skateshattrick

EDIT: Here's an interesting add on. I spoke with a postal worker yesterday whose sun is a freshman at Moorhead High School. He knows all of the varsity hockey players and their folks from the past year and he spoke to me about Brian Lee and Jordy Christian. Apart from telling me that Lee is going to be a great Dman for the Sioux (he did say Brian needs to put on some weight), he said that Jordy wants to follow in Dad's footsteps. Right now, though, he's off playing in midgets in Illinois, so that's not good news for the runner ups of the state hockey tourney. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not sure that I understand. I thought Mario was in the USHL at Tri-City. Is he at Red Deer instead? Also, what do you mean he has an offer North Dakota? Do you mean he has a scholarship offer from UND? If so, for when? He is an 88 and is the equivalent of a junior in high school. Thanks.

What is the status of Carle? I have not seen any articles indicating that he has signed with San Jose or is about to sign. If DU loses Carle, that will be a huge loss.

Denver has has success in recent years with mobile defensemen and good goaltending. Aaron MacKenzie, Brett Skinner, Ryan Caldwell and Matt Carle are all very skilled and can jump into the play offensively. All were recruited hard by UND, and narrowed their final selections to UND, but chose DU. Skinner and MacKenzie played at Thunder Bay where UND used to land a lot of recruits (Hrkac, Greg Johnson, Hoogsteen's, etc.). However, Gwozdecky is from Thunder Bay and has been able to attract those players from Thunder Bay. Brett Skinner is from Brandon, MB and also was recruited hard by the Sioux but chose DU over UND. I'm not sure about Carle, but he was recruited by just about everyone. He is from Alaska, so why he chose DU may have something to do with location. DU has an edge in recruiting based upon its scenery and temperate climate. TJ Fast is going to DU next year, and narrowed his choices to UND and DU. He ultimately chose DU over UND (he loved the arena) because he is from Calgary and the mountains made him feel more at home. DU and CC have also been successful in landing California kids (Sterling, Gauthier) and if you look at the rosters, both DU and CC have many kids from Colorado, particularly Colorado Springs.

I know Tarek very well and trust his judgment on this one. Why you continue to have to compare Jon Ammerman and say that he is not as good or does not have as much upside perplexes me. Have you even seen him play? I am willing to bet that Tarek would describe Jon Ammerman as an "unbelievable" player. I suggest you ask him. I intend to.

You are misinterpreting my message. This is not a negative on Jon Ammerman, who is exceptional. Rather, it is considered to be the main strength of Brian Lee, who shows exceptional poise and rarely makes turnovers. That is why Brian Lee was selected to the World Junior team and is getting a scholarship right out of high school. What I'm telling you is that the difference between the two is not that great. Ask the players who play against them---they have an awful tough time telling you who is better and why. Make no mistake---Jon Ammerman will play D1 hockey and will be outstanding. He is that good and always has been. If he wasn't, the Sioux would not be talking with him right now. Perhaps you didn't know this, but the Sioux have been talking with him about coming in possibly next year if Matt Greene leaves. I doubt that he will because he wants to play a year of USHL so that he is ready when he gets to college.

Ammerman was one of 4 Minnesota players invited to play in the Czech Republic 2 years ago. Brian Lee was one of the others. 2 years ago, Jon Ammerman made the US Development Team in Ann Arbor. He chose not to go because family is very important and cannot be recaptured and because he wanted to win a state championship. If he had gone, he would certainly have all of the D1 teams after him because it is a "reputation" program. Until the time that Brian Lee grew, Jon Ammerman was the better youth hockey player. He was better as a squirt, better as a pee wee. Brian Lee caught and arguably "passed" him in the eyes of others when he was a bantam. Jon Ammerman is a better skater and has better offensive skills than Lee. Not to take anything away from Lee, who is an outstanding player, but the reasons that Lee is being recruited more and is more highly regarded are two fold: (1) he is bigger and thus, has more potential (2) he is more poised and makes betters decisions. You should know that scouts typically recruit the bigger player with more potential. In fact, a scout at the Minnesota HS tournament said that the primary reason that Ammerman is not being recruited more is because he is under 6' (which is actually wrong because the measurements are old). The fact that a player is bigger or has more "upside" rarely tells which will be a better college player. That is why Jason Blake was recruited only by Ferris State out of the USHL, David Hoogsteen only by UND, and Jeff Panzer was an afterthought compared to the "highly regarded" Wes Dorey. I agree that Lee is a tremendous player and prospect. However, you don't need to downgrade Ammerman just because you believe that Lee is better. In fact, Ammerman has been recruited by UM, UMD and UND, but they all want to see him play a year of USHL. He is currently being talked to by Maine, Ohio State, UNO and even UND. Apparently, my bias must have forced these programs to talk with him. The same is true of Hardwick. In fact, if you talk to virtually any scout or recruiter, they will rate Jon Ammerman higher than Hardwick because he is bigger and Hardwick is being labeled as having slow feet. I personally think they are wrong about Hardwick because he has great instincts and intangibles, but Ammerman is more highly regarded. In fact, many regard Olimb higher than Hardwick. You can say with a straight face that you believe that Lee is a better player than Ammerman and I respect that. But Hardwick or Marto?? Please. You need a dose of objectivity.

I would not be concerned. Zach Jones is built like his brother and will be the same type of defenseman. Brian Lee is 6'3" and is getting bigger. He will be very solid after a year in the weight room. Smaby is a monster. Plus, you do not need to be big to play defense in the WCHA. Minnesota has had great success with smaller, mobile defensemen with offensive skills--Larry Olimb, Mike Crowley, even Ballard before he bulked up. Some of UND's best all-time defensemen have been smaller, mobile defensemen with offensive skills--Russ Parent, Curtis Murphy, Travis Roche, Nick Naumenko. Even Ian Kidd was a finesse guy with good offensive skills. The WCHA and college hockey are skating leagues so you do not need NHL defensemen. Yes, the Sioux won with big defensemen this year, but they also had some growing pains and struggled in the transition game and offensively at times. The ideal defensive corps is to have both, which it looks like the Sioux will have. Look at Denver with Caldwell, Skinner and Carle. They are all pretty good size, but they are offensive-minded and great skaters that jump into the play. They are the main reason Denver has won back-to-back championships, ever more than goaltending. Hakstol and Berry were both defenseman, so they probably know what they are doing.

Thanks for the clarification. Jon Ammerman would be a huge pickup for the Sioux. I'm a little biased because I know the family, but I think he is going to be a very good D1 player. I also agree that Ammerman and Hardwick are pretty far ahead of Marto right now. However, I don't want to sell Jake Marto short because he does have a lot of talent. Tarek Howard has said since Marto was a sophomore that he has the talent to play D1.

You have got to be kidding me! The rivalies with CC and Denver are some of my favorite and are longstanding. I much prefer to see the Sioux play DU or CC to St. Cloud, MSU-Mankato or BSU.

First, I wish Nick a full and speedy recovery. I truly feel he has the skills to play for a long time at the professional level. Having played hockey both with a full facemask and without any mask, I would play with no mask at all if given the choice. I guess I might consider wearing a half-shield, but I've never used one, so I'd have to try it first. Playing without a mask improves your vision on the ice immensely. I know, you don't really see the mask when you're playing, but once you take it off, you can really tell that there is a big difference. It would be my guess that most of UND's team would wear either a half-shield or no mask if given the chance. Also, I have to say I disagree that mandating half-shields would be worth the effort, even if it meant more high-stick play. While the shields obviously provide protection, the number of eye injuries would most likely be higher than it is now, just because players would be more careless with their sticks up high. If hockey officials (league reps, etc.) required the players to wear shields, fewer players would choose to play in that league, and the quality of play would be less. Also, I believe it would encourage more illegal and reckless stick work because A) the players will think they can't hurt others with high sticks and therefore be more careless, and B) because they won't have to deal with getting hit in the face by the retaliation (high-stick, punches, etc.) if they stick someone on purpose. Players at the elite level, like Nick, know the risks of choosing not to wear a facemask. They may feel pressured to not wear a mask because of pressure from others on the team, but ultimately, wearing one or not is the decision of the individual. The choice should be left up to the individual player, not mandated by the league that player belongs to. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw in Heiserberg's site that Mick Berge, the son of Mark and Jody Berge, signed to play for MSU-Mankato next year. Mick Berge plays for the Lincoln Stars. Mark Berge played for the Sioux in the late 70's/early 80's, and he and Jody both attended GF Red River HS. Also, former Sioux Craig Ludwig's son is going to Western Michigan.

I will debate that anytime. Maine is about the same as BU. Cornell is horrible. They are a typical EZAC team--overrated because they do not play anyone. During the year, they beat Maine somehow, but lost to BC, and lost and tied Michigan State. The rest of the schedule was EZAC teams. They are not in the same class as Michigan. What should have happened is that Michigan should have been the No. 4 seed overall and CC should have been moved to Minnesota as the No. 3 with Minnesota No. 5 or 6 overall. Denver had a fairly easy path, but New Hampshire is better than Maine or Cornell. CC and UND had much harder paths.

I am certainly going to take your well reasoned post to heart, particularly with your spelling ability. You should at least wait until evening before drinking another bottle of Thunderbird.

The reason that his production was down is because he was battling injuries all season. He started out the year hurt with a different injury but played through it. He then injuried his knee and his shoulder and tried to play with both injuries. He is a great player, but it is awfully hard to play when you are hurt. If he's healthy next year, look for a breakout year regardless of who he is playing with.

Since the games are not on ESPN or ESPN2, are any of the local stations in Fargo or Grand Forks going to pick up the regional games? If not, are there any bars in either town that are going to televise the games on satellite or on ESPN's other channel?

As much as I enjoy Patrick Reusse's column, and acknowledge that the Gophers do often get "favoritism" for the reasons stated in his column, the reality is that the Gophers got a number one seed because of the Power ranking system, not some wild conspiracy. What needs to be fixed is the system. As much as I respect the WCHA and believe that it is the superior conference, the power rankings should probably be used only to determine which teams get into the tournament and not for seeding purposes. No one can convince me that the CCHA league and tournament champion (Michigan) is not entitled to a Number 1 seed. I realize that the Gophers beat Michigan earlier in the year, but Michigan has a better record and is clearly playing much better now (which is not uncommon for Michigan to play better as the year progresses). The so-called "objectivity" that the PWR allegedly incorporates is not working if the 3rd place team in the WCHA (4th in the tournament) gets a number 1 seed over the top team in the CCHA.

I don't have a problem with most of the selections, but how does Matt Jones end up on 3rd team behind a player from MTU, the worst team in the league? Jones is the 2nd or 3rd best defenseman in the league behind Skinner and maybe Stuart. I also have a problem with the goaltender choices, especially Ellsworth over Parise and Lamoureaux. Parise is .913 and 2.25, Lamoreaux .915 and 2.19. Ellsworth is 3.23 and .916. Also, Lamoureaux should be ahead of Nate Lawson who is 3.32 and .916.

Agreed. He's actually from North Dakota originally. His dad is Sheldon Smith, an attorney from Bismarck.

It is too bad that I now have to hate him. Isn't it ironic for the self-proclaimed state of hockey, the top incoming recruit is from Wisconsin, the 2 best players on the current team are from North Dakota, and the best player on the last 2 championship teams are from Austria and North Dakota? That is not meant as disrespect to Minnesota, which still provides the most D1 players, but it certainly emphasizes that Minnesota is no longer the only show. Doug Woog must be wondering if "only I had recruited out-of-state kids". Let's see how many trolls we catch with this message!

I agree with you. He's a special player. Johnny Pohl had some interesting comments about him yesterday on the radio. He called him the real deal, but said that with a player like Kessel, you take the good with the bad. Namely, don't expect him to be around more than 1 or 2 years (he said something about taking the prettiest girl to the dance and don't expect to have her for long).

Oops! I meant the US World Junior Team.