Wilbur

You guys are making great points about the officiating. Does anybody remember after Parise, Murray, and Stafford came back from the WJC after the USA had beaten Canada and won the gold medal (can't remember the year, maybe 2003), and the team was playing a home series against Anchorage? I remember the Saturday night game ended in like a 2-2 tie and after the game Parise was so beat up from the clutching and grabbing thuggery that Anchorage put on the sioux that night that he really couldn't even stand up? He went from being the most valuable player at the WJC to the guy that had someone around his waste the entire game....

I'll have to agree with you. I think the next couple of games set up pretty well for the U.S. You can start Lee against Latvia, which will be over before they drop the puck, and then have a rested Campbell go against Canada. Win or lose, after the Canada game you have to go with your best goalie the remainder of the tournament, which at this point in time appears to be Campbell.

Huh, I hadn't heard that. I guess a lot hof his future depends on how much he matures playing in the OHL. I agree with you though, I would highly doubt that he will be in the NHL before his 21st birthday.

I think the IIHF totally blew the player of the game for the U.S. Without Jack Campbell in the first period the Swiss are ahead 3-0 into the break. Every time I've seen the kid I've been impressed with the way he handles himself. Michigan is getting a great goaltender with this kid.... Day off.....breeze through game against Latvia where all four lines should play the entire game, and then the Canadians......

I like how Blais has built this U.S. team. They absolutely fly around like gnats in the offensive end, and create a ton of scoring chances. I think in the past they have tried to create teams with bigger guys that would possibly out physical Canada, which we all know is impossible. Overall not a bad start to the tournament. Other observations: ~Kristo is the man, played very well. Was the best player on the ice IMHO. ~Lee was okay. Probably see Campbell tomorrow against the Swiss. ~I wish Morin played college hockey. ~Why in the h e double hockey sticks did D'amigo or whatever his name is go to RPI.....why??? Like he's going to be an engineer..... ~I don't know what it is, but I always feel comfortable with Blais on the bench. It just seems like even when things go bad he always has it under control. I still say the top two teams in the tourny are the Swedes and Canadians. That will be the gold medal matchup.

I hate how TSN spends their entire broadcast sandbagging for the Canadian team. "Ohh, its all about goal differential, Canada needs to do this..." There comes a time and a place to where you dump the puck in and roll four lines. The Canadians had their top line on the ice the entire third period every third shift and sometimes every other shift. We as sioux fans hate what happened to Genoway, and the Canadians are lucky the Latvians played with some class and none of them tried something stupid. I think the IIHF really needs to consider run time as well. Stop the clock during the commercial breaks but there really isn't a reason to stop the clock when a team scores with 20 seconds left in the third period to go up 16 to zip. The funny thing is that when the U.S. gets up big on Latvia that they'll get booed every time they score a goal past six or seven.

I'm anxious to see who gets the nod in the net for the U.S. tonight. I think all signs point towards Mike Lee, although Campbell will undoubtedly get his chance later in the tournament. Not a lot of big names on this U.S. team, but I think thats what makes them intriguing. I think with good goaltending a bronze medal is definitely a possibility. I have never seen worse goaltending in my life than what the U.S. got last year. Thomas McCollom or whatever his name was was horrible. Prediction on the first goal by the United States tonight: ~I'll take Schroeder, from Morin. ~I'll also take the U.S. to win tonight.....4-2.

I'm excited for this weekend. I thought the Sioux played well against Denver, and should put out a good showing against two CCHA teams. No reason to believe the Sioux won't knock Ohio State around and light the lamp a few times. Miami will present an experienced team that has played on the big stage, and should be one of the better games at the Ralph this season. With Eidsness playing the way he is I see him playing both games. He was great in Denver. He won't win WCHA defensive player of the week, but I'll take that performance any weekend.

Okay, dumb move.....yeah I hear that. A Note to UND hockey players: People in the community know who you are. Even police officers at 3AM in the morning Its unfortunate that some of these hockey players take kind of a rock star persona to heart in the community of Grand Forks as far as their behavior goes. Whats really unfortunate is the amount of kids that look up to these players as their heroes and try to be like them as much as they possibly can.

It wouldn't surprise me if a guy like this had a great career at UND. I mean look at the Hobey Baker winner this season, basically a walk on who turned into a great hockey player. You've got to love his size, his age, and the fact that he's labeled as a stay at home guy. Kind of makes me wonder if he has an edge over a guy like Fienhage because of the amount of games that he played the last year while all Fienhage did was practice. I guess really the only question that still comes to mind is the third goaltender. I heard Hak say on the radio that they still hadn't made up their mind, so I'm guessing we won't here until closer to September.

I was wondering the exact same things. I know that Hak will keep us guessing until the very end with the third goaltender. I'm guessing a couple of days before the fall semester starts they'll make an announcement. Does anyone want to make a bet on the 3rd goaltender being Canadian? Ooops...this is a prediction thread. I predict the third goaltender will be Canadian. It would be great to see Forney back with the Sioux. Either way you just hope the kid can stay healthy.

Completely agree with most of what you said, well put sir. However, I think that BU was the most talented team this season. (Wilson, Shattenkirk, etc.) It would be hilarious if Vancouver signed Schroeder early and took him away from the goofs. The way Vancouver feels about Minnesota and likewise, I could seem them doing something like that.

Very surprised to see that Danny Mattson wasn't drafted.....I think someone might have pegged it that he didn't have a very good showing at the combine or something to that effect. I thought he looked good this past year at the U18 tournament holding some talented forwards off the score sheet. Guess if he's not drafted he should spend four years at UND. It was even a surprise to see that Rajala from Finland go as late as he did. I only saw him play against Canada in the bronze medal game at the U18 but he was still far and away the best player on the ice that day. I liked the comment that one of the analysts made...."Scandanavian players just mature slower...." Hmmm.....yeah okay....

I predict that the Sioux will start slow, and get better after Christmas......like every other year under Hakstol. I also predict that even with the knowledge that the team starts slow there will be those supposed Sioux fans that jump ship and start getting all up in a tizzy because the team isn't performing like they will in late February. And I predict there will be those who will be with the team come hell or high water during the season.

UND is starting to go through goalies faster than back in the Blais days! I'm a little upset that we won't get a chance to see Harrington get in a game. Does anyone know if he plans to play hockey in Edmonton? Is it very good hockey I wonder?

The NCAA should let Walski apply for another year of eligiblity. I mean what does it hurt to give the guy another year? On a side note, watching some of the Aaron Dell footage on youtube made my day. I know its basically footage of all of his best saves, but man there are a lof of nice ones. UND shouldn't be hard pressed to find another goaltender to bring in the mix. I guess I'm of the opinion that they should bring in a kid that would compete for the starters spot almost immediately instead of a guy thats going to simpy take pucks in practice. You know that one of the goalies will probably get nicked up at some point in time during the season, which means that the Sioux would be a heartbeat away from going with a shooter tutor in net if they go with their conventional method in the nets. Does Ranfranz have any eligibility left? Gosh, where in the world is that guy nowadays??

Whoops.....wrong baseball movie....they're all the same though right....

Yeah, that was him. It was at that time that I had a Tom Hanks moment straight out of Field of Dreams.... "We're gonna win......WE'RE GONNA WIN!!!!" Yeah, I based the whole game on how big and tough Morin looked....I was right....

A couple of thoughts after watching the U.S. completely dominate Russia.... ~Jack Campbell is a very poised young man. From the way he warmed up to the way he played in the game. Nothing overly spectacular, just made the saves he should have and as a calm presence. ~I saw Morin taping his stick before the game and my gosh is he a well put together young man. He looked like he was 23 years old and ready for the NHL. Hak needs to find a way to get him to UND.....great player. ~Yeah, Fowler will be in the NHL soon. ~UND is getting a solid skating defenseman in Mattson. ~Denver is getting a bevy of talented forwards....wow..... ~Bourque might be the fastest 18 year old skater I've ever seen in person. The kid can absolutely fly.... By the way, the bronze medal game was AWESOME! There was a lot of people ticked off that they bought tickets for that one, but it was great watching the Finns come back and beat Canada in a shootout. The Bronze medal game was a lot better than the gold medal game, with action up and down the ice. At least the teams were more evenly matched. Ohh, one last thing. Whoever was keeping shots was way off in both games. The Finns had periods where they dominated, but I'm not sure they had that many shots....And 43 seemed a bit much for the U.S. tonight as well.

Evan Oberg likely to sign....yet another one gone from the WCHA..... Now we need to see Stalock sign....that guy owned us this season...

UND was 0-7 this year at neutral site games..... Next year they should schedule Grand Forks Red River at Purper Arena to get the hex off.

Ditto! Thanks to all the seniors who had a tremendous four years! Duncan-I'll miss him scoring from his spot... Walski-Never complained about not playing....just filled his role. Miller-Did what the team needed when we were short on d. Kozek-The game winner in Wisconsin last year was thrilling. Martens-A great job with Brad Miller Time. Finley-I guess I've given him a lot of criticism, but he had a great career. Jones-I really going to miss him going nuts on guys in the corner....gosh that was great to watch... Watkins-Tough to end the season with an injury and a loss, but boy could he grow a playoff beard. The sting of the loss hurts right now, but there are bigger things in life than hockey, and I'm sure all of these guys will be successful wherever they're at.

Okay sorry, he played a lot of minutes his entire career. I would like to say thanks to the seniors though for the last four years. Duncan, Miller, Walski, all of those guys. It was great watching them play and grow as a group. There are a lot of what-ifs that go on at a time like this. You think about guys like Chorney, Toews, Oshie.....what could have been... I think Eidsness played alright. None of the goals that I saw were really his fault....

Finley looked awful the entire game. I know he played a lot of minutes this year, but that final goal was completely his fault. Just let the guy go right by you.....cripes.

Holy moly.....good for the dogs...they deserve it.