MavsFan

Your guys played like a team with five NHL first-round draft choices tonight, but you didn't really see Tormey in a fair light. You can't expect any goalie to face the kind of defensive breakdowns that MSU had tonight. Either the defense handed the puck over for a breakaway, or they fired a clearing pass to a Sioux player who was all alone in front. All credit to your guys for burying the quality chances when they were there. MSU could easily find themselves in 9th place after Saturday night's game if they don't step it up.

Oh, please Sioux, continue this degradation of UMTC. I can't begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying it. I hate the Gophers more with every passing year. I'm ready to slap Mankato students who give me the "I've been a Gophers fan all my life. I'll cheer for the Mavs against anybody else, but not the Gophers, and I cheer for the Gophers first" crap.

It's kind of funny how the Gopher fans try to make it out that that was a great game, like it was a back and forth thing. Their boys got served. The Sioux dominated every phase of the game. Go ahead and finish it off now. Take care of Denver like you did UMTC.

I humbly apologize. I was afraid of that right after I posted it. Let me rephrase it: I'd like to ride the Sioux bandwagon as far as it goes this year, without any pre-supposition or predictions as to where that might be. Better?

I'm now officially requesting permission to climb aboard the Sioux bandwagon. The way your boys are playing right now, I really think they'll win it all.

Congratulations Sioux. I wish I could have seen that game. If I'm not mistaken you got CCHA refs tonight, didn't you? From what we've been hearing all year, I was expecting that we'd see a lot more penalties than we've been used to in the WCHA. The way your Sioux are playing right now, there's no limit to where they can go in the NCAA.

All of college hockey fandom is praying.

Just keep putting the Mavs on the PP. They can't score, and give up shorthanded opportunities. I've reached a point where I wish you could decline penalties, like in football.

LOL...Well, there's actually getting to be a larger contingent of Mavs fans on USCHO. Unfortunately, it's not showing up in the form of attendance at the MWCC.

Oh, yeah. We're big-time pissed that one of our "home" games against UMTC will be at the X-Cel where we will be outnumbered by Goph fans probably 10-1. Not only that, but it's on a Friday, so we have to get off work and drive nearly a hundred miles through rush-hour traffic to see the game. There's no question that it's all about the Benjamins. I just thought that you folks would have wanted to see the Mavs sweep Bucky this weekend.

So, what's up with people in Sioux sweaters at tonight's Minnesota State/Wisconsin game cheering for the Badgers? Don't they know that they had a lot more to gain by Bucky losing than by the Mavericks losing?

What happened, guys? I was counting on you sweeping UAA so the Mavs could move past them after the split with St. Cloud.

Damn, I guess your weekend is already unexceptable, or unacceptable, or whatever. Sorry guys. You know the Mavs have always given the Sioux problems, regardless of the apparent comparative talent level. Didn't seem to need "clutching and grabbing" tonight, did we? See you Saturday night. I'm fully expecting your guys to come out loaded for bear.

This was a fun game. As always, I enjoyed the Sioux fans at the MWCC. Not butt-kissing, but you guys are usually classy. You cheer for your team without trying to start fights in the stands. Given the crackdown by the refs, the flow was pretty good. Very little clutching and grabbing in the neutral zone. Jordan Parise looked very good. The Mavs sweaters were not the "crappy gold jerseys" of the last couple of years (I actually liked those.) The ones they wore tonight were 25th anniversary "throwback" sweaters, copies of the 79-80 MSU Division II national champions. They are for this year only, and will be sold off in a blind auction as the year goes on. I suspect that, after tonight, they will be viewed as lucky sweaters. I fully expect you guys to come out loaded for bear on Saturday night. You gotta love the WCHA though; the number one team in the country gets all they can handle from the team picked to finish eighth in the conference. See you at McGoff's.

I have a couple of very good friends who grew up on the White Earth Reservation here in Minnesota. I asked them how they felt about this issue, and if they're offended by Indian logos on sports teams, particularly about the Sioux logo. They both said not at all, that the only people they knew who are offended are those who use the matter for political purposes. Hey, I'm part Irish on my mother's side, and part Danish on my father's. Should I be offended by the Fighting Irish and the Vikings?

Why do you have to wish the bad to be transferred to another program? How about it not happening to anybody? Or is it because Mankato has give the Sioux such fits since it went D-I?

Without Giguere, it's doubtful the Ducks even get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Yep, Sawchuk was awfully good. There is a tendency to believe that the best in sports are the ones playing in the modern era. Remember, there were only six teams then. Think how good you had to be to make an NHL roster. As for my guy, Glenn Hall, his consecutive game streak says something about his ability. His consecutive game streak ended at 502 games, 552 if you include the playoffs. That is a record that, I think is safe to say, will never be broken. He also appeared in a record 13 all-star games. He was so good as a rookie that Detroit traded away Terry Sawchuk. Hall finished the season by winning the Calder Trophy as "rookie of the year," leading the league in shutouts, which he did five more times.

They may be more athletic now; that's certainly a debatable point. But standup vs. butterfly had a lot to do with the mask. Would you want to drop down among the sticks and elbows with no mask? No, the rule for stick blade curve is definitely 1/2", not a dime. As for whether you can get a harder shot with a flat blade, I'll let someone who has done more than played pond hockey on racer skates (me) comment, but my memory of the days when Mikita and Hull were terrorizing goalies with the wicked curve is that it added considerably to the velocity.

Glenn Hall, Mr. Goalie. Going by who has won the most Stanley Cups tells you which goalie played for the best teams, not which goalie was the best.

Compare pictures of goalies today to ones from the 60s, 70s, even early 80s. They look like the StayPuf Marshmallow man now. Then, they just looked like hockey players with shin pads (and noticeably smaller ones at that.) Extremely glaring is the catching glove. It used to be essentially a first baseman's mitt with a leather sleeve protecting the wrist. Now it's twice the size.

I'm not convinced that it's going to be the Devils. The Sens are playing their hearts out now, and have home ice for game seven (although home ice hasn't meant a lot this year.) I don't see either of them beating the Ducks, with their D and Giguere.

I'm afraid that Giguere is officially "in their heads" now. They are trying for the perfect shot rather than playing their game. It's been a great run for a third year team, but I think it's coming to an end.

Believe me, a win against the MSU women is nothing to put up on the locker room bulletin board. The MSU women's goalie was pretty good, but she faced so much flying rubber that she didn't have a prayer. Will the UND women play in the Ralph? The MSU women rarely play in the MWCC.