tnt

Exactly, nobody knows the motivation of the player, nor the team that drafts him. I will never be fully confident a person that is somewhat of a flight risk will be back, until I see them in the fall.

What do you think Sheppard would say about all the message boards that think both he and McLeod are the problem with the league. They are part of a structure that has no accountability for poor officiating, which leads to many of the on-ice problems.

Gotta agree with you there. In the past three weeks, I have seen gopher players retaliate or instigate 4 times, and each and every time it was from behind or when someone was down. I'm all for sticking up for teammates, but do it face to face. I know standing up for teammates is somewhat new for the gophers, as witnessed by Stoa saying that Shack's attack was the first time they stood up this year, but there are ways that are more honorable than others. I would be embarrased if you hadn't stuck up for teammates until 3/4 of the season was complete.

You have selective memory. When the gophers hit Oshie late last year, didn't Zajac jack Lucia from behind? Sometimes you just respond without thinking first. Not saying that is right or wrong, just that in a game like hockey your emotions can get the best of you. My problem is with guys like Woog and Mazzocco who after this event said how nice it is to have a guy like Shack, while they lit into Zach Jones for being classless when he wanted to handle things from the front.

I am not saying that Sioux players are all angels, and what he did was the wrong way to go about things. My problem is with people with maroon-colored glasses that can't see that to every action there is a reaction, and that the gophers were just as culpable, if not more, in the series they played a few weeks ago. To see the Sioux as dirty, and dismiss what Lucia and Stoa did seems to be the norm at gopher nation.

But your assistant coach did say that he believes in sticking up for your teammates, albeit not in the way Conboy did. That being the case, what was the problem with the way Zach Jones stood up for his teammate? Jones can't help it if Lucia would rather hit someone from behind than stand up face to face!

After a while, it gets almost comical. Maybe the Sioux should be as arrogant and cocky as Gwoz himself and just accept that everybody is going to assume the worst when there are incidents in a game involving the Sioux. Their attitude should just be that "yeah we intimidate every little wussy team in the league, so what are you going to do about it?" Gwoz is one of those rare idiots that talks behind the backs of whomever he isn't around. When he is in UND circles, he mocks "gopher pride", when he is outside he mocks the Sioux. Why should anyone care what a two-faced jerk like that thinks anyway?

I have 2 tickets for the Saturday afternoon game with CC in section 311 Row C. Also have 2 for Sunday afternoon in Section 311 Row A. Looking for a little below at what I paid for them at $30 each.

When you said that recruiting was about 1/4 the equation, I was going to say that it was actually about 1/5th, but then as I read down further in your post I saw the other 5th of which you spoke--luck. You can do all the right things, but you need a little luck.

Anything that can get the crowd fired up is fine by me, and Oshie is one of the all-time favorites around here. It is because he is only one-year removed and has such respect for the UND program that he would be greeted with a thunderous applause.

I was going to say that what I meant by elite player was someone that was a no-brainer even to the rubes that they are coming in right away. The problem with that thinking is that the example I gave in Oshie was one that some thought should go play a year of juniors. With that in mind, we probably have a good mix with players that have a good chance to make an immediate impact next year in Cichy, Kristo and possibly Danny Mattson, and for the following year with Forbort and Mattson. Perhaps it just seems out of whack because all the players that verballed recently are most likely to be role players, at least starting out, perhaps growing into other roles.

It would be interesting to know how many of the elite prospects the Sioux have been after that we have missed out on lately. It's hard to know who is going to be great, regardless of the hype, but the odds of a high-end recruit flopping I would guess would be a lot less. Hopefully this guy will turn out to be a diamond in the rough, as I don't remember his name being circulated around here, nor the guy from Winnipeg. I guess we just need to have faith that the coaches know talent and who will be willing to sacrifice for the team better than we do, but it certainly was nice to have a guy like Oshie with high skills and the dedication to the concepts of the team.

The Sioux play them in a week, so we will find out just how "terrible" they are. Remember how many people were saying how terrible Michigan State and Michigan Tech were? That's all the Sioux need now is to start believing that stuff and taking a step back. First things first though, the Sioux have to have a good weekend at Denver to keep the ball rolling.

I would think that Bennett Brien would be able to sell stuff with his artwork on it as long as it didn't have ties to the University.

That would seem odd, as you would think the away team wouldn't hold back on travel and stay at the nicest places. Why didn't the Sioux fly to Tech and make them pay for the trip? If this was the case, then why did they make such a big deal of Alaska paying for teams to go up there? Anyone know for sure?

He takes a lot of his information from Glen Sonmor, possibly the least objective of any announcer I have ever heard. Glen Sonmor has no credibility whatsoever. When Nanne was talking about the shoving around the net as silly, he is implicating the gophers the most. I have never seen a team that shoves players from the other team as a way to prove they are tough. I rewatched Fridays game and that happened on many occasions. There were several times when the Sioux guy slowed up and skated away from a scrum, only to be pushed away anyway. Nanne's credibility is hurt because he is taking stuff Sonmor tells him as gospel.

Well, I wouldn't call a ref who calls a player a "psychopath" because he drops his gloves objective.

... and the fact that he and Derek Sheppard have no objectivity. Minnesota was slashing at Sioux players all night with both watching and they expect the Sioux to do nothing?

I thought Hill left Anchorage of his own accord, or was that damage control?

To me, hockey is a sport that lends itself to frustrations and that leads to bad behavior by the team that is getting handled. I think Stoa is a great player that lost his cool a bit, which certainly happens to the Sioux as well. My problem isn't with Stoa or Lucia, but with the announcers that think the gopher player's crap doesn't stink, namely Woog and Mazzocco. If they can't see that their players are just as susceptible to bad behavior as the Sioux or any other team, then they are living in their own little world. It would be nice if they, and any gopher fans that believe the same would have a seed of reality planted in their brains.

Michelletti and Miller may be the only objective gophers there are. On "Beyond the Pond" on Saturday they said they were embarrassed by the gophers' actions and said if the Sioux did the same things they were doing when they were behind late in the game, they would be saying how dirty the Sioux were. Maybe Woog and Mazzocco should take a few lessons from a few ex-players. Of course Woog is the same person to send someone out to goon Greg Johnson, then played dumb (maybe he didn't need to play) and said they wouldn't even know Greg Johnson from anyone else! You know, if that is the case, then I guess we know why Doug got fired, he couldn't point out the Sioux's all-time leading scorer.

Congratulations, you have one more thing in common with Charles Manson!

That is the exact problem, people only ate there during sporting events. They do need something with a wider appeal, and something with wireless internet like Panera would be a good fit if the building were of size. It is probably a little big for a Panera or Chipotle, but both would be good fits for the campus area. Regardless, they need something that students would attend even when there aren't sporting events.

I am sure the Sioux will want to hit the gopher defensemen early and often because as a core they are not too big and can move the puck well. The question is going to be if Sheppard or whoever they send here is going to let legal hits go, because he has a tendency to call penalties on clean hits. If he does, the Sioux may be in trouble, if not it could cause some nice offensive opportunities.

I'm not against a second chance for anyone, but some of the stuff he did wasn't about immaturity, it was downright scary.