PCM

Give forecheck some credit, too. She's probably done more of the summaries than I have. She's also faster and more efficient at getting her's online. Aside from her Best Buy obsession and her crush on Jon "Fabio" Durno, she does one heck of a job.

The ghost of Rose Mary Woods strikes again! It's rumored that the same thing happened to the tape of Ed Schultz blasting Dean Blais.

Because I'm pretty sure that it would have violated some NCAA rule.

Rather than actually reading what the rule says, you seem to be buying into one interpretation that I've seen various people state as gospel. That is, that coaches cannot name or say anything about a potential recruit. Clearly, if you read the rule, that is not the case. Blais saying that Crosby might not go the major-junior route does not mean that he is likely to come to UND. In fact, Blais noted that other schools were recruiting him. He said nothing to indicate that UND had any better chance of landing him than any other university in the mix.

I'm not a lawyer or an NCAA bureaucrat, so I don't know if what Blais said violates the NCAA rule. I do know that in the 5+ years I've been a regular listener of the UND coaches show, he has named various players the Sioux are recruiting and has made comments about them. I would think that if the NCAA believed Blais was violating the rule, he would have heard from them by now. Regarding what Blais said about Crosby on Wednesday night, some context is in order. Someone called in to the show, said he'd seen Crosby play recently and wanted to know if the Sioux were recruiting him. Blais said that they were scouting him and mentioned Crosby's unofficial visit during UND's series against Wisconsin. He also mentioned Crosby's comment about the possibility of going the college route rather than to major-juniors. The caller made some comments about Crosby's play based on what he'd seen of him. Blais essentially agreed with the points the caller made. As I read the rule, it is not a violation for Blais to mention Crosby by name or to say that UND is recruiting him. He didn't say anything about specific contributions Crosby would make to the Sioux as a player. He said nothing about the likelihood of Crosby committing to UND. He specifically said that other schools besides UND were pursuing Crosby. He agreed with comments that somebody else made about Crosby's abilities. I'll leave it up to the lawyers and bureaucrats to decide if any of that violates the NCAA rules.

I stated this once before, but it needs to be said again. Some people on other fan sites are using my summaries of broadcast interviews of Dean Blais, other coaches and Sioux players as if they are verbatim quotes. Let me make this perfectly clear: THE SUMMARIES ARE NOT VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTS OF THE INTERVIEWS!!! I type notes of the shows as I'm listening to them and attempt to summarize the main points as I hear them. When I am confident that I have recorded a quote exactly as it was said, I put quote marks around the statement to indicate that it's an exact quote. If there are no quote marks, it means I have paraphrased what I heard and that I'm merely attempting to convey the gist of what was said. I rarely attempt to record exact quotes because it's too easy to misquote someone or take the quote out of context. I know these points will be lost on many people, but I do want to state for the record that nobody should be treating what I write in my program summaries as gospel.

I still think he's the illegitimate son of Spinal Tap bass player Derek Smalls.

Sorry, Nathan, but it's well known around here that this is the only hot, sweaty hockey player forecheck truly cares about.

Regarding a team MVP, I think it's similar to a comment Ryan Hale made when I interviewed him for my USCHO article. He said something to the effect that it's difficult to put the C and the A on three jerseys because so many players have stepped into leadership roles this season. By the same token, I find it difficult to consider any one player the MVP. It is, after all, a team sport.

I agree with you. In fact, I recall that after the Sioux won the championship in 2000, Blais said that being out of contention for the MacNaughton Cup (Wisconsin ran away with it that season) helped the Sioux focus their efforts on getting ready for the playoffs. I guess the perspective changes with your team's ability to contend for the title.

I don't believe so.

Here are some scoring comparisons showing points per game between the Tigers and Sioux based on 18 WCHA games for CC and 16 league games for UND. Colorado College 1st Line: Sertich, Clarke, Sejna 28G, 46A, 74P (4.11 PPG) 2nd Line: Cullen, Stirling, Liebel 21G, 19A, 40P (2.22 PPG) 3rd Line: Slattengren, Polaski, Stuart 10G, 12A, 22P (1.22 PPG) 4th Liners: 4G, 7A, 11P (.611 PPG) Defensive Corps: 18G, 44A, 62P (3.44 PPG) North Dakota 1st Line: Fylling, Parise, Bochenski 20G, 33A, 53P (3.31 PPG) 2nd Line: Notermann, Lundbohm, Massen 20G, 40A, 60P (3.75 PPG) 3rd Line: Spiewak, McMahon, R. Hale 9G, 11A, 20P (1.25 PPG) 4th Liners: 6G, 3A, 9P (.563 PPG) Defensive Corps: 10G, 22A, 32P (2.00 PPG) The differnece between UND's top two lines isn't great, but the difference between CC's top two lines is. The third and fourth lines of both teams are about equal in scoring. However, CC gets a significant amount of scoring out of its defensemen compared to UND. Interestingly, Tom Priessing accounts for more than a third of CC's points (21) in this category while Andy Schneider accounts for more than a third of UND's points (13). That could be a good matchup to watch. And to anyone who thinks that CC has a significant advantage in goal, take a look at these WCHA stats: Curtis McElhinney - 10-1-5 2.32GAA, .910SV% Jake Brandt - 6-1-2 2.23GAA, .908SV%

If I'm correctly interpreting Blais' comments on the coaches show tonight, it sounds like the starting lines will be as follows: 1st: Fylling-Parise-Bochenski 2nd: Notermann-Lundbohm-Massen 3rd: Spiewak-McMahon-R. Hale 4th: Connelly-Genoway-Prpich It's good to know that Fylling has worked his way back on to the top line and that they're playing so well together. Keeping Notermann, Lundbohm and Massen together really gives the Sioux a great one-two scoring punch. The Sioux will really need the fourth line to play well. I like the combinations on both the third and fourth lines. Maybe you can't tell, but I can hardly wait for Friday night.

EDIT: Here's a cleaned up and perhaps more coherent version of the coaches show. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman interviewed Dean Blais from Lola's restaurant in beautiful downtown Grand Forks. Caller: Asked Blais what he thought about all the ties in the league this year. I don

I'm going to hold on to my vote until after the CC series. If the Sioux do well, it will be interesting to see if it's because of Parise, the return of Greene and Jones or a combination of other factors and players. It is interesting to note that since returning from the WJC, Parise has five goals and four assists in four WCHA games. Sure, five of those points are against "cup cake" UAA, but don't forget that the Seawolves held Zach pointless at home. I haven't heard anyone mention lately how he has trouble scoring in the WCHA. I'm also thinking that Bochenski is about due to break loose with another multiple-goal game or two. This would be a good weekend to do it. Don't forget that Brandon shouldered a big load and came through while Zach was at the WJC. The Notermann-Lundbohm-Massen line could play a big role in the CC series and in how the rest of the season turns out. Right now, I think they're playing as well as any line in the conference. Maybe Jake Brandt will start stealing some wins for the Sioux or Mike Prpich will emerge as the next Ryan Bayda. CC averaged about 30 shots on goal per game at The Ralph. If they are held to significantly under that this weekend, it will be a good indicator of how important the D-corps is to the team's success. I think I just talked myself out of voting for an MVP for the rest of the season.

We talked about that subject more than what is covered in the article. Both Ryan and David agreed that it's every player's dream to play in the NHL and that when the opportunity presents itself, the best thing to do is to go for it. Both of them are strongly committed to winning a national championship. A couple times they said if not this year, next year. When I asked if they'd like to play together next season, Ryan said: "I

My sister has been going through it for just over a year. I can't imagine what eight years must've been like.

Thanks, kr. I had always heard good things about Ryan and David, but beyond an occasional post-game interview, I'd never really met them. You're certainly right about having good material to work with.

What kind of deal is this? In return for U2Bad1 being kicked off the POI board, we get Gopher fans coming here to whine about officiating in games that don't even involve the Sioux. I think we need to re-examine that trade.

Might be good news for Mike Mottau. The Rangers have a terrible record for developing young players. Usually after they're traded, they become stars elsewhere.

It's time to push Tommiejo's thread back to the top. This is the series that could determine the WCHA champion and it should be a barn-burner. This time around, CC will be at home on the big ice and have the final line change. The Tigers will have forward Brett Sterling and defenseman Mark Stuart back. The biggest difference for North Dakota will be having Matt Jones and Matt Greene back in the lineup, although Greene will have to play very disciplined to keep the CC power play off the ice. In Grand Forks, the Tigers scored some easy goals off rebounds that might have been cleared had the two Matts playing. Having Parise back will be a definite plus for the Sioux, especially if he continues to play like he did against Minnesota and Alaska. His presence should be a bonus on the power play. Offensively, both teams are very talented and I don't see either team with a definite advantage in scoring. Defensively, I see the Sioux being in stronger in front of their own net and CC having more scoring punch. It might all come down to goaltending, which, for a change, isn't necessarily a bad thing for the Sioux. In conference statistics, it's nearly a dead heat between Jake Brandt and CC's Curtis McElhinney, with each player ranked second or third in almost every category. In the first game against CC at The Ralph, Brandt looked a bit shakey in the early going. But then, he hadn't played for so long, it was tough to fault him. After he settled down, I thought he played well. He continued to play well at Minnesota and UAA. Ranfranz has proven to be a capable backup. This position might be the strongest it's been this season for the Sioux. I'll take the safe route and predict a split.

Seems like it wasn't that long ago when Minnesota fans on USCHO were ripping on me for pointing out that the officials blew a call in the St. Cloud series (Parise checking the goalie when he was outside the protected area). But then, the Sioux swept that "cupcake team" that took three of four points from the Gophers, so I probably have no right to complain.

Virg Foss has a nice article on James Massen in Sunday's Grand Forks Herald.

Having interviewed James a few times after games, I would say that he has the gift of gab. He is always very poised and well spoken.