Siouxman

Good point Oxbow. What causes me a little concern is all of the other things besides scoring goals where Murphy had stepped up his game. He was winning battles in the corner, setting up linemates in front of the net, playing with good positioning. On a team that did not play well in the conference tournament, his good play stood out. He set up goals in the regional in Fargo. Those are things the freshmen will need to learn as they are adjusting to the speed of the college game. We already have a lot of forwards to replace with freshmen. Several of them are going to have to step up very quickly, or other teams will load up on the top lines and the increased production we hope for may not happen. If we were just replacing a couple of forwards, it isn't as much of an issue. While I am hoping for the good, I am also hoping we don't experience an epic Wisconsin type year, ala 2014-15. Only time will tell.

There are quite a few on the board. A number of years ago we organized an "unofficial" hockey tailgating party by the old Ralph (campus police sat in a car out on the street and watched us closely). Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of those that showed up were engineers. A number of people on this board I know are engineers.

That's okay. I am an engineer (Dilbert and I are best friends). We engineers can't help ourselves. It is surprising how many on this board are engineers.

"In Brad we trust" just took on a double meaning.

I suggest trying your little calculator again. Type in 38.46, and set the parameter to round to the nearest whole number. The answer is 38, not 39. Rounding is not a two step process. It is a one step process. You do not round from hundredths to tenths, and then tenths to the whole number. You go directly from hundredths to the whole number. 0.49 and down rounds to zero while .50 and up rounds to 1.0.

Actually, you just flunked math 101.

I am a little sad to see this. He had stepped up his game at the end of last year, really doing the little things. I was optimistic that the scoring was going to start. I have concern that we are going to be too freshmen dependent this year.

For those going to the Icebreaker tournament, there is a social media presale of tickets to the tournament. 1-800-745-3000 Use code "Breaker" ticketmaster.com $57.20 each including fees Be sure to have the ticketmaster seating chart or Cross Ice Arena in Portland seating chart up so you can see where the seats are. We bought our 8 tickets yesterday.

What a night and day difference. Here on Siouxsports, most posters are hoping the Sioux players stay. Over on GPL, they are hoping many of their players leave.

True, but Michigan Tech outplayed SCSU by a wide margin and deserved to win. Goalie Lindgren is the only thing that kept SCSU from getting blown out. Then it came down to bounces and SCSU won the game on a lost edge by the D-man.

As many of us head to Boston, some are to be introduced to the Boston area dialect. Here is an article that might help to understand that dialect: Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts. However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paints appeared on the bird's beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. He very quickly concluded the cause: When crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "Truck." Just a little humor to break the stress before Thursday.

Here are some key national rankings of the four teams in the Frozen Four Stat BU UND PU UNO Offense 2 8 21 28 Defense 12 7 5 12 Power Play 2 18 40 19 Penalty Kill 14 24 16 26 Penalty Minutes 25 12 39 33 SH Goals 5 1 10 26 Goalie GAA 21 11 13 5 Goalie SV% 14 6 11 1

Two of us on the UND charter.

Scheel's Arena deserves a lot of credit for a well run tournament. Food was good at reasonable prices, wacky bounces off the board and glass were non-existent, ushers were there if help was needed but did not cause issues, things just seemed to go smoothly. And not a single door popped open from a check into the boards. What a tremendous difference from the Target Center just a week earlier. Good job Scheel's!

Booked to Boston on the charter, as of this morning.

Booked to Boston as of this morning.

Is it hockey yet?

Because that could eliminate a large group of fans. 1. You need a passport or a passport card to re-enter the US from Canada. Not every fan has those. 2. If you have any alcohol related citation on your record Canada will either refuse you entry, or you pay the Canadian equivalent fine. Even if your DWI was 25 years ago. DWI in Canada is a felony, even if it occurred in the US. Other than that, I love Winnipeg. I do two Canadian fishing trips a year plus occasional trips to Winnipeg. It is a wonderful fun town. I would rather go there than the Twin Cities.

My complaints were not about the ice. Mine were about the boards and the stanchions in the glass causing really crazy bounces. These are a huge part of hockey play and the wacky bounces were ridiculous. You can count on strange bounces happening every so often, but not every other minute. Also, doors in the boards should not be popping open due to players being checked. I have seen worse ice conditions, but this is worst board and glass conditions I have ever seen.

Not at all. I was simply saying that it appeared to me the team couldn't successfully execute basic hockey skills consistently. Passes were slow and off the mark. When passes were good they weren't being caught cleanly. Shots were whiffed on. Just basic execution skills were not being done. If those aren't done you can't even get to doing the strategy part properly. That is all I was saying. There were also mental frequent mental errors. Some of those may be motivational issues, I don't know.

My point wasn't that coaching and strategies don't matter. My point was that the Sioux were not playing well enough for the coaching and strategies to matter. It wasn't an issue of trying to out talent the other team. It was simply that UND players did not appear to execute the basic fundamentals of handling, passing, and shooting the puck for the other things to matter. It is all important, but if you cannot pass the puck to a teammate on his stick, if you have to stop to catch the puck rather than catch it on the move, if you whiff on the puck when you are trying to shoot, you can't even get to the point where the other things matter. UND has the talent, they have shown they have the drive, and yes, they won the conference this year. For whatever reason or reasons this past weekend, they had a difficult time successfully completing the basic hockey skills. If you cannot do that, then strategies and coaching cannot bail you out.

It could all be a great conspiracy. If I am Quinnipiac, what video do I want to see? I want to see the two tournament games from this past weekend to learn how SCSU and DU beat UND. The UND team I saw at the Target Center was not the same team that I have been watching the past few weeks. The breakouts were different and the zone entry was completely different. It could be a plan that the opponent will use these videos for preparation and will face an entirely different UND strategy. Could be!

That issue has been solved. Just take your own cap along. It is time to move onto another dead horse. Honestly folks, give the Target Center feedback. Based on what I have heard from others, if the same four teams make it next year, attendance will be down from 2015 due to dissatisfaction with the Target Center effort. I would like to hear from others about their experience with the food. We tried a number of different things and very little of it was even decent. The mini-donuts were an absolute joke. It was like sucking on a rag soaked in cooking oil. We brought in a little of our own snacks on Saturday. Getting past the magic wand test at the door was easy. Used a few of my old college days tricks.

Filled out my survey this morning from the Target Center on my experience at the tournament over the weekend. If they are serious about doing a good job, they now know they have a lot to do. If they aren't serious, they are having a good laugh.

I am in no way condoning or suggesting anything. Just want to point out that Rube Bjorkman (or Bjork Rubeman as some call him) was replaced by one of his assistants who did pretty good: Gino Gasparini