Stack

Last night we had a goal waved off so let's start there. Goals disallowed: 1/29 vs. Denver (goal waved off due to a penalty called on Knight for interference) 11/14 vs St Cloud State (goal waved off after Referee says "He meant to blow the whistle") 11/21 vs Denver (goal waved off after review. Ref says Malone kicked it in) I'd like to know how many goals we've had waved off so far this year. I can't remember the rest. I need your brain to remember others this year. Anyone?

Malone

Enough with the negative waves Moriarty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ...PL&index=27

Gregoire

Candians like their junior teams: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...OdEtX5JQ18J-3Xw

Is anyone else as embarrassed about Sioux Men's basketball than I am? I fully understand the transition to D1 and knew that we'd be taking our lumps especially when we played the teams from the bigger conferences. What I wasn't counting on is losing to teams like Mayville State. I also was expecting that as the season went along some of the freshmen that had been redshirted would begin to show their promise and show us more. This team is getting outscored on an average of 72-56. In the majority of the losses they have not been competitive. The scores are actually closer than most of these games really were. Of the 56 points we're still getting about half from the 3 seniors and a third from two of the juniors. Only one player on this team is averaging in double figures. What makes anyone think that next year we will be more competitive when half the points will graduate? Now is it coaching? Is Brian Jones the right head coach? Is it recruiting? Is it that I'm too impatient?

So far after watching the games here's what I see happening: I see Sweden finishing 4-0, Russia second in that bracket at 3-1 and Finland at 2-2 I see Canada beating the US. Simply put when I watch Canada they look like a pro team and the US looks like a college team. Canada is much more physical and the US has not played a team that is physical AND fast. Unless our goalie stands on his head I see us losing 6-2 with Slovakia or Switzerland finishing third most likely Slovakia. First quarterfinal we play Finland and squeak out a win. Second quarterfinal Russia pounds Slovakia. First semifinal we lose to Sweden, second semifinal Canada beats Russia. Final: Sweden upsets Canada and shuts the damn Canadian crowd up. Man I hate it when they boo the US players for no reason except they are from the USA. I just don't get Canadians hating the USA.

Malone

Oh the World Juniors. We follow it because we love hockey and we usually have one of our own playing it. Very few people in the United States even know it's going on or what it is. This past weekend however I spent an evening with a Canadian hockey fan at a wedding reception in Minneapolis.. She is originally from Saskatoon and even though she has been living in Fargo since 1972 she still follows the juniors. After she explained to me what Boxing Day was, she then said the only thing she wanted for Christmas was to have Canada beat the USA on New Years Eve. The first word out of a person at our table was "In what?" She then proceeded to explain that in Canada the world juniors are watched in similar fashion to the Super Bowl in the United States. The reaility is we, and when I see we I mean even us hockey fans from the US, don't truly understand what the big deal is. Here's hoping though that our boys in red, white, and blue can disappoint all Candians on New Years Eve and also in the medal round.

Gregoire

Toews

Hextall (oops) I just read he's out. So I'm going with Cichy

thanks.

Gregoire

I have no problem with Kristo shooting but he is driving me nuts by tapping his stick on the ice all of the time calling for the puck. Saturday night I was disappointed when Kristo couldn't catch up to Hoeffel to stop the shorthanded goal. I realize that Hoeffel had the head start but I was hoping Kristo had the wheels to catch him. Kristo will be fine. Heck it's only his 5th Sioux game. Danny, please stop tapping your stick on the ice so frequently.

Neat video for the St Louis Blues by the star of Mad Men Jon Hamm where he mentions TJ Oshie. To view it do this: Go here: http://blues.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?id= In the upper left hand corner where it says search videos type in Jon Hamm On the right side pick the video that says: Jon Hamm TV Spot Sneak Peek. This is the one where he mentions Oshie.

I thought Joe Finley was playing in Hershey in the AHL but I believe he got sent down to the South Carolina of the ECHL: http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?ac...=1&id=19787 Anyone else heard about his status?

Unless the Big Ten Network is ready to pony up some big dollars to these schools it doesn't make sense financially. Heck Notre Dame's arena only holds 2667 fans. With Omaha coming in next year you now have the 4 largest arenas in the country in the WCHA and those four are almost sold out every game. If they have a brain in ther head they will wait to see if some programs fold and then realign like they did when Michigan, Michigan State, and Notre Dame left the WCHA many years ago to form the CCHA. With 10 WCHA teams we currently play 18 conference games and 8 non-conference games. In the Big Ten league if there were only 6 teams they would play 10 conference games and be looking for 18 non-conference games. So the idea of reginalization sounds good but unless Wisconsin plays all of the Michigan teams and Minnesota plays all of the Minnesota teams for non-conference games, regionalization is thrown out the window. If a Big Ten hockey conference started up the WCHA would survive with 10 teams and the competition would be just as strong as it is now. The thing we'd all miss would be the rivalry we have generated with both schools.

VandeVelde

My impression: VV/Gregoire/Kristo line. Kristo has the speed, VV is big and strong and is a beast to knock off the puck, Gregoire never seems out of position and plays both ways very well. Very nice line Malone/Trupp/Hextall line: Played well but Malone needs to play a little more like VV. Trupp had a lot of moves but nothing to show for it and Hextall played fairly well too. Lamoureux/Cichy/Toews line: I actually liked this line and thought Toews made a lot of things happen. I was a little surprised to see Toews on wing rather than center but this line is agressive and could be a force Zajac/Rowney/Davidson: My first thought was "What does Zajac have to do to get on a top three line? He's out there with the physical players again." I didn't see much happen with this line. No real scoring chances and not a big shut down line. Knight/Bruneteau: These players wre thrown in on various lines. I actually liked both of their play and was more impressed with Bruneteau than I thought I would be. LaPoint/Marto: Same pairing and played pretty consistent/ Blood/Genoway: I like these two together. Blood looks like a different player who will now carry the puck when needed rather than get flustered and try to pass it to his partner as soon as he gets pressured. MacWilliam/Fienhage: Both looked out of synch at first but MacWilliam came around. Fienhage looked shaky at best with the puck. It will be an adventure for him until he gets comfortable. Gleason looked a little like Genoway. Smart with the puck and a good skater. Don't be surprised if they pair him with MacWilliam if Fienhage doesn't progress. Eidesness looked good. Tough to tell with Dell since he only faced 4 shots. Overall the team looked out of synch for the first half of the game but came around as the game went along. We will tell more this weekend once we see who dresses Questions to be answered: 1. Will Fienhage become a top 6 d man or will Gleason take that spot? 2. Who will earn their way to play on the line with Zajac? Davidson? Rowney? Bruneteau? Knight? 3. Will Eidesness and Dell split the duties this first series? 4. Is Kristo as fast as Doug Smail?

I'm going to be in Vegas on Saturday and was hoping to place a bet on UND to cover the spread. I can't seem to find the odds anywhere and am a little worried that it won't be on the board. Anyone know what the odds may be or seen anything about the odds yet?

With the official schedule out now there are some changes from above: Oct 4: Manitoba (I still say a win) Nov: 27 is now Ohio State (I say a win) Nov 28 is Miami or Bemidji State (I say a loss to Miami) Jan 2: is Niagara (I say a win) Jan 3 is Notre Dame or Colgate) I say a win over Notre Dame The CC games in February are now on Tuesday and Wednesday Feb 23-24. I still say a win and a tie. So same record just different dates and we now know who we play.

That always sounds good but I'd like to see the opposition pay to get into our zone. I'm tired of the speedy teams like BC just skating into the zone without paying a price. If it means taking a penalty then ok but we better be practicing our penalty kill if we play three big bodies like Blood, MacWilliam and Fienhage.

A couple of comments about your lines and then my guesses from the predictions thread: 1. I don't like Hextall on a checking line. He showed last year he could score and I think he deserves to be on a scoring line. 2. With dressing 12 forwards and your lines, Lamoureux doesn't get to play much. I think he'll play a lot this next year and will seldom be a healthy scratch. If Forney comes in and plays well, I think Rowney will be the one that sits rather than Lamoureux. My take: VandeVelde centering Trupp and Frattin Malone centering Gregoire and Hextall Toews centering Kristo and Cichy Zajac centering Lamoureux and Rowney Bench: Davidson, Bruneteau, and ? If Forney comes in and plays like he did in Green Bay he will be a regular. I also think that Toews will show why he was drafted in the 3rd round. He should be healthy and I think he'll be a nice surprise and if he does that his line could be really fun to watch. Genoway and Blood Marto and LaPoint MacWilliam and Gleason Bench: Fienhage. I think they'll give Blood a chance with Genoway but if MacWilliam is as good as they say he may end up playing with Genoway. I wanted to split up LaPoint and Marto and have them pair up with a freshman but decided to keep them together. Fienhage may be ready to take a regular shift but I don't know so I put him on the bench for now. I'm glad Dell is coming so that we'll have a goalie battle again and Eidsness will get some relief during the season. I expect Eidsness to stay number 1 but Dell will play in about 8-10 games.

I'll throw in my two cents for lines since the captain talk is about done: VandeVelde centering Trupp and Frattin Malone centering Gregoire and Hextall Toews centering Kristo and Cichy Zajac centering Lamoureux and Rowney Bench: Davidson, Bruneteau, and ? If Forney comes in and plays like he did in Green Bay he will be a regular. I also think that Toews will show why he was drafted in the 3rd round. He should be healthy and I think he'll be a nice surprise and if he does that his line could be really fun to watch. Genoway and Blood Marto and LaPoint MacWilliam and Gleason Bench: Fienhage. I think they'll give Blood a chance with Genoway but if MacWilliam is as good as they say he may end up playing with Genoway. I wanted to split up LaPoint and Marto and have them pair up with a freshman but decided to keep them together. Fienhage may be ready to take a regular shift but I don't know so I put him on the bench for now. I'm glad Dell is coming so that we'll have a goalie battle again and Eidsness will get some relief during the season. I expect Eidsness to stay number 1 but Dell will play in about 8-10 games.