sagard

I think you and I both know that the hard-nosed gritty guy is the one Lucia wanted. It was there for most of his freshmen year and I suspect he will demonstrate it again somewhere. This past year there were injuries and rumors floating about non-publicized injuries. I hope that is all it was and that he can make the NHL. If not he can always go back to school and pay his way.

Yep. I think Goligoski, Chucko, Wheeler as well as Kessel and EJ are still serious flight risks from the Gophers.

Does this same logic apply to Toews? He'd be my first pick, lot's of guys can play defense.

I'll bet you your signature line space vs. mine space on GPL that EJ does. I should add that I have no inside knowledge so it's a fair bet. The bet would run from the first game to Christmas next season. Nothing rude or demeaning. Three or four lines. You can of course still keep the link to your blog as well.

It's worse than that as well. Signing this year get him his bonus based on a three year deal. I believe he'd only get a two year deal next year, but if he tested free agency he could potentially sign with a team that would put him on their NHL roster with no AHL time. At least that's how I gave myself a glimmer of hope reguarding Irmen. If he returns out of love for UND hockey, he should be elevated to diety status around here replacing Zach. I would be very impressed as well and he'd be easy to cheer for from an opposition perspective. Buffalo didn't sign Vanek until late in the summer, so I wouldn't expect Stafford to sign right away. UND will be devastating if Toews, Oshie and Parise return, with or without Drew.

Third in the WCHA and fifth in the country is "no respect"

These beat the heck out of bobbleheads. I'm sure you all would prefer a different jersey, but they are VERY nice. I thought someone had done a Z. Parise as a Sioux already, but I can't seem to remember when or who was selling it.

Who?

They were the "State of Hockey" for about a day. Then Brett Favre took his dog for a walk and poof no one cared any more about silly hockey players.

I do not mean to pry, he doesn't happen to have six fingers his right hand?

I think it's just a matter of time for the same reasons as all the Juniors this year. Connelly will be great next year though if the last 25+ years of UW goaltending is any indication.

I won't miss him. He seemed to deliver even harder hits than Matt Greene. His hit this year on Potulny was violent, but he also KO'd Grant his freshmen season at Mariucci.

The money won't always be there. Guys like Parise, Vanek, Bochenski, Ryan Suter, etc... all would have lost big money had they stuck around in college. Same for the this years wave of departures. Guys like Bayda, Lundbolm and countless others have the financial ability to go back and complete the college experience. I imagine they would be fairly popular around campus.

His extra year should have been on the front end of the two he played. The guys has an NHL body and is probably as close to any college player to ready.

Does anyone know if the Sioux told Zajac to play Juniors in '03-'04 or was that the year he blew up and earned his scholarship? The only reason I ask is that it seems like some team would have had room for a guy like Zajac that year and then he at least would have been a three year player.

The Parises were somewhat different players and that seems to have worked out. Good luck to Zajac, the Devils are pretty easy to root for.

FWIW the champs are speculating their message board that the Earl of Dive will be gone shortly.

I hated Blake because he could score as well. He was also far better at getting away with his deeds that either Westrum or Irmen. Or at least it seemed that way to me.

The Gophers blew it vs. SCSU then Holy Cross. It was painful. They had a great season up until the wheels fell off. After the season they had I don't know how anyone could not call the playoffs a major underachievement. The Sioux did great. It was hard to know how good they would be with all the new players. They pulled it together and looked great in the WCHA playoffs and really for a month before to lock up their bid. Unfortunately once at the Frozen Four the Sioux let a very good shot at #8 slip through the cracks. I don't think UW was anywhere near as good as the DU team in '05 and UND would have had a great shot had they made it to the final. Elliott certainly may have been able to shut them down, but I know UND would have put close to twice the shots BC put on him. I wouldn't call it an underachievement, but it certainly was an opportunity lost. UND fans will always have that Holy Cross game, the WCHA championship and the Western regional. Us Gophers fans will focus on the McNaughton and the simple pleasure of watching RP bury shot after shot after shot. UW fans get to savor redemption after 15 years of exile.

If you guys weren't so haughty about the WCHA playoffs you could throw that thing up in the rafters.

This part can't happen unless Tampa Bay literally has no interest in his ever becoming a part of their organization. I would guess they will give him something a little better than RP and Irmen got and that will be a lot more than he can get as a free agent. I guess it might be possible if he could play for the Sioux next year and then step straight into the NHL at a rookie free agent max. I suspect he will see AHL time though, so he would be giving up a lot to return.

Good choice. I've never seen the ending either.

Keep watching. You have to see the ending.

There has been six WCHA teams in the last five championship games. I'm happy for Gilbert.