Five-HoleFrenzy

#1HakFan, Sorry to bring it back up but YOU did say it after all... "Wow listen to all you experts. Before the season started, if Goligoski would have been named to the team, all you experts would be cutting him down. Brian Lee is said to be one of the BEST 17 year olds in the world and after he adjusts to the speed he will be one of USA's top 5 Dmen. He will win mr. Hockey and lead his team to a state championship and be a first or second round draft pick this summer. He is probably one of the few right handed Dmen which helps him and he has dominated at the world level at his age group every tourney he has been in. That doesn't mean he lead USA anywhere. They will be luckey to play in a medal game because Canada, Russian and Finland are so stacked, but Montoya could carry us alone. 17 year olds don't seem to impact at this tourney, but Lee will be better then Hagemo, Borer and Goligoski. Wait until the tourney is over and we will all see. I guess we have seen except for one final game and btw how did that Montoya carrying USA work out? Hmmm, maybe their was some expertise by the so called experts afterall.

Really? Thats too bad because a post like the following is well crafted and presents some first-hand information. "I know Lee wasn't at the evaluation camp, but Johnson was, and to tell you the truth I wasn't all that impressed with him in the games I watched him. My friend, who has coached a lot of WCHA players wasn't much impressed with him either. Not saying he isn't a good player, but they got to evaluate him a lot that week. Perhaps they thought that it was worth it to give a very talented player a chance to show his skills at the next level."

Quite a few of you have been critical of a certain gopher poster based on his opinion WJ roster. I also noticed that VERY few of you engaged him directly about that opninion. Kudos to those of you that did. It is disengenuous for many of you to think that the Lee selection shouldn't be debated. Especially when it is most surprising compared to Jack Johnson ( a Michigan recruit ). If you want to question the two Gophers selected, thats fine, but many of you have seen them at least at the REA against your squad. They have performed at the WCHA level whereas Lee hasn't. Obviously he hasn't had the chance yet and he will very likely be up to the challenge but it still doesn't change the fact that choices were available that are more experienced against higher levels of competition. For the poster that said the following: "17 year olds don't seem to impact at this tourney, but Lee will be better then Hagemo, Borer and Goligoski. Wait until the tourney is over and we will all see." It is such a shame that the talent pool is so shallow in the college game. Too bad the USA squad had to to fill out their roster with the likes of "Hagemo, Borer and Goligoski"

Yup. I think they could find room for him.

Correction: It should be "Canadian Jr"

I guess I wasn't sarcastic enough. Kessel is an 05 recruit and this fact is well documented. Dagies makes a good point about the assistant coach as this is very unlikely as well as the response that Kessel will play a third year or play "Candian Jr". There are good reasons to believe Michigan will land Kessel but I just don't buy what P&L is saying about how it will happen.

Kessel as an 06 recruit??? Well it is hard to argue with the neighbor factor but I wonder where Kessel would play next year before putting on the maize and blue jersey for the 2006/2007 season cosidering this is his 2nd year on the USNDT?

"The stuff about Vanek being a cancer has been out there in the media for a while, however, no one wants to believe it. Must be something to it if it keeps coming up." Maybe so. However I woudn't go so far as to say no one believes it. Thomas Vanek has a ego and whines. Sound like any other athletes you know? How big of a revelation is that? The idea that it is presented as "inside" information from a certain source and it continues to come up is what is getting old. To me it doesn't really matter if Vanek or any other player is a supposed cancer. That is up to the head coach to deal with. However, to say that Minnesota is better off without Vanek is to deny that Vanek brings offensive skills to the table like very few else in College Hockey. Does seem to be a personal bias getting in the way like DakeK said. BTW, If Bochenski doesn't play another game for the Sioux it still has been a heck of a run for him at UND. He has proven his doubters wrong including me, who didn't think his skating was good enough. Best of luck to him at the next level.

"If Roche can get out of the Wild organization he will be fine. He is playing extremely well for the Houston Aeros. Several weeks ago I was at a wedding. Some of Roche's teammates and a person within the Wild organization was there also. His problem is that he somehow got into Jacques Lameire's doghouse, and I was told that once you get into his doghouse it is impossible to get out. His teammates said they are amazed at what Travis can do on the ice. It sounded like he is dominating at the AHL level like he did when he was at UND. If he can somehow get traded, I suspect we would see him in the NHL. That same day, there was also a wedding ( former Gopher Reggie Berg) in The Cities at the Basilica. Lots of talk about Vaneks attitude issues and the things he did last year. There isn't a lot of sympathy for him in his inability to secure a deal from Buffalo. I think the best thing that could happen, if your a Sioux fan, would be for Vanek to be left with no other choice than to return to college. He doesn't want to do that and his attitude would probably be worse than last year. He was a handful for the captains and the coaches last winter." Stunning how connected you are. We will see about Roche. Maybe he will get a better shot at the NHL with Atlanta. However, it is not looking good for this coming year. DaveK, if serious, is correct. You have worn out the Vanek stuff to the point that it is time to get some new material.

"Ok, I admit it. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but that's the way it looks on the surface" This can be applied to us as Gopher fans as well. We really DON'T know what goes on behind the scenes with DB and it is quite frankly showing our ignornance when we comment on him with only speculation as our basis. I think it can be said that both Lucia's and Blais's records speak for themselves in regards to winning and having their players move on to success at the next level. Anything else is just nit-picking based on your rooting interest. BTW, with goaltending issues and the loss of a terrific senior class plus very likely losing both Vanek, and Ballard, Minnesota could be looking at a very long year next year. Might be a nice year to be a Sioux fan and heap a little abuse on Gopher Nation.

Not sure how it would work out that UND would play Minn-D in both the semi-finals and the finals but I guess for Parise's sake anything is possible.

This is one Gopher fan who will NOT be woofing. This game was simply outstanding to watch. I obviously liked the end results but this truely was a game that could have gone either way. I came away from this game wanting more. Hopefully they will meet again with even more on the line. Best of luck to UND and the rest of the WCHA teams involved to make it a memorable Frozen Four. PS No question about, Parise deserved to be the MVP.

Duh! Maybe so, A few more words and sarcasm was my way of saying the same to your statement.

"I'm going to go out a limb and say that we won't be seeing any Monticello graduates at UND any time soon." Why not??? Is it possible they could go to UND with the express purpose of getting a degree? Oh wait, your talking about hockey which we all know is more important than getting an education.

Lawkota, You make some good points but as an outsider looking in on the UND roster no one (except possibly BC) in college hockey will put out a better first line than UND. With an anticipated top line of Parise, Murray. Bochenski, Blais has used a formula like this to win National Championships. The main difference here is he had a better goalie situation in those previous years. So the biggest if in this case seems to be with finding a reliable goalie.

Skateshattrick, As a Gopher fan I have to be realistic with Martin signing early and now the sudden departure of Weber that this improves UND's chances of making it to the top of the standings. I am inclined to agree with your list and I could see the Gophers possibly slipping to 3rd if the goaltending is suspect.

Much like the arguments of one upsmanship that go on between little children we have something quite like it going on in this thread. UofM loyalists on one side, UND loyalists on the other side. Right or wrong there is so much ME, MYSELF, and I in the debate that substantiated facts get left out altogether. This is a fact I am sure of. I am in no way qualified to give EXPERT OPIONION on the topic (insert lawyer here for that) so I would need to do research on forging or counterfeiting a Federal Reserve Note. The following is a section pulled from a Maryland state document dealing with the crime of conterfeiting US currency. Background: The U.S. Secret Service is the federal law enforcement agency charged with the prevention of counterfeit U.S. currency. Federal law prohibits a person from falsely making, forging, counterfeiting, or altering any obligation or security of the U.S. with the intent to defraud. Federal law also prohibits dealing in counterfeit U.S. obligations or currencies, possessing the distinctive paper used to make U.S. currency, or possessing any printing plates or other implements that could be used to make counterfeit U.S. currency. "According to the Secret Service, technological advances in computers, printers, and scanners have facilitated the growth in counterfeited currency. Over the last five years, the Secret Service has recovered $3.2 million in counterfeit currency in Maryland. About $1.8 million of that currency was produced on computers. Although counterfeiting is generally regarded as a federal offense, the Secret Service reports that counterfeit prosecutions are also brought through state and local law enforcement systems. Plain and simple the point of a federeal offense is accurate but not definitive, so having this information shows that it is a waste of time to argue about Bochenski. It looks like ultimately, jurisdiction falls to the Secret Service. Now that is a fact I was definitely not aware of.

Only Schneider numbers splitting up regular season and playoffs and also coming up with an even split between good competition and so called poor competition: 19 games with the likes of the three bottom WCHA teams UAA, Wis, MTU plus Canisius, Niagara, Princeton, Brown, Yale, and Bemidji. 7 goals 16 assists 23 points 19 games with teams such as Mich, SCSU, MSMU, CC, Denver, Minn, and UMD 4 goals 9 assists 13 points 5 playoff games with Denver, UMD, and Weasal State 5 assists Coming from a objective viewpoint as a Gopher fan but one who also has an interest in UND, I find Schneiders numbers stand up very well by themselves. Certainly they compare well with Ballard's numbers so he fills the offensive side quit well. Where the Gophers may have an advantage is that they have 3 offensively skilled defensemen in Ballard, Martin, and Harrington. You have Schneider but if Fuher (25 pts) or someone esle could step up offensively that would help your transition game. Both Schneider and Fuher will be Juniors next year so I would think you will see a nice improvement from them. With Smaby added to your already strong group this is looking like a strength for your team. Adding Brady Murray and Drew Stafford will be a big help. If Parise stays, and I think he will, you will be much better at forward. Also it looked to me like Jack Brandt stepped up as the top goaltender and if you can get one other goaltender out of the rest to step up you will not have the worries you had this year. In my opinion, for what it is worth, UND and Minnesota will be the favorites to win the WCHA next year so keep your heads up UND fans, from where this gopher fan sits the future looks bright for the Green and White .

I like to visit your site from time to time just to see what is going on. As a gopher fan I have a lot of respect for the Sioux so here is my take on players like Parise, Vanek, etc. It only matters what they do this year. Any speculating fans do from either side is just more or less sharing ignorance on what their future plans are. Btw, Ballard had a 4 point game for the Goofs so I suppose this means that he will be gone after this year as well. I'll admit I questioned 1 or 2 fans excitement about Parise on POI but so far it appears he is all they say and more. Now it makes a little more sense to me why Glen Sonmor and Lou Nanne did what they did in trying to change Parise's mind. I predict that UND will displace CC and SCCC in the standings to finish 3rd and may well fight for UM and Denver for the top honors. Time will tell if this prediction has any truth to it.

As a Gopher fan in the minority who also follows the Fighting Sioux I have to say that this next year is looking more positive for the fighting Sioux compared to the Gophers with Taffe leaving early. In fact, the Gophers next year lose the type of scoring that UND lost after the 2001/2002 season. UND of course lost a better goaltender in Goehring compared to Hauser. I agree with Kuhninca who says that the Sioux will be underrated next year. That is actually a good position for them to be in. The only areas that MAY be a concern are goaltending and an offensive minded defenseman. Good luck next year and here's hoping that the Gophers and Sioux battle it out for the top 2 spots in the WCHA next year.