farce poobah

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.

Yeah, like the Gophers winning Saturday.

If I'm coach Blais, and thankfully for all of us I'm not the coach, I'm less concerned with sweeping this weekend that with how well the team plays. What is there to work on? (who plays on the 4th line; how to play vs various neutral zone traps; what else) Maybe somebody could ask DB on the Wednesday coaches show.

Classes? Oh, yeah, I remember. Vaguely. It was a long time ago. The skilled, dedicated hockey fan made sure not to schedule Friday afternoon classes. Real students, however, went to class Friday afternoon. All I remember is it had been a decade since the Sioux were upper-division WCHA, and the excitement of that fended off the cold pretty well.

February 2, 1979: classes cancelled at the University of North Dakota, due to air temps -30 to -40, northwest winds at 35-40, wind chills quoted at -80. Which meant that the students could get in line REAL EARLY to watch the #1 UMD Bulldogs take on the #2 UND Fighting Sioux. We were in line outside for 3 hours; UND staff took pity on us and opened the doors 2 hours before gametime instead of the normal 1 hour. I have never been so cold in my life. But it was worth it!! Ah, the good old days.

I gotta say UAA going from winless 0-22-6 last year, to #13 in the Pairwise with a realistic shot at the NCAA's, is the most impressive.

A few other postmortem reactions: The John was close to full last night; a pleasant surprise. Lot of Sioux colors in the stands; perhaps as many as 1000. Nice turnout. I was very Happy about the Sioux PK last night. Not only did we kill all 5 pp, the Rodents didn't generate a lot of great chances. To a layman's eyes, two strategies were obvious. One, don't let Ballard one-time from center point; a forward always stayed between Ballard and the goal, dropping back to prevent the cross-ice pass when others had the puck. Second, Parise and Bucks were out against the Rodent #1 unit which has Vanek on it. The Gopher seniors stepped up last night. Riddle and Koalska, in particular, on the big ice, were tough to defend. I thought our D did a good job of forcing them wide and not giving up the middle. But they use the extra width very well. I marvel at Zach's skills and effort every time I see him. I thought he was the best player on the ice last night, with about 5 "just missed" scoring opportunities, and a fistful of terrific defensive plays. I'm concerned about a letdown after this weekend, and hope we don't underestimate DU. They will be looking for a bit of revenge, methinks.

Sorry I just got back from The John. I stayed to watch the #@&*% Overtime. Ended in a 2-2 tie. The only other comment I have right now is that whoever counts shots at The John does it with brown and yellow colored glasses. No way were shots really 28-14 or whatever they counted. Yes the brown rodents had more, but not that many. We had a lot of chances EARLY (Zach, Porter, Hale, etc etc) and didn't convert. Lot of shots missing the net "just barely". Then in the second, we didn't match their intensity ... plus D Sh!&herd decided to make sure the home team got their powerplays. I still like our chances. But I'm grouchy tonight. Gotta go take a shower and rinse off the scum. More later.

During the 1980 National Semifinal, the Sioux trailed Dartmouth 0-1 after 2 periods. A reporter from Hockey News came down to talk with us, and after we each said "we're a 3rd period team" 3-4 times, he got the picture about how supremely confident we were going into any 3rd period. This year's Sioux gives me that same feeling. (PS those 1980 Sioux scored 4 unanswered in the 3rd .... and the rest is history.)

I predict the ice will magically melt after two periods as the Gophers desparately try to avoid playing the 3rd.