Irish

Bubba is not known for his astute game management.

I agree that chemistry is very important - I would include in my definition of chemistry having the right skill sets on each line - ones that complement each other and make each player better. Reading about Janatuien's struggles last year made the second half of last year a bit more understandable. As to the theme of "a bunch of duds" - if you watched us absolutely struggle to put the puck in the net while almost every other team in the league seemed better up front it is easy to understand. We added some key pieces this year and I don't underestimate the power of a determined off season. As to rock stars - don't forget that during our championship season we had a first line of NHL ready talent. Do you think we would have won it without Boesser and Schmaltz? Remember, we narrowly got by Denver in the semis - saved in the final seconds by Schmaltz. It seems to me that we have changed our recruiting a bit - we are more enamored with finding the next Caggula (under the radar high end talent who stays for 4 years) and less with getting in the next Toews, Parise, Oshie, or Boesser. I think this is the harder path as it is much more difficult to figure out who has great potential and is flying under the radar (especially with younger and younger players being signed. Just look at our young signees who didn't end up here for next year's class) than it to figure out the impact of a Boesser or Parise. With our pipeline to the NHL, fans, tradition, and facilities there should be no reason we don't get high end studs on a regular basis. I hope to see some added to the next couple of classes.

When we had the Caggjula, Schmaltz, Boesser magic and won #8 I was almost positive that recruiting studs up front going forward would be a big positive for our program. I'm not sure how it turned into an area of concern just a few years out. Berry needs to up his recruiting chops.

True, but by that logic there is no sense discussing anything on this board since it won't make anything change. And I have emailed the Ralph.

Well excuuuuse me for daring to mention that they could possibly make better use of the new video screen with more things involving the hockey game to fire up the crowd and fewer commercials.

You correct in pointing out that the players play the game. However, I was commenting on Bubba'b body of work - coaches influence culture, attitude, execution, among many other things. Head coaches control everything from who they recruit to what schemes they run to how they run practice and how the chemistry is in the locker rooms. Some coaches have the ability to produce teams that seldom make mistakes, execute well, and don't beat themselves. They show up for big games and often find ways to win. I don't include Bubba in this group. He's not at the bottom either. He is what his record says he is - a .500 coach.

With Bubba it's not just the losses - it's how we lose. We usually don't show up for one or two cupcakes each season and then piss games away against the good teams. A frustrating loss for sure today.

I agree with this - I'm not saying the big screen is the main problem - just saying it's not helping at all.

More things to keep the crowd fired up about the game - replaying good hits and plays (not just the goals), maybe coordinating cheers like the sieve chant, coordinating with the band. It seems like every time the action stops, especially after a good Sioux shift, the crowd attention and energy is instantly drawn to some advertising "race" up on the screen. I think they need to work on ways to get the crowd cheering and on their feet rather than chasing ad dollars. I miss the crowd and energy of the Old Ralph where the whole arena was into it. In my opinion, much of what is on the screen takes away from the crowd energy rather that adding to it. After all the great plays last night I can't think of one time the crowd was on their feet and loud during a break in the action. I'm sure if the focus changed from getting ad dollars many good ideas would come up.

It's fantastic to watch replays - however, most of the other time is spent broadcasting stupid advertising games and being used as a crowd dance cam. They could make so much better use of this technology.

The new video screen is nice for replays but otherwise seem to function broadcasting stupid advertising games or as a crowd dance cam. Not impressed with its use.

I saw three things tonight that I hadn't seen a lot of for the past few years They hit some corners with their shots They got some odd man rushes and breakaways They made the other team pay for taking penalties If we can keep this up against better teams we will have a good season.

Izzo has made a career of being the ultimate Bison lickspittle.

Or perhaps a bit of both. I know it is a trend that is coming everywhere - I just don't like it. I can live with going through for a concert but a craft show?

Glad to see them expand their entertainment - although I have to admit I was a little bit irritated to have to go through a metal detector to attend a craft show there last weekend. A solution in search of a problem.

I do think this team is way better and has a lot of potential especially with the defense and goaltending. I was just commenting on what I have seen up front. I think we have enough pieces in place that our scoring can jell. I started out commenting on the lack of puck movement, crisp passing, and shooting on our power play and mentioned that some of our difficulties in my opinion was related to talent. I'm not sure why this comment is such a bad thing.

It was never the talent that was in question. Actually it was because of his talent that he was criticized for his record in Frozen Fours.

I agree that the talent is better than last year - but there was no where to go but up. I still think our talent up front is below the usual Sioux teams. Compare this group with any of the forward groups during the Hakstol years. You can see the difference. We still have problems with crisp passing and handling feeds. Many of our shots are wide or into the goalie's chest. Our leading returner from last year had 10 goals and a -6 rating. I like our additions and think if they develop we can be a good offensive team. However we are not yet where we need to be. We do have potential this year but we have work to do.

Last year's power play was brutal. This years is just ineffective. The basic problem is that we lack puck skills - in passing, handling passes, and shooting. This is a talent issue first and foremost. Restructure all you want, but if we have guys who have to think first and tee it up we will not improve. The best thing Berry could do to improve our power play is hit the recruiting trail. There is no way we should be short of scorers once again.

Although better than last year we are still offensively challenged. Not many crisp passes or good looks in front of the net to say nothing about odd man rushes. 0 for the power play too. In my opinion this is a talent deficit. After taking most of the first period off we worked hard. We just need some more puck skill up front.

It would be nice if we could see some progress on the street construction. It looks like little progress has been made lately.

I have season tickets on the student side and would love the opportunity to move more to the center. And I stay all game.

I'm not sure that calling out our absolutely lackluster and punchless play for most of the game constitutes "jumping off the bandwagon" - especially when we have seen this play before (see last year).

The season is young and hopefully this team will put it together. I would be less concerned if I hadn't watched our team flail about in a similar fashion all last year. If I were to describe our championship year's team I would use terms like crisp, hard forecheck, relentless, snipers, and deadly. It is amazing that I see so little of that now. It is just like night and day. We need to figure things out and hopefully we will. I hope the changes put into place will take effect. Still, it was nice to get a win out of this mess of a game.

Every coach's teams have bad days, but this is a consistent theme with Berry.