tnt

Not saying any of those guys will "excel" at UND, but doesn't mean they can't/won't be great role players here. Colton St. Clair is an example of that. His goals went down each year he was in the USHL and people were wondering if he would be able to contribute in college. While he isn't a top scorer, I think most people like his game here.

I will add that some players don't flourish under certain systems. I know Jake Marto was hampered offensively by Mike Hastings system in Omaha, but maybe in the long run it helped him in the defensive end, making the learning curve to college hockey a little easier. UND coaches are up to date on every recruit and letting them know what they need to improve on to get to the next level.

You are worried about Poganski and Wilkie who are playing in a tougher league, but you are upset we lost Gropp who didn't put up good numbers in an offensive league. Put too much stock in numbers.

Thought LaDue played much better on Saturday and gave a glimpse of what he can do. He did a great job killing penalties all weekend. You don't kill off that many penalties without the defense killing them playing well.

Guess I missed your post about Chay too!

Mattson makes mistakes, but then again so do others. Maybe the reason he gets more grief is because he is touted as an offensive defenseman and it doesn't seem the tangible results (goals) are coming from that offense. I think once people zero in on one guy, a lot of people scrutinize that person even more. Heard the same thing about Joe Gleason, and remember the people that couldn't understand why Chay Genoway was playing defense when he should have been playing forward. Mattson has things to work on to be sure, but I like that he inserts himself into the offense, because we are going to need that more this year. Hopefully we have the solid goaltending that will allow for a few chances being taken.

The fact that he is better than the other corners I am sure is very concerning to the majority of UND football fans to begin with, but if that is the case it seems like a message is being sent to the rest of the underclassmen that discipline isn't necessary if you are the better player. I would be putting my foot down at this point if I were a coach, telling the players that if you have a personal foul out of bounds, you will be sitting the rest of the game.

Across college football, that is the difference. We know that penalties that keep drives alive kill momentum. Yet this team still has a penchant for all of these things. The players are the one's making the mistakes, but continuing to throw those same players out on the field that make some of these mistakes enables some of this behavior, especially concerning the penalties. Even after Mackey's personal foul today, there was a circumstance where he started to jaw with an EWU player and the ref was glaring at him like he was getting ready to flag him. UND may have no backup that is better, but by allowing that kind of behavior to continue week in and week out sends a message to the rest of the team. Nobody should be bigger than the team, and consequence is the only ammunition coaches have against a continued behavior. To be one of the very worst in FCS in turnover ratio when that was clearly a point that needed focus coming into the season is hard to believe.

It's hard to say if it is good or bad. Both Rocco and Parks have highlights of a go to move that has worked. Might have to go with a change up in the next shootout.

Saw one, maybe two potential recruits on the bench during pregame warm ups. Anyone have any idea who they were?

According to Schlossman, 2 other guys are on Vermont that he played with on Surrey.

Don't cloud his ranting with facts!

With all the freshmen in the lineup, I really have no idea what to expect. I would hope the talent would shine through, but with a lot of those freshmen at defense, its hard to tell what will happen. I hope that people temper their enthusiasm or pessimism from this series though. If they pummel Vermont, doesn't put them as National Championship favorites, just like if they stumble it doesn't mean they'll suck. Hopefully the NCHC teams, including the Sioux, will take care of business in non-conference play, because with how tough the league will be, they really need to have an impressive non-conference record to maximize the number of teams that make the NCAA.

Saturday tickets are gone. Still have two tickets for Friday.

2 tickets for both nights against Vermont, Section 302A Row G, Aisle seat above entryway. $25 each.

Yeah, we've also seen that an injured team can often be a more focused team, and less dependant on certain people.

Kind of surprised that Jack Ramsey is at 28, but maybe his size and bloodlines has something to do with that.

They were saying that Stephane's brother had a hat trick in one of their exhibition games last weekend, so maybe he has a more adept scoring touch. We know that Stephane's role is very important in our scheme of things though.

... and Kansas State thought they had the game locked up against you and started to coast. It goes both ways.

I guess we differ on what constitutes awful.

It's too bad they didn't have some of the freshmen defense last year that they have this year. I really think Hirschy and Kryzaniak (?) could be the extra difference makers at defense that they didn't have last year. Might even have allowed Monique to play forward more last year. Really like the way they move the puck. They really look like they have a solid foundation for the future.

I think the second year back in Grand Forks will be a little more heated, especially when they find players that they don't like from the opposition from the previous year in Minneapolis. Unless they meet in the NCAA's they won't have any history with the players. Hopefully most of our great '96 class is still around for the rivalry renewal.

I guess before I removed it totally, I would have the shuttles run at designated times, maybe 15 or 20 minute increments, to make sure buses are full, rather than take a few fans at a time.

This is what I do as well, but given that there are no more shuttle buses, I worry I might have to wait in my car for longer than I normally do because everybody that used to take the shuttle buses decide they need to get there even earlier.

The smoking policy is people aren't allowed back in for the purpose of smoking. Don't tell the people why you want to go out of the arena and just make sure you are 25 feet or more from the doors of the Ralph and you will be fine. Their policy is smoking is prohibited within 25 feet of a door. They know they won't be able to enforce this.