PCM

RED SEAL PEACH Getting to know the real Drew Stafford

It was a pretty strange call. I expected to hear something about that, too.

Yeah! Speak for yourself!

From the Green Mill, it's the Fighting Sioux Coaches' Show with UND hockey coach Dave Hakstol and host Tim Hennessy. TH: There aren

Too true. I was also expecting to see Fabian and Kaip chip in a little more, too. Yes, there is still time. And I hope that as with the past two seasons, the Sioux have hit bottom and will begin to rebound. If Wisconsin can rebound from a six-game losing streak, there's no reason UND can't turn things around. This coming weekend would be a good time to get it started.

Well, let's see. Last season, freshman made up half the defense and often half the forwards. So I unreasonably assumed that when you said the team underachieved, it included the freshman class because they composed the most significant portion of the team. I apologize for my faulty logic in thinking that when you said... ...you were excluding the freshman class. Of course I should have assumed that you meant everyone except the freshmen. Any second grader would have picked up on that logic. And I wish you wouldn't deliberately misrespesent what you wrote by including the word "maybe" because anyone who can read will see that you never said "maybe."

I'm pretty sure they were on the team that you said underachieved.

Plus, he didn't know how big the puck was...or something like that.

How quickly he forgets.

Don't forget Bryan Lundbohm. Two goals as a freshman, 22 as a sophomore and 32 as a junior.

The 03-04 Sioux team with Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski that lost in the NCAA West Regional averaged 4.44 goals per game. The 04-05 Sioux team that made it all the way to the championship game averaged 3.02 goals per game. The 98-99 Sioux averaged almost 5 goals per game, but didn't make it out of the NCAA regionals. The 99-00 Sioux averaged a half goal per game less, but won the national championship in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The idea that you have to replace all your scoring from one season to the next doesn't always follow. Of course, ideally, you'd like to, but history shows that it isn't an absolute necessity. Last season's Sioux team, with its amazing (yet underachieving, according to buckyseive) freshman class, averaged 3.57 goals per game. So far, this season's Sioux team averages 3.19 goals per game. This season's team is actually scoring at a better rate than the 04-05 team that went to the Frozen Four and isn't terribly far behind last year's team that also went to the Frozen Four. Both Sioux teams the past two years have had problems offensively until later in the season. It's possible that by the end of the season, this team will be averaging just as many goals per game as last year's team. They're not that far apart. The biggest problem right now isn't that the freshman aren't scoring more, it's that the two offensive leaders -- Oshie and Toews -- aren't scoring as much as expected. Get these two players healthy and back on track and I'll bet you that this year's team will average just as many goals per game as last year's -- if not more. Here's another thing to keep in mind: Of UND's 16 games to date, four have been against Brian Elliott, two have been against Bobby Goepfert and two have been against Ben Bishop. In other words, half of UND's games have been against three of the best goalies in college hockey. And it didn't help that Nathan Lawson -- another pretty good goalie -- stood on his head when the Sioux played at UAA. The biggest problem right now isn't offense, it's defense. We're giving up 3.19 goals per game, which is the highest since the 01-02 season (3.68 GPG). But, again, the current goals against average isn't as bad as it might seem. The 96-97 national champion Sioux team gave up an average of 3.02 goals per game, but it also averaged 4.42 goals per game. Bring the goals-for average up a half a goal and get the goals-against average down half a goal and it will work wonders for UND's won-loss record. Personally, I think those are achievable objectives. Given that the teams under Hakstol tend to play much better in the second half of the season than the first half, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

If you liked that one, you'll really get a charge out of this Jensen screed.

Finally. You get it.

Put it this way: That is not an option. UND has to play and win with what it has. Most programs would give anything to have two No. 1 NHL drafts at forward and two No. 1 NHL drafts on defense. But apparently I'm supposed to believe that the only way the Sioux could expect to be successful this season was if they brought in freshmen who were clones of Smaby, Zajac, Stafford, Spirko and Parise. Was that a lot of talent to lose? Yes it was. Is it reasonable to expect that such players can be replaced during the course of one season with "impact" freshmen? No it's not. It's perposterous to think that way because it so seldom happens. Don't tell me that because the Gophers' freshmen have been successful this season that it proves anything. Right now, they are the exception to the rule. And if they fizzle out in the playoffs like Minnesota's highly regarded recruiting class of last season (it was No. 1 in the nation, right?), what they accomplished in the first half of the season won't mean much, will it? I realize that this is the conventional wisdom around here, but there are many real-life examples to prove it wrong. So the season has ended. Thanks for clearing that up. The problem here is that everything is relative. For example, one of our favorite Gopher posters claimed that UND's class of 2001 was a bust. But who defines that? How do you define it? That was the class that helped win a WCHA championship in 03-04 and might well have won a national title that season if not for Adam Berkhoel's stonewall performance at the NCAA West Regional. By almost any standard, it was one of the best teams UND ever put on the ice. The next season, those seniors were the heart and soul of a team that scratched and clawed its way into the playoffs and played in the national championship game, despite some very trying circumstances. Is it fair to label that class a bust or a group of underachievers because they never won a national title? I don't think so. Now, hypothetically speaking, what if Michael Forney gets 100 percent healthy over the Christmas break and begins contributing offensively as expected? What if Chris VandeVelde continues to improve and starts chipping in goals here and there? What if Chay Genoway continues to improve and becomes this season's Ryan Duncan? What if Darcy Zajac ends up scoring around the same number of goals this season that his brother did last season? What if the Sioux make it to the Frozen Four for the third straight year because Anthony Grieco does an imitation of Aaron Schweitzer in 1997? What if Forney scores the game-winning goal in overtime in the national championship game, giving UND its eighth NCAA title? If that happens, will you and buckseive be back here telling us that this year's freshman class was one of the worst in recent years? I'm not claiming that my hypothetical scenario will happen. I simply don't know. Now, pay attention, because here's my main point: YOU DON'T EITHER! There's a lot of hockey left to be played. Young players with potential still have time to play up to their potential. Joe Finley can still become a physical force. Brian Lee can begin playing the way we all know he's capable of playing. Getting T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Towes back to 100 percent might be all it takes to get the team back on track. There's also time for hot goalies to cool off and hot teams to burn out. So don't tell me with more than half a season to play that you know anything for certain because you don't.

You don't expect us to wash jocks with our bare hands, do you? Then again, with enough cold Grain Belt, maybe it won't matter.

You would.

Is the season over?

As long the pay is good and the job includes an unlimited supply of Grain Belt and latex gloves, I'm down with it.

I'm there! But will I have to travel aboot speaking with a Canadian accent?

Ah, the best of both worlds!

Well, that explains why my neighbor is living in the lap of luxury! I need to change professions. Contrary to popular belief, there's just not that much money in sudo-reporting these days.

I didn't know you owned the Sabres. I'll have to invite you over for Grain Belt, sardines and crackers more often.

Classic! I wonder if the coach made Greene go straight to the locker room for that penalty.

There's some interesting information in this column by Bill Lair, managing editor of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courrier in Mattoon and Charleston, Ill. (Scroll past the part about the Iranian Holocaust denial conference.)

I understand that. But Spirko's loss was unexpected. The others weren't.