shep

One other thing. If I thought for a second that Greene could remedy his tendency to take stupid penalties, I'd love to see him come back, but when the same thing is happening in the middle of Jan that occurred back in October you have to be concerned about his learning curve. Goon indicated that Greene commented after the game about the penalty (I didn't hear it) and suggested it was a referee issue. NEWSFLASH: If you take your right hand, place it near the bottom of the stick, place your left near the top then hold the stick parallel to the ground and with bond hands slam it into the back of the opposition player standing in front of you while the ref stands nearby watching, YOU ARE GOING TO BE CALLED FOR A PENALTY EVEN IN THE NHL!!

My thanks to Redwing for the apology re: me being an idiot, though in many cases the term will apply to me anyway (just not this time) and congrats to Ruffian for very sage comments. Go Sioux!

If this is just a head-in-the-sand, rose colored glasses, cheerleader board, then this should be locked, but I'm just sick of watching this guy play so undisciplined, and I don't care how big he is. If he's so big why does he need to blatantly crosscheck a guy when he's standing in front of a ref while killing a penalty. This guy is not helping the team when he does that and if we're here to be Sioux Cheerleaders, then we should all be upset by that. And I don't care what any scouting reports say.

So that Matt Greene can turn pro and find that even in the NHL, you can't whack a guy in the back with both hands on your stick and not be called for a penalty!!! I bet this thug has done that now at least 4 or 5 times a. while killing a penalty and b. with the referee standing there watching him. I expect his defenders will not even be able to give the "he isn't used to how the refs are calling it" reply as it's the middle of January and if he is that incapable of figuring things out he shouldn't be playing. And again, it occurs when the Sioux dominate a period and if they kill the penalty get to go back on the attack but this thug has to screw that up. Please NHL come back so he can go!!!

The only time I wanna see Fylling on the ice with 3 seconds left in the game is when the score is 5-1. Did anyone get that beatdown???

I find Sweeney all but impossible to listen to and when paired with Bredahl it's just a matter b/4 he attempts some weird pun or other non sequiter that makes no sense in the context of a hockey game which is why I turn down the volume and turn on the radio.

I know it was Fylling as I whined all the way home "Why the he-- was Quinn Fylling in the game at a critical time like that???

I think it's fair to say that this version of Sioux hockey just seems to lack something. Maybe it's an intangible, maybe it's a lockerroom issue, maybe it's a great scorer or a real solid D-Man, but this team lacks something and because of that, I boldly predict this team will not even make the Elite Eight of college hockey this year. That ending to Saturday's game was the nail in the coffin for me.

[ So is this a sign of things to come for Drew? Or are we going to see a post-WJC letdown? <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with Kermit and NDFlyer. Did I read that right, that Suter made the all tourny team? I would say that almost EVERY Canadian D man had a better tourny than Suter. Everyone. If Lee is on the team, play him (and as noted above there were good reasons for that) but don't just flap him around in meaningless games.

Ok, let me get my bias out: I'm a Sioux fan, went to school here for 7 years, I love the Green and Sioux hockey, have season tix etc. Yet I must ask: Why, oh why, was Brian Lee chosen to sit on the bench? WHY? The US D was weak most of the tourny and you're telling me there is NO better D-Man in the country than a kid who sits on the bench? A little help.

Re: Ovechkin: It aint cocky when you can back it up with great play. He's the best on the ice whenever he's out there. Malkin is a stud too. I agree they were cocky, but I'm not so thrilled about cheering for the gang that taunted US fans with "BEL-A-RUS" periodically, and who's fans near the TSN TV booth could think of nothing more creative than lenghty chants of JETS, JETS, JETS to which I wanted to yell, "Go to Phoenix to watch them if you want." I'm cheering for Canada though, only because they have a team captain who truly deserves the C on his jersey. Watch him and you' ll see what I mean, and for as much press as Crosby and Bergeron have received the real stars are on the blueline. Those guys don't get beat. shep

After watching last night's game, I assumed this was a "no checking" league. You mean they CAN check? Wow.

Hate to toss cold water on the American hopes (though I think they did enough of that themselves last night) but I'm seeing a Canada-Russian final. Thus far, the Canadians haven't really been challenged. It is a GREAT team from top to bottom.

red I understand (now) you were comparing styles, but I can't find a good way to compare Greene to Hale. Greene is undisciplined for much of the time he's on the ice. Hale was able to be a physical presence with some ability to exercise selfcontrol when the ref is standing right in front/behind him. Greene has NOT demonstrated that ability for much of this year.

Even funnier (well, as funny) is the attempted connection of Greene to that group (other than Hale). Apparently he forgot Bobby Orr. shep

There certainly is some hopeful posters out here re: Lee and his possible impact and I too am hopeful, though I temper it with reality. Which leads me to wonder what your predictions are for this US team. I have little info about the Euros/Russkies, but it appears Canada looks very strong and so I'd do some basic math to suggest that we would be happy to take home a medal from these games. Is that a fair analysis?

Someone mentioned the difficulty of Sandelin's job, but I don't think there can be a tougher job this winter (except for the poor buggers who have to stand in the REA parking lot directing traffic pre-game in soon-to-be 30 below windchills) than the Canadian coach. That team has some highly, highly rated players on it. If they don't win do they force him to move to America? Some people need to seriously review Zajac's play as a Sioux b/4 suggesting any bias against him on the Canadian staff. He's been a good Sioux player though not great. However, I hate to say this, but if he were American, I think a case could be made that he's been better than Stafford and perhaps should have made the US team. Just my thoughts.

Oh, I'm still concerned about his proven ability to take the stupid penalty which lead to the loss of some games. I was simply attempting to provide a compliment when the player does something worthwhile and though the referenced penalty was indicative of his reckless nature, it occurred in a better point in the game as compared to his normal two handed crosscheck to the back that he's done in front of too many refs while attempting to kill a PP. That's all.

I've been as hard on the "Greene Giant" as anyone, but I have to admit that he didn't have me screaming at his stupidity on Friday night though he made up for it a bit on Sat when he tossed one of the most flagrant elbows I've seen this year. So, he's seemingly getting it and I hope it continues.

Travis Roche. Perhaps the best Offensive DMan we've had. And he didn't get a stupid penalty every ten minutes.