sagard

Why don't you just ask how have the Gophs done since our guys got really good and started kicking everyones --- again?

This conversation is much ado about nothing. The refs never even gave out more than matching minors all weekend. It was a bunch of name calling and Vanelli did not repeatedly hit anyones fist with his nose.

I can't believe you don't know the Colbert Report? It's well to the right of Fox News. You get your lefty propaganda from the Daily Show, then follow it up with the Colbert Report for some balance. You'll love it! How about the "truthiness" line?

The same kind of people who thought Vanek was the problem in '03-'04. It's all good though, there were plenty in these parts who insisted Kessel was worthless as well.

You better watch it. I'll start showing up again at the LCHA and loser takes home the couch!

If the Wild traded someone who really is a better prospect than Oshie/Kessel/Toews for some Dimitra character I will be very disappointed.

It looks to me like he is HF's 20th-25th forward. Goalies and D are on that list as well. The list covers several draft years as you are a prospect until you play 65 NHL games or so.

#45 doesn't seem low to me. I would assume this would mean he would project to a 1st line NHL forward at some point. Few players in the world get that opportunity. It may have been more diplomatic if the writer would have mentioned people are interested to see how Oshie will fare with the WCHA setting game plans around him next season.

I think HF just stated what a lot of people in the WCHA are hoping. Oshie and Toews are going to receive the lion's share of the opponents attention this year from day one. Sadly I suspect they were getting plenty of their opponent's attention as they dominated the second half of the season last year and I expect more of the same from them this season.

You two hit it spot on. Parise was brilliant last year. He faced 30+ shots 12 times last year vs. three times the year before. Despite this onslaught, he made big improvements in his save percentage. This is NOT easy to do, because I'm sure the overall quality of the chances went up dramatically as well.

This dude says he is in Canada. http://mb28.scout.com/fwisconsin36703frm6....icID=2973.topic

Like everyone I'd prefer the clean Matt Smaby type hit on Grant P, but truthfully I'd settle for the occasional Matt Greene viscious cross-check. Really I just want a guy that the opposing forwards look around for before the puck drops to see if they need to be a little more careful that shift.

I think the Gophers blueline will be a strength of the team. Not so much in the mold of a punishing crew, but with Vanelli/Peltier and Goligoski/Johnson the Gophers will have two pairs of defensemen who can take the puck and skate past a forechecker and make an outlet pass. This is a huge deal for the way the Gophers play and gives them an advantage on most teams coming into Mariucci. Pushing to get top four minutes will be Hagemo (if healthy) and either RJ Anderson or Fischer. The only question is whether Johnson or Fischer will be able to provide some violence that has been missing since DeMarchi departed. To say Johnson should contribute like Chorney and Lee is fair. When they were all on the WJC team together they pretty much performed and played equally. Johnson has to demonstrate he can do it against WCHA competition, but I think he should be able to handle it. Barring extensive injuries I think the Sioux and the Gophers are top three WCHA teams and could easily end up in the Denver regional together again. In the spirit of the thread it should be a very special season, if the eastern (including Michigan) kids are going to win a NCAA championship they should try to get it this year.

I don't think they ever caught anyone during the riots of '02 (and they had video) so I really don't think anyone would need to worry about any legal trouble. It just crosses the line from funny to vandalism in my mind.

I like the HC jersey on Goldy, but painting on a carved statue is no good.

I'm no expert, but I would expect UND to generate more chances on the fly. The puck may not have to go down low for cycling every time before a quality chance is generated. Finding a power play point man that can both shoot and distribute would give UND the edge on the rest of the WCHA in my opinion. I think UW is still the best and UND and UM will be in spots two and three in some order.

This pundit has been pointing out there are many different ways to win hockey games for years. This year is seems the idea may have caught a little traction around here.

There doesn't seem to be anyone that teams are going to hate playing against all weekend on the Sioux blueline. Finley or Jones may develop into that type of player, but it does look like a different type of blue line than the Sioux have used in years past.

There were so many who thought he was "wasting" his season by coming back.

There was plenty of blame to go around for the HC game. My primary blame went out to the team for taking 10 stupid penalties. They failed to adjust to the tighter officiating and took needless penalty after needless penalty. After that I give Briggs first helping. He was worthless on the 1st and 3rd goals, and he looked like a lost puppy on the OT goal. Sure it took a tough bounce off Atherton, but Briggs didn't have the concentration needed to keep his eyes on the puck. It was not as tough a bounce as the Armbrust goal in '97. Briggs has had several stretches of great play during his career so far. I'm just hoping next spring he can settle into one of those grooves.

I usually agree with you Brian, but I think I'm with Hextall on this. It seemed like Parise erased a lot of problems last year. Finley or Jones may develop into it, but I don't see anyone on the UND blueline who teams are going to hate to play against.

1. UW - It will still be a race to two goals in games vs. UW this season. 2. UND - Phil steps up and could get them the McNaughton. 3. UM - The Gophs will very talented and with so many returning from last seasons team they should be very coachable this season. 4. DU - Gwoz cancels the offense and DU tries to get back to their systematic strategy. 5. SCSU - Goaltending and a continual improvent. 6. UMD - A nice improvement, but still a year away from being a NCAA threat. 7. CC - Last time I put them in the bottom half, they won the league. 8. MSU 9. MTU 10. AA

I think most of the guys on GPL who went out to the summer camps really wanted the Gophs to get Kristo and said so. As for BS tossed by others, you can deal. It's not really that different from my side of the fence. Besides it's really too far out to start the Kristo vs. Schroeder contests.

Will he then be too old to play with the U-18 team his senior year of high school?

I really wish this were going to happen as well. It has to be a tough choice as a parent to send your sophomore in high school off to Ann Arbor. Not that I'll shed any tears for EP losing out on a player, but he'd be fun to watch as a high schooler.