PCM

Porter played on the second line Saturday night with Genoway and Stafford.

I wasn't there, but I heard the atmosphere at the Alerus was pretty dead for the UND-UNO game. From the TV shots, there also appeared to be quite a few empty seats. Considering what was at stake on Saturday, that's disappointing.

Yes, I also thought that was a bad decision at the time.

"Other amenities include 48 luxury sweets..." Are Godiva chocolates considered "luxury sweets?"

Here's what Blais said after the game about why he replaced Brandt with Parise in the third period:

No, they should thank him because he made it a lot easier for UNO to come from behind with his lousy punts. Did you even watch the game?

And UNO should thank the Sioux punter. He sure didn't help UND at all down the stretch.

Actually, I heard Blais say 80 to 100 goals. Murray got a couple of nice assists against Yale Friday night and seemed to be playing with more confidence later in the game. I agree with Tim Hennessy that so far this season, he's been "too mechanical." If he can loosen up a bit and play more instinctively, the whole line will start to click.

My USCHO recap on Friday's Yale-UND game is posted. I'm not sure it's been mentioned, but David Lundbohm was injured in Friday's game. I believe he was hurt in the second period. Blais said they wrapped his thigh and he tried to play, but couldn't go. I'm guessing that we won't see him tonight. Genoway has been playing well. I'm thinking that he'll probably center the second or third line while Canady will center the fourth line. I think Fylling's first goal was actually scored by McMahon. The replay from overhead showed that Fylling's shot didn't get past Gartner. The puck crossed the line only after McMahon came by and whacked at it. I was surprised that McMahon didn't get credit for the goal. Bochenski had a goal off a skate deflection. This time, it didn't count, which didn't surprise me.

And East North Forks is right across the Red River of the West in South Canada.

Here's an article from the New Haven Register about the series between UND and Yale.

To me, it looks like an ad for either a commemorative coin or a new chip for the Imperial Palace. Remember, it is getting close to the first anniversary of Ralph Engelstad's death.

During one of its game breaks, ESPN showed Greg Johnson scoring a goal for Nashville and noted that he scored 74 goals while at North Dakota.

True, but you'll notice that Blais also puts some of the responsibility for the transition game on the forwards. They have to work to get open and some of them aren't. They have to handle the outlet passes and some of them don't. They have to quickly make good decisions with the puck and that's not happening enough. Blais mentioned that part of the problem was the young forwards. I'm sure that they'll get better. I also think that between some of the nagging injuries, new line combinations, new defensive pairings, lack of practice time and the disjointed start to the season, the team hasn't jelled as quickly as it normally would. As Andy Schneider said, they haven't really gotten into a rhythm yet. This series against Yale should give us a better idea of how things are coming together. With the exception of the third period in the first game against Boston College, I don't think that we've seen just how good this team can be.

That doesn't give us much to do around here.

It'll be interesting to see who is on the power play against Yale and whether the practice this week has improved it. Because Blais said everyone will play this weekend, we'll probably continue to see a lot of shuffling of personnel on special teams. I do agree with Blais that one of the problems is not getting shots off quickly enough. The other big problem was simply moving the puck up the ice and into the opposing zone. I'll bet BC had more shots on goal during UND's power plays than the Sioux did.

Blais didn't say anything specifically about which players would used on the power play. I thought Schnedier and Lundbohm were playing the points on the first team unit with Murray, Parise and Bochenski at the forwards. I know that Blais has been trying many different combinations, so I could be wrong. In fact, if I remember correctly, Schneider took and won a faceoff during a power play against BC after one of the Sioux forwards got chased out of the circle.

You could be right. Sometimes I get behind while typing my notes and I don't hear everything exactly as it was said.

I didn't cover it. All I did was take notes. Thank Tim, Swyg, Blais and the callers for covering what was on your mind.

They really look great in my den. JUST KIDDING!

As I recall, there was also a lot of UNO post-game celebrating on the field after that game in 1996. It went on far longer than it should have with the Mavs acting as if they'd just won the Super Bowl. I believe that's part of the ill will, too.

After watching the Sioux practice, Tim Hennessy seemed to think that Zach was 100 percent again. Matt Jones is still ailing from his high ankle sprain, however.

Live from Lola's Northern Italian Restaurant in beautiful downtown Grand Forks. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman are the hosts with UND hockey coach Dean Blais. The show opened with talk about national ratings. Blais joked about how UND moved up in the polls by not playing last weekend. He said UNH would have kept its top rating if they hadn't had 8 players suspended. He said they are working to schedule UNH for next season. Next season, the Sioux to go to Canisius and then leave from Buffalo, NY, to play UAA. Blais mentioned the 'Where the hell is Canisius?" T-shirt that Ralph Engelstad gave him before he died. Blais said he didn't think it was fair for Minnesota to drop so far in the polls after being swept by Duluth. The Bulldogs have a good team with a lot of players back from last year. TH brought up the subject of Gopher fans saying that it doesn

Just a quick note before I post the coaches show recap. Blais said tonigh that Zach Parise and Matt Smaby will play against Yale.

Or "Which Alaskan owes you the most money?"