skateshattrick

Yes. The Sioux will finish higher in the WCHA than UM or UW and will do better in the postseason despite the fact that UW is ranked 1 and UM 3. The Sioux will be in St. Louis. UW will not. UM may, depending on if the youngsters mature. UM, however, lost more scoring punch than the Sioux with Potulny, Irmen and Kessel. How's that?

I don't disagree with anything that you say, but the last gratuitous comment is misleading and appears intended solely to jab at UND fans. What you conveniently fail to mention, or choose to ignore, is that UND has the best track record over the past 10 years, and despite not winning a national championship since 2000, has been as consistently good as anyone. The Sioux have had 1 losing season since 1996-97. By contrast, UM has had 2, UW has had 4, and Denver has had 2. The Sioux were an OT loss in 2001 from also having back-to-back titles, and have been in the last 2 Frozen Fours, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. In 2003-04, they were the consensus No. 1 all year, only to be upset by the eventual champs, Denver, 1-0 in the western regional. UM did not fare any better, losing to UMD in the regional. UM has only been back to the Frozen 4 once since it's championships, losing to UND in 2004-05. UND has as many titles as UM and DU over the past 10 years, and the most Frozen Four appearances in the last 10 years and 5 years. UND also has more WCHA titles than UW, UM and DU over that time span. The point is that I agree with you that UND generally is very well-respected nationally, and that preseason polls are meaningless. However, if your intent is to come on a UND message board and pick fights, at least provide a complete and honest assessment to back up your comments. If you cannot do that, then please do not post here.

Don't put too much stock in INCH. They don't know anymore than the average poster on this site. I suspect that Darcy Zajac and Chris Vandevelde are flying under the radar.

Send me a private email and I will tell you exactly who said it, as long as you agree not to post it. You will soon find out that it is more than town gossip. If you don't believe it, that is your choice.

The rumor mill is that his parents, Pierre and Linda, are not very happy with the amount of playing time that Phillip has received and do not want Mario to go to UND. I have heard this from several reliable hockey sources from Grand Forks that know them well, but I do not know if it has any validity.

At Sioux Boosters this week, Dave Hakstol said that he is healthy and is expecting big things from him on and off of the ice.

I hope that I'm wrong and that he's a late bloomer like his dad, but I honestly do not think he's very good. He was at the Jets final tryout camp and was one of the 3 goalies initially kept, but most of the other players and people that watched him were surprised that the Jets kept him. I saw him in 4 games, and I did not think that he was as good as Beau Christian or the goalie from Holy Angels, Keaton Smith, who was not kept. In one game, he gave up 5 goals on about 12 shots. He certainly does not have UND potential at this time, but he is young.

That is true. As of now, the Jets goalies are Austin Lee of Bloomington, Elliot Okland of Fargo and Beau Christian of Moorhead.

If you don't think some of the hits were cheap, look at the video again. The hit on Paul Kariya was a classic cheapshot. Kariya had already gotten rid of the pick a good 2-3 seconds before and was skating up ice. The hit was not only interference, but no one expects to get blown up like that when they don't have the puck. I agree that if you have the puck and are skating with your head down, you can expect to get rocked, but that is the classic cheapshot. It is like a sucker punch. Also, look at the hit on Lindros--as is typical of many of Stevens' hits, his elbows and/or hands are always high. If he uses his shoulder, that's legal, but not your elbow. Stevens was a great player, and often made very clean, hard checks, but he also had many cheap shots as well.

This D corps will be a blend of the physical and finesse. Taylor Chorney, who is a great skater, has put on about 20 lbs, so he will be able to handle the physical play. Brian Lee has also bulked up quite a bit and can play physical. Jones is an animal just like his brother. He's not as big, but he's just as physical. With a year under him, Finley will be physical. Count on it. Radke is also built like a brick *house, but can also skate.

Good points. I actually have a lot of confidence in Lammy, but I may be underrating Briggs. You raise some very good points. If Lammy falters this year, we are relying on a freshman who is untested and may or may not be good. Briggs has the same situation--Frazee has talent, but has not showed much yet. Defense should be a strength for both teams, although UM will probably get more offensive production from its defense, but will also give up more because they are a little more offensive-minded. It should be a very interesting year.

Point taken. However, don't get too caught up in numbers. Briggs was good most of the year, but faltered down the stretch. Do SCSU and Holy Cross jog your memory? That is also 2 years in a row for Briggs where he did not play well at the end of the year. Frazee was even worse down the stretch. I agree that Briggs has talent, but he does not seem to play well in big games. Frazee is also talented, but has not shown that he can play at this level. I would call Minnesota a big ? in goal for the year. I'm sure that most of the other teams in the league and at least the objective fans would say the same thing. If they get above average goaltending, UM will be a very good team by the end of the year.

1. UND--this would have been UM until Kessel left. UND lost a lot, but has most of its D-corps back, Phil Lamoreaux, who is just as good as Jordan Parise, and Toews, Oshie, Duncan, Porter, Kozek, Fabian,etc. They also have some good freshmen, and expect Vandevelde and Zajac to make immediate contributions. If Forney is healthy, he may as well. 2. Minnesota--tons of young talent, but lost too much scoring. They will get better as the year goes on and have a very solid D-corps with Goligoski, Hagemo (is he healthy?), Peltier and the young guys (Johnson and Fischer). Goaltending continues to be a question mark. 3. Wisconsin--top goalie in Elliott and a very good defensive team that is very well coached. I would also assume a very good recruiting class. With Earl, Pavelski, Burish and Gilbert gone, may have trouble scoring. 4. St. Cloud---had a great year last year without much talent. Can you imagine what Motzko will do with an infusion of more talent? Also have Goepfert returning. 5. Denver--Still very well coached and some returning talent, especially Mannino. However, it is very difficult to absorb losses like Gauthier, Carle and Stastny. 6. CC--They don't seem to have much returning, but Scott Owens seems to rebuild well and they never seem to be out of the running for the top 5. 6. UMD (tie)--a lot of returning young talent and a good goalie recruit. I would not be surprised to see them sneak into the top 1/2 of the league. However, based upon how they have underachieved in past years, I would't be surprised to see them finish 9th or 10th either. 8. MSUM--lost a lot from a not very deep team (Peto, Backes, etc.). However, they always work hard, compete and overachieve. 9. and 10. MTU and AAU--nothing really to say, other than this is the traditional spot that they are fighting for.

Ian Powers and Dan Wurden play for Fargo South. They are both originally from Grand Forks. Chad and Steve Johnson are brothers from Grand Forks Central that played for UND. Mark Berge played for GFRR and played hockey for UND. Dennis Johnson is from GF and played for UND and then the Detroit Red Wings. Tyler Magura is from Fargo South and is currently playing for Harvard. Corey McLean is from Fargo North and played hockey for Notre Dame. Dan Irmen played hockey for the Fargo Raiders (northside) and moved to Grand Forks for his sophomore season where he played for GFRR for 1 year before playing in the USHL in Lincoln. There is little question that Grand Forks has had the overwhelming majority of D1 players and that trend has continued over the past 10-15 years. However, Minot has had quite a few players play D1, and Bismarck, Grafton, Fargo and Devils Lake have had some players play D1 as well. Fargo hockey has improved tremendously over the past few years, and figures to get stronger. However, to put down Grand Forks is insulting. That is at least the perspective of this long-time Fargo resident.

I meant to say he moved to Moorhead after the 7th grade. Aaron Walski is also from Grand Forks, as are Dan Wurden and Ian Powers.

Blake is from Grand Forks. He moved to Fargo after the 7th grade.

Will you quit with the constant potshots at Grand Forks? You are frankly embarassing to a Flyer parent and Fargo resident. As soon as Fargo starts consistently winning state titles and putting out D1 players like Grand Forks has consistently done (Jeff and Jay Panzer, Steve and Chad Johnson, Grant and Ryan Potulny, Nick Fuher, Andy Schneider, Phil Lamoreaux, Dennis Johnson, Jason Blake, Mike Lamoine, Mark Berge, to name a few) then you have the right to brag and be cocky. Until then, please take a big gulp of shut the hell up. Plus, you are wrong---Fargo has open enrollment. Any person from the Southside can go to North. Because of the size of South, you do need to petition to go from North to South.

Phil Fox got a full ride to Northern Michigan. He was easily good enough to play for any USHL team, but was not getting enough special teams play because the USHL likes to play the underaged kids and the kids that have college scholarships and are sent to the USHL for seasoning. He would get plenty of playing time when the team needed a goal, but otherwise was not so he returned to the Jets. The fact that Phil Fox did not play enough in the USHL or that he returned to the Jets had nothing to do with his talent and ability. Kai Kantola also received a scholarship to play at Bowling Green.

Red River and Fargo South will lead the pack with Grafton right behind them. I don't think anyone else in the State will be close. Central lost a lot of seniors, but still has Alex Simonson and usually gets stronger as the year goes on. Devils Lake has a good team, and may challenge Grafton for 3rd in EDC, but I don't think that they can compete with RR or South. North does not have much and would be very fortunate to make the State tournament.

The owner of the Manitoba Moose is a UND grad, Mark Chipman, so it is not surprising that he would look to UND for a coaching candidate. Mark Chipman was a backup QB for the Sioux football team and also attended law school at UND.

Yes

Not this year. He did not apply in time, so expect him to play for the Jets this year.

No, but the team has been selected after last weekend's final tryout camp. I do not know all of the roster, but local players include Marc Mihulka of GF Red River, Marc Harrie, Paul Weisgarber and Grant Larson of Fargo, veterans Jon Halstenson and Elliott Oklund from Fargo, Robby Phillip of Thief River Falls, Andrew Muir of Kittson, and Beau Christian of Moorhead. Paul Weisgarber is on the 25 man roster for Waterloo of the USHL, and the final roster should be set after this weekend. Robby Phillip made the Indiana Ice, but may not go. Jeff Foss of Moorhead made the Tri-City roster, but will return to Moorhead for his senior year.