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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.

Gregoire

Assuming we beat Tech, we will play the Friday night game unless there are upsets in the first round of the playoffs and Minnesota becomes a number 2 or 3 seed for the Final Five. If Minnesota is there and does not have to play the playin game Minensota plays Friday night. Money talks. So we'll see after this weekend.

I actually meant that we need to recruit another D for the future not necessarily for next year. Unless Forbort comes and plays right out of high school after next year when Genoway graduates there are no defensemen in the pipeline. Typically you like to see a D man play a year in the USHL once they graduate from high school like Gleason is to get stronger and to accilmate to the speed of the game.

Oops I thought Forbort was a senior. Based upon Heisneberg's site: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pq-...RsjRw&gid=1 It looks like we need to recruit another defenseman even if Genoway doesn't go early.

So what happens if Genoway goes early? Is Forbort ready or who would be a possible defensemen to bring in?

With all of our seniors this year I was trying to figure out who is really coming in next year as replacements but I need help. So help me fill in the blanks. I'll give it a shot first: Goalie: Walski leaves and Dell comes Defensemen: Finley leaves MacMillian comes Jones leaves Gleason comes I'm not sure where to put Miller but I'll put him at forward for now: Forwards: Miller leaves Bruneteau comes Kozek leaves Cichy comes Duncan leaves Kristo comes Watkins leaves Knight comes Martens leaves (Here's where I'm stuck for sure: Do I plug in Forney or Rowney or Mattson or ? If no one leaves early we'll have 5 returning defensemen assuming LaPoint recovers , 10 returning forwards and 2 retunring goalies. To keep the same type roster of 15 forwards, 7 defensemen and 3 goalies we would need one goalie, 2 defensemen and 5 forwards. That would leave us next year's team with 3 seniors, 6 juniors, 8 sophomores, and 8 freshmen. A very young team again. So who am I missing?

Did anyone else think the dump in on Rau's wraparound goal was icing? I swear CC was 2 feet behind the red line when they threw it in the zone. The linesman started putting his hand up and stopped. No Sioux was even close to having a chance to get to it. The pucked bounced CC's way all night. After Eidsness's save on McCullough I immediately turned to my daughter and said "Save of the Year". Thank you Parise that it at least gave us a tie.

A friend of mine was a member of The Farce. He has the yellow helmet with the red light on top that got turned on when we scored. He told me that one time a lot of The Farce went to a game in Duluth. They were out bar hopping in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday and when they were walking from one bar to the next outside they noticed a crowd of people in front of the courthouse. They proceeded to chant: "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit how bout you." He said that immediately they were surrounded by a bunch of guys with black suits and were escorted further down the street. Hey how were they to know the guy talking at the Courthouse was Ronald Reagan and the black suits were Secret Service.

There wasn't a lot of love for Forney when he was with the Sioux but I hope you're right and he can produce at UND if he comes back. I always felt he should have gone the USHL route and got healthy before coming the UND but at the time we were short due to guys going pro so they brought him earlier than they should have.

If Trupp and Toews are both still hurt I'm guessing we'll see: First line the same: Duncan, Gregoire, Hextall Second line: Kozek moves up to play with VandeVelde and Frattin Third line the same: Zajac, Watkins, Martens Fourth line: Malone, Lamoureux, Davidson With two forwards hurt and one defenseman out for the season we need this to stop. We don't need no stinkin' injuries!

Frattin (Trupp)

Sitting down for breakfast at the Airport Marriott in Minnesapolis this past Friday 1/30/09, I happened to hear a couple of gentlemen talking hockey mainly about the UND/Denver series and the aftermath. I slowly turned my head and lo and behold who was it but WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod and head of officials Greg Shepherd. Of course my ears perked up to see what I coulld hear as I kept my back turned and tried not to let on that I was listening. Mr Shepherd says: "You remember when Bob Johnson walked on the ice right? I don't see what the big deal is now. Why are people complaining about what George got. We as a league only make recommendations and it's up to the schools to decide what penalties to give their players and coaches." Mr McLeod mainly agrees with uh huhs and yeses. Then Mr Shepherd says "What do you think people would say if we told them about all of the emails we've been getting to toss North Dakota out of the league?" My mouth sort of dropped at that and I tried to hear more but the server brought us our check then and we had to leave. The impression I had was that Mr. Shepherd was a little peeved about the many complaints that everyone had about the league and how they were handling the Denver/UND series from the week before. The impression I got from Mr McLeod is that he was taking it all in but really was not that upset about what was going on in the media and was ok with how things turned out. And to those fans sending emails to toss North Dakota out of the league: FOR WHAT! Our team wasn't the one that lost it's cool and got many chippy penalties because they were getting beat. Our coach did not go ballistic with choking signs to the refs and then walk out onto the ice and afterwards break NCAA rules by coaching from the press box after an ejection, etc. Denver and it's coach lost their composure and their heads and looked like fools for doing it. Should we ask the WCHA to toss Denver out of the league? Of course not. What foolishness.