dagies

Most of my growing up was in Milbank SD. Learned to love watching hockey with Sodak Sioux Fan in his dad's electronics workshop. Dinky tv, drinking Miller ponies every time the North Stars would score in the playoffs. What fun! Left for Fergus Falls for a couple of years, then to UND just on time to learn about college hockey and the Hrkac Circus. There's a reason 87 is the number on the back of my game jersey (graduation + championship). Now, I'm embedded firmly in the "Maroon Zone" in Gopherdad.

Did he ever say "jk, goof off one more time and you go straight to the showers!'?

You are exactly right about that.....

Best idea on this thread.

Yeah, I saw it. You should have asked if anyone HEARD it though. I was at Sensers, with no sound. Sorry. Would have liked to have listened in, though. It was good to see him.

Yeah, like you do with the alphabet.

Blais' expirement with NHL may have satisfied his itch. He's always said he likes developing players, so it wouldn't surprise me to hear he was back in college or something like that. I do wonder if chasing prospects is something he might be tired of doing, I don't know. As for coaching the women's team, someone closer to that sport has told me that it's tougher to coach women's hockey because the women don't have pro leagues to look forward to, therefore a lot of them are playing for fun, but aren't as interested in developing themselves to their utmost potential if they aren't going to be playing on the Olympic team. You can't push them as hard as you can the men who often have a chance to make some money in the game after college, whether it's the NHL, minor leagues or Europe. If that is true, I wonder if Blais would be happy in that environment. Of course, after his highly successful run at UND, scratching his NHL itch, and working through all of the difficult family circumstances, maybe coaching a squad of talented players who are interested in having fun and playing the game would be a good fit for him. I also wonder if he would go to UMD depending on the circumstance surrounding Sandy's departure. I'm only bringing this up since someone mentioned it above. He and Sandelin were very good friend when they coached together at UND. When Sandy left I think I remember Blais saying something like "Not only did we lose a great coach, but I lost a pal". If Sandy is dumped, I have to wonder if Blais would want to take the job. Where else in the WCHA would he go? MN - Lucia appears to be the guy for the forseeable future WI - Unless Eaves takes a pro job, does anyone see a change coming there? Denver - Gwoz seems firmly entrenched. Has anyone heard any rumors of him wanting to leave? CC - Owens has been there a while, but is doing fairly well. There hasn't been much rumormongering on the internet about his job that I'm aware of. I suppose this could be a possibility. UMD - already addressed above Mankato - Jutting seems to be doing ok, but I suppose this would be one possibility. St. Cloud - they've got a new coach, that probably won't be changing next year. AA - another fairly new coach. Tech - Russell might be a question-mark, but this year might be a better year for him and I think they've got another good recruiting class coming next year. I suppose this could be another possibility, though. I guess you never know, but there doesn't appear to be a plethora of obvious opportunities.

This is hardly breaking news, but I think its critical to sweep this weekend. With the break from WCHA play, and losing one of the 2 best offensive players on the team, it will be good to go into the break from league play with some points and a positive outlook. About 6-5 goals per game would be nice for the psyche, I think. This doesn't mean I think this will happen. I just think it will be important to sweep.

You're channeling an experience I had back in the 1980's. It was blizzarding, Sioux/Bison, Grog and Peppermint Schnapps. We made a liquor store run at half-time. I have no clue what the score was. I did run through the Bison band and grabbed a "Sioux Suck" baseball hat off a guy and outran the pursuit down and out the bleachers. (I couldn't believe they were going to denigrate the Native population of North Dakota like that....)

You can still remember all that?

"...and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The woman called Suze then came to the Siouxians and pointed at them saying "You brood of vipers. In a Blaising way you overrecruiteth the bluechippahs, and leave them not for the poor and lowly, discarding the chaff as you go."

Good idea, we'll pull him apart in the meantime if we're not careful.

Protests seem to follow you around. Let's throw Goon off the ship! Who's with me?

Were those previous suspensions having to do with the text book situation? I don't quite recall myself. Would the magnitude of the suspensions have forced AA to forfeit a game? Maybe that's why they allowed them to spread it out at the time. Or, were the suspensions imposed by AA, and not a result of on-ice actions?

Hak's comment about that strange call cracked me. I'm a little surprised there was no mention of Bishop leaving. Thanks, PCM! With the report on the other thread that Toews hurt his shoulder tonite, I'm not sure Hak should be looking forward to seeing Toews come back with a jump in his step. This is starting to sound a lot like a season long nagging thing. Hopefully not anything worse than that.

Shawn-O, I don't know how well you can compare the 2. Watkins was not one of the top 2-3 scorers in the BCHL if I remember, but down around 10 or 15. Hanging out with the more pedestrian of the decent scorers. Maybe it's just my perception but it seems to me unless guys are top flight scorers in juniors they usually don't tear it up at this level.

That's just great.

There you go forgetting PCM again...

I thought Watkins has taken a nice step forward this year. He's much more of a force on the ice as a 2nd line player, whereas most of last year he was just "there" as a 4th liner. I agree on the others, though. Maybe with Kozek it's a matter of fitting him into the right role.

He's played forward for almost 2 months. I was wondering if it's a tough thing to just make the switch just like that.

Saw that. Also saw this. Am assuming this was most recently written: Timeline in the [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=20100

The paper said Rivard and Buning met with the team after Sunday's game, right? You have to wonder if MN just didn't care on Sunday, and figured if they scored 1 and played D they could sleep through the game.

Good luck to you, Phil. If it's testicular cancer, it's proven you can come back even stronger than before.

There's always a job for everyone. It's a matter of finding the right fit. Possibly she isn't a very good coach, but that doesn't mean she doesn't possess excellent skills that could be utilized in other areas. I am not that close to the program but wished to see coaching change sooner than later, like most of you. However, this sort of thing doesn't need to be personal. If UND can legitimately utilize and benefit from her skills, then more power to Buning for making use of them.