redwing77

First off, Wheeler's sliding into Tormey, Sioux fan or not, wasn't a running of the goaltender. It was a viciously bad skate-related injury to Tormey, yes. However, this wasn't Wheeler's fault entirely. Secondly, if Boogaard isn't on the ice to start a fight, what good is he? He can't score at all. He's not a setup guy or playmaker in the slightest. If he's that defensively sound, then make him a defenseman, but even I don't hear Wild homers and broadcasters bragging about his defensive skills. What they do brag about is Boogaard's fighting. When Derek first came to the league (or when I first saw him on the TV anyways) the commentators were marvelling how Derek made the NHL and was a "long shot" when first drafted because of his being known more for fighting than anything else. Tell me, when the TV commentators can only talk about Boogaard for his fighting, when his stats show nothing more than PIMs and a few paltry offensive stats, and when the game was on the line late last season Boogaard was NOT dressed, how is Boogaard worth a roster slot if it isn't for fighting?

PCM is still in the stone age. They've moved on to MD2020

I do based upon the fact that Mario had a sholarship offer from UND a long ways back. Then he hemmed and hawed and committed to NMU. Once that commitment took place, UND naturally lost interest. Now that he's left NMU, I don't see UND going through that again. Especially since they are pretty much stocked on 2008 recruits. If Mario wishes to walk on, I don't see Hakstol stopping him. I'm sure he'd be allowed to. I just don't see him coming to UND unless he gets zero scholarship offers before his 21st birthday. I think that's unlikely, so, he'll more than likely end up somewhere else. Maybe a CCHA team or ECACHL team or even AHA. Quinnipiac likes picking up transfers. If he does end up in the WCHA, I'd expect it to be UAA, MSUM, MTU, or UMD. No, I do not have any "inside" info. This is just a hunch on my part.

character assassinations? They don't happen here! Besides, since when does contract negotiations involve a card with numbers, a free space, and a bored dude spinning a wheel and screaming letter and number combinations into a microphone?

I was about to say that if Mario walked away from a schollie offer earlier (which allegedly UND did offer him one) then I doubt Hak would offer him one now. I'm curious though. If Mario was willing to go to NMU just to play with his brother, why not commit to Air Force?

I must be old because I remember the game this cheat code belongs to (or a game if there are multiple).

Maybe so, but you can't be 6'1 and a "bit under six feet tall" at the same time. You are either one or the other. Or maybe Jones can set his own height in a limited way?

I know being compared to Forsberg is a compliment because Forseberg is known for his scoring (in his prime anyways) but I don't know if I'd flaunt that comparison. That guy is the premier diver of the NHL. I mean, he makes Earl look like an amateur. The Stevie Y comparison is RIGHT ON, IMO.

Actually, I emailed him about that and he responded by admitting to knowing not much at all about our program. He used the word "toil" as more of a descriptive term to define the change in level of play and playing style. He also talked to someone (whoever that was) and was told that UND would be much younger this year, so obviously, he talked to a guy who knows little about our program. Blind leading the blind.

SAND BAGGER! :angry: mikejm- I'll do my best, but it does indeed take a village.... and to mention that his poor parsing is worth putting up with when weighed against the awesome prizes he's often disbursing amongst the lucky.

And that's what got me all riled up. I can't stand scapegoating regardless of who the player is.

I agree. Where you decide to go to school won't affect your draft status. However, whomever drafts you might alter your choice of schools (usually pushing to stay at the chosen school or sign with a major junior (MJ) team.. there are a few who do the retarded thing and sign them to a pro contract and then send them to MJ team).

How come you start a thread on other WCHA school recruiting, AZSioux, but say "Good for them" when someone points out that Minny got a recruit (Birkholz)?

What in tarnation are you doing with the other hand? Triouxper- THat's precisely my point.

Correct. Drew was born in Milwaukee, WI.

Still not really proper usage of the English grammatical system. Shouldn't it be something like: We've had a good amount of kids from the Twin Cities area in the last 4-5 years. However, most may have been overlooked being as that they spent much of their high school career at Shattuck unlike Fink, Gleason, Mattson, or Fienhage. Not sure if Kristo would count seeing as that he's played the past few seasons in Ann Arbor. I'm not sure if he left for the NTDP after his freshman or sophomore year in high school.

I don't know when Oshie's thumb was injured, but it seemed like he wasn't scoring much at all from the beginning of the season until Christmas (compared to the previous year) despite being teamed up with Toews and Duncan. I'm not saying that Oshie stunk last year. I'm not saying he should have been criticized either. I'm saying that calling out Lee for his flaws but not once calling out Oshie after seemingly nearly a half dozen empty net misses early in last season seems hypocritical. It just shows you the predisposition some fans have over certain players before they don the Sioux jersey with regards to performance expectations. What are fans going to say if Malone has a slow start (which I do expect his season to go similarly to Vandevelde's freshman campaign)? What are they going to say if Trupp is still hampered by his injury and has a similar freshman campaign to Forney's? Some are even starting to label Forney as a "potential bust" rather than what he should be: a player who has been injured and not been given the full benefit of the doubt because of said injury. What are fans going to say about LaPoint, being how his game and size is very comparable to Lee's? Will he be let off the hook solely because he wasn't a first round draft pick? He did do exceptionally well in the USHL and shouldn't those expectations follow him into UND? Who knows. It's going to be interesting with Lee gone who is going to be the "target" of the player bashing this year. I suppose Finley is still here.

Good point. My argument regarding hype is that of course Lee didn't live up to the hype as a Sioux. The hype was set at such an unrealistic point that posters would ignore positives entirely and only point out flaws. Instead of "He did great here but have problem at this point" we got "He blew/nearly blew the game tonight." When draft status/hype/whatever gets to the point where a fan/poster is unable to distinguish or find positives in the hyped player's performance, then it's become too hyped. I think that's why Oshie was let off the hook early in the season. He wasn't scoring at all, especially considering how many open nets he missed. Yet people gave him a pass. Brian gets beat once by a good move and people jump all over him, yet Oshie, not Lee, is supposed to be a star of the team. Like them, dislike them, but do so with an understanding that not every player you dislike is always screwing up during the game. Lee did a lot of good with the Sioux regardless of his mistakes. There are some posters here who have commented negatively towards Lee that I understood and were legit. Others just flat out blasted him. I guess to each their own is a valid point, but I just can't sit around and read post after post of people saying nasty things about players over and over again. That's not criticism, it's bashing.

I thought that was the Twins excuse? (By the way, put the nail in that coffin)

I don't consider finishing no worse than third on the team in defensemen scoring a disappointment. I don't consider NHL draft position to hold any kind of affect on expectations in any other league other than the NHL (otherwise Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Martin St. Louis would never have become recognizable names in hockey). I don't think it is unfair for fans to say that Lee's game had a few flaws here and there, but I do think it is unfair to characterize his entire Sioux career by those flaws. He actually did a pretty good job even though he wasn't as dominant defensively as Taylor Chorney. How accurate that Hockeysfuture prediction will be is yet to be seen, but I think Lee will get his shot in the show eventually. Fortunately (or unfortunately...I don't know yet) he's on a team who is pretty solid defensively at the NHL level.

One Correction: ERic Byfuglien, unless he changed his name, is Derrick Byfuglien

Yeah. I guess that's why it might be better to be a fan of Bemidji State. More manageable lists.

I thought VV was a power forward as well? He's certainly got the size for it. And Sioux- Who says everyone on the line has to be a scorer? What about a guy who can win faceoffs and get the puck to the scorers? I guess I see a balanced line as being a high scoring line. Stevie Y wasn't always the top scoring player on his line, but he was always near the top in assists. He could set em up almost as good as he can score. Oshie has that ability. I think VV may not have as much offensive upside as Oshie, but he can set em up pretty good himself. Don't sell VV short.

I think it depends. Ha ha, lovely answer, right? If Hak wants Oshie to play Center, VV won't be on the first line. If Hak wants Oshie to remain as a winger, then VV for sure will center the first line. The more I think of it, the more faceoff reliability we will need top to bottom, so that would put Oshie at Center on the first line and VV centering the second line.