Stack

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.

Last year we had 4 ties. If you take all of the WCHA teams last year and average the number of ties per team, you get an average of 5.9 ties per team in the season. So I guess 6 ties doesn't seem too out of the normal.

I know this may seem a little crazy but I looked at the entire Sioux Hockey schedule and predicted all of the games for next year. I thought I'd better post it before the season starts just in case I am clairvoyant. So take a peek and see if you agree or disagree: Of course I've been a little biased in my predictions Here's my predictions: Oct. 3 -- MANITOBA (ex) W (doesn't count on our record) Oct. 9 -- MERRIMACK W Oct. 10 -- MERRIMACK W Oct. 16 -- MINNESOTA W Oct. 17 -- MINNESOTA L Oct. 23 -- at Anchorage W Oct. 24 -- at Anchorage T Nov. 6 -- at Mich. Tech W Nov. 7 -- at Mich. Tech W Nov. 13 -- ST. CLOUD L Nov. 14 -- ST. CLOUD W Nov. 20 -- at Denver L Nov. 21 -- at Denver T Nov. 27 -- MIAMI L Nov. 28 -- OHIO STATE W Dec. 4 -- at Duluth L Dec. 5 -- at Duluth W Dec. 11 -- WISCONSIN L Dec. 12 -- WISCONSIN W Dec. 19 -- US WORLD JR (ex) W (doesn't count on our record) Jan. 2 -- at Notre Dame tour. W (Tourney includes Notre Dame, Colgate and Niagara in Chicago) Jan. 3 -- at Notre Dame tour. W Jan. 8 -- MSU-MANKATO W Jan. 9 -- MSU-MANKATO T Jan. 15 -- at Minnesota L Jan. 16 -- at Minnesota W Jan. 22 -- at Cornell W Jan. 23 -- at Cornell T Jan. 29 -- DENVER W Jan. 30 -- DENVER T Feb. 12 -- at St. Cloud L Feb. 13 -- at St. Cloud W Feb. 19 -- DULUTH W Feb. 20 -- DULUTH W Feb. 26 -- at Colo. Coll. W Feb. 27 -- at Colo. Coll. T Mar. 5 -- MICH. TECH W Mar. 6 -- MICH. TECH W Final Regular Season record: 22-8-6 WCHA Record: 16-7-5 for 37 points and a second place finish behind Denver Let me know what you think.

I'm sort of with you. I think he's looking at going someplace new where he doesn't have a track record with the coaches but probably doesn't want to lose a year of eligibility.

Well if Rowney waits until 2010 we will have fulfilled the "21 year old Canadian" stigma. Fink played in 59 games this year in the USHL and ended up with 19 points, 6 penalty minutes and a -21. I know he was hurt last year but does anyone know what's up with him? Not the sort of stats you'd expect for a future Sioux.

1. I think if Forney wants to come back to UND he deserves a shot. We recruited him and due to injuries etc he didn't play. Now that he's been an everyday player in the USHL and lead his team in scoring he deserves a shot assuming he wants to come back. 2. I orignally thought that Mattson exepcted to come in this year and then after I started looking at the ages of the recruits I changed my mind. Let's take a look from oldest to youngest of those with shots to come in: Mike Forney: 5/14/1988 (would come in as a junior) Brett Bruneteau: 1/5/1989 Aaron Dell: 5/4/1989 Carter Rowney: 5/10/1989 Andrew MacWilliam: 3/25/1990 Joe Gleason: 3/30/1990 Danny Kristo: 6/18/1990 Mike Cichy: 7/7/1990 Mike Fink: 7/7/1990 Derek Rodwell: 7/8/1990 Corban Knight: 9/10/1990 Danny Mattson: 11/20/1990 If you went strictly by the cut off dates for high school only Knight and Mattson would have been in high school this year. My thought is this, assuming Forney comes back: You bring in Dell, Forney, Bruneteau, Rowney, MacWilliam, Gleason, Kristo, and Cichy. Knight and Mattson play in the USHL and AJHL. You don't want any '89s still in the juniors so I think Rowney needs to come this year. Dell replaces Walski. MacWilliam and Gleason replace Finley and Jones. Forney, Bruneteau, Rowney, Kristo, and Cichy replace Duncan, Miller, Martens, Watkins and Kozek. If Forney doesn't come who knows which one of the 4 forwards left you pick. Maybe Knight or Mattson. 2010 is the scary one. With only VanDeVelde, Genoway, and Zajac graduating you have two defensemen in the wings with Forbort and Nick Mattson. I'm guessing Mattson is the call here. Then you have Fink, Rodwell, Knight, Danny Mattson, and Matt White waiting. You only need two if no one jumps to the pros so now what?

Morin said he really liked North Dakota and BU and particular he liked BU but he wants to go pro as soon as possible and didn't think college was right for him. He's hoping he goes high in the draft and gets to play right away. After watching the US team play 3 games I thought Morin was good but he didn't stand out over the other forwards. Now defenseman Cam Fowler stood out. He went end to end a few times and played his position very well. If he sticks with the verbal to Notre Dame he'll be a beast for some time.

Ok. Let's see what we're losing and what we're gaining. Walski being replaced by Dell: Since Walski rarely played I'd say this is an upgrade. Potentially a great upgrade sicne Dell is matching or breaking Eidesness's records in that league. Finley being replaced by MacMillan. This is a downgrade since Big Joe was a steady influence. We'll need to see how MacMillan adjusts. Jones being replaced by Gleason: Jones was steady but he was also a healthy scratch numerous times. I think we'll see Gleason have some problems but overall I'd say an upgrade. Kozek replaced by Cichy: Kozek had his games but also disappeared a lot. By the end of the season hewas not on the PP or the PK. Potentially an upgrade. Duncan replaced by Kristo: Obviously a downgrade and we'll hope that Kristo can show us some of Duncan in his play. Older forwards will need to step it up to replace Duncan overall. Watkins replaced by Bruneteau: Watkins was great on the PK and could put a lot of pressure on. Brunteau is rather small so we'll have to see how this plays out. Downgrade for now. Martens replaced by Forney: Martens was a healthy scratch most games his first two years but worked his way into the lineup and was a steady player the last two years. Forney is playing very well in the USHL and I'm hoping he's matured enough to be a factor. I'd say for now this is a wash unless Forney shows us more than he did the first two years he was at UND Miller replaced by Knight/Rowney/Mattson: Even though Miller played defense most of this year he will be replaced by a forward. As a forward Miller was average and sat a lot. I'd say this is a slight downgrade at first but if Mattson is the guy it could be a big upgrade by the end of the year. Now don't get me wrong. I really like Miller and Martens and the rest of the seniors but you have to remind yourself that Walski, Miller, Martens, and Jones didn't play a lot their first 2 years with Walski rarely playing. So if the freshmen can produce quickly we may have a better team this next year as long as we can get some leadership.