skateshattrick

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.

Kessel is a special player. He was when he was a PeeWee on the Madison Capitals and he was this last year when he played with the Madison Capitals. To contend otherwise is lack of objectivity or sour grapes. However, I'm not sure that I agree that he's the next coming and will transform whatever team he is on into an NCAA champion. Zach Parise was not able to do that, nor were a number of Gopher greats in the 80's and 90's such as Mike Crowley. You could make the case that he has more speed and potentially more scoring ability than Zach, but I could make a pretty strong case that Zach is a better overall player. He is truly going to make UM or UW better, but it is still a team game. Having said that, I sure would have liked to see him in a Sioux uniform.

Agreed. In fact, in the early 90's when the Sioux were cellar dwellers, there were less than 2500 people most nights. As I've said before, you could throw a rock in any direction and probably not hit anyone. 10,000 is not bad under the circumstances.

I will give you another reason. It is estimated that 1/3 of the season ticket holders are from the Fargo area. Assuming that to be true, the International Squirt Hockey tournament was being hosted at 10 area rinks in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo area this past weekend. Many Fargo hockey people were working or attending that tournament, which is the biggest squirt tournament in North America. Couple that with the bad roads and the disappointing season and you have a few fans not show up. By the way, were you at the game? I actually thought that the crowd was pretty good for a Sunday afternoon and was pretty loud for a 1-1 game.

I go to Sioux games thick or thin, but I disagree with your logic. The only way a "true fan" can express his/her displeasure is by staying away when the product is mediocre or inferior. Many "true fans" are not happy with the way this team has played, with how the hiring process was handled, etc. We are/should be a national contender and anything less is not acceptable. If we continue to pack the place while having a mediocre team that does not play with passion, what message are you sending? The Chicago Cubs were content to be mediocre every year because they still filled the stadium every year. Raise the bar and expectations and you will see a building filled to capacity every week. If not, you will see what happened in the early 90's when the team was horrible and the attendance was also horrible.

I drove from Fargo despite the bad road conditions. However, it has been harder this year than normal for the reasons stated by PCM. A friend from Moorhead who has season tickets has said that he seldom goes because this team is so underachieving and does not play with any passion. This is a long time Sioux fan with a lot of knowledge about the game and a son on Moorhead's high school team. That brings up another reason---youth hockey is winding down with tournaments and many parents are unable to attend because of commitments with their own child's game(s).

Good post! It appears that we agree on many things, it is just a matter of degree. The one thing that I continue to be disappointed in is the lack of discipline, fundamentals and at times, heart. This team has taken inopportune penalties all year and there is no consequence. By contrast, I recall when Blais sat Nick Naumenko, the best player, for taking a few stupid penalties. That set the tone that no one was immune to benching, no matter how talented. He carried that on by sitting the Panzers and Blake when he felt they were not working hard or playing without passion. I do not see that this year. Greene, Prpich, Jones and others continue to take the lazy stick penalties.This team is also not good at catching or making passes. That was always a strength of Blais' teams. Finally, this team does not seem to play with a sense of urgency until it is behind (see Bemidji State; Denver, etc.). You may be right that it is something other than coaching, but the buck must stop somewhere. As I've said, we will see what he does next year. There is a lot of returning talent, and some high profile recruits, including Toews, Duncan, Chorney, Watkins, Brian Lee, Zach Jones. There should not be any excuses after next year because he will have recruited all of the players.

I'm awful close. When you split with AAU and MSUM at home, get swept by Denver at home, and lose to a depleted AAU team in a must win, it is a bit disheartening. There was once a time, even when the Sioux were .500, that they would at least split with the top teams at home, and many years, swept superior opponents. This year, I am not optimistic that we will beat Wisconsin, but am hoping for a split. I think our talent is at least as good as Wisconsin, but this team is missing something and has been all year. That is the tough part. It is not lack of talent. As far as the WCHA, I disagree. It all goes in cycles. In the 90's the CCHA was tougher. In 1999, 3 hockey east teams were in the Frozen Four. I was there in Anaheim because I expected the Sioux to be there. Hockey East is probably closer to the WCHA this year than you think. Even though the WCHA is doing well the last few years, there are a number of mediocre teams in the WCHA this year. Look at the nonconference records of teams 6 through 10. Again, the Sioux should never measure themselves against those teams if it expects to remain a national powerhouse. If you do, then don't complain when the Sioux don't land the top recruits despite the great facility. We should not kid ourselves--they don't come to UND for the scenery or the education. They come because of the winning tradition and the facilities.

It was a big loss and no one said it was not. In fact, with just Bochenski coming back, the Sioux were picked to be No. 1. However, even after losing both, the Sioux were picked No. 2 by the coaches, and were ranked in the top 3 in the national polls. Maybe that doesn't mean much to you, but it tells me that at least the coaches and media recognized the returning talent even without the 2 best players. In other words, the well was not dry--we still had ALL of our defenseman returning (of which many thought was the strength of the team), both goalies, and enough returning scoring talent (Stafford, Murray, McMahon, Fylling, Porter) and some high profile recruits (Zajac, Spirko, Radke). For those that like to compare us the Sioux to Mankato, St. Cloud, AAU, Miami of Ohio, etc. it is not a fair comparison. Those schools are virtually never in the running for the "blue chip" recruits. The only way MSUM got Backes was by signing his as a junior in HS. He also flew under the radar a bit because he played in Spring Lake Park. AAU's coach acknowledged in an article last week that they recruit different types of players than the Sioux and UM because they cannot land the big name recruits. Scott Sandelin said the same thing about UMD--they went after TJ Caig (a player with talent but baggage) because they have to take chances. In other words, they have trouble competing for the top recruits. The new arena at least invites UND to the dance for those top recruits. Based on talent alone, there simply is no excuse to losing at home to teams with inferior talent like AAU and MSUM. Additionally, UM lost Vanek and Ballard (not to mention Riddle and others), and Denver lost Caldwell and Berkhoel. The Sioux are in the running for blue chip recruits every year with the likes of UM, BC, Maine, Wisconsin primarily because of facilities and tradition. Yes, there will be down years like 2001 was expected to be, but this year was not supposed to be one of them with all of the returning talent. Minnesota may be having a tough run, but at least they will make the NCAA tournament and will probably host. They probably deserve it after beating Michigan, winning 3 of 4 from Wisconsin, and beating Denver. If you are going to contend that the Sioux are so dependent upon 2 players, then there is something seriously wrong with our recruiting. That is what UM fans have been saying for several years--that without Parise and Bochenski, the Sioux didn't have much ("one line team"). Sioux posters on this Board and USCHO have been arguing for several years that is not true, so why are we feeding the myth now by using that as an excuse for this season?? I have never advocated dumping Hakstol this year and I don't believe many others on this board have either. However, this is a very disappointing year, and he will be under a microscope next year. That is just the way it is in major sports. Florida didn't give Ron Zook a long rope, but at least they hired Zook after a national search. There is absolutely no excuse not to have a national search at one of the top 3 Division 1 hockey programs in the country (UM and Wisconsin being the others). Dave Hakstol is a great guy and I hope he succeeds. However, the rope cannot be long at UND, much like it would not be at UM. UND built the new arena with the expectation that our program was one of the top programs in the country, on par with UM. Dave Hakstol knew what he was getting into when he took this job. Unlike Blais, he has no proven track record, only question marks, so you can't compare the slack given to Blais for having a bad season. UND simply cannot afford to fall out of the picture for the top recruits. This sentiment is shared by many, many Sioux fans and former players. The expectations are high and should be. The Sioux are not AAU, MSUM, MTU or St. Cloud and should never settle for mediocrity. Next year should tell us a lot.

Very well put.

I brought up the fact that I have been a fan for that long only because you made the comment that you had been a Sioux fan for 20 years and then proceeded to call others who disagree with you "newbies". I am tired of that phrase as it is condescending and implies that someone who has not been around as long does not know what they are talking about. Well, I've been around and I disagree with you as well, so please don't label anyone who disagrees with you as a "newbie." Everyone on this board has a right to express their opinions regarding Hakstol, etc. without being ripped by you. Read your posts. They sound like someone who believes only his own opinion matters. I guess we can agree to disagree. I for one and am extremely disappointed in this year and find it unacceptable. I'm willing to give Hakstol another year, but if next year is more of the same, then we need to open up the search again, only this time wider.

I'm a little sick of your rants and lectures vilifying every Sioux fan who questions the hiring of Hakstol or who dares to say that they are disappointed in this season. I could give a rats ass if you have been a Sioux fan for 20 years. I have been one for nearly twice that long and a season ticket holder for 18 years. Let's put to bed some of the fallacies and myths shall we? First, you cannot compare the early 90's at the end of Gino's tenure with this team. I was at those games, and you could throw a rock in any direction and probably not hit anyone. That was clearly the dark days of Sioux hockey because Gino had lost his assistants who did the bulk of the recruiting (Marks and Blais) and Gino was no longer doing any coaching. That should not ever happen again because we now have a new $100,000+ arena that was meant to ensure that we were always able to compete with Michigan, BC, Minnesota, etc. More importantly, we can no longer afford to have those types of years EVER if we hope to pay for the operating costs of the new arena. Second, I know of almost no one that complained when Blais was hired. Why? Because we interviewed outside candidates and he was clearly the best candidate. He was the assistant and primary recruiter for Gino during the glory years of the 80's. He also won a state title with Roseau, not a small accomplishment considering the success of non-Twin Cities teams in the Minnesota Class AA tournament. Third, no one could have possibly complained when Blais' first year the team was .500 because they had been at the bottom for 3 years. The improvement was obvious and immediate, despite the fact that he had mediocre talent that he did not recruit. By contrast, Hakstol was handed a very talented team that was picked 2nd in the WCHA by the coaches even AFTER Bochenski unexpectedly left. Thus, it is reasonable to have had high expectations for this team. Finally, though not his fault, the hiring process for Hakstol was suspect at best. As a result, he will have a very short rope. As a Sioux fan, I have a right to have high expectations. If you choose to make excuses, so be it, but don't rip on every Sioux fan who happens to disagree with your myopic view of the situation.