burd

The late goals are OK. Gets them to refocus for tomorrow and get the bad taste out of their mouths.

Gotta love his spirit, but I agree. He's in the box waaaaay too much for a captain.

Dont forget about the subsequent recruiting value of having him play for the Sioux, if even for one year. How much value do you think Toews brought us in our efforts to market the program after he left?

Strangely, this law may have been just what many of us needed to move on. Now, instead of fighting against the loss of a name, people are fighting for the University. We have known for some time that the name was going to go, but now more of us are truly ready to move on for something good and worth preserving.

Sometimes I see that and want to yell at the computer screen in frustration, but I'm convinced it's coached--not that style of play, but the strategy with a team this inexperienced at forward. Hak has always been pretty conservative, but his approach with this group this year has been superb. There are very few tic tac passes out of the zone and a lot of chipping along the boards, but also few uncontested turnovers. Blood has been irreplacable to this team this year, but you're right, his first passes last night were not very good.

A lot of messy passing last night, especially the first pass out. Our D hold onto the puck forever, but it looks like that is coached. The passing lanes fill up, but there aren't as many uncontested giveaways. Sure frustrating to watch, though, with so many passes going to players who are instantly tied up.

Three points, even at home, against this team is not a loss. Tech can play this year.

Nice to see Tech playing competitive hockey again.

I like Lammy as much as anybody, but as Captain, he can't take as many penalties as he does.

Best I've seen the Sioux play this year.

Captain has taken too many penalties this year

Question now is whether UND will keep their feet moving 20 more minutes or whether they will go into prevent mode.

Almost like you're trying to get the last word against yourself. Since this is a hockey board, are you cycling?

It's nice, but I thought last weekend that the wording is a little too small to work well. (I watched on TV, so in-person might be better)

Sandy has the matchup advantage this weekend, and that is significant with these two teams.

Bjugstad is a horse. He will succeed at the next level. Unless his years at UMTC turn him into a complete weenie.

The gophers have had a ton of high draft picks on the roster the last three years and still fell flat. Even gopher fans were disgusted. No comparison.

Have we any idea what they will be like? Anything like what the women wore against BS?

Yup. For comparison, you only need to read Badger fans' threads this year or UMinn's last three years. He's had a huge turnover, injuries on top of that, and he still has this team looking like a threat. I don't think he's an elite game coach yet, but is there a better program coach out there?

Hak and his staff have done a wonderful job this year under very difficult circumstances.

How difficult are the greens, compared to "regular" courses you play on? Watching some of those tournaments on TV, it looks like they're putting on linoleum.

I may have sounded more critical of the D than I intended to sound. They had to hold the team together while the young forwards got their feet under them. In fact, early in the year, I was not one of those criticizing the D when things weren't going well, saying that the forwards had as much ownership of the sloppy D than our Dmen did. Before the season started, I think we had unrealistic expectations of how tight our defense would be this year because some didn't take into account how important last year's forwards were to team defense. Blood has been amazing this year, not only D but in taking the puck up ice when he would have held back in prior years. It's almost as if he is taking on a little of what his former linemate used to do. Forbort is back to being solid but not much more than that. All that said, I don't think the Sioux Defensemen themselves are what will make this team (which I have always really liked, even with its lunchpail character) a risk for other teams if they make the tourney. They have some nice speed among the young forwards and those guys are starting to use it in all areas of the ice, which has been an important part of the turnaround. We still do not transition very quickly coming out of the zone. I understand that is a matter of doing what you can do with what you have. The D hang onto the puck quite a while before making the first pass out of the zone, often to the point where passing lanes fill up. Again, I realize that is part of strategy. It is conservative, meant to keep the dangerous turnovers to a minimum and keep the play on the perimeter. And it's working. We can't judge defensive progress by the Wisconsin series. The Badgers are just not very good this year. The best test is coming up in Duluth.

It's true the Sioux could be a dangerous match, but I don't think the defense, even with those three playing, is making other teams too nervous.

Ran into Mike Eaves at a charity golf outing a couple of years ago, and he was well aware of the Bottineau 'Jacks program.

Seems like a nice kid.