diggerdan

Thanks PHE, that explains Taylor. The nomination of Belfour kind of surprises me, since he only played the one year and its not like he carried that team. Not trying to be harsh Sicatoka, I realize the selection process was difficult. Just throwing out some fodder for discussion.

Its been out for a while but we need something to discuss.

handicapped seating

Looks like Allen is a quality recruit. The Sioux will have 4 (at least) JUCO transfers in their rotation next year. Hopefully this doesn't backfire for Glas. Alot of schools have had trouble blending JUCOs into their program while others do with a great deal of success.

Nice job of research dagies. That's alot of players. As aside, I'm guessing alot of the talk about Blais is going on over at the POI board. I have alot of trouble accessing that site. It seems I can get on maybe one day a week. Anyone else have this problem?

In addition to a Shattuck defense(wo)men from Alaska: Jessica Kovacevich Shantel Gammie has now signed two Canadien forwards to LOIs: Aynsley Allen & Devon Fingland She says she's still out on the recruiting trail.

I think alot of Blais' rep comes from the fact that he welcomes walk-ons and doesn't like to carry dead wood (i.e. players who will see little ice time). Because of this, alot of guys who start the year on the roster won't be there at year end. Other programs don't have a problem carrying these guys - Blais suggests they go elsewhere. So I think you have to compare walk-ons who have been asked to leave vs. scholarship players. If you look at who's left in the past couple years (Fylling not included), I think only Yurecko received $$ and my understanding is that he left on his own - due to lack of PT - and you certainly can't argue that Blais owes everybody playing time. My understanding is that Ranfrantz, Sofie, Wright, Hirst, O'Leary, etc., all were walk-ons.

I think there is a very good chance at a regional being in Grand Forks next year. The main competition would come from Mlps/St.P, but it is doubtful that Mariucci or the Xcel will bid for it because the Gophers are already hosting a men's BB regional that same weekend at the Metrodome. That would be too much of an administrative headache. Other possibilities could be Grand Rapids (other regional is in Yost, doubtful Michigan would get both), Colorado Springs (already hosting regional in 2004), Omaha (would probably wait until new arena is finished before bidding), Madison (1999 regional at Dane was not well attended), Columbus or Denver. I think a regional would draw well here, even if the Sioux aren't playing.

I agree with that statement dagies. With the NCAA likely to go to a 16 team, 4 regional system next year, there's some debate on the USCHO board about neutral sites ( one guy mentioned a rotation between Grand Rapids, Fort Wayne & Des Moines, yikes!). I would rather see the Sioux play a playoff game against Minnesota @ Mariucci before 10,000 than at Des Moines before nobody.

Whew, finally got back. What a strange weekend. For reasons I will refrain from boring you with, I didn't make the early game on Thursday but caught the Thursday nite and Championship games. Had a great time. My thoughts: I love the Xcel Center but if that is the nicest NHL facility in the country, we are so f***ing spoiled. Had a chance to walk all around the arena after the game Saturday nite (even snuck on to the suite level). Even my hyper-critical eye had trouble seeing an area where the X has it over the REA, except that its bigger and has a restaurant on both the main floor and club level. Maine played an outstanding hockey game. The guys behind me (Mich State fans) told me the UNH-Maine game was not physical and that Maine would struggle against the west. On Saturday nite they couldn't believe the difference in Maine's level of play. They carried the play for a good portion of the game. I thought the OT call was a penalty although I wouldn't have called it. I saw Hauser's elbow work later from close range and am convinced the ref missed it. That happens. To my own surprise, I was very happy with the result. Maybe it was Potulny scoring the GWG. Maybe it was the fact that Leopold and Pohl have always been favorites of mine. Maybe it was the fact that Lucia's Gophers are so very different from Woog's Gophers. I went through a little of what some of you others did with Gopher fans but I decided I was going to be happy for the team and my Gopher friends, not the bandwagon fans. And that's what I am (except for Hauser). One of my best friends is a long time fan - I met up with him after the game and he was emotionally drained, almost crying. He told me that it was like a big weight had been lifted, that he no longer had to cling to those tired "Pride on Ice" and "Tradition" arguments when defending the Gophs, knowing full well how ridiculous they are. I suspect alot of fans felt the same way. I know I did when UND final won a football title - I never have to bow my head to a Bison fan again. I did not do the Rouser, I draw the line there.

Scott, I'm in the same section as you, row 10. Will stop up and say hello if you're there for the early game tomorrow. Afterwords, I will head over to Alary's.

Any Sioux fans going to St. Paul? Perhaps we could meet up somewhere after the Thursday afternoon game.

Very nice, jk. I thought that the play of Mazurak and Schneekloth slipped after their sophmore years. I wouldn't be surprised to see Leinweber instead of Fuhrer on the 2nd defensive pairing - I think Chris really picked up his game towards the end of the year. As has been said repeatedly on this board, this team needs a quarterback on the blue line. Schneider made great strides in his offensive abilities but I don't think you can compare him with Ballard. Naumenko, Murphy, Willliamson, Roche - we've been spoiled. Another area where I'd like to see improvement is clearing in front of the net - both opponents and rebounds.

Thanks to all for your heartfelt responses. I agree that the positions of St. Cloud and CC are tenuous. Does anyone know for certain if this is Hartigan's last year? Because if he does come back, the Huskies will be tough to beat, swoon or not. Sicatoka - losing 20% of your scoring in a year is nothing. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Denver returns more of its scoring than any other team in the league with the exception of Tech and Mankato. Plus, they add Gauthier - who is just as highly touted as Parise, Vanek or Guyer. As for the defensemen, I forgot about Vines but I would argue that the system Denver plays makes it easier to insert freshmen defensemen. The whole team plays defense and their solid backcheck and neutral zone play means the d-men are rarely left hanging. Their goaltending is pretty good as well. Of course, in the end, I hope you're right!

Since our season's over, its not to early to speculate on the league next year. Here's my take: Top two: Denver - lose Paradise and 2 solid defensemen but nothing else, have both goalies back and good young players. Recruiting class is solid, led by Gauthier. Favorite to repeat. Gophers - Losing Leopold will hurt but not nearly as much as losing Roche hurt the Sioux. Have plently of offense to offset loss of Pohl and can even withstand loss of Taffe, if he bolts. Have league's best recruiting class (provided Vanek enrolls). Goaltending a question mark. Will battle Denver. Solid Upper Division: St. Cloud - Not sure about this one. Lose DiCasmirro and, I assume, Hartigan (listed as a junior but I think is a Skarperud-type junior). Lose solid goalie. Dynamic freshmen class faded at the end. Have a decent class coming in but I wonder if they didn't overachieve this year, much like the Sioux last year. Upper division finish. Colorado College - lose 8 seniors including Sanger, Cullen and Kim. Defense should be solid but goaltending is a question mark. Still have an awful lot of talent and a good recruiting class. I don't think this team can afford to have any early departures (ala Priessing or Senja). Battling for 5th home ice spot: Mankato - don't lose anyone of consequence, pretty much the same team as this year. Incoming recruits are nothing special but they seem to get maximum potential from everyone. Overachieved this year, as in year's past, no reason to suspect this will change. My pick for the last home ice spot. UND - Prior to Bayda leaving, I would have said solid upper division but losing his leadership is devastating. While incoming class is good, thanks to presence of Parise, current freshmen class remains a question mark - but there's lots of talent there. Defense should be solid. My head says the Sioux stay in 6th but they have the best chance to surprise. Anchorage - Lose 3 of top 4 scorers and haven't recruited any. It helps that they don't score much anyway. Cygan finally leaves after 12 years in the league. Hill's first year showed big improvement but I wonder if talent is there for much more. Bottom: Duluth - Sandelin made huge advances with his club this year but they lose alot in Medak, Rierson & Nelson. I believe that they have a very good class coming in, including Caig. Could easily step up to battle for home ice. Second best chance of surprising. Wisconsin - Team that wasn't that good anyway loses 7 seniors, including 6 of top 10 scorers and key role players. Had no freshman contributors other than Leavitt and incoming class is nothing special. Unless Eaves works a miracle, the Badgers will fall hard next year. Michigan Tech - They don't lose anything but they didn't have anything either. Until their play shows differently, you can't justify moving them any higher than last. Author Note - this is the 3rd thread I've started in this forum and the previous two generated no responses (albeit they had no men's hockey content). Please don't leave me hanging again, my fragile psyche can't take it.

Ugh. I know alot of us thought the Sioux were two years away anyway, but this really cements it. On the other hand, the last time we had a team with no returning stars was 1996-97, after Wynn and Naumenko had graduated.

Not to put any added pressure on the boys, but they may be the last hope for a NC in calender year 2002. This is important because the Sioux have had a national championship in every year since 1997. 1997 - Hockey & Women's BB 1998 - Women's BB 1999 - Women's BB 2000 - Hockey 2001 - Football That aside, I look for improvement from the Bison for next year and see the battle between them and the Sioux for the conference crown. The Bison failings this year were the result of inadequate senior leadership. Yes, it was a talented group but, as a group, they underperformed and their absence, along with a very good redshirt class, will lead to a better Bison team.

Here's my prediction: Now that he's found this board, Handyman will take over the lead in # of posts here by March 26 of this year. I figure that'll take about 20 posts a day and I think he's got it in him. Go Handy go!!!

Very nice piece about Shantel Gammie, the new women's hockey coach, on the front page of today's (Monday) Fargo Forum. Coach Starts From Scratch Apparantly, the Hurl has much more important news items to cover. Since the university has made the decision to add women's hockey as a varsity sport, there is no sense debating that issue. The goal now is to develop a strong program, one that can compete for national championships. So even though I was against adding the sport, I hope Gammie enjoys success here. Anyone here have any knowledge of her or the team? How is recruiting going? How long before the Ralph hosts the Women's Frozen Four?

An article in this week's Sports Illustrated includes a poll that suggests that most american indians do not find use of indian-themed nicknames or logos offensive and generally support their use. SI terms the results as "surprising". Really? And the fact that the protest crowds are generally very small and contain a small percentage of indians wasn't a clue?

Kuhninca, you've written off this year's class much too soon. I see alot of promise. You've got to remember that they've been asked to shoulder alot of the load this year while still trying to learn the college game (most importantly, backchecking). Typically you hide your freshmen while they're learning - put them on the 4th line or 3rd pairing, mix them in with experienced players, etc. You can't do that when half your team is freshmen. While I think keeping O'Leary, Murphy and Hasbargen may have helped, I think Dean made a conscious decision to throw the freshmen out there and let them, and the team, take their lumps. Although they haven't adapted as quickly as he, or anyone, would have hoped, they are improving and you can't deny that there is alot of talent there. Also, I don't understand your fascination with Fylling. He had such a great freshman year for the Sioux that he was asked to go back to the USHL. There, he's posted a 20-27-47 line in 40 games. Solid numbers yes, but not any better than Canady and R. Connelly posted last year and significantly less than Bochenski, Fournier and Massen (these 5 were the Sioux freshman forwards in the USHL last year). Obviously, USHL success does not immediately translate into WCHA success. I hope that Fylling has a breakout year for the Sioux next year but at this point I'm expecting him to be fighting for ice time.

Here's my thoughts on last night. Despite the fact that Tech decided not to show up, I was impressed with the Sioux. They showed intensity, carried over from last Saturday. Their passing was better than I've seen it all year. Highlights for me: Spiewak's goal to make it 4-1 was a thing of beauty and Massen's effort on the 9th goal was awesome. I still don't know about Andy, but for a pipe, he would have let in another long one. And he really wasn't tested. But, he has a great goalie helmet - that alone deserves another start. I'm excited for tonight's game. I think the Sioux will come out fired up and I hope Tech does to. Plus, I lucked out and got a suite ticket - which means free beer (I hope).

Well, I like the Sioux history video on the big screens in the ticket lobby. Also, you are going to want to look at all the old pictures on the upper and lower levels (and also the suite level, if you can sneak in there). That's going to take you at least an hour (you may need to grab a beer or a Mike's along the way!) - and it will give you a good walk through the whole arena. But if you can swing it, call ahead and see if you can get a tour of ice level. To me, that is the most amazing part of the arena - the locker rooms, the weight room, training and PT room, player's lounge, cooling plant, etc.