Minnesota @ UND - Saturday night game thread

[Green Banner]

3 hours ago, bcblues said:

Hot goalie had as little to do with the outcome as the refs did for Minny fans last night.

It was sarcasm

[.357]

4 hours ago, JacksonW said:

First time this year an opposing team played a much more defensive system and they struggled with it. They will probably see lots more of it unless they can score first. Only a few  teams will be willing to play wide open with them.

Echoes of another team 113 mi east of GF, namely the mighty Beavers, that also like to plug up the neutral zone & who had UND's number last year.

Just like his predecessor, DJ didn't make any in-game adjustments tonight after the 1st period in an attempt to change the tempo of the game. The team was clearly struggling, but no adjustments were made for the entire 60 minutes. Call a timeout or put the Sharpie to use & start drawing up some other plans. Do something. 

It's guaranteed that other mediocre teams who don't have a lot of firepower will look at tape of tonight's game & will implement a similar strategy against UND. The onus is on DJ to find a solution to this nagging issue. If other teams have similar success like MN had tonight, it will mean that DJ & Smaby haven't successfully implemented an offensive scheme yet to deal with it.

Plus, not benching Strinden for a game or two sends the wrong message that crappy play will be tolerated. At this point, you'd think Klee couldn't do any worse. A good bet that he's more hungry & disciplined than Strinden currently is because he's desperate to crack the line-up. Benching an alt captain would definitely get every player's attention that there will be consequences for not playing at a high level.

So not huge red flags because it's very early in the year & DJ's body of work is too small with which to judge him. But the upcoming games against Clarkson, BSU & Mercyhurst (the NPI killers) will tell a story about whether DJ has left BB's old problems* behind or if they continue to haunt the team.

* lack of consequences for substandard play & an inability (or unwillingness) to make in-game adjustments

[90siouxfan]

My observation is Coach Jackson has put out the same lines for all games. Seems like a plan to promote line chemistry is in place.  Perhaps the correction Ben Strinden requires will be non game time event.  Perhaps Ben is still bag skating this morning?

[SIOUXELEVENS]

No passengers , #4 should watch this tape on not how to play D, he got beat at least 3 times clean and as an upper classman that should not happen. #21 is a head scratcher we he won the Ironman I thought he was poised for a big year and it still might be but he is struggling right know. Maybe a press box view would help. Homer needs to work on his glove 2nd and 3rd goals mishandled with his mitt. A lot of these miscues are easy fixes and 4 games in I think this team will be just fine as long as Jackson addresses some issues. 

[UND69er]

29 minutes ago, SIOUXELEVENS said:

No passengers , #4 should watch this tape on not how to play D, he got beat at least 3 times clean and as an upper classman that should not happen. #21 is a head scratcher we he won the Ironman I thought he was poised for a big year and it still might be but he is struggling right know. Maybe a press box view would help. 

Amen. Livanavage has to learn to play Defense. He's like a 5 yr old at the water park, all over the ice and he's not that good to recover. With all the coaches being former Dmen you'd think he'd be more disciplined. As much as I'm impressed with team speed and talent I'm disappointed in the chaotic playmaking last night.

[The Sicatoka]

I saw an echo of past teams that had too much fun after a Friday win. Not sharp; just off. 

[90siouxfan]

Perhaps the boys need to be sequestered at the Ralph on Friday nights 

[fightingsioux4life]

9 hours ago, .357 said:

Echoes of another team 113 mi east of GF, namely the mighty Beavers, that also like to plug up the neutral zone & who had UND's number last year.

Just like his predecessor, DJ didn't make any in-game adjustments tonight after the 1st period in an attempt to change the tempo of the game. The team was clearly struggling, but no adjustments were made for the entire 60 minutes. Call a timeout or put the Sharpie to use & start drawing up some other plans. Do something. 

It's guaranteed that other mediocre teams who don't have a lot of firepower will look at tape of tonight's game & will implement a similar strategy against UND. The onus is on DJ to find a solution to this nagging issue. If other teams have similar success like MN had tonight, it will mean that DJ & Smaby haven't successfully implemented an offensive scheme yet to deal with it.

Plus, not benching Strinden for a game or two sends the wrong message that crappy play will be tolerated. At this point, you'd think Klee couldn't do any worse. A good bet that he's more hungry & disciplined than Strinden currently is because he's desperate to crack the line-up. Benching an alt captain would definitely get every player's attention that there will be consequences for not playing at a high level.

So not huge red flags because it's very early in the year & DJ's body of work is too small with which to judge him. But the upcoming games against Clarkson, BSU & Mercyhurst (the NPI killers) will tell a story about whether DJ has left BB's old problems* behind or if they continue to haunt the team.

* lack of consequences for substandard play & an inability (or unwillingness) to make in-game adjustments

I am hearing some of the same things found on the FB threads this year (it's still Bubba Ball). 🙄 

The Goofs played a more complete and disciplined game compared to Friday night (which I fully expected) and our relatively young team wasn't ready for it. Sometimes players have to learn these lessons the hard way; telling them isn't always enough. This team is also still learning how to play together; we had a lot of turnover from last season. So I am not going to overreact to last night's debacle.

Having said that, there is no reason the coaches cannot sit players for performance reasons (Strinden) given the tremendous depth we have.

I understand that we all have PTSD after the past 5 seasons or so, but I will reserve judgement on this team for now.

[burd]

See.   I told you DJ would just be more of the same. We want Sandy.  

[fightingsioux4life]

4 minutes ago, burd said:

See.   I told you DJ would just be more of the same. We want Sandy.  

Don't get @gfhockey started on that again. 😂 

[gfhockey]

26 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Don't get @gfhockey started on that again. 😂 

I guess how many nattys does Hak Berry and Jax have compared to Sandy?

[fightingsioux4life]

Just now, gfhockey said:

I guess how many nattys does Hak Berry and Jax have compared to Sandy?

Sandy is too old now. He's close to retirement.

[Sioux90]

1 minute ago, gfhockey said:

I guess how many nattys does Hak Berry and Jax have compared to Sandy?

What makes you think that he’d even take the job? He’s never appeared to be a guy that holds onto the past. He seems pretty content. Moving on.

[burd]

21 hours ago, burd said:

See.   I told you DJ would just be more of the same. We want Sandy.  

If I thought that post was in any way serious, I’d give it a neg rep too.   😄

[Johnny Five]

Yo.....

I didn't make Friday's tilt.  Saturday....honestly I walked in the rink and didn't feel a "buzz."  Maybe I'm off on that.  Sorta felt like everyone thought UND was gonna take Friday's 3rd period and continue it into Saturday (at least I did).  Looked at my buddy after 2 periods and said..."this is not a great hockey game" and he agreed.  But that's what Bob's crew needed to do, and honestly, probably going to have too all season.  I didn't feel like Di Pasquo had to make any real difficult saves.

I was wearing maroon and gold, hardly got any sh*t talked to me all day either downtown or at the game.  Dammit, we are getting soft I guess lol.

I 100% assumed UND was going to sweep.  Another valuable lesson in college hockey, when all else fails, trust Mr. Schlossman.  Despite the Saturday result for UND, that's a damn good team and will be reckon with all season long.  Cheers.

  

[Irish]

A really tough game to watch - I was (and still am) fired up about a new attitude with our team but this game was brutal - could not solve the Gophers schemes and made no adjustments, horrible power play, goalie let in some very weak goals, and veterans playing like rookies - things need to be fixed and right fast. Strinden should have been benched before the game ended.   Extremely disappointed in how we played in a big rivalry game - We'll learn a lot about this team and staff in the next few weeks.

[Oldguy]

On 10/19/2025 at 6:54 AM, The Sicatoka said:

I saw an echo of past teams that had too much fun after a Friday win. Not sharp; just off. 

Exactly.  I was thinking "You guys look like last year's team" on Saturday.  Undisciplined, hot-and-cold, poor passing, inconsistent goaltending.

[.357]

47 minutes ago, Irish said:

A really tough game to watch - I was (and still am) fired up about a new attitude with our team but this game was brutal - could not solve the Gophers schemes and made no adjustments, horrible power play, goalie let in some very weak goals, and veterans playing like rookies - things need to be fixed and right fast. Strinden should have been benched before the game ended.   Extremely disappointed in how we played in a big rivalry game - We'll learn a lot about this team and staff in the next few weeks.

The fact that no adjustments were made after the 1st period was telling. Deja vu.

A loud & clear message needs to be sent to the entire team for poor play: dress Klee & bench Strinden next weekend. It would likely boost the 3rd line as Klee is probably jacked to get in the line-up & prove himself. The coach's first loyalty is to the team & its success, not any 1 player.

It was sunshine & lollipops for DJ while they were winning, now UND fans get to see how he handles adversity.