Non-UND College Hockey 2025-26

[Blackheart]

15 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Especially with a fanbase that so often acts like any non-Minnesotan player is somehow worse than every Minnesotan & talks s*** about Canada/Canadian players.

Their fanbase was otherwise pre-occupied last night with only a sparse gathering to watch the loss to BC.

[nascar99]

2 minutes ago, cberkas said:

Can Minnesota and BC go back to being American only again? 

Minnesota was almost exclusively Minnesotan only for a couple decades (with the exception of Frank Pietrangelo & a few others) after CHLers became ineligible in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Minnesota begged for that ruling too.

 

Boston College has usually been American only until recently, although their 2001 National Championship over North Dakota was directly because of 2 Canadians that UND should have gotten (Krys Kolanos & Chuck Kobasew).

[tnt]

40 minutes ago, beastandco said:

That’s definitely a possibility, UND has not played yet and the gophers have time to get better.

I just think Minnesota could have used a couple CHL contributors. UND didn’t really have a choice whether or not to dip into the CHL with their departures up front. Minnesota had the choice but decided to stick to their guys.

 

…and we have yet to see how any of this plays out.  How many CHL guys are going to be team guys when adversity strikes and they don’t have ties to the program they chose?  A highly regarded prospect is good whether they come from the CHL or not, and Minnesota has a ton of draft picks on their team and in the pipeline.  I would bet Motzko will entertain CHL players if they can get players that would be bigger impacts than local guys.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, nascar99 said:

I also wonder if there is real external/internal pressure to keep the Gophers roster as Minnesotan as possible. Would guess there isn't a quota (they've added more non Minnesotans over the past 5 years, especially in net), but with what you know, read, & hear from Gophers fans, they're not exactly welcoming to Canadians.

This "All Minnesota, All Hail To Thee, Pride on Ice" nonsense has been an albatross around their necks for years.

Not that I mind the results! 

[Godsmack]

During CC’s formative years 1996-2011) they picked up a ton of local Minnesota talent. Seems there was such an abundant supply of talent, Minnesota couldn’t monopolize them all. UND, Wisconsin, Duluth, and many others benefited from this. Haviland got away from recruiting Minnesota and the result showed. 

[nascar99]

1 hour ago, tnt said:

…and we have yet to see how any of this plays out.  How many CHL guys are going to be team guys when adversity strikes and they don’t have ties to the program they chose?  A highly regarded prospect is good whether they come from the CHL or not, and Minnesota has a ton of draft picks on their team and in the pipeline.  I would bet Motzko will entertain CHL players if they can get players that would be bigger impacts than local guys.

We have to remember that CHLers are not a monolith. Gavin McKenna & Porter Martone ≠ Calem Mangone, Oliver Tulk, Luke Woodworth, Sam Oliver, etc just because they played in the CHL. People (mostly Minnesota fans) act like CHLers are immature divas who only care about themselves & will leave at the moment's notice of adversity. Newsflash, most CHLers are middle tier or higher end lower tier players that have a lot in common with guys who came out of the USHL, except (Canadian) CHLers typically have more offensive skill. 

We can't act like the highly publicized top tier represents the entire group. Cole Reschny and Josh Zakreski aren't that similar despite both coming out of the Dub.

[Johnny Five]

MN fan here - calm down I'm not a moron all the way through, I have a kid going to UND right now.

The "minnesota only" players is a thing of the past.  Much like the UND is "25 year old canadian" BS that gets throw around (that's Quinnipiac, Mankato and Wisconsin now....this is sarcasm)  Back when Bemidji, Mankato, SCSU were basically irrelevent and St. Thomas didn't exist, it Wooger could pull it off - ahhhhh the good old days.    

I don't think there's pressure to keep it local, so to speak, but when you have the best HS hockey in the country and all the skill possible obviously that's what you want to focus on that first.  No different than Jackson pickup up Grubb from his own backyard, for example.  Everyone knew this team was gonna take a step back, but I like where the pipeline is headed and UND has built a hell of a pipeline as well.  Bob not touching the Canadians drives me a bit bonkers for this year, and he hasn't been quite as active in the portal as a lot of programs....seemed like he was OK having a "down" year this year and ramping it back up.  Seems asinine for any blue blood program to do that, or any program for that matter, but everyone could see it. 

I have no clue why UMN was pre-season rated so high.  Last night was about what I expected....not going to comment on Saturday against Tech that was one of the worst Gopher performances I've ever seen lol.  They're just sloppy as sh*t right now.  Look like a PeeWee team who cannot go tape to tape, and when they had scoring chances - Jimmy Clark could've had 3 in the second last night he was snake bit - they missed em.  Didn't mind Airey in the pipes though.

Regardless.....I'll be at the Ralph next Saturday I'm not afraid of boozing with good hockey fans.

 

 

 

[nascar99]

20 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

MN fan here - calm down I'm not a moron all the way through, I have a kid going to UND right now.

The "minnesota only" players is a thing of the past.  Much like the UND is "25 year old canadian" BS that gets throw around (that's Quinnipiac, Mankato and Wisconsin now....this is sarcasm)  Back when Bemidji, Mankato, SCSU were basically irrelevent and St. Thomas didn't exist, it Wooger could pull it off - ahhhhh the good old days.    

I don't think there's pressure to keep it local, so to speak, but when you have the best HS hockey in the country and all the skill possible obviously that's what you want to focus on that first.  No different than Jackson pickup up Grubb from his own backyard, for example.  Everyone knew this team was gonna take a step back, but I like where the pipeline is headed and UND has built a hell of a pipeline as well.  Bob not touching the Canadians drives me a bit bonkers for this year, and he hasn't been quite as active in the portal as a lot of programs....seemed like he was OK having a "down" year this year and ramping it back up.  Seems asinine for any blue blood program to do that, or any program for that matter, but everyone could see it. 

I have no clue why UMN was pre-season rated so high.  Last night was about what I expected....not going to comment on Saturday against Tech that was one of the worst Gopher performances I've ever seen lol.  They're just sloppy as sh*t right now.  Look like a PeeWee team who cannot go tape to tape, and when they had scoring chances - Jimmy Clark could've had 3 in the second last night he was snake bit - they missed em.  Didn't mind Airey in the pipes though.

Regardless.....I'll be at the Ralph next Saturday I'm not afraid of boozing with good hockey fans.

 

 

 

Motzko brought in a meh Canadian USHLer late this summer, Finn McLaughlin (technically a dual citizen who has played for the States internationally, but played most of his minor hockey in Canada & grew up there, so he's Canadian). He completely ignored bringing in higher end CHLers in favor of "my recruits are good enough". It's a laughable strategy when the only higher end producer in the Gophers recruiting class was LJ Mooney (non Minnesotan!).

[Username Taken]

After last season I’m a UND fan first and a fan of any NCHC team playing a non-conference team second. Yes, even Denver. 

[sioux rube]

50 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

MN fan here - calm down I'm not a moron all the way through, I have a kid going to UND right now.

The "minnesota only" players is a thing of the past.  Much like the UND is "25 year old canadian" BS that gets throw around (that's Quinnipiac, Mankato and Wisconsin now....this is sarcasm)  Back when Bemidji, Mankato, SCSU were basically irrelevent and St. Thomas didn't exist, it Wooger could pull it off - ahhhhh the good old days.    

I don't think there's pressure to keep it local, so to speak, but when you have the best HS hockey in the country and all the skill possible obviously that's what you want to focus on that first.  No different than Jackson pickup up Grubb from his own backyard, for example.  Everyone knew this team was gonna take a step back, but I like where the pipeline is headed and UND has built a hell of a pipeline as well.  Bob not touching the Canadians drives me a bit bonkers for this year, and he hasn't been quite as active in the portal as a lot of programs....seemed like he was OK having a "down" year this year and ramping it back up.  Seems asinine for any blue blood program to do that, or any program for that matter, but everyone could see it. 

I have no clue why UMN was pre-season rated so high.  Last night was about what I expected....not going to comment on Saturday against Tech that was one of the worst Gopher performances I've ever seen lol.  They're just sloppy as sh*t right now.  Look like a PeeWee team who cannot go tape to tape, and when they had scoring chances - Jimmy Clark could've had 3 in the second last night he was snake bit - they missed em.  Didn't mind Airey in the pipes though.

Regardless.....I'll be at the Ralph next Saturday I'm not afraid of boozing with good hockey fans.

 

 

 

Look me up. I’ll have a beverage with ya buddy 

[beastandco]

38 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Motzko brought in a meh Canadian USHLer late this summer, Finn McLaughlin (technically a dual citizen who has played for the States internationally, but played most of his minor hockey in Canada & grew up there, so he's Canadian). He completely ignored bringing in higher end CHLers in favor of "my recruits are good enough". It's a laughable strategy when the only higher end producer in the Gophers recruiting class was LJ Mooney (non Minnesotan!).

The recruits that contacted Bob about coming to Minnesota were likely no better than what they already had. I’m sure Bob had caught wind of how much it costed to get the blue chip CHLers and opted to save the money.

The fact that they brought in McLaughlin, Pritchard, and the division 3 transfer over any CHL player is odd. Pritchard and McLaughlin are fine recruits but I would think he would want to start to build relationships with players and programs in Canada because the CHL is not going anywhere. I just think having a McKenna, Verhoeff, or Martone is so big for future recruiting.

[Godsmack]

I’m going to the CC/Bentley game tonight. Bentley lost their stud goalie, Connor Hasley, who had a really good season last year. He transferred to ASU. Bentley put a scare in the number one overall seed Boston College last March in the regionals. 

[nascar99]

2 minutes ago, beastandco said:

The recruits that contacted Bob about coming to Minnesota were likely no better than what they already had. I’m sure Bob had caught wind of how much it costed to get the blue chip CHLers and opted to save the money.

The fact that they brought in McLaughlin, Pritchard, and the division 3 transfer over any CHL player is odd. Pritchard and McLaughlin are fine recruits but I would think he would want to start to build relationships with players and programs in Canada because the CHL is not going anywhere. I just think having a McKenna, Verhoeff, or Martone is so big for future recruiting.

My hypothesis is that once the NCAA made the ruling allowing in early November, Motzko didn't start aggressively building relationships with CHL organizations' GMs & coaches as well as minor hockey coaches throughout Canada. And the problem was he didn't or barely had any connections/relationships in Canadian minor & major junior hockey due to the fact that he's never really recruited high end Canadians. All of this put the Gophers behind the 8 ball and then Motzko decided to just stick with his recruiting class for some odd reason.