Irish

I'm not saying this IS our future, just saying that if it is I think the atmosphere will suck. Hopefully our new class can bring a little firepower and get things on track.

I agree with this assessment - I'm not saying we should be the smash you in the face teams of the past, I'm saying we don't have any other real identity either. We are not a huge offensive threat that keeps flying up and down the ice or buzzes the net relentlessly and we don't have any real stars. Quick - describe this team's style in a sentence or two - what do you come up with. We seem to be a team of worker bees that are forever working the corners on our dump chase and cycle. No particulair puck skills stand out. Add in our power play (I'm not saying we never score, I'm saying it is very frustrating to watch) and you get our team - not bad and we are always hopeful, but not one of our best. Add in the corporate and expensive atmosphere of the Ralph and this is what you get. Three or four more years of this and the Ralph will be truely quiet - especially if we continue to hover around the outer edges of pairwise.

Agreed that the student section is dead and the Ralph is too quiet. I am very concerned about this going forward. I think it is a combination of a lot of things. One of them (and by far not the only one) is that this team has no identity or team personality - it's neither fish nor fowl. Gone are the days when visitors were in for a world of pain and big hits would fire up the crowd. Also not here is a team that relentlesly buzzes the net and keeps coming at you (see Blais's teams). What we have is a team that is inconsistant and seems to lack any star power. You never know what you are going to get. Even after victorys, the things that fans often take away from the game is negative - usually frustration about our power play not gaining the zone or our relentless dump, chase, and cycle. This team has no hard-nosed edge and no signature method of dealing with opponents. Combined with many other factors - some previously mentioned here - and a quiet Ralph is what you get. I hope this doesn't continue or become the norm.

The last time I was on the receiving end of one of your juvenile sarcastic attacks was when I dared to mention that Muss might not be the one to lead the Sioux to football success. If you don't like my opinion make yours with a factual argument - leave the junior high snide remarks at home. I had the gall to point out that Huff wasn't always an asset dispite his huge talent. As to the checking out - some of it refered to the memorable game a season or two ago when he didn't want to play if he wasn't getting the ball. Sorry if I'm not all duckys and bunnys like you, but if you feel compelled to make more personal attacks you can kiss mine.

I've seen him check out several times when he wasn't getting the ball enough including one memorable time a season or two ago (too lazy to look for it). There is no doubt he is one of the most talented players ever to suit up for UND but he isn't always an asset on the floor (passing, defense).

I don't think there would be nearly as much heartburn over our record this year if we were young or if we were working hard but just didn't have the talent. However, we have a very talented group of seniors and Jones has shown zero ability to coach them up at all. Watching this talent not box out, refuse to pass, and just mail it in sometimes drives me nuts. They don't appear to listen to coaching at all because they have been playing the exact same way for 4 years. This is so frustrating to many fans. At times you see more disciplined play in a pick up game.

They worked their butts off for this victory but didn't execute well at all. Seemed to miss a lot of good passes and fight the puck some. Good grind it out win. By the way - our power play is not horrible once we set it up, but I have rarely seen a team that has so much trouble getting set up in the zone. You would think they would have it figured out by now.

Maybe, maybe not this year - but when they were class A it was a different story

Interesting topic - I really believe that there is no great way to divide the classes - put Grafton in class A and they get hammered, put them in class B and year in year out they do the hammering because they have many times more students than some of the smaller schools. All of the old small class A schools are now class B - Rugby, Grafton, Trinity, Bottineau, etc and not just because of population loss - they either are at the bottom of class A or the top of class B. These teams seem to dominate now, and mainly because of numbers. This is not to say smaller schools don't get to the dance because they do, but it is frustrating to watch a team like Trinity who recruits and keeps their numbers under the class A limit take it to the public class B schools. Same thing year in year out with Shilo Christian.

They've had some good recruiting years

I'm glad someone actually took the time to read the posts. Two things I think we need to hang #8 - First - he ability to adjust our game plan - when teams scout us, they seem to be able to bottle up our transition game. We need to be prepared for this. Second - we need to have our goalie steal one instead of it happening to us. A key element in our 1-5 frozen four record under Hak is goalie play.

And what is this "impossible standard" to which you refer?

Ok, I'll bite being my name was mentioned. First of all, Hak took over UND not Wisconsin. The program he took over had been winning National Championships at the rate of about 1 every 5 years for the last two coaches. We were the Boston College of that era. Where the cheese heads have Badger football and the Packers, UND Hockey is the only game in town on the national stage. I think we need to define what our expectations are (and I think they are different than the Badgers). I see a collective lowering of expectations here - being there is good enough, it's somehow harder, ect. My expectations for this program are some National Championships. I am not saying fire Hak, but I am saying that I am getting frustrated with our lack a championship. A better question might be what BC expects after York retires. Will they be happy with being close but no cigar? In my mind, the expectation that the Sioux Hockey team should win some championships is not unreasonable. Dredging up all of the other programs that haven't gotten it done lately (Red) does not make me happier with our lack of success.

York did ok in Tampa, Detroit, Denver, and Albany.

Unlike some teams, we don't hang banners for those. We all know what big games we are talking about - What's his frozen 4 record? 1-5? Again - not saying fire Hak, just wish he could get us over the hump. I hate the idea that collectively Sioux fans may be deciding that just being there is good enough.

Now you're just being idiotic - no one said anything remotely like that.

Let's not be so smug until we win a Natty.

Back on topic - A lesson we saw reinforced today - never go into a prevent or defensive shell - It never seems to end well for us. Keep doing what got you the lead in the first place.

There is parity in hockey just like there was parity from 78-00 only it was us not BC that seperated ourselves.

And not named North Dakota

Just using your question to make what point? Everyone knows the answer to this - York is golden - he has BC doing what we used to do. Was there any fire Blais talk? TDon has been on the hot seat in Minneapolis even after two Nattys - its been in all of the papers. Another failure would add fuel to the fire.

I would hope we all live in the world where we expect some championships from UND - not entitled, but earned by the best team in college hockey. Anything less is a lowering of expectations. I see a lot of that around here lately. Pretty good is getting to be good enough.

By the way, what did we make of the favorable opportunity of having a regional at the Ralph and having Holy Cross upset the Gophs in the first round?

Sorry, but I can't make any sense of the idea that championships come in bunches other than thinking that these programs had great talent during these times. We've had great talent but no championships lately (see Toews, Oshie, Duncan, Parise, etc). What are you saying that that makes me believe that we will win a bunch soon?

Don't disagree, but that has zero to do with them kicking our butts in the Frozen 4 year after year