OETKB

Well, even 5 X 5, most of the play has been in UND's end. Not a strong showing, although they do have a lead.

Where is the offense? Wow, this game has been weak up front so far!

So far, UND looks very sloppy. I think the players did not come ready to play, tonight. Luckily, they have a 1-0 lead. Honestly, though, the vast majority of the play has been in the UND zone.

Thoughts by period: 1st - Mich St. looked very scrappy and energetic. Basically, UND got outplayed, but came away with no goals agaist 2nd - more fun to watch as a Sioux fan. JP made some nice saves, and UND's lines gained a lot of moementum. 3rd - UND dominated. No momentum remained for MSU. Good to see Frattin get his first, as well as Kozek. Overall - This team has a lot of potential. Managing the intangibles over the course of the season is the unkonwn, but the humble, "we want to be the hardest working team in college hockey" approach is the path to success, and UND is well on its way. Go Sioux!

Quote from fightingsioux.com's game notes article: "Among the letterwinners returning is reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan (Jr., Calgary, Alberta), who is only the fifth Hobey Baker Award winner in the 27-year history of the award." So, over 27 years, they have only given out 5 awards, and UND has 2 of them!

The new webcasts are better production quality than they had before. I believe they addressed the freeze up problems when they asked audio listeners to register. For football games, they may still have problems, but last night's hockey webcast was flawless - not one problem.

Does a bias exist against the Canadian majors? Probably - from both directions. I doubt that either side wants to promote the other. And, I think UND would fare very well against the majors. Their big draw is the number of games played, not that they are a better level of competition than US college. Then again, I'm a homer.

That speaks to Frattin's talent level, if he can beat out Miller to play on the top line. Where did you hear this?

I watched the Augustana game on archive, and it worked perfectly. That leads me to believe the earlier problems with live games had to do with badwidth or processor problems. Audio listeners are now required to register. Maybe they were part of the problem. Hopefully, they have the bugs worked out for Sunday.

From the article: "Unlike their defense, the North Dakota offense returns seven starters including stud back Ryan Chapell, who went for 1253 yards and 15 touchdowns last week." Wow, now that's a heck of a game for Ryan!

"Toiling"...nice. And next season's team won't be that young, with 4 seniors & 5 juniors expected to hit the ice regularly. The year after should be roughly the same, with a balanced mix of experience throughout the lineup.

Most everyone expects Duncan, Oshie, Chorney, and Finley to leave for the pro's after this season. It's a gift that they are here this season! Hak has a bunch of freshmen this year that he can play for 10-20 games to get some experience. And, next year's team has some incredible looking blue-chip recruits. On my "patented" experience-o-meter, next year's team should rate a 2.5 versus this year's 2.7. That is really pretty good, considering we expect to lose 4 players to the pros early. In fact, a 2.5 will be the third highest experience rating this century, with this year and '04-05 being the only ones higher. N

If I remember correctly, NDSU had just scored twice to cut down a big UND lead. Boy, were the NDSU fans in attendance at the satellite party in Seattle getting obnoxious! Then, Klien-rocket catches a pass over the middle, and outruns NDSU's secondary, weighing in at a mere 280 lbs. Unforgettable. That was a great satellite party. The fans on both sides were roudy. We even had to travel together to an alternate bar, because the first place we went could not pick up the feed. The good guys won, and all was right with the world, after a long drought against the Bison (again, if I remember right).

I couldn't get the "sample video" to work, but I signed up anyway, and all the content they currently have works. Just FYI.

I'm super excited about this development, because I live in CA, and I have not seen a UND football game for several seasons. Now, I know I'll have the chance to see at least one game a year! Also, recruiting can't be hurt by the fact that the team gets to travel to CA every season. Cal Poly is not far from the ocean, although Davis is landlocked between San Fran & Sacramento.

Even if Duncan & Oshie leave after this season, we are still looking at having 4 "extra" forwards in 2008. That is an overload, IMO, because all the guys can probably perform at the WCHA level. While it is a good problem to have on paper, I hope Hak can keep everyone's motivation up, because some good players are going to be sitting. That said, I'm very excited about some of UND's recruits. UND's future looks very strong!

I did not even include Lee in the total! I just realized that my count of 13 assumed that Lee will be gone. If he comes back, the number will be 14 upperclassmen (not counting Walski, who I assume will not see much playing time): Duncan Kozek Radke Watkins Miller Kaip Oshie Martens Lamoureaux Jones Chorney Finley Bina Lee Go Sioux! This is your year - make it happen.

I've been a fan for a long, long time. But, I've been tracking the teams on spreadsheet since '99. The team with the closest number of juniors & seniors was 2003-04, when they had 11 upperclassmen playing regularly. That year, they won 30 games. Of course, they also flopped against DU in the quarter finals. But I still have not seen a team that dressed 13. This may be UND's year. I certainly hope so.

Here is something to chew on in the offseason - UND will likely have 13 upperclassmen in the regular (20 man) roster next season. I can't remember the last time that happened. For example, the "senior laden" team of 2004-05 had as many as 8 seniors playing on a given night, but had only 11 upperclassmen on the team. By contrast, last season UND played with 6 upperclassmen in most games. It has been a long time coming for UND, with so many early departures of late. Does anyone remember a team with more starting players in their junior & senior years?

Receiving a 10 min disqualification in an CN$$ game is the kiss of death for winning the Hobey. Especially if your team loses. The NC$$ loves winners from the East. If you don't qualify, too bad. Okay - really proud of the Sioux comeback tonight. This team seems like the type that can play with anyone. GO SIOUX!

Yeah! Soiux...Sioux!

Who else thinks that Duncan or Toews might get going in the 3rd? I look forward to it!

Crazy game without great goaltending, until Phil stopped a few fabulous chances by Michigan. Hopefully, that means he has found his center and will be a little less spastic than he was in the first half of the game. Not a knock on Phil as a goaltender, but he looked really uncomfortable out there, until he started making some great saves at the end of the second.

What did I tell ya. Just like the )@^%*($*% BC game last year!

Holy turnarounds, Batman! What a crazy 1st period. Porter is the man so far. Also, props to the Sioux powerplay. Poor start, but I guess if that made Michigan overconfident, then maybe it could be a good thing. Right now, I don't think Michigan knows what hit them. Kinda like I felt in the first 10 minutes. Go Sioux!