Kuhninca

MN has a lot of young talent, but then again, so did UND last season. The problem is, if they're too young, they can't get it done. MN loses Pohl, Leopold, Taffe, Hauser. They wouldn't have been a championship team without those guys. However, MN has great momentum as a program. They continue to land top recruits and Lucia has that early coaching buzz going. UND may be the most underrated team coming into next season, though. Parise will be a solid contributer as a freshman, perhaps in the 20-35 pt range. The offense as a whole will be +2, +2, -4 in the categories of seniors, mid-classmen, and freshmen compared to last season. That's a huge difference! Then consider that the only two offensive freshmen expected to play are Genoway & Parise, and you've got a pretty positive looking team. I am no longer afraid of MN. Next season, they will not finish first, IMO. Not with the magnitude of losses they are taking.

The program has built upon its success in the past to the point where we are getting the best recruits and, as Blais says in "Fight on Sioux,"

Seems to me Blais is suddenly the most underestimated coach in hockey. Nobody is willing to dream that UND might to better than 3rd next season? UM will be tough, but why will Denver and SCSU be so scary? Denver had a lot of senior talent. St. Cloud lost their best offenseman. At the very end, UND was playing good hockey. Next season, there is no reason Deano can't elevate the team to more success. Thoughts?

Fournier - will have a much better season pointwise. Probably will be second line center. Genoway - hard to tell how good he is. 4th line center? Parise - Sioux fans being careful not to expect too much, but sounds talented enough to play first line center. Perhaps Blais will "promote" him mid-season. Marvin = Fuher; Greene = Schneider. Blais is recruiting a very specific type of defensemen lately. Hopefully, they will clog up the d-zone and block shots, etc. Offensive skills will be learned with time. Fylling - most underestimated returning player. Until the recent awards and praise from the USHL fans and coaches, many Sioux fans didn't even think he would play regularly. Probably will be a regular third or fourth line forward and score decent points as a soph.

After last season, I don't think anyone is expecting much from this Sioux team. And that is a real shame. The program in second place for all-time National Championships expects nothing from itself. That would never go over in Michigan, and it ought not go over here. So, when do we get to expect something? Two years...three? What if they fall on their faces that season, like in 1999? Do we preach patience for 4 years afterward?

Okay - so the consensus seems to be that Michigan had better defense, goaltending and better upperclass leadership and that is why they are in the Frozen Four. That's logical. The big unanswered question is...if UND's freshmen are truly as talented as people say, why did only one of them (Bo) break the 15 pt barrier? As I posted earlier, Mich. freshmen scored 30, 26, 22, 19, 18, 15, etc. Is it that the WCHA is really that much harder to assert oneself as a freshman? Are none of UND's returning Soph's "special" players? I'm curious to know why we've had multiple freshmen that contributed strongly in many a recent season, yet it just didn't happen recently. When I get back from vacation in a week, I'll be interested in seeing people,s thoughts.

Obviously Blais doesn't get ousted after a single poor season. Not when a dozen freshmen were in the lineup. That's not the point here. Rather, I'm wondering what people think is the difference between what is happening for them vs. what happened to UND. Their team is loaded with freshmen who contributed greatly. Goaltending didn't do that. I hear that Blais is "Hitting the recruiting trail very hard" these days. Perhaps playing far into the Spring actually hindered bringing in some kids who could contribute right away? I think we need another Bayda-type player and another kid who can really be a play maker with great passing skills. Can we pull in a couple of guys out of Canada?

This is not a slam on UND. Blais has had a fantastic run as coach and this school's tradition speaks for itself. However, Michigan is going to the Frozen Four. A team that has zero seniors among it's top scorers. A team that has freshmen that have scored 30,26,22,19,18,15 and so on. People say we expected too much out of our freshmen this year. I wonder if that is true, or if we expected too little? Thoughts?

Okay, first thing I gotta do is apologize to Speez.

dagies: you are a class act, so this is not a slam. However, I DO expect Blais to make some cuts based SOLELY on performance. Why, because he can and because this team let him down in terms of acheivement this season. Hasbargen and Murphy gave 100% every shift, but they got the axe so that players like R. Connelly could have a shot. Some of these guys simply did not come through this season, even though they played in nearly every game. Expected to be GONE next season are: Both Connelly bro's. Possibly D. Faul It all depends on whether Blais can find some good recruits in the off-season, like he used to do when he was hungry and not yet big-headed (sorry, Dean). Remember, Spiewak notched 15 as a freshman. Connelly only managed 4? Here's to the Sioux being back in form next season, with a number of HUNGRY new recruits, I hope.

I wouldn't doubt that both Connelly bro's are GONE for next season. Also, I wonder whether Canady is really good enough to be in there every game. He drew some praise from Blais this season, but look at his stats - not exactly awe-inspiring. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Dean go hard after some REAL offensive talent after this relatively inept season. You better believe he will work the REA/Parise angle as much as possible and not care too much about whether the returning Soph's get to play or not. That's the way it should be in an elite program. Produce when given the chance or don't expect to be given an easy second-chance.

Andy SO OUTCLASSED Hauser in this game. If the tables had been turned and "Hoser" had faced 45+ shots, that sack of s&!t would have allowed at least 6 or 7 goals. Then, to skate by the Sioux bench and make rude gestures after a season ending game = CLASSLESS as can be. Worthless, Lose-an-NCAA-championship-for-your-team kind of worthless. I can't wait to see him FAIL. What an asswipe. Sioux will be back in form next season. Especially if they can land one or two more recruits and re-establish a bit of real competition for playing time.

I've been a big critic of this team this season, but tonight's effort made up for last night. Kollar looked like a champion out there and Bayda/Skarperud played their hearts out. Hauser is a worthless piece of sh#t! As Tim & Tim agreed, UM will NOT WIN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP simply because that classless sack of crap is their goaltender. Here's to UND returning to form next season. This one was real tough on everyone involved, and I'm glad to see they ended it on a good effort, if not a winning one.

The day after assesment: Goofs played a great game - overwhelmed UND and made them look stupid. Blais' team had confidence heading into the game...perhaps that was their mistake. They should have come into town with a real sense of desperation and played MUCH HARDER. The UND announcers were brutal in their description of how pathetic the mental and physical effort was. They said the checking was weak and that Siembida was left hanging over and over. The only players who got any praise were McMahon and Kollar. I'd have to say Spiewak, Lundbohm, Bochenski, & R. Hale all let us down last night. They were more or less unheard of all night. Non-factors. This season has been a huge disappointment. I know Blais was expecting better things from these guys. They failed to put it together, even after many of the fans kept the faith and preached patience. Mine is worn out. I hope Blais goes hard after some offensive recruits and replaces some of the kids who had less than 10 pt seasons.

Did Spiewak even play tonight? I listened to periods 2 & 3 and I swear his name wasn't mentioned even once. He has to be the clear "winner" of DUD OF THE YEAR. People were expecting big things from him...they were let down. Skarp came through as usual. MacMahon was the only other offensive player who got more than a couple chances. Pathetic lack of effort and enthusiasm. No, really. Tim & Tim were saying those exact words. No excuses! Let the sackings begin. Not Blais, of course. I'm talking about players who show up to a do-or-die playoff series with nothing to offer. Show 'em the door.

No question, Tim Skarperud was the one-and-ONLY positive surprise for UND this season. He played his heart out and became the leader this team was lacking. However, Bayda would be the choice for "Unsung hero," as he once again comes in just below first place in scoring, but is a real force out there on the ice. What about DUDS OF THE YEAR? R. Connelly gets my vote. He probably won't be back. What about Spiewak? Very poor showing for a junior who scored 15 as a freshman and had only 17 pts going into this final week.

Dean Blais, in his postgame comments, indicating what I have been hinting at in other threads...talking about how this team had better come out hard as they ever dreamt tomorrow night and win one to take it to Sunday. "If they don't, there's going to be a lot of young guys who pay the price for their lack of success this season."

UND got good goaltending last time they were in Minnie. Somehow, the Sioux have to hold down the shots on goal UM generates this time. I would guess the only way to do that is with tenacious forechecking and backchecking, while staying out of the penalty box (clean hits). It won't be easy, but if Skarperud, Bayda, Bochenski & come through with some goals, UND has a shot at a win or two.

Aye, bro. Bochenski has been the lone freshman this season to live up to his billing and then some. The guy is a goal scoring guru. If he works on his skating skills over the Summer and maintains a hard-working attitude, he could be phenomenal next season. Now, back to the thread subject. Parise has been described as "The real deal" by Hennesey and I'm hoping he can have a freshman season that confirms it. I'm hoping Matt Greene is as good as the freshmen Defensemen we got for this season. Schneider, Jones and Fuher have all done an excellent job for being as "Greene" as they were. "The guy" tells me that Deano is still after a couple offensive recruits. That means he might indeed sack a few of the freshmen that had less-than-stellar seasons. This may or may not happen, but I believe it to be true. Here's to a better 2002-3. I've done some crunching of numbers, and it looks pretty good... ... ...

Well, I got a reply from "the guy" and he says no names were mentioned. It is apparently just a case of disappointment in the performance of some newcomers who were expected to be better. If I had to guess, I would say the Connelly brothers may not be back. Other than that, I can't think of who else, except possibly Faul. Anyway, its just heresay, but "the guy" is usually right about these things.

Tim Skarperud has become one of the premier players in the nation. He has been the best surprise of this team. The worst surprise has been Kollar's downfall. I mean a lot of people ripped him for how he looked in the Final Five championship game last season, but I don't think most people expected him to NOT be the #1 guy. Anyway, a GREAT scenario would be for him to start the Friday game at Minnie and win it, with no long bombs going through his pads. Siembida had a bad game Friday vs Denver and Brandt hasn't been Blais' favorite guy so I would expect Kollar to get a chance. If GOOD ANDY shows up, we can beat the Goofs!

I also had to listen to the Denver feed because the UND feed died just before the first period. What's up with that? It's been happening on-and-off all season. Really glad to see Kollar play his last game at home solidly and beat the top-ranked team. He deserves it after what he has done for the team in past seasons. Also nice to see the third line score a goal (McMahon from Canady). Geez, it's been a while. I wasn't sure if McMahon would get another point this season, so that was a good surprise. Goaltending is indeed the key to next weekend. Nothing could be better than denying the Goofs a shot at the Final Five.

Dean Blais was just on the Saturday pregame show and commented that there are two seperate factors that have contributed to this season's losses: 1. Experience 2. Knowing how to win He said this team has "found a way to lose." I couldn't agree more. There is something to be said for the mindset of the freshmen not being where it needs to be to win. The coach said it - it validates what I've said a little bit.

I understand the sentiment that some core fans need to stay behind the team no matter what. I understand the youth situation and that the team IS playing hard every night, now. But somebody has to play the role of chicken little and scream that "The sky is falling!" in a year like this. Without me, you guys wouldn't be able to let YOUR frustrations out Seriously, though. There are some very worrisome traits being displayed out there. Hole-tending is the biggest concern. Another is that the youngsters STILL aren't backchecking effectively, and that will probably end our season quickly. And no, I didn't follow the last years of Gasperini closely. There was about a three year stint there where I was distracted by my wife. As you can see, I've been very spoiled.

This one hurt....The UAA series, the Mankato series, the Gopher series...they ALL hurt. This team has been CURSED this season (and not just by me ). Ouch, yikes, 8th place = "yuck". And for those of you who flamed me for "griping," Imagine what will happen if 8th place ever becomes ACCEPTABLE. The beautiful REA would sit half-empty for most games, the excellent support of the Fighting Sioux Club would dry-up, and the program would become a joke. This has to be the worst season I've ever followed closely. Many of you have displayed more discretion than I in your postings, but come-on folks, this is supposedly an "elite" D1 team and THIS IS A MESSAGE BOARD ON THE INTERNET. You are not publishing a column in the paper, no matter how narcisistic your beliefs. This is the forum where people can post emotionally and NOT hold back their sentiment of the moment.