DAR

I highly doubt even if Smaby did sign after the frozen four that he would step right into the Lightning line-up with them fighting for a playoff spot. Smaby is a good college defensman but to expect him to step right in and play at the NHL level in a playoff run is a stretch. I am sure the Tampa brass would send him to the AHL.

SEAAAASSSSON'S OVER......SEAAAAASSSSSSON'S OVER...........SEAAAAASSSSON'S OVER................SEAAAAAASSSSSON'S OVER We were at Dagwoods on Fri. night after the game and a couple of guys walked in in their Goofer jerseys and a good part of the bar statrted chanting that. It was pretty funny, they took it well. One of the guys was like just give me a beer.

Yeah rumor has it that kid from Warroad high school wants to wear number 7 for the Sioux. I doubt he will be able to have much of an impact coming straight from high school. He should play a year of juniors first. Come on coaches what are you thinking??

So much for the jersey pull Let's hope the Sioux can finish the job and get the last laugh on both of these guys. Regardless of what happens both of these guys had terrible endings to their college careers. I don't mind Potulny as much but I couldn't stand Irmen.

Kind of ironic that his Gopher career ended at the Ralph with 11,000 of his hometown fans cheering the Gophers defeat and taunting them as they left the ice. I saw a few people with Sioux jerseys by the Gopher tunnel doing the Irmen "jersey pull". I though that was hilarious. The Gopher players wouldn't even look at the crowd, they all had their heads down!!

Yeah right........I vote we keep the speculation on hold until after the season and focus on the frozen four. No need to stir the RUMOR mill. He said this she said that. That is the reason heresay does not stand in court.

THAT IS A CLASSIC PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE FOR THE AGES!!

I will be there. I have my tickets, bought them from a Gopher fan for all three games. I am going to the Brewers game on Fri night. I have not been to Miller Park yet and want to check it out. I do not have a hotel room yet but will probably line one up in the next day. Man I sure hope it is a storybook weeked with the Sioux skating around the trophy. It was just awesome last weekend at the Ralph. The crowd deserves an A+. I will especially remember shortly before the Sioux were ready to skate out for warm ups after the Goofs lost when what seemed like the entire crowd began chanting Let's Go Sioux...Let's Go Sioux...Let's Go Sioux in unison and I remember a quote from Stafford somewhere where he said the players could hear that ringing in the tunnel/lockerroom and sent chills through the players.

I certainly was one that thought he could have used a year in the USHL. BOY WAS I WRONG!! I don't think anyone could have predicted that Oshie would have a similar impact that Z. Parise did in his freshman year. I thought that this team would feel the loss of Brady Murray but that has not turned out to be the case.

Sorry, I missed that. Well, with all the freshman on this years team improvement from the start of the season certainly is very relevant.

He is another player that has really improved as the year has gone on. With that reach with his stick it is hard for forwards to get around him. I would still like him to play more physical but that will come in time and I have seen more physical play from him as the year has progressed. Like so many players on this roster he is only going to get better and better. I think it is becoming more and more clear that this is probably one of the best if not the best recruiting call the Sioux have ever had in their history and a National Championship would put a big rubber stamp on what has been a very enjoyable season. NFL...NBA...MLB...NHL.....no thanks, give me Sioux hockey. Can't wait to get to Milwaukee, got my tickets yesterday. Bought them from a Gopher fan here in Mpls. Gotta love it!!!!

I would have to say Ryan Duncan. I really think he has picked up his game from the start off the year. It shows with him earning a spot on the 2nd line. He is not as heralded as some of the other frosh but I really think he has had a good freshman season. A lot better than I expected. I also think Matt Smaby is improved from last year. He has been rock solid this year after battling some inconsistency last year. He really picked it up in the post season last year and has not looked back. Obviously with the way the team has come together this year he was a great choice for captain.

Marto is a plus 5 this year. He certainly does not have numbers that stand out when you look at his stats for a guy who is supposed to be an offensive d-man. I am not sure what you mean when you say he has the best +/- in recent years unless you mean in high school at Central which would mean nothing at this point. I do not know whether he will turn out to be a good player or not all I know is he has not done that great this year in Omaha and is pretty lean to play defense in the WCHA next year unless he has added some serious muscle to his frame.

He is not a star on the national scene meaning he is not dominating college hockey the way you would expect for a player that may leave after only his sophmore year. He is however a very valuable player for the Sioux and does a lot of the little things that maybe the average fan would not notice but scouts would. For the sake of the Sioux hockey team which is the only team I care about we really need him back next year. I could care less about the Devils.

Just a hunch but if this is true and Lapoint has committed I would bet he comes next year instead of Marto. I don't think the coaches are too pleased with Marto's development. Who knows though maybe they both come next year or maybe Marto comes and Lapoint plays a year in the USHL. I guess time will tell.

Funny how one little tidbit of information gets a thread spreading like wildfire. That is the nature of fans and message boards though. To engage in SPECULATION. The staff has replacement for Smaby (if the rumors are true Lapoint) and Stafford (Forney). There is no replacement that can rival Zajac. That would be a huge loss if he were to leave. All of a sudden Toews becomes our top line center with not much depth behind him. Maybe we can all send an e-mail to Lamoriello and tell him to leave our players alone.

I take Chuck at his word, besides he wants to be a first rounder so what better school to go to than North Dakota for an aspiring NHL defenseman.

Yeah I really think there is going to be a buzz around the rink this weekend. Hopefully it will be the loudest most enthusiastic crowds in the history of the Ralph. I will be heading up tomorrow morning from Mpls. A storybook ending to the weekend would be a " Nah..Nah..Naaah..Naaaaaah.............Nah..Nah..Naaah.Naaaah..........hey hey hey.............goodbye... chant ringing from the rafters as the closing seconds count down to a convincing Sioux victory as the Goofers skate off the ice with their tails between their legs. That would make my summer!!!

Unlike teams of years past, with players leaving early and the high level of NHL talent on the Sioux teams in the past few years it is becoming a one year window to win a title. If I was a coach all this speculation in the early departure process and trying to find "what if" replacements would be enough to drive a coach nuts. It definitely makes the recruiting process a lot more complex.

Smaby will no doubt leave, Stafford I would put at a high probability. This is bad news regarding Zajac. Usually these types of reports unfortunately often have a lot of merit to them. Anyway back to the matter at hand, this will sort itself out after the season.

This new CBA is going to just be horrible for college hockey. It was bad enough before but I think we are going to see guys leave even earlier than in the past. Zajac is a good player, not a superstar at the college level. In the past only the very top notch players have left after two years (ex: Vanek and Parise). Those players were dominant at the college level when they left. Zajac is far from being a dominant college player, he is a good college player at this point. Look how Zach has really struggled at the NHL level. He has the second worst +/- on the Devils and he is a player who was considered a great two way player in college. Hopefully this is just a bunch of crap.

I don't see Brady ever making the NHL. He should have stayed with the Sioux. That would have given him the best shot. Oshie has been filling Murray's shoes and then some.

Yeah that is an impressive stat. He and Zajac are a dangerous combo shorthanded. I hope Zajac can pick up his game now that it is playoff time. I think he has had a decent season and he has a lot of assists but his goals are down quite a bit. If he and Spirko can pick it up in the scoring column it will make the Sioux that much better. I think the other 4 guys on the top two lines (Stafford, Duncan, Oshie and Toews) are playing about as well as can be expected. There is room for improvement for Zajac and Spirko in the scoring department. I realize they may be playing well in other parts of the game but you need to score goals to win the game and both these players have the talent level to pick it up a notch or two.

I did not overlook either of those guys. I do not believe Forney will have the impact that Toews and Oshie have had. I think he will be slower to develop and will have a year somewhat like Blake Wheeler has had for the Goofs. VandeVelde has not exactly been tearing it up at Lincoln this year, so it is hard to project that he is going to have a major impact next year without some time to develop.

Stafford and Smaby will be gone. I know as fans we can always hope because if you add those two along with pretty much everyone else back we would have the potential to be a powerhouse next year. One slight problem however. Unfortunately, I highly doubt either player will be in a Sioux uniform and that will leave two huge holes for next year that will not be able to be filled with the recruits we have coming in. I do not see a real blue chipper in next year's class like an Oshie or Toews. I think the guys we have coming in next year will be slower to develop.