redwing77

BAH! You're only saying I'm wrong because the thought of me being right makes you even more grumpy!

Though much of what you say is true... Foyt is indeed more seasoned than Alexander, has been a presence on the team longer even if it is just at practice mostly, and so on, but he's not played a single game at the DI level at Defense. Also, the score went from 2-0 to 4-1 during his powerplay. Did Foyt's play affect the game? Uh, may not have affected the outcome, but it certainly affected the momentum. IIRC, UND had some momentum building up until Foyt's penalty. Now at points they did play well (like the first 3 minutes of that major, but in the end, yeah, I think I'd rather it be 2-0 than 4-1 at the same point in time that the penalty ended. Despite that, one mistake doesn't make a "career" so I wouldn't doubt we'd see Foyt again, just not on Friday. I doubt Hakstol would put in a guy who has been playing forward all DI career to play D. I bet it will be Marvin and Alexander.

Plus I don't think Martens plays D. To be honest, I know very little about him to start with. All I know is that, what little I saw during the Harvard series, I was impressed with how hard he works on the ice. I think he could turn out to be another Fabian if he keeps working. But I agree. In all fairness, Alexander didn't look bad in the Harvard series and Foyt hasn't played D in a GAME yet as a Sioux.

Hmmm Let me see: No speed: Well, Commodore, Greene, Smaby... they don't have speed either. Reaction time: No comment, every time I see him on the ice, he seems to look alright, but I haven't tested this so I have no idea. Bad penalties: I don't think he's taken that many bad penalties... especially since 2006 began. So far he has 23 penalties for 62 minutes. Commodore had 74 PIMS (hockeydb doesn't say how many penalties he had) in 29 games, Greene had 135 PIMS his Freshmen year, Smaby had 81 PIMs his freshman year, and just for kicks, Andy Schneider and David Hale had 65 PIMs and 79 PIMs respectively. I don't think Finley's been poor at all. Judgement: Heh. We've seen him half a year and you say he has poor judgement? So does Jones after all... who taps on the glass and gets himself a 10 min misconduct? Is that smart? Sorry, bad judgement doesn't fly with me. He makes mistakes, but there isn't a single player freshman or otherwise who hasn't. Nothing offensively: HE'S A DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN!!!!! You'll see as much offense out of Finley as you did out of Commodore. No wait.. I think he already has nearly as much offense as Commie did his freshman year so far... and if he keeps up the pace he's on, he'll pass Commie's assist stats at least. Want proof? Commodore was 0g 5a 5pts his freshman year. Finley sits today at 0g 3a 3pts. Passer: Again, I don't think he's that bad of a passer. If you are speaking about problems clearing the zone, name me one player lately who HASN'T had this problem. Being a little harsh: YEAH! I can finally agree with you on something. I like Spirko as much as anyone here, but when you look at the depth chart, we are far shallower at D than we are at Forward. THAT is why I said we got the short end of the stick on this one.

Maybe so, but all the affadavits would do is get PCM MORE grumpy! IMO, I think Hakstol is right. Move on and worry about the games coming up. Still, if Finley was to get a DQ, I would have at least liked to have seen gloves fall and a real fight ensue ala Prpich v. Peluso or McMahon v. Vanelli.

Actually I like the Savage Jihad. Under certain guidelines, anyone who voices their objection could be labelled terrorists As for New Orleans, I like Pat Robertson's suggestion: The New Orleans Fighting Heathens or perhaps The New Orleans Rampaging Atheists.

Heh, we may talk too much about Kessel, but at least we (mostly) can spell Toews' name right

Wilbur posted some pretty realistic defensive pairings. Marvin, if you all remember, was platooning with Radke for a while at D. So the question is: Do we go with Alexander, Foyt, or do we try a forward like Martens at D for the 6th Dman on Friday? My answer to the question is to go with Alexander. He didn't look too bad against Harvard, but still, it is a big drop off from Radke's offensive potential and even Finley's defensive potential. farce poobah brought up the most likely situation. Hakstol will shorten his bench defensively after the first period and rotate 5 defensemen with Alexander just warming the bench if he feels that Alexander's not able to play well. One thing is PLAINLY clear: NO Checking from Behind penalties on Friday. ESPECIALLY if you are a defenseman.

FYI, Penn State used to have a hockey program but they deep sixed it. So did UPenn, Kent State, and U Illinois (though now they have a club team). GVSU would be interesting. I think a more amiable rivalry could be built with them even though the only conferences I could see GVSU fitting in would be either the CHA (most likely) or the CCHA.

But, in all fairness, my posts probably make him so. In any case, to be honest, I don't think this worked out for the better. I'd much rather lose one forward and one defenseman than two defensemen. Now instead of having replacements of Miller and Marvin for Spirko and Radke respectively, we'll probably see Marvin and either Alexander or Foyt. If I were SCSU, this new arrangement works better for them. Seriously, Hakstol will either use them just as much as he used Finley and Radke and take the defensive drop off, or shorten the defensive bench which brings fatigue into the issue not just for the 3rd period but for Saturday's game as well.

Mankato's playing style isn't Zelkin's fault. I had my doubts about Spirko's DQ until I was told that Spirko actually threw punches. If Radke and Spirko hadn't thrown punches, I wonder if they would have been DQ'd. It's difficult to keep control of the game when you have 4 different scrums going on simultaneously and it takes usually two officials to seperate ONE scrum. I look back at the UW series to see what Zelkin can do when he wants to be part of the headlines. This time around, he may have made some mistakes both nights, but they were the mistakes of a human kind, not of a consistency nature. So, I think he did a pretty good job all things considered.

Didn't Bochenski score a goal vs. the Gophers that was hokier than that? Something like off of a defender's ankle into the net from behind the net?

Correct. Goephert is who I am worried about more than any other player on SCSU. Take him out of the game and I think SCSU is no more talented than MSUM. If we can beat Goephert, we sweep. Period.

I agree with this. Every game he plays now, it seems like the hesitation he started the year off with is ebbing from his play. He's starting to use his body more and his character is starting to emerge. He's nowhere near where I hope he'll be when he's looked upon as "veteran leadership" (even if he doesn't wear a letter), but I think he's doing a lot better than Commodore did his freshman year so far.

Oh Parise, is it even close? I'm not saying SCSU will go on to win NCs and all that, but at least SCSU won't be a big joke like their coach used to be. Motzko is going to give SCSU: 1. A legit system 2. Legit recruits 3. respect (at least for the program. For the school, Saigo retiring or leaving will have to happen first).

Yeah, the 2 losses don't count Fixed.

Yeah. Our only road series left before the playoffs are both in Colorado. I don't like that at all. CC is falling but they may right the ship before we play them (and I do believe lately we haven't faired well in the Springs area lately) and DU seems to always be able to turn it on late in the season. Not to mention the emotion that goes with that series..... If we go 8-2-0 on these last 10 games, I think we'll be doing VERY well. Maybe it is wishful thinking that we'll win out at home and split both road series... We'll end up being 13-6-0 at home and 12-6-1 on the road this season. That's respectable.

I was wondering it myself. It's no wonder why Gopher fans call us Kessel.com around here. All we talk about is the Gophers and Kessel. Meanwhile, we're playing WCCC this weekend....

What a great run down and analysis, jk. The only thing I'd add is that, in 2 years, Kaip will be a senior and I think he COULD very well be our next Prpich starting next season. But any way you put it, you are right when it comes to grit. Also, other players that I see potentially being good and gritty are Jones (already), Radke (he'll be a senior), Watkins, and Martens (should he get a chance to play). Looking at the roster, of those who will be here in two years, I just see a lot of defensmen as our "gritty" players. I like having forwards with grit as well. Other than that, there's not much else to say except let's beat White Cloud Community College!

This one looks more like what I heard over the PA via the TV. I'm sure Hakstol has the real DQ list. The confusion between all the third parties is just for our conversational pleasure.

I would say MORE difficulties playing at home. 4-7-1 vs 7-6-0 are hardly alike. It's kind of amazing that we expect the Sioux to be unbeaten at home when we've had a REALLY tough home schedule this year. On thing of interest. Last year it looked like we couldn't win on the road. This year we're doing well on the road. I guess I see that as a positive.

We go on to the next series. We're obviously not long enough in the league to be as effective as we'd like.

Thanks for the perspective on Sparky's role. There's so much more you can catch when you see it in person. I do agree Oshie is an animal and would surely be a candidate for the C if he sees his junior year. I'm hopeful, but not expecting him to be here though... Finley is the 6'7" dude And I think both Finley and Radke have turned the corner. They are showing a lot more confidence. Radke was the Captain of the Grande Prairie Storm (His BCHL team) before coming here and so I believe he's used to standing up for his teammates. I really was impressed that he'd take a stand towards a guy 4"-5" taller than him. Guts. I liked Radke when I first saw him. It's just taken him a bit longer to get himself more into a role. Zajac got 2 minutes for roughing, IIRC. He was there when it all first broke out. Other than that, I don't know what he did either. Sweeney was mentioning something about what can happen to spectating players if they hang around the fight too long on Friday when Phil skated away from the fight. I'm not familiar enough with the rulebook to quote anything. I thought, at the time, that Phil wanted nothing to do with the stuff going on.

They couldn't get more wrong. There's no one on the Mankato roster with the first or last name being Olson. Mankato's Roster

In which case, the DQs benefitted Mankato. I have no clue who Wagner is for the Mavs but I'm sure he's less of an impact as losing Rankin. Who cares though anyways. We have to deal with our losses for Friday whether the players DQ'd on either side were correctly called or not.