sagard

What kind of information are you looking for from the programs? I have a '79 Final Four Program, but it would be VERY expensive if you wanted to buy it. I'd be happy to scan the team summaries if that is all you truly need.

Holy crap. I realize now how truly spoiled I am.

If he was being offered an AHL spot or a legit tryout for an AHL spot, he'd be crazy not to take it in my opinion. Again this assumes a decent bonus/contract that can more than pay for his education if he can't make it in hockey. If he waits he'd have to compete with potentially Smaby and next years draft picks. It's not like all 7th round picks get opportunities every year. If he goes in and plays well he will be the one who is tough to unseat, rather than him trying to unseat an existing defensemen.

How can you say it's a mistake on his part? Much like Jake Taylor last year this may be his only chance to sign with an NHL organization. I would expect that while he won't be set for life of this first contract, I'm sure it it plenty large enough to cover his educational costs should he choose to return to college and get a degree.

Why? It's not like he ever lit up the WCHA. He seemed like a pretty good guy the couple of times I've run into him.

Don't worry. I think Comcast is trying to buy up the Twin Cities area, so it's just a matter of time before your under their umbrella.

I hope to. The Gophs seem seem to getting clipped a bit lately (not at the same scale as the Sioux) as well, P. Martin being the most painful. Though he certainly made the right choice. I suspect there are MANY Gophers players who are not seniors that hope to be playing professionally in '06-'07.

Quit recruiting players like Commodore, Roche, Greene, Parise, Stafford, Smaby, Toews and Hale and the Sioux won't have this problem. However I admit guys like Murray, Bayda, Lundbohm and Bochenski under different circumstances certainly likely may have been four year players.

Best of luck to you Friday and beyond.

Why don't you all just avoid making the playoffs and dodge the controversy?

Both of them. That's why I have them pegged at a 40+ win season.

I know it's risky projecting players without knowing their roles as freshmen. But given their common Shattuck background and all being either 1st round NHL picks or projected high 1st round picks I expect Toews to be in between these two. Zach Parise 26 35 61 Drew Stafford 11 21 32 It's a pretty wide gap, but it think it does set a realistic ceiling and floor to what his production will be.

Preferring Toews to Kessel is fine, but your reasoning is junk to me. It is very hard for me to believe that many of us "message board experts" have seen either of them play enough to tag Toews an outstanding all-around player or Kessel a one-dimensional premadonna. The biggest reason to prefer Toews is that he will very likely outscore Kessel by 40-50 points over his college career.

Not this year. DU is the lock, they have everyone returning, two-time champs, etc.... Forty wins minumum for those guys.

The Gophers have an extremely soft schedule this season. Barring injuries, I'll go with 56 pts. I'd have no problem giving him the 61 that Vanek scored, but he will miss four games at the WJC and there is no guarentees the Gophers will make the Frozen Four so he could easily play in a lot fewer games then Vanek did his freshmen season.

It's really pretty amazing that you all have five of the first 53 pick in your recruiting class, and of course Toews who will go highly next year.

If there are no last minute provisions that allow teams to maintain rights to college players, I would guess several players on your list would get attractive offers to sign. It really would still likely be a balancing act. If a guy like Carle didn't get rookie max, he'd probably love to get drafted again and move up into the 1st round. Has anyone seen definatively whether or not they will continue to let players opt in for the draft?

A little off topic, but points about successful seasons have been made. So use a real example. Which Sioux season was more successful as a whole, the '03-'04 WCHA Champs with ZP and Bochenski or the '04-'05 NCAA Finalists?

Focus on the Kessel/Vanek comparisons. Vanek came in and needed to help replace tons of points lost with Pohl, Taffe, and Leopolds departures. Kessel comes to a team that was very spotty offensively for much of last season. If he puts up Vanek type offense the Gophers will be in good shape to compete for WCHA honors. How the Gophers do in the NCAAs will depend on the usual things: injuries, the NCAA draw, hot goaltending, etc... Like Vanek before him, Kessel's responsibility will be to score. If it turns out that his defensive zone coverage is lacking, the Gophers will live with it. It's not like the Gophers have never had that type of player before or currently for that matter.

The Sioux won two of the four NCAA titles played during the Broten/Ericksons careers. Isn't there a saying about "crying" and "spilled milk"?

Age wise he would have been a Junior in high school this year, but was originally planning on accelerating his high school and enrolling at the "U" a year from this fall. He probably made the best choice as he played a part college schedule as a 16 year old.

It is fantastic to see that Bina is recovering so well. For him to be considering returning to hockey is amazing. I truly hope he can put on the Sioux sweater again, but even if he doesn't it seems like it is a matter of time now before he could enjoy all of lifes usual activities. Virg (Woog) can't say anything good about the Gophers (Sioux), so he may as well just pretend they don't exist.

I hate to say it, but DU has reclaimed its position as a college hockey superpower. Starting with them beating an virtually unstoppable UND team in the '99 WCHA playoffs. Being the best team in the country in '01-'02 and of course there recent titles in '03-'04 and '04-'05. I don't think they will be going away anytime soon. If Skinner and Carle decide to try their hand at professional hockey next season, then they will suffer in the short term.