yzerman19

Not much to say that hasn't been said. You can't have a terrible goaltending night and come out with many Ws in this league. Agree we need more out of the 3rd and 4th lines.

Lots of changes if we are just talking what they accomplished at UND. I based mine on a fictitious tryout....otherwise is it a career or great season and how do we compare eras

So, I'm taking a little different tact to this. I am thinking that if every Sioux player in history showed up at the Ralph for a tryout, and I was assembling a team with the goal of winning a championship, who would I select. My criteria is skill as displayed in college and/or professional ranks, attitude, etc. My forwards are: Jonathan Toews with Zach Parise and Dave Christian Troy Murray with Dixon Ward and Greg Johnson Tony Hrkac with Bobby Joyce and Jason Blake TJ Oshie with Jim Archibald and Carey Eades (Energy line) scratched but on team: Travis Zajac, Steve Johnson, Doug Smail Last cut: Ryan Duncan, Jeff Panzer, Phil Sykes, Russ Romaniuk, Mark Taylor Defense: Craig Ludwig and James Patrick Matt Greene and Scott Sandelin Mike Commodore and Curtis Murphy Scratched but on team: Ian Kidd and Travis Roche Last cut: Murray Baron, Taylor Chorney Goaltending: Belfour Casey scratched: Goerhing

JR was awesome...I like the TJ analogy...although TJ's got a lot of NHL points to put up before he really earns that moniker. Didn't JR walk away from a BU ride because he didn't want to take tests...played half a year in the Q and was in the NHL at 18?

In the end, we are all in it for ourselves and those we care about and love...a kid gets frustrated and sounds off...not the biggest deal in the world.

yup, and the Gopher announcer described the following as being built for the playoffs: defensive 5x5 play and a great powerplay...and we wonder why hockey is the least popular of the major sports. Race horse up and down hockey is beautiful to watch- defensive hockey is like watching paint dry.

Another team that might be a 4 seed in the NCAAs that can beat anyone...

Anybody know if the winter classic game next saturday will be televised nationally?

yup, or the 2nd armored...

Diving is cowardly- First, the officials need to call it. Then maybe treat diving progressively against the whole team, i.e. first dive is two second is five third is a ten Add to it with cumulative player penalties like fighting i.e. third dive called on you in a season and you sit a game The other thing that needs to be called is players turning their back to a checker...it is up to both players to avoid a dangerous hit. in a situation where a puck carrier turns their back to the checker, both players should sit for five and a game.

How about the "Tank Brigade" it is "lead" by general Pattyn after all

Keys to success: 1. Scoring first and early. This allowed for an up-tempo game. 2. Switching Rocco and Danny left to right. Danny and "Bob" are a great tandem. If those two are keyed on, Rocco can create all by himself. I envision this line firing on all cylinders come playoffs. 3. Michael Parks. We need him to play like this the rest of the year. 4. The Rowney, Parks and Caggiula line- I really, really like this line 5. Easy Mac to the third line with Colton- even though Colton's night ended early, I liked what I saw. I think we are seeing that Easy Mac's style might be best suited other than on the top two lines...not a knock on his skill...this is a chemistry move 6. Tenacity out of the fourth line- that was a Sioux fourth line last night 7. Zane- other than one stupid move that cost us a goal, he played very well again. He was outstanding on Friday night. 8. Few defensive zone mistakes. 9. Gleason and Simpson jumping into the offensive play opportunistically.

So are match penalties only pro and junior?

Mac reacted like it was a dive too...it was a dive. Coming off the bench to fight is a match penalty and a game

The cycle is a puck possession system. It is designed to wear down an opponent's defense through a relentless forecheck. Theory being if the puck is on the opposite end boards, it can't go into your net. It is not an offensive system, offense is supposed to be a downstream result. This team is not a puck possession team. It is not a physically dominating offensive team. It is not even an overly skilled team. I think this team is a "tweener" not skilled enough to be a skill team (after the first line) not physical enough to be a punishing team... Then we have the whole defensive zone failure...

I give Zane another start. He earned it. Best performance by a Sioux goalie all year. If the only line that you have to worry about is the top line, you always match-up with your best defensive pairing and either your top scoring line or your checking line. UND has proven that nobody else can put the puck in the net. Just like Ben Hanowski said. SCSU's plan was entirely built around limiting time and space for Kristo and Knight.

This team lacks an identity. I think it is having growing pains evolving from last year's team. Last year was a gritty, over performing team. Agree that we are not built for dump and chase or cycle. We are a transition team this year. We are trying to put Ferrari components into a 4x4. We could lose Pattyn for friday's game and still be alright. I say he needs to drop 'em if anyone is willing to dance.

Knight with Kristo and St Clair (put some energy up top) Grimaldi with Caggiula and O'Donnell (bench Easy Mac for stupid and see if a break helped Brendan, Rocco can play pivot) Rowney with Chyzyk and Parks (forecheck line- puck support) Pattyn with Rodwell and Gaarder

If Kristo, Knight or Grimaldi don't score...NOBODY scores. You can't pin the whole season on 3 guys. D was bad again, although not as glaringly, they were sheltered by the great play of Zane. He was the best player on the ice last night. Wisconsin's third man high has always given us fits, so I'm not all that surprised with our struggles. Mac needed to drop the gloves to save the season... Wisconsin is a junk team- hate the system, hate the clutch and grab, hate the diving. Not even fun to watch. No wonder hockey is the least popular major sport. If I had to watch Wisconsin play every weekend, I think I'd become a Nascar fan instead. penalties- agree that the refs totally lost control of the game. It was law of the jungle. If I'm Hak, I order Pattyn to give a code red tonight. Easy Mac's penalty in OT was just dumb. I would actually bench him tonight for that stupidity. Drake's penalty was not a 5 in my opinion. It was not a CFB from any angle. We are ok this year, not great, not terrible. We need to get scoring from more than the 3 guys I mentioned. We need to get a little offense from the blue line. We need to be positionally responsible in our own end. Something is going on in the locker room...it is manifesting on the ice. This coaching staff is responsible. Own it. Fix it. Don't make the Final Five- an assistant should lose their job.

watching wisconsin play hockey is like watching old people ____ Thank God they took this style of play out of the NHL

I guess we agree to disagree. I haven't seen anything that represents a scoring line out of Rowney. I know that Parks hasn't been back that long, but I am not impressed.

Seattle metro area pop: 3.5M Vancouver metro area pop: 2.4M Quebec metro area pop: 765k

At what point do we put a fork in the Rowney-Parks-MacMillan line...it has been an epic fail this year.

I didn't research. I pulled those 7 out of memory, meaning that there are more.

I hate to say it, but I have seen nothing that inspires confidence. UND loses tonight.