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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.

I did see that Wisconsin was very upset about a perceived missed call before Parks' goal to make it 3-0. Didn't see a replay, but it sure looked like a penalty at the time. I did see the ref motioning a dive to the Wisconsin player arguing vehemently about the missed call. I think it would be poetic justice if it was actually a penalty that was nullified by Wisconsin's penchant for diving. I guess you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

If UND listened to disgruntled fans and fired Hakstol, you can bet there would be blood in the water on some of those recruits because they are so highly rated, giving coaches a plausible reason to contact them, and the recruits a chance to re-open their recruitment depending on their reasons for their verbal. Hopefully all of them continue to develop and can add to the legacy of the program.

Yeah, do you think there would even be room for Ryan Gropp with the verbal of Gardner? Maybe they are covering themselves in case someone caves to Major Junior pressure.

So are you advocating letting Hakstol go? If that happened, I have no doubt that Minnesota would put a full court press on Shane Gersich to get him to change his commitment because he said he really was excited to play for this coaching staff. And if he changes his mind, could Austin Poganski change his as well? High-end recruits usually are gone early, so replacing them might not be that easy, as we have seen with the loss of Miller and Matteau. It could hurt the program in the short term, and as we have seen in a one and done tournament, success isn't guaranteed for even the best of coaches. Is it worth it to get rid of a winning coach who is missing the big one at the risk of hurting the program for possibly 3-4 years? I assume you think the Minnesota Vikings should have fired Bud Grant.

Yes, and being that it is so close and the Sioux have so many ties and less wins, it becomes critical to be taking some of these series on teams we only play twice this year like Wisconsin, Omaha and Mankato to win any possible tie-breaking circumstances.

Maybe you should realize at some point in your life that money isn't everything, in fact in the scheme of life it isn't anything, and maybe if you learned that you wouldn't be calling for everybody else's job every time you are on this board.

You might be taken a little more seriously if you didn't call for every single coaches head and bring up the good old days all the time. If you were held to your own high standard, you wouldn't have a job-- oh, wait ...

I find when people believe there is no way things are going to happen, that is when they end up happening. I don't understand people who say a talented team like St. Cloud has no chance at all of sweeping the Sioux. If the players end up buying into some of the arrogance that gets thrown around on message boards, that is how you get an effort like last night. However, I know you aren't exhibiting cockiness, simply confidence in the team to rebound in the face of the debacle last night.

The most frustrating part is that even with the outcome in Minneapolis last weekend, the Sioux could be in first all alone if they wouldn't have stumbled and played without passion in the losses to CC and St. Cloud. Get the ball rolling again tomorrow night and hope that Wisconsin and St. Cloud can put the hurt on Minnesota a bit. Problem is now that even with a win, St. Cloud most likely holds the tiebreaker with us.

Hopefully the Sioux will turn it around tomorrow night, but I do have some concerns as others have expressed that the Sioux haven't been tough to play against. They haven't gone hard to the net consistently, they haven't cycled the puck consistently and they haven't outworked teams consistently -- all trademarks of Hakstol's teams. To me, if the Pattyn, Senkbeil, Rodwell line isn't going to cycle the puck and wear down the other team in the process, you might as well put Chyzyk and Gaarder in the lineup because they have a lot more offensive upside. Right now I would put Gaarder in regardless, because he continually works hard, along with St. Clair.

Don't know if someone already brought this up, but tonight would be a fitting night to show this to the players and have them ask themselves the question do they really want to work like they said they would to make the last year in the WCHA a memorable one by winning as many trophies as possible. Can't just talk a great work ethic fellas!

But even when Mankato wasn't as good, it took some unbelievable plays by Frattin late to beat them. Depending on what each team is fighting for at that stage of the season, those games could be very scary.

Schlossman just tweeted that they did receive a commitment from Gardner.

We've got two tough weekends at home, but if the Sioux can take care of business, I believe Minnesota has both Wisconsin and St. Cloud on the road. Possibility to make up a little ground. Really hurt losing that game to CC, as they still would have been tied with Minnesota had they taken care of business at home like they need to from here on out.

Bottom line for me is that the Sioux can't afford to get caught watching instead of moving their feet, and if you look at a number of the goals last weekend, they had a guy fairly close by that wasn't covering someone in the slot. While the Knight line put up points on Saturday, they also were guilty of watching. When the Sioux were up 1-0, Pattyn left a guy wide open in the slot, and they tied it up. Doesn't even give us a chance to hold on to the lead for a short period and try extend it. That had to be deflating. The nice thing is that those things are quite fixable, the thing that is frustrating, is that it wasn't the younger players that were as culpable as the older players. Let's face it, the Knight line can't be even in +/- most nights and we still win consistently.