College Hockey:
North Dakota forward Kristo to return in ’11-12

USCHO Staff Report • April 22, 2011

The Grand Forks Herald reports that North Dakota forward Danny Kristo will return for his junior season this fall rather than sign with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Canadiens drafted Kristo in the second round in 2008.

Kristo is the third non-senior on the UND team to announce this week that he is returning for another year with the Fighting Sioux. Goalie Aaron Dell and defenseman Ben Blood also will be back.

Kristo, who missed time last season suffering from a bout of frostbite on his toes, told the Herald that their decisions influenced his.

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GeauxSioux
We officially have 1 forward, 1 defenseman and 1 goalie. With that, we could probably finish upper-middle of the pack in the ECAC or AHA.
- Nyqi
  At this point the only guy that really matters to get to come back is Gregoire. If he comes back and we have the true talent that the incoming class is supposed to have life should be good for the Sioux.
- GeauxSiouxLostandwhines
  hahahahahahaha. good one. Enjoy the premature summer. Enjoy watching UMD be national champs. how much does it hurt knowing you lost? hahahahahahahahahahaha. BTW, doubtful a single UND grad student could handle Princeton or Union level freshman year as a college student
Iver7en
The hell with reloading…. sounds like the boys are coming back to terrible ol, grand forks… all gregs n hex need to do is stay and I dare say with the newcomers and even more upperclassmen the Sioux could be even better next year…
- Nyqi
  In my opinion it will be a LONG time before the Sioux see a team that was as strong as this years team. I don’t think that I have seen one that strong since 1987 to be honest and I know they won it all in 2000 and 1997 but this years team was deep at every position.
  I think that UND will be strong but the teams to look out for next year are DU (Zucker kid is AWESOME) and they have a lot coming back, CC (Schwartz is AWESOME) and again a lot of the team is coming back and Blais and the team and UNO are going to be scary good. I just hope that we can finish in the top 3 or 4 next year. I don’t think UND has a chance to win the conf by 6 points like they did this year. This years team at UND was a special group and it will be a long time before we see that again.
  - Suture1
    I totally agree with your comment. I think this year’s team was certainly special and for all practical purposes they were the best team in the country (not taking away from UMD and Michigan, they both played great). I also think the last team to play at this level was the 1987 team. But, I think that team was either better straight away or at the very least they were “relatively” that much better than any other team in the WCHA or the country. In other words, was Tony Hrkac a better player when he played compared to Matt Frattin this past year? I don’t know for sure who was the better college hockey player? But, I can say that Hrkac had a much bigger impact with every game in ’87 than Frattin did this year. I think the competition and players in the WHCA are much higher/better now than at any time in the past. So, this is why a star such as Tony Hrkac stood out more than Frattin did this year. Now, we all know how phenomenal Frattin was this year, I am not trying to diminish the great year he had. There is no doubt he was the best player in college hockey and anyone who is truly objective and is not bias to one team or league will think the same thing. Hobey Baker award or not, Frattin was the best player in college hockey this year, especially when you look at his defensive skills. This fact only magnifies the extreme talent and dominance of Hrkac when he played. Like this team, Hrkac had very solid teammates and had a nice defensive core behind him as well (this makes a huge difference in terms of the risks a forward can take….something not many people realize).
    Anyway, the Sioux will not be as good next year so don’t get your hopes up. It is a good thing we are able to keep some of the key upper classmen this is for sure. I also agree that Gregoire is the key, if he stays we will be in much better shape.
    I completely agree with the 3 teams to look out for next year. I am not sure who will be more dangerous, Denver or UNO? I like the young talent on Denver’s team, but losing Donovan hurt this team more than some of the DU fans might think. DU does have another defenseman who is also very solid, I can’t think of his name right now. But, Donovan was a fantastic player and added a ton of offense. UNO has a tough, young team built in the same mold and the Sioux. UNO has the best coach in college hockey (though, I now recognize how great Red Berenson is at Michigan) so I think he might be able to get more out of the talent on UNO’s team than someone like Gwozdecky possibly. CC is another team that is loaded with freshmen and sophomores so they will also be a strong team to deal with next year. UND will have to fight and scratch their way to stay in the top 5 IMHO…..:)
    Should be fun, I wish we did not have to wait so long for the new season to start….just have to get my golf game tuned up during the interim…:) Y’all take care this summer…GO SIOUX…:)
    - siouxfaninbisoncountry
      MY prediction… another McNaughton or Broadmor and another trip to the frozen four. This time they will win it all. I’m not just a homer fan who calls them the best team every year. Five defenseman returning with a USHL all rookie selection and a big tough 20-year old freshman filling in the other spot. Couple that with the return of Dell and you will see a team that is even tougher to score on. As far as offense goes, the goals will come with or without Gregs. Knight and Nelson will center a couple of really good lines. Check next year’s stat sheets for the names Kristo, Cichy, Miller, Grimaldi, Rowney. Lemieux will center the third line and when not killing penalties will shut down opposing top lines. The 1997 Michigan team was the best in the country and had to wait a year for their title. The same could be said for UND in 1999 (a team as good or better than last years). They won’t have to win the WCHA by six points-UMD finished fourth- they simply have to be the best team for two weeks next spring.
      - Nyqi
        I’m a big Sioux fan and I just don’t see that happening. UND is just going to be missing too many key players to not miss a beat and go back to the FF. UND will be good and in my opinion will make the NCAA tourney and at that point anything can happen but I would guess that we will finish somewhere around 3rd or 4th place maybe even as low as 5th (Suture1 may be right about that but I hope not). Just too much talent at DU, UNO and CC for us to be able to finish ahead of all of them. I can see us getting ahead of one of them maybe but if we could finish 3 or 4 and make a run late in the season for the WCHA tourney and get a decent seed in the NCAA that would make for a great season IMHO.
        Hope you are right and I am wrong.
    - Sueh8ter
      get a life!! who is going to read all that crap you write??? the sue crapped the bed this year and they will do it again next year. now, go away and quit boring us with your inane drivel!!!!!
    - NaughtySue
      Who asked for your “analysis”? Your extreme Sioux bias erases any credibility you pretend to have. Frattin was worthless when it counted most, so comparing him to Hrkac is retarded.
    - Nyqi
      Hrkac was the best college hockey player that I have ever seen play. He played with a ridiculously talented team at almost every position so it isn’t totally fair to compare. But Tony was just unstoppable in ’87. Paul Kariya was the only player that I have seen that I would even dare to compare to Hrkac but that is just my opinion. Certainly know that I have not seen every player to ever play college hockey.
      UND should do better than struggle to hold 5th place but you might be right there is a ton of talent in the WCHA and college hockey as a whole so they could struggle. With the relative youth they will have they are going to need to get out to a quick start. I think you will know early in the WCHA schedule how UND will fair.
  - collegehockeyfan
    I’ll agree, I see DU, UNO, CC, SCSU(well we will see), and possibly UAA(I know I’ll get criticism for it) and I would have included UMD, but honestly losing a few early departures, they wont finish in the top 3 either.. Regardless if the freshman at UND step up, the Sioux will have one, maybe two lines of scoring if they are lucky.
    It’s almost impossible to rebuild the year after a team like the Sioux had this year. They will be good still, but not as good as the teams I listed above for next year.
    - Str8Cla$$
      I don’t know how accurate that comment was.. It depends on how there depth plays out, they are losing there top line, however, there key third and fourth liners are coming back with their gritty play and there getting some new talent this upcoming year.. For those returning.. Kristo, MacWilliam, Lamoureux, Knight, Forbert, Nelson, Blood, Gregoire (hopefully), Dell.. I think they have a shot at the Frozen Four
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sammy
No surprise that Dell, Blood, and Kristo are returning. None of them are ready to play in an NHL game. Why not return to UND and just get that much better?
- collegehockeyfan
  big signing bonus.
  - sammy
    Huh? Not anymore.
Siouxbetcha
Good thing the writer mentioned he was the one who’d got frostbitten, otherwise nobody would know who he was. Yeah, don’t mention how he was one of the leading scorers throughout the playoff run and earned WCHA ROY honors two years ago.
Funnyguy
kristo just loves the bar scene in grand forks, eh?
Str8Cla$$
Dell is the man
CrockOGrimaldi
Another losing season for the Sioux. Enjoy the summer chumps! Hey Suture, doesnt it still bother you they lost? :)
- Nyqi
  How was this past season a “losing season”? I guess only the truly top teams in the country like UND, BC, Michigan can call it a losing season to make it to the FF.
Glugglug
glug, glug, glug, walk, walk, walk, freeze, freeze, freeze. The best qualities of a UND athlete on display
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