KSSioux

I met Travis at a conference in Orlando years ago. He introduced himself, when he saw I was wearing a shirt with a Sioux logo. Took time to talk to me and was a great conversation. He had a wonderful passion for the game. Showed me his championship ring with great pride, as he should have in being part of the team. May he rest in peace.

None of these players that played in this tourney are being "delayed" in their arrival to UND. Swanson is a new commit, and I believe he is the youngest (or one of the youngest) that was on this team, which is why he is a couple of years out from arrival on campus. Strathmann and Livanavage are on schedule. Some players development does not progress due to a number of conditions, but these three are on the schedule.

The Finland pre-tourney game was not on NHL Network. The pre-tourney game tomorrow against Sweden is on the NHL Network. All four of the preliminary round games will be on the NHL Network, and it looks like they all start at 3:00 central time.

It was a great game to watch. I had seen Strathman play a few times, and am very impressed. Will not make us forget about Sanderson, but he is a high end talented D-man with good size and skill. Livanavage is a good player, but undersized, which is the likely reason he was not drafted. Just started to watch Swanson is this tourney since he committed. He has his dads speed and skating ability, and I am excited about the talent improvement as he has a couple of years before he arrives.

No . . . . No . . . . , He just understands the game a lot better than most of the posters on here.

Looks like Mitchell Miller signed an entry level contract with the Bruins. Looks like it will be Montgomery's headache if he ever makes it to the National. Kids got talent, so we will see how this works out.

Here is a link to the story from FoxNews. I am sure you can find others. Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab | Fox News

My fault on that one as I was typing. I totally agree it would be Farmer with Johnson at D. I also agree with the possibility of playing an extra D on the big ice, which would be Bast if he is healthy. I do stick with the forward lines that I have, but would not want the fourth line out with the top Minny line unless Albrecht was a part of it instead of Ness. Since Minny has the last change, that is my reason for concern.

Here are my thoughts on the lines against Minny on just what I have seen so far and a bit of commentary on why: Gaber Schmaltz Blake Hain Senden Jamernik Costantini McLaughlin James Ness Strinden Caulfield Extra Forward: Kunz/Albrecht Frisch Kleven Moore Jandric Farmer Johnson DeRidder We have a great wealth on center on this team, but we need the best face off guy with Blake and Gaber, and that is Schmaltz right now. Defensively this is not a great line, and I would play Kleven and Frisch with them as much as possible. I could see McLaughlin swapping with Schmaltz, without a lot of issues. Costantini needs to play on a scoring line, and being with McLaughlin I think is a great way to bring in a little more offense. Strinden needs to get some more time, and I think this could be a great heavy line. They may not see a great deal of ice time on the big sheet in Minny (Probably 10-13 minutes of 5x5). I think Kunz plays Saturday in place of Ness in that swap with Ness. I had seen a lot of DeRidder the last couple of years and he is a great goaltender. He will prove that in the future. The D will get themselves together and I like the Sidorski/Johnson line as Sidorski is a little more defensive minded and can back up Johnson or Bast when he gets back.

You are correct. I just got confirmation from the Ralph that these are replicas and do not have the quote inside. This is kind of strange, but understandable. It will ramp up the price of the gamers, and they said there may be a few of the unused sweaters possibly for sale. I know I have seen the one time gamers not being traditional weight, but lighter. Just one example I have, I will reference the ones used in Maine to honor the coach passing were not authentic game weight.

That is normally the case with "single game sweaters". The Ralph e-mail advertisement said they were replicas, but that could be a semantic issue. "Replicas" do not normally come in numbered sizes (46-56), but S,M,L, XL. Single game sweaters are normally made by the same company, but indeed lighter weight and could be a different location than the authentics, that they were multiple times. I ordered one because I like it, so we will see if they have the quote in the collar. I could be wrong, so we will see.

These are not replicas, I believe they are the same as the team will wear for this game. They are not "alternates", but a single game wear, so they are not of the same weight as a normal sweater. For single game sweaters in the past, they are a lighter weight and it keeps the cost down for the sweater although manufactured by the same company. Those that have bought "single gamers" in the past can verify that this is correct.

I have numerous patents and have trademarked a product name under a name that existed in the past. Trademarking a name like Nodak's would be pretty simple for the university, and it should be done. Even if there is a business that uses the name, this is a unique and different use of the name and likely would not be challenged. To those that are opposed to the use of Nodak as an alternative, please look at who the performance center is named after and how he wore a "NODAK" track uniform. It has been used in the past and is a good alternate in my opinion.

I just think it is pretty funny to look at some of the height/weight numbers and there are obvious games that are being played by teams on how they represent that information. I doubt other teams look at this info too closely, and I just wait to see how the players actually perform and have progressed season to season. Pooly no doubt does a great job with these kids, and I am not sure he is the one that actually does the data gathering, but I had to reference someone.

If you compare their height/weight from last year on the guys returning, it is amazing to see how most of the returnees are 1-2 inches shorter than last year's measurements. What in the world is Pooly doing to have these guys shrink?

This is a good little article on Jackson Blake on NHL.com. Man does he look like his dad in the picture. Carolina is pretty happy with him coming to North Dakota and want him to get stronger. I think Poolman will do wonders for this young man. Looking forward to watching him in NoDak gear for a few years. Blake following dad's footsteps in preparation for Hurricanes, NHL

Hobie Hedquist getting a little love in the NHL piece on possible late round goalie picks. Here is the article about the upcoming North American goalie prospects for this year's draft. Top goalie prospects discussed ahead of 2022 NHL Draft Personally, I think it would be a stretch for him to be drafted, but he did very well last season, and they mention he has a good upside. Hopefully he will continue to develop as he will not be pushed to play this year. I have a lot of confidence in Karl, and this could be a great fit in a couple of years.

My guess is that Michigan gives him a one-year contract at his same salary level, full of bonuses while they pressure the NCAA. Once the NCAA caves and says, "there is nothing to see here", Michigan will give him a big contract extension praising his trustworthiness.

He was a "Blue Chippa". Gotta trust the coaches. They will not always be right, but more often than not.

Congrats, will be pulling for you in Boston. Must be all those grindaz your team has that can pull off this high scoring affair! Gotta love some of the comments on here without giving other teams credit. There are some great defensive teams in this tourney, and there are a couple remaining tomorrow. We will see how those go.

One point that I think needs to be made regarding Kleven is the number of young good D recruits in the Senators system right now (not counting Tychonik as a good D recruit). I agree that they may want Kleven in the system, and with the way that the NCHC refs officiate, I would not be surprised if he decided to move on from college hockey. I think he could benefit from the time to develop further at UND, and he may not want to be in their system right now. I think he will make a great 3rd D pair for some NHL team in the future. If his rights get traded on draft day, that may make things more interesting.

There was one penalty on UMD that was even close to marginal. UMD got a huge break that the reviewed call was not a major. It would have been a major and a game for a UND player. Due to the contact with the glass with elbow to head, the NCHC likely would have suspended said player for the game tonight. This is just one of the reasons that I do not like Sandy as a coach. He will definitely tell his players to flop tonight to get more calls, and they likely will. They did try a couple of dives last night, but credit to the officials they were not called.

It was glad to see North Dakota pull the anti-Michigan last night and win with a short roster. No excuses, next man up, and follow through on the commitment. Speaks greatly of the team and the coaching process. My three stars of the night would be: #1 Mark Poolman, #2 Defense + goaltender, and #3 Berry. Without Poolman the conditioning would not be there, and the recovery of some of the players would not happen as it needs to happen. I think he gets short-changed on his value to the program. If I were a parent of a potential recruit, that would be a great factor in the decision process. I will bet that one of Jakes reasons for staying had to do with that development of his game that he could get at North Dakota. He needed that to step into a first line D role, that he will quickly have in Ottawa. This is why I love to watch North Dakota hockey, although there may be ups and downs, it is weekends like this that are special to the program. Watching them give up their bodies to protect the shut out with a four- goal lead, and a depleted lineup, was awesome. No matter what the rest of the season brings, I appreciate the game and hope for great things for this team.

I agree with that. UMD gave up a two goal lead to SCSU and dropped a point in the shoot-out Tuesday night. Must have been the coaching. Oh, it was Sandy, so it was obviously the goalie's fault.

All you have to do is read the pages from a few games this year and you can figure out why. I used to come on here after a game to see if anyone had any comments or found clips of things like how Senden and Jammer got injured last night. All you get now is the same garbage from the same folks when they lose about "Fire Berry", "Too many Grindaz", "Not enough Blue Chippas", etc. Even when they win folks seem to not be satisfied about something. Seems to be for the most part that the hockey knowledge is inversely proportional to the number of quotes by an individual. I have been to over 30 Frozen Fours and watch a lot of college hockey, even outside of North Dakota. I have seen the landscape change, and I feel it is much for the better of the sport. Every team has great athletes and the diversity from the non-traditional hockey states is awesome. We see that even in the North Dakota roster for over ten years now. There is very little difference between most of the college hockey players, with some obvious exceptions. This is what it is, a message board. People can say almost what they want. I just hope that the players, coaches, or parents of said players do not take much credence to what is said on here.