forecheck

Hehe, yeah, some guy came over to our section and was looking for people to make an ass out of themselves on the ice, so naturally I volunteered. I didn't get to keep the clothes, unfortunately. The guy and girl who exchanged clothes the fastest got to keep the hat they were wearing, but my partner (who is probably reading this board ) sucked. You cost me a hat Ryan! I'd like to go to St. Cloud. I thought I would automatically get on some calling list or something since I went last year. I never got a call...

Does anyone know when the radio pre-game starts on Friday? Thanks!

Good to hear that Brian is back in the lineup! I think everyone is excited to see him play, especially since everyone seems to have improved over the summer. Good luck to the team this weekend!

You're welcome.

Whoops, looks like we both made our own threads about the same show.

There was a lot of joking around once again tonight. The fans thought the Niagara series was one of the most exciting series they've seen in awhile, and CB says this is an exciting team. Mentions the talent of the freshmen in the league. CB thought the HE ref made some interesting calls, but he thinks that he did a good job. D. Hale's penalty ended up being a spark for the team. Tim joked about how after Spiewak got his SHG, Jason mentioned he couldn't believe he was out there still, because he was so tired he could hardly breathe. Then next thing you know, the puck is on his stick and scores a shortie. CB said they weren't that tired, and if they were, then they need to do some more conditioning. Notermann was probably just excited about Spiewak's goal. (A bit tongue in cheek, I think.) He did mention though that those two need to be on ice during the PK because of their experience and skill on the PK. CB says he made some mistakes during Friday's game, thinking that after the two SHG, he put some new players on the ice that he thought could use that for imagery, and they got scored on right away. Didn't say who that line was, though. CB didn't even realize Bochenski had a hat trick on Friday. Joked about how he gets mad about broken sticks because of the outrageous price, and after Bochenski shot his rocket of a goal Friday night, Hakstol looked over at CB and said, "That's why we have those sticks." Then they started talking about the prices and materials of hockey sticks, and they joked about how for the defensemen, a good old fashioned wooden stick would do just fine...the heavier the better for hacking people down. Coaches don't send videos out in NC games, so he doesn't know much about Princeton and Yale, but they're typical Ivy League schools, and they love to skate. Another game where, if we beat these teams this weekend, and they end up doing good in the conference, even if we don't win our league, we can still get a bid for the NCAA tourney. Talked about how UND moved up a few spots on the polls just for beating Niagara, so every win helps. CB thinks we can do better than 5th in the league, but we still lost a lot of talent from last year. You have to win a minimum of 20 games and be over .500 to get a bid. Last year our own ice hurt us, more talk about the bad ice last year. Again talked about how he gave Brandt another chance last Saturday to give him some confidence, and it backfired on him. Now Siembida is playing on Friday, and he'll make the decision after that as to who plays in goal on Saturday. Brandt is having a good week at practice, and he feels bad about a few of the goals he let in against Niagara that he thinks he should have had. CB says how goaltending is so hard because he was pretty much embarassed in front of the whole hockey community, and it's tough on goalies when you pull them, but sometimes it's something you need to do. Mentioned some names like Belfour and how they hatebeing pulled in a game. CB mentioned that Lucia said on his show that they don't have to build their whole team around one freshman, because they have enough talent spread out on the team. CB thinks that Spiewak, Notermann, and Lundbohm are playing well and getting their chances, though, and R. Hale, McMahon and Genoway are getting in there. Then they talked about the fact that the Sioux have had a dominant line quite often in the past years, and it's worked (Lee, Goren, Bayda....Panzer, Lundbohm, Bayda). Everyone said "beat the Panzer line, and you beat UND" in the 2001 season, and every team tried to shut that line down, but it didn't work until the overtime of the national championship. *So basically, if it ain't broke, why fix it?* Parise is playing great, 5 points in a weekend again, and the other teams are going to continue to shadow him. He practices every day like it's a game. The whole town is buzzing about Parise, and Parise is loving it. But he doesn't have an arrogant bone in his body, he just goes with it and laughs a lot. He's not the "Golden Boy" though, he'll take his stick and go after you, and he takes his share in practice from his teammates. Give Bochenski credit, he's playing on the off wing. CB wishes he could have seen Bayda on a line with Parise and either Fylling or Bochenski. Tim talks about how he's never seen such excitement about one player before. CB said he's been very well-coached, JP is a great coach. Zach was always the perfect son, did what he was told on the ice, and just went out there and played, always laughing and with a good attitude. Tim said he thinks he brings the level of the whole team up, and he keeps Bochenski interested. He thought last year Brandon got bored at times, but this year, he knows every time he steps out on the ice with Parise, he has a chance to score. That's just how Bochenski is, he likes to score goals. He makes Lundbohm better because Lundbohm has some offensive ability too, and he doesn't want to be shown up by an 18-year-old, he wants to keep up in scoring. I thought that was kind of funny. Notermann and Spiewak both have a lot of talent, and CB thinks they're both going to have a 20 goal season. Poor Jason hit so many pipes last year, and with a little luck, his 8 goals turns into 20 goals and he gets a little more attention. He really sounded impressed with these two. Our defensemen are strictly defensive-minded defensemen, but they're all playing great. It doesn't matter if 5'11" Leinweber is out or 6'3" Greene is out, they are all playing solidly. SCSU has some forwards playing D cuz of some ineligibility, but they can talk about them next week. Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, I was just typing along as I listened.

No problem! Anything to put off typing my paper. My most humble apologies, U2. I will try to do better.

Coaches show at Lola's: Started out with a bunch of joking about how the team is 3-0, and they've won more than the Vikings. Good crowd for an exhibition game (over 7,000), vocal, felt like the old Ralph. Good game against Manitoba, they cycled the puck well, and for as much as Parise was touted, it was nice that he got the first goal in the Ralph this year. Massen didn't play that well in NY, but he had a great game last night. Canady is licking his chops to get in the lineup, Prpich is ready to play again after a groin pull, so guys can't afford to have 2 or 3 bad games in a row. Massen is a good player and needs to play like that all the time. This team has a lot of depth, and it's a great team to play goalie on because of much improved defense. The one goal given up by Siembida, he was completely screened, and he made a great save on a breakaway later. Niagra is coming off of a disappointing loss, they're a good hockey team, and they outplayed Michigan sometimes in NY. Blais was cheering for Niagra in the Xerox Showcase against MI. The whole underdog thing. Talked about how in the 2000 year, the team was looking forward to playing UNH in the playoffs and giving a little payback after their team won some tourney and skated the trophy right in front of the Sioux bench, and sure enough Niagra beats UNH and UND didn't get a chance to play them. CB thinks they are a good team. The team worked hard this summer, and they're ticked off about last year. Coach Blais really likes the team's attitude. He doesn't know if it's the new freshmen, or older players taking over leadership roles, or the new strength coach that was hired this year, but the attitude is great. Talked again about how the players are getting out on the ice before the coaches during practice, unlike last year. Tim brought up that last year, if we had split with MN, UND would have been in 4th place instead of 8th place. CB mentions that last year was MN's year, they had some great players, and UND lost some great players (Lundbohm and Roche). Last year was a good thing to happen for coaching as well as an eye opener for the team. They know they can't win 25-30 games every year and that they were going to take their lumps with such a young team. This year is a different story. If you don't bleed green, go somewhere else. This team is looking for guys who want to get better and win. CB thinks the hockey team gets really loyal players, and it's evident when alumni come back and are excited about the team, and sometimes it can be a factor in getting a new player (if the alumni has a son who plays hockey). It's a hard job to referee, but if you're going to make a call, make doggone sure it's a good one. CB mentioned that last year in MN against the Gophers, he called the ref (not sure which one it was) over to the bench and asked if he felt good about a holding call he made that happened at center ice, and had nothing to do with the play. The ref may have just ended the season for the Sioux. (I thought it was funny, cuz I could just imagine this conversation happening. ) He thinks Schmidt did a good job reffing against Manitoba. This year it's balanced in the WCHA, there's no one team that is way ahead of everyone else, and 7 or 8 losses could still win you the regular season. If we win all of our NC games, it helps a lot for NCAA playoffs later on. CB doesn't think sitting out a year will affect Colby Genoway. He worked hard last year, stayed in GF this summer and worked out, and he played well last night. They were also impressed with Connelly, and he thinks he's going to have a good year, his shoulder is holding up good. Blais said he didn't even really notice Connelly had 3 assists last night during the game, he seemed to be so busy taking hits. But he played well. Greene will be back this weekend. His shoulder is still a bit sore, but he wants to play. CB told him he doesn't even have to hit anyone, just be out on the ice, he's 6'3", 225. He reminds CB of Commodore as far as his honesty and wit. During the pre-game meal before the Michigan game, CB asked Greene what he thought of the Michigan goalie since he's played against him before. Greene said he's not that good. CB asked why he thought that, and he said he knew right away he was going to come up with a smart comment. Greene said, "Because I can score on him," and the guys all got a laugh out of it. Brandt will start this Friday. CB isn't saying he's splitting the goaltending duties, the goalies have to earn it. *My thought: It basically sounded like if one goalie plays extremely well Friday night, he could play Saturday night too. Not CB's words, just my thoughts.* They joked about the Purple Eagles: Is there such a bird? Niagra is physical, and CB thinks they're going to win their league. This weekend should be a good series. That's about it.

kr, you're right, it was Connelly. The *smack* of the two bodies hitting each other was loud, and I remember thinking it looked like a hit that could have broken a nose or two. I think their helmets might have hit. As for the Canady interview, I'll indulge those of you who weren't there. Besides the "other guy" comment regarding a scar on his face, BC was being asked about the other teams in the WCHA. He said that Denver looks to be really solid this year, and they are the team to beat, besides the Sioux. And then..."MN isn't that good. They're overrated." It was completely tongue-in-cheek, as someone mentioned earlier, and he obviously said it to get a reaction out of the crowd. And the crowd ate it up. BC definitely has interview charisma, and he made listening to a Katie O'Keefe interview bearable. My thoughts are pretty much the same as everyone else for the game. I thought Lundbohm had many great chances, but just never ended up with a goal (either deflection or good save by the goalie). Massen's first goal impressed me. It reminded me of the game against Tech last year when he got his hat trick. He completely out-muscled the defenseman draped on him, and went in alone on the goalie. I thought Connelly, Palmiscino, and Leinweber looked much improved, so hopefully those 3 guys can earn more playing time this season. I really liked Connelly last year, and I was disappointed when he was injured. He adds a lot of speed to the team. jk, I'm with you. I like the speed of this year's team compared to last year.

JK, I may be too young, but I happen to have the Best of Gilda Radner on tape. That was pretty good!

Thanks Jim! I wish they would put the Manitoba series on tv, too. I would have loved to have Andy Schneider's fight on tape from last year's game.

Does anyone know if the Manitoba series is supposed to be on tv in GF on Tuesday night? Last year Midco.net had the hockey schedule on their website, but it isn't up yet.

Sockeye, hope you and your husband have a safe trip! A week with 5 hockey games almost sounds too good to be true. I'll be down in the student section creating some noise. I'm also interested to see how the women's team plays. Go Sioux!

And if Marvin is this good, but is still the 7th defenseman as of now, what does that say about our defensive unit? I'm hoping it means much improvement from last year.

Nah. It takes a lot to make me mad. Besides, it will be a loooong time before I reach that point.

Have you been in the doghouse recently, dagies?

I will be listening to the games on Friday, so I can post updates for those of you out of towners. But unfortunately, I won't be able to hear the championship game since I will be in Fargo at the Sioux/Bison game. We're staying overnight there. That's why I was hoping it would be on tv so I could tape it.

Now there's an idea. We have all of the home games, why not the away games, too? kr, thanks for the heads up. It starts earlier than I expected.

Radio: Both of UND

I was pretty sure Bochenski got two goals, but who knows, I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. My excuse is that there was the cutest baby in front of me that was distracting me.

I agree that the Green team seemed more stacked than the white team. Parise, Bochenski, and Fylling played well together. Parise and Fylling have some nice moves, and all 3 have good shots. Their line accounted for about half of the scoring for the Green team. (Bochenski-2, Parise-1) Spiewak, Notermann, and Lundbohm were back together and looking good. As always, their speed was noticeable, and Spiewak looked like he was in a race half the time. This line accounted for the other half of the scoring for the Green team. (Lundbohm-1, Notermann-1...I think) It was harder to tell how well the White team was playing since, as someone mentioned, they had a couple extra players and were switching them around, and they had Lee Marvin playing winger sometimes. Plus it was just a scrimmage. They looked pretty good, but not as noticeable as what I am guessing are the top 2 lines from the Green team. Prpich scored the only goal for the White team. The scrimmage was a lot more physical than I expected. Twice in the same shift, Massen nailed Jones into the boards with a nice clean check. It was fun to see, but I was waiting for Jones to get a little revenge. It never happened. I thought the defense was moving the puck really well, though, which is comforting. They actually called a crosschecking penalty on the Green team towards the end of the scrimmage, but I can't remember who took it. The goaltenders are definitely going to be the deciding factor on this team, because the rest of the team seems ready. Ranfranz and Siembida saw most of the action, but I still thought Brandt looked a little better. Ranfranz, who is wearing Kollar's old number, scared me in the nets. He just didn't look very confident. I would really like for Brandt to get more of a chance to play this year. Overall, it was a good scrimmage to watch, the guys looked like they were having fun, and it got me excited for the season to start. Go Sioux!

Thanks. Does anyone know if it will be broadcast on tv, though?

Will the opening series in NY be broadcast on tv? If so, does anyone know the channel?

Does Brandt remind anyone else of Karl Goerhing? I know we haven't seen him play much, and he was still adjusting to the WCHA last year, but a friend and I were analyzing Brandt in the first game of the year against Manitoba, and found a lot of similarities in the two goalies' style of play. He even stretches like Karl. (JK know what I'm talking about.) Jake seems to play with a lot of adreneline and gusto, while Josh is more laid back. I think they are going to make a pretty decent two goalie tandem, with plenty of healthy competition between the two. I recall Blais mentioning on the coaches show last year that Jake, and maybe Josh too, I can't remember, was coming in on his own at 8am to practice, and made one of the coaches come and shoot pucks at him. They know that they need to improve in order to get playing time with Blais, or else he'll just bring another goalie in at Christmas. Plus, as someone else mentioned, the defense is bigger, stronger, and more experienced this year, which should help out a lot. Not to mention if the younger forwards learn what it means to backcheck. My picks: 1. Denver 2. Minnesota 3. UND 4. CC 5. SCSU 6. Duluth 7. Wisconsin 8. AA 9. Mankato 10. Tech I agree with NDHockey that it shows a little Gopher-like arrogance to assume that last year was a fluke and that we will never finish that low again as long as Blais is around. There is only so much a coach can do before injury, burnout, sickness, inexperience, and just getting into a slump starts to take over. I believe the Sioux are going to be much improved this season, but we have to remember that the rest of the league is still just as strong as ever, and there are some pretty good coaches out there besides Blais. I mean, how else can you explain Lucia winning with Hauser in net? Let's just cheer on the team without putting the pressure on them that I think they were feeling last year. Just a side note with all of this talk about goalies. A doctor gave a lecture in our Medical Science class this week about vision, and mentioned a certain Sioux goalie who came in for some eye therapy last season. He described it a little, and let me tell you, it didn't sound like fun.

Yeah but see, I have to eat the spiral mac and cheese. Yummy! I'll even settle for shapes, but I can't eat the tubes. The texture just isn't the same. And I have yet to find the Dakota brand in spiral noodles. And Scott, I always have money for beer. Hence my 30 cent meals.