I Ranger

From everything I've been told, Rizzo de-committing was totally unexpected. It caught the coaches off-guard.

I wouldn't mind seeing one of each especially with our injury history! It seems to me we should maybe abandon the typical 15F-8D roster approach and maybe carry an extra forward and D since we seem to have serious injury issues every F'n year!

This part right here makes me question the Morrow decision even more so. I get there were apparently "red flags" but wouldn't you think with a coach and team that preaches "culture" that you could bring in a kid with huge talent and groom him into the culture rather than be scared away from him? All this being said, I haven't heard one thing bad about him with UMASS and the World Junior team which again makes me question the decision.

I think this team needs to shop in the portal for both a goalie and a d man. My big hope is that Jake Schmaltz (and Brent Johnson) goes on the Nick Schmaltz freshman to sophomore diet and comes back 15-20 lbs heavier. His skill is there he just needs the strength to make a big jump like Nick obviously had after year 1.

All I can say is I sure hope the ice is better than what I just watched in Loveland. It's embarrassing every year watching the most important games on absolutely horrible ice!

For me it is easily the 2010-11 team. That team was easily the best in college hockey that year, loaded with top end talent and very deep both offensively and defensively. And solid goaltending. The 2003-04 year is second in my mind because I was in school at the time and again I think that team was the best in college hockey that year and another shutout loss to an inferior team.

Not to mention the players that were filling that lineup card in 2011-12 were 3 walk-ons not expected to play much if at all (Pattyn, Gaarder, Senkbeil) a D playing third line forward (Gleason) and a fourth line made up of two walk-ons (again Gaarder and Senkbeil) with another forward double shifting (often Nelson) just to round out the line. For that team to do what it did was just amazing.

And some Toews guy as well just might be the highest!

Anyone know or hearing anything on Gracyn Sawchyn? He's still uncommitted and just wondering if we are in on him or not.

On Hain, I heard from some Rapids folks that it's an ACL/MCL so highly unlikely he's able to return. They weren't sure if he had surgery or not though.

I've been told it's a broken collarbone so I would think he's done for the year.

I agree with you. I think/hope these past 3 games were really a wakeup call for Driscoll and you could tell in his play in relief on Saturday. I also agree I didn't think Hellsten looked very good on Saturday. I think it's Driscoll's net on Friday.

I was told in January that Jody and the Ralph would try to get it if Canada couldn't put it on.

Last night was the first time I watched a home game on nchc tv since I'm out of town and the Ralph/Midco production was night and day better than any stream I've watched this year. The other road series I've watched have been borderline unwatchable with all the buffering and horrible snowy coverage! Last weekend, my feed would pause and buffer every 20-30 seconds for a decent amount of time. It gave me a headache trying to watch.

I'd heard rumors over Christmas that both UNO and Western were trying to bring him in for second semester which obviously didn't come to fruition.

Notice how much icetime Attard gets? I just don't understand why Sanderson doesn't play minutes like that. It's not like we have great depth. I think he is underutilized on a team that needs him to be incredible and control games!

Agreed cruel but unfortunately true and you didn't even mention the forward that looks the most out of place on this roster (given he wasn't suppose to be here this year).

Honestly I have been thinking the same thing all year. I don't think he is at the level he was at the end of last year. In that marathon regional final, it looked like he could have played the entire game getting better as the game went on and should have ended it multiple times. To me this season he seems like he doesn't have the same stamina. Obviously an enormous talent but I was hoping he would be able to control the game much better like Perunovich did for UMD. He does it in spurts but not nearly as consistently as Perunovich did.

And also hoping he comes back on a mission like he did after the World Juniors last year. He was night and day better the second half last year compared to how he looked in his limited time in the bubble.

I'd say it's more likely that Senden and Hain become "super seniors" than play in the NHL.

I'm not surprised. I don't believe he played much if at all after his first shift last night. Behind the back pass at your own blue line that went directly to a St Cloud player for a scoring chance.

From what I've heard, Rizzo's decommitment caught the staff off guard. They weren't expecting it even after asking him to play another year of juniors.

Berry I would agree with but to say he does more than Hak did is downright comical! Hak took some teams to the Frozen Four and Final Five Conference Championships that had no business talentwise (injury wise) being anywhere close to that. And how did Sandy do with less his first 10 or so seasons? Yes he's been great these past 5-6 years but a lot of the UMD alumni wanted him gone before 2011 occurred.

If it's as bad as last night I don't think I will make it through the game. Absolutely brtual and embarrassing feed!

This has me confused as well. I really thought he was slated to play wing with Ford and Calder once healthy and Senden was just the filler there until he returned. I'm wondering if he just isn't fully healthy as of yet as I was hoping he was going to be one of the forwards stepping up to help out the scoring this year.