Rick

I would think it would be very difficult for either North Dakota or Minnesota to bring in another defenseman this fall. UND has 3 freshmen defensemen coming in and each one of them will need to play when the season starts. Minnesota must have about 8 or 9 returning defensemen on their roster right now. In the above quote, Finley said "All I want is to be a guy who plays and not sitting on the bench". If Finley was going to be one of the "guys playing and not sitting on the Gopher bench", at least one current player on their roster would have to go, and we all know that Lucia doesn't send excess bodies down the Mississippi. I have no idea what the defensive situation is at Boston U, but that could be a possibility. I think it's unlikely we'll see both Finley and Dowzak on the same team. I've seen Dowzak play quite a few times, there are very few weaknesses in his game. I think he'll be a very good college player after he finishes his senior season at Lincoln.

If a player wanted a news conference to make his announcement, I'm afraid he wouldn't be a very good fit for the Sioux.

I don't think you're being very objective if you say that Lee isn't any better than Ammerman. At this point, it's not even close. There's a reason why every college and pro scout has been drooling over Lee. I think the statement that Ammerman is far ahead of Marto is also way off. Are guys like Sandelin, Hakstol and Lucia all wrong? There's a reason guys like Lee and Marto have gotten offers from many of the top programs in the country and others are still waiting for their offers. If you asked Youth Hockey Coaches in Grand Forks who the best, most talented and skilled defenseman to ever come through the program is? I believe they would say it is Jake Marto. I'm not downgrading Ammerman here. I hope he develops the skills to warrent a scholarship offer from the Sioux. He certainly has talent. I just think you're letting quite a bit of bias into your observations of the players. I also think Hardwick has a lot of talent and I wouldn't be surprised to see him playing for one of the top 5 college programs in the country after a year in the USHL.

The crow population had just recovered from the Gino hiring back in

Hey, you want to talk torture? How would you like to be confined to the Sioux Columbus bus with MafiaMan up front doing karaoke to Mille Vanilli and Vanilla Ice for 30+ hours?

I hope Jim and Darcy Greene don't mind me posting this..... Typically I'm not optimistic about players returning that have a chance of signing. When the money is there, they will almost always sign, there are a few exceptions like Matt Jones (thank you Matt). Up until this past weekend I had Greene in the "going for sure" category. Now I'm not so sure. The Greene's drove in from Michigan. We were sitting on the couches in the Crown Plaza talking about Matt's experience so far. His mom teaches at Michigan State University and his dad is really a terrific person and they both are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. They were just bubbling with praise for UND and what it means for Matt to play here. They said there isn't another program in the country that creates the "family" atmosphere that they are experiencing with UND. I'll bet he spent more than an hour talking about Matt's love of the school. I mentioned that if Matt is offered a good contract this summer he will almost have to sign. But his dad said that Matt doesn't want to leave and they don't want him to either. They would like him to finish his college career with the Sioux next year and then move on. They talked about how Matt has grown so much as a person since he came here. Jim said that even the very few downs there's been, Matt learned important lessons from it. While we were talking, Eddie Belfour came walking up and stood next to the couches. Darcy Greene took out her game ticket and got up and asked him to sign it, which he did. She talked to him for a few minutes and then sat back down. I don't know what they talked about but she said that Eddie was as friendly as everyone else has been to them. I still think that when it comes right down to it and Edmonton says they want him, it'll be extremely hard for him to turn it down. But I guess I wouldn't put him in the "100% for sure" category anymore. Matt had grown up wanting to be a Michigan State Spartan because that is where his mom teaches and that's where his heart was. Most colleges knew that and didn't persue him because everyone assumed that he would end up there. MSU had offered him a scholarship and Matt had accepted. He was going off to Green Bay to play a juniors and then in October of that year, MSU called and said they decided they were going in a different direction and he wasn't in their plans. The Sioux found out about the situation and Brad Barry jumped on a plane and flew to Green Bay and told Matt UND would like him to come in for a visit. The visit was arranged within a couple weeks, Matt came in and committed and his parents are so happy that it turned out the way it did. As many of you know, Brad Berry is a terrific person and family man and he works with the defensemen. Matt's parents talked about all the time that Brad has spent working one on one with Matt and what it has meant for him to be around, not just Brad, but the other coaches too. Another thing his parents talked about was all the support the hockey team gets from it's alumni and former players (Belfour, Hrkac, Patrick, etc, etc, etc) and what a special bond Sioux players have with each other for the rest of their lives. It's like no other in the country. They said that Matt talks about it quite a bit. He talks about all the players that come back to Grand Forks during the summer time to visit, work out and hang out with the present players. He wants to do that when it's his turn to give back because it means so much to the guys, like him, who are going to school and working the hockey camps during the summer.

I didn't vote because the right answer isn't listed. MafiaMan is in seclusion in an East Columbus motel. Al Pearson is keeping an eye on him so he is in good hands. MafiaMan did leave the confines of the motel to wonder down to Frog Pears where he was seen snapping up all the $1.50 bottles of beer he could. At this time, I believe he's back in the protective confines of the motel. If there are any sightings on Saturday, we will post them here. But rest assured, he is not in the Twin Cities area so everyone is safe till Sunday night.

I thought people were just hitting the wrong key and meant a "m" instead of a "d". Sumo Reporter

I've posted this before but maybe some of you haven't seen it. This was in March '95. One of the other kids mentioned in the article is Jacob Micflikier, he plays for New Hampshire and has also done quite well.

Don't forget about Smaby.

Actually, he wanted to go to UND but the Sioux didn't have any scholarship $$ left for him. He would have had to walk on and he was seriously considering doing just that and turning down the UM scholarship. He kept the Gophers waiting as long as he could to see if anything could develop with the Sioux, but there wasn't even a small partial that they could free up. The coaches would have liked him in a Sioux uniform, unfortunately the timing didn't work out.

I think I'm beginning to think you're thinking too much. I doubt Radke is going anywhere. He'll be 20 years old in May so he'll be too old for Junior A's and Major Juniors. He'd have to transfer to a DIII team or to a Canadian college to play next year. Brad Berry knows what he's doing. If Radke was better than any of the other defensemen he'd be playing ahead of them. He'll get his shot next year.

Do to costs, I had to give up the sessions. When we had that group thing going it was more affordable, but after you walked out it got kind of costly. They raised the prices after that one counseling session you had with Rosie.

Yes, most of the time they go to McDonalds. Blaiser used to give them a change-up once in a while and stop at Hardies. When Gino was the coach they would call ahead and have a buffet at the Holiday Inn on occasion. Even at McDonalds, some of these guys don't get much change back from a ten dollar bill. Two Super Sizers and you're at $10.

He asked who the guy is that keeps calling into the coaches show and asking about recruits. As some of you know, when the team travels to Mpls, Mankato and St. Cloud, they leave the REA at 8am and make their pit stop at the Alexandria McDonalds at about 10:45am. I usually meet them for lunch when they come through. They've been stopping here since the Gino days. This works out good because it gives the coaches a chance to ask me about what the lines should be, the power play and penalty kill strategy, what recruits they should be going after and anything else that's on their mind. It also gives Pooley a chance to get my input on athletic training and keeping the players healthy. If I get time, I also give Shep my input on equipment management and then I show Fran how to navigate the bus in tight quarters. The team looks in much better shape than they were just two weeks ago when they were on their way to the SCSU series. On that Thursday, Colby Genoway could barely walk and Brady Murray wasn't much better. I was really surprised when Brady played both those games and Genoway played on Saturday night....and they played very well. That Murray is playing at all is amazing. I'm sure he's playing in pain and his mobility is severely hampered with the shoulder and leg braces. Many players would have given it up and had the surgery he needs, but Murray feels this team can make some noise this playoff year and wants to be a part of it. The coaches are very happy with the play of the whole team over the last few weeks. There hasn't been a weakness in any area. They're especially please with the play of the 4th line because they know they will need that line to make contributions and play a regular shift if they are going to have success over the next 3 days.

I did the interview at the McDonalds in Alexandria at 11am this morning. What did you want to know?

On last nights Fox Sports show Koenig made it sound like he was going to UND. He said he was going to talk with both UND & SU coaches, but that he had lost enough playing time already and being able to play right away without having to sit out a year was "extremely important". I think he's already made up his mind. If I remember right, he also mentioned the facilities.

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It will be hard to knock the Gophers off again next year because Darwitz and Wendell will be seniors. But after they graduate I'd expect UND to challenge for a National Championship. Two exceptional players can make a huge difference. UND has two right now in the Wooster sisters. They will be juniors when Darwitz and Wendell are gone and that's when you might see the Sioux making a run for the title. Hopefully the Lamoureax sisters will be headed to UND. As 9th graders at SSM they are the best players on the team and putting up huge numbers for the girls prep team. I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them accelerate and graduate from high school a year early. Then they would be coming into college when the Wooster sisters are seniors and I doubt any college team will have 4 players with the talent that these two sets of sisters have. If it happens, it will be fun to watch.

Oshie is probably the top forward in the state and also would have been deserving of the Mr. Hockey award. It was nice to see Brian Lee get it, but I bet Oshie was a very close 2nd. I think a year in juniors would benefit Vandevelde more than Oshie. I believe if they bring anyone in early, it will be Oshie. If he doesn't come in, he'll probably have a Bochenski-like year in the USHL.

They're probably both good players, but I'd be surprised if that happens.

I was over it a long time ago.....you missed the point.