tnt

Agreed, it seems the year a team is supposed to be down, they come out o.k. I think the Sioux won a National Championship the year after they were favored to-- same with Michigan. I don't think Minnesota was expecting to be quite as good after Leopold left either. I supposed it all depends on the learning curve and how freshmen progress. While UND's freshmen will be really young next year, here's to hoping they can put up better numbers than the few goals provided by Fylling, Massen and Canady. The defensive side will be the question, as they will be very young, but hopefully the transition game will improve. I think the Sioux can use a boost of enthusiasm, as it seems it has been most consistent from Spirko and Zajac this year. Usually you are in trouble if your go-to guys are freshmen. Let's just hope the upper classes pick it up down the stretch and supplement what we are getting from those two. I don't want to start looking to next year quite yet.

Gotta say, it is getting hard to keep up the optimism. I remember Hakstol saying the average fan wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the way the Sioux played under Dean and the way they will under him. Gotta tell you I see a change and would bet plenty others would as well. It would be interesting to see the last time a Sioux team scored so few goals per game. I didn't see the Saturday game at CC, but I don't remember a time watching Sioux hockey that they can't sustain any pressure other than a shot here and a shot there. Sioux hockey to me has always been a buzzing brand of hockey with lots of oohs and ahhs from the fans from sustained pressure following a goal etc. It seems when we score a goal to get close or tied now, the other team is the buzzing team. It's like the Denver teams of old have now flip-flopped with us, and we are the ones being caught from behind and giving up the 2 on 1's. Yes the Sioux lost Parise and Bochenski, but they have lost as much, if not more in the past and still created scoring chances. Remember, minus Bochenski, this was a team Dean said would win one, if not 2 national championships. It concerns me that a team that had such high expectations has many of it's fans hoping for a split at home. Even the year the Ralph opened people expected to win and saw exciting hockey, but were let down by poor goaltending. I, for one, will not lower my expectations for Sioux hockey. Being realistic with a young team is one thing, but regardless of what some board members say, I see lack of effort and discipline from more than one player every game. The lack of discipline is killing the Sioux, and yet those same people are out the next shift. Yes, Dean is gone, but his method of discipline worked, and why change a good thing despite the short bench with injuries and such. I would be much more respectful of a loss that lessons were learned, than a loss which only perpetuates future discipline problems. Now for the optimism -- score first, and I believe the Sioux can win any game, if they get back to the defense that only allows about 20 shots a game, because I believe we have good goaltenders, but they need to know that if they give up the first goal, it isn't game over!

Dubay knows about as much about college hockey as he does about nutrition, which is little if nothing.

He's a great HS player and I'm glad to see him knock some people around, but anyone who thinks Lee was anything more than a "homer" pick for WJC is rather naive. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

All I can say is that if the Sioux get outshot badly sometime and win, I don't want to hear naysayers say that they got lucky.

Dagies, If you are saying that signs, etc. can sway a recruit, then message boards could as well. Therefore, I would hope that no negative comments are made about the Sioux on this or any other board, because it would only lead to the potential loss of a good recruit.

[ If recruits based their decision on the quality of posts from message boards like this one, the Gophers would be without a team! <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe Colin Forbes backed out after Gasparini was fired. Not sure if he went to major juniors or where, but has played regularly in the NHL.

Don't get me wrong, the jury is still out, and will be for a while concerning coach Hakstol. I am just saying that we have more tools left at our disposal than Minnesota. No, Minnesota didn't have a coaching change, but then again, Hakstol has been around to see how things worked under Blais for quite a while. I don't see a huge learning curve here. Why mess with 5 WCHA titles in 8 years. Maybe its a matter of the players not responding to Hakstol's threats like they did to Dean's. Responding to him differently as head coach is possible, but he needs to make it a non-factor. Whatever, I am not one to believe things can't and won't be turned around. In fact, if they can win at least one this weekend, things could turn in our favor. I fully expect to win at home from here on out against Denver and Wisconsin and sweeping Anchorage and/or St. Cloud on the road is certainly possible.

The Sioux lost Parise, Minnesota lost Vanek. The Sioux lost Bochenski, Minnesota lost Ballard. The Sioux lost Lunbohm, Minnesota lost Riddle, Koalska, Potulny. If anyone should be underachieving, it should be Minnesota.

What, all of a sudden the Sioux are the Minnesota Vikings and have no shot at winning. Oh yeah, that's right they beat the Packers. How some Sioux fans think the Sioux have no shot is beyond me. The same people with a 6 or 8 game winning streak will be flaming gopher fans about how great the Sioux are and wait till we meet again. How about some middle ground, the Sioux aren't as bad as many of you think they are, and are never as good as some have claimed them to be in the past. A little bit of motivation goes a long way.

Very disappointed is all I can say. It feels even worse with Minnesota getting swept. We could have put ourselves on par with them had we taken care of business. We'll see what this team is made of this weekend against CC. If they can catch CC in their afterglow and win twice, top 3 is still within reach. If they continue to play uninspired hockey and be satisfied with slipping into the last home ice spot, then I don't imagine they will have what it takes to go far in the playoffs. It is all ahead of them if they can get a sweep or two on the road. Splitting at home against CC and Minnesota isn't the end of the world, however when you compound it by playing unemotional hockey and splitting with Anchorage and Mankato and nearly losing the second to St. Cloud when you were coming off a losing spell, well that isn't Sioux hockey and what fans have become accustomed to. I wish I could say that goaltenders have stolen games from us, but it really doesn't feel like that this year. Here's to hoping they start to play like the team that was predicted to finish second.

I believe Markovic played for Slovakia, and he certainly didn't look out of place. With Toews coming in, I'm not sure if they are looking for someone else. I guess it depends on what Oshie is going to do.

I know Lee wasn't at the evaluation camp, but Johnson was, and to tell you the truth I wasn't all that impressed with him in the games I watched him. My friend, who has coached a lot of WCHA players wasn't much impressed with him either. Not saying he isn't a good player, but they got to evaluate him a lot that week. Perhaps they thought that it was worth it to give a very talented player a chance to show his skills at the next level.

I don't think Hammy has much credibility beyond the POI borders because his objectivity is suspect. I agree views are slanted somewhat depending on your favorite team, but he is overboard. Sagard on the other hand has a lot of credibility in my book, he tells it like it is without trying to flame when the facts are positive towards his gophers.

I think Michigan should try to think beyond the smell and try to figure out how to beat Minnesota. Maybe his players shouldn't shower as often, perhaps it is a plot to play on the minds of Michigan players. Obviously Michigan didn't want to check him, thus a free path to the net all night.

I don't know how many people saw James Patrick his first season here, but even some Sioux players were questioning how he was a high draft pick the first half of the year, then the second half he exploded. Not saying Radke will do the same, but it is a bigger adjustment for some players. Doesn't mean they won't turn out to be as good as, if not better than players that are ripping it up early. Give Radke a chance to blend into his surroundings. Seems like that is the philosophy of Hakstol. Hope is a good thing, I'm not so sure the same thing can be said of high expectations.

What opportunity did Nate Ziegelmann have to show his abilities? Life is not always fair. I'm not saying that Jake shouldn't be given a chance, but there hasn't been a lot of awful goaltending to remove one of the other guys yet. A few bad games and he'll most likely get a chance to prove himself again, although I am one Sioux fan that hopes he won't have that shot because it means the other guys aren't giving him that crack to get his foot back in the door. If there should have been chronic complaining about Jake not getting in the lineup, it should have been from years past, certainly not this year.

I'll just add that Minnesota should have the #1 bullseye on them heading to CC. Don't construe these posts to mean I am taking away from Minnesota great play of late, I am only saying that the Sioux are not far off the pace having played a really testing opening schedule, and mostly without our key play, Brady Murray, I might add. Take Potulny out of Minnesota's offense and you lose 30% of your goals. Brady Murray is our Ryan Potulny. The Sioux need to win 3 of their next 4 and they will be sitting pretty for the stretch drive.

Gophers will, and have always been very impressive on the big ice surface. They know how to use it to their advantage. While they have been impressive, if the Sioux had pulled out one in Wisconsin (which they probably should have on Saturday), the Sioux would be sitting at 8-3-1 in the league. The Sioux also have played their toughest teams on the road. You have to admit that the gophers were steam-rolled in the 3rd period twice at Denver, although pulling out a win from strong goaltending like a good team does when they aren't playing their best. Briggs sure has looked good to me Goon. Sure he may fade a bit, but our goalies could as well. Let's hope CC has a surprise in store for the gophers next weekend and we take care of business against Anchorage, because that would put us back at par with them, or maybe even a hair ahead.

Before the St. Cloud series the paper said the Sioux had 18, 5 on 3's against them and 2 for them, 1 which was all of 2 seconds.

Marto's upside could be very good if he does indeed fill out his frame, because he is very good already despite focusing solely on baseball in the summer and really playing a total of one season of high school if you take injuries into account. It is because he hasn't played hockey year-round that his name is not a household name in recruiting circles, at least not to the average fan. As said before, coaches know he is out there.

Don't know if anyone caught this or not, but Brooks made a sarcastic comment about how he even made some Canadian friends at the University of Denver. Don't remember his exact words, but it was kind of a "God forbid" type statement. Of course there aren't any gopher fans anymore that have a problem with Canadians, except a few. According to most of them, there never was any. Just by Dan Brooks' statement, you could tell how he felt about that type of attitude. Only problem is he was preaching to Mazzocco, who is one who seems to have come full circle.

While Blake Wheeler may be good, I don't see him dominating the WCHA, especially in his first year, and let's face it, if he does-- he's gone. I am trying to come up with really big players who have dominated the WCHA. I don't consider Lee Goren a really big player. Most of the guys I worry about have been smallish players like Ballard, Bonin, Crowley etc. I am sure other fans would say the same of Blake, Panzer, Parise, Greg Johnson, Tony Hrkac, etc. Heatley is probably an example of a big player dominating, but he didn't dominate beyond some of the small players. Anyone else have examples of bigger players dominating?

Let's not forget that the first year of the Ralph we had 9 or 10 freshmen in the lineup and played the gophers tough all season including a win in Minneapolis, and if it wasn't for poor goaltending they had a decent chance at two other games. I guess what I am saying is that anything can happen when these teams play and I am not counting my chickens just because the gophers are young at defense. If they were young and untalented I would be more convinced, but they have a few games under their belts, so they won't be completely dazed, although the environment will be a little different. Some players, no matter how young seem to thrive under adverse conditions. Put me under the cautiously optimistic category.