Wilbur

That was the hockey equivalent of completely controlling the game and then a questionable major penalty in the third gives your opponent more life than they had all game and its a stretch to the finish. Some will say its a red, some will say Messi did the same thing and didn't even get a yellow last week. Not having Balogun in Seattle is going to hurt if the ruling is upheld. Honestly I don't know if they even have a group that looks at that kind of thing. Great game from Tillman and the back end. Those guys grinded.

I'll miss seeing him around the rink. You talk to any coach around the state and they all have a lot of good things to say about Ole. Hopefully his health stays up to par in his retirement. Is he still going to teach, or is he retiring from that as well?

Wilbur? Ohhh....goalie....goalie...

Thankfully it got pushed to 20 to at the moment save the high school game a bit. What the next thing will be who knows.

The 5 in 5 rule could be a mighty blow for high school hockey. Instead of kids sticking around and playing through their senior years they'll be pressed to make a decision on high school hockey vs. junior hockey. I'll use a kid like Benson from Sheyenne as an example as he lead the state in scoring. If that rule goes into place he'd have one full year of potential junior hockey after this year. His dad being the head coach he likely sticks around and plays before and after the year in Watertown where he is tendered, but after that he'd just have the one full year. ACHA teams may be licking their chops with this one as it doesn't apply to them at all. Stay tuned.

Don't show this to the Pohlads. Got better while spending less.

I see the pros and cons of the rule changes. No bailout TO on an icing is for more offense, but will lead to more delay BS of the team that has been out there on a 2 minute shift, unless the officials start calling delay of game on it. I'd rather see it stay the same and each team uses a TO where they want it. I think the players for the most part adapted really well to the no hand pass rule. I guess adding it back in the defensive end means that when a guy is down on his knees in the corner he can glove the puck to a teammate to keep the game going. Count me in the should've kept it where it was group with that one too. As far as the trapezoid and goalies being unfairly limited in showing off their athletic ability in the corner by playing the puck....I mean we need to let the best athletes on the ice show off that skill. I know @burd agrees......

I think the Friday night game against Omaha in the playoffs summed up the end of his tenure to a T. Up a goal in the third period, and you got outshot 17-0 while sitting back and taking punches from Omaha like they were the Soviet Red Army team. Murdered in the faceoff circle, outhustled, outhit, out whatever you want to call it, yet after the game we talked "culture" and "finding a way" and "a full sixty on Saturday" when our goalie just stood on his head so we could barely get to the finish line. I don't know if that, or needing to beat Robert Morris in OT and getting pushed to the brink by them after having to beat them in OT was the low point.

I'm going to need to know what bar now....and where I can get a Sandy t-shirt.....

Bringing in a tough as nails kid that isn't afraid to get in front of pucks with the half shield on, and has played with Carels a bit. I'll call that a win. Dumanski is captain material in a few years, his coach at Prince George just loves the kid. Dressing 7 d men most nights is my guess, the battle between that group to stay out of the suites on game night is going to be fun to see.

I think regardless of where he gets drafted you're still looking at the prospect of an 18 year old (this June, still 17) kid making a monumental jump after playing against U20 guys in Prince George. Lets see where he's at after a year in college hockey playing against some men from Duluth, Denver, Western, etc. I'm not a legal expert in terms of the "grant in aid" that the kid signed with UND. Back to the draft standpoint, I don't think he's going ahead of baby Jesus, Stenberg, Molhotra, or Chase Reid. Vancouver is likely to go whoever is left between Molhotra or Stenberg, but I think San Jose goes with Stenberg as an elite forward to play with baby Jesus of last year's draft, and Molhotra makes all the sense in the world for Vancouver with his time in the region previously with a couple of organizations. Reid ends up in Chicago, and then Carels to NY, and Verhoeff to Calgary. My two cents.

Hold your horses UND fans. The experts up in Canada have Carels playing in the NHL next season as an 18 year old d man if he's drafted by the right team. Scratch him off the list and hope we get Dupont now. And somebody please take jersey #4 from him and give it a good wash.

My favorite one was when they had a kid with diabetes that had a service dog with him that was trained to let the kid know when his blood sugar reached a dangerous level. The kid was a senior and it was getting towards the end of the year, and in true Ole form, "yeah that kid graduates this year.....man am I gonna miss the dog."

A lot of the coaches/parents/broadcasters I speak to around the state have nothing but great things to say about Ole. Ran into him a few times and I never had a bad conversation with him. Great one liners! "The kid has two speeds....neutral and reverse..."

Got a chance to see Grubb a bit this weekend, and I'm excited to see what he does in Brandon this year. Hockey IQ is off the charts, but then playing for Tom Ward at Shattuck will do that to a kid. The kid has definitely taken advantage of his time in the weight room as well.