redwing77

Yeah, it's always a sad story to see those horror stories (or horror postings) on sites. Thanks for being such a classy fan.

Born in Rochester, MN. Flooded out in 1979, moved to Fargo, ND and lived there until my freshman year at UND. since then, I've called Grand Forks, EGF, Thief River Falls, Everett (Washington State), and Seattle home.

Oh dear, maybe this is classless, but I agree with Hockeymom. I mean, when she says something like this after being such a steadfast supporter of the ladies, you have to take notice. I can't wait to see what they do. It's too bad because Paul Collotino (Hockeymom, my spelling sucks, help me out?) would have been the obvious choice.

Wow. Please tell me you made a mistake and posted this while not fully considering the consequences. I don't like the Gophers but attributing his decision to don a Gopher sweater to cancer.... defies .... there's no words that can express how wrong that statement is. In any case, best of luck to Phil, even though if this came out (and it was true) I'd be pissed as hell that it got leaked to the public. NO WAY would I want something that personal being shared with everyone unless I wanted it published.

You've heard the addage about the two roads. Well, it's easier to point fingers at people for "dropping the ball" than it is to pick those people up when they are down and support them. Those that do support them are seen, often times, as homers, rubes, idiots, and generally "blind to the truth." Well, consider me blind to the truth because I will support Finley, Lee, Radke, and every individual player regardless of what I think of the team's effort (which is less than satisfactory, by the way) regardless of what those who take the "easy road" wish to say.

This stuns the hell out of me. This thread was custom made for you, Lives-to-play. Where else can you blame all the world's problems on one guy so easily where you have posters such as LeftyZl stating that they won't defend Joe for fear of getting blasted? We already have a fire hakstol thread and a thread that makes it seem like they'd like Hakstol gone but they are afraid to say it (How else could you explain a thread comparing Blais to Hakstol 3 years after Blais left?). We've already had a thread that basically blasted Lee. This is your one shot. The fact that you are not taking it is truly astounding. I applaud your sudden influx of class. As for the topic of the thread, could care less. I do find it somewhat assuring that all our defensive problems and, hence, why we are losing, is because of Joe Finley. Getting rid of Joe would mean that we'd suddenly start stopping weak goals, scoring more than 2-3 goals per game, making crisp passes, and playing a full 60 minutes of hockey. I mean, every time Phillippe gets beaten 5 hole, it's because Joe Finley didn't lay out a guy. Or we don't score goals because Joe Finley was on the ice sucking the willpower of the team. Joe Finley puts his stick out to disrupt passes between teammates too. Please.

I wasn't around to blow sunshine around this weekend. Sorry. In any case, I think we can win both games this weekend vs. MTU. They played very well so far, but we've had their number for a while. But which team will show up? The team that played UW opening weekend/Saturday's CC game or the team that showed up vs. Maine/UAA? I think winning these games aren't entirely going to depend upon how good MTU will play this weekend. It will depend upon whether or not we show up to play and bury our chances.

I would love it if this past weekend was "rock bottom" for the Sioux. This way we can go up from there. It certainly cast a dark shadow on my weekend to see the scores on USCHO stating we didn't win both nights.

Ok, I was in the Twin Cities this weekend attending my sister's graduation from the University of Minnesota (she hates hockey in general so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and not disown her ), have stitches removed from my left eye (YAY!), and I missed both games. Now, I know the usual "X player sucks" and "Bench X indefinitely" and so on. That's been pushed around for a while. Right now, I think Team defense is really nonexistant, our offense is confusing to me (where is it?), I have seen lack of fundamentals (bad penalties, piss poor passing), and suspect goaltending all around, and this was coming into this weekend. Yeah, I say that knowing full well someone will jump on me, but I believe that it is the team that is doing poorly, and though individual players have it worse than others, I blame our troubles on the team rather than the individuals. Just how I roll. In any case, apart from the obvious (Just win baby), are the Sioux out of it? Can we get back into the picture? Does this really mark the end of the season for us?

I don't know.... I think the US is really short on goaltending this year and they are going to be even shorter on playing time together before the WJC begins. Notice how Toews is leaving before the rest of them? I think their selection policy isn't just the only reason why they play so well as a team...

No doubt. If anyone had worse luck in a Sioux uniform not named Bina, I'd think it would be Brady Murray.

Aw shucks.

I'm agreeing with you SportsDoc. I'm no fan of Downie, he was skate to skate as cheap as any player I've ever seen. The difference between Downie and the cheapest player I've ever seen live (Alexander Ovechkin- Twice) is that AO actually has more to his game than Downie. Jim Dahl and Caps fans- AO has improved dramatically since he's turned pro. He didn't dive at all the one time I saw him at the MCI Center. He even scored a goal.

Nice. I don't recall saying they were all stars. But hey, whatever. I state they do not suck and they contribute the way their teams expect them to contribute. Debate what you will about Lee, but Ottawa will decide for themselves even though you'll probably go on to exaggerate every pro appearance, stat, or attitude the pros have towards any of the players I listed in my post, regardless of level of play or where they end up. Evidentally, with you they are either all star players or they suck. Man, you are the harshest critic in the arena of sports. But yes, let's move on.

A good idea, but the wrong forum to do so.

Groups aren't kind to the USA-Canada rivalry at all. And yeah, I anticipate Lee and Chorney will be back sooner than usual. or should that be I honestly don't know if rooting against the USA or hoping that they fall out of the medal contention is a good thing despite getting them back early?

USCHO article I thought s aid that Schaeffer will miss considerable time but Curry's injuries won't make him miss any time at all. The other two, I don't know/remember.

Though my vehemence against UMN is far less than Triouxper's I agree. I don't think Minnesota's ranking is really debateable and really much to concern ourselves with. We have a big series against UW coming up and we still have to figure out how to get by MTU and CC without Toews, Lee, and Chorney.

You sure? Better run that by Brett Hull or Dominick Hasek. Hull has a ring despite it and Hasek was robbed because it wasn't enforced.

OH MY GOD Lives is right. They suck! Please, let's not debate with Lives to play regarding players on his disrespect list. Nothing matters to him except that he doesn't like them. And because he doesn't like Smaby, Lee, Finley, Commodore, Kaip, Radke, Greene, Kozek, and so on, they must surely suck. For those of you with USCHO connections: Lives-to-play's devotion to his disrespect list is identical to the Hobart Higgin's rule of recruiting: Michigan gets the best and everyone else gets the rest. Please. Let's move on. EDIT: And PLEASE someone come on and explain to me how Pierre-Marc Bouchard can be considered an NHL star. The guy is super fast and got lucky last night, but that guy wouldn't make the top two lines on most of the upper NHL squads. He's not a bust, but he's no star.

You forget Lee and Finley are on his "disrespect list." I'm not sure being second on the team in points really makes Lee worth a damn to him. He leads the team in assists as well, so he's quite poor at decision making as well.

The Ralph has an Olympic Sized Ice Sheet attached to it. Not much to look at, but it does serve as a nice practice sheet.

Yup, even though I thought he was taken a little too high (I thought he'd go 13-15th overall), but if Ottawa sees good in him, then so be it. But, I'm not worried right now as to what Ottawa sees in him. I want him to do well here. IF that means Lee stays for 3 years, GREAT! We'll have to see how the rest of the season plays out before I talk about him being a bust.

Frazee and Zatkoff as the Goalies. Gosh, I know Frazee can be better than he's displayed at Minnesota thus far, but I can't help but think he's teetering on the brink. Say what you will about Montoya or even Schneider, but they've shown more at the same point in their "careers" than Frazee thus far. Zatkoff is a total unknown. That being said, I expect Frazee to be the starter. I really think Goaltending is the weakness for Team USA.

Don't feed the troll. Thanks