buckysieve

No it's not. All summer long the vast majority of NHL scouts said that there's no question Erik Johnson is good enough to step right into an NHL lineup on opening day and be a top four d-man for them if not top two. Lee and Chorney will be great but there's no way they are good enough right now to be playing regulary in the NHL. Johnson, according to every scout, is.

The Gophers defense will be MUCH better this year than last. They lost two d-men who played and both were average at best(Harrington and Atherton). They added the best defensive recruit in the country(EJ) and another first round pick in Fischer. The defense is a strength, not a weakness. You say that the Gophers have shaky defensemen but they have two, E. Johnson and Goligoski, who are better than any single d-man on the entire Sioux roster. The Sioux defense might be a bit deeper than the Gophers but they don't have anyone as good as Johnson or Goligoski. I think it's the opposite with the forwards. The Gophers are deeper at forward than the Sioux but don't have anyone on the same level as Toews and Oshie. And as of right now, claiming that Lammy is better than either Briggs or Frazee is pure speculation. We have no idea who will have the best season out of those three.

He sounds a lot like Oshie. A tireless worker who is physical, strong with the puck with great offensive skills.

Probably the two best in the nation. I predict one of those two will win the Hobey. When Kessel signs the Gophers won't have a single forward on the same level of those two.

Maybe I worded that in a way that was misleading. The shots in the first period were 11-11 and from that point on they were 27-14, finishing 38-25. The final two periods is when the Gophers dominated. Sorry for the confusion.

I agree we outplayed Maine more than Cornell but I disagree that the Cornell game was a toss up. Shots were 26-7 thru two periods. I know Cornell expected to get outshot and they're not bothered by it but 26-7 is a remarkable edge in what is usually a pretty telling stat. I'd be interested to see what the scoring chances were. They would probably be closer to even but I'm sure the Gophers still had the edge in that stat as well.

Thank you for proving my point about the Gophers dominating Maine. Whenever the penalties are that lobsided it is a direct reflection of one team dominating another. Most knowledgable hockey fans are able to grasp this concept. Maine was forced to take one penalty after another because they couldn't come close to skating with the Gophers. The shots on goal were 38-25 for the game and 27-14 after the first period in favor of the Gophers. The shots on goal versus Cornell were 39-18 in favor of the Gophers and an unbelievable 26-7 thru two periods. So yeah, I stand by my statement. The Gophers DOMINATED Maine and Cornell.

Exactly. It's impossible to win a low scoring overtime ncaa tourney game, let alone two, without playing with heart, grit, and determination.

The Gophers were by far the better team in both those games, shots on goal weren't even close. The two best goalies in the nation, McKee and Howard were the only reasons those games were close.

I'm not saying they were as talented but they were ranked #1 in the nation in January. They fell apart for the second half and I've heard some Sioux fans over the years say that that was their least favorite Sioux team because of their collapse.

You mean like the '03 Sioux team? That team collapsed in the second half of the season. They barely made it to the Final Five and then they took the earliest exit possible losing the play-in game. Then they completely mailed it in showing no heart against Ferris State and were one and done. And it happened under the watch of Dean Blais, a great coach. It happens to all great programs at one time or another. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the program.

Aren't questions usually followed by a question mark? It doesn't pain me to frequent Siouxsports.com, but now that I know it pains you I'm never gonna leave. Just stop your delusional thoughts about the Gopher Hockey program being in a free fall and I won't have to respond anymore.

This post is priceless. For years Sioux fans do nothing but talk about what a horrible coach Doug Woog was, but now apparently they want to hate Lucia so much that Woog is receiving the credit for assembling the two NCAA title teams won under Lucia. Quite a turnaround. Who would have thought Sioux fans thought so highly of the Wooger?

Yeah, you're right. The Don is a horrible coach. Seven years, 2 NCAA Titles, 2 Broadmoor Trophies, a MacNaughton Cup, #1 ranked recruiting classes, five straight years with #1 seed in ncaa tourney, the only coach in ncaa history to land the #1 NHL draft pick. How will this program ever survive? I can't believe we've allowed this clown to coach this long. You are so completely off base with EVERYTHING you say about the Gopher program it's laughable. Let me ask you this question Mr. know it all about Gopher hockey. If the Don is such a bad coach then how did he get verbal commitments from 4 of the top 8 NHL draft picks? The elite players in the world for their age group deciding to play for Lucia over any other coach in the nation speaks volumes. You should just stop now before you lose your last shred of credibilty.

You can have all the delusional thoughts you like, but it doesn't make them true. You make it sound like this program is in complete dissaray. After reading your post it's hard to believe they even finished .500 last year, let alone in 1st place. Things go in cycles. Z. Parise's frshman year the Sioux went completely into the tank the second half of the season as bad as any team I've seen while the Gophers went on to win the ncaa title. Not for one second did I think there was something wrong with the Sioux program. I could have said the same things about that team that your saying about the Gophers, like they don't have enough character or heart and they're all pre madonna's. The reality is that in all sports, with all teams sometimes you don't perform well down the stretch for what ever reason. But it certainly doesn't mean that the sky is falling down on the program like you imply. Everything is fine in Gopherland, trust me.

I agree the Gophers lacked heart and desire at the end of last year but not the year before like you say. The Gophers actully played very well in the Final Five semi-final against CC in '05. I know they lost 3-0 but it was just one of those games where we couldn't buy a goal. The 3-0 score was not indicative of how the game was played at all. Then the next day they played the first two periods pretty well against the sioux, especially considering that one of their best players suffered some type of emotional breakdown the night before. Then a week later the Gophers dominated Maine and Cornell. I know it was on home ice but they still played extremely well for those two games. They didn't play great in Columbus but at least they showed some heart in the third period and made the game close. This is not a two year problem. It happened last year and that's it and I'll be shocked if it happens this coming season. I expect them to play with a huge chip on their shoulder and have a great post-season.

There is no excuse for the way they played that 3rd place game..........even if it did, truely "mean nothing".

Now your putting words in my mouth. Not once did I say the Final Five was not important. There is a huge difference between saying the third place game is meaningless and saying the Final Five is meaningless. Pretty funny how you take, "3rd place games are meaningless" to mean the same thing as saying the Broadmoor doesn't mean anything. Nice try, you were really reaching with that one. I have a lot of respect for the Final Five and it's importance, but once you lose your semi-final game, finishing in either 3rd or 4th doesn't make much difference, in my opinion. If Sioux fans want to brag and get all giddy over finishing in 3rd at the 2005 Final Five, then have at it. 3rd place finishes in a five team tourney doesn't excite many Gopher fans.

Thanks for pointing out the fact that Zach Parise's ONLY NCAA victory in his entire career came against Holy Cross. Helluva post season career he had at UND... no Broadmoor, no Frozen Fours. Oh, but he was able to lead the Sioux all the way to a regional final in '04.

Unbelievable.

Gopher fans are arrogant and pompous? Did you read post #222?

That is the danger of everyone buying into the hype before the season even started. Nobody wanted to be the only one who would eat crow and declare Oshie the real winner. Go back to posts from a year ago and I told you Goofies that Toews was a better player than Kessel. The pleasant surprise is that Ohsie was even better than both of them. Reality must really suck when you are a Gopher fan.

OK, you guys are right. Kessel and Vanek were all hyped up one way players who didn't deserve ROY while Oshie and Parise are hard working, two- way players who got screwed by not winning the award. Happy now? Do you have any idea how petty you people sound?

Keep telling yourself that. He was the leading scoring freshman in the NATION while playing on the third line with worse linemates than Oshie or Toews had and he did it while under the most pressure and scrutiny of any freshman to enter college probably ever. He deserved the award and that's why he won.

That's completely false. The Gophers were going to Grand Forks regardless of the outcome of that game. I know this for a fact and so did Lucia.