University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

[SJHovey]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

It's a team game, to be sure. My biggest frustrations are that defense and goal were supposed to be our strong points, and they were supposed to keep a sputtering offense in the game this season. It's been the exact opposite. The offense has scored adequate goals most nights, our biggest problem has been keeping the puck out of the net.

Defense is a team effort as well, and I think some of our young forwards haven't yet figured that out. They'll get it.

I don't think our goaltending has been outstanding, but it hasn't been entirely their fault either. I don't believe our penalty kill is clicking right now. We look a little tentative and we've given up some goals, and some important goals, while short-handed.

Hak is still experimenting with line combinations, and that always has a learning curve. And we've been a little nicked up.

I don't believe this team will seriously contend for the league title, but I do believe they will contend for home ice and a place in the NCAA's. I expect them to be a pretty tough "out" when March rolls around, and I think it will be fun to watch.

In the meantime you have to just sit back and enjoy the positives we've witnessed so far. We're really going to like having Nick Mattson around for the next few years. Ben Blood is the best pure defensive defenseman in the WCHA, and probably in the country. He is an absolute beast in our own zone, and he's even shown some inclination to step up his offensive performance. Enjoy what will probably be our last year of Danny Kristo and his talent.

We're not going to win every game. Let's just watch them develop.

[ecbrevik]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

...We're not going to win every game. Let's just watch them develop.

Didn't anyone tell you this is an internet message board? Rational clear-headed thinking isn't allowed!

[ecbrevik]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Nice to see the team come back Saturday night for the split. Minnesota should be an interesting series. And what on Earth has happened to Michigan Tech!?!?!?

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Nice to see the team come back Saturday night for the split. Minnesota should be an interesting series. And what on Earth has happened to Michigan Tech!?!?!?

health, and a new perspective

[MavHockey14]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

health, and a new perspective

The Mavericks could use some of this!!!

Huge weekend for the Sioux. A split go be huge for the confidence of this team.

[Big Papa]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

it's just hockey. Every program has losing seasons. No big deal.

[JDUBBS1280]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Thought you guys would be interested in this...

SCHEDULE UPDATE

Lucia said he is happy North Dakota is playing the Gophers at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers have played nine of the last 11 games in the series at the Ralph. That's partly because Minnesota had to travel there for a three-game, first round WCHA playoff series at the end of the 2009-10 season.

Lucia said he hopes to play North Dakota when the Gophers join the Big Ten Conference in 2014-15 and the Fighting Sioux become members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. But how often will depend on how many conference games the NCHC will play. The new conference could play up to 28 league games, he said, leaving room to schedule only six nonconference games.

He said the Gophers and the Fighting Sioux would play at Mariucci one year and at the Ralph the other in any scheduling arrangement they make after they are in different conferences.

Boston College coach Jerry York e-mailed Lucia about a fourth-year scheduling agreement. One year, the Gophers would head East and play Boston College and Boston University the same weekend, Lucia said, the next year, Boston College would play at Mariucci, then the Gophers would play at BU and BC and, in the fourth year, BU would visit the Gophers.
Lucia said the Gophers and Notre Dame have discussed playing each other, too. The Irish and Gophers*play one game, the U.S. Hall of Fame Game, in early January this season.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/132972948.html

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Thought you guys would be interested in this...

SCHEDULE UPDATE

Lucia said he is happy North Dakota is playing the Gophers at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers have played nine of the last 11 games in the series at the Ralph. That's partly because Minnesota had to travel there for a three-game, first round WCHA playoff series at the end of the 2009-10 season.

Lucia said he hopes to play North Dakota when the Gophers join the Big Ten Conference in 2014-15 and the Fighting Sioux become members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. But how often will depend on how many conference games the NCHC will play. The new conference could play up to 28 league games, he said, leaving room to schedule only six nonconference games.

He said the Gophers and the Fighting Sioux would play at Mariucci one year and at the Ralph the other in any scheduling arrangement they make after they are in different conferences.

Boston College coach Jerry York e-mailed Lucia about a fourth-year scheduling agreement. One year, the Gophers would head East and play Boston College and Boston University the same weekend, Lucia said, the next year, Boston College would play at Mariucci, then the Gophers would play at BU and BC and, in the fourth year, BU would visit the Gophers.
Lucia said the Gophers and Notre Dame have discussed playing each other, too. The Irish and Gophers*play one game, the U.S. Hall of Fame Game, in early January this season.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/132972948.html

Very interesting. I never thought Minnesota would be willing to schedule so many road games.

Now, I'm just curious what the National does for scheduling. Perhaps they will have clusters/pods of four teams that you play each team in your pod four times, and play each team in the other pod twice. That would give 20 conference games (4 games against the other 3 teams in your pod (12) + 2 games against the other 4 teams in the other pod (8)). That would allow for North Dakota to continue their rivalries with Wisconsin and Minnesota each season (sounds like both are willing to do 2 for 2s) as well as schedule BC/BU similar to how we've done it in the past (similar to how Minnesota plans on doing it in the quoted article). Of course, all this hinges on the National going to fewer than 28 conference games, which I'm not sure will happen.

[willythekid]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

The Sioux will sue
this will not change anything but the NC$$ can never have too much egg on it's face...

[Big Papa]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Big wins comin this weekend!

[MavHockey14]

The Sioux will sue
this will not change anything but the NC$$ can never have too much egg on it's face...

Never say never!

Fighting Sioux Forever!

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Well, that was a disappointing weekend. The Sioux were dominated in nearly every facet of the game, and if it were not for Dell, that could have been extremely embarrassing. We're 1-5-0 in WCHA play, including two sweeps on the road, and are 3-6-1 overall. Heading into a bye week, we're not fully healthy and our team confidence has to be quite low. It's the worst start in the Dave Hakstol era, and our worst 10 game start since the 1993-1994 season (although in '08-'09 we started 4-6-0). It's the worst WCHA start since 1975-1976, when the Sioux started off WCHA play 2-9-0 through 11 games (1-5-0 through 6). We have struggled defensively, we have virtually no scoring depth and up until this weekend our goaltending was shaky. So...why should we even watch the rest of the season?

1. Aaron Dell - The Junior goaltender showed why he was an All-American last season. This weekend he kept us in the games and nearly got a win for his efforts. If he continues this play, we will be in every game the rest of the way, and will just need to score a couple goals to start tallying W's.
2. Dave Hakstol - While every season is different, Hakstol has shown he knows how to develop a team, so that they are playing their best hockey come February and March. It may be difficult to think ahead right now, and we have to concentrate on not digging ourselves too big of a hole, but Hakstol has to be given the benefit of the doubt.
3. Ben Blood - Blood showed what he is capable of this past weekend, playing very well the entire series. This was done despite him playing an insane amount of minutes. If he can keep this up, and perhaps have his play rub off on some of our underclassmen, we could see the defense that we all thought we would have from Day 1.
4. Underclassmen - Speaking of underclassmen, we are loaded with them. While it sucks that they usually take awhile to get going, they usually do get going, especially under Hakstol. As players get more and more games under their belt, we should start to notice their play both offensively and defensively. If we do that, our scoring depth should improve.
5. Injuries - The loss of Rocco Grimaldi and Brandon O'Donnell, along with undisclosed injuries throughout the lineup, have really taken its toll on this team. With a by week coming up, hopefully the Sioux can get healthy and get back to full-strength.
6. Rocco Grimaldi - Speaking of Grimaldi, he was electric in his game on Saturday. If this is the kid that we are going to see the rest of the season, it is going to be a lot of fun watching him. He could have easily put up a hat-trick on Saturday, and made some electric moves. The biggest question becomes...what do we do about him Tebowing?
7. Schedule - Up to this point, we've played a fairly difficult schedule. Of our six losses, four have come @ Wisconsin and @ Minnesota, places that we have been swept at when we've won National Championships. The home loss to BC was difficult to watch, but it was also the first weekend of hockey, and of course...it was BC. The home loss to SCSU we dominated the game, but ran into a hot goalie. We also could have very easily won last night, and also either game @ Wisconsin. Our play hasn't been very good, but it's not like we're all that far away from winning games.
8. Powerplay - Finally, our powerplay finally started to improve, albeit slightly, by the end of the game last night. I think moving Kristo off the point improved our puck movement. The next step is to start generating solid chances.

There are a lot of reasons to still have hope and faith in this team. It's been a historic slow start for Hakstol and difficult to watch for a fan. However, I don't believe we're that far away from putting it all together. The bye week came at a perfect time IMO, and hopefully we can come out of it rejuvenated and ready to play some inspired hockey. Coming out of the bye week is a road series @ Bemdiji, a team we haven't lost to in over forty years. Two wins would bring a great deal of confidence to this team, and hopefully get us ready for a home series against CC. IMO, that should be the next bellwether series for this squad. If we can take 2+ points at home against CC, I think we'll be okay. If we fall against Bemidji then get swept at home against CC, it might be time to start thinking about next year. Anyway, I wanted to air out my feelings, so for those of you who took the time to read this, thanks, and please post your comments about what North Dakota needs to do to get back on track.

[vizoroo]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

6. Rocco Grimaldi - Speaking of Grimaldi, he was electric in his game on Saturday. If this is the kid that we are going to see the rest of the season, it is going to be a lot of fun watching him. He could have easily put up a hat-trick on Saturday, and made some electric moves. The biggest question becomes...what do we do about him Tebowing?

Is that his goal celebration?

[hockeyfollower]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

I was wondering where grimaldi was all season...what are his chances of making the usa world junior without playing that many games this year so far?

[willythekid]

Re: University of North Dakota Hockey: 2011-2012

Is that his goal celebration?

yes
*****http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/67/67292044ab7564dacf75cb8473931c90/heres_rocco_grimaldi_tebowing_after_st_ncaa_goal.j pg******