I attended the Fighting Sioux hockey media day at the Ralph. I spoke with Dave Hakstol, T.J. Oshie, Michael Forney and Chris Porter. I'd hoped to visit with Phil Lamoureux, but by the time he was available, I had to leave. Hakstol also made some comments about UND's lawsuit against the NCAA for my USCHO story. To save time, I'll paraphrase the comments.
Dave Hakstol: The team has been on the ice for practice twice so far and will have three more practices by Sunday's exhibition game against Manitoba. Some are saying that with all the early departures from the WCHA, the league won't be as strong. He thinks it will once again be a very strong league on a national level. It will be more wide open than last season when Wisconsin was a favorite from the start.
He's happy with the schedule. It's a good mix of conference games and nonconference games Quinnipiac has done a good job of recruiting and will be a good test for us. The first month will be crucial with series at Wisconsin and at home against Maine.
We have a new team and new challenges. We have a lot of work to do and there are a lot of things that have to happen. Our character I would rate as ranging from good to great. This team is actually younger than last year's with 18 freshmen and sophomores. Despite that, we have some players with good experience in winning a WCHA league championship, a conference tournament championship and playing in two Frozen Fours. Some people will need to step into roles. Everyone has that opportunity.
As far as whether Toews and Oshie will play on the same line, that's an option that he'll try. Nothing is set in stone right now. They will be looking for production from all four lines. Lamoureux is the goalie with the most experience and he feels good about him being the top goalie. Walski had a good off-season and Grieco is good, too, but we're not sure how much we want to rush him.
Every year is different. Every year presents new and different challenges. I feel good about the people we have in the locker room. We have a lot of question marks. Lost significant scoring punch, but we have people who can step up and fill those holes. That creates a ton of opportunity for guys to step into new roles.
One the blue line, we lost Smaby but we have Robbie Bina back, plus the addition of one young exciting freshman. (That would be Chay Genoway, a player that Hak says the other players are talking about. He thinks that by Christmas, Genoway will be something special to watch.) By the time we get to the stretch run, the defensive corps could be a very solid force for us. There will be a different look to the blue line. We have some great offensive punch and ability, but I think we still have some physical nastiness. We still have the size with a guy like Joe Finley and competitors like Taylor Chorney and Zach Jones and Kyle Radke playing with an edge. We have to get better and come together as a D-corps. I believe they can do that.
In goal, there's the opportunity for Lamoureux to step up and into the leadership role. I believe he can do it. I believe he's been ready for quite some time. There's different challenges. We're starting fresh. As long as we understand that we have to put the work in to get the results at the end of the year and develop as a team, we'll be fine.
Regarding Erik Fabian, he's been cleared to play, but probably won't see a lot of ice time against Manitoba. Robbie Bina has been ready to play since last spring and could have. He's been playing full contact.
Michael Forney - I do feel a little bit of pressure to contribute right away. You always want to be a big contributor to the team. Regarding his injuries, a couple of weeks ago, he started to feel 100 percent again. Not having any problems with his ankle or shoulder. This team has always played well toward the end of the year and he's impressed with the talent and leadership.
T.J. Oshie - I think there's a lot of pressure on the sophomore guys. We're all veterans now. We need to set examples and help lead the team. It's puts more pressure on us because we only have three seniors. The year our freshman class had last year, we're pretty excited to be leaders now and take the younger guys under our wings. With all the power that left, it's going to be important for us to establish a lot of different goal scorers this year, but I think we're ready for the challenge. Ryan Duncan was a good scorer and could be in the top two or three this year. I think Chris Porter will have a good year. Hopefully a couple of the freshmen can step up and put up some big numbers for us.
Chris Porter - We're young and very skilled. I'm looking for everyone to chip in right away. Our defense is going to be sound and we have two returning goaltenders. I don't see too many weak links in the team. We're working real hard in practice. I worked this summer real hard on the offensive side of the game. I'm going to play the same way I have been, the typical power forward. I'll try to chip in more on offense, but my main focus is to help get the team to a national championship. I'm ready to step into a leadership role. I learned a lot from Matt Smaby last year.
