brianvf

I like UND's bracket here. I think they can take Northeastern and Miami. Denver or UMN in the Midwest. Michigan in the East. CC in the West.

Yes, a sweep of UNH would be huge for PWR implications. I would love to see it happen. The Sioux need to start stringing some good games BACK TO BACK in order for it to happen, but they are certainly talented enough to do so. It looks like CC is on their way to getting a #1 seed, and I certainly wouldn't want the Sioux to get placed in the CoSprings regional with CC as the #1. I also wouldn't want them to get placed in the Midwest regional if UW happens to make the NCAA's. I'd rather they go to the East or Northeast in those situations. Or to the Midwest if UW doesn't make it...and that way I could easily go to the games. Either CC or DU (or both if they get placed in the West regional together) could duplicate UW's title run from a couple years ago in not having to leave the state in the NCAA's.

SCSU was supposed to have the services of Swiss stud forward Luca Cunti this year, but it appears that he won't be going the college route any longer: http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../112160036/1002 Big blow for them, as he would have bolstered their attack, which is already potent with Nodl, Lasch, and Roe.

I bet that line would be 2nd line on a CHA or AHA team. Crap, I forgot about Miller in my lines. I guess you could substitute either Miller or Martens for Radke on that 4th line.

My lines: Line1 - Kozek/VandeVelde/Oshie Line2 - Duncan/Watkins/Frattin Line3 - Trupp/Kaip/Malone Line4 - Radke/Zajac/Forney D1 - Chorney/Bina D2 - Genoway/Jones D3 - LaPoint/Finley Scratches: Marto, Davidson, Martens Separate Duncan and Oshie so other teams can't key in on just one line. Move Kozek up because he's been playing really well this year and getting rewarded for his efforts with goals. Have Watkins center two snipers in Duncan and Frattin for the 2nd line. The 3rd line would be fun to watch with physical Kaip, feisty Trupp, and Malone for the boards and standing in front of the net for garbage goals. I put Radke on the 4th line, but if he starts taking stupid penalties, substitute for Martens. I'd like to see Forney get another shot, he looked good out there in his earlier 2 games. I hate to scratch Marto after his strong, consistent play, but I just can't move Genoway up to forward. He's so good at skating the puck out of our defensive zone (the best on our d-corps IMO) that I can't justify losing his great transition play back on defense.

You have to wait until you get your tickets to know where your seats are. At least that's how it was when I bought tickets last time. I'm going this year as well. Paid for my tickets a month ago.

I had never seen or heard Dubay before the FSN after show last night. He talked about how he thought that UND had only the one line, and that even though Hakstol told him differently, he still believed that. I wonder if he realized that all four Sioux goals were scored by people not named Oshie, Duncan, or VV?

Agreed. They returned too many forwards and dmen to struggle the whole season. If their frosh goalies can start to play consistently, they'll be there at the end.

It will help us that UNH will be without JVR, since he will be at the WJC.

What the heck are chicken strips of fire?

My apologies. Post deleted.

Not looking good for BU... http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/i...sSuspended.html Parker suspended four of their players, including their captain and leading scorer, for violating team rules. Neither BC or BU is looking as strong this year as they have in the past. Hockey East in general looks weaker than past years. Maine is in last place! Northeastern and New Hampshire look to be the best teams in the league thus far. I have a feeling that our victory over Northeastern should help us at the end of the season in the PWR. Same thing goes for if the Sioux can win a game or two over UNH when they visit the Ralph later this month.

Except that exhibition games really don't count.

According to the Sioux blog, Genoway has been back on the ice practicing with the team this week and will be a gametime decision for Friday. Good news!

I could care less what the scores are, as long as the Sioux win I'll be happy.

As long as we don't see a 2-1 game and a 1-0 game. But for some reason I don't think that these 2 teams will be playing any "defensive" games like that. Neither of our teams are UW after all.

So the Gophers are only going to score 3 goals all weekend? I can live with that I guess.

I don't think it will be as bad as you think. I am fine with the play of Genoway, Jones, Marto, and LaPoint. Genoway will be one of the most skilled dmen in the league at moving the puck next year, Jones will be a good physical dman, and Marto and LaPoint have looked great so far this season...neither of them play like freshmen, which is the most you can ask from frosh dmen being thrown into a starting WCHA lineup. Both of them will be very good next year and will help anchor our d-corps with Genoway and Jones. That's a decent starting 4 right there. Add in Blood, who appears to be doing very well in the USHL, and another physical guy in Fienhage, and I think our defense will be fine. Even with the departures of Oshie, Duncan, Chorney, and Finley, I think our team will be better than most people think next year. Our forwards will certainly have to work hard to make it into the lineup (there will be like 17 of them!), and our freshmen class of forward recruits is easily the best in the nation. We might be lacking in experience compared to this year, but skill-wise the Sioux will be fine next season IMO. It will come down to how well Eidsness and Walski play in net. I'm guessing Hakstol will rotate them until one true starter emerges. But that is the only "question mark" entering the 08-09 season that I can see.

I don't think he's been drafted yet. I believe he is draft eligible next year.

I wouldn't read too much into that. It would probably go down decently if you took that UW game out of there.

Hopefully the Sioux can start getting the PP % up a bit.

I wouldn't go that far. The Sioux might not be living up to early season expectations at this point, but I don't think they are playing poorly. They have beaten DU, CC, and MSU. The Gophers didn't win any of their 5 games against those teams.

Your man crush went further than originally thought. You need to change your sig BTW. Lee committed to SCSU evidently.

1. Yep 2. Every fanbase has 'em 2a. At least 5 I would say 3. Who cares? Bad calls will happen, probably for both sides. Officiating more than likely won't affect the outcome of either game this weekend. 4. I would like to see a big weekend for the top line, but also it would be nice to see someone like Frattin, Watkins, Trupp etc have a good weekend. They have all been playing well, just not getting the points.