DAR

congrats on the sweep this weekend UMDDogz. I will be at the DECC in two weeks with my Sioux jersey on, I hope I do not get beer poured on me. Do they serve beer at the DECC?

I will say that adversity can bring out the best in a team. That being said I thought that after the debacle in Madison, that would have provided enough incentive to get 4 pts. out of this weekend. That is why tonight's loss is so disappointing. I am a big Dean Blais fan but I still feel that calling out Brandt in the media last weekend was the wrong thing to do. ESPECIALLY since he did not even give him a chance to redeem himself this weekend. IMO the unsettled goaltending situation is the biggest concern for this team and without a solid goaltender there will be zero shot at a NC.

Good post JK. I have not been to a game at the Ralph this year as I live in Mpls. I usually make it up for a couple of series per year but have not been able to get up there this year. Therefore, I cannot comment firsthand on the crowd situation. I can however comment on the good ole days at the old ralph where there was a real college atmosphere and seats were not sold to the highest bidder as I was a college student at that time in the mid 90-s. I think the new arena is great but there are alot of parts about the old Ralph that money cannot buy (ie Atmosphere). The team is at a crossroads, doubt has to be starting to creep into their minds especially after what happened last year. That being said Duluth has a tough schedule and I believe they go to Colorado Springs next weekend. I am sure hoping for a Sioux sweep of Mankato and a CC dogz split. That would be a dead tie going into the big weekend at the DECC. I will be making my first trip to the DECC for that series and sure hope the Sioux can enter that series on a more positive note. Let's Go Sioux, Let's Go Sioux!!

To me this was the most disappointing loss of the season. To lose at home 4-1 to a bottom half team in the WCHA is not good. At this point I cannot be too optimistic about gaining more than a split next weekend at Mankato. Remember last year we got swept there, granted Mankato is not the same team this year but I am losing confidence in this Sioux team. If we don't pick things up the Sioux will be lucky to get a point at the DECC. I watched both games between UMD and MN and Duluth looked great. They have a main ingredient that the Sioux lack and that is consistent goaltending. Blais must have a personal vendetta against Brandt, I cannot believe he did not start tonight. I do not understand the favoritism toward JPAr. You cannot blame one guy for a loss but from the sound of it he did not have a stellar game tonight. Considering the Sioux are 2-4-1 in their last 7 since the Sat. night loss at MN you can make the argument that a second half flop is upon us. I usually do not like to take the negative view but this is the time of year when teams are getting primed for the playoffs not trying to answer questions regarding who your top goaltender is and trying to account for defensive breakdowns. IMO besides Jones and Greene the rest of the D need a lot of work. That being said I am a Sioux fan until the end and will not give up on the team until elimination, it is very frustrating to lay an egg like this against a team that we should beat especially at home.

It will be nice to get Kyle Radke here next year. I do not feel our current corps of D move the puck that well. They are more into playing the physical game and standing up the opposition at the blue line. Jones and Fuher move the puck the best of the d-men. Schneider has taken a step back this year IMO. Smaby has enough problems defensively without worrying about any offense. He has potential but he is pretty raw.

I think the Sioux will come out with some good jump tonight, the key will be to sustain it throughout the weekend. Something they obviously did not do in Madison. It will be a good boost to be at home this weekend, hopefully the crowd is into it. The key for me to this year's team the rest of the way is balanced scoring and goaltending. The goalies have got to be solid, you cannot let in soft goals at this time of the year. There has got to be more production from lines 2-4. At times it has been there, but it is still fairly inconsistent. The money line will not carry us to Boston, we need more balanced scoring. I would like to see Stafford get a couple this weekend, he seems to be in a big slump since the World Jr's.

Please stop abusing the message board. This is a hockey board not a looks contest. Who gives a sh*t who the better looking player is and since the vast majority on this board are men that poll does not apply here, my apologies to the group of fine female postes we have on here.

I am sure Matt Greene got in some fights while playing with Green Bay in the USHL. I don't know that Smaby has ever been in a real hockey fight unless it was at Shattuck, which I doubt. This one goes to Greene, without a doubt.

That is pretty obvious, Lundbohm. The other two are pretty much non-factors, Palmo more so than Hale. IMO Hale has had a disappointing season. I realize he is not a goal scorer but I just don't see him do much out there besides the occasional good check.

Does anyone hold out any hope that Massen can come around this year. I usually do not like to single people out but he has the talent to do it and it is just not happening. What a boost he could be to the team down the stretch if he could start scoring and play the way he is capable of. After looking at his stats from last year and to fall to 1 goal on the season is hard to believe. Maybe there is something going on in his life that we do not know about so I do not want to be too hard on him. I kind of would like to see him play some on the second line with Lundbohm and either Porter or Stafford to try and get him jump started even though his play does not warrant second line status. It is just frusturating because he has the talent and "could" be a huge boost down the stretch. Let's hope he can get it going!

I would definitely say no, the college game would not adopt those rules. In my opinion the college game has plenty of scoring and is plenty wide-open and I do not think any major changes need to be made to the rules. The NHL on the other hand needs to open up the game and let the best players in the game utilize their skill. The NHL has become too predictable and needs some rule changes to allow more scoring and not so many 2-1 games. It seems like it is a rare occurence when the Wild scores more than 2 goals. I would rather watch college hockey than pro hockey any day, to me it keeps you more on the edge of your seat.

I can accept some Gopher fans on this board but CHEESEHEADS must go!! Go eat some cheese and drink a few old mud's! Wisco will not finish in the top 3. The top 3 will be UND UMD and UOfM in that order.

I wasn't taking it way too seriously I just thought it was a little childish, I have to remember that not all people are on the same maturity level. Sorry!

STUPID! Why don't you send them an e-mail and tell them that instead of subject the rest of us to read that.

Most of those are direct quotes from the Devils GM so in this case I can take something of substance from it. I would put my money on another year, I do not think he is ready although obviously my opinion does not mean sh*t. The NHL is a huge step and another year of college and strength training would be beneficial. That being said I do not like to look toward next year when we are in a dogfight for the league title this year. Let's get this ship on track again. Let's Go Sioux!

The dogz shold get 3 or 4 pts out of that series, Kato stinks this year. I can't wait for the Sioux vs Dogz series in Duluth. I will be there and it will be my first trip to the DECC, looking forward to it!

Thanks for the recaps PCM, it is much appreciated. It would be nice if the team could settle on a number one goaltender. I thought that for sure was going to be Brandt until the Denver series. With playoff hockey coming up it would be good to have someone be the go to guy. It is Ok to have a rotation throughout the year to keep guys fresh but this is the time of the year when both goalies need to know where they stand.

Too bad Wooger couldn't have hung on as goofer coach. They would still be stuck on 3. How can a guy be so inept that he can't pronounce a name like Lundbohm. I am starting to think he just does it on purpose. I can't stand listening to those guys.

The Kohl center is definitely a hostile environment, probably more so than Mariucci as there won't be as many Sioux supporters in Madison as there were at Mariucci. Now is the time for the team to start to turn it up a level. We are getting close to the home stretch and the Sioux need to really come out flying this weekend and not give the Badgers any hope. I hope Brandt can come out and give a good performance in goal to keep his confidence up. I expect he will start Friday with Parise playing Sat. unless Brandt is outstanding Fri. We need to keep some distance from Duluth as the late February series when the Sioux travel to the DECC will be a huge series and we want to have a little margin for error.

Anything less than 4 pts this weekend would be disappointing. It would be good to get some momentum heading to Madison next weekend. The Sioux need to come with a lunch pail attitude, get some garbage goals and wear down Denver with their superior depth. I have been waiting all season for Massen to find his groove, I don't know if it is going to happen. I wouldn't mind seeing him play up on the second line for a weekend and play with the better players even though his performance does not deserve that. He had a good WCHA season last year and he just seems to not have the fire this year for whatever reason. With Blais you have to earn your ice time. It would be great for the team if Massen could start to come around and become a scoring threat down the stretch.

I don't think there will be any progress in the Victory negotiations until the Twins season approaches. Hopefully there can be a deal in place by regional time. It seems pretty stupid to have a channel that hardly anyone can view. Another case of Polahd's greed and that of his sons as well as they are now calling most of the shots since Carl can barely walk.

I think it is awful risky to start a freshman in this game, you do not want to give the goofs confidence with a bad goal or two. Brandt played pretty well last night and I feel deserves to play again tonight. This is an awfully important game as we can really bury those goofs.

This is speculation but I really doubt Bochenski will leave early. He was a later round pick by Ottawa and that franchise is not known for throwing money at prospects. I hope I am right, Parise is hard to say but my bet is he will stay at least one more year. I think we are set at D next year but we need to find another center to replace Lundbohm.

Who cares, the forum is much better without his stupidity. At least now the focus is on Sioux hockey as it should be and not his little games!

I do not think Ryan Hale should be captain again this year. He had a really disappointing year last year. He needs to step up and provide some offense on that third line which he did not do last year. When the Sioux hit the skids last year I did not see the leadership there to get them out of their funk. My vote goes C: David Lundbohm A: Andy Schneider A: Brandon Bochenski