redwing77

DONE!

I did not know he was going to be as successful as he's been so far, but I knew he was a good player. A few years back I saw S-SM at the REA that featured guys like Dowzak, Toews, Duncan, Chorney (it was the weekend he made his official visit to UND), and all. It was where I talked to Toews' Uncle (or so he claimed) where he said Toews would head to Major Juniors. It was also where I saw Duncan flat out be the best player on the ice. He seemed faster than everyone on the ice on both sides, stick handled exceptionally well, and seemed to create space for himself against Team NW Minnesota. I knew he was talented and I'm happy Duncan is doing as well as he is.

I love Federov's (the poster's) smiley signature where two Luke Skysmiley is fighting Darth Smiley. I think that would go well right now

A few years back I had the same opinion of Ryan Sofie that some of you have regarding Walski. If he was never going to play, why was he on the team? I was told (can't remember who told me) that Sofie was well aware of his standing on the team and enjoyed just being a part of the program in whatever capacity that was meant to be. Ziggy got caught in a goaltender's nightmare: Being one of three goaltenders who could have easily been #1. Ziggy is good but he wasn't going to get a shot with Phil and Jordan ahead of him so he left. I don't think Ziggy could have outplayed either Phil or Jordy anyways. Fact is, there are a lot of good goaltenders coming through the ranks. Many of them not yet recruited. I'm not sure Walski could find another home that would give him a better playing opportunity. Lastly, we all know what we'd like but none of us know what Aaron would like. Oh, I'm sure he'd probably enjoy the opportunity to play, no doubt, but other than that, maybe he's like Ryan Sofie and simply enjoys being part of the program? I'd rather have the 3rd stringer be a walk on who has some credentials than be like SCSU a while back and simply had some dude from St. Cloud Tech suit up to back up their goaltenders. Walski has ahd some success and that makes me feel comfortable knowing that our boys are practicing against a decent goaltender. Lastly, as Grieco is 17 still, I'm thinking that breaking into DI at 17 as a skater has to be much easier than breaking in as a goaltender.

Or maybe a angry, embittered rant thread about how these polls are bs and why do they even have them in the first place?

Hmmmm.... Whatever I'd like? I'd love to have a Matt Jones game worn Coyotes jersey. Oh! Autographed by Matt for sure!

Not only was it nice to see them get points, but that was just plain NICE. One thing that I also noticed was how Parise, Zajac and even Rasmussen helped basically take the Blue Jackets (that's who is in this clip btw) into a chase mode. What a spinning wraparound. WOW. Parise is, I guess, known as the "Magic Man" for that clip at least

Hey AZSioux -- How bout givin me about say... 2 minute head start on the trivia questions this weekend?

I'll go if someone foots the hotel and airfare bills!

Nah. Maybe this isn't the BEST example due to league, but I'd want someone like Kyle Radke. He can contribute offensively, is pretty good defensively, and is willing to drop the gloves. You see? If the league, tommorrow, suddenly said "No more fighting!" Kyle would still have a roster slot (assuming he's on the roster of an NHL team). If this rule came out tommorrow, Boogaard would be in a bush league like the Central Hockey League or the UHL if he's in hockey at all.

That's why you should be hired to interview opposing players and coaches pre game, post game, and during the game. Perhaps have your own radio talk show.

I would think jloos would merely find a way to mention he's a Fighting Sioux fan on the record and then let her "do the rest."

In my opinion, fighting isn't out of control. In fact, I believe that there are less fights now than ever before. I just don't think that players like Boogaard belong in this league. He can fight. Wow, great. He can skate.. wow. So can Brian Rolston and Marion Gaborik. Now, which would you want? Another potential Gaborik (even if the potential doesn't really work out) or a Boogaard (where you know he'll drop the gloves and probably "win" the fight but be relatively worthless otherwise)? I'd rather have a potential scorer turned bust than an enforcer like Boogaard. Goal scoring wins games. Fights win... the hearts of the pro-fight crowd and perhaps a little respect from both sides but that's about it. I've never heard of a Game Winning Fight like I've heard of a Game Winning Goal.

If Mavsfan is her, she really toned it down for USCHO.

I loved your comment though Diggler. I think the blog shows that some bad eggs have more time on their hands and more tech savviness than others. Some, like her, can blog. Others have just figured out that a message board is somewhere where you can spew flushable matter into an electronic format. I've never been to a Mankato hockey game. After reading that blog, I'm not so sure I'd enjoy going down there either. I certainly wouldn't take a small child. As for her law future, I doubt she'll be a lawyer. She doesn't have the maturity. However, this chick vs. jloos would be an epic legal smackdown by jloos It actually may make courtroom procedings less like watching paint dry.

True but I hear they have this one guy who, at least for this year, can play D.... Jackson? Gretzky Jr.? Pronger II?

It's not a very interesting site, German or otherwise. By the way, I think it is kindof humorous that the error messages are in english

Ok, looking at the paper aspects of this matchup (not to be confused with direct observation because I have yet to see this year's SCSU team in any way shape or form): This team seems to be centered really around its goaltending and whichever line Nodl is on. If Nodl and Gordan are on the same line, then really, this team offensively could be considered a one line offensive machine. I wish I knew how we match up special teams wise, but I'm willing to bet their PK is better than ours and our PP might be better than theirs thanks to the bloating of that stat vs. Mankato. Again, what it really comes down to is two periods this weekend: 2nd Period on Friday and 2nd period on Saturday. Can we get through this series allowing less than 3 goals? I'm not sure if the Huskies are going to be as forgiving as Mankato was. Not to mention SCSU is probably less banged up than we are thanks to their bye week being last week. Jase Weslosky looks to be pretty solid and Goepfert is solid as well (despite the slow start). I hate to sound like a broken record, but really, we need to play a defensively solid and disciplined game against SCSU. Gone are the days where SCSU was a patsy (that ended when Dahl resigned). They have a real coach now. This series is going to be tough. If Toews is back, who among those who have platooned recently (Bishop, Vandevelde, Zajac, Miller, Martens, Forney) would you sit?

CC has some problems. I think this year will be an off year for them. The Gophers are doing very well. Their powerplay is once again deadly. I think their overwhelming strength is in their passing game. They do that VERY well. OFfensively, though, they are built a lot like the Sioux, with most of their dynamic scorers being sophomores or freshmen. Hirsch is playing well, but I still think he's a wildcard. They'll be VERY tough for the Sioux. In fact, with the way our 2nd periods have been going and our discipline as well, right now I wouldn't like our chances against them. Who knows about where we'll be when we actually play them though. I do know that Hakstol's forte is the second half of the season. But again, Vandevelde got ice time and AGAIN his play improved. I really think the more this kid plays the better he'll get. Zajac has cooled a little after UW, but he's playing well. Genoway is by far better than I expected him to be. Forney's early season report card is still out as this weekend only marked the 2nd and 3rd games he played and has played very limited amount of time in the first two. In his first game with decent ice time he did get an assist on the PP. Bishop.... well, early on I thought this kid was an opposition's headache. He's still a VERY hard worker and very fast, but I am wondering if he may be the odd man out being how well Miller and Martens have played as of late. I hope Hak continues the rotation because I really don't want to lose some of these guys.

I seem to recall a few years back where we would have a new goaltender nearly every night so often that it was hard to predict who would start. Would it be Brandt? Siembida? Ranfranz? Sofie? I don't think Hakstol has it in for Walski, but I do think that, even if it is a rotation, it shouldn't be in a revolving door fashion like it was in 2001-2002 (or was that 2002-2003? I'm not good with dates ). That being said, this past week Walski had an opportunity to step it up and outplay Grieco. I guess Hak didn't see it so he went with Grieco. Is this the end of the line for Walski? Dunno. Probably not. In some ways, I think a practice goaltender can be just as important as the #1 goaltender.

I find it humorous to suggest that Shepherd bitches at his officials. If anything it is a "You did this and this wrong. I like you, buddy, so don't do it again or I might have to make you sit a weekend." Or maybe some other slap on the wrist. I don't think a ref has anything to worry about from the likes of Greg Shepherd unless something like the Bertuzzi or Bina incident occurs. They Greg is forced to publically state it was a shame and suspend the official for a month. That's about as severe as it gets.

He has a strong shot. Here's my unofficial tally of contestants. I counted up goals and assists on all WCHA teams and counted only those who achieved 3 or more points on the weekend. Brad Miller's weekend: 5g 1a Ryan Duncan's weekend: 3g 1a Brian Lee's weekend: 0g 4a Alex Goligoski's weekend: 0g 4a Peter Rouleau's (MTU) weekend: 3g Kyle Okposo's weekend: 3g Ben Gordon's weekend: 1g 2a Ryan Martens 0g 3a There are more I missed. My projection: WCHA Offensive POTW: Brad Miller (Honorable Mention to Ryan Duncan, Okposo, Rouleau, and Gordon) WCHA Defensive POTW: Alex Goligoski (Honorable Mention to Brian Lee and a few other also-rans) WCHA Rookie POTW: Dunno.

Zach Parise and Bryan Lundbohm (I THINK.. well he's the only guy I know who is a former Fighting Sioux that plays forward for the Houston Aeros at the present time) were on Faceoff with Bernie Burggraff this morning. Burggraff sure knows a LOT about hockey. Too bad he doesnt know a lot about hosting a radio talk show. 1 minute of Bernie for every 30 seconds of interviewee. Sad. He did do a good job of leading John Mayasich into speaking Bernie's opinions on college hockey players and their NHL rights. Second tangent: John Mayasich and Bernie Burggraff would love to see NHL teams compensate the universities in some way (and their draftees as well) by spending money on the athletic scholarships they are going to college on. Isn't that a treat? Could anyone see that happening? Reality setting in means Bernie and John endorse Major Juniors, because there's NO WAY IN THIS GREEN EARTH the NHL would "buy" into that! Sorry John, Bernie, but I'll make my Zajacs, Parises, and even Vaneks and Kessels any day of the week. If you don't like that, then John, Bernie, tune in this next weekend where you can watch the CHA (Don't watch Bemidji though! They have players who have been drafted!), AHA, certain ECACHL, CCHA, and HEA teams, and perhaps (though not likely) MTU. They'll play your style of hockey. I like what these star players add to the college game and I think to suggest such crap you have to be really behind the times! Again, my opinion.

I agree with PCM and DaveK... sorta. First off, I understand that fights are part of the NHL version of the game. Ok, I understand that. But let's look at Boogaard, shall we? What's he done for the team other than fights or roughing people up? NOTHING. I think the NHL can't afford to do away with fights, but I think they can afford to make it tough for NHL teams to legitimize having an enforcer as part of their roster. Now, I don't define an enforcer as someone who can fight. There are many NHL players who can drop the gloves. An Enforcer is someone who is only marginally NHL caliber whose ONLY strength is roughing people up and dropping the gloves. If he does so in an underhanded or illegal fashion, an enforcer is given the title of a Goon (though this is not to be confused that often with the poster here ). Boogaard of the Wild, Scott Parker of whocares what team, Tie Domi (formerly of the Maple Leafs), Brashear, Laraque, and so on are enforcers. They really add little to their teams (Tie retired, and that's addition by subtraction if you ask me) other than bloodied faces and fists. The new rules are a great first step. I don't know what the next step would be, but perhaps calling more instigator penalties? Making the 5 minute fighting majors result in 4x4 hockey? I don't know. But the more painful the NHL can make it to a team that decides to waste a roster slot on these guys the better, imo.

What's interesting is, with the way Miller and Martens are playing and how Zajac and Genoway have looked this season, it's making the 3rd and 4th line pretty interesting.