Irish

Great = Almost every Evan Trupp goal is a highlight goal - i can' wait for the next one. Good win for the Sioux

Hey - I think we won the DAC this year!

I can't think of a Sioux team in recent history that has made me feel more schizophrenic. I leave each Friday's home game thinking we have the talent to go all the way and that we have finally started to put it all together only to leave Saturday's game thinking I haven't seen a Sioux team look worse (allowing rallys, taking stupid penalties, finding a way to lose). Our power play looks like the best in the nation and carries us for several games - our power play looks worse that a high school team and has trouble even getting the puck into the zone. Our defensemen look like the unit I thought they would be - our defensemen get toasted and have a stunningly high amount of poor judgement in turning the puck over in our zone. Our freshman and sophomore class looks like it is the nuculeus for great teams for years to come - our young players look much worse than our rivals. Our returning stars look like they are living up to their all-american status - our stars dissapear for games at a time (except Oshie). Our goaltending carries us - Phil lets in soft goals and allows 3rd period rallies. Our coaching staff appears to have all the chemistry working - the staff looks remarkably unconcerned and shows little emotion. We play with intensity and heart - we look like we just plain don't give a crap. I think part of the frustration expressed on this board to the dismay of some is that every time we think we are clicking, we seem to lose focus (often in the same game, usually within the same weekend). I don't know what to think about this team. I feel that this is a coaching issue - getting the team to play consistantly up to its potential. I'm not criticizing the coaches. but just saying that it is up to them to get this team focused. Everybody knows the Blais method for dealing with these issues - I'm not sure what the Hakstol approach is (mainly due to his stoic nature). We need a lesson in focus and determination yesterday.

Now that's Sioux hockey. If we played with this attitude and intensity I would be satisfied win, lose, or draw. It's good to see us turn a visit to the Englestad Arena into 60 minutes of pain. I hope this is the start of a trend. When everyone chips in on the scoring, we tend to win. Even though not all goals were pretty, when we put the puck on the net and crash the net, good things happen. We definately outworked them this weekend. Keep it up Sioux.

"Patience"

When do you think that will be?

The only problem with T J is that there aren't more of him. If the whole team played with his intensity and heart we wouldn't split every series. We don't have anyone in our freshman or sophomore class that comes close to his talent. Lighten up you people on the morals committee.

Agreed - However I don't think we have "recruited like crazy" the last two years. One of our main problems this year is that we have no freshmen or sophomores who are lighting it up (although Vandevelde is playing well). No one who comes close to Oshie, Parise, Toews, Boshinski, Duncan, Zajek, etc. Just look around at other teams and compare our last two classes to theirs (Denver for example). If you think this year sucks, wait until we lose Duncan, Oshie, Lammy, Bina and Finley. We'll have no scoring and a goalie who has not played one period of college hockey. I'm not saying we don't have any quality players, but I don't see any difference makers in our Freshman and Sophomore classes. While I'm ranting - Our inability to make our home ice a tough place to play really irritates me - Sioux fans have seen a very mediocre hockey team at home for the past 3 years. i'd give anything to see us play with fire, pride, and intensity this year. Why we have to wait until January every year to see what I consider "Fighting Sioux Hockey" is beyond me. No way we would play with this lack of intensity for this long with Blais as coach.

Good news - we've got the best goalie in the league - Lammy stole one tonignt\ Bad news - the Gophers handed it to us for two periods in a crucial game at our house. We need to do better tomorrow - the first period was an embarassment.

A Sioux sweep would be another nail in their coffin.

I agree - we certainly are not a team to be feared on the road or at home. Another thing that concerns me - most teams we have played seem to have at least one freshman or sophomore who is lighting it up. We don't. We have some guys who show flashes of brilliance, then revert back to being average (much like our team). We don't have a difference maker so far in our younger guys. In addition, no one has made the leap to greatness so far like Duncan did last year. We seem to have many young players with potential, but thats about it. Most teams we have played have had much better contributions from their young scorers (Lapoint and Marto seem to be playing up to par). Take away Oshie and Duncan and we have almost no firepower. I know the season is in the first half, but It hurts to see other teams getting much better production from their young guys. We need some players to step it up to be competative.

After watching our 3 power plays in the second period it looked like nobody belonged. I believe that Duluth got as many shots on our goal during the power plays as we did on theirs. They looked so bad, it was hard to isolate any one player. I'm not trying to bash the Sioux - I thought they showed a lot in the third period - just making an observation.

Hak was right - it was an ugly game - However, I felt the Sioux showed a lot of character in the third. They came out, took charge, and put the puck in the net. It's hard to believe it was the same team as in the second period. It looked like everyone did their part - no standing around waiting for someone else to do it. Great effort by Trupp for his first goal - the main negative - We had the three ugliest power plays I have seen in a long time in the second. Hopefully, they'll be more in sync all game tomorrow. This team has the potential to score in bunches.

We should have been down to earth the last two weeks then. How long until we get grounded?

I'm also extremely frustrated with slow starts 4 years in a row - not just slow starts but playing way below our talent. I've been as excited as anyone with our finishes - however 3 strait final four appearances with no championships = Woog. Eventually we have to put it together and get our s**t together all season. With our talent this isn't too much to hope for. I had hoped with the talent coming back this year we could avoid this kind of thing this year. We are definately underachieving so far this year.

I was refering to the time he was head coach here. (and the rebuilding necessary when he left)

Random thoughts from a frustrated fan - I can't understand why with the athletic talent we have that we can't do a better job on kick coverage - I thought Omaha did an excellent job in this area - this has been a problem for us all year. Our offensive line didn't do the job today - QB was hurried and had a hard time setting up. When we had 4th and one deep in their territory late in the game, they couldn't open a hole. I felt that not going for 4th down on our last posession was a mistake - almost everyone in my area of the alerus felt we would never get the ball back. Lennon seems cursed by Omaha. I thought Omaha won the line battle on both sides. We made key mistakes that cost us - \ Our season is far from over, but we need to correct a few things - I hate it that Pat Burns has our number - He ruined Sioux football for about a decade.

This may be the only "chink" in Lennon's armour - it seems that whichever unit is struggling gets more conservative in tight games (think offense in the Omaha game a couple of years ago). We usually have one unit (up until this year it has been the defense) playing balls out and the other unit just trying to hang on. This tendency to tighten up and try to let the other side of the ball carry the day has cost us in the past. i hope we can see this and make the adjustments against Omaha this year. If we go conservative next week, it'll be a long game.

That's my point

I can't believe the poor kick coverage for the Sioux

Kick coverage has been a consistant weakness for us - with all of our good athletes it's hard to beleive.

Two third and long conversions - our defense needs to cowboy up!

Rob Bollinger was at today's game.

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.

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.