mikejm

(Climbing atop a small wooden box, formerly used to store soap products.) I've avoided posting in this thread because I can't decide how I feel about the "tribute". I saw the hit on Robbie in person and I am really surprised the kid is moving, let along walking, home already, etc. That was unquestionably the most vicious check I have ever seen. I, too was totally incensed at the 2-minute minor penalty; that feeling was only partially ameliorated when it was increased to a major and a game. Gwozdecky's added suspension helped even more. But I still don't know how I feel about the "28" on the Pios helmets. I know one thing that this whole deal has changed in my mind is that I no longer have any respect for DU or anyone associated with the program. And that's too bad. Denver University is a storied program with a lot of great players and coaches over the years. One of the first college hockey games I ever witnessed was the Pios coming into the "old" Ralph (then the Winter Sports Building) in 1973. The Sioux won, in overtime, against a vasty superior Denver squad, and I was hooked. I was devasted last year when the tipped shot beat Jordan late in the West Regional final, but I cheered for the Pios as they won their 6th NCAA title. This past weekend, I screamed and yelled at the television, hoping Bemidji or New Hampshire could beat Denver and end their season. This, in spite of the fact that I have always hoped for an all-WCHA Frozen Four to once and for all shut up all the easterners. As I said, I am ambivalent about their "tribute"; I don't even care anymore if G. Paukovich gets his "due" from someone. Well, that's not true, I just hope none of the Sioux are involved when he finally does get his payback. But I will never, ever pull for the Pios to win any match-up, even against the dirty goofies. I just can't stomach it. And that's too bad, for me, for college hockey and for the Pioneers. (Climbing down now, and returning to my nice warm spot under the rock.)

You don't sweat much for a fat girl

I'm not too sure about the veracity of this tidbit, but I'll post it anyway: I heard from my sister's neighbor's brother-in-law's plumber that Gary Bettman and Bruce McLeod have been negotiating the last couple of days. Apparently the NHL wants to buy the WCHA and operate the it as the top-level North American pro league next year. Word is that the purchase price is upwards of $700 million to be split among the ten member universities, and includes all players and logos, etc. The home rinks, obviously, are not included in the proposed sale, but would be leased by the NHL from each of the schools. Season ticket prices are yet to be determined.

As to Hockey LEast getting a whuppin: I saw something during the BU game that I have never, in over 30 years of watching hockey, witnessed. The Red Pepper line had the puck in the corner and started cycling it, essentially from the corner to the blue line and back. The Sioux were already up 3 or 4 zip, so I don't think they felt a lot of pressure to score. Anyway........ This cycling went on for well over a minute. Clement and Thorne even made comment about it. Then the Sioux started cycling a skater out of the "scrum" and actually made a complete line change, one player at a time, WITHOUT LOSING CONTROL OF THE PUCK! (Sorry for shouting). I think Clement said he too, had never seen such a thing. This adds nothing to the discussion, other than to illustrate the depth of the butt-thumping handed to Hockey LEast last weekend by the Boys in Green. And now back to our regularly-scheduled posting.

TFF

Nor, according to the dopes at the Strib, will Goligosky, who "had his left hand shoved into the boards". Although Goligoski admitted after the game that he banged his own hand on the boards. I wonder what color the sun looks to those people?

Was it just my tv, or does Jerry York sound an awful lot like Elmer Fudd?

Not only did Thorne/Clement continuously compliment, and, well, rave about Greene and Jones, Clement is absolutely in love with Matt Smaby. He talked about Matt's size, speed and immense reach. As I said, I think the whole team needs to listen to this broadcast...but not until after they finish with a little business in Columbus in a couple of weeks.

What a game! Having Thorne and Clement call the game was just a nice bonus to a great, grind-it-out effort by the Sioux. Between periods, they had a real hokey "meet the Sioux" kind of thing with Jordan, Quinn and Spirko. Sparky said his parents haven't seen him play hockey in two years, but he was going to take a bunch of dvds home with him so they could catch up on his play. I hope he takes this game with him. In fact I hope the whole team can watch the replay and listen to the high praise both Thorne and Clement laid on the Sioux. How much better would FSSN broadcasts be with a pair like these two instead of Howdy Doody and Biff the Sock Puppet?

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Okay, here's my scenario: Game opens slowly, with some big, clean hitting. Greene and Fuher, especially, lay huge hits on smallish BU forwards, putting a psychological "trap" into effect. Puppies forwards adopt a "dump and get dumped" attack. In the meantime, the Red Pepper line shows how they earned their name and outwork Puppies in corner, digging puck free to Andy Schneider who rips a wicked wrister from the point for 1-0 lead. On the ensuing faceoff, Zajac feeds Stafford who takes both Puppy Dmen with him, then leaves a drop pass for Spirko who undresses Pup keeper for 2-0 lead, at about the 11 minute mark of the first. 28 seconds later Pups score to get back to within one, but this is their last hurrah. Sioux add 3 more: from Fylling, Greene and Porter. Jordan Parise makes but 19 saves.

Hate to cross post, but I've not seen anything on this here at SiouxSports. http://board.uscho.com/showthread.php?t=48337

Good point DAR. As to the stickwork, I've been reading at GPL and USCHO how "dirty" the Sioux are, especially with the slash. The jungle drums went so far as to blame Goligoski's broken hand on a Sioux slash. Imagine my surprise while perusing the Minnesota Daily today when I read AG say he broke his hand "when he hit has hand on the boards" Saturday.

thought maybe you were going by feel

I really think after the Sioux beat BU, Columbus is just a short commute away. BC is quite small upfront: I think our Dmen beat them into submission early and they fold like the Goofies did in the FF 3rd place game.

Goon, You hit the nail right on the head. DU=classless hacks. However, I believe this is redundant

I hit the road for home right after the third-place game and found WCCO on the radio for post-game coverage. They had Minnesota's press conference so I got to listen to Lucy's devaluing the game. He said the difference in the game was between UND's "having to win" and the Gophers already having the #1 locked up. I found that a little demeaning. After they signed off from the X, the guy who came on the air had some very frank words about the Gophers not deserving a #1 seed. He went on to some great length about the tailspin Minnesota has been in, the suspect goaltending and the apparent dischord in the locker room. Interesting comments.

I'd guess the Sioux are going to have to at least match the money Edmonton will offer him.

Jerry York just proving again what a DOPE he truly is. He can't be serious!

So, he's at a convention for big talk show hosts; or he's at a talk show host convention that is big?

This one incident reflects Matt Greene's personal growth and maturity. Last year he would've skated down the ice and gone postal on Peluso. For the Sioux's sake I hope the NHL doesn't get their collective act in order so we can enjoy Greene's presence on the ice one more year.

This just doesn't seem right...the Sioux beat the living he77 out of the Dogs...and they're bracket projection gets marginally tougher? I'm confident now that they'll make the NCAAs; need some things to happen in our favor to get a little better draw in the regionals.

Real mixed emotions after watching Saturday's game. The first was a chippy, tight checking scrum at center ice. Sandelin must've set up a picket fence, because the Sioux were having trouble getting anything going. Stapleton's goal was hard to watch: Sioux feathered a pass from one point toward the other, and Stapleton just stepped in a skated in on JPar. Five hole, and not that nice. Real stupid Sioux on two or three levels. The second was a lot like Friday: the boys got it going and you could really feel the energy. A lot of big smiles on their faces, high-fiving one another. I think the Dogs quit going into the corners because they were getting the he77 out of them. Zajac is an animal digging for the puck along the boards. One thing that really stood out tonight was how much BIGGER the Sioux are than the Dogs. I didn't realize how small Schwabe is. Someone earlier said they through Stafford and Porter didn't contribute: I'd respectfully disagree. Chris was grinding constantly. He has a wicked sick wrister! He missed one just wide that was smoking. And Stafford is a lot better stickhandler than I recall; at least he seemed so tonight. He made a couple of awesome passes, especially the one setting up Genoway's goal. As one who has really criticized Matt Smaby, I'd like to say he played a great game. He looked strong with the puck, decisive and in control. He laid out a couple of Dogs that should've made a highlight reel somewhere. And Matt Greene deserves a lot of credit for not retaliating late in the game when that goon Peluso went postal on him. You could see Matt wanted to make Peluso pay, but he showed a lot of maturity to skate away. My highlight of the game was a real obvious hold that Shepherd ignored. I think it was Canady who was getting mauled. The whistle blew after Parise froze the puck, and the old tv timeout llight went on. Shepherd was hunched over right near me and I hollered at him and signaled the hold. He looked right at me and kind of shrugged like "yeah, I know I missed it." Twenty seconds later he whistled another Dog, and the Sioux scored on the power play. I get my first collegiate point, 29 years after I graduated! Hennesey talked to seniors on the air after the game and it sounded like they were pretty emotional out there on the ice. After this last three series run, the seniors have shown some real heart. This series was a good old-fashioned butt thumping by the Sioux. Without sounding like too much of a homer, I think they would've beaten any team in the country this weeked the way they played. On to St. Paul, then to Grand Rapids. The way they're playing, who knows what might happen? Like Burd said Friday night over on USCHO:

Just got back after watching what might be the best performance of the year by the Sioux. First and second periods for sure; I don't know if they pulled back a little in the third, or if Sandelin finally got the Dogs' attention. The easy stars to pick out of the game are Fabian, Genoway and Bina. All three were like gods on the ice tonight. Watching Colby direct traffic before a faceoff in the Sioux zone is fun: he tells his boys where to be and the puck ends up on their stick. I'm really happy to see Fabian have such a great game. He's a big strong kid...maybe not the best skater on the team, but he was out there grinding every shift tonight. He really works hard in the corners. And Robbie Bina! he gives up a half a foot to everyone out there and he's absolutely a stud. So strong with the puck, and fearless. Oh, and Genoway's goals were both Sportscenter moments: I honestly don't know how the first one found the twine. He seemed to be too deep and too wide to find net; the second one was a Tim Hennesy "how's she going". Other guys who I thought looked really good: Zajac is so smooth, and showed tonight he really knows how to back check. He saved a goal by scooping a puck that was loose behind Jordan tonight. He blocked a couple shots. He and Stafford were zooming all night. Rory McMahon skated well all night, as evidenced on the score sheet. Stafford had a pretty good night even though he didn't make the scoreboard. He snapped a stick in the slot that would've been a goal. Virg Foss' Horsemen proved him prophetic tonight. They certainly didn't look like a fourth line. Greene was quiet; Fuher steady; Smaby a quiet but effective game. Andy Schneider had a huge smile on his face all night long, and didn't take any crap from anyone. He did a great job all night in the Sioux zone, poking and sweeping pucks away from the Dogs. He came out of a little scrum behind the net with a big sh*t-eating grin on his face; you could tell he was having fun. Matt Jones' goal was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He was carrying a Dog draped all over him, Shepherd had his arm up to call the hold or whatever, and Reichmuth comes out to poke check the puck away from Jonesy. Only problem, he poked it right back at Jones, and I don't know if Matt actually directed it in the net or if it was just a lucky bounce. Reichmuth didn't come out of the net at the end of the first until everyone else from both teams was already down the tunnel. Speaking of our boy Derek: he didn't really call too bad a game. He let the boys play. I thought Greene's penalty was a little ticky-tack. And one of the trips, I think it was Stafford, was really a weak call. Other than that the refs weren't really a factor. Brady Murray was like a bee buzzing around out there. He set up Stafford when Drew's stick broke. The pass he made to Zajac was unbelievable. Big difference having Brady back on the ice. Weak spots were maybe the penalty kill. The Sioux seemed to be running around a little bit while down a man. And there was about a three minute span early in the third where the Dogs really had the Sioux befuddled. But it would be hard to pick out any glaring deficiencies on the ice tonight. The Sioux really looked as good tonight as I've seen in a long, long time. It was very much like watching them on that run they put on last year where they seemed to be able to score at will. I don't think they missed a pass in the first 30 minutes of the game. If they can come out Saturday with the same jump...well, this could be one of those "goose-bumpy" runs all teams dream about. Gotta show some killer instinct Saturday, and then go on the Minneapolis and beat the snot out of whoever comes next. Tonight they looked damn good.

Thanks.