2026-27 University of North Dakota Hockey Season

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

This past year was atypical in regards to injuries. Only Zakreski missed significant time. Can't expect to be that fortunate again.

[Sweethockey]

[burd]

16 hours ago, cberkas said:

+15

If I read the chart correctly. Zellers was +3 this year and Reschny was +13.  

[beastandco]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

How can you improve this roster over last year? Put them in national title contender again.

Higher-end Top 6, while keeping the 3rd / 4th line depth. Try to match Defense / Goaltending of this past year. 

Forwards.

 I'm not saying others cannot, but right now, you know Swanson, Reschny, Zellers are Top 6 on a title contender type of guys. Potentially Simpson as an incoming FR. In the portal is Wiebusch the only one where that's a lock as a Top-line guy? Do you feel good about Magnussen sliding into 2nd line? I think of the remaining 4 spots, you need 3 of them (either portal or CHL) to be high-end. 

Defense

Need one of the remaining CHL big 3

Magnussen is rumored to UND but has not committed. I wonder if UND is waiting for Wiebusch’s decision before officially offering him. Lots of moving parts right now.

[cberkas]

3 hours ago, burd said:

+/- numbers result from a number of factors, but does that positive rating suggest that, after he got to UMich, his defensive play was not that bad?

His line mates are more 200 ft players. He was a -1 and -2 at UND and a +15 at Michigan. 41 points in 1 year vs 37 points in two years. 

[burd]

8 minutes ago, cberkas said:

His line mates are more 200 ft players. He was a -1 and -2 at UND and a +15 at Michigan. 41 points in 1 year vs 37 points in two years. 

Yeah.   Does that speak to his utilization at both schools or his willingness to play D?    Both, probably.  

[cberkas]

4 minutes ago, burd said:

Yeah.   Does that speak to his utilization at both schools or his willingness to play D?    Both, probably.  

Or even the systems they play.

I don’t think he’d put up those numbers here. I’d say he’d be in the 20’s for points if he stayed. 

[brianvf]

29 minutes ago, beastandco said:

Magnussen is rumored to UND but has not committed. I wonder if UND is waiting for Wiebusch’s decision before officially offering him. Lots of moving parts right now.

Four open forward spots right now.
Would be great to get 2-3 high end guys that can compete for roles in the top 9 and at least one older experienced guy out of the portal that can crush a lower line spot.
Similar to what Young provided to the team this year.

[beastandco]

12 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Four open forward spots right now.
Would be great to get 2-3 high end guys that can compete for roles in the top 9 and at least one older experienced guy out of the portal that can crush a lower line spot.
Similar to what Young provided to the team this year.

Wiebusch would certainly be a top line/top PP guy. I do not see any other remaining portal forwards making the top 6. Kasper Magnussen maybe but transfer from CCHA, AHA, and ECAC schools are so hit or miss.

 

[brianvf]

1 minute ago, beastandco said:

Wiebusch would certainly be a top line/top PP guy. I do not see any other remaining portal forwards making the top 6. Kasper Magnussen maybe but transfer from CCHA, AHA, and ECAC schools are so hit or miss.

 

I'd settle for Wiebusch and Ruck twins for top 9, then Magnussen for lower.  Haha. 

That would be a crazy stacked group.

[SiouxFan100]

What didn’t we have last year?

[NoDak Hockey Nation]

1 hour ago, beastandco said:

Magnussen is rumored to UND but has not committed. I wonder if UND is waiting for Wiebusch’s decision before officially offering him. Lots of moving parts right now.

They can take both of those guys. 4 open spots and I highly doubt they take more than 1 CHL commit. Balancing out the classes is most important. 
 

Magnussen is rumored to be visiting in the coming days and I wouldn’t be surprised if he commits shortly after that.

[brianvf]

Zellers - Reschny - X
Swanson - X - Simpson
Josephson - Kernan - Zakreski
Menghini - Croal - Schultz

Ex - Schultz, X, X

Wiebusch, Magnussen, Lindberg from the portal would all be good.
Ruck twins, Belchetz from CHL, also a guy like Zakreski (more unheralded) would be great for lower lines.

 

[Dustin]

36 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

What didn’t we have last year?

I'd say two things:

1) experienced D (Grad, Jr., Jr., the rest were younger)

2) true top line / finishers (No UND player was in the top 30 in the nation scoring)

[krustyklown]

2 hours ago, Sweethockey said:

To all the geniuses that post here, what does "UNFORGIVING AS THE AHL" mean?   (coming from a non-genius, I kid 😉  )

[Big Green]

6 minutes ago, Dustin said:

I'd say two things:

1) experienced D (Grad, Jr., Jr., the rest were younger)

2) true top line / finishers (No UND player was in the top 30 in the nation scoring)

Agree

As much as I liked our Depth, it was nice having a CBS Line that you can rely upon in the National Tournament.  Depth is great in the Regular season, but come Playoff time when there are more breaks its nice to have a high power line to double shift if needed.

 

[brianvf]

Imagine if Strinden could have continued his torrid goal scoring run that he had in the early/mid this season?
He was lights out for like a month there and then only scored 4 goals the entire 2nd half.

[beastandco]

34 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Zellers - Reschny - X
Swanson - X - Simpson
Josephson - Kernan - Zakreski
Menghini - Croal - Schultz

Ex - Schultz, X, X

Wiebusch, Magnussen, Lindberg from the portal would all be good.
Ruck twins, Belchetz from CHL, also a guy like Zakreski (more unheralded) would be great for lower lines.

 

I like Lindberg and Wiebusch. UND has very few right handed forwards. Brock Schultz, Ashton Schultz, and Jack Kernan are the only right handed forwards we have. Both have shown they can be productive against top competition as well.

[tnt]

42 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Zellers - Reschny - X
Swanson - X - Simpson
Josephson - Kernan - Zakreski
Menghini - Croal - Schultz

Ex - Schultz, X, X

Wiebusch, Magnussen, Lindberg from the portal would all be good.
Ruck twins, Belchetz from CHL, also a guy like Zakreski (more unheralded) would be great for lower lines.

 

What is Belchetz’s game?  With the loss of Klee and Littler, would he be a good option for some net front presence, especially on the power play?  Lost a bit of size between those two.  
 

If we can’t get the Ruck twins, I wouldn’t mind Belchetz and Command along with 2 experienced portal guys, as long as they are coming for the right reasons and add to the team culture we had this year.  With so much turnover, it is hard to know if new guys will fit in with the chemistry already built.  

[brianvf]

3 minutes ago, tnt said:

What is Belchetz’s game?  With the loss of Klee and Littler, would he be a good option for some net front presence, especially on the power play?  Lost a bit of size between those two.  

He's a big boy, for sure.
6-5 and he's still only 18yo.  Goal scorer, scores over 1/2 gpg in the OHL.
Will go top 10-15 in the draft this year.

Similar to Carels in that he follows/likes posts related to UND on socials.

[tnt]

4 minutes ago, brianvf said:

He's a big boy, for sure.
6-5 and he's still only 18yo.  Goal scorer, scores over 1/2 gpg in the OHL.
Will go top 10-15 in the draft this year.

Similar to Carels in that he follows/likes posts related to UND on socials.

Yeah, just wondering though if he would be a fit for net front, or if he would be a one-timer guy on the power play.  

[SIOUXELEVENS]

Why not both ?

[petey23]

2 hours ago, cberkas said:

Or even the systems they play.

I don’t think he’d put up those numbers here. I’d say he’d be in the 20’s for points if he stayed. 

I do remeber him hitting iron 9-10 times his freshman season and another 6-7 his sophomore season...he was a little snakebit for sure...defensively, he was usually disinterested