Wilbur

Quick question for the roster buffs out there. UND is bring ten players in next season (7 Forwards, 3 Defensemen). With the loss of the senior class, Cichy, Bruno, Hill, Gregs, and Hextall, what does the Roster look like for next season as far as numbers go? Thanks. EDIT* Asking this because I know I've forgotten someone who is leaving or forgot to add a player that might be coming in.

You always know how to make me feel better.....thanks....

I think someone said it best earlier. I'd rather have the kid not come to UND at all, than play one season and sign right after the season ends and skip town. Its tough to lose a high profile recruit like this, but you just wonder the type of impact he would have had this year. With Freshman its hit or miss. I don't think he was going to tear up the WCHA by any means, or set any type of Freshman records for the team. He's one helluva hockey player, but with or without him I still think the Sioux will be a good hockey team next year. It also means that Rocco Grimaldi will be a shoe in for league rookie of the year.

Can't blame the kid. Gets drafted higher than expected, is on cloud 9, why go to school when you can get that big signing bonus with the Rangers right away and not worry about getting up for classes and just basically play hockey. I would give the old, "got to have the education in case hockey doesn't work out", but there is insurance that will take care of any injuries he has. And he is a good enough player that he will make the NHL if he stays healthy enough too. I wonder if the Sioux plan on bringing in another player, or if they'll roll with what they've got.

I think there is a bit of a love fest because some of the North Dakota/Minnesota connections that they have. They are coached by Frank Serratore (Bemidji), and just off the top of my head some local players on their teams include the likes of Jacque Lamoureax (Grand Forks), Paul Weisgarber (Fargo), Chad Demers (Grafton) will be joining them next season, Matt Becker (Moorhead), and Jason Fabian (Roseau, obviously everyone knows his brother). I disagree with them being like a Michigan Tech in a normal conference. They are well coached and have had success against some highly ranked teams in the past couple of years, like beating Yale last year before losing in OT in the NCAAs. Two years ago they beat #1 seed Michigan in the NCAA's and were an OT goal away from beating Vermont and having a chance to play in the Frozen Four. Also, if you look at comparisons with top end WCHA teams, they always play CC and Denver tough year in and year out in their non-conference schedule. I look forward to them being in Grand Forks for the ice breaker tournament. I think they will represent themselves very well.

I agree they would take their lumps.....I think they'd also be able to get some more high caliber recruits with the type of schedule and exposure that they could get playing in the league. If you would have told me two years ago Western Michigan would be a possibility for a super league with Denver, UND, CC, Miami of Ohio, I might have called you nuts, or a GOON!!!

Copyrighted from Goon's post: "The motivation to create the National Collegiate Hockey Conference follow recent conference realignments that affected several of our founding teams," said Brian Faison, director of athletics at North Dakota. "Our new conference was developed under the auspice of institutions that have displayed a high level of competitiveness on the ice, an institutional commitment to compete at the highest level within Division I, provide a national platform for exposure, and have wonderful history and tradition within their institution and hockey programs. The conference will be comprised of not only highly competitive, committed and winning hockey programs, but will also showcase many of the best student-athletes on and off the ice in coming years." High level of competitiveness on the ice....thats Notre Dame, Western Michigan, Bemidji State, Northern Michigan has been in the tournament a time or two...i think Air Force fits with this as well. Tradition.....Air Force academically.....Bemidji State has some, mostly down a division....Notre Dame.....Northern has at least one NCAA championship that I can think of..... Exposure....Obviously Notre Dame.....Bemidji made the frozen four two years ago, and has a beautiful new facility......... Student athletes......Notre Dame.....Air Force..... So in the end....Notre Dame would be a perfect fit.......

Any guesses as to the other schools besides Notre Dame and Western Michigan? My guesses would be: ~Bemidji State (brand new rink, college hockey becoming huge) ~Air Force (already two Colorado teams, why not another) ~Northern Michigan (just a guess....nothing other than that)

Wow....Sicatoka......I hope you have an insider somewhere......or you could just be the guy that knows all...

I'll go with the Western Collegiate Hockey Cooperative..... How about Central States Hockey League....

Agreed about Dragon Football. Not saying that Laqua or whatever his name is is a bad coach, but how many times does a high school head coach go right to being a college head coach? It would make sense for them to end their football program. I didn't know there was Dragon wrestling.....shows how much publicity that they have.

How about...."The Super Eight Conference". Brought to you of course by the Super Eight hotel chain.... I had a discussion the other day with one of my friends about the end of the final five for the Sioux. What started as a group of four college roommates attending the Final Five turned into a group of about 20 heading to St. Paul every year. Ever since we have started attending the Sioux have made it every year, won the tournament three times, finished second twice, third twice, and fourth one time. I have my doubts about the tournament being locked into St. Paul year in and out. St. Paul makes it easy for all of us to attend with our families, and a quick trip from wherever we are scattered in the Minnesota-North Dakota area. I know many Sioux fans will still follow them wherever the tournament ends up, but myself personally with a new baby boy (named him Carter by the way!) and a wife that isn't a huge sports fan to begin with means in two years we may be done seeing the Sioux play in their conference tournament live. Unless I could somehow convince her to make a trip to Detroit or something like that in March.....not going to happen.....

UND vs. Denver on Versus.....I can bye into that......

Probably the right move if the kid wants to play in games. Got to give the kid credit for sticking it out for two years.

Really? I've heard it from SCSU fans at the Final Five for years.......One guy told me he helped organize one of the protests.....He had an SCSU jersey on so I assume he was an SCSU fan.

Agreed....My guesses are: ~Money ~Don Adam's officiating ~Marco Hunt's officiating ~The Shepherd family ~Protests at the National Hockey Center ~Not having to fly to Alaska ~Not having to bus all the way to Tech Just guesses.....

I'm just surprised how quickly this all came to be. So lets pretend that Western Michigan and Notre Dame join the new conference (can't wait to hear the name), and the WCHA and CCHA merge.....would this be the new WCHA? Any one of these teams could win the league.... 1. Anchorage 2. Fairbanks 3. Mankato 4. Michigan Tech 5. Northern Michigan 6. SCSU 7. Ferris State 8. Bowling Green 9. Lake Superior State 10. Bemidji State You could add Huntsville to the CCHA and Air Force to the WCHA and have the two leagues remain intact. Then both leagues would get an automatic qualifier, which would mean less chances for an at large team to make the field. WCHA 1. Anchorage 2. Mankato 3. Tech 4. SCSU 5. Bemidji 6. Air Force CCHA 1. Huntsville 2. Fairbanks 3. Northern Michigan 4. Ferris State 5. Bowling Green 6. LSSU

Agreed. Heatley playing in a Wild uniform......yikes.......Of course the San Jose GM said all sorts of nice things about him, but of course was thinking "thank God we got rid of that guy".

Congrats to Jason. If he is healthy he will be in the NHL this season. I think I'll cheer for the Jets more than the Wild. I just can't handle being a "Wild Fan". I was a North Stars fan with the likes of Modano, Casey, Broten, but the Wild just haven't caught on with me. Unless of course Genoway is playing every other shift for the Wild by the end of the season....

I wonder how this will effect the summer hockey camps that are going on at the Ralph.

At one point in time Parise was quoted as saying that Eaves was one of the best coaches that he'd ever played for. Believe it was the year they won the WJC together over in Finland. I'm thinking Parise would like to see Eaves arrive in New Jersey.

Might as well make this into a coaching defections page. Sounds like Jason Herter is heading to Duluth to fill their assistant role.

This is a good thing. Who are other UND players that Edmonton has drafted in the past? These are the only ones I could find. ~Matt Greene ~Dillon Simpson ~Taylor Chorney ~Gord Sherven (one of my dad's favorite players) ~Geoff Smith Hmmmm.....three defensemen that played under Hak......interesting.

Perfect fit for Simpson as far as playing in his hometown! Nice to see that he got picked up by that franchise. The only thing that worries me a little bit is the youth movement that is ongoing in Edmonton and I hope that he doesn't get swooped up into the minor leagues and pushed up before he is ready. He'll be 18 when he starts his sophomore season, so hopefully they let him stay and develop.

Being a greedy Sioux fan......its nice that Grimaldi has fallen a bit.....could mean that he's around the university for a few more years than we think..... I hope he gets drafted early tomorrow. Great kid, great family, great heart. He'll turn heads in the NHL, and he'll turn heads for the Sioux next season.