tnt

Good to see Tony Hrkac at the arena tonight supporting the Sioux.

If the Sioux win tomorrow, they should clinch home ice in the playoffs since they own tiebreakers with Denver, Omaha and Wisconsin, shouldn't they?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdeOogQJn9Q Kind of funny, on the Harvard campus around the 9:25 mark we get a glimpse that status isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Perhaps more professors should actually teach rather than push their agenda.

I think Keaton Thompson's draft position could possibly play into the defensive situation if he accelerated his schooling like some have suggested. If he goes high enough, he could be an option to come in early because there is always a possibility/probability that some clubs won't want a high draft pick to take too long for development, thus get as many years out of him as you can. From what I understand, he is playing very well.

Let's face it, the difference between teams now is not nearly as much as it was in the past, simply because there are so many resources to draw players from, and the coaching at different levels is better across the board. I think that bears out in each of the conferences where if you get swept on any given weekend you could drop 3 or 4 spots in your league. You are going to always have teams with a bit higher skill level, but we have seen that a hard working team can cancel that out in many circumstances. Who'd have thought Mankato would turn it around so fast under a new coach? People better realize how fortunate the Sioux have been to put together such a great string of NCAA appearances.

Is it possible that they were talking about the tentative schedules that were released?

Four goals for Adam Tambellini tonight, including the OT game winner.

College Hockey news shows they tied.

I think Hakstol was one of the coaches pushing for less conference games so they could schedule Minnesota and Wisconsin every year. If that transpires, it would be o.k., but not having Denver at home every year doesn't help in the short term. When you look at how many of the teams in the NCHC have made the NCAA playoffs in the past 5-10 years, it might be nice to schedule a few non-conference foes that might lighten the SOS a little bit.

Agree, why sell yourself short. Remember when people told Ralph that we would probably not have enough fans to fill the Ralph so curtaining off the upper deck may need to be an option? Rather than getting a 15,000 seat arena, it went down to about 12,000 instead. Once they prove that the Xcel would be a disaster fanwise and financially, then make changes, but why take away a great experience from those players before anything is proven.

Knock me over with a feather, Watchmaker (Lomackman) an advocate for bad behavior. Explains a lot.

So in real life if he feels like he should be getting more pay or a promotion and doesn't, he should then find a way to cheat the company somehow and make a big scene and flip off the boss? It's called a life lesson, and he had better learn it early.

Montana State bought out the game they were going to play in Fargo next year. Gene Taylor said "that's not the way you do business". Of course in this case Gene, it is perfectly legal to buy out a game. It's the illegal activity you should focus on Gene!

Wisconsin's got to be upset at the no call on the second half of the double minor when the Minnesota guy stuck his leg out and tripped Ramage. How you miss that when the puck is involved is beyond me.

Was wondering why Wisconsin, would give up a game at home in the Kohl Center, but the more I think about it, the outdoor game could help them if conditions aren't ideal, by taking away some of Minnesota's skill. Hopefully Wisconsin can pull one off this weekend. In retrospect, losing that late lead to Minnesota really hurts now. Instead of being 4 points up on Minnesota, with tiebreakers yet to be determined, basically nullifying their games in hand, the Sioux now have to finish ahead of Minnesota, which makes it much more difficult.

When you say UND lost out on, does that mean they made an offer to him?

Let's just hope the ice conditions don't cause any injuries for either team. You would hate to lose a player for an extended period because of a novelty game.

Is he planning on playing Junior hockey next year to get some more looks? If he proves himself at the next level, I would think that he adds the physical element that isn't a hallmark of the skilled '96 class.

Doesn't it seem strange that Matteau made the Devils and didn't make the World Junior team? Guess he fills a valuable role for the Devils, one that probably wouldn't have been warranted in the World Junior setting. With the emphasis on questionable hits, maybe the World Junior coaches were wise not to take a chance on the type of physical nature that Matteau brings.

Wonder if they are still entertaining hopes of McMaster or Gropp, who I believe are both in the '96 class as well.

Guess I didn't think that through quite enough. Just remember Luke playing for Red River in 8th and Central in 9th and 10th. Forgot this would be his Senior season. Also Jake Marto verballed before he played Juniors, but then played a few years after his Senior season, but I believe there was some competition from Duluth and Minnesota that was in play there. Don't remember if Irmen and Potulny verballed before Junior hockey either. But you are right, many of those guys had more of an elite status at the time. Will be interesting to see how Benson does in Dubuque next season. A lot of people think that John Lizotte has some upside because of his size and skill. We will see how it all plays out.

Just that he was ranked 196 in these midterm ratings. http://www.collegehockeyrecruitexchange.com/

Who is the last Grand Forks player that got a scholarship from the Sioux without playing junior hockey first? I am sure UND showed interest, as they did with LaDouceur, Meland, and Lawdermilt to some extent, but I would guess they did so to keep open communication for when the players progressed in Junior hockey. If they would offer very early, it would probably be very limited scholarship money, because let's face it, there are a lot of great hockey players out there, and UND is one of the elite programs that has a chance at a lot of them. This is in no way to say St. Cloud isn't getting a good player, but if they waited too long and waited for Junior experience, they might not have got him.

We've said it before that if they don't play the grinding, hard to play against game, you might as well put people in the lineup like O'Donnell, Chyzyk, and Gaarder because they have a better offensive upside. The fact that it stood out last night tells me that they haven't been as adept at fulfilling that role as they need to be on a consistent basis. Hopefully this was a precursor for things to come.

Yeah, since Greg Sheppard is so concerned about diving, how 'bout telling your guys to start calling the diving penalties, and that might cause them to think twice before doing it.