redwing77

Me? Nope. Just had some extra time and I was a bit bored.

I'm just happy that you can type right side up

Ken Tasker of the Toledo Storm vs. Trevor Senn of the Richmond Renegades Looking at hockeydb.com, this fight happened between 1998-2000. I am 100% sure it is Ken Tasker and I know the other guy is Trevor and his last name sounds like Zenn, Senn, Said, or Zed. But this is my best guess.

I'm going with Turris as ROTY over LaPoint and perhaps McDonagh or White. I agree that Turris should score about 40-even 50 points with the Badgers. He should be in the top 3 in scoring on that team. Since that team has no offense to speak of, just defensive mastery through the trap and boring opponents to sleep, Turris' accomplishments will stand out more than White's.

I agree. This is getting "Graham Kracker-ish" in a way. And the likeness to Brian Lee is scary. Only Lee was 18-19 years old whereas Buning was much older. Hakstol hasn't walked yet. Things are still in the works. No one has the real info. Only Buning and Hakstol would, though there MIGHT be a few others. Highly doubtful that Buning would do anything harmful to UND. Highly doubtful that Hakstol would do anything to undermine his employer. What is left is opinion. What's happening is that those who didn't like Buning when he was hired are now arming up with "weapons" to say "See? I told you so." While others aren't having any of it to various degrees. I find it interesting that posters are now condescending towards other posters, and that's what is GrahamKracher-ish about it. Everyone is like "Everyone who agrees with me is my friend. Everyone who has a different opinion is wrong and stupid for it." This thread should be closed if all that's going to happen is mudslinging.

I don't think VV's passing skills and vision are as good as Oshie's, but I think they are close. If it was, he'd probably have gone in the first round (probably top 15 because you put VV's size and Oshie's skill set together and you have a sure fire NHLer). However, after Oshie, I'd say VV's passing skills are close to the best on the team. That's what I meant by rivalling Oshie. The fact that he's made some passes that were very Oshie-like in his time with the Sioux. The difference may be that the notable passes Oshie has made have been spectacular and resulted in a goal (like the two you mentioned). However, VV has made some VERY good passes that seemed to get to the intended target somehow but wasn't finished. For example, VV made a great pass from the corner out towards the front of the net that hit Forney square on the stick, but Forney couldn't finish. I would say however, the most effective passes regardless of the player who does it is the pass that leads to a goal. It's like a world class move or deke made on a player. It's nice and all, but if it doesn't result in a goal, really, what good was the deke (No, I'm NOT referring to Kessel here. I'm actually referring to the 2000 NC game in which Jack Edwards made a mess in his shorts over a nice move by Farkas. However, as nice a move as it was, Goehring challenged Farkas and the result was a save, not a goal. Yet Edwards called it the "move of the playoffs." What a worthless move. No goal, who cares about the move.)?

Uh.... where did I say that? I've argued long before now that VV would be a GREAT center for the first line, but all indications (at least on this board) is that Oshie is centering the first line. If Oshie is to center the first line then, no, I don't want VV on the first line. He should be playing Center. Truthfully, I think Oshie is a great center but VV centerring that line would be beautiful because it adds size to the line. Oshie is all of 5'10 or 5'11 while Duncan is 5'6. VV's 6'2 frame in front of the net, coupled with his faceoff skills and his passing abilities (which IMO rival Oshie's) would make the line lethal. But I would NOT put VV on the first line as a winger, no.

My thoughts exactly

Oh comon, don't tell me that volleyball wouldn't increase in popularity if they did go to that style.

First off, why do they even need cheerleaders for volleyball? What are they going to cheer? "Comon girls, you can do it, jump and spike there's nothing to it!? I like soccer, but they don't need cheerleaders. I'm not even sure there are people that go to the games. What we do need is beach volleyball-style teams. If the girls are playing in bikinis..... again, cheerleaders aren't needed, the house would be packed though.

Sorry, but putting VV on the wing would be a tremendous waste. VV was the 2nd or 3rd most reliable faceoff guy (only Toews and perhaps Oshie were more reliable) last season. I have no problem with Oshie centering the first line, but surely VV would then center the 2nd line. I dunno.... Forney-Oshie-Duncan Trupp-VV-Watkins/Frattin Zajac-Kaip-Kozek Malone-Radke-Frattin/? Who knows what the combos will be. I don't know who will center the 4th line at all. Trupp may end up on the first line, but I'd rather team up speed with size. VV provides size to that line like Forney does to the first line. I think if we have two lines with two fast and small players like Trupp and Duncan, we'd be more dangerous than if we put both Trupp and Duncan on the same line. I'd also expect Kozek to flirt with a scoring line next season at some point. I think the guy can play offensively.

I'm not "anti-hunter." And I don't go hunting with other people for self preservation. I do know which end of the gun is the "business end." No apologies are necessary. It was a stupid post and I had what was coming to me for not thinking before posting. I'm not "truly" a North Dakotan (using the East Coast mantra). I was born in Rochester, MN and moved to Fargo when I was 2. I do not consider North Dakota to be a bad place. It is not flyover country. Of course, I believe there are other places that have more fun times to offer young people, but I think North Dakota is just a nice place to live overall. The final word is thus: Ed Schultz is a dumbass. He can argue against it all he wants, but the more he tries the moreso he is. Dead airtime is more inspiring.

I was surprised at a few on the list. I remember Ihnacak being highly lauded coming into college. Same thing with Darin Olver, Brett Hemingway, and Wes O'Neill. However, the most surprising is Matt Zaba. I don't think he did too poorly in his college tenure. And if Glenn Fisher can be signed, I don't see why Zaba was any worse than Fisher.

I tried, but it wasn't done very well. It came out too ascerbic. I'm not a true outdoorsman. I have no problem admitting that. I don't hunt. I don't like hunting. I don't care about hunting. But it isn't my business to ensure that others feel similarly. To each their own. I enjoy camping and hiking, but I don't think that's the same thing. I also do that very rarely as I'm the only person in my family who does enjoy that. In any case, I think the show concept is nice. Anything to decrease the political talk radio bs.

Uh, yeah, that day I was quite a bit ticked off and I took it out on the wrong person (and group of people by extension). For that, I apologize and I'd delete the post if I could. Conserving the duck habitat is great. So is the great outdoors. I'm not a big part of that stuff, but that doesn't mean that I should knock it. As a poster pointed out, it IS better than NASCAR. For all those here who were offended by what I wrote, I am truly sorry. I did not mean to cause offense. I don't think Leir is a fool, a tool, or any unsightful character type. He knows what he is talking about even if I may not care too much about the topic area. Next time I'll try to do better. UPDATE: YAY! I deleted the embarrassing post.... now if only those who quoted it would erase my post from theirs....

I can never replace the "old" in PCM. As for curmudgeon....

I wonder how he'll feel once he gets to the NHL? Players who make the NHL make it because they are the best of the rest. O'Brien may very well start out on the 4th line and then what? Sit out pouting because the 3 centers in front of him are flat out better than he is? Why should Lucia give O'Brien preferential treatment? O'Brien could have jumped Carmen, Okposo, and Wheeler. He just needed to EARN it by outplaying them. That didn't happen and JImmy got upset enough to make Ottawa notice. Moving back to D, O'Brien would have gotten tons of ice time. I'd rather have him on the blue line than an untried freshman like Bickel or Wehrs. Whatever. Have a nice time with the Thunderturds, Jimmy.

Top 3 will be UND, UMN, and SCSU/Tech 3 and 4 will be closely contended. UW will get 5th DU 6th CC 7th UMD 8th MSUM 9th UAA 10th. I don't think MTU will start in the top 3. I also agree that they will have a rough first half. I think the teams that could vary the most are UW, UMD, and DU. Reasons: UW -- COnnelly is a Jekyl/Hyde type goaltender. He started out flat out awful. He got better but was largely in games against weaker opponents or games that didn't matter. There may have been a few meaningful games in there (especially during Elliott's injury) but it is hard to say how a full season as #1 could affect him. If it affects him like it affected Elliott, they could beat MTU into the top 3. UMD - They lost two top scorers, for sure, but I think they have a solid goaltender if he learns to play a little less aggressively. They are relatively unknown and could be taken for granted. I think Sandy is a good coach and he may be able to surprise a few this year. DU -- They were stacked before defections and I'm not altogether convinced that they are depleted. They play a similar game to UW so they don't need all world style talent in order to win. They just need to stay awake themselves until the other team falls asleep due to sheer boredom that the trap brings to the game. Mannino/Cheverie goaltending tandem (plus that wildcard Norwiegian goaltender Ppaallggaarrdd) should be very good. CC could go up or down, but O'Connell has been worse than Connelly when Connelly has a bad day. I still don't see the scoring depth and defensive depth might be a problem. They could fluctuate for sure. Definitely not a bad team. Just a lot of unknowns.

LaPoint by extension? Perhaps Buning (based upon the posts on the Hakstol contract thread). I dunno. In any case, Mapletoft gets signed by Ottawa. We all know that if I was right, Mapletoft never would have spent any time in Europe

I thought there were lots of scouts and analysts who questioned O'Brien's character. Wasn't there a rumor that UND withdrew its interest (or at least stopped recruiting him as hard) once the character issues were more evident to all involved? I agree with AZSioux in that he should not have been a first round pick, but I don't think that he would have fallen too much farther if he wasn't. Certainly Ottawa wouldn't have been able to draft him if he fell to the second round. This move by O'Brien makes him the latest idiot. What confounds me is that everyone seems to take his stupidity and place it on the shoulders of Lucia. I don't like Lucia. I don't like the Gophers. However, this decision was entirely made off of O'Brien's stupidity and had little to do with Lucia or the UMTC program. If I were to guess what changed his mind I'd imagine it would involve something along the lines of "Do I HAVE to go to class? Why can I just play hockey and mess around with the ladies?" Where does this put UMTC? Well, I thought UMTC would be in trouble defensively regardless of O'Brien's coming or going if Goligoski left. Everyone know EJ would sign. Offensively speaking, I think UMTC will take a hit from the blue line but it won't be that bad. Fairchild should be adequate offensively. Defensively speaking, this has always been a problem for the Gophers. They have Schack and Fischer as bruisers, but Lucia doesn't play an overly physical game style. They are a puck possession team. I think O'Brien will be missed on the ice, but I doubt he'll be missed off the ice. The Gophers simply have too much talent and this allows players who may not have had much of a role (like Wehrs for example) to take a better role on the team. They also could find a plug in defenseman if they needed it. I remember Schack wasn't exactly recruited long and hard before the season started. He was a late addition to the team, IIRC. I do agree that this development puts UND squarely in the drivers seat in the WCHA. And that means hype and expectations are going to be astronomical, especially early on in the season. I can't bear the thought of what will happen if we should lose one or two games. No...wait... I already know what will happen. In any case, this is not where I'd like the Sioux to be opening up the season. I'd rather have Minnesota, SCSU, or UW be the favorite.

Apparently, this is true except when the information may not be what you'd like it to be.

Not luck really. It appeared to me like both Michigan and UND wanted to play a run and gun type game and that usually produces more save opportunities for goaltenders. Phil didn't have a great game, for sure, but Sauer flat out didn't show up. Michigan's D never adjusted. UND had a bad first period and first part of the second period. But UND got better as the game progressed. Michigan stagnated and sort of tried to outslug us, which works provided the D is there to prevent any retaliation. Sauer looked incompetant all game long. And people thought Montoya wasn't very good his last year... this kid is in trouble professionally.

Forgive me, but how does signing O'Brien give them any assistance towards NHL-ready spares? Yeah, he's talented. Yeah, he'll eventually make the NHL. However, you'd be a fool to think that, if he signed today he would make the NHL this season. He's VERY young and raw. If Ottawa was smart, they'd sign some washed up CHLers, some UFA rookies (Like Porter if he goes free agent route), or cheap Europeans if they can get them. For example, isn't Darby Hendrickson playing overseas? Couldn't Ottawa sign him? Dixon Ward as well? Ok, they are both forwards, sure, but I"m positive that they could find some cheap defensemen to tide them over until O'Brien is ready to sign. It's not like Ottawa's NHL team is down the toilet. They're still very very good. Again, if O'Brien signs, it will be an idiotic move by both sides. I also think that O'Brien's season will go much like Chucko's did. Up and down with disappointment abounding. IMO he's 2-4 years from the NHL (at least a long stint in the NHL) and Ottawa has a choice to make: Like it or not, one of those 2-4 years will be played in the AHL with a few games here in there at the NHL level performance permitting. So, that leaves 2-3 years up in the air. Does Ottawa wish to pay O'Brien for those 2-3 years or do they wish to have him develop in an amateur league such as Minnesota for free? It seems to me that there is a higher return on their investment if Ottawa waits for 1-2 years. That's my opinion.