dagies

I think it's pretty clear the former isn't where they base their argument. However, I agree we should be all over them on the latter, which we are.

There's no doubt Grieco isn't Eddie Belfour at this point. He's 17, and in his first game in juniors he gave up 4 goals on 4 shots before being pulled. He's a boy playing a man's game in a man's league. I would expect with more experience and time he will get better and better. I'm not alarmed at his performance this past weekend, even if we would have wished for a bit better. Down the road will be a better judgement of our goaltending situation. Personally, I think we are fine at goal. Lammy has played well for the most part, but like most goalies is susceptible to an off game. Grieco is young but could be very good. I'm more worried about taking bad penalties, the PK and giving up some odd-man situations than I am goaltending at this point.

I don't recall which Sioux player took the shot (Genoway or Oshie are my two first choices) but it dinged off the crossbar and caught Anderson above and behind the eye. He left a fair amount of blood on the ice but the trainer came out and super-glued him together and he put on his helmet and went to work. It made me wonder, why don't these guys where a half-shield or something? This was literally 1-2 inches away from square in the eye.

While this is a fun exercise, it seems to me that it is off of the central argument that UND has to make. Is the NCAA saying that UND shouldn't use a Native American nickname because it used to have a negative connotation? Or is it saying that, because it's a Native American name, that UND shouldn't use it? I'm thinking it's the latter, and if so all the similarities between these other names who used to have a negative connotation (and now don't) to Sioux really don't seem to factor in to the central argument. Which, it seems to me, is whether or not it's appropriate to use the name or identity of another culture or race of people. I see the argument regarding the fact they ignore the Fighting Irish to be a lot more pertinent than whether a nickname once had a negative connotation associated with it.

I will say that's indicative of the Mankato fans I've bumped into down in Mankato in the past, but this weekend was a complete 180. A very enjoyable experience for the most part. I didn't walk all over the concourse, but I never saw ANY of the type of behavior this guy is whining about.

The best thing about the weekend, after a Sioux sweep, were the good people, both the good friends who were with me on Friday night, and NDH, Russ, Shawn, O1grad and everyone else that I ran into Saturday night. On the ice, it would be the play of guys like Martens, Miller, Genoway, Vandevelde, etc. I think they give us a lot of promise for the rest of the year. Lastly, the turnaround in quality of play by the Sioux from Friday to Saturday. Saturday was just a much better team effort. From what Hak said, cut down on the penalties, tighten up a little on the kill, and a little better goaltending and the Sioux would be very tough customers.

I wondered about that. That wasn't a recap, it was a stream of (semi) consciousness.

I just reread it to look for any information. At least the spelling and grammar was interesting.

Boy am I glad I made the game tonite. Thanks again NDH! Someone asked what Hak said to the team before the 3rd period tonite. I don't know but I think this morning he asked "Would the real Sioux Men's Hockey Team please stand up!". And they did. Like Hak said in the postgame, it wasn't perfect, but in my eyes this was a much better Sioux team than I saw last night. Tonite the boys were much sharper. Passes crisp, mostly caught, very few dribbles off the blade, etc. Less fumbling around and not clearing the zone (except on the pk). The team did show some resiliency again by continuing to battle back after giving up goals to Mankato. I credit Porter for some of that. I watched the 1st and 3rd periods from high up over the Sioux offensive zone and watched the 2nd from a few rows behind the Sioux bench. I thought it would be fun to watch the bench and see if there's anything interesting that goes on there during play. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't see much that happened down in the Sioux defensive zone. But that's ok. It was fun to watch the bench for a while, because with a 3 goal lead you maybe don't have to watch everything that goes on on the ice. I didn't realize how short a time I'd have to watch the bench before it became very important to pay closer attention to the action on the ice. Unlike yesterday, and from what I read about last Friday, I don't think the Sioux fell apart in the 2nd period tonite, other than they took way too many penalties. Something wasn't working on the PK and that really compounded the problem. But 5 on 5 I didn't think the ice was tilted in the Mav's favor the way it felt for long stretches last night. Wow, I've read about Jonesy snapping last year and it makes me wonder if tonite was similar or not as bad or? When Morin? planted Bina in the Sioux net Jones just snapped. It was instantaneous. I know I was glad not to be on the wrong end of it. Once the linesman had him out of there I was very afraid of a possible suspension because he wanted to get back in and I was afraid he was going to do something really stupid to the linesman in the attempt. Fortunately he didn't. In a way it's fun to watch, but it's kind of scary, because he does appear to just lose it. The Mav had it coming, but Jonesy probably took it a bit too far, because of his extra roughing minor the boys ended up 1 man down, and that lead to the Finley slash and the Mav goal, etc. Personally, I was surprised that a 5 min fighing major wasn't called with a DQ. Glad it wasn't. Mankato was called for a 2 minute CFB. I didn't realize that was an option. I don't recall the play exactly but I remember thinking at the time it wasn't much of a penalty, so it was probably reasonable. Hakstol said there were no weak players in the 3rd tonite and from what I saw I'd have to agree. Really, for most of the game. Finley played the puck better in his own zone, and in the first had a very nifty work-around of a defender to deliver the puck to a forward and create the rush. I don't recall exactly but it was early enough in the game that it might have been the assist on Kozek's goal. Finley sure was surprised to be called for the second slashing penalty. He didn't see that coming at all. I didn't see it so can't comment. To borrow some baseball vernacular, I think Chorney would like to have that one back. I'm talking about the attempt to keep the puck in the zone on the PP that lead to the shorty. 4 Sioux players were all deep when that puck slid out to the high slot. Had Chorney successfully kept it in it would have been a great play, but it was a close call, and while Schlossman's blog said it skipped his blade (he was higher up than I so might have had a better view) to me it looked like he just didn't quite get there in time. He's got great wheels and nearly caught up with Morin to break up the attempt but couldn't quite get there. He took a good slash at Morin's feet and was lucky a penalty was not called. Lee played a very steady game. I was surprised to find out he had 4 assists, not because I don't think he played that well, he did, I just didn't notice the plays he made. For instance, I thought it was Watkins who made the pass to Porter for the tip-in goal. That was a very nice goal. That wasn't just a tap it into the open side of the net goal. The pass came from way out by the blue line diagonally across the zone to Porter who was open out in front of the crease. Porter had to redirect the shot high past the goalie. When he first touched the puck I thought "no way" but he made it work. Great effort by both players. Speaking of "no way". I know why TH called that Mav goal and was then surprised that Grieco made the save. I was sitting almost in the exact same line than TH, except a little farther from the action, so we had the same perspective. When the Mav player cut across the crease with the puck you could see he had a good foot + of open space on Grieco's left side. You could see the Red Sea had parted and the Egyptians were sitting ducks waiting for the massive walls of water to close on them. As a fan we've all seen those situations, where you know the puck is about to be scored. There's no doubt. This was one of those times, yet AFTER he releases the puck, from no where (possibly not connected to his body) Grieco's big glove arm swoops down and covers the ice before the puck gets in. Are you kidding me? Grieco looked much better tonite handling the puck than last night. I almost never had to go in search of toilet paper. Watkins is continuing to impress me with his very strong overall play. Not a high scorer, maybe, but that line is probably the hardest working, and the best at cycling the puck. Watkins seems to know the right thing to do. Martens looked solid tonite but not as exciting as I thought last night. But I don't think he had any glaring mistakes. VandeVelde seems to be catching up to the game. IMO this was the best game I've seen him play so far. He seemed to play with more confidence and authority, and was one of the only Sioux really using his size and physical skills. I like how he is developing. Miller had a very strong game. I think he's found a spot on one of those top lines. He didn't look out of place at all, and while Kozek might be able to fire the puck through a brick wall Miller seems to bring a bit more overall game to the table. Kozek also had a good game, obviously. On a lower line he might find a little less defensive attention and more open space. It worked for him tonite, and he's a natural selection for the PP with his shot and a bit more open space to work in. How about Martens on the 2nd PP unit? I didn't see that coming. Bina had a very strong game, I thought. Oshie had an excellent game. While he wasn't rewarded with a ton of points, he made great plays all night long. Sometimes his linemates just weren't able to convert, or these plays might have been the "keep it in the zone" or break up the Mav transition game, or whatever. His feed to Miller on the 2 on 1 was a thing of beauty. Against Bucky Oshie had a 2 on 1 with Toews and kept the puck and almost, but didn't score. This time, almost identical situation Oshie held the puck till the last instant, then saucered the pass across to Miller who pounded it into the open net. The goalie had no chance as he finally had to commit to Oshie, and the defender was prone having to try and break up the pass, unsuccessfully. In the first period Oshie was all alone on the right of the goalie and could and possibly should have shot, but noticed Duncan all alone across the crease. He fed the puck across and the result was another goal. Great decisions by Oshie. After Finley's first slashing penalty, as Porter hopped off the bench to kill the 5-3, it appeared he turned to the team and told admonished the dumb penalties. After the goal was scored and Miller (who was serving Jonesy's extra penalty skated to the bench and seemed to rip into them for the same thing. At least that's how it appeared to me. Forney's shoulder must be feeling ok. He wasn't afraid to throw his weight around. Just coming on the ice on one shift he met a Mav breaking into the zone with the puck and put his football skills to work and just bent over and put him down. It wasn't a crushing blow, but it destroyed the attempt. Later, when a Mav player hit Chorney? after the whistle and put him on top of Grieco Forney was the first on the scene and put that guy right down too. Then Chorney and Fabian got into it and Forney found himself outside the ruckus and didn't even get a penalty. Good to see him go to his teammates assistance like that. Funny thing during that skirmish. Zajac was tied up with a Mav player. It looked like Zajac would look around and see if anyone was looking at him, and if not, poke the guy in the face with his left hand. He did this probably close to a half-dozen times. It was amuzing. I was waiting for the other guy to decide to go, but he didn't want to break loose, I guess. Radke seemed to play a much better game tonite. I would have said that had he not scored either. He didn't look so much like the play was going around him. From the opening face-off when he planted a Mav player taking the puck into the UND zone along the boards, he seemed to be much more ready to play. Finally, a shout out to Russ and Shawn (Sean?) who I met tonite having a beer at the Irish bar across the street from the arena. A couple of nice guys who enjoy their hockey. Hopefully they'll never sit by me again. They sat next to me for most of the 2nd period, and the Sioux were up 3-0 until about 30 seconds after they sat down. The second period went to hell in a handbasket after that. I went and sat by myself for the 3rd! Cudos to NDH for continually starting the Sioux fans singing the "Ole Ole" song after Sioux goals. And to the Mav fans sitting in front of me and mocking Sioux fans for having only 2 cheers ("Let's go Sioux!" and "Go Sioux!", obviously mocking me and those around me), I have one thing to say. When you left with 48 seconds left you missed the 3rd cheer "BEAT THE TRAFFIC!". HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That one's for you. I must be living in a parallel universe or something. I go to 2 Mav games in Mankato. The Sioux win them both. The Sioux try to give them both away but still find a way to battle back for the win. All of the Maverick fans I ran into (with the exception of the above, and how bad is that, really?) were decent and good to talk to. This is not the normal experience for me. To PCM, yes it appears I DID step up for Toews, like I promised. To me, last night's win almost felt like a loss, because of the weaknesses that showed in the team. Tonite's win feels like a good win, because the team shows a lot to be optimistic about.

"I've got 2 cheeks." ?

I would think part of this is the coaching staff learning where some of the parts fit best.

I would also like to recognize NorthDakotaHockey. Last spring, not knowing me other than having bought tickets from me in the past, he was willing to stump in Milwaukee to arrange tickets so my friends and I could attend the Frozen Four. A sudden unexpected situation arose to cancel our plans, but it does not diminish his willingness to spend his time helping us. And today, he graciously offered a ticket for tonite's game without asking $ in return. At least I could buy him some concessions. Another example of true Sioux fan.

I can't agree with this. Every time he tried to play the puck I had to excuse myself to find some toilet paper.

It's not every one but too many. Last night was a typical Sioux performance for me in Mankato. Lots of ugly. But Hakstol said it in the paper, this time the Sioux managed to come out on top. While there was ugly, last night, there was some resiliency as well, and that was a good sign. A few more thoughts on the game... I agree with jk on Oshie. He played very hard and made some good plays, don't get me wrong, but I think there were at least a couple of other Sioux forwards out there who were better. I may be guilty of being taken in by too much glitz and missing the finer points, but it seemed when Porter and Watkins were out there, we could take a deep breath. Genoway, Martens, and Miller might have been the most impressive Sioux forwards on the ice. Martens showed some nice awareness on the ice, and did some things in traffic that we usually don't see from our lower line guys. I thought VandeVelde had a solid game, and at times his willingness to try and use his size was refreshing. I was reminded last night of Green Bay's coach talking about Miller being his best goal scorer (he played with Wheeler. Not a knock on Wheeler, but I think we're starting to see some of Miller's gifts). We did comment a couple of times that Miller's play opened up a chance or 2 for Mankato, and it could be those kinds of things that Hak is concerned about. But he's showing some very good offensive gift, and we sure need it. Forney looked a little ragged out there, and didn't get a lot of time. In the 3rd, as Schlossman noted on his blog, he had a nice chance getting a puck to him in the clear out front, unfortunately he was stuck to his backhand with little time to give him much chance to do anything with it. He seemed close to doing some nice things with the puck but just couldn't get it done. Maybe a little more playing time and experience and he'll start to catch up a bit. Fabian was ok, but I don't think he had his best game last night. Kaip, I thought, had a very average game for him. He had the puck alone in front and didn't even get a shot on goal, but the puck dribbled off his stick. In the 3rd in crunch time he was standing flat footed at the red line and allowed a Maverick to skate around him. There were other times were he just didn't seem to play very well at all. Maybe he was sick. Chorney had a decent game at times, but a couple of mistakes with the puck were costly. Speaking of the puck, all night the Sioux had pucks slipping off their sticks, passes made with little authority that didn't connect, etc. Not good. Not good at all. On the contrary Mankato looked much more confident and competent. jk mentioned it, but I wish the WCHA would call games to the same rules the rest of D1 or USA Hockey is calling them. There continue to be guys getting held and tackled, and while some get called, not all do. Miller got tackled going in on a scoring chance and when the puck got reversed to the other side the Sioux get called for about the same thing. Amazing. And the Mankato make-up call in the 3rd was exactly that. A call to please Hak, because it didn't appear to be that big of a deal. Finley didn't handle the puck with any confidence or authority last night, which was a concern. Speaking of concerns, Radke might need to sit and watch the game from the pressbox. Genoway is so good as a forward it's hard to move him, but Radke didn't impress me last night. He was a pylon on a play or 2, and took some bad penalties at bad times. He needs to pick up his game. Would like to see more from Kozek. The guy showed last night that he can shoot the lights out with the puck, but he doesn't seem to do a lot that helps his line, or get himself in position where he can be found in space. It appears to me he needs to get the puck in a place where he can shoot, and that just doesn't seem to happen for whatever reason. Overall the team came to play in the first, but Mankato woke up with 5 minutes left in the first and that continued, helped by Sioux penalties. The Sioux got tired at times, and I think it was a combo of 2 things. 1. They had to kill too many penalties in too short a time, wearing out some of our better players. 2. We had too much trouble clearing the puck because we didn't handle the puck well in our own zone. This caused protracted efforts in the defensive zone that left Sioux defenders tired, which exacerbated the situation. Have to do a better job with that. Mankato played very hard. It seemed like they had 6 guys in our defensive zone, and that made it hard to break out. Sioux have to solve that. Fortunately, like Hak said, after suffering long periods of dire straits, he would get a few shifts, usually started by the Porter-Watkins-Genoway line that would take control and cycle the puck effectively in the offensive zone. They really set the tone. Hope I can make tonite's game.

Was there last night. Grieco made some nice saves. Let in a softy, and left some juicy rebounds sitting out front. He was ok, but not outstanding. I say whoever Hakstol thinks is playing better is the guy I want to see on the ice tonite, should I drive down again. If Walski is out there, that tells me he's been practicing well. If Grieco's out there, that tells me that Hak believes he's a better goalie than Walski, and has shown that in practice. You can't take much from warm-ups, I don't think, but based on last night I thought Grieco looked better than Walski, FWIW.

All Betty's gotta do is push the plunger, PCM.

Looking around for that "I'm not worthy" smiley icon thing.

Hey, that looks like a Guinness!

Wow. Amazing that documented hostility cannot be managed, but perceived it can be managed.

I've always been impressed with the effort donated by some people on this board. I won't remember to name them all but YaneA with the decorations and hats and signs, PCM with the many journalistic duties, DaveK (and others) with the availability of recordings, and by no means least Jim Dahl and everyone else involved in putting forth this great forum. Through this message board I've been given an opportunity to meet many people (including YaneA) I would not have had a chance to, and in some cases personal relationships have been the result. Even if they haven't the meeting has enriched my life and my fan experience. There are several more that I haven't met but have had correspondence with, and many I would expect some day I'll correspond or meet with. This board, and the people who run it or contribute posts to it, definitely enriches my fan experience, and that adds to the fabric of my life.

You deserve 2, Speez.

It's hard to say, but someone will have to pick me up as I'm probably scratched for Saturday.

Don't worry. I'll be there Friday night.

Best part of my Wednesdays. Thanks, PCM! I agree, Siouxdonyms. Mankato always scares me. I've been in Mankato with dominant Sioux teams that got killed, and I've been in GF with stronger Sioux teams that still struggled. I haven't watched much success against Mankato in person, and I'm a little gun-shy about Friday night. But I'm still looking forward to it.

When Colby was playing for the Sioux I remember reading from what I considered a credible source (can't remember it now) that it was pronounced with a hard G. Then we only ever heard it with a soft G. Interesting.