Wilbur

On the goaltending front so far not bad for the Gothberg kid from TRF. Has a .915 save percentage, and has played pretty steady for the Fargo Force. His GAA is a bit high at 2.76, but I'd take that for Dell or Eidsness now.

6-1 with Landry? Glad you put the smiley there.....

So here is my question as a fan who has never seen Mollberg play. Is he ready to step in as a true Freshman, or does he need to redshirt a year to learn the offense so we don't have a freshman out there with absolutely no clue?

Still baffled that Garmin wasn't redshirted.....

Brad posted the lineup for the Sioux on his blog. Most notably, the top line is back together. Dell in the net....no surprise there. Lets hope the Sioux get two points, and get the hell out of Wisconsin.

I think the Sioux really miss out on the good forwards they lost because a lot of the time they weren't playing hockey in their own end.

QB play has hurt the Sioux for a couple of years now. Need to get the kid from Detroit Lakes into school (forgot his name), red shirt him for a season to learn the offense, and then let him have at it. As for next season.....uhhh.....ummmm.....Garmin?

Some of the play calling just baffles me. Like the last drive of the game.....The first play they try a quick slant that luckily went incomplete. If it gets completed the receiver gets tackled short of the first down and you lose twenty seconds.... I'm not a big Goska fan, but you have to give the kid credit for giving the team a chance. Nice to see a senior play well.

Some good points. Hasn't been a great start in the defensive end for the Sioux. Got to remember that the forwards are huge in the defensive end as well as the defensemen. Probably the most overlooked defensive man in the zone is the weak side wing. A couple of times this year you've seen both defensemen and the center get caught below the red line which means the weak side wing needs to suck down and help in front. Even though it isn't supposed to be his man, he's got to get down and help out. Hak pointed this out a couple of weeks ago against BC. Its only October, but you are correct sir, it has to get better.

I'm anxious Friday night to see if the Sioux stay with the Kristo-Knight-Nelson line. If Hak decides to split it them up hopefully Knight and Kristo stick together, as you can see that they have a ton of chemistry. The first period Friday night I hope we see the Sioux come out and hit everything they see. Like a coach I once had used to say, "Hit the piss out of them in the first, and we'll see if they want to come back and play the second". Don't let another hockey east team come into your rink and finesse their way around the rink.

Agreed very much. Give these young kids some time. I mean even last year Maine throttled the Sioux early in the year, and Maine didn't even make the postseason. If you would have told me the Sioux would go 1-1 this weekend I would have taken it. I think this next week is all about the veterans on the team. The defensive corps needs to be better. Starting with the Blood and Forbort combination. Dell or Eidsness need to give the team quality goaltending. And if they are still together, the Kristo-Knight-Nelson line needs to score at least four goals. I love our coaching staff to death. They've struggled a bit against Hockey East, but I love what they've done with some under talented teams. They always find a way to prove me wrong, and they always push the right buttons to get the team into the postseason or into the final five. Last year's team isn't walking through that door. This group has a helluva long ways to go, but they also have until March to get there. Its funny how little credit these guys get when the team is winning, and how much hell they catch when the team is underperforming.

I have a feeling we'll see a completely different Fighting Sioux group on Friday against Maine. I think the coaching staff will challenge the team in practice this week, and I think we'll see a lot better cohesive unit defensively, and maybe some different line combos to spark some offense. It'll be nice to see a full arena as well. Kind of disappointing to see a lot of green seats.

I'm a huge Mario Lamoureax fan, but he hasn't been on the powerplay for his entire career at UND. Hopefully just an experiment. I mean come on people....UND is such a young team....with young players.....the youth will hurt the Sioux for a while... I didn't have a good feeling about this one, but glad that the Sioux know where they'll need to be at the end of the year to compete with the big boys.

Someone said it in another thread.....Although they are the only offense that we've seen, the top line will need to be split up. You can't have all the eggs in one basket, and I think you create two scoring lines with the addition of Grimaldi to a line with either Nelson or Knight. I think you need to keep Kristo and Knight together, and have Grimaldi play with Nelson. McMillan has looked decent, maybe put him up there.

Not a whole lot Dell can do about a couple of those, but the 5th one can't happen. Other than the first line no one is really doing anything. Lots of young faces though, and it will take time. Ben Blood needs to settle down and try not to do too much. I counted at least four turnovers from him in the defensive end that period. We love you Ben, its a long year, you'll be alright....

I've often thought this as well. But you can't blame the guy for not wanting to sit through however many years of reclassification and probation...etc. I still think that you could see him back in Grand Forks at some point in time. He's done well at Southern Illinois, but if the opportunity comes up for him to come back to his home state, it wouldn't surprise me to see him come back with his coaching staff. Bubba back at d-coordinator...love it.

Great to see Grimaldi get into the lineup. Was kind of hoping to see Eidsness get a shot, but Dell is never the wrong decision in the net.

I was thinking about something today....last year a senior laden Sioux team blew a 5-1 lead against a young UAA team, in a game that the Sioux probably should have lost in OT if not for a huge Eidsness save. This year, a young Sioux team pulls out an ugly win to start the year....... I'll take the win over the tie any day. PS: Would love to see Eidsness in the net tonight. Dell is #1, but a great game for the Sioux to get Eidsness in there.

Agreed. Ben Blood was on the ice for the first two goals, and looked like he was forcing it a bit. Kind of a gut check game for the d corps tomorrow. The goaltending and defense was supposed to be the foundation, tonight they looked pretty average. First game though.....BC will be an excellent early test.

I liked the team I saw the last 9 minutes of the game. The first 51 minutes was extremely sluggish by the Sioux IMHO. All credit to Air Force though, they played a tremendous game, and I think you'll see them in the NCAA tournament again. I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think they'd be a bad choice for another team in the new conference. People can hate on them all you want, but they'd compete in the league.

Hmmm....no way, questionable activities by the NC$$....Funny that kids like Karvinen and St. Clair sit on pins and needles, and frauds like Pryor and Newton make the NCAA Millions...... Someone needs to explain to me how the NCAA isn't in violation of federal antitrust legislation. Sorry, the whole "NAIA" argument doesn't cut it.

I was most impressed with Mattson. I can't wait to see him this next weekend when the competition takes just a bit of a step up. Kind of reminded me of Genoway, jumping up into the play and making things happen offensively from the blue line. Glad to see Eidsness went back to the black pads. He'll have a better year.

Would rather have the injury occur now than in Januray or February. No reason to rush things with Grimaldi. May even be necessary to hold him out a bit longer than they'd like to make sure he's okay.

I feel bad about myself....my wife asked me who the Sioux Football team plays this weekend and I said "Regina" without even thinking. When I thought about it, I had no idea who the Sioux footballers were lining up against this week.... Must be about hockey season....

Very excited to see the line combinations for Saturday night. Alright, time for the predictions. Score: Sioux 5 Regina 2 First Goal: Danny Kristo First Penalty: Ummm.....tough one.....I'll pick Derek Rodwell