Pretty much just that, and these were MY expectations for how this past season would go:

1. If you had told me at the beginning of the 2022-23 season that UNO would get home ice for the playoff round I would have told you that means that UNO had a very successful season. 
2. A problem that UNO unfortunately has had for most of its existence is the inability to get the puck out of their end of the ice and conversely problem keeping it in for extended periods of time when in the offensive zone. There were games when fortunately both of these statements weren't true and UNO won those games. I don't know if there are stats for follow-on shots but a lot of time UNO spends in the offensive zone they were passing the puck back and forth and not taking shots. If you are beating good teams that way then you keep doing it, but when it wasn't working UNO kept doing it anyway.
3. Follow on to number 2, teams that gave UNO fits seemed to have swarms of players surrounding the net before shooting and could get multiple shots off of one initial shot on goal taken from farther away.
4. The goalie situation, specifically for this season, was not the utter disaster I thought it would be. Usually it was one of the team's strengths.

I am extremely happy about this season.  they exceeded my expectations greatly.    -- I think most of my posts reflected that throughout the year.

for a team that was picked to finish 7th to finish 3rd and get home ice I call that a success.

Have to win games against the Niagara's of the world -- that continues to be a huge issue.  those bad losses can't continue and really hurt the mavs in the pairwise this year.

The big question going forward is can the mavs take it to the next level?  it's been a long time since the mavs made it out of the first round and that frozen four appearance is starting to fade from my memory.

I still question if Gabinet is the right guy to get this team over the top or are we looking at kemp 2.0 -- and his contact extension was a bit premature imo

would like to see a little more high end talent coming in instead of a team of grinders. 

On Chris's comments about recruiting... 

It's no secret that Blais basically used his Rolodex to find a number of recruits (Archibald, Zombo, and Guentzel being examples). 

While that was a shift from the "Kemp Era" (and brought us a number of NHL-caliber players), it wasn't really a sustainable model. It was built on a very specific set of circumstances — and Dean's connections. 

Recruiting the past 6 years has been different. We are seeing a number of recruits coming out of the Canadian ranks (something we saw when David Quinn and Steve Rohlik were Kemp's assistants in the early years of the program), and we'll likely see more Euro players on the roster. 

There are a number of potential advantages doing that. In most cases, the players you are dealing with didn't grow up as "fans" of, or "having a dream of playing for," certain college hockey programs (something we have seen with U.S. recruits over the years). 

With the "transfer portal" making it much easier to leave a program for another, it might pay dividends in the long run to focus on players who don't have an affinity for one NCAA program or another (example: players who grow up in Minnesota or Michigan). 

It sounds like Paul Jerrard handled a lot of the recruiting. His death — coupled with the NCAA rule change allowing an additional assistant — means Omaha has two assistant slots to fill this offseason. 

It is possible that Bennett Hambrook (who is the Director of Player Development) will get one of those spots. The real question is who gets the other spot. 

The entire staff has been Canadian in recent years (Hambrook is also from Canada). It'll be interesting to see who Coach Gabinet hires. Could it be a former teammate who is a coach/scout in hockey?

It'll be interesting to see. 

Personally speaking, I like where things are going. I think the coaching staff got a lot of mileage this season out of nine freshmen who are largely "lunch pail"-type players. I think they need to be commended for that. 

I also think they are going to take an approach (at least the next few seasons) that focuses less on the "transfer portal" for talent and more on bringing in recruits who have the right personality and work ethic to mesh well with what this staff is trying to do. 

I'm pretty excited about things going forward... :-)

Chris wrote:

Jon wrote:

Could it be a former teammate who is a coach/scout in hockey?

I can think of two names that fit that bill. Both work for the same NHL team.

Quick question for those in the know:  does uno still not offer total cost of scholarships (or whatever it's called -- i forgot)

I remember at one point UNO was the only nchc team that didn't have that.

as far as recruiting: would like to see less quebec and more ushl guys on the roster.   would like to see them try to get a couple of blue chippers as well -- and I think UNO could if they tried.

as an aside ran into mike kemp down in tampa.   always good to chat with him.