redwing77

Uh, not really. Chicago can win sometimes. If you want an AHL team at an NHL leve, go to Pittsburgh

The calender that UND published is incorrect then. It lists NOrtheastern as the Friday game.

Foyt playing center? Wow. In any case, Federov and I can bury the hatchet from last season. Now both Foyt AND Bina get to play Edit: Of course, I forgot to thank PCM for the info. Thanks.

Unsure, but he seemed to "limp" off the ice during Friday's game.

I feel for the women who ran that didn't win... I mean, how ugly must they be for a cross dresser to get voted in their stead? Rutgers, SCSU has also had a sordid history of questionable actions. For example, they were sued for descrimination for apparent anti-semitic behaviors... I admit I don't know the whole story, but that was pretty bad. There were a few other incidents, but on the whole, not a great institution.

I am with Sic. Sorry, Manke fans, but we need a QB that's going to be good for all four quarters. Manke was pretty good the first half, but they forgot to come out of the chute for the second half entirely. It's a testament to UND's defense and the futility of Mankato's offense that they even got 3 points. It's a testament to Mankato's defense and the poorness of play that UND only scored 20.

I agree. It's really nice to have someone as flashy as Spirko on the team. Right now, though, Stafford needs to step up. Also, although Zajac didn't fair too badly last weekend, I think he could use less hype to help him get adjusted. I feel like he's being seen as this superstar, the next ZPar, before the season is fully in swing. Murray is indeed doing well, even when he was playing injured. Although it would be an interesting line defensively, I wonder what it would be like if Zajac, Murray, and Spirko shared the same line?

Speaking of Powerplay, when was the last time our Powerplay was truly dangerous?

He was thinking that JPar beat a very good team early on in the season. So he went with the "hot" goaltender. To be honest, I'm not sure if JPar is entirely at fault for the last 2 goals he let in. The first goal was something he could do nothing to stop. I was in line and someone told me that JPar would be the odd man out down the road, warming some pine. Well, I'm thinking that Brandt may be the odd man out, not JPar. It stinks because he's a senior and he's not all 100 percent (if that leg injury is true), but I really think JPar is the better goalie. I also think that, after last weekend's adventure, a lot more of you will understand why Hak and Blais subscribed to the rotation method of goaltending.

Wow. But that's not as shocking as probably one of the reasons why: Look at the guy's name. Those guys are probably so dumb that half of them thought the guy's name was the F bomb with the -ing ending.

I remember the radio guys talking about clearing the front of the net as being the cause of at least one of the goals on Saturday. The guy said that our defense "just didn't want to clear the front of the net." Well, I say they couldn't clear the front of the net. No, I'm not saying that those Gopher players were too strong. I'm saying that, if we even tried, it would have meant a 5 on 3. On Friday, nearly every time we cleared the front of our net, we got called. I think the officials and bad habits have made our team less physical, less imposing, and less dangerous.

I wonder if the defensive breakdowns were really because they were afraid of going down a man. Anderson loves calling penalties, especially against the big, tough UND defenders. They didn't check because they were afraid to take the penalty. It's probably what Hak talked about all morning long. We were overcautious, tentative, and we deviated from our game plan. No game plan, no possible way of building up a flow. A lot like if we had another penalty filled night like Friday. It looks like we need the physical game more than I thought. We don't have the finesse players we used to so we need to produce somehow. I fear the open letter is not going to be to UND's favor for that simple reason.

This game was very odd from a reffing standpoint. No consistency at all. I think that actually both sides got away with stuff. Notes: 1. Our powerplay still stinks, but this time I can honestly say I've never seen a worse showing while a man up. 2. Passing- Usually on top of it, but today, we couldn't pass to save our soul until the last 9 minutes of the third period. Far too late. 3. Something isn't clicking in our defense as at least 3 of the Gopher's goals were soft. That being said, even if Brandt and JPar had stopped those shots from going in, we still would have lost 3-0. 4. The fight was nice, but I'd rather have had Canady do it than McMahon. We need Rory next week. 5. Expectations: During the second period I found myself actually being far too cynical against the Sioux. It is something I'm not proud of and I did a good job to shot the hell up during the third. That being said, I think we need to readjust our expectations for this team. 6. Offense. I wasn't concerned about shot totals until tonight. I thought it was natural for the team benefitting from all the penalties to benefit in the shot total department as well. With only 10 penalties called in the entire game (combined), I noticed that we are getting far too miserly in our shooting. We're trying to be too pretty. Relying upon the cycling technique to produce chances. Though that may work, they need to mix it up. I've always thought (in my armchair coach sort of way) that it would be nice to slap it into the goaltender and then have someone rushing the net to look for a rebound if at all possible. Pepper the net and hopefully a bounce will go your way. For the entire first period, the scoreboard showed that the Gophers were outshooting us nearly 3 shots to 1. Sorry, I can live with losing to a team that outplayed us (like tonight) but I can't live with losing to a team because we never even tried to shoot the puck. We really only had 2 chances, both excellent saves by Briggs, both deep in the 3rd period. Lastly (for now), I think we need to give props to Ryan Potulny, Don Lucia, and Kellen Briggs for an astounding performance over the weekend, even if Briggs didn't deserve it Friday. I am curious as to where we stand now? BC lost either earlier today or yesterday (to my knowledge) and we split. Still too early, but we play BC next week and I hope we can resolve our issues before Friday night.

Consistency has ALWAYS been a problem in the WCHA among officials. There were too many penalties, yes. How many of them were legitamite may be closer to actual for the Sioux than I'd like, but the fact is, they don't seem to call it both ways. This gives the ref the appearance that he's biased. I want ANderson fired. However, to his defense, if he was fired for the reasons I'd want, then there wouldn't be many refs left to officiate as we'd have to fire them all.

Ok, before you read all of this take note: What follows is an opinionated critique of the Hockey Pep Band. It is not meant to be an attack on any certain band member, band leader, or poster to this board. Parts of this rant is not flattering to the band, but I feel it needs to be said. If you do not wish to read this, skip over this message. Again, it is not meant to offend. ******************************************************************* Tonight the band did well. I was impressed. The trumpets actually was able to hold back and trust technology enough not to overblow. I actually heard the saxes at times. Wow. They did sound better practiced. However, my point is simple. I was /in the band/. So when I criticize, I criticize by what I saw, heard, and what I knew about the band in the past. That's great they have this practice schedule. So far (through one game), they've shown that they can play this season. Last season, the season before, and before that, all the way back as far as I can remember (including when I was in the band), the band would flat out suck. Flat out. That being said, I think the band is essential to the Ralph, but I also think that the fact that they have to play in two different venues, often twice a day, is bogus and needs to change. For that reason, I think the Football band should be a separate band entirely. Let the basketball and hockey band be the same entity, separate from the football band. They can practice as they do, and the pressure of running from the Al to the Ralph will be eliminated. Plus, they can start incorporating new material conducive to sporting events. For example, Soak up the Sun will never again be heard out of the band. Period. Take the Cheryl Crow, Hootie, and whatever crap and shove it into the garbage can. That crap belongs at the annual concert at the Old Folks home. This is a sporting event. Play upbeat, high energy songs or don't play at all. Songs like the School song, Beer Song, Taking Care of Business (even though I don't like this song), Roll out the barrel, Fight song, Nanana hey hey hey goodbye song, Give me some lovin', championship, and such are good songs for the hockey band. Can't find anything else? Stick with what works. There's nothing wrong with the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I apologize for coming across harsh, but I feel that the football band is there for entertainment and enjoyment by all. That's why marching bands exist. To march around and show of musicianship and skill through intricate and extensive movement. Bands like those at the Ralph are "Pep" bands. These bands have no flash, no glitter or lights. Their job is to energize and ignite the crowd of onlookers in support of the team. Entertainment, though present, is purely secondary. For this reason, I expect the band the play the music and play it with enough skill, not so that they can play it to wow contest judges, but well enough so that the band doesn't sound like a bunch of drums and brass players with attention issues. Again, tonight, they showed they can play. If they play more like they played tonight, then I think the mics should be "hot" more often during the game. End Rant.

I disagree on the reffing. Ok, the Sioux had it coming to them, but so do the Gophers, yet there were several non calls on them that were called on us. Inconsistency, same old same old. By the way, just tuned into Sportscenter. Zajac's goal to tie the game made the #2 play of the day.

I knew we'd get Anderson. Expect more of the same tommorrow. I'll say one thing: Our defense is the best in the country. Period. Today's shot totals shouldn't be contrued as being poor, it was simply Anderson's way of keeping the game "even." We made our shots count and that's all that mattered. Anderson is a poor ref, everyone knows that. Maybe not Anderson simply because he's probably too stupid to realize it. In other news, our D was great but so was Zajac. Genoway really played hard, but he looked like he was running out of gas towards the end of the game... Then he came up with the goal and I wonder if I was just tired and not him? The heart in question was realized tonight.

I think there is good reason to be cautious. Even if the Gophers haven't won any games at all, they still play us VERY well. They always seem to have a good idea of what the Sioux's number is. Inexperienced or not, the Gophers can win if they catch us flat footed. It is best to honor their capabilities. Like him or not, Lucia may be the best coach in the WCHA now that Blais has gone pro. The only coaches who are close are Eaves and Sandelin, but they are relatively young in the coaching ranks.

I think the Sioux come out onto the ice to Zombie Nation but I am not sure who sings it and even if that is the right title. There's no words, just what sounds like a lot of "whoa" and it's a techno like song.

Brandt plays for two reasons: 1. He's the freshest goaltender. With the Gophers in town, we need fresh bodies. 2. He's got the most experience. The only thing about this is that I don't know his record against the Gophers.

I always wondered if I'd ever see a ranking as bs as this one. I don't really understand why we dropped in the polls after everyone above us lost and I really don't care to know what processes they smoked up to do it. What I did hear was that it was not really against the Sioux that they went down in the polls. Rather it is the NCC's wish not to hold a playoff game in Grand Forks, even if it would cost the league money. Don't know if that is close to the truth, but it seems to make sense with our win and everyone else's losses (some by huge margins).

Another warm up song they used was "Right Now" (or whatever) by Van Halen

I remember songs such as "Song No. 2" by Blur being played at times during the game... During warmups last year they played "Crawlin'" by Linkin Park, ""Stupify" by Disturbed, I think they played "Faint" by Linkin Park as well.