2026-27 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[hockeytherapy13]

5 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

On the crazy-o-meter, from zero to guano-loco, where am I if I say Croal wears the C this season. 

He's getting the C, that's my guess. Second guess would be Swanson. I'd go Croal with the C, Swanson, Reschny, and Emery get the A's

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

3 hours ago, sioux rube said:

 

Jax: Golden Horseshoe? 

Chyz: I'm on it!

[brianvf]

Gonna be a fun season.

 

[brianvf]

Gonna be a fun season, part 2.
Call out to both Zellers & Simpson in the post.

Translated:

Quote

Will Zellers - he's a joy to watch in the offensive phase. He has an incredibly quick shot, can put massive power into it, and he's improved in playmaking too  

Cooper Simpson - he has enormous raw talent and a really high ceiling

 

[.357]

Players will be reporting to campus in the next week or so. Does anyone know if they'll stay on campus straight through to the start of the season, or is this just a temporary meet-up so the players can do some team-building activities & they'll leave again after that before school starts?

Putting in Simpson as the x-factor for next year's team. The goalies, defense & bottom-six/checking lines should be fine. But to keep pace in the NPI & be a true threat in the FF, will be vital for Simpson to get untracked & be a legitimate scoring threat; providing an extra layer of scoring to offset opposing teams' focus on Zellers, Reschny & Swanson. 

He could be the difference between ties/barely winning games and 3 or 4-1 wins. Hard to be as productive as Wyttenbach was at QU last year due to the structure of the NCHC, but it would be a pleasant surprise if Simpson could put up similar numbers to A. Bump in his freshman year at WMU (14g, 22a), almost a ppg for Bump that year. With the right linemates & confidence, it's not a reach. Perhaps the coaching staff has the same expectations for him as they didn't bother bringing in another elite forward.

[cberkas]

On 7/2/2026 at 7:36 AM, burd said:

Do college players’ “advisers” have to register somewhere so that it is possible to know who is advising which players?  Not talking family here, but uncompensated professional agents, who I understand are permitted.   

There is a group that does YouTube videos that are all, and oddly enough, former NCAA goalies. One played at Mercyhurst and the other 2 played D3. 

[brianvf]

Is Carels bringing back the white skates to UND?

I remember the Hoogsteen boys rocking those back in the day. Worked out ok for the team in 97. 

[TwamleyShuffle]

1 hour ago, .357 said:

Players will be reporting to campus in the next week or so. Does anyone know if they'll stay on campus straight through to the start of the season, or is this just a temporary meet-up so the players can do some team-building activities & they'll leave again after that before school starts?

Putting in Simpson as the x-factor for next year's team. The goalies, defense & bottom-six/checking lines should be fine. But to keep pace in the NPI & be a true threat in the FF, will be vital for Simpson to get untracked & be a legitimate scoring threat; providing an extra layer of scoring to offset opposing teams' focus on Zellers, Reschny & Swanson. 

He could be the difference between ties/barely winning games and 3 or 4-1 wins. Hard to be as productive as Wyttenbach was at QU last year due to the structure of the NCHC, but it would be a pleasant surprise if Simpson could put up similar numbers to A. Bump in his freshman year at WMU (14g, 22a), almost a ppg for Bump that year. With the right linemates & confidence, it's not a reach. Perhaps the coaching staff has the same expectations for him as they didn't bother bringing in another elite forward.

Pretty sure the freshman players move in the res halls soon if they haven’t yet. They will stay till the end of that 6 week session. So to answer your question, I think the players are back for a few weeks (e.g. 6 weeks or so) and then go back home for the last few weeks before the semester starts. Though I could be wrong. I used to be a summer resident assistant and that was how things used to be

[hockeytherapy13]

2 hours ago, .357 said:

Players will be reporting to campus in the next week or so. Does anyone know if they'll stay on campus straight through to the start of the season, or is this just a temporary meet-up so the players can do some team-building activities & they'll leave again after that before school starts?

Putting in Simpson as the x-factor for next year's team. The goalies, defense & bottom-six/checking lines should be fine. But to keep pace in the NPI & be a true threat in the FF, will be vital for Simpson to get untracked & be a legitimate scoring threat; providing an extra layer of scoring to offset opposing teams' focus on Zellers, Reschny & Swanson. 

He could be the difference between ties/barely winning games and 3 or 4-1 wins. Hard to be as productive as Wyttenbach was at QU last year due to the structure of the NCHC, but it would be a pleasant surprise if Simpson could put up similar numbers to A. Bump in his freshman year at WMU (14g, 22a), almost a ppg for Bump that year. With the right linemates & confidence, it's not a reach. Perhaps the coaching staff has the same expectations for him as they didn't bother bringing in another elite forward.

Kernan will be a big offensive threat too. Guessing he will tuck 15+ goals as a top 6 guy this year 

[brianvf]

7 minutes ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

Kernan will be a big offensive threat too. Guessing he will tuck 15+ goals as a top 6 guy this year 

He sure looked good the last month of the season.  He continues that progression, he'll be a beast this year.

Hearing a lot of praise for Connor Davis too.
I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised with how a few of our FR players produce right away.  Guys like Davis, Simpson, Carels, etc will have a great chance to earn some quality minutes.
Would also love to see a SR boost from Menghini too.

[The Sicatoka]

Untracked would be to go off the rails, to go astray.

You hope he gets ‘on track’. 

[.357]

From Google...Untracked:Sports (Slang): Informal usage describing an athlete or team that finally finds their rhythm or escapes a slump.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

4 hours ago, .357 said:

Players will be reporting to campus in the next week or so. Does anyone know if they'll stay on campus straight through to the start of the season, or is this just a temporary meet-up so the players can do some team-building activities & they'll leave again after that before school starts?

Putting in Simpson as the x-factor for next year's team. The goalies, defense & bottom-six/checking lines should be fine. But to keep pace in the NPI & be a true threat in the FF, will be vital for Simpson to get untracked & be a legitimate scoring threat; providing an extra layer of scoring to offset opposing teams' focus on Zellers, Reschny & Swanson. 

He could be the difference between ties/barely winning games and 3 or 4-1 wins. Hard to be as productive as Wyttenbach was at QU last year due to the structure of the NCHC, but it would be a pleasant surprise if Simpson could put up similar numbers to A. Bump in his freshman year at WMU (14g, 22a), almost a ppg for Bump that year. With the right linemates & confidence, it's not a reach. Perhaps the coaching staff has the same expectations for him as they didn't bother bringing in another elite forward.

Simpson has to be a preseason NCHC all rookie team pick.  D will be harder to crack the rookie team but Simpson, MacKenzie and Carels should all be demonstrably impactful by Thanksgiving if not immediately. Turned on flight tracking to DC for April!

[The Sicatoka]

9 hours ago, .357 said:

From Google...Untracked:Sports (Slang): Informal usage describing an athlete or team that finally finds their rhythm or escapes a slump.

The prefix “un” means “not”. A track is the good or happy path. 

That informal usage is quite the opposite of a literal translation. Most curious. 

[hockeytherapy13]

15 hours ago, brianvf said:

He sure looked good the last month of the season.  He continues that progression, he'll be a beast this year.

Hearing a lot of praise for Connor Davis too.
I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised with how a few of our FR players produce right away.  Guys like Davis, Simpson, Carels, etc will have a great chance to earn some quality minutes.
Would also love to see a SR boost from Menghini too.

Up until 2 weeks ago I was assuming Davis was going to be riding pine a fair amount of the season but now it’s anyone’s guess. We are going to have some great college guys sitting out each night. 

[.357]

3 hours ago, hockeytherapy13 said:

Up until 2 weeks ago I was assuming Davis was going to be riding pine a fair amount of the season but now it’s anyone’s guess. We are going to have some great college guys sitting out each night. 

Ten years ago, you'd probably have quality guys like Littler, Klee & Strathmann staying all 4 years at UND. Now you'll probably have 2-3 players like them entering the portal every year because they can't get the minutes they need to develop their games. Some leaving voluntarily & some probably being pushed out. All because of the flood of talent from the CHL; it's a buffet for coaches at the top schools. UND brings in a very good batch of talent every year, but some are destined to be spit out & fed to the programs lower in the food chain, while taking their top players in return. The cycle of life in D1 hockey.

[burd]

14 hours ago, .357 said:

Ten years ago, you'd probably have quality guys like Littler, Klee & Strathmann staying all 4 years at UND. Now you'll probably have 2-3 players like them entering the portal every year because they can't get the minutes they need to develop their games. Some leaving voluntarily & some probably being pushed out. All because of the flood of talent from the CHL; it's a buffet for coaches at the top schools. UND brings in a very good batch of talent every year, but some are destined to be spit out & fed to the programs lower in the food chain, while taking their top players in return. The cycle of life in D1 hockey.

We Nodaks are used to being treated as flyover players in so many ways.  I hope we never take on an elitest air regarding college hockey.  Just tend to business and win, having as much fun as possible along the way. 

[Godsmack]

20 minutes ago, burd said:

We Nodaks are used to being treated as flyover players in so many ways.  I hope we never take on an elitest air regarding collect hockey.  Just tend to business and win, having as much fun as possible along the way. 

Last year was the first season I could recall where every team in the league was solid, even the last place team ASU. Miami seems to be on the rise and the other bottom half finishers were no pushovers. Cliche for coaches of their respective conferences to talk about how tough their leagues are from top to bottom but the NCHC really demonstrated that last year.

[LuvHockey]

90 days 21 hrs until puck drop. 

[The Sicatoka]

45 minutes ago, LuvHockey said:

90 days 21 hrs until puck drop. 

Minutes and seconds or it doesn’t count.  

[LuvHockey]

If it drops at 6:07 on Oct 3rd it will now be 90 days 12 hrs 19 minutes and 19 seconds....

[The Sicatoka]

2 hours ago, LuvHockey said:

If it drops at 6:07 on Oct 3rd it will now be 90 days 12 hrs 19 minutes and 19 seconds....

Excellent! 

[Und Princess]

3 hours ago, LuvHockey said:

If it drops at 6:07 on Oct 3rd it will now be 90 days 12 hrs 19 minutes and 19 seconds....

Awesome! Can't wait!

[petey23]

On 7/3/2026 at 9:15 AM, hockeytherapy13 said:

Gotta feel Croal is a STRONG contender to wear the C. He's the one I'm giving it to.

I told my brother a game or two into Croal's career that he would wear the "C" here

[brianvf]

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/cole-reschny-carson-carels-talk-north-dakota-at-flames-camp

Quote

"I think one more good year at North Dakota to help me develop as a player, as a person, off the ice, with my body in the gym and nutrition-wise," Reschny said about his timeline to turn pro. "That's the goal: hopefully win a national championship, then make the jump at the end of the year and hopefully get a couple (NHL) games in and get that experience."

Quote

"One thing that stands out is how close it is to home," said Carels, who grew up on a Manitoba farm. "It's only two-and-a-half hours away and that's awesome. I haven't really played that close to home in a long time. Getting family down there would be awesome. But I think it's more about the people and the organization as well. When I went down there, it felt like home. It felt like it did in Prince George. It's going to be a second home. That's what jumped out to me."

If there's ever a (slim) chance that Carels comes back for his soph season, I think it will have to do with the proximity of UND to his home/family.
He'll never have a chance to play on a team that close to home again unless he gets traded to Winnipeg at some point.