Old Barn Guy at Home

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."

Very sad news. She was a fine person. My sympathies to Gino and the boys.

Thank you for you post. I totally agree with you. When I have been reading some of the posts from previous weeks, I have to shake my head when some people are proposing that Brad Berry be fired. Those types of people probably don't know how to tape a hockey stick. Brad has done many years of service to UND hockey. When people say that he can't recruit solid players, they must not know that Brad and Hack did most of the traveling for Blais, scouting the potential UND players. That is a primary duty of asst. coaches in UND hockey. I must also comment on the broadcast last night. I thought it was refreshing to not have to listen to the usual babbling about stuff not related to what was happening on the ice. A play-by-play guy should do just that, and limit his chatter with the color guy (who should be the one to add to observations of what is happening on the ice, and why, etc. The Alex and Jake could do this just fine. Just take a listen to the top announcing teams in the NHL, you'll find that they do their discussion pretty much when play it stopped on the ice, not during the action. And, by the way, using the "dump and chase" when attacking the opponents' blue line IS what should be used when the opponents are strung out across the line. It is the OPPONENTS' actions that should determine whether you should carry the puck into the zone. If you don't have a Hrkac to stickhandle through the picket line, you'll just end up with a turnover more often than not.

I wonder about the effect of having so many "mercenaries" come to the program. Maybe one or two at the most should be considered in the future. Also, recruit a top-level goal tender if the team is going to be so short on offensive talent.

The smells of popcorn, hotdogs, and cigar smoke in the lobby areas are great memories for me (although I don't smoke). The chicken wire instead of plexiglas was another memory, and the weird rebounds off it made playing there a challenge sometimes.

Thank you for your correction to me. My memory failed me there, but I did remember that he brought in a guy a semester time, and the guy did quite well.

I know the circumstances are different this year regarding scholarships available, but I'm telling you that what UND has is not up to the standards that we fans are accustomed to. So don't anybody bitch about the goal tending when they exit early in the playoffs. I hope that I am wrong, but it's what I have seen so far.

He sure did, but I just don't remember that happening. I didn't see the game.

Blais once brought in a goalie at semester time. Result was a National Championship. I know that a scholarship is probably not available to get someone, but I don't care if they now have 10 goalies, the one's they have are not going to get it done for them.

I've watched Sioux hockey for many years (from back in early 1960's. I don't remember ever seeing a UND player spear someone. It's definitely a cheap and dangerous thing to do. It's not representative of what Sioux hockey is about. I don't really care if #7 ever plays another game for UND. Brad has to reel in the players or they'll find themselves getting little benefit of the doubt from officials on any close calls. Let's face it, this team is a lot thinner on top end offensive talent than recent years' teams. They also need better goal tending and should be looking to add somebody at semester time.

I was sorry to see that the Blackhawks' message boards today reported that former UND great, Troy Murray, has been diagnosed with cancer. He has been the color commentator on the Blackhawks' radio broadcasts for quite a few years. This is very sad news, but Troy is a battler and if anyone can beat this terrible desease, he's the one.

I saw more replays of this play from different angles and must correct myself: I now realize that Stecher made a BACKHAND pass across the goal mouth to #88, to assist on the winning goal. That makes it an even more impressive performance by Troy.

It was quite a play. I didn't realize what he had actually done with the puck to get by the first Russian player, until I re-watched it a few times and then in slow motion. Troy made a move like he may have intended to shoot a forehand while skating to his left. Then when he had the Russian committed to block the shot, Troy got the puck onto his backhand stick blade and tapped the puck up through his own feet and continued on to the net, where he turned on his forehand and sent the goal mouth pass to his teammate (#88) for the winner! I hope someone can post that video on this site. It's a move to remember, that's for sure (and the Russians would like to forget it).

I think Dave Hakstol qualifies here, too.