dagies

Fabian is my guy for captian. I like Porter as assistant. I don't have a clear favorite for the 3rd. Bina is a possibility.

Go Prp!!

Erik Johnson maybe?

Wheeler had 9 goals as a freshman last year. Not too shabby. Hirsch had a ton of assists the last year he played, but I don't think a ton of goals. Gordon had about 12 last year. Was he a product of Kessel and the power play? Or can he maintain that level of play. We'll see. Howe appears to have a ton of ability but a medical issue that seems to apply a governor. If that's straightened out he might explode this year. I just have a gut feeling Okposo is going to be no fun for an opposing fan. I see Goligoski scoring more goals than Lee. Doesn't necessarily mean I like him better. But my impression is that Lee does a good job of throwing the puck at the net (and getting it there) where others can clean it up, but doesn't necessary shoot to score every time. Again, just my impression from last year. Gopher players don't have the gaudy stats coming in as some of our guys do, but I think there's too much potential there for them not to cause plenty of pain this season.

That's where my trail led too, DMT. Whether we are right or not I don't know. Here's Heisenberg's top 6 BCHL players. Again, I don't think this is any sort of perfect ranking, but the fact the names are at the top of the list usually means something: Kyle Turris-LC Burnaby (BCHL) 5'11 155 8-14-89 WISCONSIN Kyle Ostrow-LC Nanaimo (BCHL) 5'9 160 9-5-87 U.DENVER Lucas Bloodoff-LC Trail (BCHL) 6'1 196 5-5-89 57-16-24-40-46 2006 Pacific U-17 team Ben Winnett-RW Salmon Arm (BCHL) 6' 175 4-3-89 MICHIGAN Riley Nash-LC Salmon Arm (BCHL) 9-5-89 2006 Pacific U-17 team Evan Trupp-LW Penticton (BCHL) 5'8 155 10-22-87 NORTH DAKOTA

Brad Schlossman has this Q&A with Jackson on his blog. I had not known that Eades had recruited Jackson way back when. Interesting how it all ties together.

As I scrolled down the pics I came to the second one where the guy in the jersey is starting to exit the plane with the cup. I thought the next pic might be the one with him going head over heels down the ramp! O well.

I'm going to agree and disagree with you. I agree that Wheeler hasn't played like a 5th overall selection. And if you want to classify his freshman campaign in that light I suppose you could use "bust". But if you look at freshman production, I think Wheeler had 9 goals. Well, that's pretty darn good for most freshman. We hope and believe Kozek can have a breakout year next year and he had 7 goals last year. And he's a second round pick. It is entirely conceivable Wheeler is a monster this year. I don't think last year proves anything. It just brings a question mark into the equation, IMO.

Toews - He was just coming into his own at the end of the season. Will build from there. That's no knock against Oshie. All season long I think Sioux fans will be saying Toews? Oshie? Oshie? Toews? Who cares, we have them both! Kozek - I too think he is ready to break out and I expect Duncan will get more attention this coming year. Zajac - I don't think either of these guys will score a bunch, but Zajac has played at a higher level. Forney's upside might be showing by the end of the year, but Zajac will have the better first year. Kaip - Still waiting for Radke to start scoring more goals, and I think Kaip might have found his at the end of last year. Doubt we'll be needing both hands and feet to count 'em, though. Porter - I don't think Lee is a great goal scorer. I think he likes to put the puck in play, even on the PP, and let others put it in. Since most of us expect Porter to get a lot of time on one of the top 2 lines, I think he out-biscuits Lee. Miller - Bina probably won't have to play much at forward this year. So he'll be able to concentrate on D. And with the offensive D that the team has, I agree he might be called on to be more responsible defensively. Miller showed some flashes last year, and I'm really hoping that there are a couple of guys who can play with him on a 4th line that can create some chances for each other. If so he out duels Bina.

No arguing with my points is allowed. MODERATOR! MODERATOR!!! You do make a fair point about MN's offense. What I felt is that they don't possess the top end returners that UND does but that they have a deeper core of offense on paper, and are probably bringing in more offense in the incoming class. That's what's really subjective about these sorts of predictions. Gordon had about 12 goals last year. Will he build on that? Will he be playing with similar quality teammates this year? We won't know until skates hit the ice. Will Kaip pick up where he left off the year last year? If so he might get 12-15 goals this year, instead of 3. Who knows? I'm only guessing!

You know, you can look at paper offense and goaltending history. But it's much harder to quantify a team's defensive capabilities. At least it is for me. So, admitting that I really don't know much more than how to guess at how good a team might be at keeping the other team away from their net: These grades are relative within the WCHA: Minnesota For a team that so often lives by the PP, will it be able to replace Thor Potulny? Will again have a dynamic offense. May or may not lack the finisher that they've had. How good will the goaltending be? Offense A - Probably the deepest offense though lacking the high level returning scorers of UND. Strongest incoming class. Hirsch is a wild card. Will he step back in where he left off? Will he be the same player after a layoff? Will he be the same player without a pure goal scorer like RyPo? Defense B - May give up a few more chances than the best defensive teams, but the strongest offensive contributors overall helps make up for that. Shouldn't be embarrassing in their own end either, but we can hope. Goal B- - Briggs can be solid but also inconsistent. Frazee has ability but maybe hasn't figured out the mental aspects of being successful yet. Should be effective, and that may be all that's necessary. Freshmen A - Best incoming class. After Johnson and Okposo, you can add Barriball and Fischer, and THEN tack on some quality additions. Yikes. UND Possibly the best top end offensive players in the WCHA. Will they have enough scoring depth and goaltending? Offense A - Probably the most potent returning offense but not quite as deep as MN. Defense B - Great mix of offensive and defensive ability. Last year did a pretty good job of limiting chances, but not physically imposing as they have been in the past. Instead this group has more offensive ability. Goal B- - Lammy has talent and has shown ability. Now will be counted on for consistent play over the course of a season. That's still a question mark and prevents a higher rating. I expect this mark to improve not get worse over time. Incoming Freshmen C+ - Solid, but not outstanding. Wisconsin Well coached team that won't give up a lot, but if you don't either you have a chance to win. Offense C - Not as potent as the better teams, some quality relative to the bottom feeders. Gorowsky is a bit of a wild card. Not much of a freshman year for a guy who was expected to show better. If he does come on, it will be a boon for Eaves. Defense A - Team gives up few chances. Seems to be their style. Goal A - Elliot in net is enough said Freshmen B- - Fairly strong and balanced class with potential contributors on offense and defense. Heavy on USNDP. SCSU Scrappy, hard working, well coached team. Offense C+ - Rates middle of the pack, Gordon gives it some pizzazz. Defense B - Returns some solid blueliners that also contribut offensively. Goal A - Goepfert can steal games. Incoming Freshmen C - Some good players previously. Can they step up? UMD Team is young, deep and talented. Quite young. Stalock may be the goalie they've been looking for. Offense A- - some very good depth and ability. Sophomores played key roles and scored successfully last year. Could explode this year. Will they? Defense B- - Some solid defenseman. Niskanen could be an offensive defensive standout. Goal C+ - Hard to give a better grade until it is seen what Stalock can do for them. This grade could improve significantly. Incoming Freshmen C - Stalock is probably the headliner of a decent but fairly small class. Denver Hard working team, well coached. Unpopular style. Lacks the biscuit-ability of the past few teams and will struggle to score. Offense C - Dingle is the star of this emaciated offense. Not as much depth as with some WCHA teams. Some potential help coming from the D but not a lot. Will need some freshmen to have an impact to get into the top 5. Trotter is a wild card. Am assuming he's coming back and will be the player he looked to be last year. Gwoz will need him. If he does come back, this grade would improve at least 1/2 letter. Defense B - If the officials allow the Denver Grab defense, they may be ok. They'll need to limit the score to have a good chance this year. With Mannino in net all they have to do is limit the good chances and they'll be fine. I say officiating frustrates the Gwoz and they finish lower half. Goaltending A - No coach would kick Mannino out of bed. Incoming Freshmen B - some pretty good players coming in, both offense and defense. Will need to have an impact in order to provide depth. Mankato A team that was close to being pretty good lost a ton of offense. Gutted offense costs them much of a season. Offense C - Similar situation as Denver. A star forward without a lot of depth. Defense C - Vanilla. There. Goaltending C - Last year was inconsistent. Will Austin Lee bolster the corp? Incoming Freshmen C - Some good players for the leagues that they came from, but generally came from 2nd tier leagues. Any diamonds in the rough here? They better hope so. Colorado College Ouch. Has Owens lived off Sertich/Sterling for 4 years? Lucia built the CC program and Owens appeared to be maintaining it. But this year the team is gutted. Other than Rau there is little offense, average defense, decent goaltending, and a sub-par recruiting class for a team that needed to rebuild. My concern is that Owens didn't lose most of his guys early, why doesn't he have a class coming in to replace his losses? Offense C- - After Rau Owens better hope he has some surprises. Defense C- - I've never been all that impressed with CC's defense. They seem to be an offensive style defense. They don't have any offense, so they need to stop the puck. Ain't going to happen, and with no offense they can't keep it away from the other team. Zaba might need 2 chest protectors. Goaltending B+ - Zaba is a bright spot. Better be good. Incoming freshmen C- - To me it seems Owens 2 noteworthy recruits are D. Offensive D. Oops. Alaska Anchorage A couple of years ago a sign fell and hit one of their players in warm-ups. It appears the roof caved in over the summer. Offense F - Has a team ever not had a double digit scorer for a whole year? Defense C - Ok at best. Some guys who can step into the offense. Goaltending B - Lawson is pretty good. Incoming Freshmen C - They have some guys that were ok in their previous leagues. AA will need them to be ok or better this year to stay out of the cellar. Tech Might have even less returning scoring than AA if you can believe that. When you look at what is coming back it's no surprise Ian Kallay bailed on the pretense of pursuing another career and then applied for the UND opening. Offense F - cupboard is pretty bare, and the shelves aren't deep. Defense C - eh, ok. Goaltending C - shaky, sometimes very good. Incoming freshmen C - might be better than Alaska's, but will have to be to get out of the cellar.

#1Hakfan, you make some good points on Lammy. It's hard to know for sure what Lammy will provide night in and night out over the course of the season. I do remember that game against MN, however. I attended the Friday night game, but didn't have tickets on Saturday and watched that one in front of my tv instead. Friday night seemed the low point of the season. The team HAD to have a solid performance the following night and that's exactly what Lammy gave them. Basically, a chance to win the game. That came after being shell-shocked the night before and looking like it could be a long season. Lammy came in and gave the team hope. And while the road was not smooth the rest of the way (see the SCSU series a couple weeks later), I think that MN game was pivotal in how the rest of the season played out. Lammy has shown he has the ability. Now he will have to show the consistency over time. Let's drop the puck!

Congratulations to Cary Eades as well for being named Associate Head Coach. Congratulations and welcome aboard to Dane Jackson. I like some of the things listed in the Sicatoka's link. The Tom Hoghaug award, and the All-Academic awards, assistant captaincy, as well as graduating in 4 years all say this guy took everything seriously, not just playing hockey. Then on to an 11 year pro career, and some good coaching experience. Hakstol's first hire was a very good one. It will play out over time whether Hakstol hired the right guy this time as well, but Jackson looks good on paper. Has anyone contacted Jackson yet to let him know this board is a treasure trove of resource for his new job?

Maybe that's one reason he's getting into his professional career as soon as possible. Trying to get away from mom and dad.

I'm surprised this hasn't made this board yet.... Just one man's opinion, but it sounds good: Hopefully this is appealing to those top flight recruits.

This is one reason I've never picked on Phil that much. From what you read and hear it sounds like his parents are real treats. I would bet much of what Phil gets crap for is propogated from his parents. I almost feel sorry for him. I do find the comment about going higher in the draft and having his team not want him strange. I'm wondering if that is some sort of a shot at Toews, i.e. "big deal, you ended up higher in the draft but guess what? Chicago didn't want you and the Bruins want Phil, so where does that leave you?". Who knows?

How would I know, but just my gut from what I hear and read says that Kessel takes a lot of grief for stuff that comes from his parents, not him. In that sense I kind of feel sorry for him.

I was very impressed with the improvement in that team, IMO, pretty much based on changing coaches. I don't see any reason why they won't be as good as last year, and as it was seen, they could beat just about anybody at the end of the year. Unless they've lost some key players. I really haven't looked at them either.

I'll have to look at the rosters a little closer but I'm pretty certain as long as Goepfert stays my picks will have SCSU in at least the top half.

This thread is a classic. Probably because I stayed out of it. I just needed to pad my post count a couple of times!

Wow. The avatar throw-down was just getting good when someone complained. You guys were great!

I guess if Kessel wanted to win a ring he should have gone to Madison. (From whom did we hear that ad nauseam, regarding Parise?)

A coach can fall over and crack their heads on the ice as well as any of their players. Of course, they're not skating around as much as the players, but there's still risk. I'm not going to research it but they've probably had an incident or 2 like that. I don't know, but if USA Hockey is providing any insurance, or something like that, well, then there you are.