PCM

The coaches show was held live from Lola's in beautiful downtown Grand Forks. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman interviewed Dean Blais, along with assorted callers. TH said he talked to Matt Greene and Matt Jones and they said they had a good time at the WJCs. They

Greyeagle: What does it say in that photo? Ride On Ick?

Today's Grand Forks Herald has an article with a response to the B&N controversy from Tim O'Keefe and Earl Strinden. (Herald readers probably noticed that the Sioux name defenders got page 2 for their response while the attackers got the front page.) It mentions that among the items the UND bookstore will no longer carry are golf balls with the Sioux logo. Just as I thought. Give them an inch and they'll take your balls.

SHHHHH!!!

I look at these lines compared to the ones I suggested and I can see why Blais gets the big bucks. Not only do you create two great scoring lines and a solid checking line, but every one of the top three lines contains an experienced veteran who's a good defensive player. And the fourth line ain't bad, either. As dagies said, it spreads out the scoring a bit, as well as the good defensive forwards. This should make it rather diffiuclt for the Gophers to take advantage of the last line change.

As long as it doesn't go any farther than shot glasses, beer mugs and butt-monogramed sweat pants, I don't see it as a problem. It's the first foot in the door that concerns me most.

That's almost exactly what I got, except I gave CC two more points.

Wow! This is really cool. Thanks, Jim! I'm bookmarking it for handy reference.

Not having shot glasses with the Sioux logo doesn't bother me, although this statement by Alva Irwin of BRIDGES does: If Irwin can't look at a shot glass with a Sioux logo on it without thinking about "the alcoholic Indian" stereotype, it makes you wonder who the real racist is.

I've been told that this is the best person to contact about B&N's decision at UND because he's more directly involved with the college bookstores. Stan Frank Director of Marketing Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, Inc. 33 East 17 Street New York, NY 10003 sfrank@bncollege.com I would encourage everyone to let B&N that you'll be voting with your feet and dollars. That's the best way to get the attention of a business -- assuming the business is interested in turning a profit.

Jason is the man. I interviewed him a couple of times last season after games and you could just tell by looking at him that he was extremely displeased with the team's performance. I was glad that I didn't have to answer to him. With or without the C, you just know that he's one of the main reasons for the team's turnaround this season. And it's much more fun to interview him after a win.

That's great because the Sioux almost always do better than Woog predicts.

Although the photo below isn't very good, it clearly shows Notermann wearing the C during the series with CC. Why this is so, I have no idea. Perhaps his father can fill us in.

Woog mentioned a penalty being called late in the game that he didn't think was a penalty. I see that SCSU's goal was scored on the power play at 18:50 of the third period, so I assume that's what he was referring to, not the offsides. While talking about Shepherd taking measures to correct officiating problems, Woog mentioned something about an AR being suspended. However, he didn't make it clear as to whether he was referring to it happening as a result of the SCSU game or whether it was something that happened some time ago.

I listened to Goldberg's interview with Woog. Woog said a bad call near the end of the game cost the Gophers two points. kr, when Woog was talking about Shepherd, did you hear him say something about an AR being suspended? Right after he said it, he seemed to pull back and said something like "I don't think that's confidential." I wasn't sure if he was referring to a suspension because of what happened in St. Cloud this past weekend or the incident in which AR Jay Kleven was suspended a couple years ago for the Gopher-Sioux series in Grand Forks. I'd think that Woog would know that the Kleven suspension never was confidential. His comment made me wonder what he was talking about.

Our glorious administrator has fixed the problem with the thumbnail photos not showing up properly. All hail The Administrator!

Here's a link for photos from Friday and Saturday's games against Colorado College. http://siouxsports.com/hockey/showgallery.php?id=8 For some reason, the small thumbnail photos were goofed up. If you click on a small photo, you can see the full-sized version, which displays properly. I didn't get many good action shots, but I did get quite of few of various CC and UND players.

Frank wears a hair piece? Why, it looks so natural I never would have guessed.

Well, since you asked, Scott... Having Parise, Jones and Greene back will certainly help. In regulation against CC, the Sioux really missed Jones and Greene. In overtime, they really missed Parise. Regardless of how good the two missing CC players are, I think the Sioux would have won at least one of the two games against the Tigers with their full roster. Of course, there's also the question of whether the three returning players will be worn out from the WJCs. Blais said on the coaches show several weeks ago that he didn't think it would be a big factor this time because the tournament was in Canada. The players don't have to adjust to jet lag, different cultures or different food. He thought the experience would make them better players down the stretch. It should be interesting to see what Blais does with the line combinations when Parise returns. Here's my guess: Notermann-Parise-Bochenski: Notermann had a great series against CC. Bochenski and Parise play well together. Notermann gives the line senior experience and leadership. Prpich-Lunbohm-Massen: Massen seems to be more effective playing with Lundbohm, so I assume they'll be back on the same line again. With his grinding style of play, Prpich is starting to remind me of Ryan Bayda. The Sioux now have two legitimate scoring lines. Spiewak-McMahon-Hale: They played well against CC's Sejna line, so why break them up? With Spiewak's speed, this line is also a threat to score. Genoway will probably center the fourth line with any number of possible combinations on the wings. Fylling will probably be on one wing with Canady, Connelly and Palmiscno competing for the other wing. The big question is: Have the Sioux finally found a consistent goalie in Marc Ranfranz? If he starts against Minnesota, he'll be totally pumped. He's been waiting a couple years for that opportunity because he has relatives in the Rochester area. A split is probably a realistic. However, if the Sioux get good goaltending, taking three of four points or four of four isn't out of the question. Why? Because last season at Minnesota when Siembida was played well, the Sioux beat the Gophers once and led them late in the third period of the second game. When Kollar played well in the playoffs, the Sioux took the eventual national champs into overtime. The Sioux are clearly better than they were last year. The Gophers aren't as good. Expect the unexpected.

Notermann's goal was a thing of beauty. Lundbohm hit him in stride with a pass just outside the CC zone. Coming down the right side, Jason turned on the jets and cut inside the defenseman and toward the goal. He dragged the puck across the top of the crease, waited for the goalie to go down and then put his shot over him. Wow! As far as I know, Palmiscno never played defense, although he was listed on the line chart as a defenseman. I think it was just a way for Blais to get an extra forward on the bench. The one time I really noticed Palmiscno was on Noah Clarke's goal. Tyler just stood there as the puck sailed over his head, totally oblivious to the fact that it was going right to Clarke, who shot it in. I didn't see him on the ice much after that. The crowd was fantastic -- probably the loudest I've ever heard it. Notermann's goal really got everyone pumped.

I hate to see anyone kicked off a board simply for being an idiot. However, if a poster repeatedly ignores warnings about potentially libelous or slanderous posts, the administrator has a duty and the right to kick the person off. I don't know how many such transgressions SDSUFAN committed or how many warnings he received. Those who've been hanging out on the US College Hockey Online forums for the past few years and were familiar with Shane Kvalevog's now-defunct Sioux hockey Web site know how frustrating it becomes when someone decides that his sole purpose for frequenting a site it to be as disruptive and obnoxious as possible. Whether SDSUFAN crossed that line, I can't say because I haven't read everything he's posted or tried to post here. In this case, I'm willing to trust the administrator's judgement.

Scott Swygman, who was broadcasting the game from USD, said on the radio this morning that the Coyotes only had .4 of a second left when they took the winning shot. When the USD player caught the inbounds pass, he had his back to the basket, which meant he had to catch the pass, turn and shoot. Scott also thought the Coyote player traveled in the process.

Sob. I'll try to live with it.

It's over. US wins 4-3 and moves on to face Canada.

Czechs pull their goalie with less that a minute left. Tallackson blows a chance to score an empty net goal.