Rick

You forgot to highlite Mickey Volcan.

Looks like Radke picked up some hardware. Besides being a great offensive player, I'm sure Scott M likes his PIM's. http://www.gpstorm.com/?p=news&id=492850

Yes it is.

He verballed a couple weeks ago. It just hasn't come out yet.

I've heard chatter that TJ Oshie's skating needs a lot of work. I haven't seen him play this year (other than on TV), but people with Olympic Gold Medals in hockey and other hockey coaches tell me that Oshie's agility is second to none in Minnesota High School hockey. They also say that there is nobody stronger on their skates than Oshie is. You can't knock him off the puck, and if you try to, you end up on your rear end. I'm told that his skating will be better than Bochenski's. If that's the case, and he has hands like Bochenski's, then I'm not going to be too worried about it. When he was a Sophomore at Warroad, he was on a line with Selvog who led all of Minnesota in scoring. Maybe that was because of Oshie. Anyway, Oshie and Brian Lee are juniors in high school and Lee is probably the best defenseman in Minnesota HS hockey. With RJ Anderson going to Minnesota, they will no doubt say he is the top defenseman. We'll have to wait and see, but Brian Lee's upside is huge.

Donnie Lucia and Amy Ruley would make a good couple. One doesn't consider the regular season as meaningful and the other doesn't consider the post season as meaningful.

Diggler, You need some prozac. Quit worrying about the other 11,000 people in the arena and watch the game. You shouldn't need 11,000 other people doing the same thing you do in order for you to have a good time at a hockey game. When I'm at a hockey game, I can't tell you what the people in front or on the side of me are doing, much less the people behind me. It appears you spend 90% of the game watching the people around you rather than watching the game. If your not complaining about the people around you, you're complaining about Kupchella, Thomas, REA Admin, the 85 year old ladies on the other side of the rink, the music, the lack of music, too much music, etc, etc. If last weekends games with MTU would have been in the old REA, there would have been approx 2,500 to 3000 people in the stands and the atmosphere would have sucked just like it did in the '80s and '90s for games like that. Lighten up.

From what I hear, the REA received a lot of complaints about the wave. Apparently, the section right in front of the media jackals would get sprayed with chewed up popcorn. The wave would approach media row....media jackals stand.... wave their arms.... hollar "heyyyyyy"..... popcorn spews out of their mouths and onto the clothing and hair of section 201 & 101. It was a mess. From what I understand, if REA coordinates anymore Waves, they could be held responsible for laundry and grooming bills. Either that, or they might start handing out big sheets of clear plastic like you get when you take in a Gallegher concert.

In an effort to create additional team unity. The Gopher players are going to a Mary Kay home party tonight for a team pedicure. From what I hear, the coaches will be invited also. Has anyone else heard anything about this?

KSTP, Channel 5 had Bomber as the sports anchor tonight. The former Powell River King and University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux star did a terrific job. He is one of the most articulate athletes you will ever meet. He's also been a regular with Dave Lee on the WCCO morning show for several years but I think this is his first TV gig. Once Bombers hockey career is over, I suspect he'll have opportunities on ESPN if he wants. Brad bleeds green and likes to give a plug to Fighting Sioux hockey when he gets a chance. They are having guest hosts all week so it will be interesting to see how the rest do compared to Brad.

Are you sure the Sioux are recruiting Hardwick? There are a lot of great high school junior defensemen available and they already have Beaverson coming in next year and Chorney coming the year after that. Is Hardwick better than Brian Lee or some of the others available?

I think what Dagies is saying here is that if you put Zach Parise and Brady Murray in Jordan Parise's goalie gear, goalie skates, with a goalie stick. Then put Dagies on their right wing in regular hockey gear, you'd have some difficulty telling them apart in terms of their skating stride and shot. Even in those conditions I think Dagies is overly optimistic in his hockey abilities.

I'm nominating Matt as a candidate of the McDonalds Golden Arches Award. About three to four times a year I get a chance to have lunch with the guys as they’re on their way to SCSU, Mankato State, U of M and the Final Five. Blaiser always has them stop at Alexandria and usually they’ll eat at the Holiday Inn, Hardees, Subway or McDonalds. Most of the time it’s at McDonalds. There have been some pretty big eaters over the years….Matt Commodore, Brad Bombardir, even Karl Goehring could pack it away. But I think the MGAA trophy has to go to Matt Jones. Matt can spend close to $15 at McDonalds in one sitting. And that’s after they’ve warmed up with Wendy’s home-made cookies that Blaiser brings with, and they eat them from GF to Alex. Then when they leave Alex, I send three cakes with them for dessert. As they’re boarding the bus in Alex, Blaiser will announce that they’re not going to break out the cakes till they pass St. Cloud. But Matt Greene, who is carrying the cakes says, hey, we’re eating the cake now. I’m not sure who wins the battle once they pull out of Alex, but I think in the close confines of the bus, Blaiser might have a shot. The MGA Award came to mind because last week we went to Chicago to see the NAHL Windy City Showcase. All twenty one teams, including the US U-17 team were there. Matt Jones’ brother (Zach) plays for the U-17 team, so I asked the Chicago natives, Matt’s dad and Kevin Spiewaks dad, to suggest some restaurants. One of the places Matt’s dad suggested was the Chicago Chop House, which we ate at on Friday night. The Chop House was voted the “best steakhouse in America”, and has pictures of Al Capone and others on the wall, and it is a very good place to eat. But, just for my wife and I, the bill came to just over $100. And we limited ourselves to the lower end of the menu. I'm thnking they still have to pay a little "fee" to Vito to stay in business. So, I’m wondering, how much would it cost Mr. Jones to take Matt to the Chicago Chop House for dinner? BTW, I got to watch Zach Jones play and he is a very good defenseman for the U-17 team. Matt says that Zach has better skills than he had at that same age. I’m not sure if there is a better defenseman in college hockey than Matt Jones. The reason I say that is because, I can’t remember the last time Matt Jones made a mistake that cost the team a goal, and he's on the ice all the time. As you watch the other top defensemen in the league that might have more points, they might impress you, but you can also remember the mistakes they made that led to a goal for the other team. That rarely happens with Matt.

Actually, I believe Naumenko was the goalie for the other team. Kevin beat him with the o/t goal.

Looks like Kevin is still doing a great job with the South Carolina Stingrays. SOU CAROLINA 4, AUGUSTA 3 (OT) ------------------------------ NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- Kevin Spiewak scored in overtime to lift the South Carolina Stingrays over the Augusta Lynx, 4-3. Spiewak collected his first shorthanded goal of the season 2:44 into the extra period. Gregg Naumenko turned away 38 shots in defeat.

The main thing that drove Ryan Bayda out of college hockey were the maulings he took in his junior year. When it came right down to it, he had to decide on staying in college (because he enjoyed it) or taking the money before he was seriously hurt. Ballard was the guy who helped him make the decision. Ballard was allowed to constantly chop at Bayda's arms and ankles without any calls. If it wouldn't have been for that, Bayda would have most likely stayed for his senior year. Now it looks like they'll drive Parise out of the league also.

At the beginning of the season Spirko was considered one of the top six 2004 recruits in North America, and the top recruit in the USHL. I don't think that has changed. Another one of the top six would be Danny Bertram in the AJHL. The other 4 have signed.

I'm pretty sure the Sioux never recruited Rosehill, or even talked to him. I don't think they even watched him play. My guess is that the Tampa writer who interviewed each of the drafted players ask a question like: What are your plans for next year? Rosehill probably replied that he would like to join earlier draft choice Smaby at North Dakota. Maybe he'll turn out to be a real good one, and we'll wish the Sioux would have recruited him.

Strained MCL? That's nothing compared to the injuries that can happen in the pressbox. I mean, have you seen the new all-composite pencils these guys are using now. When one of those gets thrown across the pressbox some series damage can occur. You know, there was a time when the little guy could compete out there. But even with the Olympic Pressbox at the new REA, it's getting more and more difficult for the "quick guys", like Pat, to compete. There's a lot of "clutch and grab" going on these days. From what I've seen, the SCSU and Gopher scribes are the worse offenders. I've seen Pat working on his quick transistion game, but it's hard when you have these guys draped all over you. Sicatoka, you claim to have the inside scoop on his injury. Unless you can back up your claims, I suggest you lay off Pat.

I second that.....yes, it's nice to have you back Pat. It was good to have some good backups for Pat last week, but you never really replace a first liner, All-American, Hobey reporter like Pat. Because of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), we'll probably never know the full extent of Pat's injury. I've heard reports that it was an illness, but I believe that is just a cover. They didn't want to disclose the seriousness, or the location, of the injury. Now don't go saying that I'm suggesting the other writers would have gone after the injured area. I don't think the UMD press would have done that. Now, if it would have been the Gopher series, it would have been a concern. I saw where Sicatoka was questioning Pat's commitment....even went so far as to call him "soft". A real cheap shot in my book, Sicatoka. Let me tell you....I talked with Pat last Saturday morning during the morning skate. After sitting out on Friday night, you could tell he didn't want to miss the second game of the UMD series. He was flexing his wrist, and there were reports that Poolman was working on the elbow and shoulder area or his right arm. There were other reports that the injury actually occurred several weeks before during the Gopher series, and that Pat played through the pain over the next few series. The story I heard was that Rachel Blount (StarTribune) might have caused the injury with a cheap shot to the groin area. I'm not sure if I believe this report because I personally saw Pat sprint from the press box area to section 306 during that Saturday night game. At the time, there were rumors that Sicatoka might have been in that area of the arena, so maybe Pat was "going after" him. That is also the area of the REA where they sell the Exploded Pig sandwich, so maybe Pat was just going to get one of those. Or maybe Virg sent him out to find some popcorn. Anyway, enough speculation about Pat's injury. We're just happy to have him back in uniform.

Hey, how about $1.95, that would be about one buck more than any SU alum has sent back to the school.

Let

The BB game isn't going to sway him. But, what was the weather like when he visited Michigan?