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Well, Dad Jay played Baseball at UND, so there is a Sioux history. I suspect Blais did not recruit Grant "hard" then Lucia did (to stick it to UND with his mandate to recruit world wide?), and Grant went to UM. Of course Ryan would follow Grant and then Irman followed Ryan. Will ND exodus continue? I don't know, but we steal a lot from Mn., so in the end we still end up ahead. $hit happens! We have Oshie, and many others right now!

CC's Sterling hurt last night by Paukovich. Here's link: http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1315268&secid=3

On the road at 11! In Forks by 5. Go Sioux!!!

Sioux must sweep. To help fuel the guys up, DU beat CC in OT last night 5-4. If Du wins again tonight, and we sweep, we move up to 4th. That's a huge jump for at large NCAA bid, too!

Yep, just like Fylling, Massen, Phillion, Vig, Peluso. They all played in the West! Is the West as strong as the East? No. Is the West talentless, as some of you seem to imply? Hardly.

The Sioux must win both nights. Sincerely, Captain Obvious

Well, it is getting warm in here, isn't it! My take: Prpich has probably felt for a year a need to exact some revenge on Pauchovich for the Bina hit. He now has it, so he needs to move on. Answering a cheap shot with a cheap shot is just not the way to do it. Look at how everyone feels about Bertuzzi now. He will never get rid of that bagage. Probably Pauchovich too, to a certain extent. But that doesn't mean we want to add Prpich to that list, does it? I would have rather he dropped the gloves and just duked it out instead of the cheap shot. It does put the Sioux in a bad light. Other than that, the worst part was he wasn't given a 5 and a game for the incident, but that's not Prpich or Hakstol's fault. That responsibility belonged to the officials. I do wish the coaches would have sat him Saturday, anyway, but not my place to judge their reasons not to. If you remember, the WCHA, after the fact, gave Pauchovich a one game suspension served in the WCHA title game, and Gwozdecky (sp?) gave him an extra game in NCAA first round on his own, a game they almost lost. As for Pauchovich's PMs, be careful or someone will want to bring up Matt Greene's PMs and compare! To me, you don't retaliate a cheap shot for a cheap shot. Like the Mankato series, where I thought the Sioux answered the bell for each other in a proper way, this was not something that made me proud to be a Sioux fan, but we move on. Let's just sweep Tech and continue improving. I don't want to be sitting at the Regional watching the Gophers as the only WCHA team! That will make me ill.

I will have 8 seats, lower bowl, for the West Regional at the Ralph. I will not use all of them. Contact me if interested.

Jundt is a good tennis player, don't know if he's D-I. We don't even have one indoor court here, so he plays in fair weather only. But he is good at it. I heard he wants to try Juniors to see where it takes him. I don't consider him a WCHA caliber defenseman yet, but who knows. He could go East, like Ivy league, too. He's # 1 in his class of about 200 academically. Very bright young man. He has size, smarts and is a good shooter, so his upside isn't bad. Chicago Showcase should help sort some of that out.

A) They are not going to get rid of the West selection. Get over it ... Move on ... Get a life. B) Nice spelling, Junior!

Day one thoughts: Game One: Minot underachieved once again. GFC advances. Game two: Devils Lake forces South to play their style and hangs in with the Bruins. South might roll past everyone else big time. Devils Lake will need to be reckoned with next year in the EDC. Game three: G/PR sneaks one out. Williston outshoots and out plays Spoilers. Campbells and Kringstad solidify the win. Game four: RR does what they always do, and win. Bismarck shoots themselves in the foot with dumb penalties in the end.

et tu Canada!

True. Dish owners, however, are screwed in the West!

Well, the forty-somethings on Team USA can go home and rest up for 2010 with an impressive 1-4-1 record. Although I'm sure they'll want to trash the Olympic village first!

Williston's home ice is Olympic sheet.

Botno stills plays minor hockey in both ND and Canada. It's a numbers game and they have dwindling numbers. I also think it hurts that they only play "B" minor hockey in ND. Their skill kids never see their real competition from the "A" ranks and their development stagnates (personal opinion). Look at small towns that play "A", like Grafton and Devils Lake. They have stayed competitive. Hazen and Williston have used the jump to "A" hockey to get competitive, too. Dave Hoff is an excellent coach. One you would be happy to have your kids play for. So it's not coaching!

The biggest part of "Home ice advantage" isn't the ice and it isn't the fan base. If your team is playing on Friday and Saturday night, your fans will be there and at the Ralph the ice won't matter. The biggest advantage is what the coaches have to deal with in all that "dead" time before going to the rink for their game when you are on the road for three straight nights. If you live in the town the tourney is in, you have lots of options that keep you in a regular routine, including eating and sleeping. On the road in motels with whole days to kill can be a challenge for the coaches. Take them to the mall and let them run around? If so, how long is too long? When, where and what are your food options? Take them to the rink to watch consolation games all day? Do you make them all do the same thing? etc. Those are the things, if handled poorly, that can affect the team's performance more than if they are in their own homes and their own beds, just like any other weekend. Unless, of course, your team likes to party too much at home! ... just kidding

I have not seen the East teams play since state last year, but I have seen a lot of West games. Minot is big, physical and under new management. Let's see if that translates into a win. I think it will in first round, 4-2. South/Devils Lake. Will be closer than people think if Groves plays decent. Devils Lake just does not give up a lot of good scoring chances. Of course, they don't score much themselves, either. Let's say 3-0 South. Williston has lost a whole first line of forwards. Right now, they couldn't score 5 if left alone in the rink! Let's say 6-2 Grafton instead. Don't think Bismarck High will get shut out. They have the best line in the West right now with Connell, Monson and Miller. So let's say 5-2 Red River instead of 5-0. Semis: South will probably score more on Minot than on Devils Lake, just because of different styles. So South 6-2. Red River over Grafton 4-2. Finals: for South to win they need to get ahead and stay ahead! Red River always seems to be well coached and disciplined. Doesn't always seem that way for South. I haven't seen either skate yet, so I won't predict any score here. Hope it's a great tournament and the West doesn't fall all over themselves in the first round, as usual!

This pretty much matches what I said yesterday. I was accused of smoking crack and my source was called a liar!

Well, that was me! It was told to me by the head coach. If it's wrong, I apologize.

Perfect example! Tom Phillion was a great hockey player, a 4.0 student and a quality kid off the ice. My opinion, Mike Peluso at Bismarck High was the best player in the state that year.

Thanks for the lineup, cory1.

Agreed! Now, can anyone help me with South. I need line combinations and defensive pairs as they usually skate. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Just doing my homework.

That logic just doesn't wash here. When there were three finalists, the extra was always from the East and the East still usually got Mr. Hockey. They didn't cancel each other out. If you are right and there are four finalists with three being from the East (which is what will happen), they would dilute the pool even more and Jundt would win. And trust me, Jundt will not win! As for enhancing the fairness of the award, when has it not been fair? The award is to the winner, not the other finalists, so when has the winner been wrong before that a fourth finalist would have changed who won? I'm guessing never. So the "fairness" issue is just about one more player being able to say he was a finalist? Fine, if that's what's important. I don't think that's what should be important, but, your mileage may vary. Personally, I don't like singling a player out in team sports at the HS level, and I know my bias there shows through. I don't think we should have Mr. and Miss anythings. The ones who are truly good enough will become obvious because they will advance to the next levels and continue to excel.

I was told by Williston's coach (I do the play by play on radio for Williston) that the Finalists would be the West and East Sr. of year and two at larges. That's how I got my info. I assume the coaches know the process, but that is a change, yes, from three finalists.