I agree with just about everything that jk wrote in his first post on this topic. It matters most not to be hot at the beginning, or even the middle, but at the end of the season. In that respect, the boys have not fared well the last few years. We all give St. Cloud grief for their post season futility, but the good guys have had trouble in that area lately too. I don't want to make too much out of it though. Sometimes things just don't go the right way. Last season's loss in the regional championship game is a good example. I'd be hesitant to read too much into it because it was not as if the Sioux were badly outplayed. To the contrary, Denver was badly outplayed for long stretches of the game, to the point where, more than once, Denver fans gave their team a Bronx cheer when they were finally able to gain control of the puck in the Sioux zone after long periods of Sioux control broken only by DU dumping the puck just to allow them to change lines. Our boys just couldn't find the back of the net and lost a heartbreaker.
Theoretically, the new emphasis on obstruction should also help, as Denver was allowed to do whatever they wanted to slow our boys down as long as it wasn't done with intent to injure. I am not convinced that there will be that much of a change however, at least based on what I saw Saturday. Once UND got the lead, especially after going up by two, Maine was taking rides on the backs of the Sioux. They let it go on quite some time until the ref finally had had enough and sat one of them down. If this is the way its going to be, there won't be much of a difference from last year. There may be more penalties per game this year, but most of them will be early in the game. As the game gets into the later stages, the trailing team will be allowed to get away with what was a penalty just a few minutes earlier, so the team with the lead (generally the better, more talent laden team) will end up with the most penalties. Not really a big change. But with the Sioux PP, maybe it won't much matter.
It's early, let's not get too excited or too down. This team is different from last year's. Let's enjoy the ride and not get too worked up about things that probably don't matter (like polls in October!).