redwing77

It's also really hard to build a young team that can win it all under the salary cap. If I could build a team, I'd build the team similarly to the Hawks... but I wouldn't deviate to sign a journeyman goaltender and call him my #1. They've done that so often over time. However, the two times they signed their own young goaltender, they've done better than they have done since 1961. The last two goaltenders they signed to NHL contracts and stood pat with them? Belfour in 1987-8 and Antti Niemi in 2009-10. Ok, ok, I see your point otherwise, but I can't go back 5 years in the past. Because if I did, I'd love to build a team around Lidstrom. However, Lidstrom is 40 this year. Can't build around a player who has a very short time left in the league left, even if he is still among the best at 40. But yeah, my ideal player to build around is a defenseman who can play solid D, great in the offensive zone, and is a solid leader on and off the ice... I just described Lidstrom.

Toews, Ovechkin, Byfuglien, Johnathon Quick or Ondrej Pavalec.... I didn't choose Thomas because I wanted a younger goaltender that may have better years in front of him than Thomas despite Thomas obviously being the best for this year. Toews is a steady, young leader who has been to the big dance and can set up anyone. Ovechkin will be a pure finisher. Byfuglien is both a good D (not great but good) and an excellent instigator. He also has a ton of grit. If I chose more, the next two picks would be Nic Lidstrom and Kris Letang. I'd probably go Crosby after them. Not because he's a bad player, but I don't like the media circus Crosby creates and though it is awfully nice when you have the NHL Front Office, ESPN, and the NHL Network as your top 3 fans, I'd like to build a team that builds respect instead of having hype garnish upon the team. You know what I mean? Build to your potential instead of stretching to fulfill the hype.

We want him? I shouldn't be so critical. However, I really respected players who took a different direction rather than one that could be conspired as being the easy path. Best example? The Eaves kids. Instead of basically walking into a starting position with Wisconsin, Ben and Patrick Eaves not only didn't go to UW, they didn't even pretend to stay in the WCHA. They played (and played well) for BC. I think Lucia should do the same. I'd recommend trying to get into a team like Notre Dame, Michigan State, BU, BC, or Miami if he could. Not that any of those schools (or him for that matter) are interested....

Wouldn't you? Some of those cupcakes seemed downright disgusting. Oh, and no matter how many tattoos that guy has, he was on flipping Cupcake Wars. How "manly" can someone be? Heh.

I don't know what the players around the league think of Cooke. He's dangerous. He has a reputation as Goon has mentioned of fighting only players smaller than he is and he makes rather blatant hits that bend even the most strident of hockey fans' towards the "cheap" category. If his value was so high in the instigating category, I HIGHLY DOUBT Vancouver would have let him walk. Vancouver doesn't have much of anyone who can instigate anything more than a minor kerfuffle. You want someone who can instigate better than many? How about Atlanta's Byfuglien? Or Detroit's Holmstrom? Neither have a history (or much of one) of making yearly additions to the "Cheap Hit" archive. And, yeah, I consider you to be biased. And for the record, I'm biased when it comes to Red Wings hockey. I don't much mind you being biased as a Pens fan as long as you don't try to come across as anything different. As for Ovie, I keep on watching the media machine that is the NBA-based Bettman freak show and think more and more on how Ovechkin was simply brought along to promote a rival for Crosby rather than truly highlight how good of a hockey player he is. If it was how good he was, you'd see a lot more promotions of players like Iginla, Nash, Toews, Kane, Kovalchuk (a few years ago anyways), Parise, Vanek, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, heck even Stamkos! Stamkos is starting to be mentioned in the same breath but... I'm not sure who I'd take between the two. I am not a fan of both of their on ice tactics. Crosby has been a crybaby on the ice and Ovechkin has made a few questionable (if not overly cheap) hits in his past. But Jim is right. If Crosby can keep up this kind of play over a full season (not necessarily having 84+ game point streaks but still) he'll start earning some of the overwhelming accolades garnered on him all of the time. But nothing will stop me chafing at all the heavy breathing put on by the NHL PR department and the sports media. I don't care how great those two are.

I know I'm inciting a response but... How is Kane's actions vs. Cooke in the least bit like Cooke's actions? Cooke and Kane dropped the gloves in a fight. Kane rocked Cooke and knocked him out. It's as simple as that. Had Cooke dropped the gloves with anyone and issued a knockout blow in the same manner, I bet no one would make a big deal of it. Why? Because fighting is legal in the NHL. Elbowing people to the back of the head is not. Cooke's actions in the past has shown that he's always been one to make cheap hits. Sorry DaveK, there's a difference between getting rocked in a fight where both combatants agreed to drop the gloves and getting rocked by a blindside hit to the back of the head. And Cooke isn't the only NHLer who has a bad reputation. Sean Avery is still (and probably forever will be) trying to recover from the reputation he gained for himself time and time again. Cooke's hit against Lucic could easily be seen as "Cheap" but I don't really think it is an illegal hit. I watched the video a few times myself and it is true Cooke hit hight and head contact was made, but I can't truly see whether the shoulder was hit first or the head. I don't think this was "typical" Cooke goonery, because it was pretty clear to me that Cooke was trying to eliminate Lucic from the puck in a legal way and it just happened to hit high. Savard''s hit was clearly illegal and cheap. This hit wasn't as clear cut to me. EDIT: And Cooke was a hack while he was with Vancouver. Take your Penguin shaded glasses off and look at the players. I'm no fan of the Pens, but I recognize most of them. Sorry, I'll never be a fan of Fleury, Cooke, or Crosby but I respect the organization and especially Lemieux. As for the Blackhawks: Turco is a bust this season. There is a difference though: he's signed to a 1 year contract. It is true that he has been no better than Huet, but he has done something in his career despite his failings this season. Huet had 1 decent year and promptly got overpaid by about $2 million. Crawford has done ok. I still think the Hawks won't make the Finals. Two big players (Kane and Hossa) have been put on IR. That's a lot to overcome... Kane is anyways. Hossa, well, the Hawks are used to overpaid players going on the IR a lot (see Havlat before Hossa). What an odd year in the NHL. Fleury emerges as an overrated goaltender, Price actually starts playing hockey... Osgood is still out on the ice solely because they want to give him 400 wins. Awfully nice of the Red Wings, but unnecessary. Osgood should have been cut after last season. Oh well. Crosby, as much as I dislike what the NHL and Hockey media have done to him, has been a beast. Ovechkin has been an "also ran" for much of this season... What a strange season.

Perhaps the task force group whatever will ask you to change the name of the site like they plan on doing to Siouxland Buffalo or whatever?

I voted for Rodwell as best Freshman thus far. Here's why: I think we all knew Forbort was something special. Everything leading up to his first game was showing this. True, it doesn't always translate right away, so I am not saying he's not worthy but... Look at Rodwell and tell me we knew we'd get his level of play from him. Not all of us get to see a lot of AJHL games live. Not many are able to follow recruits like Rodwell. And he comes in and he pushes other players around and is super solid on the puck. I guess he'd be a sort of "unsung" rookie of the (half) year thus far for UND.

Agreed. Notre Dame? Really? UND and UMN make sense geographically. I guess Notre Dame is out there because, hey, it's Notre Dame. My guess? He goes to MTU. Just kidding. I wonder if UW tried to get his attention at all? Madison is only 276 miles from Apple Valley, making it 49 miles closer to Apple Valley (or thereabouts) than Grand Forks (276 miles as opposed to around 325). South Bend is 409 miles from Apple Valley. All told, he's looking at going from city driving (Minnesota) which means up to 30-45 minutes (somewhere around 20 miles on one of the U.S. most screwed up Highway systems) to 276 miles (Madison, WI) to 325-333 miles (Grand Forks, ND) to 409 miles (South Bend,IN). This means upwards of a 5+ hour drive. My hunch says, circle the map and go no further than 3.5 hours out from Apple Valley, MN. If we're in that circle, we're in the mix. UW is out solely because he didn't mention it as a choice. No way he heads to Notre Dame. No way.

I'd love to see Hudson lace em up for the Sioux (or whatever we become). However.... to play devil's advocate: Minnesota has all the cards in this one. Why? Apple Valley is closer to UMN's campus than UND's campus. Hudson could go home weekly and see Cooper and Mallory if he wanted. It's not so easy in Grand Forks (but not impossible either). His friends are going to UMN (Michaelson especially). And even more: Fasching sounds like a personality that might be a step in the direction for the Gopher hockey program that we keep criticizing them over: A team first approach over the primadonna. I'm not saying he should go to Minnesota, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did decide to go there. He'd have pretty good off the ice reasons to do so, imo.

Wow. I know how much you love cookies.

I think this is hilarious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQTDAVK02qc

Pretty close. 4-3.

Anyone hear anything about Nolan Zajac? Will he be looked at by UND or will he follow his brother to Union?

Here's an honest question: How much does Jason Gregoire compare to Drew Stafford?

Well, I know Mattson will be here next year. I don't think he has much USHL eligibility after this year. St. Clair was almost here this year so I'd guess he'll be in Grand Forks next fall too. The rest, who knows.

I own a PC and my work uses Mac. My friend has an iPad and he swears by it. The fact remains is thus: What are you going to use it for? If you wish to use it for a little of everything, entertainment, and stuff, and you have the money, the iPad is the best option. If you are going to just use it for the eBook app, then an iPad is a horrendous waste of money. If you want to use an iPad for a laptop replacement, then you'll be disappointed in some ways and ok with it in others. Despite the commercial, the iPad doesn't multitask. You can't search the web and then switch over to write a paper on a word processor at the same time, for example (at least the last time I checked). There's no USB ports. You have to buy a dock or rely upon email to get your documents from the iPad to anything else. That being said, it's a really nice device and I wouldn't mind having one. However, if I just want an eBook reader I'll get a Kindle. If I want something to replace my laptop, I'll be a netbook or another laptop.

I say we thank those who supported us from both reservations. Have a small ceremony, invite the media, but hold the ceremony in private. The media can then run interviews afterwards. Then, everyone (UND, students, alumni, etc.) just walks away. Like I said before, there should be no overt repercussions to the whole deal. No cuts in funding or programming (provided the funding is already in place). However, from the end of the Sioux nickname forward, the Native Americans will enjoy no more privilege on campus than any other ethnicity with regards to additional funding, programming, or recognition. UND is no longer obligated to go out of their way (as defined as doing anything more towards, in this case, Native Americans) for Native Americans, especially if they're not going to turn around and do the same for the African American, Latino, Asian American, or any other ethnicity. They can bid for it like every other UND organization or entity and will receive no more weight in their bid than any others. They should face the same academic requirements all other UND students are required. In other words: Give them their wish: Make them truly equals. Remove them from the pedestal they are on and demolish the pedestal in the most economically efficient manner.

This is the song that doesn't end... it just goes on and on my friend.

Sioux Rube, all... Grasp this: WhatsHockey is here to smacktalk... only Notre Dame has little to smack talk about. They haven't won any NCs in hockey. No big deal. Miami has garnered respect despite that. Notre Dame's last NC in football was 1988. Yup... 22 years ago. Since then, UND has won 2 National Titles. Notre Dame fans have had little to cheer about since Davie, Willingham, and Weiss were disasters for their football program. So all they have left to fall back on is academics. I can't find information on how many of their football players were Academic All Americans. However, academics is all he has to talk smack about. I'm not too proud to admit that, academically speaking, Notre Dame's reputation academically overall is better than UND's. However, we're not talking the Quiz Bowl showdown between these two schools. Notre Dame is fully capable of taking points this weekend. They are certainly more of a winning program the last 15 years than their football program. However, let's cut this guy some slack. You can't smacktalk if you realize you're outclassed in everything. This ND fan has found something that outclasses UND and he went with it. And for the record, comparing Notre Dame football to even UND football is like comparing Apples to Grapefruit. Notre Dame is in the FBS and, thus, is in an entirely different world of football. Notre Dame would crush UND in football... or at least they'd better. But I think UND has the superior hockey program... at least this year.

Booyah!!!!

I know it won't happen, but I'd LOVE Notre Dame to beat the University of Scandalous Cheaters. The fact that Notre Dame hasn't the talent nor a healthy #1 QB would make the victory EXTRA awesome. We all know ESPN is anxiously waiting for that 2 year bowl suspension to be up so they can once again start being the richest cheerleader on USC's sideline. In any case, I don't think this is the same Notre Dame that is as good as previous years. They're good and surely capable of taking points from UND, but I am not as afraid of them now as previous versions under Jeff Jackson.

I forgot one thing: It appears they have two fans that come to every Friday night game in Omaha that do some sort of comedic dance thing every intermission. Qwest does a "Dance" for the Jumbotron thing.... I can't remember if there is a prize associated with it or not. One was two rows behind me and the other was elsewhere, I can't remember. I truly believe they were planted by Qwest or UNO (or both) to promote the event because they seemed almost TOO Choreographed with the music and had a routine and everything. Regardless, though, it was hilarious and a fresh take on stale intermission routines.

I booo your boo! (Is there positive rep for being JimDahl's "Yes" man?)

Wow. I think I met the man.... Not a good thing.... My thoughts are with Adam.