01grad

I am a seasonal poster, so it feels great to be back! Can't wait to go to Mankato again this year, especially when the team is coming off of 2 impressive wins in Maine. It's tough to not think about what we would be like if Zach and Brandon were still around. Perhaps an undefeated season averaging 10 goals per game. It is great to have 3 reliable goalies this year, but I would suspect that Brandt and Parise will be doing the work this weekend. First question was to see who all would be following the team to their away games again this year. Last year I traveled to Mankato and St. Cloud and they were both a blast! This year I am adding Duluth. If not at the arena, I will be at Sensers again in Bloomington. Secondly, last year I purchased tickets through ticketmaster and paid their extra fees for fear that it might sellout. This year, I don't want to do that and will take my chances on picking up tickets there. Last year didn't sellout and I checked ticketmaster and many good seats still remain for this year, so this isn't a major concern. But, has anybody found good seats in the past buying tickets at the arena or from others outside the entrance? Thanks for the help and Go Sioux!!! (Diggler, I tried getting gopher tickets this year, but couldn't. We still need to meet up again sometime. Get final five tickets!)

I usually never think about this until after the season has begun and by then these tickets are always sold out. Anybody know when the specific date is you can start buying them?

Why has all of the attention regarding leaving the Sioux for the nhl been centered on Zach? I feel that Bochenski is ready too. Any word on him? Also what about Greene? I would hope they would be back, but was just wondering what the likelihood would be that they or others might leave.

Since we aren't heading to the frozen four, will Brandon and Zach still have a chance to win the award? With Lessard, Ballard and Voce possibly moving on still, will they get more consideration? I was just curious to see what people thought according to what has happend in the previous years. I sure hope our team will stay intact for next year. It was fun watching them this season, too bad we couldn't have ended on a higher note.

Well put Dagies. That's exactly why I don't go over to USCHO's message board. I hope ours doesn't get to that point. It gets a little old when people are constantly ripping on other teams. They just do that out of jealousy because they will never be a national power each year like us.

I just watched the tape from the championship game for the first time. It was tough knowing the outcome but I wanted to take it in again. It was a very exciting game, but very poorly played at times by both teams. The 3 main areas for us to improve in before we are ready for next weekend: (1)Goaltending and (2)turnovers (giveaways) in each others own zones killed each team. Brandt looked awful. The only good save he made was the time he dove out to knock the puck away to stop the breakaway. I think that Blais felt since we already were pretty much guaranteed a #1 seed, both goalies should have a chance to play in this tournament because each contributed greatly in getting us to this point. Since Brandt had more experience he would be getting the bigger game and better team. I realize that the Alaska game was a different situation, but Parise looked pretty good and in my opinion probably perfomed better against the gophers. I think that Parise should get the next start against Holy Cross. He may not be the better goaltender, but the team may play differently in front of him and he and the team are successful. (3)We took way too many dumb penalties and were suckered in by the gophers. Greene still needs to keep his frustrations under control before he will ever be a complete player. If we can solve or minimize these areas of concern we should be ready to go. The way our top players are playing right now is just amazing. Our forwards are just flying and creating a ton of opportunities. Zach is tremndously increasing his chances of grasping the hobey by his leadership and contributions on the ice. Bochenski and others are also getting it done. Stafford really created many scoring chances for himself and Murray is also doing the same. We need our other guys to follow suit now and get it all working at the same time. The passing and speed of both the gophers and the Sioux were a night and day comparison to the other final five games. They are by far head and shoulders above any other team in our conference and it will be fun to see them dominate the other teams in the nation. It was interesting watching how lazy Vanek was before he scored that lucky goal that was handed to him. He was just circling and hanging out not moving his feet and then the puck was on his stick. It was very dissapointing to see the way we gave them game away to them. Like Woog and Mazzacco said it was really fun to see Blais gamble with the goalie pulled and then work him back in like he was on a line change. They said that this game would top all others in the NCAA's but just wait until we match up with them again in the frozen four, because Maine, Boston College, gophers and Us will be there and we will beat Maine in the championship! All in all a very fun weekend. From the guy getting thrown out of a window at Tom Reids to hanging out with the AA players at the wild oinion, can't wait until next year! GO SIOUX!!!

http://www.hobeybaker.com/articles.php?aID=27 I guess now that Bochenski and Parise are seniors, this makes their decision to go pro next year a little easier. On a side note, I passed Bochenski's hot mom in the concourse after the first period last night and mentioned to her that it would be nice if he would stay out of the box the rest of the game so he could score. She must have gone down to the locker room and had a chat with him because that was exactly what happened.

I saw Dagies sitting across the rink from me, I am behind the home bench 10 rows up. I also saw ghost of smith, but where was everybody else? Where does everybody gather in between periods and before and between games? We will be at McGoverns. Have fun!!!

Very classy by Stauffacher thanking the fans at the end of the game.

Duluth holds on 6-5.

Haven't heard from you in awhile UMDDOGZ!!!

Wild win.

Empty on Thursday too. But I'll be there. Power play Duluth. This may be it.

Wisconsin had a such a strong regular season. They will be a force the reckon with in the NCAA's. They will be upset and on a mission. 1:00 left.

Duluth uses their timeout.

No timeouts for Mankato to set up a play. Very good chances for Mankato.

1:23 left. Faceoff in UMD zone.

2:00 left in Duluth

Mankato almost had a break, was behind the defense.

Reichmuth is starting to fall apart near the end of the season. He was a lot tougher earlier on.

Mankato just misses.

Tune in now, this is getting good.

Oh no, 6-5. Goal by Joseph their only good player.

4:41 left in Duluth game. Still Duluth 6-4.

There are advantages and disadvantages to playing either the afternoon or night. The early game lets the players rest up more, but the night game for the gophers gets the fans behind them for support.