Frozen Four

[BearLover]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

[ithacat]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

Thanks for the correction.

[Trotsky]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Yes, this was one of the best stories in NCAA hockey of the last several years.  Great for them.  I would love to see MTU and NMU gets bites at some time, too.

And, you know, maybe us?

[BearLover]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

Thanks for the correction.

Since the pandemic, there have been four national champions. Two (Denver x2) were won with blue-chippers. Two (Quinnipiac and WMU) were won with transfers and grad students. Cornell is going to have to either improve recruiting or find a way to get more transfers if they want to make a frozen four.

[stereax]

Alex Zetterberg (BU) entered the portal, as per BU friend. Small forward who was consistently scratched for BU, but has high potential and plays the game well. Casey... get on the line.

[pjd8]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

Thanks for the correction.

Since the pandemic, there have been four national champions. Two (Denver x2) were won with blue-chippers. Two (Quinnipiac and WMU) were won with transfers and grad students. Cornell is going to have to either improve recruiting or find a way to get more transfers if they want to make a frozen four.

With the extra pandemic eligibility ending, the grad student effect should wane. The transfer effect, however, has room to grow. Maybe this is the right time to bring in a new coach, who will be focused on establishing his tenure under a new set of rules.

[upprdeck]

lets just hope the budget issues dont hurt sports even more

[adamw]

Howard won the Hobey.

I'll take Cole Hutson.

Born loser Cole Hutson got caught pressing in the o-zone, WMU took it the other way on a 2-on-1 to take a 4-2 lead. Justice for BU and their 16 draft picks, love to see it!

And with that...

...BearLover out.

Wow, watch him on the third WMU goal too, what the hell was he doing? Why is he (a defenseman) pinching on the wall off a faceoff on the wrong side of the red line in the neutral zone? Led to an immediate WMU 2x1. Somebody teach this kid to play defense.

No team with the elite select few one-and-done type players has EVER won the national championship - yet.

[adamw]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

Thanks for the correction.

Since the pandemic, there have been four national champions. Two (Denver x2) were won with blue-chippers. Two (Quinnipiac and WMU) were won with transfers and grad students. Cornell is going to have to either improve recruiting or find a way to get more transfers if they want to make a frozen four.

I really wouldn't call Denver blue chippers. No 1st and 2nd rounders. Zeev an exception, but wasn't recruited on that assumption - he sky-rocketed after his play at World Juniors.

Duluth, Denver, Western Michigan all built the same way.

[BearLover]

Good for Western Michigan. For a while, they were one and done in the NCAA's and then they go on to have this dominant season almost out of nowhere

Agreed. Probably not on most fans radar in the preseason. 5 grad students, 9 transfers...but only 6 NHL draft picks. They do have more flexibility when rebuilding a roster.

I'm seeing 8 draft picks. I don't like the teams that build through transfers and grad students. WMU is basically Quinnipiac. But I'd still rather them win than BU.

Thanks for the correction.

Since the pandemic, there have been four national champions. Two (Denver x2) were won with blue-chippers. Two (Quinnipiac and WMU) were won with transfers and grad students. Cornell is going to have to either improve recruiting or find a way to get more transfers if they want to make a frozen four.

I really wouldn't call Denver blue chippers. No 1st and 2nd rounders. Zeev an exception, but wasn't recruited on that assumption - he sky-rocketed after his play at World Juniors.

Duluth, Denver, Western Michigan all built the same way.

Looking at Denver's roster in 2022 and 2024, their lineup is loaded with draft picks (looks like 13 or more both seasons), including many in the first 2 or 3 rounds. I'd call them blue-chippers for sure. Certainly from a Cornell perspective, given we haven't recruited a draft pick in the first two rounds for 15+ years.

[BearLover]

Howard won the Hobey.

I'll take Cole Hutson.

Born loser Cole Hutson got caught pressing in the o-zone, WMU took it the other way on a 2-on-1 to take a 4-2 lead. Justice for BU and their 16 draft picks, love to see it!

And with that...

...BearLover out.

Wow, watch him on the third WMU goal too, what the hell was he doing? Why is he (a defenseman) pinching on the wall off a faceoff on the wrong side of the red line in the neutral zone? Led to an immediate WMU 2x1. Somebody teach this kid to play defense.

No team with the elite select few one-and-done type players has EVER won the national championship - yet.

I take the general point that you don't need these guys to win, but if you look at the make-up of the teams in the frozen four the last decade, there's an extremely high correlation between blue chippers and national success. If you want to argue that Denver with Z. Buium and tons of other early round draft picks isn't blue-chip, or that NoDak with Boeser and Schmaltz (both first rounders) wasn't blue-chip, well I'd argue that's a pretty narrow definition of blue-chip. Yes, these guys technically stayed two years rather than one, but again, I think that's a very narrow definition. But even giving you that, we are a couple of bounces away from the completely opposite narrative. In the past three years, finalists Minnesota, BC, and BU were very, very close to winning it all.

[adamw]

Howard won the Hobey.

I'll take Cole Hutson.

Born loser Cole Hutson got caught pressing in the o-zone, WMU took it the other way on a 2-on-1 to take a 4-2 lead. Justice for BU and their 16 draft picks, love to see it!

And with that...

...BearLover out.

Wow, watch him on the third WMU goal too, what the hell was he doing? Why is he (a defenseman) pinching on the wall off a faceoff on the wrong side of the red line in the neutral zone? Led to an immediate WMU 2x1. Somebody teach this kid to play defense.

No team with the elite select few one-and-done type players has EVER won the national championship - yet.

I take the general point that you don't need these guys to win, but if you look at the make-up of the teams in the frozen four the last decade, there's an extremely high correlation between blue chippers and national success. If you want to argue that Denver with Z. Buium and tons of other early round draft picks isn't blue-chip, or that NoDak with Boeser and Schmaltz (both first rounders) wasn't blue-chip, well I'd argue that's a pretty narrow definition of blue-chip. Yes, these guys technically stayed two years rather than one, but again, I think that's a very narrow definition. But even giving you that, we are a couple of bounces away from the completely opposite narrative. In the past three years, finalists Minnesota, BC, and BU were very, very close to winning it all.

my post about "blue chippers" and my post about "one and dones" were two different thoughts. and not related.

[BearLover]

Howard won the Hobey.

I'll take Cole Hutson.

Born loser Cole Hutson got caught pressing in the o-zone, WMU took it the other way on a 2-on-1 to take a 4-2 lead. Justice for BU and their 16 draft picks, love to see it!

And with that...

...BearLover out.

Wow, watch him on the third WMU goal too, what the hell was he doing? Why is he (a defenseman) pinching on the wall off a faceoff on the wrong side of the red line in the neutral zone? Led to an immediate WMU 2x1. Somebody teach this kid to play defense.

No team with the elite select few one-and-done type players has EVER won the national championship - yet.

I take the general point that you don't need these guys to win, but if you look at the make-up of the teams in the frozen four the last decade, there's an extremely high correlation between blue chippers and national success. If you want to argue that Denver with Z. Buium and tons of other early round draft picks isn't blue-chip, or that NoDak with Boeser and Schmaltz (both first rounders) wasn't blue-chip, well I'd argue that's a pretty narrow definition of blue-chip. Yes, these guys technically stayed two years rather than one, but again, I think that's a very narrow definition. But even giving you that, we are a couple of bounces away from the completely opposite narrative. In the past three years, finalists Minnesota, BC, and BU were very, very close to winning it all.

my post about "blue chippers" and my post about "one and dones" were two different thoughts. and not related.

ok