GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- As a life-long writer, I strongly believe that words matter. How they are said. When they are said. Where they are said.

So as North Dakota enters NCAA Regional hockey playoffs this weekend in Missouri against Michigan in the loser-out games, these words spring to mind.

"Put up or shut up.''

Or to use more gentle phrasing and one less word, how about this? "Win or go home.''

Yes, it is that wonderful time of the year where if you lose, your season is over. You don't live to play another day. There are no more two-game weekend series, or best-of-three league playoffs.

So that brings to question what exactly are the prospects for this UND team, with an ultimate goal of winning its ninth NCAA championship?

Is it the team that won the Penrose Cup as NCHC champions with a roster supplemented by seven transfer players and seven freshmen? That was a remarkable accomplishment by coaches and players, with the full-throated backing of the best fans in college hockey.

Or is it the team that somehow lost eight of nine meetings to Colorado College (0-4) and Omaha (1-4), two teams that finished in the middle of the NCHC standings? 

UND (26-11-2) overall, lost just three other games all year, losing one game each against Minnesota, Boston University and Denver, all three teams in this year's 16-team NCAA field. How can one explain that?

In a nutshell, North Dakota lost games against just five schools this season, those being Colorado College, Boston U., Denver, Minnesota and Omaha. Even North Dakota's winningest team ever, the Hrkac Circus crew of 1986-87, lost games to seven different opponents on its way to a 40-8 final won-lost record.

So as much as I have appreciated the progress and success of this year's Fighting Hawks, it is difficult for me to predict how far this team will go in the playoffs.

Coach Brad Berry knows this team far better than anyone. He is with the players on a daily basis, in practice, in the lockerroom, behind the bench with them in games, setting up the rotation and line combinations of players, motivating them.

So when he said this week on a national interview on ESPN that this team is as good or better than the 2016 team that won UND's last national title in Berry's first year as head coach, that caught my attention. The strength of this team, Berry said, is the overall depth.

What stood out at first glance in 2016 wasn't the depth of that team. Rather, how individual stars took over and carried that team to the title. In the 5-1 victory over Quinnipiac in the national championship game, Brock Boeser had one goal and three assists and Drake Caggiula had two goals. Brilliant performances.

Caggiula had two goals in both the Frozen Four semifinals and finals to win tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Big-time players, stepping up in big-time games. 

Yet that team certainly didn't lack depth. There were 11 players from that team who went on to play in the NHL -- Boeser, Caggiula, Nick Schmaltz, Troy Stecher, Austin Poganski, Tucker Poolman, Luke Johnson, Paul LaDue, Rhett Gardner, Christian Wolanin and Shane Gersich, some, like Boeser, still shining bright on the big stage.

I do love and appreciate this year's UND team. I do harbor hopes that it can make a run at tying Michigan for most national championships (9) by any school in hockey. You can't get a  bigger matchup in a regional game that the storied programs of North Dakota and Michigan clashing once again.

It was in 1948 that North Dakota unofficially made its presence known on the national college hockey scene by beating mighty Michigan 6-5 in Ann Arbor. Michigan won six of the first nine NCAA tournaments held. Its run began with its first in that same 1948 season when the Fighting Sioux shocked them behind two goals apiece from Ginny Christian, John Noah and Jim Medved.

And so we go on to Maryland Heights, Mo., where North Dakota and Michigan meet once again. This game will play out in a tiny bandbox of an arena that might hold 3,000 fans . Holding a ticket to a game there is like finding a gold nugget. Thankfully, it will be televised on ESPNU for those who have that on their channel lineup, or it can be seen at your favorite sports bar, too, most likely.

So we'll have to see what the compete level is like for the Fighting Hawks in this tournament. Will it be the team that came out on top in the toughest league in college hockey? Will it be the team that struggled against teams like Colorado College and Omaha? Who will strike gold?

Is this team as good as the 2016 national champs from North Dakota, as Coach Berry believes it is? 

We just never know. That's what makes outcomes so unpredictable, and what will have us all on the edge this weekend.

A national columnist said this week on his web site, every time North Dakota loses a game, it's like the sky is falling, for its legion of faithful fans.

Maybe so. Maybe not. I like to think most of us have a broader view of this team, this program, these tournaments, and can appreciate the bigger picture, win or lose.

But like you, I want our team to win, and I have for the 54 years I have had the honor of writing about UND pucks.

So since words matter, as I wrote to begin this article, I'll close with two of them.

Go Hawks!

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 seasons, including NCAA title teams in 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997 and 2000 prior to his retirement in 2005. He is now in his 19th year of writing about UND hockey for UND Athletic Communications.