Walsh Hall

Goal Scorer: Russ Romaniuk Pest - Calder - Will never forget him following around Goldie before the start of overtime in the 1997 Final Five championship game with his mouth yapping the whole time. Talking trash with the opposing mascot...priceless. Prpich is right up there as well. Team - '87 - Dominant Goalie - Casey and Belfour. Schweitzer for his brief time for the way he stepped up when needed. Defenseman - Patrick and Roche. To bad Roche doesn't have the mental fortitude because he was as talented as anyone. Hrkac with the most dominant forward I remember Tweeter Wynne was fun to watch. Like a cross between Prpich and Blake. Commie developed into a beast. I remember being in the front row when that little speedster from AA dumped it in and went wide to the left. Commie just plastered him. The guy laid there like he was dead. They didn't try to go wide again. Z Parise was the most polished freshman I remember and of the current squad I love the way Oshie brings it every shift. Set-up man - G. Johnson and Hrkac Also enjoyed Eisenhut, Dixon Ward and all the guys that always played with a smile (or smirk) - Jeff Panzer, T. Wynne, Prpich, Calder, David Hoogie... For best games - 1997 Final Five championship, the Gopher series at the Old Ralph when they had the 19 game unbeaten streak, and some other game in against a lowly opponent where the SIoux came back from 3-4 down in the thrid to win. The Sioux had grossly outplayed the other team but couldn't score. The place was only about 2/3 full when the Sioux broke through. Like one of the Gopher games, the other coach called TO as the place was going crazy and the mo had shifted big time. The whole placed stayed standing and the volume increased for the entire TO. By the end of the TO the fenzy was worse than had they just played on. The Sioux jumped on them again and it was a fabulous vibe. Haven't experience anything like it in the new Ralph.

The Sioux have certainly eliminated their margain of error. On the bright side, if they finish strong, win the WCHA first round series and they will likely get in the tourny with some stream and home ice (for what that worth). With the length of the season it is imperative to be playing the best hockey of the season at the right time. During the Minnesota series Woog was commenting on how Lucia is concerned that the Gophers are peaking way to early. With that in mind the Sioux need to start building for the playoffs and aren

I've been as impressed with Oshie's play thus far as I have with any other freshman in the past 20 years. His hustle and skill is unbelievable, he's a true pleasure to watch. I don't think he has had one shift this year where you didn't notice him on the ice. He never disappears and seems the be having a blast out there. Watching the impact he has everytime he steps on the ice is such a contrast to other phenoms such as Kessle. If I had to point to one player for a kid to watch and emulate it would be Oshie. I personally don't see the comparison to Zajac, their games seem pretty different to me. Seems more like a hyper Parise to me. Maybe not as polished as Parise at this point, but he's certainly got the same talent and heart. And the best part is he will only get better.

I've heard that many of Kessel's teammates think that he has one good "move" and that at a higher level he will get solved. At the WJ tournament he was pretty well neutralized as the tournament progressed and teams got a better look at him. He is an exciting player and phenomenal skater, but I doubt he will come in and lead the league in scoring. I think that all the hype has made people's expectations way to high for this kid. If Toews had made such a circus out of his selection the attention he would have received would have been just as silly. No doubt that Kessel is going to be a potentially game breaking player, but I'm not defaulting number 6 to the gophers based on the All Mighty Phil. THe UND recruits are in the same class as the gophs. I can't wait until the Friday night in GF when Kessel comes flying down the wing and trys to go wide on Greene... and then Kessel is plastered into the boards...and then Kessel trys to find his way back to the bench... Go Sioux