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From the sounds of it Speez you're not the only one, Coach Blais and Tim H. the announcer thought the crowd was booing too - if CB and TH thought that it probably came across like that. Don't get me wrong, there was grumbling in the stands because 1) when the other team has 3 or 4 shots on goal and 2 of them went in, the natives will be restless 2) when JN hit the pipe it was like, oh no BUT the crowd generally knows hockey and knows CB - our group was saying, "I'm glad I'm not in the locker room during this 1st intermission" - there was not, however, booing of the team/coach(es)/specific player(s) - there was booing of the referee.

JBB - I'm not one for suppressing someone's right to free speech and I hate to sound like a parent.... but..... TOTALLY BAD FORM to attach an extra "letter" to Kelby's name .... might I suggest that you utilize the edit button ... that snide comment is beyond even YOU. Props to Kelby on the scholarship......

Great senior leadership tonight! Down by two goals, who comes through - KS and JN. Niagara is a fun team to watch/play, just like Coach Blais said, agressive and fast. Don't know if anyone mentioned but in the 2nd Niagara could've had another goal, the side was totally open but the Niagara player couldn't put his stick on the puck. Mike Prpich and Matt Greene dressed instead of Rory McMahon (was he injured?) and Lee Marvin. First game for both freshmen (MP and MG). They seemed a little tight at first - by the 3rd period Prpich was roaming in front of the net - seemed like he likes to talk too - appeared that he's not afraid to let the other team know that he's around I think it was MG who let one rip from the blue line - missed by a lot but it sounded hard when it hit the glass "I" think that James Massen needs to get one really good hit on someone right away in the game 'cause it seems like he gets energized - if I recall, on Tuesday he crushed a player or two early in the game and then he was just dominant on offense - tonight he didn't really get anyone lined up until much later in the period (Niagara was much quicker than Manitoba so to line someone up appeared to be much more difficult). I know that people like to pick on BB skating - but he is doing something right whether you like his style or not, this Niagara team was quick but he managed to break away on 2 on 1 a couple times (and it wasn't like he was sitting out at center ice waiting for a pass). It is a great feeling to leave a game when "we" won coming from a goal(s) down (not that I want the team to trail in games - but they are just so darn fun/exciting to watch) - fingers are crossed that they'll once again "own the 3rd period". Speez, please see Riverman's thread - I honestly don't think that the boos were for the team - I think they/we/the fans were initiating the HE referee.....

Our section was not happy with the 2nd goal (powerplay goal for Niagara) because one of the UND d-men (in the UND zone) had the puck in the corner and shot it around the boards and it would have gone out of the zone but for the fact that the referee was standing against the board - he stopped the puck from leaving the zone - a second later it's on the stick of the Niagara player and then in the net - good play by the Niagara player - but what the heck was the referee doing standing up against the board between the d-man and the blue line - there weren't any Niagara players who would have a chance to stop it going out of the zone but he stopped it by being where he was ........ I'm not in any way saying the goal wasn't legit - the goalie should've had it and the Niagara player made a nice play - but the referee directly affected that play and there were a lot of people in our section p*ssed that the referee was in the way - also in the 3rd Niagara could've had a nice break out of their zone (2 on 1 probably) and there he was again, the referee's skate took out their (Niagara's) pass and UND recovered it ..... the referee was in the way all night!!!! Move your tush!

I was out of the office yesterday so I didn't get this posted: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/s...rts/4354849.htm Nice article on Rory McMahon. "The ace at saving face" - McMahon has a knack for winning the draw. It mentions through the first 3 games he has won close to 70% of the draws. "Every team has their defensive specialists, their scorers," McMahon said. "Everybody has their role. I can take faceoffs." Sioux Hockey: Role Players.

Here is the link to Friday's GF Herald by Virg Foss: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/4363902.htm Titled Faster game on ice (regarding the 15 second face off rule), with sub-titled sections on Less is Better regarding shots on net this year "A prime example of the cohesiveness displayed by this year's Sioux came in the game with Manitoba. Late in the game, the Bisons had a 2 on 1 rush against Sioux defenseman CL. CL made a superb play to rub out the puck carrier along the boards, but Sioux captain Ryan Hale made up a good 10 feet on the other Manitoba forward on the 2 on 1. He was in position to defend against a pass had it come." Another section is Blais Impressed; talks about CB being impressed with Niagara's play in Buffalo. Also some notes on Drew Stafford and some other players of note. Regarding Niagara, the Herald mentions that Joe Tallari, a junior forward, has 2 hat tricks this season (the only player in the nation to date) He's tied for the national lead in goals with six.

One of the announcers stated that this year there has been absolutely no talk/mention that "by Christmas this will be a good team". If you recall last year there was a lot of stress on that (and it bore out ie. the MI tourney) It was mentioned that even though there are just 3 seniors and 3 juniors, the team is seasoned enough where they are expected to be good team which shouldn't need "until" Christmas to play solid hockey. CB stated that last year they knew they'd take their lumps, and with the strength of the league last year, UND was a 6th place team. Also regarding the bleed green philosophy, CB said they stress that to be a member of the team you have to be willing to work hard and to go to school/class; the social will take care of itself. Little bit of discussion on the pressure on a head coach to produce - there are bigger buildings, bigger budgets.... 15 years ago the most successful coaches were Doug W (MN), Gino G (UND), Jeff S (Wis) and Mike S (Duluth) now, only one is still coaching and he isn't at the school where he had "big" success (Duluth) anymore (these guys aren't "old" and they are/were good coaches) Finally, if you look at the league right now, before any games are played, it is entirely feasible that the league champ could have upwards of 7-8 losses in league play. With a few games played, the league looks like there could be a lot of parity. *I didn't take notes so all the words, even the ones in quotes, are NOT direct quotes so please don't take 'em out of context.

That's the difference between last year and this year - with the "new" arena curse that puck would've gone in last year (even if there had been a goalie there) - this year it's the "old" ralph so some of the old magic is reappearing (even though it was "just" Manitoba)..... Last night when that puck was heading for the empty net my significant other had the look on his face like, oh no, not again (1st home game with a goal scored from couple 100 feet away like last year) - sort of like the look that was on the face of the gopher fan in the national title game when Hauser had his mini melt-down.....(I'm happy that a WCHA team won the title last year - obligatory nice comment as I noticed Greyeagle was in residence) anyway that guy's facial expression was priceless!

The hit I'm thinking of happened in the "zamboni"/south end - and it was Ryan (5'9" 180lbs soph born 1982) vs. #11 (6'0" 192lbs fr born 1981). He really didn't have a chance, 11 had him pretty much lined up - I remember thinking that he/Ryan did really good to withstand the hit as right away they seemed to bounce off of each other then Ryan just sort of went down (11 didn't "skate through" him - he was "propelled" back too, but he didn't go down). Was it Andy S. who administered/had a really big hit too? James M. had a lot of good hits also. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - I was just so happy to be watching a game my rose colored glasses may have distorted my recollections.

In the second period last night there was a "oh-oh" moment.... Did anyone else watch the Detroit vs. Anaheim game on 10/13, Anaheim pulled their goalie on a delayed Detroit penalty and Detriot "scored" a goal when an Anaheim player tried to send a feed from behind the Detroit net and it went down the ice into the Anaheim empty net..... When the puck did a slow trickle to the Sioux net in the 2nd period last night I was getting a little nervous - was it Matt Jones who caught it before it got to the crease?

Even without enlightening the lurkers - BC's comment on "you should see the other guy", while maybe an obvious response, was said and timed perfectly in the interview - his timing was as good as Dennis Miller's this past weekend!

Tim and Swyg Wednesday morning interview with Asst. Coach David Hakstol. (yes, the game was against Manitoba, but they played the game well) Once again the team held the opponent to under 20 shots on goal. It was a fast start for the team, played with speed and they cycled well. This year it's possible that there will be good depth on offense, a balanced attack. There was a lot of jump. Good chemistry on the ice and in the locker room. They're going to try to keep it simple and looking forward to having a good year. James M. looked pretty good, he played with a ton of energy, and that's the key. He finished his checks and he has great hands. The team needs him to continue to play like that; he's young, but he has to work towards consistency. Need to play well this weekend against a good Niagara team. They really got after Michigan in the Buffalo tourney; they didn't play "to lose", agressive. Matt Greene will be back in the lineup, Brian Canady not too sure as of this morning; if he can't play on Friday no one wants to be the one to tell him he can't play End of interview. My thoughts on the game echo what has been stated - the BB, QF, ZP line, wow -- if I had been a UMN fan I probably would've given Lou N. and Glenn S. fuel money towards their roadtrip to go talk to ZP but ZP doesn't do it alone, BB was "Mr. Charlie Hustle" out there and QF was all over the place. They are just fun to watch - chemistry. Does Coach Blais also teach the boys how to do an interview? Brian C. pre-game interview at the Ralph was pretty funny (sort of had a "Blais" bluntness to it). The defense: did any of the d-men get walked around? I don't recall that happening. I was very happy for Chris L., he might not be as big as the other d-men but he played some really nice defense last night. As far as other players, I thought Ryan Connelly played very well away from the puck - boy, did he get smoked by number 11 (it was Ryan that got leveled, right?) but he got up right away. Also Jason N. worked his tail off out there - actually the whole team did, but there are a couple players that I tend to keep track of, so that's who I'm commenting on. The 2 most important things - they beat a team they were expected to beat and it was a team performance (not just one line dominating play, or a hot goalie holding the other team off).

Coach Blais was making the talk show rounds this morning..... he was interviewed by Mike Mc. of 1590am. General comments, team played well in Buffalo a week off was fine, the team is still on track. The 3 captains know what it takes to win. The defense was impressive in the Michigan game 19 shots for the game 8-7-4-0 (respective shots in each period and the overtime faced by Josh S.) When the game was on the line, they stuck with it. Even had they lost to Michigan, the way the team fought back showed how much the team has progressed just from last year. It is hard to replace Ryan Bayda and Tim Skarperud (2 guys who have now played exhibition NHL games) with freshmen, but the new guys come here expecting to win. The coaches strive to prepare the team to win and to learn how to hang national banners. UND's goaltending can be good (talked about Josh S. allowing 4 goals on 23 shots, but although that may seem a little suspect, it was against a Michigan team which has talent, and Jake B. had 3-0-14 shots vs. Can., and made the stops when they needed to be stopped). In the WCHA, Denver is probably going to be the only team with outstanding/great goaltending. The trainer is looking at Matt Greene's injury to see if he'd be at all possible for tonight against Manitoba. The defense is huge, 6'3", 6'4", 6'1" etc.... Michigan had problems getting to the net because of the d's ability to clog the middle. Mike Mac. asked about ZP in tonight's game - Blais said he wasn't dressing.... dead silence.... Blais then said he was just kidding (Blais is really good at "deadpanning"). 5 goals on 10 shots is amazing, but urged fans to remember he is a freshman and other teams will be paying a lot of attention to him. ZP is a player who can beat you with his playmaking ability (as opposed to say a Jeff Panzer who beats you with his speed (speaking in loose/general terms)). Regarding practices - last year the coaches were among the first on the ice prior to practice, now they arrive in the middle - there's a hunger. Mike asked what was possible for this team - WCHA or even Nat'l - CB said that UND will make noise in the WCHA, but as far as Nat'l, realistically it'll be a few years before there will be the expectation (by others) to win it "all". What UND has is character, talent and the players get along (good chemistry), the question is goaltending. In closing Mike told Coach Blais that Blais had the "gof" - the gift of fury.

Dude, no names. As we're familiar with, if any player dogs it tonight, regardless of name, Coach Blais wouldn't hesitate to sit 'em for the weekend. Especially since it's an early season, non conference series - it'd be a good time to send a "message" to any player, for that matter the team, that each game 100% effort is required by the coaching staff.

(actually this should be titled "Radio Talk Week 3) Just "reporting" on the tail end of the interview: (Coach Blais was interviewed this morning by Tim and Swyg on 1440) For tonight's game vs. Manitoba: goalie rotation 1st period will be JB (with his shutout he earned the right to start this game) 2nd period RS and 3rd period JS Brian Canady (BC), Matt Greene (some little "ding" just resting it for the weekend) and Mike Prpich will not dress tonight but all three will be ready to go for the weekend series against Niagara. Pressure on for those dressing tonight to perform or they might find themselves sitting. (Lee Marvin will be on defense tonight in place of Matt Greene.) Some talk on how BC practices at 100% - gives everything to every drill in practice (compared his intensity during practice to Jason Blake's intensity during practice) - think it was Tim who said that he wouldn't want to face BC when he comes on the ice for his (BC's) first shift of the year - he'll be ready to pop someone. Some joking about how nice it is to all ready have one trophy in this year's cupboard. Some other good/interesting comments.

Bison: total o. = 4th rank pass o. = 4th rank scoring o. = 6th rank you'd think with the 4th ranks the Bison scoring o. would at least be ranked higher than 6th - not too good on converting ..... good enough for the golden arm, but not good enough for a winning/.500 record ...... Sioux: total o. = 6th rank pass o. = 8th rank scoring o. = 7th rank could be better, but at least it's the average (6 & 8) and not below the average ...... and 4-1 in the conference is nice consolation for trailing the Bison for this award ......

We have four season tickets for the women, I'm ready to watch them play. We went to one of the games 2 years ago when they played Manitoba - it was pretty brutal 11-1 or something like that, so to see the box score in which they split with the Bison last weekend was exciting. I'm speaking for myself however, as I believe that it'll be girls' night with the tickets for the majority of the season as the significant other is luke warm about it - but, if they play good he'll probably end up being a "band wagon fan" - he's a minnesota native so that's sort of expected! I'm JUST KIDDING......

Thanks PCM --- he also mentioned that WDAZ (channel 8) is doing a special segment on SSM (tonight/Thursday I believe). He commented that the arena this year feels like the "old Engelstad" not like the "new Ralph". Next year they are trying to organize the first game of the season to be held at the New Ralph (in TRF), UMN is booked so hoping that it'll be Duluth. Also quite a discussion on why Michigan won't come to play at UND. It sounds like Michigan would like to come to REA for a game or two but their non-conference schedule is pretty booked (they have games with UW and UMN every year). The only time it appears it'd be feasible for UM to come to UND would be for the first game of the year, as in the season they are busy with tourneys. A caller commented on the schedule that it appears that it forces the team to win early - Coach Blais said that the schedule is ludicrous- 14 home games (edit: in a row, at the beginning of the season), the ultimate schedule would be 2 home series, 2 away series. Swyg will be doing color for the Niagra series with Tim - he (Swyg) said his standard comment will still be "whoa, was that fast". Coach Blais' ending comment was that we shouldn't be worse than last year.

A tidbit in the Herald today: Beasley named tops in Division II. UND senior Jerome Beasley has been named the Division II Bulletin pre-season player of the year. .....averaged 21.7 points and 7.9 rebounds last season .....

In the works: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/n...ews/4294156.htm (UND sports gets own TV channel) highlights: 20 men's hockey games, 6 men's/women's bb games, 2 football games 3-state region to reach 300,000 households shows produced by WDAZ It's not espn but it's a start!

In today's Herald .... http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/n...ews/4294107.htm The sub-heading is: Group says 'Ralph' doesn't meet cultural diversity criteria, can't host game. As has been announced, UND is set to host the 2005 Division II men's basketball championship (Elite 8). There is a NCAA minority panel questioning this event/location. The national championship game/tourney (Women's Division II basketball) back in 1997 was held on the UND campus. My understanding was the only reason the women's championship (final 8) format changed (prior to 1998 the finals were held at the arena of the highest seeded contestant) was due to the fact that it seemed to afford an unfair advantage to the home team (read: UND and NDSU's multiple championships) -- It didn't appear that the use of 'Sioux' had any bearing on the tourney site. So the question is: will the PC crowd win this battle or was UND's $$ offer so good that the NC$$ will 'allow' the tourney to remain at UND?

This morning KKXL hosts, TH and SS talked with Brad Berry, assistant coach. During the week it is the assistant coaches (Berry and Hakstol) who put the goalies through their paces. RE Jake's win: not a lot of shots faced, however, he stopped those that were there - it was a confidence builder and in the 3rd (when the Sioux had a few penalties to kill) JB was = to the task. RE Josh's win: he, JS, played ok, he came up big in the 2nd period on a 2-1 break (he stacked the pads) if that had resulted in a goal it could've changed the whole complexion of the game. RE Zach's play: he, ZP, goes in a chases down the puck, he finishes his checks, he back checks - props given to JP Parise and Coach Tom Ward (SSM) for developing ZP into the player he is. Some talk about other SSM players coming to UND (Brady Murray at Salmon Arm this year). (We've all heard how ZP goes to the rink between classes to shot pucks, well after a while a few others showed up and now it sounds like there are upwards of 9/10 players that show to just shot pucks. This is heartening as, to me at least, it shows that the leadership comes from not just the captains, but also from underclassmen; and that it appears that the team accepts leadership "direction" from their teammates be it from seniors, juniors, sophomores or freshmen. What does that all lead to? Chemistry and Heart -- last year the players had heart and chemistry at times, but it was sooooo inconsistent - this year if they can be consistent...... enough of my editorial, back to the interview) It is way too early in the season to make any predictions - the win against Michigan is a nice building point on which to start the season. Colby Genoway and Brian Canady will be in the line-up starting next week. It'll be hard to make up the lines, the burden will be on the players to get their playing time. The tournament was a breath of fresh air - nice to play a team other than themselves.

Speaking of "happy" - he was the one poster on uscho who really got my goat (the relentless digs at UND/ND/Canandians/the list goes on - just his overall obsession with the green team, ugh) - then during the time when the UND posters were taking a beating (regarding the name and new arena) happy came in and delivered a nice put-down to a bc poster - shocked the h@ll out of me - so since then I picture him as the Walter Matthau character from "Grumpy Old Men"

He did mention that Johnny Pohl and Jordan Leopold haven't bothered to return his phone calls! (could always tell those two boys had class)

sucker....fished in...... that'd be me.... just call me "guppie" actually this was my attempt to post last year's SAVE percentages of those 4 and put in a subliminal dig....