For 6 seasons now this program has either been in neutral

For 6 seasons now this program has either been in neutral
by wearendhockey (2024-01-06 20:00:02)

or in reverse. And too often it's been reverse. The effort in the second half of tonight notwithstanding. But when you are down 3-0 halfway through the 1st period, or 5-1 halfway through the game, you're probably not going to win, regardless of the effort. Yes tonight they didn't quit, but competitive division 1 NCAA athletes rarely "quit" so I don't know how much credit they deserve for doing the bare minimum.

Someone mentioned yesterday that Wisconsin wasn't even the best team we've played this year, and I would agree. A couple or three eastern teams are probably better, and I expect that Michigan State, when its all said and done will finish the regular season ahead of Wisconsin. But look at what a difference a coach has made for Wisconsin. We saw that here. 18 years ago.

But for 6 seasons now, since losing in the NCAA tournament final to what was probably the least impressive champion since Michigan State entered the 1966 post-season with a losing record, we have been stuck in the mud. Sometimes over the last couple of seasons it literally looks like the Irish have been skating in mud.

I don't know, maybe the team will realize something positive after scoring as many goals over 19 minutes of the first and second periods tonight as they usually see all weekend. Or maybe they will travel to Columbus next weekend, play like hot garbage, and hand Ohio State their first real league wins. What I do know is this program has been puttering around in neutral for too long now. I also know I have no confidence in the current iteration of their athletic department to right the ship with any program, let alone one that falls as number 4 in the pecking order. They see boxscores with 5000 people showing up and one of the true elder statesmen of the sport behind the bench and I'm sure the powers that be think everything is A-OK. All the while the program is heading towards the kind of irrelevance we put up with for the first 40 years of the program.

It’s time for Jackson to go.

As a townie who has followed ND hockey since the Ric Schafer days, I’m grateful for what he’s done for the program. But the Frozen Four seems like ages ago. It’s not coming back under this coach.

Tough to disagree with any of this *

I know I may be beating a dead horse but high-end talent

that we lack makes a difference. Mike Hastings is a great coach and I always hoped he'd replace JJ when he retires, but he inherited 13 NHL draft picks and it shows on the ice. We played against just about everyone on Team USA and that roster is full of game changers that we lack. Danny Nelson is an excellent player but he was on the 4th line. Aside from this freshman class which I have high hopes for, we have come up short in recruiting the last several years on a consistent basis. Our back end which is a turnover machine, needs a serious upgrade in talent of the likes of an Andrew Peake or Spencer Stastney.

I agree the talent is short and that is making a difference.

An NCAA team doesn't necessarily need to be fully stocked with guys who would be top-6 NHL forwards. It's OK if we don't have a bunch of guys who will score 40 or 50 goals in an NHL season. But what we DO need are players who can score 15-18 goals in an NCAA season, and maybe even 20. 2017 was the last time we had a 20 goal scorer (we had 2) and since then, 78 times someone has netted 20 goals, including a couple of seasons shortened due to covid. We also need a couple of players who can consistently score a point per game. Right now the B1G has almost 20 skaters who average a point per game or more. How many of them skate for Notre Dame? Don't bother looking, it's none. We've managed to have 1 player in the last 6 seasons reach 1 point per game.

Our recruiting hasn't panned out for years. Or the coaching hasn't developed them into effective offensive players. It's one or the other. Or it's both.