redwing77

Good questions. If size made a good hockey player we'd be raving right now about John Scott and reminiscing about the Wookiee (well, Forecheck may still be doing so, but hey..) It comes down to skating ability, defensive effectiveness, stick handling, and hockey sense. I'm sure if he has all of these things and Hak found out about it, he'd check it out or send Berry to check him out.

Exactly. I don't know how many times posters here have said this, but Brian Lee isn't a bruiser. He's big, sure, but he's not a physical stay at home defenseman like Greene, Commodore, Smaby, Hale, and Jones were. He's billed as a top notch offensive defenseman. I'd love it if he was more physical, but I'm not going to expect it out of him. I just want him to be defensively responsible and effective in the offensive zone. I agree about Finley though. If we want another Smaby or Greene, we'd best be looking for #2 and #6 to make it happen.

And now we've come full circle. Yes, folks, we have gone to the Frozen Four twice in the last two years. And yeah, both times we lost because of Jordan Parise. Ok, now is reality check time. Both times we didn't lose because of Jordan Parise. We lost because of mistakes made on the ice by the players and simple bad luck. DU game: Uh, how many goals went off of Smaby's body into the net? How could Smaby have avoided those? Where was the offense vs. DU? Seems like that loss was Parise's fault. Versus BC: BC capitolized on more of our mistakes than we did of theirs. We had 7 powerplays to work with they had what... 4? Our offense did turn it on in the third but too little too late. Jordan did give up 2 soft goals, that much I'll admit. But with the offense put up, that means we should have won the game vs. BC right? Nope. They played better than us and deserved to win. Nice that you'd scapegoat Parise though. So yeah. I'd still take Jordan Parise any day of the week, but if the SIoux lose, I'll try to look at reality, not look at a hunt for a scapegoat.

If the Boss doesn't get along with the subordinate and vice versa in the real world, how often is it that the boss is fired? Seriously? This whole Potts resigning thing is just a political strong arm move by Holmberg and his cronies to try to get control of the State Board. It's really nothing more than that. I don't know if Potts has done a good job. I don't care. But smear campaigns based largely upon the independent actions of a university president and rumors of discord between the two is just wholly unprofessional. If Holmberg is behind this whole thing, I hope he's forced to resign as well.

So far, they've had a number of them. I'm just waiting for the Bears to get a #1 QB.

I am happy Siembida is graduated. I am also happy Quinnipiac gave him another shot. However, I'd LOVE to have seen him play against the Sioux. We could then raz him without having to worry about it being bad form

Didn't they say that about Frazee too? (not really a dig on Frazee. I was high on him too coming into last season. I thought he'd take Briggs' spot as #1 by January. I was VERY wrong)

This wouldn't make him too old to be drafted. Just way less likely. He's considered to be an 'over-age' draft candidate like Salcido was last year for CC. Like Jones, Zajac could be drafted this year but it would be in the late rounds. They have Jones as somewhere around a 5th or 6th round candidate. To me, that'd be great, but I'd expect him to go in the mid to late 6th round or in the 7th round somewhere. As for Forney's draft stock, I guess I mixed up the CSS with the ISS then. It seemed like he went from #13 to #30 something awfully quick to me. Guess I was wrong.

I suppose not... but I don't go to GPL either so how would I know?

I agree with this. First off, a slap shot isn't the best all the time. A good wrist shot is golden (just ask Toews or Stafford even Oshie). A good slap shot is more tricky. Look at Chorney. The guy has a wicked slap shot, but he can't hit the net 3 out of ever 4 shots he takes. To my mind, a wrist shot that goes at least as a save is better than the world's hardest slap shot hitting the glass. Lee may not have a slap shot, but his wrist shots, most of the time, only missed the net because they were deflected or blocked. As for Lee's defensive presence, I think his physicality will increase with experience and strength. I don't see Lee, however, as being a Greene or Smaby type player. He just doesn't play that sort of game. I think he's been pretty solid positionally this past season and that helped a bit. Like I said, he needs to work on strength. Also, being more responsible with the puck in his own zone while being rushed is an aspect he could work on as well. Otherwise, I really think he's doing just fine developmentally. I don't see how Ottawa couldn't be happier either with his performance. After all, offensively he finished the year second among WCHA freshmen defensemen in points. He was an All Rookie team member. He's now been to two IIHF U20 World Junior Championships and will more than likely be named to a third (if he isn't too old to attend). I'm not unhappy with Lee at all. In fact, I'm really not all that unhappy with any of our D. I'm more concerned with the D we have coming in next year (Marto and Genoway mainly) and the health of Bina (even with the Dr.'s blessing).

Brian Griese? Oh goody! Can we bring back Kordell Stewart too? Anyways, I'm all up for the support group. Off seasons suck when you don't have enough money to go play golf as often as you'd like (nor is your game nearly good enough to dare asking board members to go out for a round of golf with you either).

Well there you have it. The whole "UND lost more to early departures than UMN" argument is now officially moot until after the draft. UMN could theoretically still lose out worse than UND. UND could still lose Toews (as unlikely as some of us Sioux fans think), but UMN could lose Kessel and EJ. Yeah, I know Kessel said he'd be back next year, but so did Toews. Who really knows? We won't know until after the draft. I do have a question for the Gopher fans that frequent this site: I know most Sioux fans expected to lose Smaby and still expect to lose Stafford. We thought there was a good chance we'd lose Zajac too. My question is: How many Gopher fans expected Chucko to bolt early this off season? Was this signing what I believe (an out of left field swoop and grab by Calgary)?

Slap Shot, Greyeagle, and sagard bother me because they don't flatter me enough. (well, no one does, but hey! ) WPoS I can't touch because he drives a BMW and I respect that. Seriously now, Sioux-cia, I agree. Slap Shot, and other gopher fans don't really bother me a lot unless they start making broad generalizations that are both derogatory and untrue (like buckysieve's cousin kissing barb) or start being disrespectful to the team which this site is dedicated to: The Fighting Sioux. This isn't defined as "I like the Gopher because..." it is defined as misspelling the team name (Sue, Siouxage, etc.). If they respect the posters, team, and players even if they aren't fans of the Sioux or this message board, I don't see why they are a problem. And the Bears rule! Do they have a QB yet? Probably not. Grossman will get injured on the first play from scrimmage in the first game of spring exhibitions if not in practice.

I think what's hitting me most about buckysieve's posts isn't that he disagrees with the Sioux posters. He posts valid points. The Gopher do indeed have a splendid recruiting class coming in. The Gophers may indeed out retain the Sioux this off season (unless the unfounded rumors regarding Chucko become a reality). However, saying that the Gophers will "be a more complete team" than the Sioux next year is a bit unfounded. If anything, the Sioux will be more like the Gophers next year than ever before. Our offense will be quite similar once again. Okposo is a quality recruit but so are Vandevelde and Forney. EJ will be a SUPERB defenseman, but there are questions of whether or not he'll even play with the Gophers. I think it WILL come down to defense and goaltending next year and I just have to flat out say that, though UMN's defense has a lot of talent in the offensive zone, UND's defense is a TON more responsible in the defensive zone. In a shootout situation, I would indeed expect UMN to win 9 out of 10 times. But if it comes down to a close game, I think UND can outlast UMN. Plus, and yeah, this will start a flame war, but so be it. I would take Jordan Parise 8 times out of the week rather than Briggs AND Frazee COMBINED. UND's defense is still young, but we're getting older. We have more experience in the post season among our younger players than the Gophers do now (though I'm positive this wouldn't be the case if it hadn't been for Holy Cross), and we spread out our offense to a point where everyone has to carry the load or we don't succeed. UMN can't get away with a two man super show anymore and expect to lead when the game is on the line. Yeah, we'll more than likely lose Stafford. But with Toews and Oshie coming back and a top prospect with size the likes of Vandevelde and Forney coming in, I don't see how we're losing the battle talent wise. We'll still be a big hitting team with more offensive potential from the D. We'll still have more size than UMN even with Wheeler and EJ in the lineup. We'll still have speed too. I think the Sioux are a VERY dangerous team. We can't write off the Gophers, but Gopher fans certainly cannot say that their team can write off the Sioux either. Oh yeah, two years ago the Gophers had a better offense than the Sioux did and we still took 3 of 4. Last year we lost 3 of 4. So, if you really think the previous year has ANY impact on the record of the Sioux/UMN game, then UND will win 3/4ths of the games vs. Minnesota this next season (or if it is only two games during the regular season, we're guaranteed a split). I, for one, don't believe in past year's single team records. They are a good reference, but they don't carry a lot of weight. EDIT: Forgot to finish why I quoted hockey1. I get the impression that buckysieve seems to give out props to UND in a very backhanded fashion. The old "UND is good but UMN is better. Oh, and I like Oshie and Toews." It's kinda condescending in a way. At least, that's how I read it.

This said, I still will only believe EJ will play with the Gophers when he makes a formal announcement of such after the draft (or at the draft for that matter) and/or actually suits up for the Gophers. Vegas- Alright, put Staal ahead of Mueller. I put him lower because there's a lot of hype on Staal based on the fact that his older brother is somewhat of a star. Name=nothing in hockey. Wayne Gretzky was great. Anyone know how great his younger brother was in the NHL? I think he has... what... 1 NHL game under his belt? I don't recall. Staal looks good, sure, but I can't help but wonder how much of his draft stock (especially the hype) is related to Jordan being Erik's younger bro.

I'm interested in the Sioux interest in Gregoire. Albeit that the points come from a weak conference (No offense, but I think an average BCHL team could handle the MJHL teams. Don't ask what a USHL team would do to them) he looks to be solid. I would love it if he would come south and sign an import agreement with a USHL team.

Could be curiosity and the wish to talk hockey with some folks even if they may not agree with what you have to say (ie sagard, Greyeagle, WPoS on SS.com and brianvf and crew on GPL). Or it could be an obsession. After all, why would Gopher fans call us Kessel.com if they didn't care about our site enough to lurk here? I mean, I don't go over to GPL so I don't know what goes on there. Don't really care. I just assume that, when they talk about UND, it is either something neutral or derogatory. They will more than likely butcher the team name and call us names or just the usual "UND SUCKS" stuff. No different than what goes on here re: Gophers. I wish I could say that there aren't Sioux posters out there that go to GPL just to troll or belittle, because I'm sure there are some. We all know there are UW and UMN fans that go trolling. So there you have it: 1. Curiosity 2. Obsession 3. Intent to troll Three top reasons why opposing fans lurk on our board.

Like Sioux recruits and players, I will say this: Show me something official. Is Chucko gone? Nope. USCHO doesn't have it. ESPN doesn't have it. I don't notice a link to any MSP newspaper either. No press release from UMN. What does all that mean? Chucko is still a Gopher until ONE (at least) of those sources mentioned above is cited.

What this means is (siouxforeverbaby, are you listening here? ) that if all we have to look forward to are: 1. rumors 2. early departures 3. petty message board bickering 4. bickering possibly turning into downright flamewars 5. what the NCAA will do to us next It will indeed be a VERY long summer.

I think that's precisely the reason why Porter's goal totals dropped. Another thing of note: I read in places that scouts were not too high on Porter's defensive play. I see that Porter had a TON of ice time as a defensive forward this year. Maybe Hakstol saw the potential in that facet of the game and put him on a line with that role in mind, hoping to create offense on that line while improving Porter's defensive abilities. His goals went down, but his numbers went up. IMO, that's not "undeveloping" at all. As for what I project: St. Louis does need scorers, but Pittsburgh and St. Louis do need DEFENSE especially. Unless St. Louis trades down, I would be VERY surprised if EJ didn't go to St. Louis. Kessel's drop to #5 is quite surprising to me. I think his potential is greater than that of Staal. I think a more accurate picture would be: 1. EJ 2. Toews 3. Kessel 4. Mueller 5. Staal But that's just me. On another note: Did anyone notice how Forney went from a mid-first rounder to an early second rounder? I think his injury REALLY hurt his draft stock. On a positive note, LaPoint went from a late 5th rounder to an early second rounder.

If someone starts chanting their name and then claiming that TheTriouxper killed their father and for him to prepare to die, I'm going to ask Jim to close the thread.

I hate to lump suggestions onto an "I'll see what I can do" from Jim, but I was wondering if it could be sort of like one of those website counters you see like "172 people have visited this thread since this counter was put up" or something like, but instead of counting up as people access the site at this point , it could be something like: There are 169 days until the puck drops And count down one number a day?

I agree. I've never been much for smack threads or smack talk. A little fun teasing is ok every now and then, but every once in a while, it gets over the top. I think Jim does a good job in keeping those instances down. I'm sure Tony is trying to find a way to do things similarly.

Fare thee well, Jacques Cousteau!!! Better luck with the NHL officials. I heard they call diving a lot more. Oh, and they can fight and they can be much more physical. Earl's going to get eaten alive. STILL: He is a sixth round draft pick, which means nothing is guaranteed like you'd see in a first or second rounder. I would jump if I could get the money too.