2026 Off-season

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Just a crappy way to end the season. So who stays, who portals in, who portals out, who signs?

[mbenecke]

I think we’re running it back for the most part and making a run to the NCAA tournament in 2027.

[jpfalcon09]

I'll reserve any judgment for next season until October. All I know is not even winning a playoff game should be unacceptable to everyone associated with the program. Feels like a step back compared to last year's team which was one that squeezed out every ounce it could until it was eliminated.

Until this program can get better individual talent, consistency at even strength, and staying out of the damn penalty box they aren't going to win anything.

[BGhockeyfan94]

You have to think a handful of CHL kids will leave. How many people do we have coming in vs graduating?

[AZIce]

I felt like the season took a turn when they lost Steinman.

He was the better goalie, not just stat wise, but also just watching him and him technically. He’s the best goalie on the team, he was brought in to be the guy and we lost him for what ended up being rest of the year basically.

Before he goes down, they were on a three game-winning streak and looking to sweep Augustana in their barn. He goes down in the first period of that game and not only that game becomes discombobulated, the team just never really seemed to recover the rest of the season. It was just disjointed from that point on Cole Moore is a decent goalie and had moments, but mainly gets by on his huge size…that’s about it. His technique is poor a lot of the time.
Palmer played OK, but the guy that was playing in U sports a year ago, so yeah he was not brought in to be the guy.

You can say what you want, but I think losing Steinman was just a huge blow to this team. Something just seemed off after he was injured and they never really seemed to recover from it.

Anyway, Just my two cents from afar.

……and as always…we need better finishers up front. Lots of effort, not a lot of pucks going in the net.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

You have to think a handful of CHL kids will leave. How many people do we have coming in vs graduating?

Here's what I have for a depth chart as of this moment. Doesn't consider portal in/out.

[BGhockeyfan94]

So we are at 30 people and we need to get to 26, right? Will be interesting to see who goes or we tell not to come in.

[pdt1081]

So we are at 30 people and we need to get to 26, right? Will be interesting to see who goes or we tell not to come in.

Players rostered prior to this season are exempt from the 26. There is also a very strong push to change that 26 to 28.

[BillyLP]

If we can keep a solid returning squad for next year, I'd be surprised if BG wasn't near the top in preseason CCHA polls and maybe even nationally ranked. Getting some of them to stay is the battle now.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

If we can keep a solid returning squad for next year, I'd be surprised if BG wasn't near the top in preseason CCHA polls and maybe even nationally ranked. Getting some of them to stay is the battle now.

We could return Rob Blake and Gino Cavallini and the CCHA punditocracy would still rank us fifth.

But I’m not bitter and I’m clearly over the way the season ended. And Don Lucia is the best commissioner ever.

[mbenecke]

I'll be donating to the program at the end of the month on One Day like I always do. I noticed the football team was advertising that they were taking donations that would go, in part, towards player retention. I have zero issue with my money going towards that for the hockey program. It's important that we get and retain talent to keep our upward trajectory as a program, so I truly hope that's what they do with it.

[pdt1081]

I'll be donating to the program at the end of the month on One Day like I always do. I noticed the football team was advertising that they were taking donations that would go, in part, towards player retention. I have zero issue with my money going towards that for the hockey program. It's important that we get and retain talent to keep our upward trajectory as a program, so I truly hope that's what they do with it.

[mbenecke]

Perfect. Keep the good players and go get more.

[mbenecke]

First team All-CCHA has players from these schools:

Michigan Tech
Bemidji State
St. Thomas
Augustana
Minnesota State

Shocking!

[BGhockeyfan94]

First team All-CCHA has players from these schools:

Michigan Tech
Bemidji State
St. Thomas
Augustana
Minnesota State

Shocking!

Picking Anderson over Cheslock or McKinley for First Team is definitely a choice lol.

Putting Lemyre on 2nd team is probably crazier, he finished 10th in points. Peer was put on the first team, and Doran and Emerson had 2 less points than Peer.

Reading further, the people who put this together are really bad at looking at stats. They said Northern's freshman goalie had ".928 save percentage, which was second-highest in the country among rookie netminders." But in reality he had a .930 and ranked first among freshman goaltenders, the .928 was his league percentage.

And looking at league percentages....Steinman save percentage is .003 lower than his, but his GAA is .54 better. Not sure how he doesn't win rookie goalie, I'd rather have a goalie letting in half a goal less than another goalie each game.

Also think Van Vliet should have been on both All Rookie and First Team. He finished 3rd in points as a freshman, I'd say he was a top 3 forward.