 

Besides talent, so many variables come into play in late March that make a team a champion: team peaking at the right time & playing with a strong identity, shrewd coaching, bounces, a hot goalie, being mostly injury-free. These other variables are just as important as having a stacked roster. Many years WMU & DU don't have the guns that other schools may have, but their two coaches have players who all buy into their systems & make championships possible. 

 

[Blackheart]

1 hour ago, ubish said:

I don't know how they put up with that guy, even in our cotton bowl year, half the fans hated him.

The ultimate snake oil salesman.

[nascar99]

6 minutes ago, .357 said:

Besides talent, so many variables come into play in late March that make a team a champion: team peaking at the right time & playing with a strong identity, shrewd coaching, bounces, a hot goalie, being mostly injury-free. These other variables are just as important as having a stacked roster. Many years WMU & DU don't have the guns that other schools may have, but their two coaches have players who all buy into their systems & make championships possible. 

 

Correct, although I do think Nightingale is a great Xs & Os coach who gets more out of his talent than every other coach in the B1G.

 

Denver gets so many bounces/good fortune it's nuts. I know people on here gave Schloss a hard time in 2024 when he was talking about the luck/bounces you need to win a National Championship, but he was/is right.

[nascar99]

1 hour ago, beastandco said:

If anything, Bob benefited from players staying longer than expected. Rinzel and Snuggerud were first rounders in 2022 and waited 3 years to turn pro. Wood would have been a senior this year. Kurth had graduated last spring and was ready to move on. Chesley and Moore were a little surprising but they were top 40 picks that had already played 2/3 years. Losing high NHL picks after a couple of years should not sneak up on you. UND added close to 10 guys that were not previously committed or on the team last spring/summer and are a top 3 team. A comment like this would infuriate me if I was a gopher fan.

He only got 2 years at Minnesota from Rinzel. Rinzel (June 2004, thus oldest kid in HS class of 2023), spent a year of junior in the USHL post draft, and then spent 2 years at Minnesota. Motzko has to be smart enough to know that the Blackhawks weren't going to let one of their 1st rounders get to that 4th year removed from being drafted and risk Rinzel running out the clock to August 15 UFA.

It's the exact same reason why I wasn't surprised that Jackson Blake was only at North Dakota for 2 years. Hurricanes weren't going to risk letting Blake get to the 4th year removed from the draft and then potentially losing him to UFA if he ran out the clock.

[Godsmack]

11 hours ago, Dustin said:

Seems crazy that BC hasn’t won the Beanpot in 10 years. 

Part of that can be attributed to that impressive run that Northeastern had. They won three in a row and 5 of 6 between 2018 and 2024 (I had to look these stats up on Wikipedia). A buddy of mine who’s a big Northeastern fan started calling it the Northeastern Invitational for a while. Lol 

[cberkas]

[Clark17]

3 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

It certainly was an epic fail, a historic one at that.  My fan dome is...NCAA tourney or bust, and anything can happen in single elim, we all know that.  I can stomach one horses rear end season, but if it rolls into next year, peace out Robert.  

The way the NCAA is setup now, blue blood programs should be able to recover faster from recruiting losses.  Robert failed to do that this year.  His job is on the line next year.  

I've literally watched 2 games of Gopher hockey this year and one of them was in person in Grand Forks.  Completely irrelevant to me this season and it sucks.  

Bobby 

[Clark17]

24 minutes ago, cberkas said:

F@#& him and HE

[nascar99]

4 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

It certainly was an epic fail, a historic one at that.  My fan dome is...NCAA tourney or bust, and anything can happen in single elim, we all know that.  I can stomach one horses rear end season, but if it rolls into next year, peace out Robert.  

The way the NCAA is setup now, blue blood programs should be able to recover faster from recruiting losses.  Robert failed to do that this year.  His job is on the line next year.  

I've literally watched 2 games of Gopher hockey this year and one of them was in person in Grand Forks.  Completely irrelevant to me this season and it sucks.  

Minnesota has done this to themselves when they were unwilling to go out & actively recruit CHLers once the rules changed on November 7, 2024. And then once 6 guys turned pro, Motzko only got Ludtke, Di Pasquo (thumbs up), and a D3 player from the portal, and actively chose not to go get any CHLers during the summer, instead bringing in Finn McLaughlin (USHL), who clearly wasn't ready & that was why Denver told him to go back to junior so he decommitted.

Minnesota is willing to recruit Canadian goalies, but almost never forwards or defensemen? Odd, other than the insular tribalism angle that I accuse the Gophers of. Maybe there's booster pressure to keep the roster as Minnesotan as possible, still weird to me lol

[Goon]

Let’s face it. BU lost the Beanpot because it just isn’t very good

I don't think any of us are going to be sad. 

[nascar99]

2 hours ago, cberkas said:

Let's do a somewhat deep dive on the Boston University roster:

1 superstar: Cole Hutson, and he's even playing a bit below his standards. Still elite, I'll cut him some slack

2 on paper studs who are massive underachieving: Cole Eiserman & Sacha Boisvert; Eiserman is very perimeter, no clue on why Boisvert continues to underachieve, might still be banged up:

2 upperclassmen who haven't taken a positive step: Owen McLaughlin & Jack Harvey

2 good but not great 2nd round pick freshmen going through the normal struggles: Jack Murtagh & Conrad Fondrk

1 17 year old freshman who isn't fully ready that they brought in early: Tynan Lawrence (he will be great next year)

Sophomore goalie who has taken a step back compared to last season: Mikhail Yegorov

 

The other defensemen have failed to live up to the expectations this year, Sascha Boumedienne hasn't exploded, Carter Amico was so bad through 8 games that he had to go back to junior for further development. Gavin McCarthy and Aiden Celebrini are adequate, but unspectacular IMHO, Charlie Trethewey shows flashes but is still an 18 year old freshman. Have liked Ryder Ritchie, Ben Merrill, and Jonathan Morello for the most part, but not enough guys overachieving, Pandolfo looks so exhausted or even rattled in his post game press conferences.

If your youngsters aren't elite producers off the bat, then a young team will likely struggle. I overrated their roster & Pandolfo's ability to retool things on the fly.

[brianvf]

Must be handling things "internally".   

 

[thUNDer]

4 hours ago, nascar99 said:

Correct, although I do think Nightingale is a great Xs & Os coach who gets more out of his talent than every other coach in the B1G.

Agreed, combined with their jimmy’s & Joe’s, they will be a tough out.

[TwamleyShuffle]

1 hour ago, brianvf said:

Must be handling things "internally".   

 

You mean coach saying “now don’t do that okay, okay?”

 

[.357]

3 hours ago, nascar99 said:

Let's do a somewhat deep dive on the Boston University roster:

1 superstar: Cole Hutson, and he's even playing a bit below his standards. Still elite, I'll cut him some slack

2 on paper studs who are massive underachieving: Cole Eiserman & Sacha Boisvert; Eiserman is very perimeter, no clue on why Boisvert continues to underachieve, might still be banged up:

2 upperclassmen who haven't taken a positive step: Owen McLaughlin & Jack Harvey

2 good but not great 2nd round pick freshmen going through the normal struggles: Jack Murtagh & Conrad Fondrk

1 17 year old freshman who isn't fully ready that they brought in early: Tynan Lawrence (he will be great next year)

Sophomore goalie who has taken a step back compared to last season: Mikhail Yegorov

 

The other defensemen have failed to live up to the expectations this year, Sascha Boumedienne hasn't exploded, Carter Amico was so bad through 8 games that he had to go back to junior for further development. Gavin McCarthy and Aiden Celebrini are adequate, but unspectacular IMHO, Charlie Trethewey shows flashes but is still an 18 year old freshman. Have liked Ryder Ritchie, Ben Merrill, and Jonathan Morello for the most part, but not enough guys overachieving, Pandolfo looks so exhausted or even rattled in his post game press conferences.

If your youngsters aren't elite producers off the bat, then a young team will likely struggle. I overrated their roster & Pandolfo's ability to retool things on the fly.

Many underclassmen like UND, but the difference is they're without senior studs the likes of Rickwood, James & Strinden; guys who are consistent producers and who can also provide maturity & focus for the youngsters when things aren't going their way.

Menghini will be the only senior next year, would be nice to have another senior transfer like Johannes or Rickwood to provide veteran leadership.