I’m usually the over-optimistic one but I feel like I have to manage my expectations here. If some of you are expecting a top 25 finish and home ice in the NCHC quarterfinals you do you but I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t happen. Remember we are actively on a 26 game winless streak, haven’t won an away game since 2023, and are guaranteed to go without winning a game of any kind for at least 11 straight months (October 2024-October 2025). Other NCHC teams that have had an unexpectedly fast turnaround (WMU this year, CC a couple years ago) were nowhere near as down bad as we are so I feel like it’s gonna take a little more for us than a real good roster turnover to get that good. I’m excited about the new team and certainly think we’ll do better but some of these goals just seem lofty! I’ll be extremely happy if y’all are right though😂
Bonk how do you rate our current roster?
Realistically I see us finishing 6/7 in the league. That would put us in the league playoffs for the first time in probably a decade. Need to win at least 4 of the first 6 games to start the year off in non conference. I don’t think Ferris State, RPI, and Lindenwood is out of the question to get 4 wins. If we don’t get 4 wins in those first 6 games it will be a good indicator for how the rest of the season goes.
Win at least 12 games in some fashion. Optimistically I’d love to see 15 wins but I’m not getting that hopeful.
To me, I really like the balance. Last season Noreen had to just throw bodies over the boards and couldn’t be too concerned with, say, having a mix of bigger forwards and speed guys, centers and wings, left-handed defensemen and right, stay-at-home D-men vs. puck-movers.
I haven’t seen a single one of these kids play live, but on paper I’m pretty impressed. Like you guys (and gal) likely said, it will take some time for this group to mesh, but that’s a lot easier when you have all the right parts in place.
FWIW last year was the first year that anyone was excluded from the NCHC playoffs so even though we have been the 8 seed more times than anyone wants to remember and our record in those games has been equally forgettable (1 win in 10 seasons) we have been in the league playoffs.
Sorry I meant to say “with a realistic shot to win a playoff series” was on my iPad and not laptop while typing lol
USHL finals will feature two RedHawk commits on both teams- Gadzhiev/Deputy for Muskegon and Walker/Phelan for Waterloo. Travis Lefere has also been on the Waterloo roster for the past couple weeks but hasn’t played
https://x.com/muskegonjacks/status/1918127214840680626?s=46&t=iks34uxihN5C4hJJ57kxog
7th round pick of Tampa Bay 2 years ago.
Writing about it now, but that’s pretty much a wrap for the incoming class. At least one goalie will be announced next week and possibly both.
I’m hoping (and it sounds like) at least one will be a non-freshman, which is great because I’m a big fan of Shika but I want him to have older mentors (and I’m guessing the team sees it this way too) so he’s not on an island.
Obviously that’s too many forwards so not everyone will make it to campus this fall, but there’s so much uncertainty right now from NIL to CHL kids having eligibility issues and being late to the game to teams not even knowing what the roster limit is for next season.
And obviously with this being the Wild West era, if a Gavin McKenna or a Michael Misa suddenly decided he wants to see why everyone is talking about Ohio and decides he wants to play for Miami in, say, August, no sane coach in this era is going to say ‘no’.
In short, we may not see a finalized roster for many/most Division I teams until close to the start of the school year or even later.
Appropriate he’ll be playing in Iowa, since he already has a city named for him in that state.
I’m curious as to how practices are going currently with the returning members. Noreen said in his last press conference they were going to have a spring workout “like nobody’s ever seen before”. Is that because of the awkwardness of only having a handful of players or are they getting worked hard fr?? They posted a fun video on socials today which made me think of that.
Maybe next year we’ll be really strong in 3x3/4x4/4x3 play😂 And hit an empty net every once in a while since they’re probably getting in a lot of practice with that
I’m not sure if coaches are allowed to interact with players presently. That seems to change every year though.
HockeyChica suggested it would be cool to have a skills competition before the season, like Midnight Madness for bouncyball, only, you know, hockey.
Hardest shot, accuracy, breakaways, etc.
Although other than the three of us, I’m not sure if anyone else would attend.
There used to be a cookout/BBQ before the season each year. It was well attended and everyone had fun. Fans got to meet and interact with the players. I think they only did it for like 2 seasons after they moved to the new rink. Would love to see more events to get fans involved. The blue line club used to do a lot more events.
Yeah, I remember there was one at the Knolls before the Cook and Paulazzo came in (which would have been, hmmm, 2010?).
I got a signed poster with Reilly Smith, Chris Wideman, Miele, Vogelhuber, McKenzie, and Vaive among others.
The last administration had no creativity in that area and also dealt with COVID and ensuing budget cuts.
IMO this staff, including behind-the-scenes people, will be more open to new and creative ideas.
Also, alumni weekend always seemed to be in July, and a high-profile skater or two always seemed to be getting married whichever weekend they picked, which tons of players attended in lieu of returning to Oxford.
It was almost sad to watch the last few seasons.
I know Noreen is putting an emphasis on Making Alumni Great Again, so this year it’s the middle weekend in August, when the current players are on campus. They did that one season (2012, I believe, since I remember Marc Hagel was there) and had a scrimmage with the grads, which was awesome.