Cardinal

There is a large contingent of Gopher fans that want Budish because he's been on the radar for a while because of where he plays high school hockey and the recent success they have had. Don't confuse people wanting a player with being confident that the Gophers will land him. Two very different things.

Considering that Leddy is a 2009 recruit and Mattson is 2010, the addition of Leddy won't take up any room that was previously being reserved for Mattson.

Just an FYI that Ryan Walters only played in a few Elite League games this fall before heading down to Des Moines to play in the USHL before the high school season begins. He'll play full-time with the Bucs the next two seasons before joining the Gophers in the fall of 2010.

I called them earlier this week, and according to the guy I talked to, the Bloomington location will be showing the game.

I tried Comcast last week and the lady said it should be available soon, and that they'll -- as always -- have an early bird special. She also confirmed that Comcast is adding the NHL Network on October 1st as part of their digital sports tier (with CSTV, FSC channels, etc.).

That is very much true. Not trying to take away from their stats, but I was at the game and the Norway team was very poor. Regardless, Gleason was one of the best players I saw all day, although I think the Edina kids had a nice leg-up, since there were about 7 or so Hornets on the same team. They often played together and there was a fair amount of chemistry I felt.

He assisted on Team USA's second goal. http://www.szlh.sk/statistiky/live-zapas/34474

As others have said, if a new idea will cost the league money, it won't happen. With that example, the league would lose out on money in every scenario possible.

I'm not sure how much you watched Minnesota play last year, but of their other three centers (Okposo, Wheeler, and Carman), who did you think O'Brien should have jumped over on the depth chart?

USA loses 5-3, Cichy with a pair of helpers. http://wchablog.blogspot.com/2007/08/team-...russia-5-3.html

I don't think Ottawa has said what they feel one way or another, but O'Brien played center all season last year. He has played defense before in his hockey career, and he approached Lucia about moving back there for his sophomore season. Lucia was quoted after the Carmen news that he'll play his best 18 skaters, so O'Brien may split time at forward and defense during the first half of the year.

He did brush up against Parise's glove two years ago in Grand Forks on a Potulny or Kessel goal...what a goon!!

15 points as the youngest player in college hockey last year isn't the worst thing in the world. He was a first round pick for a reason...

How so?

Not to take this way off topic, but nobody ripped Gleason on GPL...the only thing that was brought into question was the logic of posting that the supposed "bad ice" in St. Cloud affected Gleason's play in a negative fashion but not others. I think it's fair to question that logic. And, FWIW, I thought Gleason looked very poised and played well during the time I got to see him play in St. Cloud.

I would argue that most fans for most teams don't get a chance to see recruits play too often before they arrive on campus. For a kid like Lee, he was somewhat local and was a pretty "big get" at the time because he's obviously highly skilled (first round draft pick, three-time WJ player, etc.). So, the fans recognize that their team just landed a big recruit and thus, like any fanbase, talk them up a lot. But, with this talk comes expectations from the fans, and once they are on campus, it's obviously much easier to watch them live or on TV. And when they don't live up to these big expectations, then the critical comments start coming. Most fans are going to talk up pretty much all recruits for their team before they get to college. The coaching staff went out and brought these kids in for a reason, and at schools like UND, BC, Minnesota, etc., all the recruits are pretty good. Even the guys that are clearly "lower" recruits can be, in the eyes of the coaching staff and/or fans [before they got on campus], good role players, etc. But, obviously not all recruits pan out. From a Gopher perspective, Mike Howe led the USHL in scoring the year before coming to Minnesota, and he has been a huge bust. But there was no reason NOT to talk him up before he came to UM, since the two players who led the USHL in scoring before Howe were Vanek and Ryan Potulny. Why wouldn't Gopher fans be excited? He's a good example of a kid seeming like a "big get" at the time, but in the end, he never took that next step. The argument could be made that he's the one player that could have really stepped things up for the Gophers last year, given all the youth at forward. He was given the chance at the start of the year, but failed, and it will be surprising if he starts to score again this fall as a senior-to-be. It should be noted that he's had some medical issues along the way, but the U has come out a few times and said they thought they had things under control ... I doubt we'll ever know how much his medical issues affected his play.

I hope my previous post didn't imply that the Sioux and/or any of their recruits were inferior to that of the Gophers. I kind of got that vibe from your reply, so if I'm mistaken I apologize. Hansen and Sacchetti should feel fortunate to even have their names mentioned on the Sioux board, let alone to be recruited by UND.

Because two of the Minnesota recruits (Sacchetti and Hansen) have not signed their LOI's, they are not offically Minnesota recruits; stories like this come from the AP who generally, with something like college hockey recruits, lift much of their stories from press releases the schools send out. Obviously if a player hasn't signed his LOI, the coach / university cannot comment on said recruit. This is likely the case w/ the Sioux recruit that has not signed his LOI.

Carle and Goligoski are two players who play a pretty similar style, IMO. Goligoski is listed at 6' 0", 187 lbs, which is pretty much the same size Carle was listed as entering his junior year (6'0", 190 lbs.). Carle put up 53 points during his junior year and won the Hobey; Goligoski put up 39 points on a better team that scored over 100 more points (goals and assists) as a team than Carle's junior year Denver team. Goligoski also played in five more games. Carle signed just days after his junior season at Denver ended and played in the NHL regular season and playoffs with San Jose. Goligoski had major shoulder surgery and, like I said, won't be able to practice with contact until October, or seven months after Carle was a regular on his NHL team at the same point in their respective careers. My main point is that while Goligoski was a top defenseman in the WCHA last year, by the end of the season, he wasn't THE top defenseman like those guys you mentioned were during their final years in college.

Even if he signs, Goligoski likely won't play in the NHL this year, or at least not until much later in the season, so your argument of Pittsburgh only having three NHL defensemen in the fold doesn't hold a lot of water. Obviously they'd love to have a player of his caliber in their farm system, but his shoulder injury is likely what is complicating things. According to a recent article, he won't be able to practice with any sort of contact until October. IMO, his signing or not will come down to whether or not he and the Penguins think he can better rehab his shoulder playing in the WCHA or the AHL next season. An optimist would say that he would have more time to rehab his shoulder while in college (2 games per week, less travel time, etc.). But on the other hand, if the money is right, it may be worth rehabbing your shoulder while riding the bus in the minors. We'll know soon.

Again, you guys are missing it. People "down south" aren't saying that Duncan is now "eliminated from the picture." They are saying that despite the fact Duncan won the Hobey Baker, Toews was the better player. In my initial post, I asked if any Sioux fans didn't agree with this, and so far no one has objected. This is a perfect example of the halo syndrome. Nobody is slighting UND here. In this case, I posted becasue this thread is trying to prove a point that is 99.9 percent false, and if nobody mentions the facts, people will pile on a premise that isn't true.

Not trying to flame here, but I'm assuming 'buddies to the south' means Gopher fans. And if that's the case, where have they said that Duncan is / was "over-rated?" In some place other than GPL or USCHO? On GPL, it was said that "Whether Sioux fans believe it or not, there goes the real Hobey talent." I don't think there's a person out there that believes Duncan is a better play that Toews. Duncan had a great year, but I'm willing to bet that if most Sioux fans had to choose between having either Duncan or Toews for next season, a vast majority would choose Toews. Again, not taking anything away from Duncan. It just speaks to what a great player Toews is, just like the following quote from GPL does: "No doubt. In my opinion he [Toews] was the best player in college hockey last year, Duncan had a great year, but if I could have one player from the Sioux roster Toews would be the guy." You guys have to quit trying to find things to complain about...

I fail to see the correlation between Fink (a forward) going to UND and thus Lucia focusing more attention on Nick Mattson (a defenseman).

Happy Joe's > all other pizza