nodak hockey fanatic

it's almost as bad as kane's "beard", i just hope toews doesn't try the mullet experiment like kane... that thing is hideous

i know it's been talked about at length, but toews is a man possessed in the playoffs, adding another goal and assist last night in a huge win. he's the leader of a team that looks destined to win a cup or three, and at 22. he's already tied stan mikita's franchise postseason game scoring streak record, and i believe now only 7 pts (?) behind the alltime blackhawks single postseason point mark, not sure who holds it? hull maybe. its fun to watch him work, another nice article on him, seems like they have a toews article every other day, they are going to run out of things to write soon http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=529577

yeah, im not sure why they played games one and two the same day, couldn't they keep alternating? philly/montreal play thurs, hawks and sharks wont play again until friday. i understand they want a game each day on the weekend, but why did they have to play the first two on the same day? i miss not having playoff hockey to watch every day, my wife actually said last night... isn't there a hockey game on tonight? i think she was finally getting used to hockey every night.

i guess mpls bison is standing by his man... not a surprise. but the final quotes were quite telling...

i say marto and malone wear the "a"... my guess would be lammy if there is a third "a"

i will add to the crosby/nhl marketing discussion... 1. it is not crosby's fault he was annointed the next one at such and early age, in fact i think it is even more a testiment to the player he is that he has done what he has in spite of the hype and pressure OTHERS placed on him. he goes out and plays his game. he is the best in the world, period. ovi is right there, but until he can win something, crosby has the upper hand. im not sure why he has been labeled a "crybaby" but imho, if he didn't have such gaudy offensive numbers, would probably be given selke consideration like his teammate staal, his overall game is just phenomenal and he gets little credit for most of it but his offense. sit and watch him for a whole game once, he's a mix of osh and toews with an offensive upside a floor or two above, his motor doesn't quit, on either side of the ice. don't hate the guy because his league uses him to grow and sell. the nhl needs crosby, and he abliges their every whim. 2. as to the "others" who are used besides crosby and ovi... do you watch the channels that actually carry hockey? not espn, they are pathetic. but vs and nhl network have marketing campaigns involving kane, toews, getzlaf, brodeur, and many more. the nhl has made a concious effort to broaden the scope of their marketing, be it on tv, in print, and now especially on the net via nhl.com or even youtube campaigns. i think the reason that the crosby and ovi thing gets played out so often is alot of factors like the number of times the pens or caps are on national networks (and when they are, how much those two are talked about during the game, although i think this has gotten better this year), the fact that these two have been on competitive, relavant teams and usually leading the league in scoring, but not the least of which is the fact that noone has touched on... both have major companies sponsoring them and those companies pay for airtime to have their commercials on many different channels at many different times. the fact that reebok puts crosby all over the place has nothing to do with the nhl. 3. you can't compare the nhl to the nfl... its two different animals. heck the nfl doesn't need to market, the game is so popular right now it markets itself. the nhl is trying tirelessly to grow its sport and fanbase, and in my opinion is doing a pretty good job. and they would be stupid if they didn't use crosby and ovi to help, they are the two best players in the world right now. on a side note... toews and the hawks getting rolled by the canuks right now

yeah, i guess i didn't read anything in the article that set off any red flags other than he did everything he was asked and was then asked to hold off even though he was promised a 2010 spot. if lucia has overrecruited, then this is a possible consequence. i don't see this decommitment as him being a bad egg, hope he finds a spot somewhere he can play. we've got similar issues at defense this season, so we could be experiencing a similar situation.

here's my playoff guesses... out east, the leagues best team caps take out the habs in 5 devils over the flyers in a tough 7 game series sabers over the bruins in 6 and pens over the sens in 7 out west, san jose over colorado in 6 chicago over nashville in 5 la over vancouver in 7 and detroit over phoenix in 6 ovi and the caps overcome their crosby curse and take out the pens in another epic 7 game series devils over sabers in 5, on a positive note for buffalo, stafford has six goals in the series san jose over la in 5 chicago over detroit in 7 devils take out the caps in 7 chicago keeps rolling and another san jose dissapointment in 6 toews and chicago take the cup in 7 over parise, zajac and the devils in one of the best finals in history (and not just because of the former sioux )... three ot games im sure this will all come to fruition and i will win... nothing

devils drop game one... zajac with devils only goal assisted by parise. i think nj has their hands full in this series. and ottawa takes game one from the defending champs. i love playoff hockey... almost as good as sioux hockey.

well the ushl is probably one of the best developmental leagues for working on two way play, so hopefully he is working on that, which may account for his decline in #s too. hopefully he is hitting the weight room to bulk up a little too, but i doubt a coach would make comments like that about a player if there was question about his dedication or heart, so here's to hoping he comes in and is an impact player for the sioux! go danny! btw, what is his age, is he slated for another year of jrs?

ive said this before, but i will repeat it for you mplsbison, don't use wikipedia as your main source for an argument, it lessens any point you are trying to make, legitimate or not. wikipedia is an internet application than anyone can add information to at anytime. it is not verified (at least not in real time), that is not what it is meant for. the particular information you posted may be true, i don't know, i didn't read it, that is not the point... dr. phil may know some accurate information about the human heart, but i'm not letting him perform triple bypass on me, he's not really a doctor... and wikipedia isn't really an accurate, verified information source.

think of this as a possibility... new ad trev alberts has decided that hockey is the program that could put uno on the map, and he knows that he needs to do whatever he can to keep blais there because HE will be the key to a successful transition to the wcha. believe me football isn't the ticket with lincoln an hour down the road, and creighton has a monopoly on the bouncyball fans. also omaha is a great sports city, with a nice group of hockey fans. the quest is a very nice stadium, that will be one of the biggest in the wcha (maybe only behind the kohl?). now uno lacks the tradition of und, uw or minny... but they have the best college coach in the game (no disrespect to hak) and believe me he may lose alot of recruiting battles with the big boys, but he WILL win his fair share also. look what blasi has done with miami, you don't think there are some kids who wouldn't love to be part of that story with blais in omaha? i think maybe the goof faithful are putting too much stock in the fact that blais would drop everything to go to the trainwreck that is the um hockey program, where hockey is 3rd or 4th on the atheletic totem pole, and where he would be under the microscope from day one (not that i think that would bother him). maybe he likes omaha, its a great city. maybe he likes the freedom and support he gets from alberts and the atheletic department. maybe he likes the challenge of taking a mediocre (at best) program and bringing them to national prominence. maybe he is getting older and has decided he doesn't want to jump around anymore. i don't have any more insight than all of you, but the smart money says blaiser is in omaha for the long haul, bucky i'll bet you a cold one he is still the coach at uno after next season.

too many dmen on scholly... yes. why? we may not know but the coaching staff may. and fienhage isn't being forced to leave. i have no doubt that they will/would honor his scholorship if he stays and he feels he is good enough to crack the lineup with the logjam at d. and another note, if he does stay, mattson and/or simpson may have to delay, which i am ok with, but it may not result in fienhage getting anymore icetime barring injuries because i think he would still be the odd man out. that's my two cents on it.

i'll put it here because it's the top thread... anyone have any idea why the former players thread was closed? it may have been answered in another thread, but not going digging through all of them oh, and osh getting the better of toews right now as blues up 4-2 in the third. one assist for osh, two for toews. almost as fun as watching sioux hockey

i agree, frattin may be one of the best players in college hockey next year, but the hobey is an all inclusive award. a big part of why duncs won it, and a big part of why frattin will be left out of the discussion imho. it hurt gerbe, it is why there wasn't alot of talk about the tropp kid from mich state, even when he was one of the leading scorers in the country, and i think will hurts frattins chances. although i am sure he will take a national championship over the hobey

good points... i don't think lammy's style fits the top two lines. if hexy has played center, he would be a good candidate, although not sure he would be as effective. knight would fit the billing too, so then who gets bumped from the top two? like i said, i don't think the trupp, malone, frattin line gets messed with, and i don't know how you can keep gregs or kristo off a scoring line? fun to talk about, but im sure the coaches will get it figured out by october or whenever our season starts

actually, as dumb as it sounds, i'll give up the grind of winning the macnaughton (a top 4 seed only needs two games to win the broadmoor, so im ok with that ) to be primed and fresh for the ncaa and bring home #8. when is the last time a macnaughton cup team won it all? and how often does it happen? is it too much of a grind on the team? pure speculation obviously, i am not in the locker room, but just a thought. and i'll take keeping the sioux name too, but not sure i see it happening.

great post, i completely agree. now we do have to understand the frustation that has come with some of these "no show" losses in the ncaas, but we have had top notch teams to cheer for ran by a top notch coaching staff, and i hope hak is here for a long time. and i REALLY hope he gets the monkey off his back and wins a national title next year! i agree hak will bring a national title or two to grand forks, and soon. i think another thing to put into perspective about this years team is that i feel they overachieved. i'm not saying it makes the yale loss any easier to swallow, but yale is a good team (with bad goaltending, which is what makes the loss sting a little more) and the sioux were riding another second half surge that stopped a little short. lets go get em next season sioux!!

i agree with you that lammy could center the second line and toews could be the 4th centerman, but who of the top six gets put on the 3rd line then? good problem to have, as i think we have a very solid team top to bottom next year.

someone else brought it up and its never to early to start talking about next season so i'll start it i think marto wears the "c" malone and lammy with an "a" line combos are tough because we don't know whos coming in, but i'll do and early guess (that will probably look very different in a few months) i think you keep malone centering trupp and frattin as that line was lethal at the end of the year move gregoire to center with hextall and kristo lammy centering knight and rodwell and brock nelson if he comes centering rowney/toews/cichy/bruno/mattson defense is up in the air completely as has been talked about in other threads blood and animal are the top pairing without a doubt marto and lapoint, why break up a good thing gleason and forbort if mattson comes, he should be the 7th dman i think fienhage goes elsewhere as i have stated before, he needs playing time, and though he played well when given the opportunity, he is the odd man out i think chay (if he plays again) takes a pro contract, wish him the best... would love it if he came back and wore the "c" another season, but my money is on no if simpson comes, he is obviously in the mix, but a 17 year old dman in the wcha is a tough sell, but if he comes, he is playing davidson played very well once they moved him to d, he will be in the mix for playing time hill could still be on the team for depth, unless chay comes back and simpson is here next year i would like to see dell challenge eids for more games and hope they both continue to improve GO SIOUX!! the skate for 8 starts soon (but not soon enough ) edit: i didn't see the other thread, i guess i am behind the curve here... sorry for doubling up

i've actually talked about this with some people in the last year about how wooger has lost all objectivity. he used to be a great announcer, but he has lost that, and being completely serious, i worry it may be more than just goofer homerism like mazsucko. mazsucko has always, well, sucked. he's a complete homer, and thats ok, he is what he is, that was his part of the doug and rug show. wooger usually kept him in line, and obviously brings alot of hockey knowledge with him too, and even though he also is a huge goof homer, which he has the right to be, he brought some integrety to the broadcast. has anyone else noticed the blank stares wooger gets? or how he is at a complete loss for words or thoughts once in a while? and i think it has a direct impact on his downward spiral as a legitimate broadcaster. it's too bad, because college hockey will take all the good it can get, even in goof land. i am not a neurological expert, this is all just my take on the situation... i hope i am wrong and we are not reading about wooger battling dementia or alzheimer's in a couple of years, i really hope it is just his deep hatred of the sioux taking over

probably been posted already, but a short ncaa tourney preview on nhl.com http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=522534 i especially like the final statement in this paragraph... "The regional final should feature BC and the Fighting Sioux meeting for the seventh time in the postseason since 2000. Look for the highest scoring of the four regionals -- and the most intense play. No team in any post-season tournament plays with more snarl than UND." pretty good write up, especially for a non-college hockey site. but they did get one thing wrong as they have bc coming out of our region

i'm going to go out on a pretty sturdy limb here and say genoway will not play the rest of the season. i also think it is in his best interest to, as someone quoted steve miller earlier, take the money and run. if he has offers available, which i am sure he has a few, then he should pick the best situation for him and go, and i would guarantee that hak and the coaching staff have had this very candid talk with him also. don't mistake my reasoning for where my heart lies, i like all sioux fans would love to see chay come back and wear the "c" one more year, but an athlete has a finite number of productive years, and he is already a senior. i think chay is one of the best to put on the sioux sweater, he is a lot like duncan was, unassuming, a dynamo on the ice, and a great leader... but there seems to be alot of optimism he will come back next season. i'll say this, i would consider it an early christmas gift for the sioux if chay comes back, but don't be dissapointed or surprised if he signs a pro contract after the season. whatever happens, chay is one of the greats and wish him the best. and keep pushing your teammates, go sioux, skate for 8 starts saturday!!!

even with the crushing thursday loss, denver was still a good time. but that was denver. i don't mean to offend anyone, but what the hell is there to do in detroit other than hockey? don't get me wrong, that's enough, i would go if i could, but if the sioux get there and happen to lose thurday again, i don't know if i would stick around for the weekend. now of course the sioux will be there and of course they will not lose just throwing hypotheticals out there.

maybe i don't understand how espn360 works, but could one stream it on their computer, then hook the cpu to the tv? i know bww in fargo has done this in the past for webstream (like the b2 webcasts). is there only certain people who can stream the live stuff on their computer? this really sucks i guess schossman better make sure the server for his live game blog is ready!