tnt

Tim Hennessey said this morning that they got Simpson, but missed out on a guy to Major Junior. Any idea on who that might be?

Rau just got his hat trick. Fast and good with the puck and already has 30 goals this year. Wonder how many schools he is considering?

Even taking injuries out of the equation, are we all thinking that the season is going to continue to go as well as it has to this point? Every season has its ups and downs, and I doubt this one will be different. If someone's performance doesn't meet the standard, and a message needs to be sent, or if someone is taking penalties that hurt the team, I am sure Hakstol wouldn't hesitate to teach a lesson. If that happens, it is up to Fienhage to take the ball and run with it.

If he wants vicious, he need look no further than comments many gopher fans have about him right now.

I call sandbagging, and if there is one thing we know up here in the Red River valley, it's sandbagging!

Friday: Zajac Saturday: Kristo

I think the Sioux are interested in Sahir Gill from Chicago as well.

Bet losing to NDSU was fun too! Too bad you didn't play for a trophy, then you will have yet one more empty trophy case. At least the Sioux still have the Nickel Trophy.

I guess I haven't heard that he is a bad teammate, so any personality quirks wouldn't be a disqualifier for me. We have had some odd ducks at UND in the personality realm as well, but their team seemed to either like them or put up with them. I know I was glad we had Jason Blake, even though I heard he didn't have the best personality.

I think tickets are very hard to come by, so I don't think they would go without some possibility of having tickets.

I know many gopher fans are calling for Lucia's head, but I have a feeling they will get well against Anchorage this weekend, and once they get their scoring confidence they will turn things around. It would be nice to see Anchorage take them out at least once, but in Minneapolis I think Minnesota gets on track.

That is the sign the defense has problems. Remember when our linebackers were always the leading tacklers? Now our secondary is leading that category. Either the defensive line isn't opening it up for the linebackers to make plays like the defense was set up, or our linebackers just aren't making the plays. I can't remember when the Sioux didn't have a big name defender that they could count on game in and game out. Hopefully those players are waiting in the wings.

I don't think Nick Mattson is eligible to be here this year, as I don't believe he accelerated.

I think the latest shows he is tied for the points lead on Shattuck with 15.

There is no excuse here, but I would hope that it would make fans take a close look at their behavior when it comes to getting into people's faces. I witnessed Sioux fans that were getting in gopher fans faces who were just trying to have a conversation with each other between periods. I was ready to confront those idiots myself. Fans like that make it hard for Sioux fans who make the return trip to Minneapolis, because many fans look at it as a chance to get even. Grow up!

I agree that Kristo needs to be a little more selective, but I think the Sioux need someone who isn't afraid to take a shot from a bad angle. Ryan Duncan and Brandon Bochenski made a living off of bad angle goals. As long as the people down low are ready for it and in position to screen and/or get a rebound, I don't have a big problem with getting shots on net from the point. See two of Genoway's goals and Marto's goal for confirmation of that. Perhaps when he gets that monkey off his back, he will be a little more selective. The only problem I see is if he doesn't get the puck to our playmaker (Gregoire) and our horse (VandeVelde) enough for them to do their thing. I'm sure if Hakstol had a problem with him in that regard, it would be addressed.

So being concerned by undisciplined play is being a front runner?

I will only say that the discipline of this team when the chips were down concerns me very much. The Sioux have always been a "don't beat yourself" team, and Mussman even talked about how Stonybrook beat themselves last week. They say you can find out a lot about a team when there is adversity. I only hope the reflection from this game isn't a recurring theme.

This was very disconcerting to me! How can you expect your team to believe that Sioux Falls is a threat, if you don't. Injecting Sutton before it got out of hand in the first half might have changed the complexion, because the Sioux couldn't even penetrate the line of scrimmage. I was giving the offensive line and defense the benefit of the doubt up until now, thinking that the competition was just consistently better at this level, but after today, I have to say that I haven't seen an offensive line or defense that can't seem to muster anything in the way of a push. To not even get pressure on an NAIA team's quarterback this week, while the same team is harassing your quarterback all day, really leaves me wondering what is going on. It looked like we were playing prevent defense all day, while we couldn't even get a sniff against their defense. I generally don't like to post on the day of a frustrating loss, but I think these issues are undeniable, even after a cooling off period. The problem for me, is I don't think you can chalk this up totally to having a bad day. Kind of ironic that Sioux Falls dons purple uniforms isn't it. Sioux Falls appears to be our Holy Cross. What goes around comes around!

I think his dad played at Michigan State. If he's good enough, why not trade in one green jersey for another.

I think even many gopher fans agree that Minnesota will try to bring a physical presence this year and will try to carry it throughout the weekend. I believe that will include chippiness. When UND responds to that, I believe Woog and Mazzocco's reply will be "Here we go again". I also believe they will be appalled when someone tries to get at Tony Lucia, because goodness knows he isn't an instigator like Hextall.

I will only say that Grand Forks would have far fewer restaurants and retail if it were not for the Alerus. Remember, the Alerus was in the works before the Ralph was a pipedream. Of course it is hard to support two buildings like that in one town, but what do you do now. Maybe the city should tax the heck out of the Ralph. Remember one other thing, the city was subsidizing the Civic Auditorium for about the same amount as the annual shortfalls from the Alerus. Also, I realize that most people here are hockey fans only, but do you honestly believe the UND football team would be able to recruit at the same level without the Alerus? I bet they would have had 3000 people tops last weekend at the game if it were outdoors. You can flame away, but you can't convince me that the Alerus has been bad for Grand Forks all things considered.

Anyone know if any recruits will be in this weekend to watch the rivalry? Didn't we get four commits in short order last year after the gopher series here?

If you can say this in about a week, I will be happy.

Friday: VandeVelde Saturday: Kristo