Irish
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Posts posted by Irish
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Help me out here. When was that? I must have missed it. (My seat price hasn't changed recently.)
When we selected seats, some lower bowl end seats were availabe if you were members of the varsity club (300 contribution plus ticket price) This put the cost of two tickets at somewere over $1000 (a significant amount.) Now, everyone who is a Varsity Club member in the lower bowl received a letter stating that unless they up their contribution $400 (to the next level) they will be reseated in the upper bowl. My complaints with this tactic are many, but to point out a few: - If they had told us this was the rule when we selected seats, there may have been some decent alternatives available if we didn't want to spend the money - now what do you think is left. Secondly, if we had known about this when we picked our seats, we may have had the option of purchasing 4 tickets instead of two and partnered with someone. This would have helped with the overall cost and may have given us even better seats based on the numbering criteria. Now this option is no longer available either. Now, we are basically being told "pay $400 more or you will lose the seats you have had since the Ralph opened and given whatever undesirable seats are left. Our first year we had parking in the Barnes and Noble lot. That was taken away the first year. Then it was the shuttle bus - now it is $5 for the shuttle bus. This tactic of holding us up for $400 just because they have us over a barrel just plain bites. It seems like we have no good seating options left. This is no way to build fan loyalty - I'm sure they would like to sell our seats to some corporate person with a deep pocket and no history of loyalty to the Sioux. I'm afraid this is the future of a Bunning led Athletic Department. If this doesn't upset you because your seats are not affected, just wait - your turn to get worked over may be comming also. This experience has turned me into a serious anti-Bunning person - I'm so mad at this, I could spit. I hope other loyal fans stick up for the minority who are getting screwed. We were notified about this change by letter - no other imput than "cough up another $400 or we will take your seats and leave you with crap" Heck of a way to run a department.
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Do you really think that staying DII is a viable option? If not, then do you think a successful DI experience will be more or less expensive than DII? From where should these additional funds be sought in your view?
In my opinion, a DI move should only be done if criteria are met before the move - namely confernce affiliation in place - funding sources identified or in place, and a reasonable reassurance that we will be competative. Right now, the only program that this move benefits is Football (suprise that this is the only sport with a 1AA option.) This could be the demise of Basketball, and all of the men's minor sports. I don't think that any of these criteria were met before the move. As to the funding - I just don't believe that it will be there. Many fans like me don't have unlimited funds to spend on sports - the increase in hockey tickets really burns me. We seem to be sacrificing loyal Sioux fans (who may be priced out of many things) for corporations or deep pockets who look at sports as social hour or corperate intertainment. I know that Division II has some problems but the funding crunch will soon affect everyone. There is already talk of doubling student fees and I don't know of any group that has less funds than students. I am worried that the loyal fan will soon be priced out of many things Sioux or treated like second class citizens because of money. I think we rushed into this decision - It feels like it was decided long before the facts were in.
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I feel that most of the criticism of the Women's Hockey hire have more to do with process than end result. Why limit the school and insult some applicants with strong Sioux ties unnecessairly. My complaint with the AD has more to do with funding of DI than anything else. I am one of many hockey ticket holders who were told that the price of two tickets is going up $400 or else you can sit in the upper bowl. What a load of crap. If this was the seating rule when we first picked our seats, I could live with it. Now they feel like they have us over a barrel and are trying to squeeze every cent out. We need more of a corperate atmosphere at the Ralph (sarcasm). I believe that the move to DI was poorly thought out, especially when it comes to finances. There isn't a lot of new money to be gotten, especially with many loyal Sioux fans shelling out top dollar for hockey. I hope all Sioux fans are prepared to be nickled and dimed to death (look at parking fees for the shuttlefor example. This community does not have enough extra money for athletics to fund what they need. In addition, the Betty apparently will not do for DI basketball and it isn't even paid off. This latest ticket ripoff has made me a permanent supporter of anyone but Bunning. I hope he gets a clue that there is more to running a good athletic department than doing pushups.
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Let's face it - other than the Crouse years, the Sioux women's BB team has had a history of disappointing in the tournaments almost every year. They have almost never played their best ball at tournament time. Look at 2005 and 2006 for example. This seems to be a consistancy going back to the years when we competed with NDSU. I think Robuck is a great recruiter, but facts are facts.
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The Gophers - They are tough every year and you love to hate them. Everyone needs a rivalry like this. The Badgers second for the same reasons.
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Simple -
We have a freshman class without any impact players - Some may develop in the future, but overall they are a big dissapointment - sepecially when you see the tremendous production other teams are getting from their top freshmen. In addition, many of the returning players have not developed like we had hoped. At this point, after the first line, I'm not sure if we have a lot of talent. This worries me, especially if you think about next year. We definately did not reload this year.
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What a crappy game - this is the worst team in the league folks. I hope our coaches are recruiting their a**es off because other than the Judys line (two of whom are likely to leave), I don't see much. There seems to be a lot of dead weight - at this time of the year everyone should be motivated and squared away. What happened to that Sioux team that swept the Gophers?
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The Sioux peed this one down their leg. We need to be able to hold a 2 goal lead for two minutes against Mankato.
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We got jobbed by the officials at Minnesota. Is there a link to the WCHA that we can email our protests?
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Nobody wants to go back there.
So, let me ask you this: How do we make Hakstol pay for Oshie's misses last night? They could have put the game away. How do we make Hakstol responsible for getting the puck into the net?
I mean, he wrote the plays and last night the plays worked except nobody finished. Uh, so that's Hakstol's fault?
Let's put this in an NHL context. Recently Dallas' Patrick Stefan (a high first round pick at one point) missed an empty net goal. Should Dave Tippett be held responsible for Patrick's miss?
In 2003, in the NHL something historic happened then (along the lines of UAA and MTU but in an NHL context). Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup. Why is that historic? Because, by the UAA/MTU logic, Tampa Bay shouldn't win more than 10% of their games. They have always been a doormat.
Same with the Hurricanes. OH! Let's revisit some other teams. Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Montreal, and the Blackhawks have garnered much past Cup victories. They haven't really competed since (except Edmonton). I think their head coaches should be fired until they get a head coach that can make them all win the Stanley Cup or finish in the top end of their league every single year.
In 1995, New Jersey won the Stanley Cup with Martin Brodeur and arguably the least amount of talent otherwise compared to other playoff teams and even other Stanley Cup victors. Again, this shouldn't have happened.
Anyways, it's not bad to be disappointed with the Sioux's performance, but I can definitely see why UAA and MTU are dangerous this year. Everyone thinks just like some of us do: UAA/MTU are patsies. So the players take the games for granted. Wow. Has it worked for UND yet? It should have by the reasoning provided here.
Anyways, yeah. This year thus far has been a disappointment. Players haven't been able to finish plays. Who is accountable for that? THE PLAYERS. So, yeah, fire Hakstol.
If we were talking about any single game your assessment would be correct. However over the course of a season, there is only one person responsible for recruiting the players, developing their talent, implementing an offensive and defensive scheme, and developing team attitude and intensity - the head coach. It is his job to bring in the talent and get the most from it. Ultimate responsibility for the program is his. Please note - I am not calling for Hakstol's firing - However, I believe he is responsible for the team OOps - this was meant as a response for Redwing, not you.
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I agree completely. Frankly, I am tired of being told that I am not being a good fan or I'm too negative if I disagree or criticize the players or coaches. For those of you that constantly do, get your rose-colored glasses off and start seeing things for what they are.
1. The Sioux got swept in the same year for the FIRST TIME EVER by perennially weak sisters Michigan Tech and AAU. This would have been unforgiveable in the old rink, but now that we supposedly have a major recruiting advantage over these schools because of the Taj Mahal, what is the excuse?? No one would doubt that AAU and MTU get the leftovers after UM, UND, UW, DU and CC. They know that as well. That is also why they have had very little success against the rest of the league. Don't believe me? Look it up----
2. AAU was swept @ MTU, split at MSUM, was swept at home by DU, was swept on the road by SCSU, split with a depleted UW squad at home, split @ MSUM, and split on the road with CC. They have exactly 2 sweeps this year--Alaska Fairbanks and UND.
3. MTU swept AAU at home, was swept at CC, lost and tied @ DU, was swept by UM, was swept by UM, and was swept at UMD. Basically, they swept AAU at home and swept UND on the road.
4. I'm so tired of hearing how we lost all these great players. Guess what? So did everyone else. UM lost its top 4 scorers in Potulny, Kessel, Irmen and Harrington. Denver lost 3 of its top 4 scorers with Matt Carle (the best player in the country last year), Gabe Gauthier, and Paul Stastny. UW lost its top 5 scorers with Pavelski, Earl, Burish, Gilbert and MacMurchy. CC lost Joey Grubb and its 2 Hobey candidates, Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling. Other than SCSU, UND arguably had the most returning. Yes, UND lost Stafford, Zajac, Spirko and Smaby, but they returned their 3, 4 and 5 scorers in Oshie, Toews and Duncan.
5. We have almost no contribution from our freshmen class. UM has Barriball (26 points), Okposo (24), E. Johnson (15), Flynn (9), Carman (9), Lucia (8), O'Brien (6) and Schack (6). Denver has Brock Trotter (26), Rakhshani (24), Ruegsegger (22)and Gifford (10). CC has Connelly (14) and Sweatt (12). SCSU's leading scorers are freshmen. What does UND have? Other than Chay Genoway's respectable 13 points, we have Zajac with 4, Forney with 2 and Vande Velde with 1. That is pathetic.
6. If Toews (who cannot score because he gets keyed on and has no help) leaves as expected, and TJ leaves as well, what do we have left?? The sophomore class other than Toews, Oshie, Duncan and Chorney has been a major disappointment, and this freshman class looks weak. We better have a great incoming freshmen class next year, or the Sioux are going to find themselves in the lower half of the league.
7. Let's take the kids gloves off and quit blowing smoke up everyone's collective asses, shall we? It is unacceptable for the Sioux not to be in the top 1/2 of the WCHA every year, making the NCAA tournament and competing for a national championship. We have the facilities, the tradition and success, and what every recruit wants--a proven track record of winning and of players making it to the next level.
8. So tell me, what excuse is there EVER for losing to AAU and MTU in the same year and getting swept at home by MTU??? The answer is none. We still have more talent than AAU and MTU combined. They would kill to have Jonathan Toews, let alone TJ Oshie, Ryan Duncan and Taylor Chorney. Name a player on either team (with the possible exception of Justin Bourne) who would even skate on the first line?? The answer is none.
9. What is the problem? Well, as politically incorrect and blasphemous as it is to say this, the bucks stops the chief or head coach. They underachieved last year for most of the year with the most talented team in the country, and this year is pathetic. I'm not saying that he needs to be fired, but that situation needs to be closely monitored. There is no way on earth that Duke in BB, Ohio State or USC in football or Michigan or Minnesota in hockey would put up with this garbage. It's bad enough getting swept by UW and Maine at home, but MTU is a new low.
I'm sure that I will get ripped for this rant. Bring it on. I'm tired of the Barney "group hugs" and the excuses. I don't pay thousands for season tickets to watch this garbage. I would rather watch the FM Jets, Moorhead or South HS, or any youth hockey than to watch a team that I have had season tickets for over 20 years put this product on the ice. It is unacceptable to me. I can't believe that more people don't feel this way.
Dave Hakstol is a great guy. I like him and wish him success. However, when you take a high profile job, it is "just win baby!" If not, you look elsewhere. If he does not turn this around and fast, he won't have to worry. Once the butts in the seats start disappearing, even his father-in-law won't be able to save him. I'm pulling for him and I'm still cautiously optimistic. However, time is running out.
I agree with every point. In addition, my major frustrations with this program right now includes the fact that other than Duncan, no one is progressing or getting better - think I'm wrong - name one person who is making even the expected progress from last year let alone having a breakout year. When Blais was here, he got major talent even in the old Ralph mainly because players knew if they came to this program and worked hard, they would leave playing like NHL talent. Why do you think Parise came here. Now, almost everyone is playing worse than last year. In addition, our style of play drives me nuts. We have gone from a program that had the most feared defensemen in the country to one in which even Alaska Anchorage and MTU players camp out in front of our net without fear with lightning speed. I'm tired of thinking "maybe this week we will put it together" week after week only to be disappointed. I feel that I am as big a Sioux fan as anyone, but having the Gophers reload and us flounder drives me nuts.
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I thought Toews played really f^%$ing good.
But seriously, that line could just as well have had 6 goals, for all the great chances.
Not only is TJ snake-bit to a ridiculous degree, the whole team continues to be snakebited. On UAA's first goal, Genoway is half-step behind his guy, he takes a golf whack at it and it goes in. On their second goal, Porter should just have hauled the guy down - - UAA could have gone 30 minutes on the powerplay tonight and not scored (watch them get 3 on the pp tomorrow). On the third goal, its Lamoureaux save, Lammy save, Lammy save, goal. Lee covers a guy that Chorney was checking, someone's open, and bam four whacks later its in the net.
Very frustrating to watch, again. The worst part is we played a da#$ good game. We played with fire, I can remember many nice body checks - from the shortest guy Duncan on his first shift, to big Joe.
Kaip-Fabian-Radke were terrific in wearing out UAA's defense. Hit, pokecheck, hit, pokecheck, hit. In one sequence where UAA was on the breakout all three guys hit three different puck carriers within a 5 second span. It was great. Love it.
Porter-Watkins were very good on the PK, but Porter and Miller were on the ice for all three UAA goals. (Watkins for two.) Porter with a great check on the showboat goalie (Lawson wears #52, he must have always wanted to be a linebacker)
Vandevelde laid out a guy behind the UAA net with a nice hit.
Chorney was excellent tonight, including a nice diving pokecheck to stifle a breakaway chance.
The radio guys had Lammy as #2 star, with several terrific saves, and I think he deserved it. No bad goals tonight, and some very good saves.
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For tomorrow, look to see some fresh legs in the lineup. I hope Kaip-Radke-Fabian start again, they earned it. I wouldn't mind seeing Miller go onto the line with Toews and Duncan as a way to maybe get things jump started.
We need a win tomorrow, or the odds of making the NCAA's just keep getting longer. ... time is running out.
I saw a different game than you. Alaska Anchorage basically took it to us the last 2 periods. They camped out in front of our goal way too much and out shot us. We have some guys who don't show up at all - I'll be surprised if some of them score this year. This is not a good hockey team. Remember, this isn't the Gophers we tied, it's Alaska Anchorage . In addition, the poor play of the Sioux has killed what ever atmosphere was left at the Ralph. We are not a team to be feared anymore. Teams must love to come to the Ralph. We'd best ratchet things up soon or not only is this year shot, but we will be on a serious downhill slide. I'm not happy with the state of Sioux hockey.
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yes and by the time we started Minnesota already had 5 olympic players on their team and we had 21 freshman that were no where near olympic status.
That means that Minnesota had 5 years of hockey before we joined the WCHA. Within that time, they built their program to the point that they had 5 Olympic players. What have we built in our 5 years? - Doodly squat.
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Here's my two cents worth - I'll admit to being a "Negative Nelly" as of late for reasons we won't get into. I see a surge of hope among fans after this weekend - not necessarly because of a split, but because most people see a return to "Sioux Hockey" - the hardnosed, intense kind that we love. I hope we can build on this over the comming weekend. Here's my idea of what needs to improve now that our goaltending and defense seem to be getting with the program. What concerns me is the lack of scoring - I know that it has been mentioned many times before, but I was still shocked when I looked at our season stats so far. Other than Duncan - here are our top scorers and their output:
Miller - 7 goals
Oshie - 5 goals
Watkins - 5 goals
5 tied with 4 goals
This is after 22 games - these stats scare me. If anyone would have predicted these numbers at the beginning of the year he would have been laughed off the board. I know that we have much more talent than the numbers show - I'm not sure what should be done to get our offense going. Remember - even though we split this week, we scored only two goals total. Is it chemistry? Offensive scheme? lack of intensity? poor bounces? - I don't know. I'm sure the coaches are working on this as well. I hope we find the key soon. If we can unlock the offense, we can play with anyone - if not, I'm afraid that the best we can do is split with the better teams. I hope we can open the floodgates soon - Almost every weekend I think "this is going to be the weekend we score in bunches". I know we can turn this around - however, the clock is ticking.
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Oh, and I have heard Clement doing a lot of Sioux games this year. What's your point? I suppose my tag line is out of date too.
After Friday night's loss, there were multiple posts including mine that expressed unhappiness with the state of Sioux hockey - you can read them on this thread. JK, basically called all of these posts "incredibly stupid" without elaborating. I just pointed out the irony of his tagline about how tough and physical the Sioux play when the lack of intensity and physical play is the major complaint about our defensemen this year. The fact that the quote came from Clement has nothing to do with anything. The fact that this quote was on JK's tagline struck me as ironic because the Sioux have been anything but physical this year and he basically ripped us (the posters) for pointing this out.
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Irish, you ever thought of a career in motivational speaking? Come on man, get out of the van you live in down by the river and hit the road.
I'm not really sure why you are trying to insult me - are you saying that this year's team is not disappointing or that we have had great goaltending and scoring? If so, make your case. If you can't back up your opinions with facts and think that insults are the way to go, shut your pie hole.
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Chalk me up in the "forwards have been a disappointment" camp.
Among the many disapointments from this team this year has been the lack of scoring.
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not the last 4 games
what have you done for me lately??
phil has given up 2 goals in last 2 wcha games, given up 5 goals in his last 4 games..1.25 GAA, and i was on phil big time but lets give credit to where its due. he has been MUCH better and has won 3 out of his last 4 games...thats a good thing and lets continue it vs UAA and pay those guys back. and lets face it, only given up 2 goals in 2 games should get you 2 wions for sure but on the other hand, only scoring 2 goals should get you swept, hopefully toews, chorney and lee come back ready to rock and roll and kick some UAA azz!
oh yeah, toews will go on a tear similar to last years 2nd half and oshie will follow close behind
Agreed that the goaltending has been better the last 4 games - the only trouble is - this is not a 4 game season. For the year, I feel that we have had the worst goaltending in the league - as a result 8th place - If Phil feels that he should have been starting instead of Parise last year it's time to cowboy up and show us what he can do - I would trade goaltenders with at least 7 teams in the WCHA - how many games did you go away from thinking that we had the best goalie on the ice? We need a much more consistant effort from Phil for me to consider him a good goalie.
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They always have had D-1 goaltending!
Yes, but crappy D-1 goaltending
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Without getting into a point-by-point analysis of the last page or two of posts, let me just say that I think most of it is incredibly stupid.
I don't think there's one NHL team that plays as tough a game from the back end, on the blueline, as North Dakota does. They've got at least 5 guys that always play the body and are big enough and strong enough that just drive you into the ice." Bill Clement 3:45 of the 3rd period
I noticed this on your post - Have you seen anything that remotely resembles this type of play this year - that is one of the points many of us have made.
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Without getting into a point-by-point analysis of the last page or two of posts, let me just say that I think most of it is incredibly stupid.
Really? - make your points as to how this is a good, well coached hockey team with a great freshman class. It's easy to call people stupid when you don't have to back anything up.
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Lefty I am not looking to pick a fight with you but how many more games do we have to watch before we realize this season is a lost season. I have no confidence in the present situation. There is something wrong with this team. Look at the WJC players and you can figure it out. There is no reason Jonathon Toews should be scoring goals and not in the WCHA. I am not sure why people should think you have to suppport this team no matter what happens without any criticizism. This is a Horse Bleep hockey team, there are players not producing its the job of the coaching staff. I am sick and tired of listening to excuses.
I agree that this is pathetic hockey. Hakstol basically went to the final four the last two years with Blais's talent.
Objectively rate the coaching staffs performance this year (the first year that most of the players are Hakstol's recruits)
Recruiting - Name a freshman impact player - regardless of earlier speculation that our freshman class is just as good as the Gophers (they just didn't get as much press) and statements about how our recruits will play "Sioux style hockey (which usedto be hardnosed - this freshman class has not shown us anything yet
Player development - most players have gone backwords this year.
Game coaching - Just look at our power play and our ppk - pathetic - how we can have a power play with both Toews and Oshie and still be impotent is beyond me.
Motivation - have you seen any of the games
Intangibles - we have gone from being a team that you feared (especially in front of the net) to one that teams feel that they can camp out at will - In addition, we seem to take more stupid penalties than anyone
I would be stunned if anyone could rate our staff at any higher than a C- for any of these catagories
Week after week we hear comments about how we had a "good effort, but fell a little short". This will sell for a couple of weeks - let's face it - we are not a good hockey team. This is unacceptabe. I wouldn't be as upset if we appeared to be playing hard consistantly.
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I agree!
Let's Fire Hakstol! I mean, he's taken the team to two Frozen Fours while during Blais' tenure, we went every year for his entire tenure! This team can't have a down year because if we had Blais, we'd shoot the puck, score more goals, Finley wouldn't suck, Phil wouldn't give up so many rebounds, and we'd at least have outsho..I mean we would have at least dominated play for most of the....oh wait.
God, that has got to be the most retarded thing I've heard.
This team lost the game because they couldn't beat the goaltender and they didn't get any finishing. Defensively we played well. Apart from Watkins boneheaded move in the 2nd, we played responsibly. We won a good deal of the faceoffs and spent a lot of time in the CC zone.
Please, losing sucks, having a losing season sucks, but again, pointing fingers at a coach is much easier than accepting that this was a tough loss, a bad loss point wise, but not a poorly played game.
Don't have to be happy about it, but you don't have to call for the executioner every time. And please, don't give me that BS about expectations and tradition and all that. Teams work in cycles. They have good years and bad years and, quite frankly, let's wait until the year is over before we call it either way.
But hey, if you want to jump off the cliff, I won't stop you. Just throw yourself off and leave individuals on the team out of it.
I'm not saying fire Hak, but I sure would like to have Blais back. That being said, there are some serious problems with this team - they are underperforming across the board. In addition, I'm not wild about this years recruits - who is making an impact. almost no one has improved from last year including Toews and Oshie. These are all coaching issues - you can't tell me that if a Blais team played like this heads wouldn't roll. I strongly disagree with your comments abour expectations and tradition. They should be alive and well - this is the type of season I haven't seen since Bjorkman.
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This sucks! i am getting really tired of this crap. What is it going to take to get these guys to start scoring. Bring back Blaise!
Agreed
This is totally unacceptable - the Gophers on a 20 game tear and us on a horrible losing streak. we should not be a second tier team ever. I'm so tired of the "great effort - just a little short", "bad breaks", "the real season is just starting", "Hak will get us going soon" comments I could puke - Let's be honest - this is one pathetic hockey season. Things need to change right now.
UND Recruits - 2006-07 Updates
in Men's Hockey
Posted
Can anyone add any information besides what was in the Herald? How are coaches projecting him for this year? Is he comming into his own and ready for the WCHA or is he still developing. He seems to have been under everyone's radar. More info please.