Five-HoleFrenzy

I'll be the first to eat my hat. Come looking for me in the Roselawn Cemetery, 'cause I'll be long passed from this earth before Don gets elevated. How soon do you plan to be in Roselawn cemetary? Could we check next week? maybe next month? Another year from now?

"You could have forward lines of (of course I'm just guessing on line combos):" Zajak, Stafford, Spirko Toews, Porter, Duncan Watkins, Kozek, Prpich Kozek, Fabian, Duncan Stack, Just curious but are you intentionally double shifting Kozek and Duncan?

"If Parise WAS mugged, and Kessel gets even more hype why WON'T Kessel get mugged too?" This is just way too objective. Why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly biased thread full of cliche statements with logic like that?

I'm fine with letting Ralph RIP. I was just struck with how confident you were in your statement, in particular the lumping together of everyone into a concept such as purgatory. I choose to respectfully decline your characterization of me in your particular brand of religion and would hope if you have anything more to say on the subject that it is done in another time and place.

It wouldn't be an off-season without a Ralph Engelstad argument. Truth be told, many that comment about him only share ignorance as they know next to nothing about who he really was. I would certainly fall into this category so I try to stay away from commenting on this topic. (looks like I avoided my own advice in typing this post.) What I am interested in however, is the following statement: "Ralph is in Heaven, or at least near the end of his Purgatory sentence. Seeing how most of us are probably in for ten or twenty thousand years, he is doing pretty well for himself..." NDH, you state this as though it is a fact and I am curious as to how you know this?

You are certainly entitled to your opinions but it does not change the fact that the poster who said North Dakota was clearly playing the best hockey at the end of the year is wrong. If North Dakota was playing the best hockey how did they lose to Denver? If you tell me reasons why instead of acknowledging that the better team won then you have entered the excuse zone. A zone that manyGopher fans live in I might add. If you win the WCHA title (tie with CC), the WCHA final five title, and the National title (back to back) then you have put an exclamaiton point on who played the best hockey not only at the end of the year but for the 2004/2005 season. End of story.

Jonathen Toews is a great recruit. That should be enough for Sioux fans. I have said this before and it still holds true. North Dakota's recruiting class doesn't need to take a back seat to anyone's class including the Gopher's. I suppose though that it is unrealistic to expect that comparisons won't be made to the Gopher's class and in particular, Kessel. I prefer to stay away from the my dog is better than your dog argument but the following quote is just too good to pass up. "Great news on Toews. I think that he has experienced play against better competition and excelled at it every bit as much as Kessel has. I am not impressed with the NTDP, and the products it sends to NCAAs. Hopefully Kessel and Stoa are the next Tallackson and Waibel. " I will grant you your opinion about NTDP players but you have no foundation to stand on in the competition comparison between Kessel and Toews. I am not going to mince words here, this is a ridiculus statement. You say hope in thinking Kessel and Stoa will be like Tallackson and Waibel. Hope it is but I think you know you are grasping at straws in that comparison. BTW here is a another quote from earlier in the thread that also deserves a mention. "been watching Sioux Hockey for a lot of years and I can't ever remember a team as fun to watch as this team. THey clearly were playing the best hockey in the country at the end of this season. Damn I wish we would have won that game! Can't wait for October!" The enthusiasm is commendable but reality escapes you. Denver CLEARLY was playing the best hockey in the country at the end of the year. sometimes reality bites but at least the Sioux were clearly playing better than the Gophers at the end of the year.

"And I think both Kessel and Toews accelerated their schooling? If so they're both probably the same age." They are fairly close. Kessel has a 10-2-87 birthdate and Toews has a 4-28-88 birthdate so they are just short of 7 months apart. It is pretty impressive that Toews will play the whole season next year as a 17 year old.

A tough loss to take in the title game to Denver. It doesn't change the fact that the season was an overall success for UND. They had their problems scoring goals for awhile but that problem was solved. The future looks bright for UND with Zajac, Spirko, and the host of great recruits coming in next year. Like someone else said this team will have more Frozen Four opportunities in the next few years. Keep your heads up and lets fast forward to October and get this thing rolling again.

It appears that I would be in the minority with DaveK in that I also have alot of respect for the Fighting Sioux program along with a primary rooting interest in the Gophers. I know this seems strange to many of you and to most Gopher fans as well but hey at least so far I have avoided the skippy alert sign.

Congratulations from this Gopher Fan. No sugarcoating this one as it was clear from the outset who wanted to win this game. That the Gophers even scored is really due to the dive by Gino Guyer (very Robbie Earl like, I'd give it a 9.5) and the loss of composure by Canady (I believe) and Prpich. Other than that it was game, set ,and match pretty much throughout. Props to another good performance by Jordan Parise. North Dakota now has the chance to ride his success and the the teams inspired play since the Robbie Bina incident all the way to a National Title. That this comes against Denver makes it all that much better. Best of Luck against Denver on Saturday, Make it number 8

Reasons to NOT be nervous: Ask yourself who played better hockey down the stretch especially in the playoffs? Which team is struggling to score goals? Which team has question marks in goal? which team has a distraction (Hirsh) and which team has a major motivaiton (Bina)? I think that these issues will result in a North Dakota victory, even with the factor of a layoff supposedly cooling off the Sioux and helping the Gophers.

True.

Sioux-hab-it. You are correct that I have not experienced World Arena live but then again I only have your say on the alleged abuse that Lucia recieves that you typed on a message board. Nothing potentially shakey about that is there? I will give you that there is very likely hard feelings in Colorado Springs for Lucia based on his leaving for Minnesota but to make it out like he is unfit to coach young impressionable hockey players, goalies to be specific (your words if I remember correctly) makes it look like you have an axe to grind. Certainly when you imply that he contributed to the Hirsch situation based on your point of view, you do. I would tend to side with others that the blame rests squarely on Hirsch's shoulders If you can honestly answers the following questions maybe you can see where others would have a more moderated or balanced view of Lucia and by others I mean Gopher rival supporters. What was CC's position before Lucia came in? How did that position change with him behind the bench? How has the program changed since he left? Or maybe an even better question is how quickly would a program like SCSU jump at the chance to hire Lucia?

Thank goodness we have no less an expert than Sioux-hab-it to clear up the fact that his own speculation is > than iramurphy's. "Lucia is a hated man in Colorado Springs" I am in agreement that this certainly apears to be true in your case.

"Ah my personal favorite. The reliable source who gets it right from the rodent's mouth." How ironic coming from this poster who claims to have inside information from "Colorado Brass" about Lucia.

Reading posts on here for the most part is entertaining and having a number of friends who are first and foremost Sioux fans but second of all college hockey fans has given me (a gopher fan) a lot of respect for North Dakota and the WCHA in general. What I say is what I see and I am franky not very confident in what Minnesota brings to the table as of right now. Minnesota being in the Frozen Four is a product of a few things. Number one is exactly that, a number one seed when in all honesty, they did not deserve it. Number two is a home regional. Number three is seeding that gave them Maine, Ohio State, and Cornell. All the talk about beating good goaltending is just sugarcoating the fact that they have only played a couple of good hockey games since Jan. And that has to be tempered with the fact that it came against MTU and SCSU. North Dakota on the other hand is playing their best hockey right now and they can shut you down with their defense and goaltending as well as playing fire wagon hockey and beat you with speed and depth. Frankly from where I sit this looks like a mismatch in favor of the Sioux. It may not be what I want to hear but it is the reality that I see.

ESPNinsider, Your kidding right? Someone may know the answer to this question. When was the last time a UND or a UM team not represented on either the 1st or 2nd All-WCHA team?

The Gophers landing Kessel just continues to add to the talent coming into the WCHA. UND's class coming in is good enough that you could make the argument that the Gophers needed to land Kessel to keep up. Wisconsin, even though they apparently lose out in the Kessel sweepstakes, has a very good group coming in as well as Denver, CC, and UMD. As much as we like to get under the skins of our rivals you can put that aside for just a moment and thank your lucky stars that the team you root for plays in the best hockey conference.

USHR mention Michigan landing a top player. I don't subcribe and maybe someone who does can verify if this is Tyler Swystun.

There was the earlier suggestion to look in the mirror. I have looked in the mirror and obviously others have too based on the above posts. My look in the mirror involved one of my best friends who was killed in an accident involving a drunk driver. I determined at that point that I would NEVER put myself in the position of drinking and driving. Obviously I take these kind of situations very seriously and I resent being called "self righteous" by those who gloss over this subject. It really all boils down to personal responsibility and no matter who I point at, what excuse I give, or however I choose to rationalize it, it doesn't change the choice that I make. When an individual faces up to this fact then he/she can make positive changes in their lives. Maybe this will be the case for Matt Greene.

Certainly there is more information that would be helpful in making a judgement on this particular case. However the idea that you can "wipe the slate clean" is problematic in that you have to question the character of an individual who made the decision to get behind the wheel in an allegedly impaired state. No lawyer or money will change the fact that this decision, again allegedly, was rationalized in his mind. Look at the poster who seems proud of the fact that he has done this multiple times and has "gotten away with it." Ask yourself this question. Whould you or your family members want to be in the vicinity of an individual with this attitude?

"If I am not mistaken I think I called that earlier this season. Hum, Briggs can't stop a beach ball all of a sudden. Funny..." Goon, It had to be hard for you to acknowledge any kind of success that Briggs had earlier, so it is looking better about the beach ball comment now that he is not on the top of his game. No question about it, in the last two games he has not played very well.

Redwing77, What did you read in my last couple of posts? You mistake me for the one saying that the selection of Lee was incorrect. Put aside my bias? thats what I was saying in the last paragaph of my previous post. My experts? Huh? You don't see that I sacastically refer to them as "so called." Redwing, I don't no how much simplier I can put it other than that you and I are not the ones in disagreement here. I was trying to point out and maybe even get a reponse from #1Hakfan on his/her over the top assesment of Lee. Seems I didn't do a very good job of that.

What did I expect to accomplish with the post? Nothing more than pointing out that it was foolish to say the things that this particular poster said about Lee being better than Hagemo, Goligoski, and Borer by the end of the tournament. Tell me you don't think that some of what he said looks pretty silly after the fact? Why would their need to be any props given to Goligoski or Hagemo? Check back at what I posted. I never said one player deserved a roster spot over another but I did post on POI that it was surprising that Lee was picked over Jack Johnson and that Sioux fans would be pleased with the selection. Hammy claimed it was a sham and while that is a statment that shows his bias towards the UofM, there was legitimacy in questioning the selection. Blame him for lack of tact about how he stated it and many of you did but you only chose to see his bias and not that he had a good reason for saying what he said. Not everything has to be about yours or my rooting interest vs whatever the other guys rooting interest is. In this case the reality of making the jump from Minnesota high school hockey with limited international experience to world class under 20 competition turned out to be more than than Lee could handle (for that matter Goligoski had difficulty with this as well). This is what the so called experts were questioning and frankly, they were (gasp) right.