OETKB

Murray walks around a CC player and gets the penalty call. Sioux are absolutely dominant this period.

UMD over UM 6-1 final. Mixed feelings. Not really!

Greene has been a monster tonight. Best player on the team.

BTW, Dataflix has made me miss 2 of the 5 goals tonight due to (short) outages. Talk about bad timing! Sioux about to go on (only their 3rd) PP.

Sorry. I just repeated what TH said. It must be his 9th. Still...go Sioux!

LUNDY scores 19th of the year! Another 1st minute goal.

Know what I'd REALLY like to see? I'd like to see the Sioux win a game 6-1 sometime soon.

If there is anything I'm concerned about, it is that Blais has been playing only 3 lines most of the night. The fabled "depth" of this team seems to be fading, except for the fact that Genoway has moved up in the mix. I'd like to see Massen, Hale & Marvin on a line together, but I have to hope Deano knows what he is doing.

I wouldn't worry too much. If the 3rd goes like the 2nd, we win.

Sioux controlled that 2nd period, and despite having a (I think) 2-5 PP deficit, they still are outshooting CC handily. Pretty good game so far. Just what the Sioux need.

CC got 2 goals on 8 shots. Not good, but both seemed to be very opportunistic goals. Wait a minute, am I talking about CC or WI?

JP just pulled off a great poke check. Don't give him too hard a time.

I'd be the first one to wish the team a fast turnaround. Having said that, I'll believe it when I see it. Here's hoping I see it.

And, IF the meltdown continues this season, we will have to start wondering if it is something systemic. I personally did not buy it last season when many people were saying the Sioux just had bad luck. It seemed to me they were playing a system that wasn't working. This year, I thought the Sioux were playing a more effective forecheck. Until recently. Even against WI, they managed to bang the puck deep in the WI zone for extended periods of time. However, the scoring chances that existed early in the season from that are less evident lately.

Scott: I feel your pain. This was a hard weekend to take, especially because those of us who have been watching the Sioux for more than a few years know this team has the talent to go all the way. That said, I think there is still hope. This team is not out of contention by any means. But they need to prove to UND fans next weekend that they are FRIGIN' ANIMALS! If they don't come out and dominate CC next weekend, they may be in danger of tanking the whole season. That woud be a damn shame.

No need to take personal shots at eachother. This is not USCHO. Fans of UND hockey have standards. They will complain when a talented team like this one underperforms. Friends of the players will get defensive. It's natural. Let's try not to make it too personal. I'll bet the team is having some growing pains right this second, too.

That's what we all thought last year, but they never did pick it up again (the second & 3rd lines). This year has to be different. It would be too much of a waste for it to happen again. No excuses. Time to suck it up and make it happen.

Not to tick anybody off, because I'm pretty jazzed about Zajac, too. But after this weekend's meltdown vs Wisconsin, it somehow feels cathartic to be a little cynical tongight. I remember a season not long ago (2001-02) when we had the #1, #2, #4, #8 AND #12 scorers from the USHL coming in. Many people were talking about the Sioux "reloading" and challenging for the WCHA title again. Well, the hype was bunk and those highly-touted forwards, with the exception of Bochenski, have either left the team or faded into lower roles. Since then, Blais has seemed to refocus his recruiting efforts on younger talent that is exceptional. Something similar to what Don Lucia is doing. We haven't had a USHL forward since, with the exception of Porter, who was already commited before going to Lincoln. What's my point? I hope Zajac is something special. We've had good luck with BCHL players. USHL players, too, but not recently. My hope is that next year's team will remind me of the best years of UND hockey, where they were dominant. This season has been fun (in the first half), exciting, and heartbreaking (against Minn & WI). One thing I have not felt since the second half of the '99-00 season is a sense of destiny. This years' team (as good of a start as they had) has not given it yet. I'm still waiting.

When the team is extremely talented but underperforms, we ought to be allowed to voice some criticism. In those rare years where the Sioux are truly rebuilding (like when they field 11 freshmen in a game), only then will I agree they deserve better.

And I don't want to hear about goaltenders beating us. We used that excuse at least 8 times last season, then laid an egg in the NCAA's against a team that had never made the dance before. This cannot happen. Boys need to refocus and show some unbelievable grit next weekend (and the next... and the next).

Here we go again. First game of the year where the team has given up 5 goals. Swept. This after a supposed "gut check" last night when they blew the lead. TH says they did not deserve to lose. Reminds me a lot of last season. Don't want to hear it. Make it better... no excuses.

It may not be time to panic, but.... The 1999-00 team never lost a game they led going into the 3rd. This team has. The 2000-01 team did not have more losses than ties. This team does. Those championship contender teams certainly did not get outshot or outhustled. Against UM two weeks ago, I thought we were very lucky to walk away with 2 points. Outshot both nights. Outclassed on Saturday. It wasn't until late in the 3rd, when they were desperate, that they showed any real hustle. Didn't see the third period tonight (I was out playing sports after the 2nd), but it IS a major disappointment to drop the game when there was a 2 goal lead after 2. From reading the posts here, it sounds like they mailed it in after the first. Don't get me wrong. I love the Fighting Sioux. But I'm a very competitive person, and I cannot stand seeing them toss away such a great start. This has shades of last season written all over it. And this after Blais met with all the players during the week to coax some of them into contributing more. And then I had to see the damn highlights on national news at a grocery store in CA, while I was waiting in line to check out! I haven't seen UND on any national channel all season. Now they make it because they dropped a game to WI. Rats!! Do better, Sioux. SOON! The shades of last season need to be swept away for good. Now. This year.

Just as a second opinion, I think that, if there is no other video available, dataflix is wonderful. There have been no buffering problems lately, just an occasional "skippage" where the video and audio "bump" in and out for a few seconds, but the action does not stop. For hockey, you get pretty much the same video they are showing on the big screens and in the concourse TV's, I believe. It is pretty good camera work, with replays of the good stuff. I bought the whole year package and have enjoyed being able to watch the games very much. Aside from the early technical problems, Dataflix has been very good. Make sure you test the system well before game time. You need the correct media player, etc.

Truth is, a desperation play with a few seconds left on the clock that was called off (correctly) is not really the story of the game. The story of the game is that UND had a paltry 17 shots on goal, the season's lowest. I thought UM dominated play most of the night. If UND can't get better puck control when playoff time comes, they'll suffer the same humiliation as last year.

It's a pretty huge "if" to assume that NDSU could field a college hockey team that wouldn't just plain suck. I know this is an old issue, but... First and foremost, in order to compete, you need a nice facility. NDSU failed to show the will to compete in hockey in the past in this regard. Unless the move to D1 is wildly successful, I doubt Fargo will want to pony up for a university already in-the-red for a nice facility. You can't recruit players of the calibur to compete with UND without having some serious facilities and a top-notch coaching staff. NDSU can't just waltz in with these things overnight. In order to become a "rival" to UND, the Bison would have to field a team that isn't second-rate. I don't see that happening. Of course, I could be wrong. I personally would love to see a Bison/Sioux hockey series. Many at UND would love to see the Sioux beat up on NDSU perpetually.