skateshattrick

You are quickly losing whatever credibility you once had. Let's look at this objectively, shall we? If you look at the Final 5 program, every single captain of every other team except Peltier (who voted for Duncan) rated Oshie as the best offensive player. Not one mentioned Wheeler. Kaip, who can't vote for his own teammate, voted for Rhakshani of Denver. Oshie made 1st team all-WCHA, Wheeler made 3rd team. Oshie is a Hobey Baker finalist, Wheeler is not. Seriously, don't make stupid arguments. Wheeler is not in the same class. As far as Frozen 4's, they are not "participation". That is for making the tournament (e.g, SCSU). Making the Frozen 4 is a big deal, much bigger than winning the Final 5 which is a meaningless tournament that is strictly there for revenue. I would rather make it to the Frozen 4 any day than win a WCHA title (which is a big deal) and would rather make the NCAA tournament than have a Final 5 title. It's meaningless. In order: (1) NCAA championship --overwhelmingly (2) Frozen 4 appearance (3) WCHA title. Frankly, I could care less about the Final 5.

I'll take your comments with a grain of salt considering you are a Wisconsin fan and are not exactly objective since Finley plays ahead of your Wisconsin boy who can do no wrong in your eyes, Derrick Lapoint. Yes, Finley had a tough game against Denver, but he has been very steady this year. He's smart with the puck, skates very well for a big man and is good at breaking the puck out. He's easily a top 4 defenseman on the Sioux along with Chorey, Genoway and Bina.

I hope that you are right and are not Bob Norton in disguise. I think this will be the Sioux's last chance at the title for a couple of years, so they need to get it done. Next year, the WCHA is going to be loaded with Denver, UM, Wisconsin and SCSU having very young teams and great recruits coming in. The Sioux will lose a lot after this year with Oshie Duncan, Finley, Chorney, Kaip, Bina, etc. They have a few very good recruiting classes coming in, but next year they will be very young. I'm thinking 2009-10 as the year.

I don't know about robbed, but I probably would have given him the edge over Bachman, particularly since he's a senior and Bachman is a freshman. The Sioux did very well, but you could make a case for Joe Finley and even Vandy.

There is a person posting on USCHO under the same name. It is under the thread for WCHA Final Five Predictions. If you say it is not you, then my apologies. I was frankly surprised because you have always been reasonable on this board, but I understandably did not like someone making the blanket statement that "ND fans suck."

Other than to demonstrate that Gopher fans all wear halos, why are you posting here? After all, you are the same person that said on USCHO that "ND fans suck." If you don't like us, do us a favor and go away.

There is no conspiracy. There is also no doubt that Shep is an awful ref. However, he is probably a lesser of evils. If you request a change, you have to be careful what you wish for because you might end up with Campion (remember the previous incident with MSUM and UM? By the way, does he wear his Gophers jersey when he refs?), Don Adam (there is a picture of him next to the word "incompetent" in the dictionary) or Todd Anderson (old school NHL style ref--if there is no blood, there is no penalty). Interestingly, everyone rips on Randy Schmidt for how bad he is, and he is no worse than middle of the pack in the WCHA.

If you have ever met Dave Hakstol, you would also know it is sincere. He's a great guy. He's passionate about the game, but he understands what it is all about. He has tremendous respect for the game and the players. He may be a fierce rival of the Gophers, but he has an enormous amount of respect for the program and all of the young men that don the jersey or the jersey of any college hockey team. Please continue to give us updates on Tom Pohl. If anyone knows where cards or letters can be sent to his family, please post it. I can speak for many Sioux fans and say that we are very concerned about Tom Pohl. These type of incidents put everything into perspective, whether it is Travis Roy, Robbie Bina or Tom Pohl.

Great post. I could not agree more. These are very young men that we are talking about, and my thoughts and prayers go out to Tom Pohl and his family. As a parent of several hockey players, this is the worst nightmare.

Or maybe, as has been rumored, he just really didn't like school that well. D1 sports are a huge commitment because you still have to go to school full-time.

There is a vast difference. No one ever doubted Jordan Parise's talent. His numbers in the USHL, which is a far superior league, were very good. He was only recruited by UND and MSUM, but he was also older. Keep in mind that he was added as a recruit AFTER Zach Parise had already committed to UND.

What bothers me is that some people on this board rip on an 18 year old kid who left the team for major juniors because he was not going to play, and in the same breath, hope that we recruit a kid that they have never seen play solely based upon his name. If you are going to rip on Greico, at least be objective and know what you are talking about.

Have you seen him play? If his name were not Belfour, I doubt he would even be playing in the MJHL. Hopefully, he's improved or will continue to get better. I saw him many times at UND camps growing up and at tryouts for the FM Jets, and he would not even get a sniff without his name.

Those numbers are very close to the numbers of Dayne Belfour, who is playing in a far inferior league. Dayne Belfour will be 19 in May, and his numbers are 3.73 GAA (good for 12th out of 18 in the MJHL), save % of .886 (15th out of 18) and a record of 21 and 22.

What do you base this on? Have you seen him play recently? I'm not saying it is not possible, particularly with his lineage, but the MJHL is not the strongest Junior A league. He was at the FM Jets tryout camp in 2006 and was not WCHA material at that time. Hopefully, he's a late bloomer like his father.

CC over AAU in 2 UND over MTU in 2 DU over UMD in 3 UM over MSUM in 3 UW over SCSU in 3

Meland and his father were talking with Cary Eades in the lobby of the REA on Sunday before the game. You are correct that Eric Meland was leaving for Lincoln that day after the meeting with Coach Eades.

True, but they don't have room for a defenseman this year. He is playing with the FM Jets this year. Look at www.fmjets.com or www.pointstreak.com.

RIT didn't need to fight with the Gophers because they knew they could beat them and did.

I meant to say unlike Moorhead, Fargo is not a hockey town.

I'm not convinced and I am from Fargo. The level of play in Fargo has improved dramatically over the past 5-10 years, and the number of players and interest has also increased dramatically. However, unlike Fargo, I sincerely believe that Fargo is not a hockey town. Fargo gets absolutely no support from the community or public support. The rinks being built with private money are a great step forward, but I have my doubts about the success of the Force. USHL teams are very expensive to run, with franchise fees of over $500,000. Rough estimates are that it takes 3000 fans to break even. Fargo has never shown that kind of commitment, and I don't think they will with the Force. I expect the Force to do well for 2-3 years until the novelty wears off, and then fans will disappear like they always do. Fargo just has too much competition for the Friday and Saturday night dollar, including Sioux hockey, youth and high school hockey, NDSU and other college basketball, etc. USHL teams typically do well where there are not established major colleges (Sioux Falls, Sioux City) or larger markets without great youth and high school hockey (Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines). I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it working long term any more than in the past. The new arena will only hold people's interests for awhile. Ultimately, it is the product that needs to succeed. The rink will hold people's interests for only so long. Blais is the wild card--he will help. The question is, how long will he stay? Fargo is a perfect NAHL town. It can draw 1000-2000 fans (especially with a new rink that is not like the craphole called the Coliseum), but I seriously question 3000+ fans. If this doesn't work, this may effectively kill the NAHL and Fargo may never get a team here again.

Ignore him. The only way he is relevant is if we pay attention to him and he gets under our skin. I don't find him to be worth the time of day. As I've said before, he's just a Barreiro or Royko wannebe, and in reality is a pathetic hack journalist with no talent, no credentials, is not funny, and is not relevant outside a very small market. He makes Sid Hartman seem knowledgeable about sports, and McFooly will never, ever be as successful as Sid. Seriously, what makes him any more relevant than a writer with any small town newspaper in ND or Minnesota? The only sport that he knows anything about is golf.

Jeff.