redwing77

Good point. Maybe UND could jump up to the AHL?

Right organization, wrong team. The Jets are playing the U18 team. I hope to be in attendance. After watching the U18 game tonight, I think the Jets have slim to no chance of winning and Slim just left town.

Something tells me that's not a problem for that professor. It's when he's only half-baked when it does become one.

Ok, I'm wrong. I haven't watched him play this year. But I have seen him play in previous years. One thing I WILL say is this: I have ALL the respect in the world for enforcers who say "Enough with just fighting, I want to be more than that." Laraque evidentally is doing something other than fighting. Even Tie Domi has shown that at times during his career. I'll give him respect for apparently turning it around.

This is what I've been saying all along. However, you said it better than I. Thanks.

You're pretty familiar with the ND High School hockey scene. Did Bina win any awards or make any "waves" while he was in Grand Forks? (I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember if he went to Red River or Central).

This game wasn't really physical at all, from what I understand. So let me ask you this: We're going into a stretch where there are already some players banged up enough to be unable to play, some MIGHT be playing hurt (don't know nor have I heard any rumors, but the possibility exists), and we're going to lose 2 D and 1 F to the WJC. So, how would you coach this game? Does the score 5-4 matter knowing that BC and Michigan both got taken to OT vs U18? Does the 4 goals given up matter that much? Is it more important to win the game and risk injury or lose or tie the game and come out uninjured? I'd love to know your comments on this. I'm not sure winning this game was all that important provided we got some good play out of players that were going to be around in the coming weekends when Lee, Chorney, and Toews are gone. Not many comments regarding play really. I only saw the game from just before the penalty on Toews expired to the end of the game (it was 4-3 by then). I thought the goal by Shattenkirk was pretty weak. And from the replay, Watkins won the faceoff but pushed the puck the wrong way. He then won the remaining faceoffs he was in that I noticed. I don't know. No one was physical except for Finley. Saw Radke and Finley come deep into the zone a few times. Don't know if anyone noticed but Toews prevented what could have been an odd-man rush coming out of the USA zone by stealing the puck in the third. He couldn't maintain control of it and I think USA even managed to continue pushing up ice, but it was pretty good. And Bina's OT goal: THAT'S what happens when you rush the net! Vandevelde made a beautiful centering pass late in the third but there was NO ONE rushing the net so it just skittered harmlessly to the far boards (I mean no one even close!). Bina rushed the net following Toews, who attempted to make what would have been an unbelievable backhand shot (that I believe if Toews got it airborne, would have went in anyhow) and wiffed on the puck and it ended up on Bina's stick, who threw it at the net and in. We need to rush the net in waves!

Looks like I lost the bet. Thanks for making my night. I need to head home so I can watch the game. BBILB

How much time left in the UND game?

Hmmm Maybe Mankato doesn't suck so much after all? Or maybe UMTC is that bad right now?

On a tangent, does anyone find it ironic that you'd find players 6'3" and taller in a league called "Midget?"

I agree, but what else to you expect out of a player whose only strength is fighting? I mean, say Laraque is no longer able to fight. Would you give him a roster slot at the NHL level? I wouldn't. He's got nothing else to offer. Greene can play D as well as fight and he came to the league not known for fighting really. So, Laraque may whoop Greene in a fight, but Greene will whoop Laraque in networth to the team.

I agree. Some sooner rather than later. This early in the season it is hard to project, but Chorney is having a great year defensively. I think he leads the list of defensemen who may defect after this season (and he may be the biggest flight risk outside of Toews overall).

Grieco didn't come directly from High School and, to an extent, neither did Finley. Both spent at least one year in Junior A. Grieco with the OPJAHL and Finley in the USHL, of course, both were completing their senior years while playing with those teams. On this team, the only players that came directly from high school were Forney, Oshie, Toews, Lee, Chorney, and I think that's it. A large portion of our SSM crowd come directly from High School like Stafford, Parise, and Smaby (aside from those already mentioned). I agree about the potential. I guess some are willing to watch them grow and others expect them to dominate out of the starting gate.

This is a problem the team has to work out. I mean, when a coach dips below 75% in believability during the coaches' show, I think they need to revisit their chatting strategy

I don't know. Maybe I was too busy being impressed by Grieco's performance vs. SCSU. I mean, only allowing 3 goals the entire weekend. I also remember his record was 3-0-1 after the SCSU weekend. But I'll be remiss if I didn't admit that Grieco would at least lose one in the near future because he is human and can't possibly win them all. JPar didn't win them all, Phil didn't, Goehring didn't, Belfour didn't, and so on. So you got me there. I do, but you are the one that thinks that tese players should be benched because of it, or in certain cases, have their bags packed for them if and when you think they've not done anything for the team. Unlike you, I take the team we've got and root for them until the season is over. Then I reflect back and say "you know what, this didn't work out." If you want me to say you were right about something, you'll have to wait until late April or May. I'm not disrespecting any player until they've had a bad season under their belt. Finley was a late addition because Smaby left early somewhat late in the summer. Though I doubt there'd be any reason I could tell you as to why they were brought in when they were that would satisfy you. I'll call them a rebuilding team after the year is done. Until then, I'll call them MY team and root for every player every game regardless of mistakes, age of players, or results. I'm done arguing with you as well, but I will make a few admissions: 1. I should not have told you, nor implied thus, that you aren't welcome here or that you are not a Sioux fan. For that, I apologize. 2. You are wrong, in my opinion, but that doesn't mean you cannot be correct. I doubt we'll ever agree on anything so perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree. Please forgive me if I don't respond to many more of your posts, even if you respond to this one. I've expended all my energy on this topic and I don't think there needs to be any more on it. And I'm not sure the rest of the board posters care too much for it either.

I would too, especially since Hakstol said he wanted to get Foyt in the lineup

WOW. 28 shifts pretty much right after call up? That's great!

I had a long winded response to this, but I really felt it was too mean spirited so I deleted it after some thought. The short answer to it is, when players, individually named, constitute the reason why the team is losing. This is a TEAM sport, dude. We win as a team, we lose as a team. Criticizing a team with the intent that it bugs you and hope things get better is one thing. Criticizing a player with the intent to let everyone know that, the sooner he packs his bags, the better, is another entirely. Players take time to develop. Especially when players come into a league as good as the WCHA is with the label of 'project' like Finley. He has things to work on and he has shown improvement. Sure, he's not the best and he does make mistakes, but constantly berating him is dissention? No, it is animosity. Then stating it is the "un-biased truth" is quite frankly, unbelievable. There have been some games this season where I don't think ANYONE should have been happy with the results, but players are getting pooh-pooh'd because they happen to score against teams whose opinion isn't very highly of like they are expected to pass up scoring chances because the team they are playing isn't decent enough to earn them respect? When freshmen and sophomores have the expectations laid upon them that are traditionally reserved for juniors and seniors is fair? When 17 and 18 year olds are expected to play like 22-23 year olds, that's alright? Dissention is one thing. Animosity is another. I don't care if Lives-to-play or anyone thinks the Sioux are unworthy of praise because there are times they are right. But when all they do is post negative responses and bring about animosity, is that really worthy of respect and our attention? Is that to be valued? If the board thinks it is to be valued, then I'll admit I'm wrong, apologize to all those who are posting stuff like that, and simply stockpile my ignore list so that I don't have to listen to it if I have to, but I'd rather think that Lives to play et al will have something worthwhile to say.

I explained this in another thread however: Racist is, in itself, a racist term. If a White person speaks out or acts out against any minority, it's racism. But if a minority acts out against a white person (within the legal parameters, I'm not talking violence. Regardless of color, a crime is a crime) that person is just "responding to the wrongful acts and pressures placed upon him by [said majority]." That's why no one really takes some of Spike Lee's movies as racist despite it not being too favorable towards white people. That's why when Louis Pharakhan (sp?) says all those hateful things every now and then against white people or Jews, it's practically ignored. How many people get all up in arms when an African American guy calls a White person a "cracker" or a "Honkey?" Please, do tell me. Because, I'd say the answer is very few. No one talks about the "plight of the white man" because it is assumed that, because whites constitute the appearance of the majority, that they are not capable of understanding the plight of any particular minority and therefore do not deserve any kind of respect or understanding. It's a great victory to whittle away at the White man's supposed superiority. Race is a crutch. Yes, a crutch used by people who have no other excuse as to why they haven't succeeded in whatever they set out to do. Sure, there are evil or mean spirited people out there who do not like other people because of race, but it's NEVER taken as an isolated incident. It's just "another example on how the white man is out to get us." If John Whiteguy goes out and beats up a Native American (I hope this never happens, really I do) on the campus of a University, how many Native Americans are going to view the attack as a criminal attacking a victim? The answer is very few. What they are going to see is a WHITE guy attacking a NOT WHITE guy. Racism is a racist term because no one of color has been called a racist for being anti-white.

He's a Mexican-American Comedian who pokes fun at all the stereotyping and race card waving that's going on in this country. He's mildly racist, but he's also picking on every race imaginable. So I suppose he's a well rounded racist.

Agreed there are idiots in all fan bases. But the thing that I always seem to notice is that, at least on this board, Gopher fans are always the first ones to bring up injustices made by fans to them or someone they know. That's what I don't like about them. They are all about saying how they are a classy fanbase and yet are the first to rub these experiences in our faces when it suits their purposes. They only seem to admit that there are idiots in their own fanbases as an afterthought. Usually after a starting phrase such as "Not to flame anyone but..." or perhaps as a lead in "I know there are idiots in both fanbases but..." I don't particularly care if this Gopher fan's greatest moment at the REA was watching the Sioux get swept by UMN. He's a Gopher fan. Big whoop. It's not like it was the only time the Sioux have been swept by the Gophers. I just am tired of the "holier than thou" attitude some Gopher fans seem to have and that they think that this message board is the place to air out those grievances because the Gophers should be just as respected as the Sioux on this board. The Gophers aren't loved here. I won't openly smack them (only their football coach ) but I'm not going to bow down and say "Oh Mighty Lucia! How I wish I was as good as you!" It's just not gonna happen.

I agree with this. No one here says Finley's the next defensive genius or whatever. What I'm saying is that he's not worthy of being cut. He's not worthy of benching (though at one point I would have been in agreement on a one game benching) and he's not a bad defenseman. brianvf is right, though. People forget that it isn't just Finley Lives-to is ripping. Genoway isn't very good because he's only scored against QU and Mankato. Miller's the same way. I suppose Toews sucks because 3 of his goas came against QU. Fabian hasn't hit the scoresheet so I suppose he's a liability. Kaip's not an offensve minded player at all, but he's under the bus for that and probably because he's not Prpich (please. If we go pining for our players to be players from the past we're going to all jump off a cliff because they won't be and there's nothing we can do to change that). jk- I don't care if he wishes to disagree that the team isn't doing things that they were projected to do early this season. He doesn't have to like everything the Sioux do, but he's constantly throwing people under the bus, making up things that are ridiculous (helping Smaby pack his bags etc.), and generally bringing animosity to the board. I don't think he's a Sioux fan. Why? I'll be DEAD honest. He has the same attitude toward the Sioux that I have towards the Minnesota Twins/Vikings/Wild. The difference is that those pro teams have paid players on them and UND does not. People here know I'm no fan of Minnesota professional sports. However, I don't call myself a fan of those teams either. Maybe he should come to grips that he isn't a Sioux fan and then perhaps what he says could be taken with the same amount of seriousness that posters here take of posts by buckysieve, Slap Shot (although I don't think Slap Shot is half as bad as some here make him out to be), TC_Transplant, etc.

THIS I'd have to see. I don't think you could go ONE WEEK without ripping, or inferring disrespect, on a Sioux player. I simply don't think it is possible. Since we're playing an exhibition game this weekend, the week I bet you can't survive is next week when we play UW. They're slumping sufficiently so that their PWR is ranked around that of UMD's. We'll see what happens, no? Or maybe you can one-up me by being positive for two weeks! Doubt it, but I'd like to see it. Ok, so I haven't seen a post where you haven't done it yet, maybe you are capable, but you choose not to and then label it 'un-biased truth.' More like 'biased opinion' to me. I think it would KILL you to admit that, other than turnovers, Finley actually has played well. He's got an excellent +/- rating considering how UND has played over the stretch. Both Lammy and Grieco have similar save% over the season and, yes, I'd say Phil is the better goaltender right now, I've never thrown him under the bus. "Neutral everyone else" I see that there isn't a single capable player on this team. And you say we've never watched games? Maybe you aren't meaning what we are interpretting your posts to mean. If that's the case then perhaps you need to reevaluate your writing style and reread everything you post so to make changes to help us "interpret" the posts the way you mean them to be interpretted.