DAR

I think the main question for this team remains goaltending. It is by far the least stable aspect of the team. We cannot have musical goalies again next season and expect to compete for a title. Someone has to step up and win the job. Although I agree Brandt stepped up at the end of the year, I am skeptical as to whether he has what it takes to be a number one goalie at this level. The loss of Hale also hurts the goaltending situation because a strong d-corps can make a mediocre goaltender look Ok by limiting the quality scoring chances by the opposition and keeping the shots to the outside.

I'd say there is little chance any other Sioux player will leave early if they do they need their head examined. Look at Brian Lundbohm as a classic case of a guy who made a big mistake by leaving early. He will never see the NHL and will have a hard time making the roster of the AHL Milwaukee Admirals next year. Even Travis Roche has not yet had more of a small cup of coffee in the NHL. With the success of the Wild this year, I would say it is a long shot for him to make the team next year. It seems that the Sioux seem to lose players early a lot more than the Gophers do. I live in Mpls. and from what I have read in the papers it sounds like everyone will be coming back. As much as I hate to admit it, they will be the clear favorite in the WCHA. The Sioux MUST have consistent goaltending to be a contender next year.

I hope they lose. We will never hear the end of it if they go back to back. Too bad the game can't end in a tie!

I do not expect much of an impact from Bina. He is 20 years old and had not yet been offered a scholarship to my knowledge so he was not on most scouts radar. He is listed at 5'7 and 170 lbs. That is tiny for a defenseman. That being said I have never seen him play and he will be counted on to play next year as he is the 7th defenseman. He is not going to win many battles for the puck with such a small frame. You cannot measure a guy's heart and desire though and Blais must see something in him that makes him believe he will be a contributor.

Obviously, this is a big blow to the D-corps next year. Other guys are going to have to step up to soften the blow. If Hale had been healthy all year I would have said it would be a given that he would go. With the illness I thought the Devils might want to wait and see if he can withstand a full season before giving him the guaranteed money. But this is a reality of college sports and we just need to keep re-loading.

Yeah but you can't punish what you can't catch. I can't imagine this guy is to swift on his skates or I think he would be going somewhere other than Vermont.

Maybe Drew can be the wildcard of next year's class. Come in and provide some scoring punch to the lower lines.

If Hale leaves, Smaby will play a much bigger role on the team as a fresman. We will lose a lot of experience in that situation. However, Smaby was rated an "A" prospect among high school prospects and is projected to be a late 1st or 2nd round pick. He has good size and skating ability and should have an impact in his carrer at UND.

Leopold is still a member of the Flames. He played in the game against the Wild a short time ago at the X.

I find it a real stretch to consider Dahlen a 7th defenseman, from what I understand he is waliking on. I think he transferred from LSSU or somehere. I have not seen him play but doubt he can be contribute much this year besides an extra d-man in practice. If Hale leaves Blais will have to find another defenseman.

I think it is inevitable that Hale will sign. I have sensed in some of Blais comments about next year that he does not expect to have Hale back. The only hope I see that he stays is if the Devils are not sure he has the illness in order and do not want to give him guaranteed money if this continues to be a problem. If he does sign I think he will take some time to develop to an NHL level and will play in Albany (AHL) for some time. As a fan I hope he stays because it would be a big blow to next year's team. Defense would become quite thin. Who would be our extra d-man after Schneider, Fuher, Greene, Jones, Smaby, and Marvin. If someone gets hurt there is no depth. All I can think of is Chad Dahlen who is supposedly going to try and make the team next year or if R. Hale becomes a fill in on D. As a Sioux fan I sure hope Hale stays but I can see both sides of the issue. I do not see us finshing in the top 3 in the league next year w/out D. Hale.

Hammy, Handyman, and WPOS must be closet Sioux fans because they are over here more than on POI. Most of the time there posts are respectable. After all this is only a "game" we are in conflict about here.

Wiseman is just one of those people that invade this board to see how many people they can piss off and sit back and laugh about it. We've seen your tricks before by goofer posters.

I am concerned about our PK next year. We lose Notermann and Spiewak who were our best penalty killers. Both the power play and penalty killing need to get better if the Sioux are going to make some noise next year. Hopefully Ryan Hale can become a bigger factor next year. He needs to score more than 3 goals. We have got to find a way to balance out the scoring more throughout the line-up. I thought Lundbohm had a pretty good year. Hopefully in his senior year he can get up close to 20 goals.

Speaking of Woog, he has got to be the worst commentator I have ever heard. I don't know if he thinks he is funny or what but most of the time he is just stupid! Tom Reid was so much better when he used to do the goofer games. He was very enjoyable to listen to. Get a clue Wooger, It's LUNDBOHM!! Man he bugs me. I saw him at Senser's for the Sun nite game vs Denver and I wanted to go tell him how dumb he sounds on air.

I know Blais has been quoted as saying he promised the families of Parise and Murray that he would be coach as long as they played for the Sioux so I doubt he would go back on his word. He interviewed with Columbus before their inaugural season.

I am a little baffled how you can "love" both programs. To me you either are a fan of one or the other but to each their own I guess.

Amen, get a clue!!

Just to make myself clear, I am not blaming either goaltender for the loss. The team as a whole, especially the D, did not play well enough to win. My main point is I found it really surprising that Blais would put in Josh in the most important period of the season after not having any confidence in him all season.

Siouxrock, the season's over. Let's quit with the stupid games. It really gets old!!

I have to agree 100%. It is not often I second guess Blais, but I think it is warranted on this one. Bringing in Siembida, who has had no confidence all year and has had a poor season was not the answer at that point. I guarantee you the team has little confidence in him this year and a soft goal was the result. As usual Siembida was out of position on that one. A big part of a goaltender is confidence and none of our goaltenders could find any this year. I think the revolving goaltenders was part of the second half collapse. I wish in hindsight we had just gone with one guy (Brandt) in the second half and tried to instill some confidence in him. I think he has potential but realizing that potential is another thing!!

Agreed! The goofs got their national championship last year, here's hoping they have to wait another 20+ years to get another one. I am rooting for Cornell. It would be ok to see an unherlded school win one. The goofs, Michigan, and Wisconsin are 3 teams that I will never root for.

I get the impression that both Porter and Fabian are not real fast guys. I think they will be more of the grinding type. Murray is fast and I am not sure about Stafford's skating skills but he is listed at 6'2" 200+ so he is a bigger guy. Hopefully the projected first line of Parise, Bo, and Murray can really click. BUT, we need other lines to score so other teams can't just key on that line. Murray is not very big so hopefully the year in the BCHL has helped him to adjust to a more physical style of play.

I agree, although I dislike Michigan greatly, I cannot root for the goofs under any circumstance. The goofs fans are trying to get their full revenge for the last 4 or 5 years prior to last year when the Sioux were clearly the dominant team in the rivalry. We will never hear the end of it if they won back to back!!

I am sure UND will continue to be very competitive in getting recruits from Minnesota. Parise, Bochenski, and Smaby are all players that Minnesota recruited hard and they chose UND. Just because a player grows up in Minnesota does not mean they "dream" of playing for the U. UND has always done well in recruiting Minnesota kids and I bet will continue to do so.