siouxforce19

Yes, him too. I didn’t mention him as I am less concerned about D than I am with our potential lack of centermen. Thome also questionable.

So Gardner and Jones are both questionable for this weekend. I don’t think I’m being too negative when I say we need at least one of them in the lineup to realistically get some positive results this weekend.

Splitting every remaining series gets us to 5. Maybe I’m optimistic about us sweeping CC, Omaha, or Miami though... (not all of them, but I think we sweep at least one of them)

Not necessary!. I can read Omaha fans minds at this point.

I love how their dumb fans act like we are the only ones complaining about the disparity in penalties between DU and their opponents.

Did him and Bruce Ciskie have a read Sioux Sports party together? Adorable.

Depends if Thome is done with that injury thing...

His PK struggles are compounded with Gardner out too because we have less PK guys available and if one of the regular PK guys takes a penalty... it’s just trouble.

I don’t think he’s back to normal after his injury. He just doesn’t seem the same. Before his injury if I recall, he was our 2nd line center and he’s been 4th line since he returned.

Agreed. I also do think we can sweep either Omaha or Miami. I’m basing this off our prior series with those teams. I am optimistic because I really think special teams is what is holding us back. The reality is that if we can figure out how to take less penalties and improve in special teams things wouldn’t look so bleak. Yeah it’s a big if, but it’s not yet a loss cause.

I looked at a few teams ranked high, and SCSU has 15, and Denver has 10. We have 8. We also have 5 guys in the 8-9 point range.

SCSU’s leading goal scorer has 10. And it’s their only goal scorer in double digits. UMD has one goal scorer in double digits and 2 of those were empty net goals this weekend. Cornell, a highly ranked team, has 1 double digit goal scorer, with 11. I just don’t things are as dire as everyone thinks. Denver has three big scorers but they don’t have much else.

He had 12 last year, a career high,and 10 the year before that so maybe everyone’s expectations were too high. The load should not be squarely on his shoulders. 2 players on this team have scored half of the team’s goals in the last 4 games. Pogo is doing his job.

You know what they say about great minds!

I think Poganski can be removed. He’s tied for the team lead in goals... but the other three.... yes

There are players on our current roster who had productive junior careers, who everyone thought would be more productive offensively than they currently are. We know who they are. Recruiting is a crap shoot because we don’t know who is going to develop in college and at what rate.

Man, glad someone said it. Tyson’s a great player but he was here a year. We didn’t win any championships while he was here. At the end of the day I’ll remember more of the players that had more of an impact on the program.

I was in Denver for the penalty fest in November and I really don’t want to repeat that. I’m pretty sure that weekend is what started the downswing of the PK.

It’s actually a she, FYI Agreed -This team can still go to the Frozen Four, it hasn’t been eliminated yet. It’s way too early to quit on this year’s team. We went to 3 straight Frozen Fours from 2014-2016, and the first two years of that run people lamented about a lack of firepower too. 2014 was young and came together in the second half. 2015 was experienced and deep, but lacked firepower. And 2016 was a powerhouse, as we all know.

They got to the Frozen Four, but they were far from full of firepower. I really liked that team and how they came together but there was just not a lot of firepower there.

The 2014 team is my answer.

I might go to the game on Friday since the superstitious person in me is starting to think me not attending national broadcast games in person is the problem...

I’ve thought this for a while too. That’s a 4th line and we all know it. Appreciate what they bring to the table but the offense more likely than not isn’t coming from that line.

That team was definitely a second half team. Also one of the least talented teams we’ve had in recent years. They were in that position that year because of a poor start and poor losses. We were also within a win of the Penrose Cup that year too. Zane carried that team. There is still time for this team to figure it out. But it needs to happen quick and we can’t keep up with poor performances against teams in this league.

The concern I have had with recruiting (based purely on the hype of recruits outside of this board) is the majority of the recruits on the high end side seem to be defensemen.