farce poobah

Grieco appears to have all the tools to be a starter in the WCHA. My primary knock on his play so far is rebounds - placement is often in prime scoring areas. My gut says its a sign of being 17 years old for another month, and that as the game slows down for him, he'll start putting rebounds into the corners, kicking them past attackers, or sending them toward his D. In my mind, a healthy Lamoureaux is still the #1 guy. But I like the idea of Grieco continuing to play against middle of the pack teams, especially at home (CC when they come to town Thanksgiving, Tech in December).

I agree, it doesn't mean he is or should be disrespected. But that lack of a title appears to have created an inferiority complex where Woog takes cheap shots at UND, who won two national championships during his tenure. Other than that, he's perfect for color as a college hockey commentator, and I enjoy most of what he says. Its just when he keeps spreading lies that it gets wearisome.

A strange night at the Ralph. We played well, I thought the best jump, the best playmaking, that I've seen in 6 games this year. Still, the tie felt like a loss. A few random comments: 1) Duncan going postal - Right on the faceoff, Kronick ignores the puck and punches Duncan in the head. Saw it live, thought maybe I was seeing it with green-tinted vision, but watched again on tape. Definitely a punch - Duncan's head snaps back. Thankfully, Duncan didn't get kicked out - but I loved that he brought Kronick to his knees with 3 good crosschecks, including one across the neck. 2) On the last faceoff, St Cloud should have been called for too many men - they had 5 plus goalie! Worst of all, Toews got booted from the draw because our messing around getting Porter off the ice caused a delay, when it should have been a SC guy booted too. I want Shepard. 3) On the un-goal - Toews definitely kicked at it. I thought originally he grazed it with his stick before it went in (it all happens right in front of me) so I thought it would be hard to overturn. Still, I think they got the call right. 4) We deserved a better fate tonight. Yes, SC had a few chances, but for every one they got, we got two. Watkins was all over the place - could have had 2. 5) First PP unit looks fab (Toews-Oshie-Duncan-Lee-Chorney). Second PP unit is not effective yet. (Genoway-Radke-Miller-Watkins-Porter) 6) During OT, the Sioux PK was perhaps the best 2-minute sequence shorthanded I've seen in years. Absolutely had SC befuddled, we parried everything and gave them nothing. 7) Goepfert was very lucky. 8) Porter with another great effort. 9) Bina!!!! with his 2nd career goal, first of this year. Great example of D stepping into the play and catching SC by surprise. Maybe it was my imagination, but when his name was announced with the goal, it was perhaps the loudest cheer of the night. Mixed feelings. I don't have a sister, so I don't know what kissing her would be like. But its a bittersweet night. More later.

On the pregame interview last night, Hennessy asked about what they would try to do differently. Hakstol said he wanted more 3-on-3 down low to wear out the other team's defenders. So, without calling it cycling the puck, I think its clear that yes, that's something they'd like to do more.

From my angle, I didn't see much embellishment. I thought it a case of reffing the scoreboard.

I sit behind the south goal and had a great view of Porter's hook. If the referees called EVERY time it happened, they would need to call 300 every game. On the other hand, this is EXACTLY the kind of needless, selfish penalties that frustrate the coaches. But Porter should not have had his stick in that spot - 200 feet from Grieco with a 2-goal lead and time running out. Porter, overall played a super game. St Cloud racked up alot of zone time, but got hardly any good scoring chances 5x5 or even on their powerplays. However, a lot of their zone time came because we didn't effectively work the breakouts. We miss a pass, St Cloud tosses it deep, and then we start all over again behind our net. That happened a lot last fall, getting "bottled up", but by February, the Sioux were just fine. I hope we can get every one on the same page soon. Its hard to watch. I second the idea of getting Genoway some time at D. Question is who to take out of the lineup. Call me crazy, but I liked the lines we started with last night. I like the balance, and it makes it hard for teams to key on one line. I can see why the coaches switched it up later - with all the PK and PP, its impossible to cycle the bench. Liked our powerplay - which had some BAD luck on a night where we otherwise got a couple good bounces. At least 3 times, the low/deep cross-rink pass went just over or under a Sioux stick, which had a wide open net in front of them. We pulled the St Cloud box around very effectively and got good looks, but couldn't bury. I think tonight we get 2-3 powerplay goals. I also predict Grieco will start in goal. (Hey a guy's gotta be right about at least ONE thing!)

As to lines, you can knock me over with a feather if Oshie-Duncan-Miller aren't together. Who to put with Toews? Genoway and Kozek maybe. Then Porter with Watkins and Martens. Y'all can stop laughing now.... Seriously, I think we see a mix of rookies with upperclassmen. The rooks have shown energy and hustle, while its a couple of upperclassmen that have disappointed (Hak's talk about selfish penalties, just look at the plus-minus and who's on the ice for goals against, etc.)

Sooner or later, we all do.

Chris, thanks for taking the time to post the good news on SiouxSports.com

Dagies, thanks for the great recap. And for sitting by yourself the 3rd period.

SWEEP!! SWEEP!! SWEEP!! SWEEP!! SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!SWEEP!! SWEEP!!

All those Budweiser commercials are making me thirsty.

Huh? Is that you or the beer talking?

Nice to see Oshie doing the work AND feeding the puck to guys that are burying it. OLE-OLE-OLE-OLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Final from Yost: Northeastern 3 Michigan 2

...and they STILL suck.

You and Anderson noticed at about the same time.

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Porter.

Intermission question: IF you are the Sioux coaching staff, what do you tell the guys? (Its not as interesting as AZSioux's questions.... and there's no prize for winning.) Just curious about what the Board Consensus is.

If that OLE song isn't enough to get the Sioux to play defense, I don't know what it will take.

At this rate, the Vermin will be insufferable until January 26

I could REAALY use MORE deja vu right now.

The fight song is even MORE annoying than the OLE song.

This is enough deja vu for one weekend.

http://www3.mnsu.edu/athletics/ Posted this on the football thread earlier