tnt

I like the quote from Schierhorn in the Strib about these are the kind of games why you come to the University of Minnesota to play in because of the atmosphere. Said how unbelievable it was. Guess what, you get to play more games that have good or great atmosphere at the University of North Dakota, than a half full arena at Mariucci. Ironically Eric, if your coach had his way, you and your teammates wouldn't have had that experience last weekend. Speaking of the atmosphere, did anyone see any recruits on our bench last weekend during warm-ups?

They can't be as bad as they have been, and once Mittelstadt gets back and is comfortable with the set up, they should be a lot better, especially with some of the Big Ten defenses. Minnesota will be there in the end, so I doubt anyone is feeling sorry for them.

No need to further explain, I understand now, your first sentence says it all.

Kawaguchi will figure it out at sometime too, and Kiersted showed well until Bast was ready to go.

This doesn't feel far removed from that: "How in the hell did a program of our stature, with the best fans in the country, and coming off a a National Championship two years ago end up with a team with no scorers or playmakers. This is painful to watch."

The point is that you don't just get those players to produce right away very often. Adams has been pretty good this year so far, and I would think his numbers are about as good as some of the BU freshmen, maybe even better if you count plus/minus, and that may be more important in many circumstances. Remember the cries of why can't we be as good as Boston College? Well they have been devastated by early departures like us the last few years, and they haven't exactly been able to just fill in with impact freshmen. Even if you get a first round draft pick, it doesn't guarantee immediate impact.

Was he in the building tonight because of injury? I saw his mom there.

Yeah, funny how the doomsdayers are now excited about the team on a night we didn't actually play as well. The fact that such a young team is playing shutdown hockey should be exciting as it is because UND doesn't usually take off offensively until the second half. Maybe that is because of the progression they always talk about. You need to be able to defend in your end first instead of cheating for offense, then you can get the chemistry going. Maybe that's why Kawaguchi has sat a couple times already.

But how do we do that without the talent?

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight–7 Danny Kristo 21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–11 Derek Rodwell 9 Mario Lamoureux–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks 14 Taylor Dickin–28 Stephane Pattyn–13 Connor Gaarder 4 Derek Forbort–24 Ben Blood 2 Andrew MacWilliam–5 Nick Mattson 18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason 32 Aaron Dell 31 Brad Eidsness ...and apparently this lineup was devoid of talent as well!

Remember, Peski was a bust too after his first handful of games!

Sold.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Yon in for Kawaguchi.

Pretty sure Olson will be playing tomorrow after the job that line did controlling the puck against the Mittelstadt line.

Exactly, I came out of this game feeling better about this team than I did going in. Gabe Bast is going to be a great defenseman for us if he stays healthy.