tnt

Exactly! When they had the rather big window to make the scheduling agreement that Wisconsin did, they didn't. Then almost directly after the vote was required to get rid of the nickname Minnesota locked into their agreements.

I don't think chemistry is born overnight. Not sure how long before Knight and Kristo started clicking together, but O'Donnell has the speed and skills, he just needs to play with them for a while to see if something can build. Caggiula played with them but he wasn't given much time to build chemistry either. I think no matter who you put there, time to build would probably be needed. They did have a nice highlight goal together, but it didn't seem to carry over very well. Kristo was a part of thee goals the night before, but he didn't seem to have his best game on Saturday either. I don't want to call it a complete failure when the team as a whole didn't have their "A" game.

You do realize that the same inconsistency has gone on every year in the first half under Hakstol, minus Frattin's Senior season. You also should remember that the Sioux are "THE" most consistent team in the second half of the season. Yes, it's frustrating that there isn't more consistency throughout the season, especially in this new era where you could have too much ground to make up in the pairwise with so many teams involved, but if I had my druthers, I would rather be more consistent in the second half of the season. Sounds to me like some of you are part of the "Fire Hakstol" crowd.

I know, Anchorage should be ashamed of themselves!

We're really going to argue about meaningless polls at this point in the season? Don't we argue that they don't give trophies away in October?

Exactly, he is averaging the same number of points per game as Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad, and he is just getting his feet wet. Besides that, they have played against teams that traditionally play it tight to the vest, and are teams that are tough to play against, much less put up big numbers against. I think the fact that he is getting his chances against them bodes well for us down the line. I like Grimaldi on that line with St. Clair and Caggiula, and think if that line can produce a goal just about every night along with the Knight line and the Rowney line, and the occasional chip in by Chyzyk's, we will be tough to beat. I don't think we'll be giving up over 3 goals very often, so we seem very balanced in that all of those lines should be able to add offense fairly often.

I think the big difference is the defense. Minnesota has big, mobile defensemen, and the Sioux have a few that fill that bill, but otherwise they are a step slow. Bottom line is you need something from the twins in games like these, and they got nothing this weekend. To the contrary, they had some untimely penalties that hurt their chances of coming back. I'm hoping that Candace Molle can be added for the second half of the season, and the addition of Karvinen and Jensen, along with the progression of the rookies will narrow the gap between the two.

Luke Johnson was first star of the game tonight for Lincoln with a goal and an assist. Jack Rowe duplicated those stats tonight and was named 3rd star.

That's why I wrote "Seriously" to begin the next sentence. I was trying to make the point that others have, that we didn't get Anchorage's best effort, and we better be ready for a different team, or at least one that sticks to what they do best.

Was going to start a decommitted recruits thread, but figured why dwell on it. It is interesting to note that in Brad's ice time notes in the paper today he mentioned that Stephane Matteau Jr. has already been suspended twice for a hit to the head and a hit from behind. Couple that with all the issues he had in the past few years, and maybe the 5-minute majors could have deterred from his worth had he come here. Don't know what kind of numbers he is putting up in Major Junior, but doubt he would be putting up huge numbers his first year of college hockey.

I think Anchorage rope-a-doped us last weekend, trying to get UND to think this weekend will be easy. Seriously,if they are playing their slowdown game, they could be in the games and with a great goaltending effort, who knows. I'm hoping this years squad has a take no prisoners attitude right from the start, and keep their foot down on the pedal should they get an early lead.

When Rodwell scored that great shorthanded goal against Maine his freshman season, I thought he was going to put up better point totals, but he does a great job in the role that he is in now. Nice to have him chip in from time to time, but he is valuable to the team as a role player.

I know Rowe missed the game on Friday, but played on Saturday and had a goal and an assist. Not sure about why the others haven't been playing.

That may be true, but the weather is a little different between here and Minneapolis, and folks down there will be sure to tell you that. I have no doubt that some people would like the outdoors better, but if you have seen the 2500 or so fans that show up for a big playoff game compared to the number that show up on fair weather days, you'll know why they have indoor football.

All I know is that the small crowd really took away the possibility of an unbelievable atmosphere at the Alerus with such an incredible game taking place. Probably would have rivaled the Cal Davis game if the crowd would have showed up an been more vocal.

Friday: Grimaldi Saturday: MacMillian

I think most of us would take him on UND. I think his hatred for Minnesota is skewing his objectivity. Also, we don't know that Michigan State is going to be terrible yet. Kind of reminds me of the gopher fans who used to downgrade Ryan Duncan because supposedly he got his points playing with stars.

Maybe the chest bumping is contagious, as that appears to be how the defense attempts to bring down runners that are far more talented than they are used to seeing. What is scary is that this was what kind of effort and scheme they came up with in trying to restore a little respect for a much maligned defense.

Exactly. Your defense is unable to stop the other team, the score is tied and you have a 3rd and a yard and a half from the NAU 40. This is not hindsight either, but I told my friend at the time that they need to be looking at this as needing a yard and a half in two downs, which calls into question why you throw up a prayer at that juncture. It's hard to complain about the offense, but when you have a defense that is not capable of stopping someone, you have to have a mindset as a coach that you need to outscore the other team. If you are going to be aggressive on 3rd down like that, I would like to see you go for it on fourth as well.

it was also a fact that UND lost players to the pros early quite often, and to the Olympics as well. Troy Murray, Dave Tippett, James Patrick, Dave Christian, Kevin Maxwell ...

I agree 100%. I have no doubt that if the gophers don't win the WCHA or the NCAA this year you will hear the inevitable "chokers" rant. I realize part of it is good natured ribbing between rivals, as I am sure that there were a few gopher fans saying the same thing after the Sioux loss to Michigan a few years ago. In reality, you have to have a lot go right to win when you are predicted to win, mainly because you are going to be the team with the bullseye. Minnesota and UND have that bullseye anyway, but it heightens it that much more. Choking is when you have a big lead and lose it by tightening up, not when you get beat by a goaltender or outstanding effort from another team.

I think it's all preference, and I don't see any huge difference between Hammer and Sweeney. Remember the days of Sweeney and Travis Dunn? I think this is an upgrade over those early years, and expect that things will get better once Hammer is around the program all the time like Sweeney had been. Tim Hennessey probably has more inside information than both of them combined, but people complain about him being too much of a homer.

Sounds like this may be exclusive to Fox College Sports because I noticed the Midcontinent station seemed better than in the past.

Grimaldi

I agree. Even last year they gave up a ton of yards, but managed to get out of it because the level of competition wasn't as good as we see now. So we either don't have the talent we need to be an effective defense, or the scheme isn't allowing us to be a competitive defense -- either way that is on the coaches. Do we have the right coaches in the right places? I guess time will tell on that. I will say that I don't think our defense has improved enough for the defensive coordinator to become an associate head coach. Maybe I'm old school, but I can't stand to see players that get burned 60% of the time getting in the oppositions face when they make one big play. Maybe that's just what is expected in college sports now, but if I were a coach, I would get into that players face and point out the number of times he's been burned in proportion to the big plays he's made.