redwing77

I've watched some football games last year and this year and I have something to consider: It may not be either QB. Joe made plays at the Alerus on Saturday, no doubt about it. However, I want to question who calls the plays to begin with. Is it Lennon? Is it the O Coordinator? I think THAT is the guy we should be talking about here. Last season was horrible, yes, but I also noticed that the plays were very similar. WAY too much screen passes and running at the inopportune times. It doesn't seem to me like this is a QB issue. It seems like we have an Offensive Coordinator who is training our QBs not to look more than 5-10 yeards down field. I'll tell you, 3 yard screen passes won't get you to the end zone. Eventually, the D will pick up your game plan a la the INT yesterday for a TD. Bowenkamp looked downfield twice: the first time for a sack and the second time we got big yards. We're batting 500, no? Why not go for that? In my football watching experience (which means that those of you who played probably know better than I), my impression is that you come out playing hard, aggressive football and try to gain the lead. Then you try to keep or add to the lead for the rest of the game. Obviously, SCSU has that mentality because that is exactly what they did. We did not. Not until the cccoaching staff decided to experiment it seems and "let the dogs run loose." So my opinion is: It matters little who actually starts. If I were Roger Thomas, or whoever makes the decisions on coaching staff, I'd be watching my O coordinator's play calling. If he keeps running endless screens and hb dives or whatever, can him and search for a more aggressive O coordinator. I believe we have the talent but a coaching staff who won't let em fly.

Diggler, I feel your pain. I had someone behind me that, every time we chant would yell out "Quit cheering that stupid cheer!" And stuff like that. What a moron. Also, there is a flake behind me who could end up being the first victim of the no standing rule. He spent like 5 minutes of the hockey game on the cell phone looking around the arena trying to find someone. My god. Since when do tarts become hockey fans? I wish I could have grabbed the cell and threw it at Stauffacher "Can you hear me now? Good!" At least the dude next to me is pretty cool. Knew a lot about hockey rules enough to correct me. We spent a good deal of the time talking up Reichmuth and Murray I'm already a die Hard Murray fan!

Blah. It was no cop out. Lundbohm derserves it, but Parise may get it because of his offensive output, his tenacity, and his popularity at the time. I can't believe I placed behind a Sioux fan from a desert There should be at least one senior player with a letter (unless he's a constant scratch like Lienweber). I think Schneider showed what it took to be a leader last night, but I still question why Hale didn't remain captain. Yeah, he had a poor year last year (God, those breakaways he had killed me!), but if the shoe fit, I guess they bought a new pair.

TJ Maxx is a wholesaler of sorts selling overstock from other companies. The place to find that jersey is Scheels for $70. Even if it is the wrong color, $20 is a good price.

My impressions I have already said but to recap: Fabian, Foyt, Marvin: Either didn't play or I didn't notice them Murray: Hard worker, fast, always in the thick of it, fearless it seems. He seriously looks like a future leader for the Sioux. Porter: Nothing really offensively although he may have gotten an assist... He did seem to go around trying to pick fights. Smaby: Freaking HUGE! Hard some good hits. POOR stickhandler. He lost the puck unpressured right in front of J Parise at one point. We recovered, but that's dangerous. Saw a lot of McMahon's and Parise's line. Didn't see much Fylling's line.

As much as Duluth commentators are annoying, they couldn't get more annnoying than Badger and Gopher announcers. But even then, they are employees of a company who is contracting with the particular school. In other words, it's to be expected. BTW- That's why I have a beef with ESPN. They aren't contracted to anyone. They should be objective. But hey... who are we kidding.

OH! Forgot a few Props. Major Props go to PCM. His predictions all came true! Every single one of them! His flare for predictions make the Swami look amateur. Props go to Isaac Reichmuth. UND 7 UMD 1 if Reichmuth wasn't playing. That simple. BTW- Can someone explain why this dude isn't drafted? Props go to Schneider, Stafford, Murray, and Greene. Stafford and Murray, I already explained why. Props to Schneider because even a RL experience hockey doofus such as myself felt the leadership of Schneider on the ice. And Greene gets props because, though he did get penalized, it did eliminate a possible odd man rush. He played smart hockey otherwise and he stood up for his fellow players. He's skating better and stick handling better. I would say he's better overall if this wasn't the first game of the year. Anti-Props to the Linesmen for making really bad calls on offsides for both sides. for the Polar Bear who was a flat out joke. And, lastly, Props to UMD the school, UMD the AD, and Scott Sandelin. Thanks for being the first game of the season. Anti Props to me because I CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT THE GAME!

UMD, from soneone who was there, handled the fights fairly well, but the second fight wasn't that even. The first fight, though, was pretty even. Prpich landed the first and the last punch. Prpich landed the most punches. Really, the last half of the fight Peluso merely held onto Prprich's jersey more than anything else. I would expect the Duluth commentators downplaying the Sioux dominance in the fight just like I'd expect the Sioux commentators of saying Prpich slaughtered Peluso. What the truth is: Prpich won, no contest, but it only looked dominating the last half of the fight.

I think the overreaction of the year goes to that dude who jumped the gun on the first goal. Admittedly, it was soft, but Parise faced a lot tougher shots and still made the save. Remember: On the breakaway that Parise stuffed, Siembida probably would have given up the goal. One game. That's it. Hell, say Parise sucks if you want. It wont A) Bring Ranfranz back and B) Make Ranfranz, even if he is brought back, any further up on the scale than 4th string. Just the fact that Parise is scholarship will keep him ahead of Ranfranz. Time to drop the whole Ranfranz flag. He was a good goalie, but it wasn't to be.

First off, Prpich came out flying and laid the dude to waste. Parise (Zach) looked a little sloppy early on and so did his brother but they both came through big time later. Stafford got the goal, but I was most impressed by Murray's play. He's fast, fiesty and played well despite only getting an assist. He was covered more heavily than Parise at times. For Duluth, I have to say that was the dirtiest game I've seen since I watched Ferris State. They only got caught half the time. They were cheap and played very poor hockey after the 2nd goal. Jordan Parise got a shot to the helmet as well as a skate blade to the head, both by Duluth players. Shots are shots and the blade was unintentional though. As usual, lost of holding by Duluth behind the play. Murray's stick was held and it wasn't called even though the puck went sailing by. The only good thing about Duluth I can say is that Reichmuth was very impressive despite losing. At one poin t there were three straight point blank shots by the Sioux and he turned them all away. It was just as I expected except for the SH goal. I predicted the score correctly but the sequence wrong. I didn't get any of the scoring correct. As for Sioux problems, Porter looked like all he was trying to do was start a fight. And Smaby. Oh my god. He's DEFINITELY no stick handler. But he's HUGE! He checked a player into Schmidt and into the boards. Two fights, both spectacular. Prprich made Petruic (Peluso? I'm not sure. Some dude with a P) his little b!tch. God that kid can fight. Caig was a disappointment, but Stapleton lived up to rep. Oh yeah, Stauffacher, Lessard, and Hammond spent a LOT of time on the penalty box pine. Caig even got two penalties. No repeat offenders for the Sioux although we had a pretty diverse player visitation to our own box (Schneider, Smaby, Prpich, Genoway, Parise, Greene (DUH), Bochenski, Porter, and whoever I missed) Hmmmm... Both teams did very well passing. Sioux had very good hitting. God we're big compared to the Bulldogs. Parise did very well for his first DI game between the pipes although the first goal was kinda weak. And as for the fight, it was definitely the Duluth player who was bleeding. I saw a linesman wiping blood from his sleeve.

Not arguing about anything. Just expressing that bad officiating is the status quo for Sioux hockey. Anyhoo, off to the game.

Gosh I thought we were down and out after the first half. In fact, I was calling for whoever tells the QB which play to call, whether the head coach or the offensive coordinator, to be fired. I mean comon, how many screen passes can you throw before bad things start happening? For those of you who watched the game, you notice the short game served only to take time off the clock. We started winning the game as soon as we started looking further than 5 yeards down the field. In my mind, we should not have won this game. We weren't playing D. We played O in the second half well enough, but it was shakey for a while. Joe Wilson and Glas won this game for us. Plain and simple. We got lucky folks.

We're arguing about refing? Give me a break. Inconsistent officiating my posterior. Season in and Season out, officiating is the only consistent thing in the WCHA. Who enters the season saying "This year the officiating will be fair, impartial, and deserving of praise!" Nope, not me. WCHA officiating being less than professional is the only consistent thing in WCHA hockey. Expressing disdain and surprise about it is useless. Pretty soon we'll be saying "It's as American as apple pie and bad WCHA officiating" Oh yeah, if the refs have any talent, they are hired by the AHL and the NHL. Even potentially good refs get hired by the ECHL and perhaps major juniors. Blah. Let's face reality folks: The Cubs will win the World Series before a thread is started on this site entitled "Give the refs a raise"

The biggest question is: What do the students end up with? Do they end up with the nice arena but the short end of the stick? What this tell me, more than anything is that they are dead serious about their hockey team. They are trying to compete with the big boys in hockey. Wow.

Bah, PCM. Predicting the Obvious isn't any fun. And who says a student will win the gift certificates anyways? They want the public to come more than the students, so it would be more expected to have some of the public win all the prizes. As for the other predictions: You forgot to predict how many times the beer song will be played and what the students will do every time we score a goal. Slacker. Anyone know if we have Katie O'Keefe back this year? If not, do we have to endure another one of those little "ditties"?

airmail, Lundbohm's goal will come with less than 3 minutes in the third period. Caig's second goal will happen within the first 3 minutes of the third period. Parise's goal will be the first and only goal of the first period. All the rest of the goals will be in the second. Penalties for UND: Greene (2 minutes tripping/hooking/holding whatever, surely it will be a bs call), Smaby (2 minutes cross checking), Prpich (2 minutes high sticking) Penalties for UMD: I don't know UMD's roster well enough to predict, but there will be quite a few... but don't worry, the refs won't catch you guys holding Parise behind the play. They didn't last year. They won't this year either. Shots on the Powerplay: UND- 5 UMD- 5 Short handed Shots: UND-1 UMD- 1 I'm going to say that Caig's first goal will come on a Greene penalty.

My prediction: UND -3 UMD- 2 UND SOG- 52 UMD SOG- 22 I haven't heard Ziegelman, but since everyone is saying his name, I'll assume that he's starting. Ziegelman 40:00 15 sog 13 saves Parise 20:00 8 sog 8 saves Reichmuth 60:00 52 sog 49 saves Goals: Parise (Murray, Bochenski) Murray (Bochenski, Schneider) Caig 2 (what the hell, give him a good game ) Lundbohm (Stafford, Massen) Heh. I wonder if I'll even be close.

I agree that Schneider and Jones would be key early departures, but what about Greene? Oilers camp saw him skate very very well, and since the Oilers could use dmen, there is a possibility that they will ask Greene to sign early. Also, if the refs are hard on him like they were for part of last season, that could factor in as well. As far as I know, Rosehill is not coming to UND. It was a mistake by the reporters. Maybe he's looking at UND. WHo knows. If it comes down to it, Marvin can play offense. In fact, if there are too many dmen next year, I'd expect Marvin to play primarily forward on the checking line. Also, Look for Ribbie Bina to be a sacrifice if they don't leave. I hate to say that about the kid, but he's the logical player to dismiss or scratch.

Ryan Bayda didn't make the team (Carolina) and was sent to the AHL yesterday

I think Zack is right, but then again, I think there should be pedestrian bridges over University Avenue. After all, who says the cars are going to stop? I mean, sure it is a Yield to Pedestrian Zone, but who cares about that? Also, I think they should close down the Little Ceasar's Pizza place in the Union and install A NutraWorld Vegan Cafe. Close McDonalds and all the fast food restaurants that doesn't have at least 50 percent of the menu as completely wholesome and the other half not fried and such. I could go on..... What I'm saying is: Life is a risk. Waking up is a risk. You could wake up suddenly in your lofted bed, hit your head on the ceiling, lose consciouseness, roll off the bed and break your neck on a trunk. My answer: The day you are born, youare fingerprinted on the X that is a waiver saying that any risks assumed in your life is done so at your own peril. Stupidity should become a criminal act when used to disrupt, harm, or take advantage other people or companies. Bring back cruel and unusual punishment: the town stockade where local idiots can be taunted and rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at him for a nominal fee. Hell, that's called commerce

I heard it was an either or situation. Ranfranz on the team. Or Foyt on the team. One or the other. In my opinion, no offense to Ranfranz, we need the dman

Rereading my post I realize that some, like schmittdoggydog have ties to the legal system. I was not saying that he is a bad lawyer, nor am I saying that all lawyers are bad. I am saying that there are those out there who really do a good job of making the profession out to be a bunch of money hungry thieves. Sorry schmittdoggydog and anyone else of the legal persuasion out there reading this board.

There's a difference between those teams who are not BCS eligible (Like Marshall) and the MAAC, now Atlantic Hockey. Marshall wins games, shows time and time again that they are contenders but they don't get considered because the only time they face real opponents is when it is non conference time. But I don't want to go DI football on a DI hockey site. In any case, these teams in the MAAC don't have the recruiting power, the insight and practical experience that the big teams have. They also don't have the operating budget the big teams have so their coaches cannot get far out to recruit. WCHA, CCHA, and HE teams beat them to the top prospects 9 out of 10 times, with the rest of the top prospects going major junior. They may get some marginal prospects or some solid hockey players, but we aren't talking Vanek, Parise, Crosby quality.

The atmosphere is exactly how I'd expect it at an exhibition game that isn't in either one of the team's arenas: Family day at the rink. Who plays Stray Cats, N'Sync, and Weezer at a real hockey game? Probably no one. Certainly didn't fire me up. What surprised me was that they actually had the sound system turned up. Won't see that during the regular season. One other thing that was nice: NO BLIMPS. But yeah, the atmosphere was a joke. There were a few guys near me who got into the game, but everyone pretty much laughed at them. And for the life of me I could have swore it was a Gophers game for the amount of Gopher jerseys in my section. One note though: The peewee game during the first intermission was really, yes, cute. No shots on goal. One near breakaway. Pure defensive contest for the kids who decided to play instead of skate and flail around on the ice

WPoS, I don't think you read what I said in my post earlier. I'm sure that the REA doesn't care about the nets either. Most arenas wouldn't care too much for them because of upkeep and such. However, the one fact that remains is: PEOPLE SUE FOR DAMN NEAR ANYTHING! And we aren't talking pocket change folks. Albeit accidental death from a flying frozen rubber disc is much less idiotic than what a lot of people sue for, it's the damn truth. Why? Deep pockets. Lady spills coffee on her lap because she puts it between her thighs when she is riding in a car without a lid on it knowing she would be under Newton's Laws during the car's operation. She claims the coffee was too hot and sues. $2 million later, she's doing just fine. Hell, a guy got over $600,000 in the mid 80s because he fell through a skylight and broke his leg in a school... while attempting to steal something else. No, I'm not lying. People in this country are too chickensh!# to stand up for their own mistakes and sheer stupidity. Judges are too mindful of a lawyer's right to make a living not to throw all these lawsuits out of court because they are blatently frivelous (or, giving lawyers some credit, they are able to pull the woool over the eyes of the judge just enough to stay the gavel). The judicial system is flawed and no one has the integrity to fix it. Instead they have the moral and ethical corruption needed to take advantage, if you will, of the deep pocket theory and then turn around and complain that luxuries are getting too expensive and insurance prices are skyrocketing too high. Hell, midcal prices are seeing the same thing. Thanks to congress, it's only going to get worse. Now THIS is a rant, but it explains perfectly why the nets are going to be a reality. Just be thankful it isn't plexiglass to the ceiling.