skateshattrick

When you get out of diapers in a few years, please feel free to post. Until then, please spare us your immature and uninformed comments. This is from the same person who said Pete Fylling "blows", a really mature thing to say about a really good kid who was also good enough to score a goal at the Chicago Showcase.

What an absolute bunch of garbage. Who are you referring to at Shanley that they "recruited?" Pete Fylling came to Fargo because he was not going to get a chance to play at Minot. Since there were very few other options, what would you have him do? Get cut? Kyle Graalum has been in the Fargo Catholic network since he was a boy. However, Shanley did not have a hockey program, so it co-opted with West Fargo. The ONLY reason he was at West Fargo was because of the co-op. He lives in South Fargo. He was not going to South because: 1. he was in the Catholic network and 2. his family had an issue with Dean Wilson because Dean cut his cousin as a senior (who by the way was good enough to play for the Ice Sharks). The South Dakota kids (Hitt and Engdahl) came because SD does not have high school hockey. Butch Blahovsky has always been in the Catholic school network and was only at West Fargo because of the co-op. I challenge you to name one kid that left from South, North, West Fargo, etc. that would have been given a fair chance to play at their schools. I know you cannot, so perhaps you should stick to the facts before you spout off about things that you do not know. Besides, would you prefer that all of the kids stay in the public school districts and risk the chance of getting cut? For whose benefit is that? South, for example, has over 600 kids per class. What does Cory Loos have anything to do with your argument? He actually moved to Moorhead, which is a PUBLIC school. Even if he did move to play hockey, how can you blame him? He went from a team that did not have much of a chance of winning a state title in ND, to a program that had a legitimate chance to win the Minnesota state title, which is a much bigger deal if you want to get noticed and play at the next level. To show how inconsistent and weak your argument is, you actually congratulate Central. Grand Forks has open enrollment, and without South end kids going to play for them (e.g. Lamoureaux's), Red River would probably still be winning state titles and Central would not be as good. It is called numbers. However, I'm sure that fact escaped you since you seem to rely strictly upon emotion without knowing the facts. Minnesota also has open enrollment, and Centennial is made up of kids from a number of towns. Get your facts straight before you rant.

That is a ridiculous position to take. If schools like UND had that attitude, they would not come to UND. If the NCAA took that position, you would not see players of Parise's caliber playing college hockey, but rather, would play Major Juniors or go directly to the pros. Players leaving early is a fact of life--get over it. The fact that UND gets the players who leave early is a testament to its program--kids will go where they have the best chance to make it to the next level.

According to the website, they tied Indiana 6-6. That may not bode well against Minnesota, which beat Indiana 9-0.

I believe that there are at least 6 Fargo kids on that team, including 3 from South (Mauch, Brehmer and Kankelfritz) and 3 from Shanley (Hitt, Graalum and Fylling) with an alternate goalie from Shanley (Engdahl).

Good point! Plus they lose Caldwell, who was by far their best player. However, they still have good defense with Carle, Skinner and Laatsch, and they play the clutch and hold style as well as anyone, except maybe Wisconsin and AAU.

You should be proud. The Dogs should be very good again next year. I was cheering for them against Denver, but it wasn't meant to be. The WCHA is going to be very tough again next year, especially if Minnesota and UND return most of the underclassmen. CC and Wisconsin should also be very good, and you can't count out Denver after this year.

What are you talking about?? Are you even lucid? I don't remember anyone bringing up Minnesota's title in 2002. Go away troll.

I agree that Grant Potulny is not a "traitor." He was not recruited and went where he was wanted. Furthermore, we cannot get all of the ND kids if we are going to have a top flight program. Some will go elsewhere, much like Minnesota kids that attend UND, Wisconsin, and the Colorado schools. I do, however, take issue with your moronic statement that "half of your team has always been from Minnesota and the other half from Canada." If you look at UND's roster (you can find all of the rosters on USCHO), 21 of the 26 kids are from the US, with 6 from ND, 11 from Minnesota, 1 from Colorado, 1 from Michigan, 1 from Alaska and 1 from Illinois. Minnesota has 3 from ND, 1 from Canada, 1 from Colorado, and 1 from Austria, so the makeup is not all that different. Personally, I like the fact that the Sioux have diversity, including Canadian kids. However, your tone makes it sound like the same garbage that Sid has thrown out for years. It is akin to the argument that Sioux players are older (remember DeBus and Woog, the 25 and 26 year old Gophers?) Know your facts before you spout off, particularly on a Sioux message board.

I don't get your prejudice against suburban Minneapolis kids. Parise came from Bloomington Jefferson and went to Shattuck, which costs about $25-30,000 per year. Stafford, Smaby and Murray are also Shattuck kids. Bochenski is from Blaine, Peter Armbrust was from Edina, and Karl Goehring and Brad DeFauw were from Apple Valley, to name only a few. If private schools are your prejudice, SSM is a private school and very expensive. I've said it before--I love the fact that the Sioux recruit from all over, including ND, Minnesota, Western Canada, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, and yes, even suburban Minneapolis.

I hope that you are right. We need something to lift our spirits after the tough loss to Denver. I assume that you will be satisfied as long as the Dogs win the championship? I sincerely hope that UMD wins it all! Go Dogs!

Please take off your maroon and gold colored glasses for a second. Ballard is not, and has never been, better offensively than Roche. Roche scored 49 points his sophomore year with a team that asks its defenseman to not pinch. Ballard had 36 points his sophomore year. Even this year, Ballard had 41, which is less. Ballard also is not nearly as good defensively. I asked Dave Hakstol last year whether the Sioux were going to get an offensive defenseman like Roche, Leopold or Ballard, and he almost bit my head off, stating "Ballard is not in the same class as Leopold and Roche." Finally, people do not see Ballard as physical because he is not. You cannot equate stick work and cheap play with physical play.

Great post!

That is not even close to a fair analogy. Gino's teams fell off dramatically after his last national championship in 1987. His last 3 years, the Sioux had a losing record and were near the bottom of the league. I had season tickets, and the place was so empty that you could throw a rock in any direction without a great chance of hitting anyone. The Sioux program was going downhill. By contrast, Dean Blais just won the WCHA, were No. 1 most of the year, and still will be a favorite to win the league and compete for a national championship next year. Plus, the building is full to capacity nearly every weekend. What am I missing?

I wasn't referring to you, but Federov and the other poster. I didn't even see the Kentucky thing on your signature line. It was just the best analogy that I could come up with! Everyone knows that Tubby Smith is a great coach, and Kentucky was very good, but they still lost. It is called sports.

I can't believe that we are even having this discussion. Dean Blais has won 2 national championships, been in 3, and has won a handful of WCHA titles. Was that all talent? I agree that this year was disappointing. However, those of you that are ripping Dean, would you care to elaborate and provide specifics as to what he could/should have done differently?? Sometimes, great teams lose despite great coaching. I'm sure that some Kentucky basketball fans understand that.

I hope that you are right, but being devil's advocate for a moment, will it help recruiting? I agree that would be the case if the Sioux had won a national championship or at least made it to the Frozen Four. However, doesn't this give ammunition to the Gopher backers who have been saying for several years that he made a mistake going to UND? I would suspect that is what Don Lucia is telling new recruits.

Agreed! Excellent post.

I just returned from the game late last night, a 15 hour drive. I am extremely frustrated. Yes, the Sioux outplayed Denver. However, this team turned out to be what a good friend and Gopher fan told me all year: If you shut down the Parise-Bochenski-Murray line, you have a good chance of winning. Denver matched up the checking line with Zach's line, and put Caldwell on the ice against our top line. Quite frankly, other than Prpich, most of the other forwards did not do much. However, that is only part of the problem. Don Lucia "exposed" the Sioux at Mariucci by keeping everyone down low to cover the forwards and to block shots. Our defensemen are very good, but we still lack the defenseman who jumps into the play to keep the other team "honest." I'm not really sure why the Sioux D do not jump into the play very often because it seems that Fuher and Jones have the ability. Perhaps that is just how they are coached. In any event, we appeared very one-dimensional in both games. In other words, if Parise-Bochenski-Murray did not score, we are in deep trouble. If it turns out that Zach is gone, that is very unfortunate. In my opinion, he is by far the best player in the WCHA and probably the country. You will not realize just how good he is until he is gone. I am frustrated because I would have loved to see Zach win a national championship, and I am concerned that the Sioux's window of opportunity may have closed. Yes, the Sioux have some good players coming in and some good young players, but so do CC, Wisconsin and others. With Parise and Bochenski, the Sioux were the most talented team in the WCHA. Without them, they are not.

I would rather drop bowling balls on my foot than listen to those 2 clowns. They are without a doubt the biggest homers I have ever heard, and their knowlege of most sports is lacking, particularly hockey, they have no objectivity, but base everything on partisanship and emotion, and they are generally rude to any caller who dares to disagree with their opinions on their beloved Minnesota teams, whether college or professional. Paul Allen is a huge downgrade from Dan Roe as a football announcer, and is the worst announcer of any Minnesota pro sports team. Having said that, I find him a lot less offensive than Dubay who is nothing more than a fan thrust into a radio talk show.

You are so right! I had always mistakenly thought it was the SIOUX that had 7 National titles, nearly a .700 winning percentage in the NCAA playoffs, and it was the GOPHERS that were called the "Golden Chokers" throughout the country! Thanks for straightening that out. You must have some very kind mental health therapists that will let you play on the computer! Thank you for enlightening us with your intellect and charm!!

It was posted on USCHO that RJ Anderson of Centennial gave a verbal to UM. This has been posted here as well, but I had hoped he would see the light and go to UND!

Very well put. However, I will say that the Flyers (the south end team) is very good at a number of levels, so they may have turned the corner. Last year, the Flyer Squirt A, PeeWee A and Bantam A all split with Moorhead. How many A teams can even say they beat Moorhead which is always strong? This year's Bantam A (generally considered much weaker than the very strong group now sophomores) just won Bantam A state. Next year's Bantam A's are even stronger and should be one of the favorites. The PeeWee A's this year took 3rd, losing to Grafton in the semifinal game in OT. The PeeWee group next year should as strong or stronger. The Squirt A this year was probably the best team in the State, so the Flyers are loaded. The Raiders have been down for a few years. This may be a cycle, but I don't think so. The Flyers have quietly built a strong program which is helped by the numbers and a strong Squirt coordinator.

I agree with you DaveK. It should also be noted that Red River was dominating until GF went to open enrollment. Central would have still been good, but they have had several kids from south GF that would have been required to go to RR before open enrollment, including the Lamoureauxs.