Old Barn Guy at Home

Thanks for posting these highlights. I enjoyed seeing them.

I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned Jonathan Toews' name in this conversation.

Did you consider the list of injured players? Ones that contribute to the success of the team when they are in the line up. The competition to get the "top-level" players is a lot more heavy than even about 10 years ago. Get the "top-type" players and they usually leave in 2 years or less. This season is early yet. Let them build into a competitive team and maybe we will be surprised and happy with the result. And by the way, that is what all college hockey programs are shooting for, year in and year out. Putting together a continual steady, successful college hockey program is quite a challenging task, and for outsiders, a lot more difficult than might be perceived.

After watching the past few games, I think that UND could get back on track with a few changes to the way they play. Not to be critical of the coaching staff, but I have to say that the conservative style of penalty killing is not a good choice for this team. They are quick enough to be pressuring the puck and causing turnovers and mistakes. Just watching the way Alaska and Omaha pressured UND's powerplay stands out as significant difference from UND. Another glaring deficiency has been the lack of proper positioning on the backcheck (if there has been any at all). Get between the man and our net and the puck, and don't just watch the guy, cover him, lift his stick, annoy him. Early this season I thought this team showed a lot of potential to be a top contender, and if they get together on the way they play when they don't have the puck, they still can be a top team. As was mentioned by another poster, earlier, the breakout seems to often be in "panic" mode, just flipping the puck out. This is another area that needs work from all UND players on the ice. I try not to get too down on this team. They have disappointed us fans lately, but I have to believe that Brad and his staff will "right the ship."

An observant person could say that Berry's "culture" includes winning 3 consecutive Conference Championships (plus a National Title a few short years ago). Sure, many rabid fans want the National Championship, who doesn't, but the goal tending this season has been a big reason for the lack of wins. Expectations of the coaching staff probably exceed that of the fan base. At least the coaches have the credibility in their repertoires, rather than the lack of it in many of the complainers I have read on this board. Some of the comments make me laugh at their simplistic absurdity. Everyone who thinks they have the real knowledge to make a coaching decision should first read Teddy Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena." It pretty much sums up how I feel about this situation.

I have seen no one skating with the puck like Jake Sanderson this season. That goes for UND and all of their opponents.

Yes he did. One time he was unavailable for a weekend WCHA series, and Pat asked me to sit in for Travis. It was a blast, and the best thing I got for it was the UND media parking pass that I used for years afterward. Travis was a great guy, as many have said. He will be missed by the UND hockey community, and of course by his family. RIP big guy.

The last gopher championship had 3 North Dakota players on it! If Minnesota can't recruit players to win now, that's their own fault. Get over it. It was a great series and will be really something if they both play each other in the playoffs. And by the way, SKILL doesn't always win just alone.

My choice would be the 2003-04 team. How a team with that offensive fire power could be shut down is still a mystery to me.

Sicatoka, Thanks for the info to get the Hennesy feed. It was really great to hear Tim's voice again. It's been a few years for us. Hope the team can get some rest and be ready for the next game, wherever it may be.

Thanks, again Sic. We will give it a try next game.

Thank you for the info. I had tried in the past to do this, but the radio feed didn't always come through that well. I will be trying to do this in the future.

You have your opinion of what is a good pxp hockey announcer. I have a different opinion. CBS can take him full time, if they would like. He would do just fine as a football announcer, but I would prefer to have a different approach for hockey. Naming LaPanta as one of the best leaves a lot to be desired. He's not much more than a cheerleader for the Minnesota teams. At least Mazocco and Woog did the games in a much better way, even though Mazocco was also a big "cheerleader" for the Gophs.

You are right about not having to paint the picture for us viewers, I'm not requesting that. But it would nice to not have to mentally tune out the off-topic jabbering while play is going on. I do, at times, mute it when it gets to the point of intolerable distraction, but I also like to hear the crowd reactions to what is happening on the ice. They could do a good job of covering the game and add to the enjoyment of the viewing audience, if they would harness their visiting with each other while play on the ice is taking place.

The CC guy commenting on Brandt and Heinert being shocked by the "goal" being disallowed doesn't surprise me. They are not paying attention to the action for a good share of the game, as they ramble on between themselves about such things as Vernon being born in San Jose, etc.. I wish that Midco would hire a real play-by-play announcer, as the one they have now either doesn't want to do it or doesn't understand what the pxp guy should do. I know a lot of people on this board think very highly of Alex's performance, and he really does seem to understand the game, but he gets side tracked during the game when action is taking place on the ice. Listen to most of the NHL announcers and you'll get an idea of how the game should be called. Make your comments during stoppages of play! One game, a couple of weeks ago, I put a stop watch on him during the second period of the game. I ran the stop watch when he was actually calling the action on the ice. Out of over 8 minutes of game time, he only did 47 seconds of actual play by play! That's just ridiculous. I think the guy could do a good job of PxP, so what is the problem. He and Brandt need some direction from someone so they can do a better job. Really all they need to remember is that when action is taking place on the ice, they need to limit there "floating" discussions and let Alex call the game. The time for their discussions is when play is halted. If you are doing football, there are a lot of times when action is not taking place on the field, so comments/discussions don't detract so much from the game (they maybe even may enhance it), but hockey is not a sport with a lot of stopped action. My son probably said it best when describing the rambling commenters: He said, "It's like when you are sitting behind a couple of guys at a game and they just keep jabbering on, and on, while the game is taking place."