UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Coach Blais, in a local radio interview earlier this past week, mentioned his biggest concern about this team and, boy, did last weekend make him look utterly clairvoyant.

He talked about how the guys on this team are "making one too many passes instead of shooting the puck". He characterized this trait of the team as selflessness and trying too hard from a teamwork perspective. What it looks like to me is that we have a bunch of guys that are too concerned about scoring "pretty" goals and not getting what they ought to be as a result.

We outshot DU this weekend 63-37 over the two game. And, DU, by far, by far had the higher number of real, quality scoring chances despite being outshot by a ton. We looked like our teams circa 3-5 years ago, a couple of in which we lead the NCAA in shots on goal, whereby we got tons of "shots" but not the effect one would expect from so many shots.

It is some measure of what I am talking about when our student section spent two consecutive nights screaming at our guys to shoot the puck, literally. They were chanting this! If they had heeded them, we'd have outshot them even more decisively. Even more to my point was Jim Montgomery's comments after last night's game:

"Nebraska-Omaha, I thought, was a much better team than we were, and I thought Tanner Jaillet was the first star of the game,” he said, adding that his penalty kill was also very good. “We need to be better if we’re going to have success. We can’t expect our goaltender to win us games like he did tonight.”

I think there was at least some level of BS in this because Jaillet really was only challenged seriously once, to my eye on Friday night. It's pretty easy to shut someone out when you aren't really being challenged, despite his facing 38 shots on Friday night.

Kudos to DU for making the most of the opportunities they got. They put on a clinic in this regard.

Not a good weekend for our guys.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

UNO practiced in Sioux Falls, on their way to North Dakota today, early, since the President of the United States was busy using their arena today:

https://twitter.com/UNO_Hockey/status/687391248705953792

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Take a gander at this article from City Pages in the Twin Cities, which examines the state of the Gopher hockey program (in about as unkindly a way as-is imaginable) that contains the following quote:

In more than a dozen interviews for this story, the same take emerges:

"If a kid is going to Minnesota," says one NHL scout, "concerns are openly discussed in our rooms about how it might affect his development. If one of our players is heading to say, North Dakota or UMD or [Nebraska-Omaha], we are comfortable with them going to any of those places."

http://www.citypages.com/news/what-happened-to-the-university-of-minnesota-hockey-program-7960026

Whoa.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

The President of the United States today here in Omaha at Baxter Arena. The salient parts are at the 3:20 mark and beyond:

http://www.ketv.com/news/president-obamas-full-speech-at-baxter-arena/37424366

If you had told me back in 1997 that the President of the United States would ever speak at UNO's brand spanking new hockey arena, a destination he specifically identified for the purpose of following up his last State of the Union address the day after he made it, and, a black president at that (full disclosure: I voted for the man in both '08 & in '12), congratulate them on having just gone to the Frozen 4, and speak directly to what a magnificent edifice that facility is, I'd have laughed in your face.

Several thousand people are currently in front of Baxter Arena hastily building a statue of Trev Alberts.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Preview of the series this weekend up in Grand Forks from the The Hockey Writers:

http://thehockeywriters.com/looking-ahead-uno-vs-und/

Pretty much spot on. There have been several wild & epic games featuring some crazy stuff between these two teams, particularly when you consider that the first ever meeting didn't even take place until 11-19-10 and that they have only played each other a grand total of 16 times.

The article didn't mention things like UNO's first ever victory against North Dakota, a 1-0 shut-out in which UNO scored the winning goal with 1/10th of a second remaining in the game. Another game that featured the first and only 6th attacker goal I have ever seen in a 5-3 situation, a game in which UNO also scored 5 power play goals in a single period against North Dakota (the aforementioned goal being one of them) while administering the biggest beat down of North Dakota, ever, since they moved to the Ralph. Oh, did I fail to mention that that game was the first time UNO had ever played in the Ralph as well? Or that the weekend of the only sweep in the series they mentioned, featured the first and only outdoor game ever played by either program (that weekend was an utter debacle for UNO on many levels), to say nothing of the trials and tribulations their team and their fans have had to go through just getting back to North Dakota the last two times they have been here. The game where Coach Blais was tossed for refusing to send a player to the penalty box? UNO won that game 6-3 after rallying from the 3-1 deficit they faced when Coach Blais was tossed and it featured the only hat trick ever in this series, by UNO's Josh Archibald. Just to name a few.

North Dakota week IS circled on my calendar. I am glad I was able to extra tickets to both games the weekend they come down here.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Key to the series for UNO this weekend can be somewhat summed up in this stat.

Austin Ortega has 18 game winning goals in his career. That is more goals than all but two North Dakota players have for their entire careers, total.

That line must score up there or we are in trouble. Ortega/Guentzel/Parizek had 4 points, total, last weekend between them and they all came in the 3rd period of the Saturday night game. They get shut down like that again...........................

That, and then there is the little matter of who will be in goal the next two nights because of the injury to Weninger. Ugh.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Nice read about Coach Blais and his days of yore at UND:

http://americansportsnet.com/for-dean-blais-homecoming-adds-to-major-significance-of-und-uno-series/

I think one of the reasons we have acquitted ourselves so well in Grand Forks in the 8 games we've played up there (3-4-1) is because our guys know that it means a lot to him if they show up and play well up there.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

The game tonight can summed up, thusly.

Our starting goaltender did not make the trip. And, the back-up goaltender was benched in favor of a guy that had never played in a game in his college career.

Tomorrow night is tomorrow night but tonight lent credence to my suspicions that North Dakota is at least somewhat overvalued.

Here, you have a team with a very average SOS ranking, beating up on the 26th ranked schedule in the country, that is being led by a head coach with exactly zero head coaching experience, anywhere, before his 23 games so far with North Dakota.

So, I find the postgame fan and media reaction to our game there tonight pretty odd for a team in that situation.

From Brad Schlossman at the Grand Forks Herald:

Austin Ortega finished it off in the extra session by converting on a 3-on-1 rush – one of many given up by this usually stingy defense.....................

and.............

UND (18-3-2, 9-2 National Collegiate Hockey Conference) entered the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring defense, but allowed more than one goal for the first time since Nov. 21.

In fact, in 62 minutes, 29 seconds, Nebraska Omaha piled up the same number of goals on UND and goaltender Cam Johnson that opponents had in the previous 480 minutes and 55 seconds.

Wow, no kidding, Brad. When you actually play somebody instead of beating up on inferior opponents, you might just not look so "superior" any more when you actually play a team that has roughly the same talent and skill level as your team does. To say nothing of that opponent having a head coach that forgot more about being a head coach than yours (at age 50) will ever know. Plus the Fighting Hawks were playing a team whose offense is nearly identical to that of their own--achieved while playing a more difficult schedule.

Here's a beaut from Gage Ausmus in a Bismarck Tribune article:

"We handed them the game," North Dakota defenseman Gage Ausmus said. "We outplayed them."

I read the entire UND/UNO gameday thread, postgame, at Sioux (sic) Sports and few people expressed any sort of sentiment like that. Many people there were complimentary, even.

What was a recurring theme with some, (not all), was that losing a game to us is some sort of anomaly.

North Dakota fan needs to understand that our team and your team are now essentially equals, whether they like it or not. If they want to try and make some sort of argument that they are somehow a fundamentally better team or even a program than us they can knock themselves out trying. Keep in mind that I am talking snapshots of the here and now, mind you. The past is exactly that, the past. We were both Frozen 4 teams last year and the same thing might even happen this year, who knows?

These two programs are at point where, after playing a hypothetical 50 games against each other, that series is going to be tied at something like 25 all. Get used to it. Because, until Dean Blais walks out the door, nothing is likely changing that. Considering that his job is now a destination job in college hockey, things probably won't change much, even then--unless we hire, for some goofy reason, somebody with ZERO head coaching experience, that is.

When did North Dakota hockey become a proving ground for head coaches with no experience, by the way?

And, in addition, I have no idea what the basis is for this statement about Austin Ortega at the Sioux Sports Forum:

I hate Taco. Eff him.

By one of the forum moderators, no less.

Very classy. He has the temerity to beat you (again) and that's your reaction?

I have a suggestion.

Play better.

 

[Sioux-perDrunk]

The game tonight can summed up, thusly.

Our starting goaltender did not make the trip. And, the back-up goaltender was benched in favor of a guy that had never played in a game in his college career.

Tomorrow night is tomorrow night but tonight lent credence to my suspicions that North Dakota is at least somewhat overvalued.

Here, you have a team with a very average SOS ranking, beating up on the 26th ranked schedule in the country, that is being led by a head coach with exactly zero head coaching experience, anywhere, before his 23 games so far with North Dakota.

So, I find the postgame fan and media reaction to our game there tonight pretty odd for a team in that situation.

From Brad Schlossman at the Grand Forks Herald:



and.............



Wow, no kidding, Brad. When you actually play somebody instead of beating up on inferior opponents, you might just not look so "superior" any more when you actually play a team that has roughly the same talent and skill level as your team does. To say nothing of that opponent having a head coach that forgot more about being a head coach than yours (at age 50) will ever know. Plus the Fighting Hawks were playing a team whose offense is nearly identical to that of their own--achieved while playing a more difficult schedule.

Here's a beaut from Gage Ausmus in a Bismarck Tribune article:



I read the entire UND/UNO gameday thread, postgame, at Sioux (sic) Sports and few people expressed any sort of sentiment like that. Many people there were complimentary, even.

What was a recurring theme with some, (not all), was that losing a game to us is some sort of anomaly.

North Dakota fan needs to understand that our team and your team are now essentially equals, whether they like it or not. If they want to try and make some sort of argument that they are somehow a fundamentally better team or even a program than us they can knock themselves out trying. Keep in mind that I am talking snapshots of the here and now, mind you. The past is exactly that, the past. We were both Frozen 4 teams last year and the same thing might even happen this year, who knows?

These two programs are at point where, after playing a hypothetical 50 games against each other, that series is going to be tied at something like 25 all. Get used to it. Because, until Dean Blais walks out the door, nothing is likely changing that. Considering that his job is now a destination job in college hockey, things probably won't change much, even then--unless we hire, for some goofy reason, somebody with ZERO head coaching experience, that is.

When did North Dakota hockey become a proving ground for head coaches with no experience, by the way?

And, in addition, I have no idea what the basis is for this statement about Austin Ortega at the Sioux Sports Forum:



By one of the forum moderators, no less.

Very classy. He has the temerity to beat you (again) and that's your reaction?

I have a suggestion.

Play better.

There is homer fans and then there is you buddy! Out shot but won In overtime on a play that UND made a pretty tough mistake on and you give this kind of rant. Haha nice way to try spin a heck of a game into some thing completely different. Good game tonight hoping for another one of this caliber tomorrow!!

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

The game tonight can summed up, thusly.

This "summation" was probably longer than the gamer.

North Dakota fan needs to understand that our team and your team are now essentially equals, whether they like it or not. If they want to try and make some sort of argument that they are somehow a fundamentally better team or even a program than us they can knock themselves out trying. Keep in mind that I am talking snapshots of the here and now, mind you. The past is exactly that, the past. We were both Frozen 4 teams last year and the same thing might even happen this year, who knows?

These two programs are at point where, after playing a hypothetical 50 games against each other, that series is going to be tied at something like 25 all. Get used to it. Because, until Dean Blais walks out the door, nothing is likely changing that. Considering that his job is now a destination job in college hockey, things probably won't change much, even then--unless we hire, for some goofy reason, somebody with ZERO head coaching experience, that is.

This is one of the most delusional things I have ever read.

Your team just got swept at home by a team that wasn't even in the top 16 of the PWR last weekend. UNO isn't even in the top half of the conference. They have given up more goals than they have scored in conference play. It would be one thing to say that you think UNO is as good as North Dakota this year. For today, and probably today only, you could make that case based on RPI. But to pretend that UNO is equals with North Dakota as a program is something that you might literally be the only person who believes.

Your team has made one Frozen Four, and only did so because they got to play the autobid team from Atlantic Hockey to get there. It is the only accomplishment your program has. You have one banner and are now going to act like your program is on the level of North Dakota? Omaha is now a destination job? Because they made one Frozen Four? So did RIT and Bemidji. Are those destination jobs?

 

[SCSU BlackandRed]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Equals to UND? I always know I can count on good ol' Red Cows for extensive homerism and a laugh. And a novel on how great UNO is.

You won a game in OT. Nice. You've also been swept twice in conference play this year. You're in 5th in the conference.

BTW, SCSU is ahead of you and UND in all things that matter and guess what? We are still not equal to UND as a program. You get respect by earning it. You haven't yet.

So stop already. You are out-Janning Jan.

Sincerely,

Jan

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

This "summation" was probably longer than the gamer.

This is one of the most delusional things I have ever read.

Your team just got swept at home by a team that wasn't even in the top 16 of the PWR last weekend. UNO isn't even in the top half of the conference. They have given up more goals than they have scored in conference play. It would be one thing to say that you think UNO is as good as North Dakota this year. For today, and probably today only, you could make that case based on RPI. But to pretend that UNO is equals with North Dakota as a program is something that you might literally be the only person who believes.

Your team has made one Frozen Four, and only did so because they got to play the autobid team from Atlantic Hockey to get there. It is the only accomplishment your program has. You have one banner and are now going to act like your program is on the level of North Dakota? Omaha is now a destination job? Because they made one Frozen Four? So did RIT and Bemidji. Are those destination jobs?

I have no idea what last weekend has to do with my basic fundamental statement about where these two programs are. In the FWIW category, as far as I am personally concerned, the conference race is irrelevant to me and I could care less if we win a conference titles or not. What I care about is making the NCAA tourney and winning NCAA titles. Period. And, we now play in a league that facilitates that. And, UNO is currently #3 in Pairwise on January 16th and just beat the #1 team in the nation, on the road, with a goalie in net starting and playing in his first ever collegiate game. The ship is heading in the right direction, overall, solely based on my "wants".

Show me any team that ever got to the Frozen Four by accident. We played whoever they put in front of us to get there. That's certainly not UNO's fault. Sorry if we didn't beat the "right" teams, whoever they are, to do so.

What does North Dakota have that UNO does not now have?

A beautiful, state of the art, on-campus facility in which to play and which is a huge asset to recruiting? We both have that. A fanbase that sells out all our games? That is true of both programs now that we play in a place that is more reasonably sized. Huge booster groups supporting both teams? Check. Excellent, proven head coaching? Oops! Exactly what advantage does UND enjoy over us now, or in foreseeable future? You seem to have not noticed the qualifier in my post above about what I said in my statement regarding the place(s) the two programs are currently in:

Keep in mind that I am talking snapshots of the here and now, mind you.

Obviously, UNO does not compete well with North Dakota's past. Big deal. This ain't the past and they haven't won a title since the year 2000. We are close to the point now where no player on North Dakota's team will have been alive the last time they won one. They can throw their legacy around all they want but they haven't won in something approaching a generation. In fact, approaching the same length of time we've even had a program here.

It's similar to (but not the same as) Nebraska fans here that think the program should be respected and revered by all, no matter what, because they have won 5 national championships, except, they haven't won any since 1997 and haven't played for one since 2001.

If and when Dean Blais walks off into the sunset, if you don't think there is going to be a line for his job, you are the one that is delusional. Dean Blais is one of the highest paid coaches in all of college hockey:

http://www.omaha.com/uno/new-deal-m...cle_07371eb8-cfec-5131-bf92-8f2b77f64009.html

....and the school can now afford to pay someone worthy of the job even more than that if they want to or need to.

Baxter Arena was the final piece of the program's puzzle and it was and is a complete game-changer for the hockey program here. We built an arena that compares favorably with anyone's. Is the Ralph nicer? Yup, but it isn't enough nicer that it is going be the difference it once was. Would you rather live in Omaha or Grand Forks? That's an easy one. Throw in a proven championship coach on top of that. UNO is one of the "haves" of college hockey, now, and that isn't changing anytime soon. The only real threat to that I can see on the horizon is if the wrong choice of successor to Dean Blais gets made.

We get to see if North Dakota gets off the mat tonight. Looking forward to it. If they are a great team, they'll rebound. if not, they won't. Even if we beat them tonight, that doesn't mean they couldn't end up winning a title this season (although doing it with a first year head coach makes this EXTREMELY unlikely, IMHO). This is a brutal league where it is kill or be killed. If you don't show up, every night, it will be more of the later than the former.

 

[MAVFANJEFF]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

I may have given my wife ptsd when I yelled SCORRRRRRRRRRRRE. I'm thrilled with the win. I was thinking with the present goalie situation that Kirk is never going to be #1 and at best he is a distant #2. I look for Alex to get more playing time after the Denver sweep and the win last night. It was interesting how none of the NoDak tv announcers used the term fighting hawks more than once. Even oil of olay face stumbled over her words to avoid saying it. Tonight will be fun to watch I hope.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

I may have given my wife ptsd when I yelled SCORRRRRRRRRRRRE. I'm thrilled with the win. I was thinking with the present goalie situation that Kirk is never going to be #1 and at best he is a distant #2. I look for Alex to get more playing time after the Denver sweep and the win last night. It was interesting how none of the NoDak tv announcers used the term fighting hawks more than once. Even oil of olay face stumbled over her words to avoid saying it. Tonight will be fun to watch I hope.

It's hilarious that I somehow seem to have stuck in SCSU fan's craw, of all things today, somehow, despite the fact that we put them in first place last night. They don't like what I post, I suggest they not read it. There is a handy feature here called ignore. And now, someone thinks SCSU is "ahead of us (and UND) in all things that matter", because they apparently think I care deeply, somehow, about the conference race.

The things that matter to me are:

1. Facilities
2. Recruiting
3. Coaching

You have all those boxes ticked (and, we do, now) everything else will take care of itself. Let SCSU and UND fight over pretty much meaningless (to me) conference titles if they care to. They serve little useful purpose from my vantage point. They aren't the big picture at all. And, if it were up to me, I'd eliminate conference tournies altogether. It minimizes and diminishes the regular season of whoever did win the real conference title and provides more wear and tear on your team, to say nothing of increasing the chances for injuries to occur, and makes the season even longer than it already is. You can't get into the post season on the merits of what you did during the regular season, then I say too bad. Not a fan of these in basketball or in hockey.

Even if UNO makes it to the Frozen Faceoff, I'm not wasting any of my hard earned money going up there for it. I want to end up at and be at the Regional in either Cincinnati or in St. Paul where something that actually matters to me is on the line.

I think Coach Blais knew that Blankenberg could probably not have been any worse than Thompson has been. He rolled the dice and won making a dare to be great decision. If last night is who Blankenberg really is, that has me thinking that Thompson is the one that might be disappearing from the scene next year, senior next season or not. We sure aren't going to carry 4 goalies.

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

I have no idea what last weekend has to do with my basic fundamental statement about where these two programs are.

One team is in a position to be the best team in its conference. The other looks like it is not even in the top half of teams in the conference and is in danger of playing on the road in the first round of the conference tournament. Which is important, considering losing in the first round of the conference tournament has kept you out of the NCAAs before. Also, playing Denver, UND, SCSU, and Duluth will probably lead to your second half record being not as good as your first half record. Which will affect your PWR.

In the FWIW category, as far as I am personally concerned, the conference race is irrelevant to me and I could care less if we win a conference titles or not. What I care about is making the NCAA tourney and winning NCAA titles. Period. And, we now play in a league that facilitates that.

It is easy to say that when you no longer have a shot at winning the conference race. You have one lonely piece of hardware in the history of your program. My team has 4 and I think that is kinda sad. Your team not making the NCAA tourney wasn't the fault of the CCHA. It was the fault of your AD and coach. UNO has made made the NCAA tourney 3 times in 18 years. UND has made the NCAA tourney 18 times in 18 years.

And, UNO is currently #3 in Pairwise on January 16th and just beat the #1 team in the nation, on the road, with a goalie in net starting and playing in his first ever collegiate game.

Yes, they did. That's ONE GAME. UNO has consistently folded like an accordion in the second half of seasons, so don't pen them into that spot just yet. And stay consistent with your rankings please. Use PWR for both or polls for both. Don't switch between the two to make your argument stronger.

Show me any team that ever got to the Frozen Four by accident. We played whoever they put in front of us to get there. That's certainly not UNO's fault. Sorry if we didn't beat the "right" teams, whoever they are, to do so.

It isn't UNO's fault for taking advantage of that. But you now seem to think they are a Frozen Four mainstay despite the fact that they have only made the NCAA tournament at a once-every-six-years clip.

What does North Dakota have that UNO does not now have?

A full trophy case, a bigger fanbase, better facilities, Toews, Parise, Oshie, Ed Belfour, Brock Nelson, Drew Stafford, Travis Zajac, and many other players that they can point to as players with long and successful NHL careers. You can write off the history as not being important but there is literally nothing more important. North Dakota can say "while you are here, you will be playing for one of the top teams in the country, in the top facilities in the country. You will be competing for a league title and national title every year. You will follow in the footsteps of these players that are now stars in the NHL." Dean Blais can't say that. Tell me what player chose UNO over North Dakota. Maybe one or two guys.

Obviously, UNO does not compete well with North Dakota's past. Big deal. This ain't the past and they haven't won a title since the year 2000. We are close to the point now where no player on North Dakota's team will have been alive the last time they won one. They can throw their legacy around all they want but they haven't won in something approaching a generation. In fact, approaching the same length of time we've even had a program here.

UNO HASN'T WON ANYTHING, EVER!!! Seriously.
No conference tournament titles. North Dakota has 5 since UNO went D-I. Since joining the WCHA UNO hasn't even ever made it out of the first round of the conference tournament.
No regular season titles. I don't think they have ever even finished second. North Dakota has 7 regular season titles.
UNO has 1 Frozen Four appearance since 97-98. North Dakota has 9.
Your program can't even point to one year in it's whole history that it was better than North Dakota. Not one. And now Omaha is somehow on equal footing? Dude, no one believes that but you.

It's similar to (but not the same as) Nebraska fans here that think the program should be respected and revered by all, no matter what, because they have won 5 national championships, except, they haven't won any since 1997 and haven't played for one since 2001.

Except not the same at all, because if Nebraska had played in 9 BCS bowls in that time, they still would be respected and revered by all.

If and when Dean Blais walks off into the sunset, if you don't think there is going to be a line for his job, you are the one that is delusional.

There will be a line... filled with USHL coaches and probably no that has ever won anything as a head coach in D-I college hockey.

Dean Blais is one of the highest paid coaches in all of college hockey

Yeah, because he has 2 National Titles. And even he has only been able to lead your program to 2 decent seasons in six years.

Baxter Arena was the final piece of the program's puzzle and it was and is a complete game-changer for the hockey program here. We built an arena that compares favorably with anyone's.

Yes, just look at the turbo boost a new arena gave to Bemidji, RIT and Canisius.

Would you rather live in Omaha or Grand Forks? That's an easy one.

Gun to my head? Because you would have to put a gun to my head to make me move to either of those cities. It is for 4 years. You don't have to live there for the rest of your life. I would guess that being a hockey player at UND would be a more enjoyable college experience than being a hockey player at UNO just based on their sports status to their community.

Throw in a proven championship coach on top of that. UNO is one of the "haves" of college hockey, now,

Except when it comes to trophies.

and that isn't changing anytime soon. The only real threat to that I can see on the horizon is if the wrong choice of successor to Dean Blais gets made.

Dean Blais is 64. That change might be coming sooner than you think.

We get to see if North Dakota gets off the mat tonight. Looking forward to it. If they are a great team, they'll rebound. if not, they won't. Even if we beat them tonight, that doesn't mean they couldn't end up winning a title this season (although doing it with a first year head coach makes this EXTREMELY unlikely, IMHO). This is a brutal league where it is kill or be killed.

UND should know. They have done a whole lot of killing.

 

[Dr. Sauce]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Bro. Reel it in. You're making us look bad. I'm not going to argue with you about perspective on where we land in the college hockey landscape because we're all somewhat biased. You're not doing anyone any favors by bashing respected programs and patting ours on the back. We have a long way to go, and if you're content with where we're at right now, your expectations are stuck in the last decade.

 

[MAVFANJEFF]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

It's hilarious that I somehow seem to have stuck in SCSU fan's craw, of all things today, somehow, despite the fact that we put them in first place last night. They don't like what I post, I suggest they not read it. There is a handy feature here called ignore. And now, someone thinks SCSU is "ahead of us (and UND) in all things that matter", because they apparently think I care deeply, somehow, about the conference race.

The things that matter to me are:

1. Facilities
2. Recruiting
3. Coaching

You have all those boxes ticked (and, we do, now) everything else will take care of itself. Let SCSU and UND fight over pretty much meaningless (to me) conference titles if they care to. They serve little useful purpose from my vantage point. They aren't the big picture at all. And, if it were up to me, I'd eliminate conference tournies altogether. It minimizes and diminishes the regular season of whoever did win the real conference title and provides more wear and tear on your team, to say nothing of increasing the chances for injuries to occur, and makes the season even longer than it already is. You can't get into the post season on the merits of what you did during the regular season, then I say too bad. Not a fan of these in basketball or in hockey.

Even if UNO makes it to the Frozen Faceoff, I'm not wasting any of my hard earned money going up there for it. I want to end up at and be at the Regional in either Cincinnati or in St. Paul where something that actually matters to me is on the line.

I think Coach Blais knew that Blankenberg could probably not have been any worse than Thompson has been. He rolled the dice and won making a dare to be great decision. If last night is who Blankenberg really is, that has me thinking that Thompson is the one that might be disappearing from the scene next year, senior next season or not. We sure aren't going to carry 4 goalies.

Ummm ok. What's all the uproar for anyway. We had a great game last night. That's really all that matters at this point.

 

[MAVFANJEFF]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Bro. Reel it in. You're making us look bad. I'm not going to argue with you about perspective on where we land in the college hockey landscape because we're all somewhat biased. You're not doing anyone any favors by bashing respected programs and patting ours on the back. We have a long way to go, and if you're content with where we're at right now, your expectations are stuck in the last decade.

thank you.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Bro. Reel it in. You're making us look bad. I'm not going to argue with you about perspective on where we land in the college hockey landscape because we're all somewhat biased. You're not doing anyone any favors by bashing respected programs and patting ours on the back. We have a long way to go, and if you're content with where we're at right now, your expectations are stuck in the last decade.

Where did I do any bashing of North Dakota here? By claiming that the two programs, right now, are pretty much in the same place on the hockey landscape as one another?

Heresy, I guess.

Other than questioning the wisdom of their hiring and having a head coach with ZERO head coaching experience, where or how did they get bashed? Because I had the audacity to say they are in no better place than we are right now as a program? Sorry, but I believe this is the truth, and I'm not apologizing to anybody for saying so, either.

Would I trade our past for theirs? You bet.

Would I trade our future for theirs? Nope. There isn't enough difference any more to make that a worthwhile bet.

If you think we somehow have "a long way to go" you're the one that's stuck in the past decade, not me. This would seem to imply that you're unhappy with something about our program. Pray tell, what is it?

 

[Dr. Sauce]

Re: UNO 2015-16 Season Thread: Frozen Four, New Barn, What Next?

Dude, I don't know you but I'm trying to save you and the perception of our fan base from public ridicule. Don't try to rope me into your argument because if you can't validate what everyone else has said, I'm not going to change your mind either. If you need help realizing where you're wrong, look a tipsy's post where he picks apart every line you've come up with. I shouldn't have to go to the trouble of making an account on this forum and being the 10th person to tell you how far off base you are, but let's just suffice it to say that when you're this out numbered in an informed discussion, you're probably wrong. The more you ignore the obviously valid criticism, the more credibility you lose, and whether you realize it or not, your passionate opinion's get partially projected on the rest of our fan base.
Don't take it personal. I admire your passion. I'd like to think I have it too, but I'm not going argue that one game should over ride what the bodies of work suggest. We can hang with the big boys right now. Great. No one's disputing that. What everyone is taking away from your message is that Omaha deserves more respect than they've been given. Don't be that guy. It comes off as entitled.