Wilbur

We preach that faceoffs are won and lost as a team. Everyone on the ice has a responsibility if the draw is won or lost, and how the opposing team lines up in our own end will determine how we line up defensively. Some basic things we coach: ~Centers take at least 200 practice draws in a week. Winning the puck straight back is huge offensively if you are running a play, and huge defensively to break the puck out or ice it on a penalty kill. ~Cheat the draw. If the officials allow it, do it. By this I mean if you are the weakside wing responsible for the weakside defenseman (in a defensive zone draw) and the reff is giving you some as we call it "gray area" keep taking more and more of it before they stop you. If you are the strongside wing responsibly for the defenseman lined up on the boards or the forward lined up on the top of the circle (many teams decide to put a forward back there for a quick win back and shot) you need to push it as much as possible and not let the wing tie you up so you can get out there. (Thus again, cheat as much as possible). ~Don't be overly predictable in the offensive end. Switch it up. Try to walk the other center, tie him up, push him back, push it forward to the wall to set up a cycle. Don't do the same thing every time, and lineup in ways that make the other team think a little bit. Faceoff plays work maybe 10% of the time, but when run right they create some tremendous scoring opportunities. (If you watched Sweden play the Czech Republic at the world jrs. they killed the Czech's with draw plays). ~Try to get the #1 center on the line kicked out. We'll have a wing go in and do his best to get kicked out with the other center. If this works we have our #1 going against a #2 on the other line. If the wing can't get the other center kicked out, he needs to get kicked out so we can get out #1 center into the circle. ~Most importantly......TIE UP!!!! HAVE YOUR GUY!!!! Don't get scored on off of a faceoff! Great thread. Love to hear other coaches and fans ideas/opinions.

I'm not rooting for Goldy to win, I'm rooting for Denver to drop a couple of games here and there.... Wouldn't be surprised to see Cichy play for Nelson maybe. You can't sit Davidson, he's done too much when he's been in the lineup.

Important for the Sioux to get off to a great start and bury Anchorage in the first period. I think the first five shifts of the game will tell the tale. Will it be a sluggish game that Anchorage has the opportunity to win at the end, or will the Sioux use their speed and dominate like they did last night. I agree with an earlier post. Denver has a guaranteed four points next weekend (lets try and say this as much as possible for Karma purposes ) . Crucial for the Sioux to win tonight.

Loving the talk about the forechecks and the neutral zone play for the sioux....

This is my goal. My wife tells me that we'll let the kid choose whether he'll watch cartoons or sioux hockey, but I'm thinking when she isn't around we'll be putting hockey on every chance we get. Or we'll make it into a positive reinforcement activity. When sioux hockey is on, treats galore.....cartoons.... pickle juice..... When I was a young kid I would cry when the TV was turned away from hockey. My dad always called me his favorite kid because of that!

My wife is due to have a baby boy the end of June. Those are words I never hope to hear.... Although I was told that my hockey watching would become more limited once the baby comes.....hah!

I hear ya there. I'd rather see Denver sweep goldy at Mariucci, but at the same time I think its likely that we see a split. I'd love to see Minnesota start on the road in the postseason and get a low seed at the Final Five to the point where they would have to win the darn thing to get into the tournament. Nothing like having the Frozen Four in your backyard, and you don't even get the opportunity to play in the tournament.

Anchorage has more points in the league than Minnesota.....hmmm..... Need at least three points this series. Minnesota hosting Denver should mean a split for Denver, and with a sweep the Sioux should pass them. I think Duluth will get a sweep at home against SCSU. if the Sioux get a sweep, and Denver splits with goldy, the Sioux should pass them in the pairwise as well.

At least we got news today that Genoway is only out 3-5 weeks. I thought for sure a season ender. How about we talk about possible injuries it could be to Genoway? ~Sprained MCL? ~High Ankle sprain? ~Getting ripped on by Siouxsports posters to much?

Ahh yes, you are correct sir.

Yeah, he was cleared of the whole opening a police car door when he was trying to talk to some of the players or something like that. Can't remember who the two players were. I graduated from high school the same year as Bina (2001), and met a guy at UND that graduated from Sacred Heart in east grand that knows Bina pretty well. Boy did he have some good Bina stories.

This is good to hear. You just hope the kid is able to live a normal life, whether he made a dumb decision or not.

This makes me sick to my stomach.....And it has nothing to do with how it hurts the sioux hockey team. Its all just speculation from this point until we get the whole truth, but this is what I'd like to know.... ~Was he air lifted to St. Paul? If so, likely an extreme emergency. ~Was he really passed out in a snowbank? ~How bad is it on his hands and the rest of his body? ~Was alcohol involved with the incident? Kristo is clearly a fan favorite, and a definite favorite of young kids in the community. I hope he is able to make a full recovery. I watched a TV show the other day that showed a severe frostbite victim that had his hands and legs amputated. I hope that its nothing to that extent.

No points will come out of this weekend, thats for sure..... What would be nice around the league would be all splits in the top end series. CC never sweeps DU, so lets be realistic about the fact that a split is the most we can hope for. At the same time I'd like to see Duluth and Minnesota split as that would prevent Duluth from jumping ahead of the Sioux, and at the same time Minnesota can tack on another loss to their total which hopefully ensures they would have to win their way in the NCAA tournament. Other series: ~We need a SCSU-UNO split ~We don't care about Anchorage vs. Tech (don't let Anchorage get on too much of a roll Tech) ~BSU-Mankato.....hmm....the battle for 10th in the league....GO BEAVERS!

I know we have about a month left in the season, but this is where I see the WCHA finishing at the end of February/early March. Of course I have green glasses on most of the time, so of course the Sioux will win the league.... WCHA Final Team GP Pts UND 28 42 Denver 28 41 UMD 28 38 Nebraska-Omaha 28 32 UW 28 31 UMN 28 30 CC 28 29 AA 28 24 SCSU 28 22 Mankato 28 22 Bemidji State 28 20 MTech 28 5 First Round Series: Tech@UND BSU @ Denver Mankato@ UMD SCSU @ Nebraska Omaha AA @ UW CC @ Minnesota

It is unbelievable to see the sioux have the success that they do in the black uniforms. I mean you talk about an unreal streak. It is a completely different hockey team on the ice when they put on the black uniforms. Everything just seems to go right..... Nice to have a week off. Two weeks to get fresh, then get home and sweep Anchorage.

Question: The camera showed the student section during the second half and nobody was sitting in that end (well, very few). Has student attendance usually been this poor during the season, or would this be just because they are playing a team that hasn't won in forever? I hope its -30 on Saturday when Houston Baptist is here.....hehehehehe

Look at where his stick was on the breakaway goal, and anyone can see that he's still fighting the puck hardcore. I agree with the Eidsness leaving after this year argument. If he doesn't see the net a couple more times before the end of the year, has a degree come May, and doesn't believe he can work his way back into the starters role his senior season he may as well try and play professionally somewhere. If Eidsness does leave I think the Sioux need to bring in another goalie and give Gothberg another year in the USHL. I think Gothberg will be great when he comes to UND, but he isn't even the starter for the Fargo Force, and could use a year of being "the guy" in junior hockey.

Agreed. You can't take Cichy out of the lineup, or Davidson for that matter, and how do you keep Lamoureax out of a critical series? I think the logical thing to do is put Marto back there. Some would worry about him transitioning back to D when they are playing on an olympic sheet of ice, but he is a good enough skater to where it shouldn't matter. That and the sioux have the luxury of practicing on the olympic rink all week. I think Eidsness might have seen a start this weekend if not for his performance against UNO. Not really sure the next time they can get him in a game is. Maybe at home against Anchorage? (They did get five on him though...)

Well his kids must be, because it was Ryan that was found with Grant's ID urinating on a car..... EDIT* Might have been near a car....can't remember.

Its funny that Davidson was in the lineup on Saturday for a victory where the Sioux played much better in their own end and under control. Agree with your lineup. Although I'd like to see Rodwell with Knight and Gregoire....that line could matchup physically with a lot of teams.

*2. Goaltenders (Choose 3):: Eidsness, Brad | Lamoureux, Jean-Philippe | Parise, Jordan *3. Defensemen (Choose 6):: Bina, Robbie | Chorney, Taylor | Fuher, Nick | Genoway, Chay | Greene, Matt | Jones, Matt *4. Forwards (Choose 9):: Bochenski, Brandon | Duncan, Ryan | Oshie, T.J. | Parise, Zach | Porter, Chris | Prpich, Mike | Stafford, Drew | Toews, Jonathan | VandeVelde, Chris

Outside of the Maine series the road has been a kind place for the sioux. After being at home for a month this is a good test for a team that faced a bit of adversity the past two home series. For whatever reason the sioux seem to pull off some big wins at CC, like last year's game with the Frattin OT winner, and the year before when CC was ranked #1 in the nation and the sioux came in and knocked them off. This CC team is hurting without Schwarz, and the Sioux should be able to roll four lines all weekend.