tnt

Tim Hennessey has told the story many times, but thought Chelios committed here then Wisconsin's assistant coach Grant Standbrook made a trip to the families house and he changed his mind. I could be mixing stories and that was another player, but that stands out in my mind.

Hopefully they can keep the flu bug contained. Can't afford to be even more shorthanded.

You know what, Dr. Hook would have been a good nickname for Dean Blais!

No, but it will be interesting to see if there are any younger kids in the Olympics from overseas that Peter Elander could work his magic with.

Agreed, and I think we all work, or have worked with people that don't "execute" properly on a day to day basis, but because they aren't toxic we can respect their shortcomings.

If you were honest with yourself, you would realize that if that was a relative of yours, you would not espouse the same philosophy. If someone came to your place of work with a "fire ___" sign, would that be o.k.? Yes, it is a different business, but these matters are best handled internally, and the lack of fan support already speaks volumes for those decision makers.

If they were a one-trick pony last year, then if the Sioux finish .500 this year it should be considered an overachieve.

And in the same token What's your answer?

With powerplays always being so hot and cold, I don't know why coaches just don't get it in the zone, make as few passes as possible to get shots through to the net, and get traffic in front of the goaltender. You should be able to get four or five shots on net on a powerplay, especially if you are crashing for rebounds. Granted, it's a simple plan, but I like the chances of scoring on one of the four or five shots or rebounds better than the one or two shots looking for the perfect goal. I know egos with players and coaches want to create a perfect powerplay so they look good, but I will take junk goals any day of the week. Just seems strange to me how they can always struggle to score goals early in the year, then once we hit the halfway point, a light gets turned on. The talent is the same the whole year, so it is just odd that this is a constant concern early in the year.

Was at the game and didn't hear the reason St. Clair didn't play. Was he injured? Someone who puts out consistent effort like that shouldn't be sitting if not injured. Am looking for this team to have a killer instinct that isn't happy with a one goal lead, and keeps working hard for the next one. I just get the feeling that they think a one goal lead will be fine, as well as a second half surge to make the NCAA's. While the second half surges are admirable, it shouldn't have to come to the point where a game here or there could keep you out of the tournament. I have a very uneasy feeling about tomorrow night because I don't know if they will have a sense of urgency and think St. Cloud's goalie could steal the game. How bad would that be to have one point in Grand Forks against St. Cloud in two years. With all the alumni in town for the Gino Gasparini tribute, it would be too bad for them to fall flat again.

Tickets sold.

Frankly, when you look at our lineup, we have been getting elite players from everywhere. How many times do you hear recruits talk about their first trip to the Ralph and they committed shortly thereafter. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Let's face it, you take one look at all the empty seats last weekend Minnesota had against Boston College, and if you were a recruit looking for a great college atmosphere, where would you want to go. UND has packed the barn against lower level competition, and with the competitiveness of the NCHC, I think fans are going to continue to show up.

Have one ticket for Friday and Saturday against St. Cloud in Section 302 Row D. $25 for each ticket.

The second part what rhetorical.

I guess the one question I will ask is how do you think it became a great rivalry? Did it become a great rivalry by playing every other year or every third year?

I would guess on Friday the defensive pairings would be, Schmaltz - Simpson, LaDue - Mattson, and Stecher - Ausmus. Maybe they would dress 7 defense, but I doubt it. Will be interested to see if Sanderson gets another shot, as he played well. Nice having decisions to make, unlike two years ago when they couldn't fill a lineup.

Just looked and so far the NCHC is 14-13-5 non-conference and Big Ten is 14-12-3, in which Minnesota and Michigan have 8 of those wins. In contrast, the Atlantic Hockey Conference is 6-33-3. Would think they would be looking at one automatic bid.

I will be shocked if they don't get 3 or 4 teams in the tournament. The league hasn't been world beaters, but I think they've done o.k. non-conference thus far. Would be curious what the WCHA non-conference is thus far.

They did review one of the shootout goals. Was the contention that the puck didn't keep moving forward? It looked like it went in off of Wilcox's skate.

My bad, thought it was a stretch to say Thompson didn't have a shot to get in UND's lineup at some point. Makes sense in the World Junior context.

You never know when it just clicks for a freshman defenseman and the learning curve narrows. Obviously his potential is high, so hopefully he shows why he was drafted so high sooner than later. With Simpson, Schmaltz, Stecher and Mattson, a more defensive defenseman probably has a little more value at this point.

Unless you're a trash talker, the only poll that should matter to any college hockey fan is the final poll. This isn't college football, there is a playoff system in place that allows for the teams to do their talking on the ice.

"ALWAYS" is hardly the word I would use. You are just asking for some gopher fan to come on here and put you in your place. At least the last two years they have finished higher.

The same can be said of any thread on this website that has people complaining about how the powerplay sucks or the penalty kill, or we don't have any great big men in basketball. Really, none of that is going to lead to positive change. It is more for the fans to point out the areas they have concerns about. True, a "fire Muss" thread takes it to a whole other level, but this kind of thread was kind of a long time building with complaints about the football program.

I am in the camp that says to trade Adrian Peterson for as many draft picks as they can get because they aren't going anywhere anytime soon anyway. His talents are completely wasted because nobody has to respect the passing game. Might as well get a serviceable running back that can catch some balls out of the backfield since they don't have a great downfield threat. Peterson would be great if you could get him in space, but he isn't Rickey Young and right now the Vikings need an outlet for the bad quarterbacks they have.