farce poobah

Whole bunch of fighting majors with 5 seconds left. OK, I made that up.

Agree totally. We used up a month's supply of penalties this weekend. None left for next week.

Its been 20 years since I said it "come on Dogs, LOSE!" Tie game, UMD ppg 4:28

Good call.

CC leads 3-1 late in the first ... Badgers 1-0 after 2

Interesting strategy. Let's not try it again tomorrow.

The chickens should not be counted yet.

USCHO board says 3-2 Dogs mid-2nd

According to USCHO message board, Tech and DU are headed to OT 1-1 ============ and from FSN live, 2-2 UAA ties up the Gophers.

AND ... to finish the thought ... UMD gave UM-TC no time to float the long pass. Plus, UMD's defensemen jump into the play SO WELL, that the Dogs create a lot of 3-on-2's down low ... that's something that the Sioux have definitely changed style since Sandy left. (Nick Fuher will pinch effectively, otherwise our D plays conservatively at the point ...)

And when JPar faced a lot of shots (see Denver Saturday or at Minnesota Saturday), he played excellent ...

Time to split up Zach, Brady and Bucks.

Dogs speed is terrific. Reichmuth is stellar. They look tough. And the Gophers defensive effort looks MUCH better with Vanek in the pressbox.

Bruckler does.

Re - goalie meltdown Lamoureaux was the winning goalie in the USHL all star game ...

Deano was harsh on Brandt. I think the coaching staff needs to take a big chunk of blame too, not just players ... * Wisconsin scores the tying goal at 18:59, with UND's 4th line out there ... Massen, Hale, Genoway. Why are they on the ice in that crucial situation? If lines 1-2-3 are tired, * Why not take a timeout? I don't recall us taking a timeout.... Lundbohm statement taking accountability is a good sign. ============== The good news is we still have the #1 PWR, a favorable remaining schedule, and a very good team. The bad news is that tonight we have to play WI at the Kohl. Gut check tonight.

Why can't NDSU and SDSU just fill the schedule by playing each other a couple more times?

They didn't show anything at The John, because they don't have big-screen video. They do have a pretty funny public address guy, tho.

That 1980 Sioux team won their last 18 home games. The similarities to the 2004 Sioux are that the team was very young, had brought in some terrific (great) freshmen, and the team's leadership character (Eades, Smail, Taylor, Chorney, Walker) was very hard-working team-first.

In 1980, we started a petition for North Dakota to secede from the union, start an Olympic Committee, and get the Fighting Sioux into the Olympics. We thought it had a chance, especially since North Dakota was the world's 3rd largest nuclear power at the time. We figured the Sioux had a great chance at silver or bronze, but nobody dreamt of beating the Soviets.

Saturday reactions: Bochenski looked noticeably tired in the 3rd. Parise and Murray looked strong tho. Denver's only goal came with their top line (Gauthier et al) out against UND 4th line, middle of the 3rd period, one-goal lead. Puzzling, and I don't pretend to understand the coaches' rationale. Blais shortened the bench after the DU goal, but DU had the jump on us at that point. Much like the Saturday game at The John, we had chances early, didn't convert, and the opponent rallied.

No, I got it the first time; I was just being thick. Your point is well taken.

If Nash is so good, why did he chicken out of playing against Zach at the WJC? Besides, Nash has played more games, he doesn't have to drag around 3 guys on his back for the whole game, and the NHL is overrated.

First, I gotta take off the chopper mitts and salute the 11,295 fans who made the trip to The Ralph on a night when the temp was -31. While it was a quiet crowd - numb from the cold? - it was indeed a full house. Just amazing. I give the Sioux effort an A tonight. THe pace of play was outstanding, feet were moving, no defensive lapses (did DU have any oddman rushes?), all around solid effort. One thing about the Sioux this year is they come ready to play. I am now convinced that Parise is the best 19-year old hockey player in the world. He plays as close to flawless hockey as is possible. He backchecks very VERY well, stopping a couple good scoring chances tonight with well placed stick, he's as good a penalty killer in green and white as I've seen in 30 years, he will throw a solid body check when called for (Hello, Ballard) and his work with the puck is outstanding. Tonight, he picked at least 3 pucks out of midair. And the last Sioux goal was vintage Zach, blocks a clearing attempt, chases down the puck, makes a play, feeds a teammate, and gets it back after a great goalmouth feed, burying the puck before Fisher could get across his net. I tell ya, this is hockey played at its finest level, every shift, every night. Brady Murray showed outstanding quickness tonight. He had at least 3 clean breakaways, which I think is 3 more than DU had as a team. He also picked pucks out of midair and scored on one (just below waist high). Bo-Zach-Brady made a very good DU team look like Bismarck HS. Tremendous chemistry. I agree with Blais, Lundbohm may have been the best forward tonight. He too had a bunch of chances, and saved a handful with good backchecking. If he plays to potential down the stretch, the Sioux will be well nigh unstoppable. Playing with Porter and Stafford seems good; should be a good combination. Lines 2-3-4 looked at times like lines that had been shuffled; not totally clicking all the time. Prpich-McMahon-Hale had solid games. They played old fashioned dump and chase hockey, forced turnovers, and made DU take it 200 feet very well. Massen-Fylling-Genoway, perhaps most of all, looked like guys that hadn't played together. VERY SCARY to think the WCHA assists leader played on our "fourth" line. I think there's more line tweaking to come, but I wouldn't be surprised if Saturday's lineup is unchanged. Everyone playing was solid; nobody with an off game, no really bad penalties. The "D" was solid for the most part. On a limited number of occasions, DU created some confusion in our defensive zone, but generally the shots were not in close, JPar got good looks, and rebounds got swept away. Andy Schneider got turned a couple times; at times I wonder if he's got a nagging leg/knee/foot injury. But he also made a lot of tough plays look really easy because his positioning and anticipation are so strong. I also think he feels some extra burden playing with Smaby, as he is less inclined to jump into the offensive play this year, as opposed to last year playing with D Hale a lot. Speaking of Smaby, he looks better all the time. The speed of the game seems to be slowing down for him. Jones, Greene, and Fuher all had solid games. Physical when called for. Held the red line for long stretches of time, especially last half of the first period. Marvin was the sixth D, what with Bina under the weather. Didn't see a lot of ice time. JPar did his usual good job of stopping the first shot. He's rarely out of position for the first shot, and with our "D", he doesn't see a lot of second or third shots. Against a top-ten opponent, this was as close to perfect hockey as any fan could dream about. All I can say is enjoy it while it lasts. These guys are fun to watch.

Forecast is also for light winds, so even if it snows a bit, its light fluffy and not blowing much. I made the drive from Rodentland Friday PM, interstate is perfect winter driving conditions. (You know you're a Fan when the rink you have season tix at is 300 miles away.) Forecast for RRV Saturday is 1-3, more as you go north and west .... Sunday clear and cooler.