farce poobah

Not only should we not play conference games, we should schedule lightly on the nonconference side. Especially with the team having off weeks during the season (thanksgiving and the week after ...).

Another great timeout call by Blais. WOOO HOOO GO SIOUX!

I love it - Hennessy quoting Bill Murray in Caddyshack ... "how 'bout a little something, ya know, for the effort". Classic.

Women. Sure. Or Wookies.

Music to my ears ... Or maybe they were saying SOOOOOOOOO.

SIOUX WIN SIOUX WIN SIOUX WIN Badgers leading 4-3 3: left in Madtown

Brandt comes up big, oh the irony Ianozzo.... still 2-1 :59 left

2 minutes, still 2-1

BADGERS TAKE THE LEAD 4-3 SHG 6 minutes left

Good thing for them. They'll need 3 goalies to stop The Money Line, I mean the 7-11 Line, I mean the Line of Shock and Awe....

Is there room for 22 banners?

JK, very interesting read. If Blais sticks with Genoway, Hale and Canady as the 4th line combination, and I hope we see more of them, it reminds me of 1987. Reason being Sioux 4th line is rarely upperclassmen, but in 1987 at least by the end of the season, it was most often Jeff Bowen, Grant Paranica, and Scott Dub. And we know how that story turned out. Especially on the road, when opposing coaches are deliberately trying to create bad matchups, having experienced, strong skaters to let the 7-11 Line rest will be valuable. On Vanek's near-goal in the 1st Saturday, he blew by Schneider. As far as not seeing Massen, who would you take out of the lineup? Chris Porter has certainly earned a spot...

St Cloud State: Sioux Can't Stand U St Cloud: You Still Can't Stop Us ======================= St Cloud State Trophy Case: [empty box] St Cloud State - NCAA Champions - NOT! ====================== First we beat the Gophers Tonight we beat the Rejects ===================== SCSUcks! =====================

Zach Attack

It doesn't match the old Ralph because the bottom bowl is 1/6 students instead of 1/2.

Tallackson had zero SOG friday and zero SOG Saturday. He was so invisible it hurt. Vanek was -3 Friday and -2 Saturday. His definition of forechecking is to stand in front of the Sioux net and hope a "D" centers the puck to him. A great backcheck by Zach denied him a goal early on in front of a wide open net. Zach didn't score Saturday but he still ended the night +1. Gophers looked tired late both nights. Maybe not in shape? Sioux got better each night as the game went on .. maybe in shape?

So much for recipes. Geez, I was pretty much wrong about everything. We took some marginal unnecessary penalties early that cost, Let the Varmints score first, Got no goals from Bo or Zach, Gave up a soft goal (MN #3), AND WE STILL WON!!!! Yeeehhaaaawww! More thoughts later after I get "hydrated".

I think Blais will put Murray on a different line. I would not be surprised to see Massen in Bina out, with R Hale moving back to D. I think Canady should play, he played closer to potential last night with outstanding hustle and work effort, and no penalties. Its also a good situation to give JPar a start, but I wouldn't complain if Jake plays.

I agree. Sioux forechecking pressure led directly to goals, especially the important #5 from Brady Murray 1 minute into the 3rd period. I think the Gophers missed Ballard and Harrington more than the Sioux missed Schneider. I'd love to see both teams with healthy rosters.

The Friday recipe for Gopher-beating included: * Have Joey Martin center the puck from behind his own net right to Bochenski's knee (Bo could be a decent goalie, I think). * Have Matt Jones shoot the puck from the point towards the corner and have it bounce off Kennedy and past Briggs. * Have Lee Marvin toss it at Briggs from the goal line extended and off Briggs shoulder. Suffice to say we were the recipients of some gift goals Friday. BUT.... there were a TON of plays that we could have and should have scored on, and didn't: * Zach with 3 clean breakaways and no goals (he did draw a penalty on one that ended a Varmint powerplay). Bochenski - Parise - Murray could just as well had 10 goals last night the way they were playmaking. Their performance was as good as ANY I can recall in the past 25 years (and that includes Panzer getting 4 one night, Joyce-Hrkac-Johnson with a bagfull in 1987 etc etc). WOW! The Gang of Five - Jones Greene Prpich McMahon and Fylling - were simply outstanding. They were physical, they were fast, they HIT VANEK HARD starting on their first shift and ending 60 minutes later. Game Pucks to those guys ... if Vanek doesn't score, our odds of winning go way up. On the other hand, Minnesota's goals were borderline soft too, but Jake too made some great saves when the outcome was still in doubt. Last and NOT least, the Sioux penalty kill was good. ========================================== The recipe for Saturday: * No needless penalties. We took too many away from the play, sticks in places where they shouldn't have been (Lundbohm), and MN's powerplay is too good to give them 7 chances and expect it not to bite. * Take the body. Especially Vanek and Guyer. Vanek is big but if you make it hard to get through, he seems to stop working. (Potulny on the other hand likes the bumping, it seems.) * Come out hard in the first 10 minutes. Set the tempo. * Forecheck - Pressure MN's cruddy defensemen, of which there are several playing a lot. Continue exploiting that weakness ... Normally I hate dump and chase, but if there's ever a time to use it selectively, its this weekend. Guys like Taylor, Vanelli, even Joey Martin, just can't play at the pace our forwards do. ============================================ One last comment on the atmosphere Friday: outstanding. Tip of the Farce Helmet to the creativity and energy from the student section (you know who you are!) and the Jumbotron guys. I wish I were a Sioux fan right now! BOOYA! DROP THE PUCK ALREADY! GO SIOUX!

I think the Gang of Five (including Jones, Greene, Prpich, McMahon, Fylling) should all get Game Pucks for their outstanding work. It took them all of 3 minutes and Vanek's head was distracted. He was yapping, pushing, shoving ... which is exactly the point.

Saturday: 9534 at the Alerus, 9010 at the FargoDome.... Most D-2 teams would give their right arm for that kind of support.

Blais, as usual, seems right on this one. * Minnesota runs goalies. They ran Berkhoel twice this weekend on what can only be described as deliberate, intentional plays. Riddle's included a stick to the head, and Vanek on the other ... * So we need two confident goalies. While it seems likely Jake gets the start, we may need the backup for one or more reasons ... * and getting JP a bit more confidence is more important than getting a shutout in the books.

If Schneider is out for any time at all, we'll need the rookies to step in ...

I predict the Sioux embarrass the Gophers so thoroughly that the Gophers drop men's hockey forever. GO SIOUX!!!