Snake

Sharp for UMD off for CFB Yuck

That's what I thought too. Then again, this is the WCHA and the refs can just "...make $hit up as they go."

Isn't the over-the-net camera angle the only one the refs can use for an official review? I doubt they could determine a high stick from that angle. It's good.

All around, much better game last night. The defense stepped up and made things difficult for the Maverick forwards - particularly David Backes. I hope they continue to make his life miserable tonight. Great job. It was great to see Zajac carry the load tonight & show us why we've expected him to be a big-time player all season. Oshie was a monster. Great effort by the Sioux last night. Keep it up!

Again, the Freshman thing just isn't cutting it for me. They've been playing "big games" since they got swept by SCSU at home. The entire team was sluggish which is extremely puzzling to me. On the 2nd Sioux goal, I was immediately quesitoning if it was tipped with a high stick, but after I thought about it I remembered that it appeared the puck went into the corner of the net at an upward angle, because when it hit the net it bounced downward and out. That would indicate it was heading upward on it's way into the net, meaning it was tipped from a point below the crossbar. Of course, I was sitting in the upper level so my angles could have been off. I will agree the officiating was horrible, but the Sioux put themselves into this situation by coming out flat for the better part of 2 periods. It just sucks that the message of "play hard every weekend, every game" has to be delivered after they find themselves behind the 8-ball.

Denver Won the Final Five last year. My guess is you meant the year before. Anyway, to say they wouldn't have won had they made it that year is a tough call. They still could have rested their injuries while fielding a team to compete in the Final Five, so who knows - the injured guys still would have been rested.

I think the "young team" excuse is BS at this point in the season. Everything you spoke of is driven by motiviation and desire. Right now I don't see the desire. Even young guys can have competitiveness. Youth leads to poor decision making - the effort should still be there. I'm looking for the Defensemen to step it up tonight and start trying to hold the blue line. They were allowing MSU to back them into the circles way too often last night. Smaby looked off to me last night, so he needs to rebound big-time and be a force out there tonight. If Stafford's a no-go for tonight, I hope Hak reunites Toews with Oshie. TJ has been pretty quiet, and I think he would benefit greatly from Toews the way he's been playing. Jonathan is the straw that stirs the drink on the top line. Please, please Zajac - step up and be noticeable tonight!

A great goalie should stop all the "easy ones." Parise in my mind was good last night, but not great. He was good in the sense he was able to keep us in it early when the team wasn't going well, but he would have been great if he hadn't lost his focus or whatever on a couple of "easier" opportunities. I still think we gotta stick with him.

I guess I was hoping Hak would have had his guys fired up for the opener, but oh well.

Since we're talking rink dimensions, will the Final Five be played using the new NHL dimensions? I noticed the MN HS tourney was the same, but I was wondering if the Final Five would be too. If so, does anyone think teams would have problems adjusting? I would think the larger offensive zone would allow teams to move the puck more efficiently on the PP, and teams that spend a lot of time workign the puck behind the net may find room hard to come by. Just a couple thoughts...

I'm still questioning whether or not Wisconsin is back to their early season form, so I think the most probable upset is Tech over Wisco. It's still quite unlikely given what UND did to Tech last weekend, but maybe the Huskies will take some motivation from it, who knows. Wisconsin allowed SCSU, which is rather light on offense, to rack up quite a few shots on goal last week. I just don't see Denver losing to a Duluth team that has been shutout in 4 of it's past 6 games. Duluth may score 2 goals on the weekend - maybe. Minnesota advances easily. Potulny could have 40 goals by the end of the weekend I'm a little wishy-washy on SCSU/CC, but I'll say it goes to the Tigers in 3. I won't necessarily consider it an upset if SCSU prevails. UND sweeps Mankato, but I think they'll get a scare tonight.

Players have to be out of eligibility, so the only guys we could send are Prpich and Marvin. Plus, they'd just get pulled from the competition in order to play in the Frozen Four anyway!

So, what are you doing on this forum? It looks like you're obsessing about UND Fans' obsession over the gopher program. Take your own advice.

All this over-analyzing is making my head spin! JUST WIN, BABY!

You sound pretty bitter about losing out on these guys! My guess is the Potulnys will be remembered as the players who broke the "Minnesota barrier" and had a direct influence in bringing a national championship to the program after a 23-year drought. North Dakotans should take pride in that.

I feel any player that turns his back to another player in hopes of drawing a CFB should be penalized just as severely as the aggressor. In this case, the player receiving the hit is just as guilty of putting himself in harm's way as the player dishing out the hit. WCHA officiating is so inconsistent it's laughable. I'd be willing to bet that the number of penalties in a WCHA game didn't go up 10-fold after the NCAA's emphasis on obstruction was handed down. Does the WCHA get to pick and choose which points of emphasis they enforce? They appear to have gone overboard on the CFB, yet a lot of obstruction and stickwork still goes uncalled.

Get the Authentic if you can spend the money - especially for a home jersey. The replicas are totally screwed up since their lettering is Green on Black instead of the authentic Black on Green. I still can't figure out why they keep producing replicas like this - especially Nike!

Favorite 2-way player: Adam Calder

Sagard's got it right - he enjoyed the comeback in '01, and now he's taking the blame for Schneekloth getting walked in OT. Thanks Sagard!

Definitely! Welcome to the Jungle is the one song that gets everyone off their feet - without putting commands on the scoreboard. Unfortunately their timig is poor at the Ralph. Usually I hear it when we're down a goal and have a faceoff in our D-zone. In my opinion it would be better served coming out of a TV timeout with an offensive zone faceoff. The person at the Ralph running the sound probably never thinks of that...

So I guess in the name of "free speech" we should just throw our morals out the window? "Freedom of Speech" was designed to give us the right to speak out about our government without fear of prosecution; it wasn't intended to give people with limited vocabularies and imaginations the right to use their cuss words in public places! It's a pretty simple solution - get more creative!

The effort that's currenly paying off is the poor showings this team gave earlier in the season. If they had stepped up and won a couple of the games where we were critical of their effort we likely wouldn't be so concerned right now. Unfortunately the "learning curve" is teaching them the hard lesson that you can't just turn on the switch and make a run. They'll be better for it next year. As for this season, all of what you list is possible, but from what I've seen improbable. I hope they can get it done, but the evidence points to the contrary.

I think you're right on about the team play. I didn't mean to single-out Stafford, I was merely using his comments to set up the context of my overall thoughts. Listening to Sioux players and media types make comments about the other team being "less skilled" makes me cringe because I feel it is extremely disrespectful. No wonder everyone comes in here trying to stick it to us! Hard work and, as #1 Sioux Fan has stated, teamwork is the great equalizer. Skill will separate two teams when everything else is equal. To add to #1 Sioux Fan's point - this team will be extremely exciting when they're forcing the opponent to "pick their poison!"

I only saw Friday's game, and I would agree Stafford's effort was there. The intent of my post was to shed light on the fact that even though the Sioux (and others who follow them) think they have more skill than their opponents, it's hard work that turns skillful teams into successful ones. Stafford just happened to be the most recent player or broadcaster to mention this supposed "skill advantage," so he was unfortunately singled-out in my post, even after a great game. Goon made mention of this team's accomplishments, and how the opposing teams aren't going to be impressed by them. The list of INDIVIDUAL accomplishments may be impressive, but this TEAM of mostly freshmen and sophomores only has a 5th place WCHA finish, a 3rd place Final-Five finish, and an unlikely run to the title game to their credit - mainly due to the large senior class last year. Right now they're looking at the same WCHA spot and who knows what's in store for the playoffs. On the bright side (not to sound like Mr. Negativity) the coaching staff is determined to get all they can out of these guys. I've been impressed by how they've handled the ups-and-downs that come with such a young team. It's difficult, but I try to keep in perspective that these guys are just kids, and they've got a lot going on in their lives outside of hockey. Hopefully the second-half will bring more stability for the young players.

Drew Stafford, in his post-game comments yesterday, made a comment to the effect that despite the lack of skill of the Harvard D, they were able to hang with the Sioux because they worked extremely hard. That particular type of comment disturbs me, and unfortunately it's not the only time I've heard these types of statements. Tim Hennessey frequently makes comments - sometimes to the opposing coaches themselves - that the other team isn't as skilled as the Sioux and that they need to make up for it in other ways. The fact that Stafford & others make comments about the other team's skill level (or lack thereof) makes me wonder if the players believe the hype. Granted, UND is a perrenial power and the talent level of the recruits we get is top-notch, but it seems as though there's a certain arrogance that suggests they just have to show up and their "skills and talent" will get them through. This may work at the Bantam or HS level, but not at the D-I college level. To be a top-notch team at this level, you need to apply your talent, not just stockpile it. I'm curious to hear your guys' thoughts on this, and if anyone else out there notices this. Thanks -