dagies

I didn't have a problem with that either.

Watched the game on TV last night. I will say it looked to me like the gophs wanted that game more and that is why they won. I would say the Sioux played a good game but not a really good game, and the gophers played a very good game. Couple that with the fact the gophers are about a year older team and that was the difference. The silver lining for me is that that Sioux were awfully close to tying this game. I thought Spirko was the player of the game for the Sioux, and dang near tied/won that game single handedly in the 3rd period last night. What a player he is. If the Sioux are out of gas the gophers could sweep this series tonite. But I'm still holding on to hope that the Sioux can get a split out of the weekend. They were beaten last night, but I don't think outlcassed. Parise was the recipient of some luck last night. He made a couple saves when not being in very good position and I think he was fortunate in that regard. I thought Prpich played a whale of a game. He was agitating, but only took probably 1 bad penalty. Other than that his line with Fabian and Watkins was probably one of our top 2 lines. They did a good job of relieving pressure in our own zone and keeping the puck in the other end. Stafford was ok, I thought, but I think we need more from him tonite. Zajac played a very good game. Toews was excellent. Jason did manage to hit a couple of posts. Too bad he didn't manage a goal because I thought he did more than Kessel except score. And I guess that is what counts. Duncan was quiet last night. I'd like to see him make more of an impact tonite. Maybe he and Kozek can get things going. Speaking of Kozek, he was really out there to play the body last night. I'm guilty of making some assumptions and I was worried last year that he might be a pretty-boy who thought he was a scorer but it looks like he's willing to do whatever. I'd like to see him get a few open opportunities tonite and see what he can do with the puck. Sioux D had some difficulties last night in their own end. Hopefully tonite we can handle the transition out of our own end a little better. What's up with the Sioux losing control of the puck all night like the ice was bad? Didn't notice that happening as much with the gophs. Let's remove the goal crease. I'm not sure what purpose it serves. I'm aware of the rule change this year, that says a man can be in the crease if he's not interfering. As others have said, we've not allowed the ref to make a judgement on when that is. Well, how is Shepard supposed to know whether Stoa was or was not interfering with Parise? My own impression of that rule was to allow goals when an offensive player might have a skate or something in the crease behind the back of the goalie where that positioning was completely incidental. Stoa was camped in Parise's NW corner, just standing well deep in the crease. He's definitely in the field of view. IMO that's awfully borderline to say it didn't interfere with the goalie. Hopefully the boys have gas in the tank for tonite, because I believe the Sioux can beat the gophers. We just need a little more assertive play throughout the lineup, and in both ends of the rink.

Had I been sitting in the penalty box and the opponent's crowd been ripping me for 2 minutes, if I came out of the box and made the goalie look like a fool and probably would have done the same thing "right back atcha".

Still counting the minutes here too, and all I get to do is watch it on tv....

There's usually a Sioux booster lunch on Friday's, is there not? Anyone attend and if so, anything interesting to report?

This is such a great story illustrating the strong rivalry between these programs and their fans. Qatar. Who would have guessed?

I missed most of Woog's appearance, but he said Stafford is a big leader for the Sioux on the ice. His 11 goals are scored on PK, PP, even strength. Likes the talent on the Sioux D even though they are young, their talent means they can play better than typical freshmen D. Potulny has a bunch of goals but most scored on PP. Gophers are still trying to figure out who should be their top 6 D. Some guys who are about 3-4 should really be about 7th. Said Parise is better than any goalie Lucia can put on the ice. Sioux D is better, and the offense, based on coming off a 14 goal weekend with no PP goals should be considered better than the gophers who scored 2 of 3 last weekend with the man advantage.

On KFAN Wooger gives the nod to the Sioux D, Sioux G, and the Sioux O (slightly) and predicts a Sioux sweep this weekend.

Fox 9 had a teaser on the news this morning. They said they've received a lot of feedback on their gopher-hockey-player-underage-in-the-bar story. They said some was positive and much that said it was no big deal. Then they said "what would you think if you knew not only players, but gopher hockey recruits were in the bar getting drunk? Watch Tuesday at 9pm for more....." It gets thicker.

It bums me out to think back on how good those '98 and '99 teams were, and the fact they didn't even make it to the Frozen Four.

Was it a basement, or a crawl space?

And that's gotta be hard for either of you....

Looks like the gopher basketball players are writing their own papers now.

That was an incredible game. Giving some love to the gophers, there was the Final Five championship game from 2004, which was also a great game to watch, and a close second to 1997 as an "exciting" game. 1997 I was on the edge of my seat for most of the game. If I remember correctly, the game see-sawed back and forth throughout. I can still see Armbrust and the loose puck at the moment before he shot......

Lundbohm, in the 2002 WCHA playoffs.

Those were the first games I watched on TV after leaving school in 1987. I was living in Minneapolis and found out that Champps would have the games on Midwest Sports Channel. I was the only one in the bar watching the game that was cheering when the Sioux scored. I didn't cheer too loudly. It didn't look like a happy place.

If we're not careful around here Rutgers might become our "sister" university.

As an opponent, Mazacco can be annoying to listen to. As a gopher fan, I'm guessing it's not that bad. I did miss the call you mention, but I did notice that Frank was "not himself" this weekend. So you are right about that. I agree with you that if Sonmor and Hennessey were doing the radio together this weekend I'd probably have to turn off Frank/Woog and turn up the internet broadcast. That could be radio magic.

I look at Woog/Mazacco, Blyleven/Bremer, Paul Allen/Senser, etc etc all pretty much the same. The broadcasting team put together by the sports team putting forth the broadcast pretty much always has the homer bent to it. Pang/Melrose et al are paid by their network to call/comment on a particular game. The network isn't broadcasting for the Detroit Redwings, but for the NHL, so they are more balanced in general. At least that is my impression. That's why I don't have a big problem with Mazacco. I don't agree with him, and I think he's a dork, but he does a relatively decent job of calling the action (his opinions on the other hand.... ).

People ripped Parise (mostly fans of other teams) when he talked about how winning the WJC was a bigger deal to him than winning the NCAA's. You can see why with Toews. This is a huge stage, and apparently a huge deal to those in hockey circles. People like me are insulated from this down here in the States. Good luck to Toews, I hope his dream comes true. One would think if not this year, next year for sure.

OBG seems to want FSN to insert a 3rd party to balance Woog and Mazocco. That's his opinion, but I don't think it is necessary. Woog is a homer, but he does call a spade a spade and he rips gopher players when they play bad and he corrects Mazocco (a lot) when Frank wants to complain about the refs. OBG's suggestion is akin to Tim Hennessey being required to have Glen Sonmor on his broadcast to balance him out. Why is that important?

Wow, lots of big name schools with arrows pointing down, and little name schools with arrows pointing up.