redwing77

I don't know. I've never been abusive to any WCHA official. The thing is: Sometimes the truth feels abusive.

This will be memorable. My guess: Team MVP- Oshie Most Improved - Kozek (Forney would get my vote, but Forney really hasn't played healthy yet... we'll know more about him when he's healthy) Most Disappointing - The Freshmen (Like Sioux17 said, I think there are already inklings of hype placed on these players such that it really doesn't matter what they do. If they aren't completely dominant and play nearly flawlessly defensively, they (or some of them) will be disappointments) D POTY - Phil Lamoreaux O POTY - Duncan ROTY - LaPoint Best non-first liner: Kaip Ok, I didn't put any defensemen down as nonirst liner and if VV isn't on the first line, he goes in place of Kaip. And YES, the "Most disappointing" claim is an exaggeration. I know that 99% of the Sioux fans don't think like that and are probaby tired of that line. But really, our expectations have gotten so high I wonder what possibly they could do to avoid unrealistic expectations. As for Kaip. I don't think Kaip will be the best OFFENSIVE non-first liner. I think he'll be the best non-first liner leadership and effort wise. C - Kaip A - Chorney A- Bina A - Oshie

I agree. We've had some darn good football players pass through UND, but none really have had the kind of rep, hype, and success as many of their hockey counterparts throughout the histories of the respective programs.

VERY GOOD POINT. Mafiaman- I agree. I don't think this outburst of Greg's holds any water as to why he should be fired. However, he still needs to take a permanent vacation from officiating even if we have together and buy Greg a beach house in California.

But if this speculation is true... I'm the first to admit I'm a pretty poor predictor.

Martens didn't fare too poorly in the BCHL and yet he doesn't play that much. I don't really put much weight into the MJHL as far as offensive numbers. As for who does he replace? My money is that Davidson's arrival means the certainty that Hamilton is no longer with the team. I still feel bad for Shea. He picked the wrong team to transfer to. He should have transferred to Duluth or BSU if he wanted to be closer to home AND play.

Nice pickup but we have a logjam at forward...so we pick this guy up? Makes no sense to me except maybe he's another Foyt type guy who is happy to be a team player, plays hard when called upon to play, but spends most of his Sioux career in a suit. By the way, UW got a commitment from Gardiner per Heisenberg.

Doubtful. I keep reading that goaltenders take longer to develop than other players. Since Lou seems to be willing to wait for players to develop and has a knack for snatching players who are ready right away or close to it (Commodore, Hale, Parise, and Zajac are examples), I'd be surprised if Lou rushed Frazee. Frazee wasn't very effective against the Sioux, but neither was Briggs or really any goaltender (other than BC's Schneider) the second half of last season. THey were effective once late last season (WCHA Final Five Championship game). That being said, I would NOT be surprised to see Frazee finish out his eligibility at Minnesota before getting signed by NJ (he WILL be signed, I assure you). Really, this is the year for Frazee. He's now the most experienced of the Gopher goaltending staff (Solei doesn't count). If Kangas beats him out for the starting role, then Frazee will be in trouble, but anything short of that and he'll be ok.

Didn't know the Devs signed Weekes. I thought I read that the Devs staff was ok with Parise's rookie AHL campaign. The thing is, Doyle's mediocre year was his contract year. May be lights out for an NHL contract with the Devs at least. I'm sure he'll catch on either an AHL team if he isn't resigned by the Devs or signed by another NHL club.

Any goaltenders out there? Looking at Toews' goal, the goaltender gave up nearly all of his ground and was all but in the net when Toews scored. Obviously the goaltender didn't play it right or Toews wouldn't have scored, but here's my question: How could that goaltender have played it better? Poke check? Stood ground?

I thought your 2 month hiatus was just you hatin'

You are right. No league is consistent with the way they call games. Which is why I think Greg needs to work harder to make it so. It can't be a penalty one minute for one team and not be a penalty another minute on either the same or the other team. Situational officiating is a problem, period. I did not mean to imply that the WCHA is the only league that has this problem. The WCHA is the only league I care about really. I know it is tough to be a ref and that it is easier to ref from the stands, but there have been too many game changing bad calls in the past few years, blatent ignorance of NCAA crackdowns, and games in which the safety of the players was placed in dire jeopardy and VERY LITTLE has been done to remedy it. I don't think all the officials should be fired, or that an official should be fired if they have a bad game here and there. However, there are officials who CONSISTENTLY have bad games and THOSE are the ones that should be fired. In my opinion, Greg has failed time and again to take ANY sort of action to remedy this. Mason's dismissal is news to me. And I think change needs to happen faster rather than "wait and see."

I agree, but it will be interesting to see who will. Frank Doyle had a mediocre year with Lowell last year and he's a free agent anyways. I have no clue who the Devils' ECHL goaltenders are. I mention this only because often times they'll send one goaltender to the AHL and another the ECHL not based upon performance factors, but rather playing time factors (surely not the sole reasoning but a component for sure). They may try to land a free agent backup for cheap if they can find one. It worked well for the Wild (Backstrom)

I never used under the bus. Haven't for a while. I know it gets annoying and it seems endless. Kindof like the Lee bashing. Got tiring and it was endless. And don't give me that "criticism" crap. Only 25% of it was honest criticism. Who am I going to apologize for if LaPoint wins ROY? No one! I was a big fan of Lee's. I'm a big fan of LaPoint! I think LaPoint has a good chance at winning the ROY. Yeah, I'd think Turris has a good chance at it, but with Eaves' system, that 10-15-25 scoring line better be pretty significant. (For all you UW fans or Turris fans, there's no way in HELL Turris would score so low if he were on teams like Michigan, UND, UMN, or even SCSU). So, yeah, LaPoint has a very legit shot. You're right. Most people haven't seen LaPoint play. But they have seen his score sheet, read the articles about him, and heard him compared to Lee. I think that is more than enough material to form a sort of hype that LaPoint will be hard pressed to live up to or in the case of comparison to Lee, disprove. He's the same size as Lee and his physical game is identical to Lee's, at least according to every account I've read. Maybe it will be wrong, but if it is right... do the math. What I WILL say is that I will stand up for any Sioux player if unjustly chastised. All the crap that was thrown around last season was embarrassing. AZ- Well said. I guess I just don't like needless ragging.

That's all well and good. Good for you and great for him that he "knows the game." I'm one of the biggest detractors on Greg Shepherd and I don't think he needs to be fired because he "doesn't know the game." Don Adam doesn't know the game. The reasons why are simple: 1. As you mentioned, he doesn't always like what the guys call. Well, why doesn't he do something about it? Where's the accountability? We've had the same officials for years and they make bad call after bad call after bad call and NOTHING SEEMS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT! Ok, it nearly took Bina getting paralysed for an official to even get suspended!!!!!! Sorry, if you see bad officiating you try to improve it or you replace the offending employee. Evidence is nonexistant in either option thus far. 2. When things go to hell, you don't promote the leader, you replace him. George W. Bush didn't promote Brown (whatever the guy's name who was in charge of FEMA) after Katrina did he? McLeod promoted Greg from part time to full time. I guess that is as much for firing Bruce as it is for firing Greg. 3. Greg uses the same excuse year after year for failing to improve the state of officiating. "The coaches have no complaints." Blah blah blah. Well, perhaps. But the coaches know the officials and know what kind of crappy jobs they are going to do going into the game. If they call for wholesale changes this known becomes an unknown and, hence, the reluctance. 4. Greg finds assinine reasons to ignore rule crackdowns that are only made to benefit all involved. He says obstruction is down to a point where they don't need to emphasize it yet clutch and grab is alive and well. Diving isn't a problem in the WCHA (mostly because those who have done it the most have now either gone pro or graduated). He finds nothing wrong with the concept of situational officiating. In close games, or games that mean a lot, it's not all that uncommon to see officials swallow the whistle in the 3rd period only to see sure penalties go uncalled. And OT? It's remarkable there weren't injuries in OT last season as there were plenty of occasions where it was DEFINITELY possible. Greg needs an accountability program and he needs to stress consistency. He needs to get rid of situational officiating and start taking NCAA mandates seriously. He needs to start monitoring official attitudes not towards the games themselves, but towards the players and teams in the league. And he needs to stop being "buddy buddy" and empathize with officials when they have bad games. Bad games happen, sure, but if they happen repeatedly, hard decisions must be made and they must be made swiftly and without remorse. I don't see Greg as capable of doing any of that.

Nice to have company. Say, Trioup, when do we start "apologizing" for LaPoint? I know he hasn't played any games for the Sioux yet, but all the scouts say his game is similar to Lee's and his physicality is similar to Lee's... They also say he's a bit raw. Should we wait 2 games? 3 games? How long?

Uh, I don't apologize for Lee's mistakes. I've never said he was the best defenseman on the Sioux. I never said he belongs on the list of all time greats. All I said is that half the crap he got from this board he did not deserve. If that makes me an apologist, better that than a hater.

Oh my god how Lidstrom struggles. As a Red Wings fan, I can tell you first hand how we fans rue every day Lidstrom is on the ice. Norris Trophies are overrated. I think they hand those trophies out to the players who look best in reebok jerseys. I STILL love the "if a defenseman isn' a physical bruiser, he sucks" mentality.

I'd think that'd be the best possible option. Veteran leader on the blue line takes rookie under wing. Is on the ice to cover for him if he does make the mistake. Since LaPoint is allegedly as physical a defenseman as Lee, then certainly a certain group of "fans" will want Chorney on the same line as LaPoint. And, yeah, I think LaPoint qualifies as very very good.

I think Lee's vacated spot was taken up by Frattin.

Like Sioux, I have seen the video. But if you are looking to attribute this yet again to a disdainful opinion of me, be my guest, but I was one last year at this time that predicted accurately that Vandevelde would have a slow start his freshman year. I also stood up for him numerous times throughout the season (yeah, argue if you will that I stand up for nearly every Sioux player (Siembida being the sole exception)). I watched Malone and he wasn't the hardest skating forward on the ice in the video. That doesn't mean he's bad or that he will stink. I think the speed of the DI game will hinder him for a while and, when he gets enough playing time and it starts to slow down for him, he'll take off. I think Malone's impact won't much be felt until January or perhaps even February. Just my hunch. One added note: I read here somewhere that Forney had offseason shoulder surgery. So, depending upon where he's at postop at the time playing starts, he should be ok.

I agree, it is ridiculous. But give it time.... we have to wait until he's at least played one or two games.

I see a lot of bogus 5 on 3s, 4 on 3s, and perhaps even 3 on 3s (if that's not legal, don't put it past the WCHA to make it happen).

(here's my stab) Oshie can see daylight in the Artic Winter.

What makes you think 2 will be any better? Could you imagine Freeman as the AR with Adam and Anderson as the two refs? How's that better? Sorry, I think the Sioux need to take full practices rotating 4 PK lines. I think ALL WCHA teams need to do that. We will have many 30+ penalty games (counting both teams in the contest). 2 ref systems work on paper. Like the one ref system, two ref systems require compentant officiating and competant leadership to work. The WCHA has neither.