dagies

Not if they decreased the size of the goalie pads and removed the red line.

I know it's dangerous to do projections at any point in time, especially before knowing what the early defections will mean. But for fun, here are mine. I think the Sioux will finish in the 3-5 range in the WCHA next season. It's hard to say where, but if I had to say, it would be 4th in what I think will be a very, very strong conference. TOP 2 CC will have a strong squad back with solid goaltending in Zaba. They only lose McElhinney in goal, one big D in Petiot and a forward in Polaski. They bring in a solid recruiting class that should more than make up for those losses. MN will be very strong next year, as their adequate but inexperienced D will have a year under their belts. I think some are underestimating MN's goalie situation. Frazee appears to be a VERY good goalie. Sure, it remains to be seen how good he in in D1 play but he's played awfully well against very strong competition to this point. MN replaces Tallackson, Smaagaard, Fleming, Stevens, Reinholz and Johnson with Kessel, Wheeler, Anderson, Bostrom, Frazee, Stoa. Wow, there's an upgrade in talent. So we'll see, but with a very good goalie, adequate D, and plenty of scoring firepower, I think MN will be one of the top 2 teams. NEXT 3 Denver will be OK with Maniac in goal and decent skill throughout. They lose 2 senior D and return 4 regular D players including their strong goalies. They lose 4 of their top 8 goal scorers but return the top 2 and most of the top end of that group. They bring in some very highly touted D players and solid overall recruits. Bucky will be good. They were good this year, but not as good as their record. They remind me of the Sioux from 2002-03. let's see, Bucky loses Berndt Bruckler and Pete (who?) Talafous and replaces them with another very solid recruiting class led by Jack Skille that Bucky HOPES will have them forget about Kessel. Doubt it. Bucky struggled to score last year and it's dangerous to rely on freshmen to help that out. Goal is a question mark for Bucky. So, since that question is not answered, I will put them in fight with bottom of the home ice group. The Fighting Sioux will have a solid offense, and very solid goal situation. The 2 big questions are how much impact will the freshman forwards have? Will Duncan, Watkins, and Kozek be able to transfer their junior success to the WCHA? Will these more skilled players make us forget the grit and character of guys like McMahon, Genoway, Canady, Massen and Fylling? And how well will the freshmen D play? Can Jones, Chorney and Lee step in as well as Fuher, Jones, and Schneider did 4 years ago? Even if both Big Matt's come back, they're only 30-40% of the D corp on the ice. To keep from being exploited Radke and the trio of new guys need to play solidly. Assuming that they will struggle as so many freshmen D often do, I see UND fighting with the last 3 home ice teams. 2 Home Ice Wannabees Bulldogs will be rebuilding, but solid. Out of a very large senior class they only lose a couple of contributors on the score sheet in Schwabe and Hammond. They remove some attitude issues? in Caig and Brosz (I'm trying to remember who Sandy benched in the last playoff game). They bring back 4 D who played at least 23 games last year. They bring in another huge class lead by high profile players like Mike Gergen of Shattuck and Matt Niskanen of Virginia. They should be solid, but young. The upper 5 teams in the league might be just too strong to give up home ice to the Dogs this next year. If Duluth's goalies struggle I'd suggest they watch out for Mankato, otherwise I think Duluth will be the top of the bottom half. Mankato was a decent team last year. They bring back their top 3 scorers and most of their D. They had little to count on in goal and unless Dan Tormey or Mike Zacharias can shore that up they probably will still struggle to become a dangerous team. Forget Zacharias who will likely be a target in practice, but Tormey is the 2nd best goalie in the USHL in the regular season with decent numbers (.925% and 2.25GA). Not sure of the quality of their incoming recruits but would expect them to be solid. Bottom 3 SCSU will get a boost from having Bobby Goepfert in goal along with some decent underclassmen throughout the lineup. They lose an unspectacular senior class except for Iannazzo who was very solid with 32 points this year. Szabo was decent but replaceable. Woog said SCSU had some decent freshmen but lacked enough speed to be very dangerous this year. I'm not sure if SCSU has too many top names coming in but Dahl has had some success finding needles in a haystack in the past and could again this year. With a promising, young D corp that now has a year of experience they will be tougher to score on with Goepfert backing them up. The key will be if they can score enough goals to dig themselves out of the bottom of the league. Tech. Well, they lose a very important player in Murpy, but most of their team returns. I think if they get anything in goal they'll be able to outduel AA for the league bottom. They bring in Michael Teslak from the BCHL who was second there in svs % with .931 which is very solid for a league that scores a lot of goals. His GA was 2.47. Look out AA. AA will continue their struggle. They are a very young team that struggled to score goals last year. That may continue this year. Very good goaltending (Lawson) returns. They have a very young D with more experience now. So they'll likely be tough to score on, but may find it hard to score enough goals to dig themselves out of the bottom of the league. Sound familiar?

Exactly. I don't remember who this involved, but in the NHL playoffs a few years ago (maybe even the Stanley Cup series, I forget) a player viciously crosschecked another square in the mouth behind the goal. About killed the guy. I agree some additional sticks might get up, but I think its worth the price.

Well, that at least provides hope. Good luck, Nick.

I wonder if a few more sticks across the plastic shield might be a whorthwhile price for saving a few eyeballs.

PCM, I agree. I'm no expert, but IMO Marvin has played pretty steady defense when he's had the opportunity to play back there. And frankly, a physical defense REALLY ought to include a guy named Lee Marvin. I mean, COME ON! He could lead the Dirty half-Dozen to the Frozen Four!

Those are good ones. Thanks for the noting them.

I rewatched that game too. Irmen's a big tough player but Matt Smaby absolutely destroyed him. Thanks to whoever pointed that out so I could watch for it.

Good luck, Nick.

Oshie may come in this fall regardless according to the last buzz I remember hearing around here. I suppose VandeVelde could be a wild card in that scenario but otherwise, I think the coaches would be needing to find recruits that haven't yet been inked.

What are you worried about Diggler?. If Commie was looking for you on campus he'd end up with a small Slovakian to shake around like a ragdoll.

I forgot about that. Hopefully Nick will have as good a recovery.

Ah man. Is this team snake bitten? Hang in there Nick. Good luck and best wishes on your recovery.

7>4, I have to agree. I didn't read back through this thread to see if anyone took shots at Matt, but after having watched the goals scored in this game again I don't see how Matt can be blamed, or take the blame, for any of those goals. Looked to me like he was just in the place where the puck would bounce off him in the wrong direction, which is nothing other than luck or "bounces". Prior to this year I really didn't buy into the "bounce" idea. "We just didn't get the bounces". I thought it was baloney. I still do, when it comes to a team that has a run of not getting the job done. But in a one-game situation, I realize that bounces DO play a part, and sometimes are THE story of the game. I realize I've seen enough Sioux hockey games where a "bounce" won the game (Spiewak beating Miller, deflection off Leinweber's stick goes past Karl in the 2001 game, Hale ties CC a couple years ago near the end of the game on a ping pong puck, etc) to know that it's not always how good you do your job, it's which way the puck bounced that game. A matter of inches of where Smaby is positioned could have been the difference in the game, and Matt can't be blamed for that. It appears he was doing his job and doing it effectively (as he had the past couple of months). Hopefully he's not taking it personally because I don't see any reason he could be held accountable. Matt's play down the stretch was one of the reasons the Sioux made it as far as they did. Clement loved talking about big Matt. Hopefully vaht motivates Matt over the summer is how good he played over many games vs. a couple of unlucky bounces.

Hey, Siouxman! Welcome aboard. Just drove back to the Cities from FF today after visiting the 'rents. Have told my wife (who's from FF too) that if we should ever move back to FF I absolutely GET hockey season tickets. Nice to know the drive can be done.

Ohhhhhhhhhh, THAT'S gotta hurt!!

Hockey Mom, back when I was in school (1980's) it was just "Who's he, he sucks" without the extra expletive on the end. IMO it has better rhythym that way as well as being more palatable. I think leave off the last word and probably no one complains. To address another comment somewhere back there, what are the comparisons to the Canadian fans at the WJC and the Sioux fans at Columbus? It was the die hards that TRAVELLED to see the game. It's no surprise both sets were rowdy and fun loving. You can't compare Canadians that travelled from all over Canada to the normal home game Sioux crowd. Completely different dynamic, IMO.

You're right. I was just having some fun with all the hobey talk, etc. PCM, I agree with you too. I'm looking more at the Kessel/Toews comparisons vs. the Toews/existing Sioux forward comparisons.

You're right teamsioux. Even though I advocate that seat location change, I agree that it will be hard to pull off. I for one enjoy that seat location and can understand how others might not want to be pushed out of there.

I didn't see any games up there to know what was so bad. I for one wouldn't mind seeing the students MOVED to behind the goal if that would allow them to stand if they wished. Abolishing the student section seems a very extreme approach and I find it hard to believe Kupchella would feel the need to resort to that. I hope not anyway. Based on how season tickets were handled last year, I find it a bit difficult to believe there could be a whole lot of "coordinated" bad behavior led by some miscreants. Good luck to all. I think the Student Gov president better take a bit harder line than "I hope not", however.

I agree TNT. They're hyping Kessel big time over in gopher land. Kind of looking at him like a "savior" for their program. Let's just let Toews come in without all the pressure.

fixed

There were quite a number of excellent quotes that have shown up in various sources over the past few weeks. Knowing that I'd someday want to find one or two of them, others may as well. While I'll try to keep my own list, maybe people would be interested in throwing their most excellent quotes in this thread, and a year from now you might be able to find it if you are looking for it. Here are my favorites as of late

Beautifully done, PCM. I wish I could rite like that.

I'm only guessing but I think Kessel is a year younger than Parise was when Parise came to the Sioux. Parise had an immediate impact. From what I've read Kessel is probably a better offensive player than Parise. I think he'll have immediate impact offensively in the WCHA. And I think both Kessel and Toews accelerated their schooling? If so they're both probably the same age.