brianvf

Sucks. Doesn't he want to play for championships each year, instead of battling for WCHA home ice? Big pickup for the Gophers.

http://wiki.siouxsports.com/doku.php/2010-11_schedule

A Gopher poster over on USCHO mentioned that Canadian goalie recruit Joel Vienneau has committed to UMN for the 2011 season. It was down to the Gophers and Michigan for him evidently. Darn those Gophers recruiting those "overage" Canadians!

What happened to Toews?

Awards from last season were announced (from Brad):

Any recent word on the Rau brothers? Wouldn't mind seeing them, Grimaldi, and Ebert all in the green&white. Is that too selfish?

He would be a huge pickup for the Sioux. I hope that either we get him...or Denver doesn't.

From Brad: Not sure if he was even being recruited by UND.

No doubt! Put the Lammy twins and Karvinen on a line together. They'll put up 2-3 goals a night! The UND team should really move up the WCHA standings next season...

The other posters were referring to Nick Mattson, not Danny. Supposedly Nick didn't get along with Walters, so that was the tipping point in him committing to UND over UMN. I've read elsewhere that Nick was a big UND fan prior to his commitment, so I'm sure how much stock should be put in those other comments.

Way to go JPL!

From Brad's blog:

We certainly won't be "thin" at defense next season.

Top 2 in the league. First Round 1 vs 12 2 vs 11 3 vs 10 4 vs 9 5 vs 8 6 vs 7 First round winners advance to the F5. Bottom four seeds play each other on Thursday and the top 2 get a bye to the semi-finals on Friday.

Oct. 3 MANITOBA (exh) Oct. 8-9 Nye Classic in Anchorage (vs. UAA and UAF) Oct. 15-16 at Bemidji State Oct. 22-23 at Maine Oct. 29-30 DENVER Nov. 5-6 DULUTH Nov. 12-13 at Wisconsin Nov. 19-20 at Omaha Nov. 26-27 NOTRE DAME Dec. 3-4 ST. CLOUD STATE Dec. 10-11 at Mankato Dec. 18 U.S. UNDER 18 Dec. 30 at Duluth (Hall of Fame Game) Jan. 7-8 ROBERT MORRIS Jan. 14-15 MINNESOTA Jan. 21-22 OMAHA Jan. 28-29 at Colorado College Feb. 11-12 ANCHORAGE Feb. 18-19 at St. Cloud State Feb. 25-26 BEMIDJI STATE March 4-5 at Michigan Tech

BC is going to be very strong next season as well. They don't lose too much, unless they have some unexpected early departures. But those little fast guys of theirs usually stick around all four years...

Sundogs is horrible, it's no wonder that BRIDGES would approve of that. As a side note, what are the people of BRIDGES going to spend their time doing now? Their life goal is now accomplished, they have nothing left to live for now.

If this is the last season that UND will be the Fighting Sioux (from what Brad's blog states), then I say the boys should go out in style by bringing home the title. They'll certainly have the team to do it. I was checking out the players that could be returning to the F4 teams, and it looks like BC is going to be stacked again next year. They don't lose much unless they have some early departures. Miami loses a couple of talented seniors, and then they have 4 very talented juniors. If any of those juniors leave, they could be hurting a bit. Wisconsin is hosed next season. They lose 7 seniors and will very likely lose both Stepan and Smith to the pros early as well. That would leave their top returning point getter as frosh Craig Smith (who had 8 goals) and their 2nd returning point getter will be freshman dman Justin Schultz with 22 points. If both Stepan and Smith go pro early (likely IMO), they would lose 7 of their top 8 scorers from this season.

Here's my guess as to who will be coming/going: VV, Zajac, Fienhage leaving Genoway staying Forbort and maybe Simpson come in at D this fall. Nelson and Rodwell come in at F this fall. Then next year with Trupp, Malone, & Frattin graduating, plus probably Gregoire (Kristo?) leaving early, you bring in St. Clair, O'Donnell, Parks, and D Mattson. On defense we would graduate LaPoint and Marto, plus probably Blood (MacWilliam?) leaving early. So N Mattson and Simpson (if he doesn't come this fall) come in.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Congrats to Chris! Best of luck in Edmonton!

The last Wed media session had some answers to common offseason questions: Genoway update status unknown right now. I like Knight as a top 2 line center with Malone, who essentially takes over for VV. All "key" pieces back for next season. Good news about Gregoire, Malone, Frattin, etc. Possibly a surprise like Fienhage though to depart.

I'm going to guess that any conversations about expectations for playing time have already been done with Fienhage (and any other player on the roster) by the coaching staff. The coaches know the situation. They're not going to just pull the player along and not tell him about the incoming recruits and what they expect from the player and themselves for next season. My guess is that this conversation was already completed, and that is why Fienhage's advisor was talking with other teams. The coaches are going to recommend whatever is best for both the player and the team.

Of course, Yale also scored 7 goals on BC. For some reason, I don't think so. I think this BC team was ripe for the picking. Their defense and goaltending were certainly not as strong as the last time we faced BC in the playoffs. If the Sioux team that played in the F5 showed up for that regional, I think that they would have beaten both Yale and BC. Of course, all we can do is speculate on that now... That said, I fully expect Miami to take out BC rather easily next Thursday to advance to the title game. After watching both the BC/Yale and the Miami/Mich games, I don't think Miami will have too much trouble with BC.