dagies

I was thinking about this while I watched the game wind down tonite, especially after Oshie's assist on Zajac's goal. At the time the RoTY was announced, I posted on this board that I thought an argument could reasonably be made for either Kessel or Oshie as the RoTY. After watching both of them play the last 2 weekends I have to say that if the voting was done NOW, I believe it would have to be TJ's award. His constant effort is simply amazing, and if you watched the sequence tonite ending with his assist to Zajac you pretty much sum him up. The kid is an absolute animal.

jk, you pretty much said it. Very impressed with the play of Watkins and Lee tonite. Excellent job finishing the game, boys. Way to go. This team looks like it is firing on all cylindars right now, at least offensively. And what can you say about Parise? What a rock he was tonite. The Sioux gave up a ton of shots, and some nice chances, but he got nearly all of them. I don't believe I've ever seen our skill players look "prettier". The way they were dangling and working with the puck was at a level I don't believe I've ever seen. I'm talking almost all the skill guys. Zajac was even throwing the puck off the back of the net to himself in the 3rd. Wow. I would hope we won't see a let down tomorrow, even if the Sioux aren't quite at tonite's level. This seemed to be about as good as they have played yet.

Hak doesn't like the call "What the FxxK!"

Good. Sioux win that period. Definitely had the better of the chances late. Big break now. The crowd has some time to let down after the big emotional swing of the first game, and the first period of this game. Will they have enough left to keep the team juiced the rest of the way? The Sioux definitely did win that period. Will they be able to bring that same intensity back for the second period? If I remember correctly, a Sioux lead on Michigan after 1 bodes very well, as the Sioux should be a better 3rd period team, and Michigan is a better 1st period team, statistically.

Poor clearing attempt almost results in a michigan goal. Chorney earlier caughed one up behind the net which also nearly cost a goal. Boys better tighten some of this up quickly, or we better get some more rubber in the other net.

Sioux looked AWESOME on that penalty kill. Let's keep up the pressure, as Michigan has occasionally been threatening. We need another goal. 3 goal lead would sure be nice.

Looked like a cheap penalty on Michigan. I hope they don't call things this close all night.

DID YOU SEE THAT WHOA! This team has something special going.

Mine's working fine.

I'm 137th here!

You get a million bucks for it? Now I really want to know...

On radio or on tv? What was he saying?

Well, let me be clear. It's not that I'm assuming that the Sioux are automatically in if they win tonite. However, you tell me, would you rather play MN or HC tomorrow. Can lightning strike twice? Will our team overlook HC IF they make the game tomorrow? I guess that's what I was getting at.

The Sioux need to get it done tonite. The door to the Frozen Four just opened wide and they need to take advantage of it. Wow.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous right now. Wow.

It's Wally and Glen.

Watching about half of this period it seems MN lacks a little jump, and HC is getting some offensive flow. HC has forced MN to take a few penalties though they haven't yet done a whole lot on the PP. I do think MN has had a couple of chances, and it probably won't be too much longer until they connect. I thought this would be a 2-0 MN lead at this point. Maybe the gophs will wake up during the period break.

dangit, in my office pool I picked a 6 goals/game average for one of the tie breakers. This is already starting out on the wrong foot.

I still think if he paired us on D we'd be an intimidating duo.

Every time Hak has not put me in the lineup the Sioux have won.

Wooger: MN's opponents down the stretch weren't going anywhere and the gophs didn't have to play to a high level. That cost them at the Final Five when they ran into teams that had something to play for. Thinks that MN is VERY LUCKY and happy not to have drawn Bemidji. Thinks ND might be vulnerable to Michigan tonite if they are looking forward to a game against MN. Then they lost the connection to Wooger's phone. Hennessey says he's certain UND is not looking past Michigan. Nate Miller also on and he thinks Michigan is in for a tough time tonite. Wooger back: Says with both MN and UND you need to pressure their defense in their own zone. That's the best way to attack both teams. Says Lucia had some first line guys playing on the 4th line in practice this week. He got the player's attention this week. Dubay asked if there's anything you can take from the earlier MN/UND games into these games? Woog says Irmen/Potulny/Briggs all responded well in the first series in Grand Forks and they will need to do the same this weekend. Says Michigan's goaltending is not up to par this year. Sauer was brought in too early and Ruden is just not a top goalie. Says Michigan will skate hard and will get offensive chances, so if the Sioux are looking ahead to tomorrow night they might have trouble tonite. He said that even though everyone is saying the right thing about the Sioux not overlooking Michigan, sometimes with young players it might still be in their mind regardless of what they say.

I noticed at the Final Five that at the end of warm-ups, Prpich is among the last players to leave the ice. Both times he threw a puck down at the opposing net. The first night someone from WI noticed it at the last moment and got a stick on it to prevent it from going in. On Saturday night "A SHOT AND A GOALLLLLLLL!".

Platinum Fox and you're worried about meat on Fridays?

Thank you, Pat. You've said this much better than I could.

Wow, this is excellent news. Even better than knowing he'll be on the ice, hearing that he's expected to play special teams, especially penalty kill tells me that his knee is responding pretty well. Now, maybe I'm just reading too much into this, but it seems like PK is one where you're doing a lot of starting and stopping and putting a lot of stress on a knee.