Irish

The second was on Eidsness - however I'm stunned sometimes at our defensive lapses. Unless we toughen up it will be a long season - These aren't minor mistakes - they are major screw ups. It's great to see some offense tonight. Let's take two from the Big Red.

It's great to see us unload on someone. Welcome to the WCHA Cornell. My only concern is the horrible defensive give aways we handed out. Our defense must improve. I've never seen so many defensemen fall down. We need to keep this intensity for the next 3 games to start the second half. That's the million dollar question for the Sioux this year - can they do this consistantly?

"Ah, Rory McMahon" he says in his best Homer Simpson voice.

It used to be that when you played UND, we forechecked the crap out of you all weekend- you knew you were in a hockey game. Now what do we do - cycle you to death?

I agree that on paper we should have an offensive powerhouse. I think the freshmen Gregoire and Hextall are playing well (although I wonder why 2 freshmen should be tied for the team lead for goals scored). The rest - Duncan - 4 goals (playing well), Toews - 0 goals, VV - 3 goals, Frattin - 2 goals, Trupp - 0 goals, Watkins - 1 goal, Kozek - 2 goals - Lapoint has had his struggles on defense and hasn't really panned out like we had hoped. Hardly anyone is playing at the level they should - some are almost non factors. Why no one is scoring is beyond me - my theory is cycle, cycle, cycle. Whatever it is, we are not developing talent like we should.

Through 12 games - Frattin 2 goals, Martins - 2, Kozak - 2, Watkins - 1, Zajac - 1, Trupp - 0, Davidson - 1, Malone - 1. In fact, no one has more than 4 goals. They may have talent based on expectations comming in, but there ain't nobody getting better here. I get the fact that everyone has good stats when recruited, but we have a lack of firepower. Who is living up to expectations among upper classmen so far? Anyone having a breakout season? It seem to me that either our talent is way down, or we have an extreme group of underachievers. With Blais, you could count on player development.

Not only that, but many came here because they wanted to play for Blais. We're out of Blue Chippers and it shows. We had better have a crapload of talent coming in next year or we are in for a long dry spell. This year's sophs and juniors are not the foundation for any kind of championship. We need to pick up the recruiting.

You said it all - now I wish the coaches would get the picture.

One of the problems as I see it is that we have two sub-par recruiting classes (sophs & juniors). We need to go out and get some studs so we can beat the likes of Alaska Anchorage and Minnesota Duluth. Come on coaches - pick up the pace. Also, it seems like we don't hit anyone anymore. What I've seen this year is a long way from Sioux hockey.

Anyone else as frustrated as I am as to how we managed the 3rd period. I'm tired of waiting for Hak and Company to get their crap together.

Wow - talk about declining expectations - doesn't anyone else think it's strange and a little sad that we are talking about not matching up with "Alaska Anchorage" when they come to play at our house. We sound like the fans of a 4-6 team. The question isn't weather Hak is a good coach - he is. The question is rather is he a great coach - the jury's still out.

The win last night nonwithstanding, there are some issues with Hak's teams that are frustrating. I'm not saying he should be fired, but ask yourself this - how long are you willing to wait to hang a banner. Boston College, Minnesota, and Denver have won 2 and Wisconsin 1 since we last won one. I for one am getting restless. Areas that need addressing: (most of these are the same as other posters - there seems to be some common themes here) - Intensity - how we can look so flat and unprepared for frozen 4 games is beyond me - We flounder for more games under Hakstol than we have since Gino took over. We need to make playing in the Ralph a thing to be feared - we don't putout a good product at home. - Our annual crappy starts - Much has been said - Why does it take us longer to get our crap together than almost everyone else in the hockey playing world? - Our offensive scheme - I hate this constant cycling too. someone else said here is the place where scorers come to die. Good God. Look at our stats and compare them to how our recruits did before they got here. Frattin scored for the first time in 14 games and Malone for the first time in 33 games - good crap - those are some dry spells. In the past we have had some high end studs (with whom we should have won a couple of titles) carry us. Now we don't. Very few scorers come to UND and play over their projections. We have some people who just never score - we can't afford to have that this year. - At times our power plays are not just unproductive, they look pathetic. This is coaching. - Does anyone else here wish we would start hitting people again. Getting bullied in a game isn't Sioux hockey. Here we sit again after another weekend trying to find positives out of a split. It's time for us to play Sioux Hockey every game. 4 - 6 just won't cut it at UND.

Not trying to get into a contest with you - I respect your hockey knowledge- There are some points about tonignt's game I think you will agree with 1. We have an anemic power play - way below what I would expect looking at our roster 2. We got manhandled by a bottom feeding team at home 3. other teams are starting to take physical liberties with us 4. What we saw tonight was a far cry from what I consider Fighting Sioux Hockey I'm not saying fire Hak - I am saying that some of this season is his and his staff's responsibility. Many of us are frustrated with our underachieving starts. Hopefully we can rebound tomorrow. The Sioux have a lot of work to do to become a good hockey team..

This type of effort from a Blais team was unacceptable. This type of effort at home from a Hak team is commonplace.

Just got back from the game - I'm drunk and pissed. I hope this ends the great Walski experiment - this loss is on the coaching staff - Walski is not nor will ever be an everyday WCHA goalie - We have kept him at the cost of running off our young prospect - now he has cost us a game. Remember this loss when we are looking for a bracket in the sweet 16. Totally mismanaged by coaching staff - what does he have - naked pictures of the coaching staff? If there is a more pathetic power play in the country I'd be surprised. 5 minute man advantage and what - two shots on goal? Can't we be better organized than this with the names we have on our roster? We may have people that can fly, but we have no one who can close - absolutely no scorers tonight. Getting our butts handed to us at home by Alaska Anchorage - pathetic 3-6 record - unacceptable I'm tired to the talk about what this team could be. We are 9 games into the season. Time for reality to intrude. What a lackluster effort.

I'm having a hard time deciding how to feel about this team so far. We look great at times, but give up goals in bunches like no Sioux team I can remember. I think we have real potential this year if our goaltending settles down and our defense solidifies. I'm generally not a fan of the Hakstol season (floundering until Christmas). My worries include: finding a real scoring punch - our Sophomore and Junior classes have some good players, but no real blue-chippers (we need to pick up the recruiting), and season long goaltending (I've said it before, we mismanaged our goalie situation and are now stuck). Overall, I'm not real satisfied with a 3-5 record so far. This team can fly, but we need to learn how to finish. Hopefully we'll sweep this weekend and get a streak going. I'm ready to hang a banner this year.

Great win for the Sioux - We need to focus and take two this weekend - no let ups. It's good that Hak is starting to sit people who aren't performing. Time to put it all together - no need to wait until January.

Again - BC did not start 2-12 last year.

I agree 100%. This is Sioux Hockey, not some nickel - dime program that is happy "doing our best". A 2-4 record at this point is not what we expect. We are sub-par in all aspcets of the game - offense, defense, goaltending, and special teams. This is the 5th year in a row we've gotten a slow start. This many years in a row can't be coincidence. Other teams have the exact same amount of time to get ready for the season, find new combinations, and work in new players. We need to be careful that we don't lower our expectations and accept the mediocre. Some of this needs to be on the coaching staff. The most frustrating part of this for me is our lack of focus at times. We need to come to play this weekend or we are going to get our butts handed to us.

Even with the problem of working in young D men is anyone happy with the Sioux progress so far this season? I thought we finally had a third period team - I feel that the goalie situation is on Hak - when our young goalie is struggling we have no where to go. We expect better.

Actually, Eidsness made some great saves. There is no advantage to playing Walski - he's not a shut down goalie and we have no where to go with him because he is a senior. I would hate to see us give up a game just to get him some playing time. I would be much happier if we had Eidsness and a sophomore or junior to battle it out.

This team definately has areas that they need to improve on - some defensemen especially. However, they are showing something that we haven't seen in quite a while from a Sioux team - the ability to come back and win. Let's hope they keep it up. We need Eidsness back in net tomorrow

I feel the same - I don't expect the Sioux to win them all, but was hoping we'd be more competative - in light of our recent DII success. I think what makes this painful to me is the lack of defense - I love the Sioux teams that plain out hit someone. Our defense is weak in either division. We need to recruit our butts off in order to turn this around.

Hopefully we've seen the last of Walski - he is definatley not an everyday WCHA goalie and never will be. I feel we've badly mismanaged the goalie situation. Instead of developing a young goalie during the Lammy years, we seem to have put our eggs in the Walski basket and driven off our young prospect. I'm not saying Greico would have solved all our problems, but we should have developed someone. Now we're stuck. It's time to play Eidsness for better or worse. We should not be in this situation. Other frustrations - There ain't nobody getting better on this team. Our defence has signifigantly deteriorated. It appears Hak can't fire up a team to save his butt. If you can't get up for a frozen 4 game there is something wrong. This attitude is carrying over this year. Hak appears to be on the road to Woogville.

What strikes me is the deterioration of our defense. Most of the season last year I felt our defense was great. They hit people, moved the puck, and didn't make huge mistakes. Then they looked like they had their skates in cement during the BC game and have continued to look this way this year. They couldn't start an offensive rush to save their butts. This is not an inexperienced unit. What gives? Another mystery is why our power play looks so bad at times (other times last year we were great). When we are bad, we can barely get the puck in zone and set up a play. This bad PP has a difficult to impossible time pulling the trigger and putting the puck on net. Why we struggle at the beginning of each year is a mystery. We have a fairly experienced team and should be able to integrate our new talent. The only question should be at goalie. Hak's system should not be a mystery to most. Could we look more disorganized so far?