dagies

Clayton, you must be more like me and post on EVERYTHING until everyone is bored with your inane and ill-informed comments. O yes, and prove that you have NO memory at all. I thought Brandt was going to go this last Sat night until we lost on Friday. I think then Blais decided he had to give the team the best chance to take a W out of that game. I still think he wants to play a couple goalies if possible, and Siembida proved on Sat. that he is human. I wouldn't be surprised to see Siembida play both games. I also wouldn't be surprised if we win on Friday and Brandt plays Sat. I don't really know. Speaking of goalies, it is kind of fun watching the gopher fans knashing their teeth over their goalie situation right now. They're all ripped up over Hauser, but few are noticing that Weber let in 3 of 4 shots in the 3rd period alone on Friday. I think the fact that Blais found Siembida mid-season and they are seeming to struggle in nets is really in their craw right now. Kind of fun to see again. It's good to have the goofs good again.

Gr

Seems to me a couple years ago I think the Sioux lost a player to injury and there was a story about another player getting a call to hit the road and make the Sat night game which he did. I can't place this for sure. I think it was a game in MN. I don't remember when or who. But I seem to remember that it was ok. I'm curious what someone with more knowledge can add.

Ok, I know this was beaten to death pre-season but I want to give my input now that I have seen the place. wow. We all know of instances in our past where something was built up, our expectations then increased to a point reality could not match. I'll be honest. For me, that didn't happen this weekend. I was simply impressed by that whole place. The exterior is beautiful (Don't EVER build anything between the REA and Columbia/Gateway. That view is MAGNIFICENT. The interior is just beautiful. You really have to see it in person to get the full effect. All the pictures in the world don't quite do it justice. The color scheme's work wonderfully. The deep green iron work contrasted to all the beautiful brass lettering and accents give the place a very rich look. The granite all over is warm. You just like being in this building. The front entrance is amazing. We stopped in during the day just so we could see the entrance without people all over it. What an impressive space. Stand-alone glass cases with the NCAA championship trophies, one for Hrkac Hobey Baker statue, one holding the McNaughton Cup. Etc. And pictures ALL over the place. The first level has misc history photos, and a picture of all the UND All-Americans. The upper level has picture of every Sioux that has gone to the NHL and a picture of them in their pro uniform. It took better than an hour before the games just to wander and take all this stuff in. Then let's talk details. I had heard people talk about the attention paid to details in this building. I figgered, what's up with that? What can you mean by details? I'll give an example. The bathrooms are similarly configured for most arena these days, big entrance where you walk in one side and exit the other. But at the REA, each side of that large entrance has a hand-pole attached to the end, so you can grab the pole and pinwheel around the end of the wall easily and quickly. Who would think of that? And, of course, they are done in green and brass like everything else. Outside, on the exterior, are small green flags or pennants. During the day you don't really notice these. But at night as they light the exterior if the building, lights are trained on these pennants, and they add a very nice touch of color to the exterior. Just a small thing....... Then the arena area itself. Very nice. And those leather seats are everything they are advertised to be. Seriously. I went into them thinking what a waste of good money. But dang, they were comfy! I didn't even feel like standing at the end of the period like usual to give my butt a rest (could be a problem with getting folks to cheer, but didn't hinder me!) The view of the ice is outstanding. We sat half-way up in section 314, one corner of the ice. We're quite a ways from the ice, but it is SO steep that you are not that far away. We did feel a bit detached from the action up there, but you really could see well, even on the other end of the ice. You could see everything that went on on the ice, clearly. We stole down for a couple periods behind the goal and of course that was great too. I would suggest they find something better for the video ring than running ads. On Sat. they used it a bit more to get people to cheer. I wish I had control of that thing. We'd do things a bit different. We need a few more replays on the big screen. Don't miss a chance to see this place. It truly is something special. (During Friday's game, they int. Chad Mazurak's dad out on the ice. The asked him about Chad's rehab over Christmas. He could not say enough good things about how great the rehad facilities are in that building, and how they helped Chad get back on the ice more quickly than expected).

I was up in the Forks this weekend for the AA series and stopped in on campus.

This weekend pointed out the lunacy and idiocy of my having started this thread. Look at what happened to St. Cloud, MN and the Sioux. I should never have thought I could make any relevant predictions at all. In addition, this Sioux team has not quite improved to the point I had thought, after the MN weekend. Still has a ways to go. The exact thought I had before reading this string was "back to game at a time" and let the end of the season work itself out. I want home ice for the play-offs. I want to see the Sioux at the FF. But that will all happen if the team does what it needs to do. For now, I'll just have to worry about the next game. (subject to change w/o notice ) Someone mentioned that the players read this board. Ok, if anyone is reading, know this: We fans are frustrated. Probably not as much as you. But we are still optimistic, and hope for good things to happen as the year goes on. Still bleeding green. Still believing. Go kick some ass!

Leinweber is a guy I haven't been high on but I pull for. I thought he played alright on Sat night. I think he has problems skating. Seems like he falls down a lot and that hurts him. On Sat he seemed more confident with the puck. Maybe that comes from just getting a bit more game time. He hasn't had much. I hope he can continue to improve.

Doc, good words. Sprig, well, the outcomes of the games didn't meet my expectations but man oh man it was worth the trip! I didn't hear any booing on Friday, thank God. Up in 314 maybe we couldn't hear what went on down low. But had anyone boo'd in 314 they'd have heard from me. Maybe we didn't have a lot to cheer about, and were disappointed with our team, but that would not go over. Definitely got my money's worth cheering on Saturday. Slipped into a couple of chairs behind Reiter in the 2nd period and gave him as good of an earful as I could. That was fun. Here's my thought on the leadership deal. Schneekloth is out there steady, don't really know how to evaluate him. I like Mazurak, plays hard, etc. Had a bad night on Sat. Bayda, however, was out there trying to pull the whole team along on his own back. Seemed to me he was out there working his A$$ off both nights trying to make something happen. He was a force I thought. I think he got tired at the end of the game on Sat, however, and that didn't help him out. But I was very impressed with his effort. Man, that arena is everythihg it is billed to be, and maybe even more. More on that later....

I like David. I don't think we have to worry about losing him early to the pro's though. He seems to me to need to develop his puck handling skills, especially in his own end, and I agree he could dial up the "physical" notch a bit. Good solid D man, though. Could have used him this last weekend.

Ok, this is getting way to complicated. But if you make all the top 5 teams split against themselves in the final weeks of the season, and get swept by EVERYONE else (we know that can't happen) then you have SCSU = 33 Denver = 34 MN = 26 CC = 21 WI = 23 UND = 39* *If the Sioux swept out the remainder of the season I figure the top teams need to split against each other because that keeps their point distributions as low as possible across their "board". What can this tell us? Very little.

YaneA, I don't know the numbers. Suffice it to say I think if the Sioux swept out and the other teams all lost they could win it. However, some teams have to win, where that breaking point is i don't know. I doubt there is any real chance beyond mathematical, however.

Always appreciate hearing about the Coaches show. Also good to see we have good leadership potential in the freshman ranks. I'm coming up for the first time this weekend and I CAN'T WAIT!

jk, that makes some sense. How you lay it out does show MSM to be a potentially bigger factor. You are right, at only 3 losses for the rest of the season I am putting quite a bit of pressure on the Sioux to come through. We'll see how it all comes out. Purely speculation at this point. Fun to look at, and watch how it turns out.

Just my guesses, this is a prediction on regular season results for the WCHA SCSU - 47 points Denver - 47 MN - 40 CC - 35 ND - 33 WI - 31 MSU - 27 AA - 26 MT - 7 UMD - 7 AA is the one I'm most concerned about undervaluing.

I would be surprised if either has yet the exp or reputation to be considered for that position. I wouldn't worry about it.

As much as I usually want WI to beat MN, I'm a MN fan this weekend.

You know, I really didn't know where to post this but I thought it was pretty good. I'll post it here because there is a quote in Fight On Sioux by Bob Iwabuche that belongs in with the "humor" quotes I read on this page here. I don't have my FOS handy to put the quote here, maybe someone else will. It's a little goaltenders poem. Anyway, check out this link, and especially read the humor link: http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~norrisdt/passages/passages.html

She is Westrum's sister, from what I have gathered. You can see some of her brother in her posts.

As much as it is nice to have patsies, I think it is even better to see WCHA teams get better. Especially a team like WI that has quite a history, and has a high profile. Like you said, it hopefully makes everyone better in the long run. And helps keep the WCHA the premier league in college hockey. If so, the best recruits will want to play in the WCHA, we can hope.

HA! Funny, I was thinking of that very thing when I wrote it. I was suprised she didn't destroy me on the Demarchi thread. She really went after switzer.

A lot of fans of other teams were speculating a little while ago while the Sioux were down that Parise had made a "hasty" and "impulsive" decision and that he was not thinking of going back on his LOI and going somewhere else. Some speculated to MN. My suggestion is this puts an end to that bit of hopeful thinking. I believe Parise was quoted early on as saying he wanted Murray to go to the same place he was going. Now Murray commits to UND. My guess is Parise is solid as well. too bad.

You are right, Sprig. I watched the game on Sun night. When the gopher player ran Siembida, Hale immediately turned to see if a penalty was called. I was wondering what might have happened if no call was made... I watched a Sioux - goofer game from 1999 the other day while on the stair master. In the last minute of the game Commodore and Westrum were going at it in front of the net, trying to get position. The Gophers had pulled their goalie. They are battling away, using sticks and everything. Finally, Westrum give Commodore 2 successive butt ends to the chin. Commy had enough. A 2 hander crosscheck to the side of Westrum's head. Westrum went down in a heap, and the camera zero's in on Commodore. Couldn't read his lips but he was basically telling Westrum who he was dealing with. I'll be honest. I'm not happy with Commy hitting someone somewhere dangerous like that. But I didn't mind Westrum getting a bit of his own. :-)

drea, I think that Woog was making a point similar to points that Tom Kelly used to make about himself. Tom would say something like "I look like a lot better manager if a guy hits a 3 run homer". He was just meaning that if a goalie plays great, the team has a much better chance to win. If the team wins, the coach looks better. Look at Blais, this might be the best coaching job he has done at UND, but the years he won coach of the year awards, guess what, he won National Championships. Also, the fact that Blais has had a lot of great, midget goalies now, is getting to be something we ALL laugh about. I thought Woogs comment was insightful and humorous.

In Fight on Sioux, Gino says that George would have played on the first line with Hrkac and Joyce and would have been impressive. I think he was what, 6-4, 230? A monster on the ice. I remember hearing that at school, and how sad it was. Of course, I didn't know George, but you thought about how sad it was.

I agree on your assessment of our D corp. I get very worried with D. Hale when he has the puck in his own end. I also agree on Skarp. I was one guy who really wasn't that impressed with him but he has made me a believer the past 3 games that I could watch on TV. I love Spiewak and Notermann. I did expect Spie to score more this year though. And missing the open net last night about killed me. But I love the guy. It is interesting, this weekend Bayda has played back on the point on the PP. I also agree that I am not that impressed with Bayda and Skarp on the PK. But then it is well documented that I don't understand the Sioux PK philosophy. (And that is no criticism since I don't know the game. But if anyone wants to explain to me our passive style vs. the Gopher aggressive style I would welcome the instruction.) I actually think on Sun night we saw some of Canady (and was it Connelly?) on the PK. I believe I saw that. I took it as a good sign.