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Sioux are in the NCAAs and can possibly knock the Badgers out by beating them on Thursday if things don't fall Wisconsin's way int he other league playoffs. They would not have Wisconsin play Denver in a first round matchup even if Wisconsin made it today. The only issue I have with the PWR right now is having 4 ECACHL teams in the tourney. Colgate and Dartmouth are on the bubble and if things don't go their way they could easily be out. If Ohio State wins the CCHA playoffs one of these ECAC teams stays home.

This was a quote from this article on USCHO http://www.uscho.com/news/uwire.php/men/VMLQ022520058673740 "That's a rowdy environment up there in Grand Forks," Burish said. "Their fans are there at 6 o'clock. They're there for warm-ups, throwing pennies on the ice trying to make you fall. It's just a different environment, it's something that guys aren't used to playing in and some of our young guys won't be used to be playing in." Personnally I've never heard of anyone throwing pennies on the ice. Heck it would endanger our players as much as their's. Anyone?

I agree to some extent on your post. But the only one of the 5 items you mentioned that mattered to me was we were playing the Stinking Badgers. The thing that bothered me most about the attendance was how empty the student sections were. I'm guessing there were about 800-1000 empty seats in the student sections. I mean come on. By 3:30 in the afternoon the hangover should be pretty much taken care of. Come to the game!

So you think it's Over? Over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? The way this season has gone so far I would expect that we get swept by Wisconsin and then are lucky to win a game in St. Cloud. But I keep coming back to those CC and Denver games when without the posts we probably win at least 3 of those games. So for now I'm optimistic. I'm going with a sweep of Wisconsin at home to throw the polls into disarray and then probably back to earth with a split in St. Cloud. Hey it could happen. Then we beat Duluth in the playoffs and I get to watch us beat Minnesota at the Final Five. After that I would be happy. So until we get swept by Wisconsin I'm still expecting the best. Maybe the just need Brad Berry and Cary Eades to kick their ass a little

With 4 games left to go in the regular season the Sioux are now 15th in the Pairwise Rankings. We are 3 games over .500 for the year and 1 game under .500 in the WCHA. We have the worst record of anyone that right now has a chance to make the NCAAs. What this tracks down to is this: We need to make the WCHA Final Five if we want to be in the NCAA playoffs. Heck we probably need to win at least one game there to make the NCAAs. No excuses anymore. IMHO we need to win 3 of the next 4 games, beat Duluth in the first round of the playoffs and then beat Minnesota in the playin game at the WCHA Final five to assure a berth in the NCAAs. It's not too late to make this happen. Based upon the Pairwise movements we could even be a Number 2 seed if we could put a string together. So it starts this weekend against Wisconsin. We need a sweep. I just hope Schneider, Fuher, Jones, McMahon, Massen and Fylling realize they don't have much left of their careers and can step it up late like Lundbohm did last year. I also hope that the fans bring it this weekend. We can be a factor so let's make us a factor in these games. Support this team by screaming your stinking head off at the games. We don't need no Stinking Badgers!! Wins are all that matters now.

Just saw this on USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/m/ch/?data=preview He picks Bemidji to win 5-2 and 4-3. I guess he thinks UND is not very good. I also think it's time for this team to step up and it begins with a sweep of Bemidji State this weekend.

I've got us splitting every series the rest of the way: CC 44 UMN 40 UW 38 Denver 37 UND 29 UMD 26 AA 21 SCSU 20 Mankato 19 MTech 6 If this is what happens we would still get home ice for the playoffs but would play a dangerous Duluth team.

I edited my first post and changed Miller and took out Oshie and Vandevelde.

One thing I've noticed is that we have sort of turned into Minnesota of the Doug Woog years. We have begun to recruit a lot of kids right out of high school and they are coming in at 17-18 year olds. For example: Minnesota's freshmen next year: 9 coming in. 2 born in 1984, 4 born in 1985, 2 born in 1986, 1 in 1987. So they will have 6 kids that are 20 or older coming in. Our class next year: 10 coming in. 1 born in 1985, 4 born in 1986, 4 born in 1987, and 1 born in 1988. We'll have one guy 20 or older. In the Woog years he recruited right out of high school while we recruited from the USHL and Canada. Our players were more mature and were able to adapt more easily than Minnesota's. Now we seem to be doing it. It bothers me because the young guys have potential but are not as experienced or seasoned as the guys we used to get. What do you think?

Just for my own perspective I put the list together of the players leaving, those coming back, and the new ones coming. This assumes that the NHL is in the same boat and Greene does not go pro and that all underclassmen on the roster also come back. Leaving Matt Jones D Andy Schneider D Nick Fuher D Quinn Fylling F Colby Genoway F Rory McMahon F Brian Cannady F James Massen F Jake Brandt G Coming Zach Jones D Taylor Chorney D Brian Lee D Ryan Duncan F Matt Watkins F Andrew Kozek F Chris VandeVelde F Possibly 2006 TJ Oshie F Possible 2006 Jonathan Toews F Brad Miller F Returnees: Forwards: Mike Prpich Sr Eric Fabian Jr Brady Murray Jr Chris Porter Jr Drew Stafford Jr Rastislav Spirko So Travis Zajack So Rylan Kaip So Defense: Matt Greene Sr Lee Marvin Sr Robbie Bina Jr Scott Foyt Jr Matt Smaby Jr Kyle Radke So Goalies: Jordan Parise Jr Phillipe Lamoureux Fr So that puts us at 13 forwards and 9 defensemen plus two goalies. That means we'd have 2 forwards and 3 defensemen sitting each game. Possible lines are: Zajak-Murray-Stafford Toews-Porter-Spirko Watkins-Prpich-Duncan Kaip-Kozek-Miller That means we'd have Fabian and either Kaip or Oshie sitting out. Of course anyone could sit depending on how well the freshmen actually perform. Defense: Greene-Jones (sounds sort of familiar) Smaby-Radke Lee-Chorney So we'd end up sitting Foyt, Bina, and Marvin. I'm sure they will still be recruiting a goalie since they need 3 for practice but I'd expect this guy to be a project or someone very young. Just a first crack at some possbilities for next year's team.

I have a friend that lives in Buffalo NY that used to attend UND. He told me that he occasionally will get WCHA games in Buffalo and has seen UND about 3 times on TV. I asked him for his view of the team. Here is his comment: "I can't say I am optimistic. Actually they play like the USA Jr. team. Weak defensively, a bit slower than other teams and can't finish at the other end. I do like Stafford and the goaltending." When I read this it sort of hit me that yeah he's right. UND seems to have the talent but do not play as a team and defensively look terrible at times. They don't seem to have melded their talent into a true team. Pesonally I'm optimistic that this Christmas break has helped and they get back to stable lines and playing together. In my mind we'll see right away if they are because to be in the upper echelon of the country they need to sweep Mankato and split in CC. If they can do this I think we may be able to consider ourselves a contender. On with the games!

Hey last year at the Regionals at Colorado College they had NCAA 3rd place banners in the rafters. I thought that was strange.

Here's mine. I thought I was very realistic but if we can pull off a couple of sweeps like with Denver and Wisconsin at home we could finish as high as third. UMN 28 42 CC 28 38 UW 28 36 Denver 28 36 UND 28 35 UMD 28 32 SCSU 28 22 Mankato 28 19 AA 28 16 MTech 28 4 All I know is this unbalanced schedule sucks. Look at the bottom 4 teams according to me. Minnesota plays 2 series with all 4 teams. They play one series with Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota, and Duluth. I can only hope playing the lower tiered teams hurt them in PWR but probably not that much because their record will be so good. CC has a tough schedule so I'd be surprised if they passed Minnesota. Here's to hoping we get a little luck the second half and Denver and Wisconsin don't.

I, like PCM. have seen little or no change in this team since early season. They continue to make defensive lapses. The one that is most disturbing is when Jones and Greene (our two best defensemen?) continue to hurt the team with undisciplined play. The undressing of Bina was another example of how this team does not play the basics. What's even worse is that I just did the WCHA What If calculator and I have us finishing 6th. The way this team has played so far I have them getting swept at CC. The rest of the games I have them splitting. To truly be a force this team would need to do the following to show they could go anywhere in the playoffs: Sweep Canisius at home Sweep Mankato at home Split at Colorado College on the road Sweep Denver at home Sweep Alaska on the road Sweep Wisconsin at home Sweep or split with St. Cloud on the road. Realisitcally I can't see this team doing this. Terrible Power Play, Undisciplined defensive play, and continuing to take stupid penalties. The only facet of the game that seems fairly stable right now is the goaltending. I expect an occasional goal to get missed but in general Parise and Lammy have done their job. To be honest this team seems slow. Watching Peluso and Scwabe buzz around the net while we chase them is pretty discouraging. Oh well I'll be at the games rooting them on hoping that we see a change and that my assessment is completely wrong.

This was just one of many breaks that went Pitt's way instead of ours. I have always thought that the calls usually favor the home team and once again I was proven correct. Now after listening to the Pitt State coach Broyles talk about " No matter how good their defense is we will eventually wear them down , score and win" I will be a Valdosta fan on Saturday. Coach Broyle's gave little or no recognition to the Sioux defense. The reality folks is that when you play at home, don't turn the ball over, and get a few calls you win. Pitt got every break they could during that game and until the last 8 minutes of the game the game was still in question. So next year the key is to get those home playoff games and not be seeded 5th in the region so you have to play games on the road and play an extra game. Go Valdosta!

I'd actually prefer that he sits until after Christmas. We should be able to beat UAA at home without him and hopefully win one in Duluith. Then we sweep Canisius and play the US Jr. team. I'd say if there is any questions sit him and let him heal until after the break.

And just think. The Sioux have 5 losses this year. One to #1 Minnesota, one to #2 CC, two to #4 Wisconsin, and one to #6 BC. Off all these games the only game they truly sucked was the 6-0 loss to Minnesota.

Check this out: http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5079645.html Hobey Baker after one month of the season?

So which if these guys from Heisenberg's site are expected to officially sign: Andrew Kozek-LC (10/1/04) Surrey (BCHL) 5'11 175 6-8-86 58-19-22-41-67 Matt Watkins-LC (9/26/04) Vernon (BCHL) 5'10 175 11-22-86 2004 SMHL Zach Jones-RD (7/26/04) USNDPT U-18 Team 5'11 175 1-14-87 Chris Vandevelde-LW (6/8/04) Moorhead 6'2 180 3-15-87 (for 2006) Brad Miller-LW (3/12/04) Green Bay (USHL) 5'10 170 1-31-86 T.J. Oshie-LC (2/5/04) Warroad 5'10 165 12-23-86 Brian Lee-RD (2/3/04) Moorhead 6'2 180 3-27-87 2004 USA U-18 team; Ryan Duncan-RW (12/18/03) Salmon Arm (BCHL) 5'6 155 7-14-85 Taylor Chorney-LD (10/23/03) Shattuck St.Marys 5'10 170 4-27-87 2004 I believe they hae verbally committed but have not offically signed. Is this right? So we have 5 forwards and 3 defensemen at least leaving after this year. The list above shows 6 forwards and 3 defensemen. I'm guessing we'll get a couple of others too. Of the ones above who is expected to contribute right away?

I agree about Genoway. Just think. This guy came to UND as a 17 year old. Because he had played 3 games in juniors he had to miss a year of college hockey. So he is now a senior and he still is not old enough to have a beer. He is just starting to come into his own as a hockey player. One fault he may have is he likes to pass so much that sometime he passes rather than shoots. That worked well last year when he played with a guy like bochenski who could bury the puck but this year we seem to be missing that sniper. But I think Genoway will only get better this year and even the next 2-3 years if he gets a chance in the pros. Most players don't reach their prime until 24-26 years old. He's only 20 now so he has some developing to do. By the way, his last name is actually pronounced with a hard G not with the J sound.

Mike Burgraff? The player that I thought did so much with not the greatest talent was Mike Burgraff. He didn't have the best skills but made up for it by going 100 miles an hour at all times, playing with tenacity, and always giving his best. He was the nicest guy off the ice and on the ice he was a major pain in the butt for the other team.

jk, I agree about Genoway. Just think. This guy came to UND as a 17 year old. Because he had played 3 games in juniors he had to miss a year of college hockey. So he is now a senior and he still is not old enough to have a beer. He is just starting to come into his own as a hockey player. One fault he may have is he likes to pass so much that sometime he passes rather than shoots. That worked well last year when he played with a guy like bochenski who could bury the puck but this year we seem to be missing that sniper. But I think Genoway will only get better this year and even the next 2-3 years if he gets a chance in the pros. Most players don't reach their prime until 24-26 years old. He's only 20 now so he has some developing to do.