burd

This program has always given us elite level players, but it always gives us less heralded "gamers" we could champion too, and sometimes they are the most loved players.

And to be clear (and serious), I liked what I saw of Gornall. Pulling for him this year.

I try. I really do.

Gfhockey texted me after bar time last night sayin Nick and Paul are both waiting to see what Gornall is going to do. He actually said "doorknob," but I figured he meant Gornall.

Pretty darn good account, Agent 99. I found it unusual about how LJ grew this year. He'd been with the team for over two years and seemed to be a known quantity. He got serious flak for being dumb, basically, which he is not. And I never saw him say or do things to convery anything other than commitment and loyalty to the team. And he delivered down the stretch in a big way. He deserved to be on the ice Saturday night. Hope he stays.

Natty pleasure for me is seeing how happy the players are-- and the fans. For me personally it passes pretty fast. I really like the first half of each year getting to see the new mix.

Are you serious??

Well yes, if you take burd literally, which is usually a mistake. But a guy can't use smileys all the time.

It's pretty certain Hak had a big role in Berry's hire. Given that Blais handpicked Hak, it's also pretty obvious that Hak is a better judge of what it takes to be a successful college hockey coach than Blais is.

Absolutely. Summer hasn't even started yet.

Week 7? - A bunch of UND fans (stay, though it was anybody's guess with 2 minutes left against DU). Kidding. Kidding.

I think it's a website for a Boon's Farm wholesale outlet in Tampa.

I'm dead certain that's gfhockey in the Union College sweater.

Reputations can be unearned. UND has a reputation for dirty play too, and I think that is unearned. Of course, we Sioux fans call it "physical play," which is something different.

Also well written and thoughtful, Farce. Hats off, and thank you. Perhaps sometime this off season you can post a little Farce primer for those of us who were not there (and, I'm sure, for those who were).

SPIRKO!!!!!!!!!!!

For anyone his age, anything is possible and the world is out there for the taking; that's just part of what it is to be 18. But right now Jost has to be feeling that in spades. He is playing in one of the nicest hockey rinks in the world which will be his home rink and which is home to the national champions. And he is having major success on a world stage. Pretty heady stuff. But here's the thing. He comes to UND and he has two other first rounders welcoming him to the family but telling him he needs to work on his backcheck.

I'm sympathetic to the various kinds of frustration Q players and fans felt--we have been in that situation too many times. But I think they were not prepared for the reality of losing that way. They had cut through the schedule like butter, including a not-so-bad SCSU team, and beaten some very good HE teams, including BC, which has been the most successful program in college hockey for a generation. But they got handled by UND, and it just wasn't an experience they were prepared for. They deserved to be there, no doubt. But now they will harden up a little and when they come back they will be a little more seasoned and a lot hungrier. Like our boys were.

The thing I took away from that game and all the past FF games the Sioux have been in the past 16 years, is that we deserved the win, but Q probably deserves more respect than the score indicates. Part of that, I realize, is that this UND team was the whole package.

One other thing about this team. Even though we are now all warm and fuzzy and throwing love all over the place, we need to be honest: those guys still haven't given us a full 60 minutes of hustle. Sooner or later, that has to change.

Our defensive corps was as good as we have had in quite a while, when you factor in their offensive capabilities, but the "stone cold finishers" we had in Boeser and Caggiula were difference makers all year long. We've had so many extremely gifted forwards in recent years who just weren't pure goal scorers, but those two definitely were, in addition to their other contributions (Can you imagine Bochinski backchecking like Boeser, Schmaltz and Caggiula did?). And obviously it was Schmaltz who put them in a position to score much of the time. That's partly why it would be so nice to see Nick and Brock possibly team up with Jost this fall.

There probably isn't much that has not already been said about this team, now that they won their last game. But watching off-ice video of Cam Johnson, it is a little ironic to me that so many of us were worried that he would not be able to stand up to the pressure of the big game. We saw him let in weak goals his first time on the ice and figured he probably had a confidence or nerves problem. Maybe he did--then. But you see the footage of him in various situations and at various times this year, especially late, and he seems so calm and pleasant. The cliché" about goalies is that they are a little bit weird, and they have to be a little bit that way to do what they do. But this guy just seems to be at peace with himself and enjoying his teammates. At least from my narrow perspective. I'm a little conflicted, because I'd really like to see what Tomek can do, but now I want to see how much Cam can accomplish in his career at UND as well.

I think UND teams have become known for their commitment to the team game, but this bunch has really built a culture of unselfish, hard-working play, and Stecher has been an important leader in that respect. Like many on that team, he is a huge talent, but it's the little things that often separate the best from the rest. Cliche' but true. It will be very interesting to see how he fares at the next level.

If the players read this site, and I suspect many of them do, they must be amused at the pure speculation that goes on.