dagies

It was a bummer seeing Forney have to miss most of that game. I thought Hermantown had some pretty good skill and some pretty poor luck for most of the game. TRF was HORRIBLE in their own end. Fortunately, for large parts of the first 2 periods they were able to keep most of the play in their offensive zone. Forney did seem to have some tools to work with. Some nice hands and playmaking ability around the net, some good work along the boards, and the ability to commit 3 penalties and only get charged for one (interference, elbowing AND charging all at the same time). It would have been interesting to see if TRF could have found a way to get one more had their best player been on the ice, or not. Most of the 3rd period was played in TRF's zone, and Hermantown's skilled forwards finally had some bounces go their way. The player that stood out most to me was #66 for TRF, Phillips(?). He was a pretty dynamic player.

That was a super article. It will not be the same next year to watch the team without Prp out there agitating. I know he's not the most talented guy, but he brings another dimension to the game. This year he's generally found a way to stay out of the box, and to me he's maximizing his effectiveness, finally.

I too, wonder how this will affect his ability to play next season. Football players are out much longer with these types of injuries, but maybe hockey isn't as hard on the knee as football. Get well soon, Erik!

Very nice.

You make a good point in that someone else could read the thread, not be aware of the history, and take the comment the wrong way. I've deleted my post.

It's what he's skilled at!

I'm certainly out for Friday night and Saturday is only a guess at this point. Would like to get to Senser's to watch a game, but I will be a "game time decision". If I go I'll have to look for a big table of Sioux fans.

I agree with DAR. I think we have been very spoiled over the past few years with some freshmen that came in and knocked our socks off. Forney may be able to do that again, but a more cautious level of expectations for a kid coming in from high school seems more prudent to me. And VandeVelde may turn out to be very good, but he struggled to light up the USHL, like DAR said. It remains to be seen how quickly he'll adapt to the WCHA level.

Amen, Mory00. That's why, though I respect Mankato as an opponent, I fully expect the Sioux will get the job done this weekend.

I hope he steps right in where Brandt left off. I can watch my video tapes of games and listen to Fabian ripping on the opposing players!

I factored that in.

They must have changed the article because when I read it yesterday it distinctly referred to this being Stafford's second year with the Sioux.

I think this guy has some mixed up facts, and the idea that Stafford will be here next year is one of them. But I guess we can hope.

I'm predicting Kozek will be on one of the top 2 lines next year.

One can hope!

I've seen a few MN games and Kessel had made some very sweet passes to assist on goals on the PP.

This is the second time I've seen someone on the internet post that Kessel receives more "defensive attention" than other WCHA rookies. How do we know that, first of all. And if he's not playing on one of the big lines with MN, he's probably not playing against the opponent's top D pairings either. Or, are opponents game planning around Kessel? No wonder Potulny's got all those points, if opponents have to worry primarily about the Kessel line.

We may yet, Mr. Frodo....we may yet.

Talk about a unique character. Here's something sad. My 11 year old son was sitting with me at breakfast yesterday when the news was talking about Kirby. Noticing he played for the Twins, my son asks "Dad, who's Kirby Puckett?". I grew up in the 70's hiding an old transistor radio in my bed and listening to Twins games at night under the covers. And my kid doesn't even know who Kirby Puckett is. Boy, did he miss out.

There's been a couple of cryptic comments recently made on the gopher board about some trouble some Mankato players might be in. Nothing concrete seems to be out there, but the posters giving the hints are the type who normally have some credibility. So maybe there have been some suspensions. I'm sure we'll find out more as the week goes on if it is true.

If you compare what Stafford and Parise did to the guys who won in their cases, it's an awfully close call. If anything, they were more deserving than Toews to either win or share the award. Offensive Player Stastny 3-1-4 1 OT GWG and 1 other goal, 1 game tying goal in the next game, and 1 other assist in a win and a tie. Stafford 3-1-4 2 SH goals, 1 GWG, and 1 assist in 2 wins. One might argue that Stastny's goals were more important to his team pulling out the win and the tie. Defensive Player Elliot 1 goal on 65 shots in 2 wins. Parise 0 goals on 46 shots in 2 wins. One might argue that the quality of the competition for Elliot was a little higher than Parise. And Elliot faced almost 50% more shots. Rookie Stoa had 2 goals and 2 assists. Toews 1 goal and 3 assists.

I don't have the numbers but apparently there's a large discrepancy in attendance when you look at when it used to be held in Wisconsin compared to the crowds they get here in MN. And selfishly, having it here in MN every year means I get to go to it every year. My buddies and I look forward to it all year.

Oh, that's just beautiful. I don't know whether to laugh at CBS's failure, or shake my head at the apparent bent they had for their story.

That's why we call them "TicketNazi".