siouxprideforever

Wow, I missed this one, I thought that our boys would rebound big time! Guess not! Not sure I can see any member of this team playing in the NHL - which means, we should have no reason for not building a great team at some point over the next four years. This pain may be the foundation and perhaps necessary step to building a team of the future - also not sure many of us have the patience. It is what it is! This team may be Hak's proverbial 100 pounds of clay.

Duncan is DUE or is it Duncan is do, or maybe Duncan did - I'll go with Ryan!

I think our boys will play for the split and come out with both barrels blazing tomorrow night. I predict, which I rarely do, that the Sioux win 8 to 1 or 2. Then we will all feel better and forget the sh*t pounding, embarassing A** kicking that we took from a team that was on a 11 game win less streak and plays in that league that we have looked down our noses at while referring to them as the cup cake hockey association! But, they beat us! This team, with its demonstrated skill, does not exemplify their namesake - at least not as I would perceive Ralph Englestad thought of the same. It's time!

We have to get over the mental excuse of we'll get them tomorrow. I think there is a subconscious belief that sweeps are tough, so if we can pick up at least one win we are doing ok - whether that is valid or not it all flys out the window in tournament hockey! It's one and done! If they want to prepare for how it feels to lose the first game of the frozen four - how sick that feels, they should go back to their hotel rooms pack their bags and get on an airplane at midnight. Believe me it is a feeling you will not want to do again. Perhaps that is the motivation they need!

good point! Does Cornell offer athletic scholorships or do you have to be an exceptionally smart hockey player and qualify for an academic scholorship? It might be ironic that Cornell doesn't have much to show for attracting these players - but I bet the player will have something to show for it, assuming they stick around and graduate!

It looks like Craig just commited to Cornell..

While getting insulted is not fun, it is a part of life. But in most cases it is done in the spirit of mere banter. Sounds sick but it should be kept in perspective. Also, you have to take responsiblility for your actions, do not bait him into an arguement - that wouldn't be fair. When I was a student at UND we continually made fun of the kids from NDSU (cow college), not to mention we still refer to U of Minnesota students as goofs. Now one of my brothers-in-law is a NDSU grad, not to mention one of the leaders in his company (and he's a great guy) and my dentist is a grad from U of M (and she's not only a great dentist but a nice person- and I mean NICE)! It goes back to the Sticks and Stones addage, they may hurt, but only if you let them! The real irony would be to get an advanced degree from UND and go back and be his boss!

I think this is a great post! Too often we get hung up on the stats - and i think that is one of the problems with our game. If we practice what college coaches preach the only real statistic that should matter is whether we win or lose. To those that preach it doesn't matter if you win or lose - its how you play the game have never taken home 4 straight frozen four participation trophys! Obviously, development of human character is important - but our game is about winning! Unless we can continue to develop future Ralph Engelstad's for the long term success of our programs - its winning that keeps coaches employed. I will maintain that the better goaltenders are those that can rise to the occasion and put their team in a position to win. As noted above, the best stats may get one a lot of ink, but it does not necessarily always win the game. This may have been Eidsnesses weakest outing this year - but we swept! He was there when when it counted. I am a little concerned that it has become obvious that he is being scouted as SCSU had him uncharacteristically out of position too many times - not to mention that it looked like they were told to only shoot at his blocker side! However he has had previous stellar performances - all for naught as the team lost the game. The stats are for scouts and scrap books, its the chemistry on the ice that can win the games. I am sure someone will remind us that we have a better w/l record when Mario is on the ice, which may be true, but Mario's stats won't jump off the page - which is the point worth emphasizing.

Is the shirt he's wearing with WARRIOR across the back a personalized item or is that shirt sold publicly?

I was just looking at the standings and playing the what-if game. It should be noted that we will have an opportunity to pick up points later in the season as some WCHA teams have already played 14 games to our 10. Although we are in 9th place, it appears that Tech will save us from the bottom of the barrel as they only have 3 points. But...in this weekends games, if Tech sweeps UMD (its nearly Christmas) and DU sweeps MSU (could happen) and we sweep SCSU (expected) we could vault... all the way up to fifth place! If we sweep without the other teams help it looks like we could move to 7th place. If we split, regardless of what anyone else does we could move up one spot merely because Alaska isn't playing this weekend. At some point, anything less than a sweep puts the post season that much further away.

Loyalty and blind trust are meritorious. That is why the Captain goes down with the ship! The UND program (facilities, alumni, fan support) deserve (and can afford) the best coach money can buy. I believe that the with the tools that we have in our tool chest we should have a record considerably better than the one we have at the present time. I also believe that Hak would be the first to acknowledge the same. His challenge comes when he acknowledges that every man has his limitations - and maybe the UND program is his. Lets hope that he can pull it out - I am not cheering against him in any way shape of form. Moreover, pointing out what we all teach our kids - one has to take responsiblity for their actions. The historic pre-Christmas slump was overtaken with matching marque players (chemistry) such that the enertia of winning could carry the team to the Frozen Four. While I think we have a bunch of great young men, not sure we have the skill level of those that carried us in the past. However, if we do make it to the Frozen Four - I too will have blind trust in Hak! Fight on Sioux!

Wow, if we can't agree on who should sit and who should play - I can only imagine the challenge the coaches must face, especially if they see the kids play every day! I think that we caught the Big Red team off guard on Friday night. However, they adapted and took the game to us on Saturday. Unfortunately, while they re-tooled we did not. Just as we caught them off guard on Friday - they caught us off guard on Saturday. I struggle with understanding how a team with our talent can't adapt quickly (and I do believe that is the coaches responsibility). Taking them to the wood shed and skating them silly won't help them understand what to do when their opposition changes game strategy on them.

I am not ready to through anyone under the bus, but how can one tell when a team is out coached versus out hustled?

Now lets look at the offense Average Shots per game Last year 29.6 This year 34.2 Almost 5 more shots per game we have been taking Avg Goals per game Last year 3.0 This year 2.5 Interesting stats, but I do think that before we jump to any conclusions we have to consider all variables - one of which is that it could be that the oppositions goaltenders are better than they were last year! In the spirit of statistics, or perhaps trivia for this stage of the season, I did some comparisons between this year's Sioux team and that of the number one team in the nation. It appears that after 12 games team stats look like this: their team is comprised of 40.0% of upper classman, ours has 41.2% in that category (which means they have approximately 60% underclassman and we have about 59%). From a contributed points perspective they are getting about 62.2% of their points from the upperclassman (or about 38% from their underclassman) while we are getting about 67% from our upperclassman (and about 33% from our underclassman). Not a big difference. If we want to make a big deal about the recruiting class, approximately 41% of the goofs team is freshman and they have contributed about 24% of the points (one player has contributed 17% of the teams total points - Schroeder). In terms of points, Schroeder has talled 17 of the freshman's 25 points. For the Sioux our (non-goaltenders) freshman comprise 25% of the team and they have contributed 20% of the teams points. What is equally interesting is that the goofs have 2 seniors who have contributed a whopping 1 point. We have 7 seniors that have contributed 41% of our total points. Interesting trivia. While we may not be that for off in terms of percentages, they have 103 points after 12 games and we have 70. We have work to do.

Somewhere above I weighed in on this subject and watching what has transpired does not change my perspective. I don't buy great goalies "are a little off" or that "spazing" on the ice demonstrates comittment and desire. Great goaltenders are not "off", they are perhaps some of the smartest players on the ice. They have to understand concept of angles, speed, deflections upon every shot or lob in their direction. When a goaltender focuses on what is behind them (in the net) with an emotional outburst or the like - they take their eye off of what is in front of them. That is where their attention needs to be. This game wouldn't be any fun if goals where never scored. A great goalie understands that can happen and focuses on what they can do to stop the next shot - not exhibit an emotional outburst or just as bad internalize the emotion. When a non-goaltender makes a mistake on the ice it can quickly be forgotten in an "oh well" quip. Unfortunately, when a goaltender makes a mistake, or is outplayed - they put it on the scoreboard for everyone to see and remember. Goaltenders need to be mentally strong to process the same and not focus on what many other may be. We play a game of seconds, I think we'd like 3 minutes of the CC game back when we appeared to focus on what was behind us rather than what was coming our way. I am confident that we learned from that experience. I don't know of any D1 level coach that would equate an emotional goalie with success, nor confuse emotion with committment, I have to believe that Hak determines who will play based not only on the last game but also in practice. The Herald recently quoted him as saying, "

After watching Miller's interview (Freshies gone wild) specifically the grief that they were giving Eidsness about his antics on the ice - it might be understandable that Hak let him watch the game from the pines in an effort to help him decide if he wants to play or not. The last outing at CC plus whatever antics in practice were probably not enduring in the eyes of the coach. The kid can play good, but it sounds like he may have a little growing to do. That's all up to him. The goalie books state that the best goalies are seen and not heard! He should take the number 31 to heart and make it to mean - Ready to Play 24/7 or 31!

Rather than play the blame game I would rather we play the responsibility game. What happened last night reminded me of something I used to do as a kid - and I fully realize that my perception could be way out in left field but..... Did you ever find a bee hive and just of shits and grins - move it. The bee's all go back to where it was and continually look for it. I deduced that they are conditioned to go to that same spot and find the hive. I learned that if you return the hive and move it slowly - they adapt to the new location. I know a boring child hood. However, last night I saw our team get frustrated by the center ice trap that the seawolves used. Very similar to the boring Wild or that shameful BC team! We could not play our game and it showed in the number of shots on goal. I am not going to blame Mr. Walsky or any one player - they win and lose as a team(and if they don't - well we found the problem). But I remain a bit frustrated that they have not been taught (or have not grasped) how to adapt to teams that move the hive on them. Continuing to hammer away will eventually yield results - as we saw at the end of the game, however it is extremely frustrating. Perhaps, it is youth - but we are not that young, perhaps it is size, but we are not that small, perhaps it is motivation, but I think we are motivated (just ask CC),perhaps they are not real smart - but I don't buy that, perhaps it will come with time - I sure hope so, perhaps it is coaching - well, just perhaps. But whatever it is I will not pass it off as effort, last Friday night this team took the number one team in the nation to the wood shed and kicked their butt! But they have to learn how to adapt when, "the opposition moves the hive!" and the team has to take responsibilty for that. Sorry for the sophmoric metaphors - but I relate a little easier to them.

Anyone know who, other than Joe, that didn't make the trip to CC?

We had a bad few minutes; 2:47 of the 3rd period to be exact. I believe up to that point our team played an outstanding six periods of hockey (including the 3rd period of the last series). Unfortunately, our team got a rude awakening of what a hungry team is capable of doing - regardless of their record! Last weekend we were at the wrong end of a short handed hat trick, this weekend a five goal period from a team that hasn't won a game. But, in between, we saw some real Sioux hockey. I believe both of the extremes that we have endoured will only make us stronger - if we pay attention. I have watched, too many times before, as a young goaltender's game is broken by a late game goal - when he had visions of a shut out! Instead of focusing on whats in front of him, he tends to look back on what could have been - and before you know it - another goal is scored, and then another; thankfully Hak called a time out last night. Not positive if this was the case for Mr. Eidsness, but in my experiece this is the mental side of the position more than the physical. We would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge the outstanding play of the wisconsin goaltender - we were robbed numerous times early in the game! Without his play, they would not have been within stricking distance in the 3rd period. I wonder how much of his play could be attributed to their former goalie coach? Which leads me to wonder if our tenders are getting both the physical and mental development they need to play at this level. Again, just wondering....because if we are subscribing to the school of hard knocks, I hope we have the patience.

Nope! should have stopped goals #2 or #3. The ENG opportunity happend because of the earlier mistakes. All in all, it is obvious that Brad has the skills, we just have to be patient while he gains the confidence he needs to play in front of our vocal home crouwd.

In terms of the goaltending, after watching the weekends games, I think that Eidsness played with more confidence than in his previous outings. Unfortunately, I thought that Walski played with a little less. I don't think that Walski is a bad tender - over the past couple of outings he made some solid one on one stops. I do think that they make a very good pair. Not sure you have to have one horse for the entire show - we should have seen where that got us last year! The biggest difference that I saw this weekend was that on Saturday night our defense was blocking shots! Not sure what the stat was, but by far and away it looked like a minority of the shots got to Eidsness. If our defense plays with that mentality night in and night out I don't think our tender issue will be as challenging as we thought. However, having said all that, I do think that our offense has to average at least 3 goals a game.

I felt like I saw a lot of missed opportunities on power plays this weekend so I looked back to last year's first WCHA weekend. Given the same number of games I found the comparison interesting. Last year WCHA teams converted 16 of 107 power plays or about 15%. This weekend those same teams converted on 24 of 138 or about 17.4% - actually better than last year. However, the fact is that their were 31 or 29% more power plays this year. In terms of penalties, last year their were 141 compared to 179 this weekend. Again, about 38 or 27% more than the previous year. Of the goals scored, last year 32% came from the power play, this year 34.8% were off the same, a marginal increase. As a conference, the WCHA's save percentage slipped from 91.1% last year to 89.8% this year. Interesting numbers; whether or not every weekend will see an increase of power plays by 30% per game remains to be seen. However, if so, special teams have an opportunity to impact our game more than ever before.

The Sioux played good and very strong in the 3rd period. Scoring on the last three power plays and a man short was impressive. Once again, they demonstrated that they have the talent, and that with the puck on the right sticks good things can happen. With all the power play opportunities, presumably based on the game being called somewhat tighter, the sooner the team can master that part of thier game the more successful they will be. Had the opportunity to watch two games side by side tonite and l watched SCSU get swept by the goofs. The huskies too were bit by the lack of power play conversions. I think for the weekend their pp numbers were nearly as bad as ours.

Boy was I wrong! I thought the coaches would have had the team primed to come out and redeem themselves. I too agree that its early and we would be fools to think that the rest of the year will not get better - based on the simple fact that it can't get much worse! However, before we throw the goalies under the bus, if my math is correct - and it has been awhile, we are averaging about 1.3 goals per game in the last 3 season games. Consequently, to win we would obviously have to score on average more than that amount per game or our goaltenders would have to have a combined GAA of less than that amount. To date, only one WCHA team has a GAA of less than 1.3 and that is CC! Plenty of blame, I mean responsibility to go around! Did a little research and a shorty hat trick is extremely rare - someone referred to it as a Hak job! Sorry about that! Hak is a good man, without question - and all that is said here is not questioning that.