DAR

...... well said

I certainly hope Radke shows a great deal of improvement this year. The times he was on the ice last year in games I saw either in person or on tv a lot of the time quite frankly he looked lost out there. He seemed to struggle adjusting to the defense first philosophy of the Sioux coaching staff. I am sure with his junior team he could take a lot more chances and free wheel a lot more because the competition was not as good. Hopefully he spent a lot of time in the weight room this offseason as well as I think he needs to get stronger. We shall see what type of impact he can make this season as we will definitely need him to play a much bigger role than he did last year.

I am sure Stafford and Smaby and maybe Zajac will be gone after next year for sure so if you subtract those guys 06-07 does not look so great either. But first things first and that is 05-06. That is the problem in today's environment, just when you think you are set up to have a great team.....the early departures begin and all of a sudden things are not looking as rosy.

It was pretty clear that this was inevitable but since it happened so close to the start of school one did hold out a faint hope that he would be back for his senior year. I am sure the coaches have known that he would be gone for some time now. I am sure he was using the returning to school card to benefit his negotiating position which is a smart thing to do and something that you cannot do after your senior year. It really hurts the team with him leaving much more so than Murray. There are going to be a lot of growing pains on the blue line but hopefully they can play well enough in the first half to stay in the hunt and then come together for a second half run. Having five freshman on defense and yes I am counting Radke as a freshman is not something you hardly ever see in the WCHA.

Did you ask Irmen if he has recovered from the numerous times he got drilled to the ice in the frozen four game??

Who needs mr. media Kessel, we have plenty of great forwards coming in including Mr. Toews who will likely stay more than the one year that Kessel will be at the U.

I mostly agree with that but I doubt Bochenski was registered for classes. I would say in my opinion there is a 1 in 10 chance that he is on the ice for the Sioux this season. Plus after his senior season he will have nowhere else to play so his bargaining position will not be as good. That being said I hope for once a player that everyone thought was gone comes back for another run at the title. Without that experience back there on d it is going to be very difficult to get #8 this year. One experienced player can make a lot of difference in covering up the youth on d. I am not as concerned with the youth at forward as they seem to have an easier transition but if Greene leaves the youth in the defenseman pairings is scary!!

Ha...Ha.....That is VERY wishful thinking on your part.

I can see that comparison but I think Toews is quite a bit more talented and has more potential than Stafford who is not going to ever be a huge scorer but plays a solid all-around game. Time will tell but I am quite confident he will easily surpass Stafford's frehman point total.

Any updates you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Can't wait to see the new recruits in action at the Ralph.

That is a good name for Kessel "Mr. Media". Hopefully he does not live up to all the hype. Either way I think he will be gone after one season anyway so as long as the Goofies don't win the national championship, who cares. I think Toews being named captain of that squad is a great honor. There have to be some very good hockey prospects on that team. I cannot wait to see him in a Sioux uniform. The big question is who will he play on a line with. I would have loved to see him and Murray on the same line. Oh well, I think there is enough talent to provide him with some good linemates.

I don't want to raise my expectations too high for this kid but I have a feeling he is going to be a really good college player. Plus since he is so young we may actually have him in a Sioux uniform for a couple of years.

I have a feeling Finley is going to get called for a lot of penalties. He is going to get a lot of attention from the refs because of his size. That is one thing that I feel Smaby does well. He can play a physical game but does not get the needless penalties nearly as much as Greene did.

Ha Ha a natural hat trick by Lee Marvin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hell will freeze over before that happens. I don't think he will see much ice time this year.

I don't see Prpich and Fabian as having enough skill to mesh well with Oshie. Oshie is a skill guy and those two guys are grinders with not a lot of natural skill. They do their damage through hard work. I think Kaip or Watkins needs to be on that line. Although Watkins is not a center so I would put him on the 4th line. I am waiting to see how well Duncan does, not many people are talking about him but I think he could surprise some people regardless of his small stature. He had some very good numbers at Salmon Arm.

Plus Pronger is injury prone. I am surprised by this trade as well. A good trade for the Blues. Well the inevitable will soon happen. My guess is he will be signed by the 20th of August. He would have made a HUGE difference on the blue line experience wise. It would have helped cover some of the youth. Hopefully Finley does not copy Greene's problem of getting the dumb needless penalties. Although with his size I think that is a lot to hope for.

I think the new CBA is going to be bad for college hockey. I think we will see players starting their pro careers earlier than in the past. The rookie wage scale is much more favorable to the owners now and it is not as expensive to bring in their prospects and get a head start on their pro careers. It is part of the game that I hate as a fan especially since I am a big college hockey fan and don't care much for the NHL. If a school gets a top kid they are lucky if they get two years out of him. Unfortunately with the new CBA, I think a lot more players will leave after one year of college. It really stinks as a fan when promises of a dynamite team are diminished with expected (Greene) and unexpected (Murray) departures. Who knows Smaby may sign as well, I know the Tampa brass do not think the college game is good for his development. I am sure they are old school Canadian hockey guys. If you read the quotes in the GF Herald from the Ottawa GM (muckler) regarding Lee it sounds as if they want him in the system ASAP. If he plays here two seasons, I would be surprised.

"Erik Fabian is having a night"!! Gary Thorne after Fabian's second goal. That was awesome lifted Stevens stick and shot it. This has been a long offseason, I need some Fighting Sioux hockey.

I have no doubt that the coaches have been told by Greene that he intends to sign. We are going to have an incredibly inexperienced defense corps next year. There are going to be a lot of growing pains as these guys will need to produce immediately. I think it will play out much like Bochenski's signing where he is officially signed at the end of August after teams have finalized their rosters at the NHL level. Now next we need Dozak to sign for 06 and we will have twin towers back there.

That is of course his pay only if he plays for Ottawa. If he plays in the AHL it probably would be about 60 grand. There is some motivation to make the big club, that is why the competition for the jobs is so fierce.