Slap Shot

Nothing could be further from the truth. Woog is very quick to criticize the Gophers when they make an error, to compliment an opponent for doing something well, to criticize the officials when the Gophers got a gift call, and rarely (if ever) makes excuses for the Gophers. He may be a homer no doubt, but for the life of me I cannot comprehend people that don't hear the numerous times during a broadcast where he doesn't take the Gophers point of view.

1. Keep in mind that the comment in question came from one Gopher fan, so it's a bit disengenuous to claim it's refelctive of multiple, "fans". I think only the most delusional Gopher fan wouldn't recognize UND is a very, very good team and should be considered one of the NC favorites. 2. His comments obviously lacked dimplomacy but I think what he (badly) tried to say is that the team has hopefully turned the corner. Do I think the Gophers would have swept UND or UW had they played this well previously? Probably not. Will they sweep or "spank" UND and UW later on - probably not. However, the return of Ballard and Harrington has made a difference in the overall play of the defense, Briggs is playing better, the Gophers are having more success getting the puck out of their zone and the PP has been great. I noted in USCHO that they will have a rough time finishing in the Top 3, they have a legitimate shot at a Top 5 and even though the 4 and 5 seeds have had difficulty in the WCHA tournament, the coaching and talent of this team is high enough they could reach the title game. That their PWR will most likely be high enough for them to get an at-large bid means they are not down for the count. I will never say the Gophers will do this or that for the rest of the season (aside from winning the regular season title, which is way out of reach), but if I were anyone else I would be just as cautious to claim they will not do this or that.

Ok, I know I said it's better when UND and UW put out better teams, but the Gophers lose a lot after the next season so leave some for us, eh?

Doh, yes I meant Zach.

This isn't a knock on JP, but is he a legitimate 5'11"?

Goon, what are you going to do with yourself when 7=7? Both schools have very good classes coming in but it won't matter much until at least November when they've had a chance to try and gel with their respective teammates.

Good question: '81 N. Broten 17 54 71 A. Broten 47 59 106 B. Erickson 39 47 86 (btw, Ulseth also had 93 points that season) '93 P. Kariya 25 75 100 M. Montgomery 32 63 95 C. Ingraham 46 39 85 '01 J. Panzer 26 55 81 B. Lundbohm 32 37 69 R. Bayda 25 34 59

I don't know that we're ever to see offensive numbers like we saw from Broten-Broten-Erickson or Kariya-Montgomery-Ingraham anytime soon. It'd be interesting to see a comparison of overall GAA from year to year.

He'll play at least one more year, but no more than 3.

I just had a conversation with a former co-worker and was saying I could do without the 3-peat talk. I think everyone agrees UM has the talent on paper, but what the hell is that worth in June? How many people had CC picked to win the WCHA last year? Or Denver the year prior? I'd rather see people picking against the Gophers - put a chip on their shoulder so to speak - then they can dare everyone to knock it off a la that dude from Black Sheep. Although that was a battery, but it works the same. Last year I said the Sioux would not finish in the top 3 of the WCHA - this year they will. Out on a limb with that one, uh? It's the rest of the WCHA I have question marks about. I think MSUM has lost too much on O and their D was horrible last year. Unless they make great strides in the defensive zone, they will have a first round road series. SCSU will travel, as will UW, MTU and UAA. UMD, CC and DU round out the top 5.

Sounds like you guys are going through the same pains as Gopher fans after the new Mariucci was built. Here's hoping that in the future both schools will find ways to get the atmosphere in the buildings closer to what they were before.

Well....oh never mind.

For what it's worth, no college player picked in the Top 10 of the NHL draft has played all four years in college. The closest were: 3 years Aaron Ward #5 overall Jason Herter #8 overall Doug Zmolek #7 overall

Yes, I guess I see your point now....if Erickson wouldn't have been such a screw-off, if he would have kept his grades up, if he would have been accountable, if he would have been willing to work for his position...then I'm sure a coach of Donnie's integrity would have kept him around.

I think it's a two way street of accountability. A coach's obligation is to instruct, teach, guide, mentor, etc., etc. A student-athlete's obligation is to go to class, listen, learn, play hard, etc. If a player doesn't live up to his end of the bargain, I don't see much of a problem with letting the player go. I agree some coaches seem to have more freedoms than the athletes, (i.e.) being able to leave and coach immediatly, while a transferring player has to sit out a year, but if the institution in charge has any credibility they won't allow a coach to get away with too much. I've heard people ragging on Blais and I've chosen not to pay attention to it. I don't know nor care if the accusations have merit. If the question was more, "should a player not be able to lose their scholarship if their playing ability isn't up to expectations", unless a player leaves the school the scholarship imho should be honored with respect to paying for tuition.

I don't know if this stat is interesting to anyone else, but UAA scored over 50% of its goals on the PP. CC had the most PM in the conference, yet still managed to score the most goals in the conference and still had the best team defense. Only UAA and SCSU had a lower GAA in conference than overall, alluding to solid non-conference play by WCHA teams. Only three teams had a negative Goals/game differential, meaning those three teams were really outclassed by the rest of the conference. UM scored 74% of its goals after the 1st period overall and 80% in conference - talk about slow starts. UAA played zero neutral ice games, SCSU and DU just one. Only three teams (CC, UM, MSUM) had winning records in games when their opponent scored first, and those were the only teams with winning records in games when trailing after one, with CC winning all 5 of the games they trailed after one. UND was 16-2-1 when leading after one and 18-3-2 when scoring first, which appeared to be the best combined % of these two stats of all teams. CC is the only team have lead more than 50% of game time for all games.

Jim, no problem. I appreciate your willingness to accept it when I said I didn't intend to troll. In fact, if you do a search for posts from me in this forum you should find comments from me that are complimentary to the Sioux team's chances for next season. As WCHA fans I think it's natural for us to play up the rivalry and it doesn't have to be done maliciously. I perhaps wrongly assumed having a bit of fun with the fans of a rival would have been recognized. Hell, even the Sioux fans next to me at the X for the WCHA Final Five game against CC mockingly sang the Rouser and I thought it was funny when they wore MSUM hats for the semi-final game.

I see Jim, so you're going to aver what was going through my head when I made that post? Because it was not my intent to taunt nor troll. The title of the thread was not specific to any one team and I never had the impression non-Sioux fans weren't welcome here if they kept it civil. Well, I don't attack Sioux fans or make fun of the Sioux, so your accusation has no merit. As for going after Grant to get Ryan, I don't know that it can ever be ruled out unless you were in on the decision, but I think Grey provides good reason to believe Grant presented enough upside to warrant his own

I didn't realize I needed your permission to post something relavent to a thread titled, "NHL Central Scouting rankings". I didn't flame, attack or belittle anyone and in fact, included a smiley face to indicate it was all in good fun. Perhaps I was wrong to assume I could participate in the spirit of the thread - hockey scouting and the hopes for the future of a hockey fans' favorite hockey team. I shall try to avoid bunching your panties in the future.

3 VANEK, THOMAS 55 POTULNY, RYAN 75 VANNELLI, MICHAEL 76 IRMEN, DANNY 85 GUYER, GINO 172 HIRSCH, TYLER 179 KENNEDY, PETER 15 WEBER, TRAVIS

I knew he (and essentially you) meant enigma, but I'm still wondering what an enima is supposed to be. These are the closest matches I could find: 1. anima 2. enema 3. anemia 4. anaemia 5. enemy 6. enigma 7. animo

From your spelling, I can't tell if you're trying to say goalies are a mystery or an injectin of liquid into the anus.

This is the e-mail I sent to him when the article first came out: Mr. Kiszla, Your article from yesterday is a classic example of bulletin-board material from a guy who clearly doesn't know a thing about hockey, but runs his mouth about the hometown anyway. You actually took to ripping on their uniforms? Are you aware the Wild sweater is the #2 seller in the NHL? What team doesn't try to goad other teams into creating turnovers, taking stupid penalties and giving up odd-man rushes? How do teams TRY for soft goals? Soft goals happen by accident, yet the Wild have scored off of quality chances in this series. If Foote is correct about the supposed HUGE talent gap (I readily admit there is A gap), why is the series tied and why did the Wild play with the Avalanche during the regular season? How did they manage 42 wins in arguably the best division (4 playoff teams) in the NHL? You claim the number of playoff teams should be reduced. What's the solution - reduce by 4 teams per conference (thus removing St. Louis, Minnesota, Anaheim, Edmonton, Toronto, Washington, Boston, and the Islanders) or 3 (which would force the NHL to use a ridiculous wild-card system)? You also have the audacity to claim Jacques LeMaire teaches players how to be cheap. Tony Granato will never be half the coach Jacques is and he walked into a fantastic team loaded with talent. As for claiming the Wild are cheap and goad their opponents, not only did Forsberg elbow Ronning, but he also took a SIX-step run at Walz in Game One, yet Walz got a penalty! Forsberg is the most highly skilled player in the game but he is not even close to being above the cheap stuff. The diving call on Walz Saturday was comical, too. Battaglia (known for diving, too) damn near went knee-to-knee on Walz, and he stuck his leg out to do it. Perhaps you were simply trolling with this article, or sucking up to the local fan base, a fan base that didn't have the hockey knowledge to cheer mightily for Peter Sejna (you being a hockey expert surely know of Peter Sejna) when scored in a game against the Avalanche in Denver at the end of the season. xxxxx

I don't know that repeating is hard to do simply because it's a repeat. I think it has more to do with the fact there are generally x# of teams per year talented enough to win it all. I think Lucia has enough ability to keep the team focused next year, but the fact is there will be other quality teams with the same goal, a team needs to avoid untimely injuries, get a bit of luck and put together a string of strong games at the end of the year.

It means you need to tone it down a bit.