stoneySIOUX

Ugh, it's not 7 yet

Boy, do I love this series. Once our roster started to take shape, I felt like we'd have a great shot at something special. Let's find out where we stand. UND uses the crowd and comes out flying. 5-2 win good guys. Blake, Gaber, Perron x2, Jammer

Ugly colors?

Fair enough, I'm thinking more about the guys they lost. Lots of big time players with experience in big time games. Plus, none of their D-corps played here. I'd say we have the experience factor, but it's not a massive difference, I can agree with that.

GREAT stuff.

Expanding upon that, looking forward to see how a guy like Persson handles this crowd. He's well seasoned, but this will be a different atmosphere than he's seen at the Ralph before. He's shown to be very calm and collected in nature and we need that big time. Need to lean on a guy like Pehrson on the backend to keep the boys calm and poised in the d-corps. Big minutes from him. As far as the forward group goes... absolute balls to the walls. I wanna see Johannes or Jammer blow someone up on the first shift. I bet the Triple J line starts the game.

I think this is a great point. We are more senior in terms of games played, with Minny being rather young. I'd bet this will be the loudest and most raucous atmosphere a majority of their kids have ever played (I guess the same could be said for some of our transfers, too). Gotta come out hard. Man, if we pot one early...

Lol in his defense, a lot of our opinions are based on anecdotal evidence, and so are his. All good. I get his point.

While certainly anecdotal, being a UND grad and living in the Minneapolis area, every hockey fan in my circle who cheers for Minnesota still considers it a major, major rivalry, and most in that same circle hate UND more than any other. Are you considering the casual fan who doesn't really follow college hockey vigorously? Just listen to the crowd on Friday. That's all the questions that need be answered.

Holy eff... is this gonna happen?!

Didn't play our best and a lot to work on, but still rolled 7-2. Clean it up and start 2-0. Gladly to see Bucky back in the REA. Should be a fun one. UND 5-3 Perron, Gaber, Strinden, Berg, Pyke

If you didn't call it out, I was gonna

You guys are so old LOL But man, do I love this place

We're playing real life, big boy hockey today! So pumped. I think UND sets the tone for the season starting tonight. Use the adrenaline from the building and get out quick. 6-1 UND Gaber, McLaughlin, Livanavage, Perron, James, Jammer

Lots of local-ish flavor on the Army squad, including a Grand Forks native: Lucas Kanta (Grand Forks, N.D) Easton Zueger (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Jon Bell (St. Cloud, Minn.) Nik Hong (Minneapolis, Minn.) Ricky Lyle (Duluth, Minn.) Joey Dosan (Bloomington, Minn) Jake Felker (Omaha, Neb.)

With a couple of small exceptions, throughout the lineup on the backend I noticed two things... poise and correct and fast transitions up the ice to our forwards. Saw very little of those two things last season. With how quick and skilled our forwards are, these two things are so important and will bear fruit all season long.

Definitely agree all around.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean lol

In all fairness, those two are likely in suits on Friday.

Fair enough, but there was a clear difference in how that team functioned in the exhibition versus the one we saw all last year and it was glaring. It wasn't just the players executing, it was what they were doing. I'll make this clear... I'm not saying this team won't have bumps.... I'm saying that what I saw was very impressive and I'd be very surprise to see a significant drop from that level.

I think that anyone who watches that exhibition and watched us thoroughly dominate a team from start to finish while holding them to six total shots will not want to play us regardless of the time in the season! We'll see if it continues, but I would be surprised to see a dramatic change. I think the team, particularly the forward group, showed how they intend to play all season.

While I get your point, since the end of March, I feel like the the Mankato series got significantly less daunting and they will likely not be ranked by the time we play them. I think that Wisco will end up being a PWR plus for us, eventually. I definitely think we are getting them at a good time. Minny and BU, no doubt.

They way they came out and showed out in the from the drop of the puck in the exhibition, I would be incredibly disappointed if we didn't come out flying on Friday.

I think some gentle coaching could have been used here, @The Sicatoka .... @SIOUXFAN97, I can think of at least two threads where we could put that comment into that have been used this week. I think that's what he's getting at.