Observations from section 112:
(With apologies to Dickens) It was the best of times, and the worst of times.
I witnessed the best period of hockey I've seen in a long, long time tonight; and I saw one of the worst. The Sioux were absolutely on fire in the first, and without a big performance by Glenn Fisher in DU's goal (and a post and a couple missed open nets) the score could've easily been 5-love after 20 minutes. Someone said it before, but the Sioux transition game was in road gear: I don't think they missed a breakout pass the entire period.
The usual cast of characters was pretty impressive: Smaby has turned into a very confident Dman, and a real leader on the ice. I remember cringing early last year when he was handling the puck, but now he's simply a rock out there. Brian Lee and Taylor Chorney both are so very strong; Lee is much flashier with the puck (although he boneheaded one in the second that probably could've resulted in a DU goal, but hustled back to break up the play with a poke check). Chorney is a lot better player than I'd expected. Both he and Lee played very good games tonight. And I can't neglect Radke: great goal on what I recall as a rebound off Chris Porter's shot. He put a rocket passed Fisher.
Zajac has broken out of his "slump" admirably. He and Stafford and Duncan skated well tonight, really moving the puck well. I watched the second from a suite, and listened to a first-time game watcher talk about how well that line plays. The guy said it was easy to see they've played together for so long !!! (What's it been? Two weeks now!) They should've gotten a goal just on principle for one sequence: the three of them hit tape-to-tape-to-tape passes in the length of maybe ten feet in the slot. It's really too bad they didn't twine it 'cause it would've made a heckuva highlight reel.
Chris Porter looks like he's having a ball skating with Oshie and Towes. The freshman have brought out Porter's best. That line could've scored a couple of goals tonight had they not had a puck bounce over a stick. I think Towes hit a post, and the line put a couple shots over the net trying to go shelf on Fisher. Both times they had the keeper beat.
I didn't see Fabian's injury happen, but he barely made it back to the bench. I'm ashamed to admit I don't know if he came back on the ice. He was visibly hurting. And Brian Lee got his "welcome to the WCHA"; he just about had his head taken off; his helmut barely stayed on. But he got right up and got back in the play.
JPar was huge when he had to be. He made some good solid saves, especially in the second when the Sioux were really out of sorts. In both the first and third DU had pretty good movement deep in the zone, and some screens setting up nicely, but Jordan hung with it and came up with some nice pad saves on low shots through traffic. He showboated a couple of times: a big glove save in the second would've been a foot wide, and the "jump save" he made in the third could've been ugly if he hadn't caught it in the webbing of his glove. That puck could've just as easily deflected down off the glove into the crease, or he could've stuck it in his own net bringing it down the way he did. And his penalty in the second is among the dumbest things he's done since he came to Grand Forks. It was so obvious when he stuck his leg out. I'm sort of surprised he didn't hurt himself. JPar had no chance on Denver's goal: it was a beautiful screen and a whale of a shot by Butler on a nice pass from (dare I say it?) Punkovich.
Watkins, Foyt and Kozek were sort of invisible to me tonight. I honestly don't remember seeing them on the ice but a couple of times.
The Red Pepper Line of Prpich, Kaip and Fabian worked their grinding role nearly to perfection. I hope Fabian is okay 'cause that line plays a vital role.
I am really surprised that Denver resorted to the clutch and grab game. They have some pretty fast skaters who are good with the puck. They shut down the Sioux in the second, and I am frankly surprised (happily) that the hometown boys didn't let the Pios back in the game. The Sioux definitely lost their cool in the second, took some stupid penalties, and maybe are lucky Denver didn't get another goal. 3-2 going into the third might have made this a whole lot different game than it ended up being.
The Trotter incident happend just to my left. It was a big check, but clean in my estimation. Trotter got up and his right leg just collapsed under him. He hollered to JPar for help; I think Jordan was signalling for a whistle and a trainer a long time before the refs finally stopped the play. I see several people are saying a laceration. I saw bone folks, and his foot was not where it is supposed to be. If that kid didn't break his tibia, he sure as heck messed up his leg. He was in a lot of pain, and understandibly shook up.
I think DShepherd actually kept his calls pretty even, although he didn't do a very good job of officiating (if that makes any sense). A couple calls were pretty ticky-tack and he did let some obvious penalties slide. Brian Lee should send him a thank you card for ignoring his checking from behind about a minute into the game. I'd say the game was about one big hit from turning ugly at a couple different points.
As beautifully as the Sioux played the first period, they could've won this thing 5 or 6-1. As ugly and stupid as they played the second, they could've lost 4-3.
This was a huge win for both the upperclassmen (a little revenge for the last two years) and the freshmen (proves to themselves they can play in the WCHA). I hope they are not too pleased with the win, though, because Denver is going to come out Saturday with a little extra body on the checks. That's the reigning national champs there folks, and other than about 12 or 13 minutes of the second period, they were really outplayed by a very young team.
