MavsFan

I knew that the Stevenson signing was coming, but I hear absolutely nothing on Joseph. There is no word of any team(s) pursuing him right now.

Yes, I am depressed tonight. Yes, the rest of the WCHA should be happy that he is gone. But if you knew the kind of money San Jose threw at him, you would get less comfortable about keeping your top players. He had told his teammates that he really wanted to come back to MSU next year to see where things would go, and that he would unless an NHL team offered insane money. They did. (Not MLB, NBA or NFL insane, but huge bucks.)

Abel will be a loss, as he was the best defensive forward on a team that lacked defense. He was not, however, among the top scorers. He actually had a season that was just a bit disappointing, offense-wise. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that if the NHL doesn't draft you by the time you're 20, you're a free agent and cannot be drafted. Both Stevenson and Joseph are over 20. Joseph is only 5'9" tall, and the NHL is notoriously prejudiced against small players. I think he would be successful in the NHL (see Steve Sullivan of the Blackhawks for an example) with his skating and stickhandling skills, but I doubt he'll be offered the kind of money to make him forgo his last year. Stevenson is getting some offers, but the word on campus is that these guys want to all come back next year unless they are offered just insane, can't turn it down type of money. Backes and Morin coming in should offset the loss of Abel (although he was definitely the leader in the locker room.) The big issue for the Mavericks is the loss of Runkel and Bourne on defense. They lose the two best defensemen on a team with problems at defense.

With only DeMarchi graduating (addition by subtraction?) I move that the rest of the WCHA be allowed to tag-team the Gophers next year. It will be hell for the rest of the league to have to face this team with another year of experience under its belt.

Within the WCHA, I cheer for anybody against the Gophers. Once it's outside the WCHA, well, I can fight with my brother, but if you fight with my brother you fight with me. I cheered for the Gophers in the NCAA final last year (as difficult as it was to do so.) What is the ROUSER?

I was really hoping you guys could pull it off so you could face the Gophers tomorrow. Nothing would upset Gophers fans as much as losing to the Sioux, and that would have been so much fun. Oh, well, so much for that little daydream.

The American Collegiate Hockey Association is a club hockey league. Mankato has an ACHA team as well as the NCAA D-I club. Believe me, there is no comparison. There are some schools that do pretty well playing ACHA hockey (Penn State and Iowa State come to mind) but it is still a huge step up to NCAA hockey.

Parise is a terrific freshman. He will clearly be a force in the WCHA for however long he stays in the league. However, (you just knew there was a however coming, didn't you?) he just falls short of what I would expect of a Hobey finalist. Is he better right now than Shane Joseph was as a freshman? No question. Is he better right now than Shane Joseph is? No. The Hobey is not for potential, nor for exceeding what is expected of your age and class standing, it's for the best player this year. Believe me, I wish all the best to Parise. I know people who are friends of his family, and they tell me he's a great kid. It's just premature, that's all.

This whole pairwise thing give me a headache. It appears that you guys are safely ahead of MSU,M now, being #10 in the PWR, while the Mavs have dropped to #13 with the loss to the Gophers tonight. If the Mavs lose to UMD tomorrow, I'll really lose faith in the formula behind the PWR if SCSU ends up ahead of the Mavs. I guess it is highly unlikely that the Mavs will drop behind Providence so they should still get in the dance, but no way should SCSU be higher.

I was also not thinking about the third-place game. That is certainly a possibility. Of course Mankato fans are counting on beating the Gophers. What kind of fans would we be if we went around saying "oh, well, we're doomed, why even try." The Mavs are 1-1-2 against the Gophers this year. The Gophers are clearly more talented top-to-bottom, but the Mavs #1 line is as good as anybody's, the young kids are playing much better now, and nobody works harder. I'm just sorry DeMarchi won't be there to pull bonehead stunt after bonehead stunt to put the Mavs powerplay on the ice.

Yep, since you guys beat a TUC, you vaulted past MSU, who once again dropped after sweeping a non-TUC (the last time was Anchorage.) Congratulations. I am not a stat geek, so I don't know how much the numbers would shuffle if you lost the play-in to UMD, but I suspect you are in the NCAA. It would take some astonishing circumstances for NoDak and the Mavs to meet again before the NCAAs (since the only way it could happen would be the WCHA championship game) but maybe we'll meet up there.

Hey, I've never talked trash here or on USCHO board. I've always gotten along great with UND fans who have come to Mankato for games. Mavs score 5 unanswered goals in the third period to drop CC 9-6. Stevenson didn't play due to a separated shoulder, but Joseph scored four goals without his playmaking center.

Jensen has replaced Volp in goal in a good ol' fashioned butt whuppin'. Score now 8-1. I don't know, is it better to end a long unbeaten streak by getting crushed? It seems like you might be able to put that behind you better.

We did not "self-appoint" ourselves anything. We do not claim to be THE Minnesota State University. We are Minnesota State University, Mankato. All of the schools of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system were offered the opportunity to change their name. Mankato and Moorhead chose to (yes, they are Minnesota State University, Moorhead, so your post is wrong on that count) and St. Cloud chose not to. I don't understand why people get so wrapped around the axle about the name change. Fresno State University is now California State University Fresno. I'll bet they don't take half the crap about it that we do.

Well, it was the Mavs power play that got them the tie tonight. It was pretty clear that the Gophers controlled most of the play, but they had a huge edge in power play time against the WCHA's 10th ranked penalty kill and couldn't make it pay off. The Mavs got very few power play chances, but got two PP goals. I've been trying to get on USCHO all night to see what all the Gophers fans who said there was no way the Mavs could take even a point out of this weekend have to say, but for some reason my ISP isn't letting me get to a lot of sites. If you folks are able to get there, give them some disrespect for me, will ya?

Well, it's hard to say that I'm satisfied. The Mavericks cannot keep being content with "moral victories" for "hanging tough" with the top WCHA teams. They should have gotten the win on Friday night; kudos to the Sioux for fighting back. The Mavs fought back tonight, just fell a little short. They haven't embarrassed themselves against some of the top teams in the WCHA to start the season. Next weekend it's Anchorage at the CC. If the Mavs are looking to make a run at a top-five finish, they need to sweep. I look forward to seeing you guys in our building in February. Not because I think it will be easy, but because I've enjoyed Sioux fans. The St. Cloud fans are obnoxious, and we get overrun with Gopher fans (even Mankato residents who cheer for the Gophs,) but I have found the Sioux fans to be knowledgeable people who cheer for their team without being a pain in the butt.

Congratulations to the Sioux for the tie. You guys apparently outplayed the Mavs all night, but Jensen seemed to have a pretty good night between the pipes with 48 saves on 54 shots. The Mavs are now 2-3-2 in the WCHA, with all of their games being against ranked teams. If they can hang near .500 through this stretch, life could get much better down the road. There is never an easy weekend in the WCHA, is there?

Greetings Sioux fans. I thought I'd come over here and see what you guys were saying about the upcoming Mavs series. I have a lot of respect for what the Sioux have accomplished over the years. I am a Blackhawks fan, and a lot of great Hawks were former Sioux. Actually, I think the Mavs are better than they were last year. Jackman was a selfish player (his teammates disliked him intensely,) and Pateman was out very early. This year's squad is very young, but they never quit. They never believe that they are out of a game. If you guys get an early lead and then relax, watch out. If you have them down, you have to keep the pressure on. I'll be listening on the radio for both games. Some day I'll make the trip to the Ralph. I'm told that it is the best venue for watching hockey, college or pro.