UNDintheNHL

Well ya'll, I am leaving tomorrow to start everything for Basic. I am excited, scared, apprehensive, excited......excited lol. I am looking forward to checking back at the end of march and seeing the Sioux right in the mix, ready for the final 5, and pushing for the frozen 4 lol. Take it easy you guys.

Went to the Canes vs. Devils game last night to see Bayda, Parise, and Zajac. Got many pics and will post them when I get them done. Great game (cause the Canes won). Was nice to finally see Parise and Zajac in person.

Wow Commie is doing great this year. Still think it is because of the system there, and not cause Laviolette didnt know how to use him here in Carolina. Although I would be interested to see how he would do with Maurice here now. An interesting tidbit. I knew that the first hockey game I ever went to was an NHL game between the Hurricanes and the Stars during the 1997-1998 season and that the Hurricanes lost. When I looked it up, it turns out they lost 6-1. That I remembered at that point. What I didn't know until I read the rosters was that TONY FRIGGIN HRKAC was playing for Dallas at that time. Not sure what kinda TOI he had, but I do know he had 1 SOG and that was it. But talk about a nice surprise. Knowing now that, although I don't remember it, but I have seen one of the greatest Sioux players of all time skate on the ice, just is awesome to know. Oh yeah, and Belfour was the goalie. That, not so cool to know now, just because of all the crap surrounding him, but Hrkac, wow. Being that I am a newbie (relatively speaking....2.5 years now) to Sioux hockey, it is a huge thing for me to find out about that.

Pics of Oshie when the Blues came to Raleigh to play the Canes

Got to watch Smaby last night when the Lightning played my Canes. He looked pretty good. I asked some Bolts fans about his play, and these are some of the responses I got: sounds like he is doing much better. he took a dumb, obvious elbowing penalty late in the game vs. Carolina the other night though.

Interesting. they didn't announce it that way at the game, but now that I watch the highlights, it looks like he was dropping back into their defensive zone, scooted it over to Jackman who threw it up to Backes.

I went to the Canes-Blues game tonight to see Oshie for the first time since I (and he) left UND. It was odd rooting against him tonight, but I had to. He had no points, but was on the ice for the Blues' only goal (by Backes, so WCHA represented at least). I got lots of great shots of him in the pregame skate and will post those when I have the time to get it all up online.

I talked with some blues fans and they said he has begun taking full practices and is due to start playing again at the beginning of the week, which I guess would be their game vs. New Jersey on the 30th. Hopefully that sticks and he will be on the ice in Raleigh come the night of the 2nd. I believe he is referring to Kevin Porter, former Michigan player who we saw last year in the playoffs, if my memory serves me correctly.

I wasnt sure which forum to put this in, so mods please move it if need be: So, as of about 3 weeks ago, I was planning on joining the Navy. Well, that has changed. Basically, to make a long story short, the Navy kinda dropped the ball. That is all I will say, as I dont want to tick anyone off As a result, I went and talked with the Army, and after going through the full MEPS (medical screening) process, as of about a week ago, I am sworn into the United States Army, pending completion of Basic Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT). Technically, I am in the Delayed Entry Program, or as the call it, DEP. My MOS will be 15U CH-47 Chinook Helicopter Repairer. So the old CH-47 will be my bird for the next 3 years and 30 weeks minimum. I will know the thing inside and out. Not sure if I will work towards becoming a WO and fly eventually, we will see how things go. But for now, I am fine with working on helos. I will back to the MEPS office in Raleigh to do my final medical processing, sometime in January, I will ship off to the first portion of BCT, called the Reception phase. There I get issued all of my military gear, including all uniforms, ruck sacks, etc. I will get all my shots, do some more paperwork, and do LOTS and LOTS of just sitting around. That is the first week. After Reception, I then move on to the real 9 weeks of BCT. Not sure exactly what will happen here, other than the obvious. I have heard some stories, but I think I will let it play out as it will. It is Basic Training. Plain and simple. It is NOT going to be easy. It will not be a lot of fun. BUT it will have fun components, and will be a rich learning environment. I am excited to get going on this road. After BCT is over and I have graduated, I then head to my AIT school. I will be there for about 4 months, learning everything there is to know about the Chinook and its systems. At some point early in AIT I will find out where I get stationed when I am done. Once I graduate from AIT, I move on to my station. From there, who knows. I am very excited for this opportunity, especially for it to come up so quickly. Two and a half weeks ago I first talked with the Army recruiter. Now I am in the Army DEP, waiting about 2 weeks for Basic. This is a huge change for me and my family, but at 22, I am ready to get moving in life, and the military was the best choice for me. Any input is welcome. Also, unless not already obvious, I will not be on here for quite a while. When I am in AIT, I will give updates on how things are going, most likely in this thread. But once I am at my station, I will be back on here regularly. It sucks, cause I will miss almost the whole last half of the regular season while I am at BCT. I may have my wife write me and update me on how we are doing. Lets hope they go on a huge run (again), make it to the postseason, and actually WIN this time around. So yeah that is that...... oh and for any of you wanting to see what the Chinook is, check out this SWEET video of it doing a flight demo video

Looks like I will be able to see 3 former sioux in action over the next week and a half, in addition to the one I get to see often anyways (Bayda) I will be going to the Canes vs. Blues game on Jan 2, then the Canes vs. New Jersey game on Jan. 6.

WOOOOO MARTENS AGAIN!!!

wow how did that happen?

big PK right here

Sioux PP coming up...cross checking

SCOOOOOOORE!!! Martens?