tnt

I was just wondering if an event that would probably be just as big, if not bigger than the Final Five because of its novelty might draw 5000 or 6000 Sioux fans coming from Minneapolis, Colorado, ND and such. Maybe that many fans wouldn't actually travel. But if they had 6000 seats to spare one night last year and 10,000 the next, I guess my fears were unwarranted.

Had a friend who went last year and said it was pretty full. Are there two levels to the arena? Maybe she meant the lower bowl was full. If there are plenty of tickets, it would be nice to see the "Sioux" have a bigger crowd than Omaha for both games.

Yes, but you now have time to recruit to fill that position. I would say that he should come in as a walk-on and prove himself like Gaarder to receive scholarship money. If they didn't think the chemistry between the brothers was worth taking the plunge before, why now, if indeed it comes to fruition. If he can't find playing time at St. Cloud, what does that say about our lineup. Maybe there were other issues at St. Cloud where he didn't want to stay, but I would think there are plenty of other recruits to draw on now. If he could play right away, then I can see the J.T. Miller angle, but he wouldn't be able to play until after Christmas next year. Hakstol didn't bring in someone after Christmas this year because I'm sure no one was available that could be a difference maker. If he will fight for playing time here, I have no problem because depth is always a good thing, but I also think the Sioux will have a lot of depth next year and could add some more skill with the scholarship money they have that went unused with departures like Cichy and Bruneteau and the Miller fiasco.

What has changed since they didn't recruit him the first time around? He was frustrated with playing time at St. Cloud, but didn't want to stay and work his way into playing time. I think Motzko is a pretty fair coach and wants to win, so I would have to assume that he thought other players gave them a better chance to win. I would hope and assume that if he did come here, he would be a walk-on, because like I said, if they think the line combo would be good, why didn't they recruit them together the first time around.

On the coaches show Hakstol said the outdoor game against Omaha is in the works, and Hennessey said that Blais thinks it will be a reality. The Sioux would play Friday at the Qwest Center, then play outdoors at the baseball stadium. Hakstol said the people working on getting it done know what they are doing. It would be interesting to see how many Sioux fans would go down knowing that many of them most likely would only be able to get tickets for the outdoor game.

I have 2 tickets for sale for the Friday game versus Wisconsin. Seats are in the upperdeck on the end the Sioux shoot twice. Seats are in 302 Row D seats 1 & 2 on the aisle. $40 each.

These tickets have been sold.

But Gibson was the goalie that played in the critical game and took a stupid penalty when the U.S. had a powerplay to take the lead.

Have 2 tickets for each game of the gopher and badger series. Seats are right above entryway in the upperdeck on the end the Sioux shoot twice. Only 6 seats are in the row. $400 takes all eight tickets.

St. Cloud brought in Joe Rehkamp for the second half. It is kind of a two-edged sword though. If you bring in a guy he is not going to be an impact player, and you are probably giving up a partial scholarship for another walk-on type player. I really appreciate what some of the walk-on's have done for us this year, but we really need to add some skill players to make up for the excess of grinders we have right now. Best scenario, is to get a skilled grinder like we had in J.T. Miller and next year we'll hopefully have in Stephane Matteau. I'm hoping that a few of the walk-ons we have playing this year are sitting next year, because it means we have upgraded the skill, or if they can make a huge step in that department, that's o.k. too. Does DiPuma have an offensive upside, or is he another grinder type if he comes in next year?

Did anyone hear the extent of Rodwell's injury? Crazy that as Schlossman said that half of the Sioux forward lines are walk-ons or defensemen. When you consider one of the other two forward lines is made up of all freshmen, and you would think that the other teams would be able to exploit that inexperience more. The Sioux have really hung in there with a depleted lineup. Hopefully, the Sioux can get many of the players back in the next few weeks and come together for a strong finish, as it appears it will be necessary to be a top 3 or 4 team in the WCHA.

Hopefully saving a bunch of them for the next home series!

What? He didn't take his timeout until it was 4-2.

While were at it, what are the odds that one or both of the Sheppard boys follow Minnesota to the Big Ten Conference? I would bet the Papa is trying to get them in the Big Ten as refs.

One has to wonder what role Denver and Miami had in getting him as a candidate for the job.

Doesn't mean there isn't a bunch of really good players in the BCHL, just that it isn't as lock down on defense as the USHL. Ryan Reilly is a perfect example. Last year he had 5 goals 9 assists in 42 games, so far this year he has 21 goals 22 assists in 35 games. True, he is a year older, but I think part of the difference is the league.

To be fair, he might have been over that shortly after he let his thoughts be known on it. Who knows, maybe he regrets letting his emotions get away from him.

That's kind of my point. I think people don't remember how great they thought such and such would be. I am certain that people thought Seth Ambroz would be the cream of this years rookie crop. I would bet that people were pretty excited about getting him to commit approximately the same time as Bjugstad and Marshall. What about Kessel, Wheeler and R.J. Anderson? R.J. Anderson had just as much high expectation as Brian Lee did here. Cammaratta is the only one of the three that has distinguished himself as the go-to guy on his team at the USHL level so far. True, Guertler is young, but so is Cammaratta and Luke Johnson. The potential is there from all those players, but they all need to develop at the level they are at to hope to be impact players in college. We have seen a ton of those players like Danny Mattson and Michael Fink that seemed like great recruits but who didn't even end up on the team that recruited them because their development ended in the USHL.

As already stated, he is the coaches son. His dad was very upset with North Dakota because of his perception that the coaches pushed Forbort to the US development team instead of returning to Duluth East. Don't know if he would let that get in the way of his kid having a good college experience or not, but thought it was worth throwing out there to ponder.

The same things were being said of Ness, Hoeffel, White, etc. Minnesota will be hoping that a few more of this group turn out to fulfill their promise than that group. While I think Minnesota has assembled on paper a lot of talent, I think the Sioux have too. It might just be that Minnesota fans talk up these guys a little more because they are local and have seen them play. I don't think potential wise that Matteau, Jordan Schmaltz, Nick Schmaltz, Keaton Thompson, Luke Johnson, need to take a back seat to any of Minnesota's recruits. All this talent needs to be developed and fill certain roles, and that is where the coaches make their mark.

One has to question the expectations of the fanbase when we have two guys coming in next year that are possible first round draft picks, yet the thought is that we are being out-recruited!

Remember when it felt like the Sioux were losing a very high-end recruit in Michaelson? Not saying he won't end up being a good college player, but he is struggling to get shots on goal, much less points in the USHL. We lost out on Patrick White a few years back as well, and turns out many gopher fans wish he would have come here. Luke Voltin has been just as impressive as Fasching so far with the development team, and I tend to think that when they get here they tend to get better year after year, as witnessed by the totals of guys like Frattin, Trupp and Malone. Bottom line is both the Sioux and gophers will get high end guys, so it is a matter of how they end up playing out.

I don't know if this is a youth thing or not. Is the inconsistency, even when they are at home due to youth, or are some of the players satisfied with where they are at as a young team. In other words, do these players hate to lose. I know when the Bison made their tournament run with Ben Woodside, they had the talent, but it seemed like guys like Woodside just hated to lose. The thing I have always liked about the Sioux hockey team is that they don't always fill their roster with just plain talent, but always had the role players that just bring it all the time. Don't want to brand any of the basketball players with a label yet, but it sure seems like they have the talent based on some performances. Hopefully the consistency will come, but if it becomes too much of a habit, I'm not sure another year can fix not having most hands on deck every night with their lunch pails.

Don't see it changing much at all for most of the schools that already recruit out of Minnesota. There is already a lot of competition for the elite in Minnesota, and I think those schools are each going to get their fair share. Don't know if Michigan will recruit in Minnesota much or not. Have no doubt Michigan State will, but Michigan seems to want to be mostly Michigan recruits, much like Minnesota gets mostly Minnesota recruits. Don't know if Minnesota would go for recruits from Michigan unless we are talking big-time recruits, partly because of the ego factor, and vice versa. One thing that could really make things interesting because of proximity, is if Illinois and Iowa enter the mix for recruits from Minnesota, then I can see a few schools getting shortchanged and needing to find new recruiting grounds. If you look at UND's roster this year, you can see how the hockey landscape has changed over the years. How many different states do the Sioux have recruits from anyway?

I don't think the Sioux had problems recruiting in Minnesota before St. Cloud, Mankato St. and Bemidji State ever had Division 1 programs, so I don't imagine they would have a problem now. There is usually a lot of talent in Minnesota, so where would all of those players go? Sure, Wisconsin might pluck a few more, but I don't see the other teams I mentioned getting rich just because they can play a few more games nearer to home, as the prestige for a few of them playing in a different WCHA wouldn't hold much for some recruits.