GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- I was an English major in college, not Math. 

So it seems confusing and very remarkable to me when I add 7 and 7 together and get either 2 or 4 as the answer.

You see, the Fighting Hawks, with 7 transfer players on the roster and 7 freshmen as well, are ranked No. 2 nationally in this week's USCHO.com poll, and No. 4 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live rankings.

I don't know that even if you search back to the start of college hockey leagues in the 1940s would you find a team with a roster turnover of that extreme knocking on the door of a No. 1 national ranking just 10 games into the season.

And certainly judging by this massive roster turnover, this is not a team coming off a highly-successful season with a boat load of outstanding players returning, either.

Yet through 10 games against a demanding schedule, this looks very much like a team that can make a run at league and national honors this season, if good health prevails.

No question Coach Brad Berry brought back two of the most exciting players in college hockey in senior Riese Gaber and sophomore Jackson Blake, and added skilled freshman Jayden Perron  to the lineup. That's a hat trick of dynamic players who will stand up against any threesome in college hockey.

There's a returning roster of such talented veterans as Jake Schmaltz, Owen McLaughlin, Louis Jamernik V, Ben Strinden, Dylan James, Carson Albrecht, Griffin Ness and Jackson Kunz with varying levels of success so far at UND to form the backbone of this gigantic rebuild.

As I have said in a previous article, I believe an overlooked addition to this team has made a big impact. The NCAA this season allowed colleges to add another assistant coach, and UND did so, adding former UND defenseman Dillon Simpson to run the defensive corps.

The fact that he is operating with 8 new defensemen, transfers or freshmen, and a new goalie in transfer Ludvig Persson, is in itself quite the challenge. And yet UND has a 7-2-1 record heading into this weekend, attesting to the job Simpson is doing, I believe.

In addition, in 10 games, UND has allowed just 20 goals, and you'll win a lot of games with defensive prowess like that. 

I don't think any of us truly knew how this season would go for UND, with so many freshmen coming in and transfers arriving and departing.

And like I mentioned to begin this article, so far adding 7 (frosh) and 7 (transfers) adds up to 2 or 4 in the national polls. A messed up way of using math, I agree, but it does seem like a logical way to evaluate this team, and its progress.

This team now has a chance to run off a nice winning streak of seven games prior to a showdown on Dec. 1-2 at NCHC preseason favorite Denver. 

What I also find exciting to watch with this team is the progress in small steps as line combinations are coming together and the overall improvement in defensive coverage is evident from a year ago.

And once this team gets the power play rolling, the offensive side of the game will take a big jump as well. It seems to be the one area of the game yet to shift into high gear.

I'll stop short of predicting a league and NCAA title for this team at this point in the season. I do believe the ingredients are there on this team to reach such lofty goals.

And with 27 games remaining on the schedule to stir those ingredients into a winning recipe, it'll be a treat for us to taste the excitement and success this team is poised to deliver.

Drop the puck, guys. Let's play hockey.

Virg Foss is in his 19th season of writing about Fighting Hawks hockey for UND athletic communications. He covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement from the newspaper in 2005. He was a goalie on the NCAA Division 3 St. Olaf College hockey team in Northfield, Minn., from 1958-62.