tnt

Exactly, Providence could still come out of this series better than us because a Non-conference road win means more come pairwise time. Let's give Gillies his first back to back losses.

#1 seed doesn't mean a lot in Fargo, except for line changes, so just make the NCAA tournament first.

I am not holding mine, especially since season ticket holders have been devalued in their new points system.

We could be the Semolinas!

I haven't either. I wonder if they will call even if no more tickets are available.

Yeah, I see he was drafted years ago in the latter rounds, so the fact he isn't playing there suggests he wants the college route.

Gersich with another couple goals tonight in a loss.

I see his father is former NHL'er Craig Wolanin. Hopefully he follows Dillon Simpson as someone whose dad played in the NHL and chose the college route, instead of guys like Matteau and Lemieux. Of course Simpson's dad played college hockey. Looks like Craig Wolanin played with Kitchener.

Bingo. And I'm sure CC remembers they competed well at the Ralph and believe they can get off to a good start at home.

I would think that it would be Chartrand, Shaw and Evers before the 3 East Side guys. They would probably need a little more seasoning first. Don't rule out that someone from this team isn't happy with playing time and goes somewhere else. Not highly likely, but with draft picks, you never know what the main club is putting in these kid's ears.

I believe he decided not to come back. Don't know the circumstances.

I'm not the one who said that people would be fired for not putting forth effort one day.

Then you must live in a cocoon, because everybody I know works with people they swear are the laziest people in the world. I bet 75 percent of the people on this site have posted from work. People have expectations of Hakstol and his players that they don't have for themselves or their kids.

O.k., only first game, but when you go out of your way in every interview to say that your whole focus is getting out of the gates we'll this year, and that is the effort you get in game one -- we'll, it's frustrating. When Pattyn said their goal is to win every game, I thought for a minute it might not be lip service. No more talk, need some first half success, starting tomorrow. Let's keep guys that give maximum effort like St. Clair, in the lineup. Having a veteran team with a preseason game under their belt against a less experienced team playing their first game should have resulted in a competitive game. Get after it in Bemidji, and carry it into the first league series then crucial games against Providence. Dixon Ward's team must not have been impressed with Sioux hockey, maybe the tour of the updates of the facility, but not the on ice performance. O.k., so get a good road win, and start from scratch, after all a road non-conference carries more weight. Right?

Jost and Fabbro were the 1st and 2nd stars of the game last night in a Penticton win.

I seem to recall games where the other team didn't have to punt, or did so only after they called off the dogs. Quite a change to be playing for field position all the time instead of having to score every time to follow suit.

... and they were on the field quite a bit, especially in the first half, and put in uncomfortable position numerous times as well.

PLAYOFFS! PLAYOFFS! Just had to use that line, but let's start by winning our first conference game, then see what happens from there. Our defense should be able to keep us in every game, but the offense still needs to find a way to put up some points. I'm a believer in the defensive turnaround, but I need to see a little more improvement from the offense, especially getting us the lead rather than always needing to come back.

I would think that if Poolman is going to play this weekend, they would let him get a little more comfortable at home first, but who knows maybe they want to see how he reacts on the road.

True, from what I've always seen as a knock on Schmaltz is consistency of effort. If the coaches can instill that, then we can hopefully compare him to Oshie. Hopefully he will be a little more selfish and take the shot when it needs to be taken. Great first game to build from.

But regardless of the outcome, let's not get too high or too low.

Which is curious as to why he thinks Duluth will be that much better as well. North Dakota always has trouble scoring the 1st half of the year, and does a lot better in the second half. Yes, they didn't score a lot in a few games down the stretch, but that's playoff hockey. Minnesota only scored 1 more goal with .6 seconds left, and I don't see them being scrutinized for it. You have to be able to play defense first and foremost, and have goaltending. Those things will take you a long way, because you need that offensive push from the point in the playoffs. The bottom line is the Sioux have a chance to prove him wrong. I just hope they start down that path from the start this year instead of being in must win situations down the stretch. Playing in our conference, we certainly will be battle tested by the second half of the year.

Not now, but if we could have been "the Force" with the understanding that it was short for Force of the North, and had been able to keep the old logo under those circumstances, I would have been in favor of it.

Personally I was hoping it was not just a marketing campaign back then. I was hoping that they would use "Force of the North", "Force" for short in an effort to bypass the NCAA hypocrisy and continue using the logo. If the logo wasn't tied to any particular tribe, who would they have to get permission from?

USA prospects game on NHL network at 6 tonight.