yzerman19

Best part of "Youngblood" is the signs in the crowd at Thunder Bay. And I quote: "Sutton is a Fag" and "Pu$$ies on Ice". Classic

I hope Danny Kristo isn't gripping his stick too tightly. He is a kid who's used to scoring a ton of goals and he had a couple good looks this last weekend that just missed. I thought he might be trying to do a little too much himself at the end of last night's game. I'd like for his coming out party to be against the hated rodents. I'd love to see him get the first one, get the boys all jacked when they fish the puck out of the net for him. Knight and Cichy got their first this last weekend, Kristo and Rowney get 'em this weekend.

Hak must've liked what he saw out there...can't say that I blame him. There appears to be early chemistry, and last night was a team win with all lines chipping in. It is very early, but I thought the freshman came out ready to play at this level. That says something about those freshmen.

I really like these lines. That fourth line is like the young guns line...let's see what they can do! The third line is a strong checking line that has potential to score a few goals. Third d-pairing is awfully young...

I hook my TV up to my pc as well. It is not like watching NHL on Vs in HD, but you get the gist. It is a great way to watch the team without always having to go to a bar. I've been doing it for 3 years.

It is difficult for other schools to compete with the fact that we have produced two NHL all stars and over a dozen NHL players over the past couple years. Hak is not stealing recruits; our program stands elite. Parise>>superstar, Toews>>superstar, Oshie>>budding superstar, the rest are all very good. Name a program with that level alumni, and I'm not even talking: Blake, Commodore, Greene, Stafford, Zajac...guys with regular NHL pay checks. UND develops top talent into millionaire NHL talent, period.

I think you see them (VV and Malone) together to start the season as Hak will be looking to develop line chemistry. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something like: VV, Malone and Kristo (I think he is too dynamic not to play right away) Toews, Gregoire and Trupp Zajac, Cichy and Hextall Lamoureaux, Rowney and Knight D pairings Genoway and Blood Marto and Fienhage Lapoint and MacWilliam

Marto's developed into a nice player. He is incredibly fast and a skilled skater in all regards. He started to jump into the play offensively some last year and scored some nice goals on the rush. I also rarely noticed him jump up at the wrong time. This tells me he is a very smart player too. Opportuisitic, smart, and great feet. He's not Paul Coffee or even Travis Roche, but he aint bad. He can skate on my team as a 3rd or 4th dman anytime.

OK, I am going to be debbie downer and pessimistic on Danny Mattson. I suspect a major physical issue as the reason behind Mattson not being drafted. A lot of guys don't get drafted, but not many guys who put up his kinda numbers (not just this year, but for a career) are evaluated as a mid-50's by central scouting, and invited to the combine don't go in the draft. Size and competition are what had him pegged where he was. None of that was a surprise. ANd even if he was weaker or slower than they thought, he couldn't have been so weak or so slow that noone wanted him. That's the kicker. Nobody drafted him. That means something came up that every team knew about. That tells me combine, and that tells me it is probably physical. At the end of the day the GM's are evaluating horses... For Danny's sake, I hope I am wrong. I am sure it was a God Awful weekend for him not to get a phone call. My thoughts go out to him, and I hope it is just a hockey issue.

Did Danny Mattson just flat out lay an egg at the combine??? I am surprised that he hasn't been picked up...at this point in the draft he would look like a steal to me, unless there is something we don't know about.

No future SIoux yet and in the middle of the fourth round. You really see how not playing where the scouts spend most of their time(CHL or Int'l) hurts draft status.

You have to set things up for the new guys to have some success and have the team grow and gel together. Without a doubt VV, Malone and Frattin played well together. I think that both VV and Malone are quality natural centers, which dilutes the depth of the team a little putting the two of them on the same line. I don't think you double up WCHA tested centermen early on. I also don't think that you put two freshmen on the same line unless you absolutely have to. At least early on. I'd put creative guys together if at all possible, although I do agree with the foundation of a true playmaker, a true scorer, and a guy who can muck it up in the corners as the prototype forward line. You also have to put speed together if you can. From all I've heard, Kristo can fly, and Frattin is a gifted skater, so I would be very interested in seeing them together. That would be a lot of speed coming through the neutral zone with the ability to generate a lot of odd man scoring opportunities. I maintain that Hextall can do it all. I think he has NHL utility player written all over him, which means any job in the WCHA...I also wouldn't be surprised to see an A on his jersey. Anyway you slice it, we have a nice roster with a lot of potential and a lot of sweat will determine ice time, as will line chemistry.

I agree that Hextall showed he could score last year. I love that line idea as a checking line, because it can score. I see those three as being able to pen up most teams scoring lines in their own end, and then finish when they get a chance as well. With Hexy on that line, it means that in a tough, physical situation, say OT, that line can match up with anyone and have a likelihood of pumping one home as well. A checking line that can score not a checking line built simply to grind. Anyway we slice it, there will be lots of line combos. The d pairing situation...no way does Finehage sit. If he sits early, he will go play in the W. My thoughts on D were to keep an older player with a less experienced player, and a puckmover with a crease clearer. Genoway, Marto, and Lapoint are puckmovers. Blood, Macwilliam and Finehage are crease clearers. Gleason is an unknown to me. He played well at Edina and mediocre in USHL.

This looks like a solid team to me! Scoring 1: VV with Gregoire and Cichy Scoring 2: Malone with Frattin and Kristo Checking 1: Zajac with Rowney and Hextall Scoring 3: Toews with Trupp and Forney Checking 2: Lammy with Davidson and Bruneteau D1: Genoway and Blood D2: Marto and Finehage D3: Lapoint and MacWilliam D4: Gleason G1: Brad E G2: Dell G3: ?? I am in love with my checking line 1. Talk about sweet and nasty. That crew up against a younger first or second scoring line...the other team will learn a thing or two about the finer points of hockey>

exactly, it's April, so all we can do is speculate and pontificate. Agree with the analysis on Center for the most part. In a cycle type offense like we run, the center and wingers are often interchangeable in the offensive zone; this isn't necessarily true in other offenses. It is also a switch in play over the last fifteen or so years, with close puck support etc. In the old days wingers weren't supposed to play deep on the weakside or go past the far side of the net on their off wing. In the defensive zone the center has way more responsibility as stated. A winger can get away with a little cheating and less than perfect positional play, a center has no such luxury.

I think that you have to split up freshman early in the season. You have to give the guys a little time to adjust to the speed of the WCHA without having the whole world's responsibility on their shoulders. That is the main reason for my line combos. So: I like splitting up Cichy and Kristo to help them adjust. I like having one power forward on each of the first two scoring lines in Malone and VV. I liked the way Malone and VV played together last year in the NCAAs too. I like Frattin and Kristo together, because along with Marto and Genoway I think they are the fastest skaters on next year's squad. I like Gregoire and Cichy, because they had very similar numbers in junior, indicating to me that they both can finish as well as set-up goals. I like Hextall and Zajac on the checking line, because they can be both sweet and nasty. Neither is afraid to get their hands dirty, and Hexy proved he could score. I think Zajac can score too if playing with the right boys. I think that we are also truly limited by our centermen. The experienced pivots on the team are VV, Malone, Zajac, Lammy and Toews (a little). Zajac and Lammy are not preferred scoring line players. I think we'll see a lot of flopping among the three scoring lines. I predict we have a pretty consistent checking line in terms of personnel.

We should probably start it now. We might as well all praise Genoway and scapegoat Lapoint too

I agree that Lammy can be an excellent third line player. I don't think he's a lock, but based on ice time last year, I would be surprised if he didn't start off with that spot. I wouldn't be surprised to see Davidson garner a little more ice time. He's been gutting it out in practice, and he hasn't been a liability in games. Hextall is also a wildcard. I think the guy can play wherever you want him to. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the checking line, but also on the powerplay. So, if we just for a minute make the following assumptions: VV, Gregoire, Frattin, Malone, Cichy, Kristo, Toews, Trupp, Zajac, Hextall, and Lammy are all skating regular shifts; that leaves one forward spot. Who gets it? Bruneteau, Forney, Davidson, One of the ALberta Boys, Mattson (everyone seems sure he is going to play a year in the USHL) If we've learned anything from Hak, he will juggle lines early, and he will move guys in and out of starting lineup.

thanks for catching that. I totally forgot about Darcy for a minute. So now competition is even tighter: Scoring 1: VV with Gregoire and Cichy Scoring 2: Malone with Frattin and Kristo Checking: Zajac with Hextall and ? Scoring 3: Toews with Trupp and ? Of course we don't know chemistry yet, I think Cichy and Gregoire might click well. I put Frattin and Kristo together for speed. I like Hexy put there mucking it up and improving the scoring punch potential of the checking line. I think Toews and Trupp could be a very creative scoring threat that could be put in a lot of circumstances. That leaves Lammy, Davidson and Bruneteau looking for checking line duty. It leaves a big ? As to the plan for the rest of the recruits. Will they be happy to play another year of junior or a first year of junior? And then you do have to consider Forney. As I've said before, lots of horses in the stable, not a ton of ice time available.

Of course not, but Toews was a VERY SPECIAL player and was coming to campus as a 17 year old with four potential years of eligibility. The issue isn't how long they do stay, but how long they can stay. If Forney was just now coming to UND as a freshman, I would certainly welcome him with open arms and expect him to compete for a regular shift. However, if he plays a regular shift next year, and say he takes ice time away from another prospect with four years of eligibility, that hurts that other player's development opportunity, thereby potentially hurting the 2010 or 2011 team. Jonathan Toews is 15 DAYS older than Michael Forney. Since 2005-2006 Jonathan Toews has scored 40 goals in NCAA hockey and 58 goals in the NHL. Forney has 26 goals in the USHL, 0 goals elsewhere. I don't think you're trying to make the comparison, but I am just stating a huge difference in a two year player. I contend that college is not the NHL and you do not hang your hat on winning this year, but on constantly fielding a team that has a shot. That requires developing players over time.

I call that player roboforward Speed of Panzer Hitting of Oshie Playmaking of Parise Positional Play of Toews Shooting of Bochenski Penalty Killing of Stafford and Zajac

Do you skate Forney on a checking line? I doubt he'd accept that role. He'd be better off signing an ATA and rolling the dice. I've got nothing against him, but he is an unknown commodity with a max of two years. He has put up good numbers in Green Bay, similar to Cichy and Kristo who both have four years of eligibility. You have to have a grind em down physical line. Kozek could shoot, which made him a threat on that line last year, but his job was to hit. 4 pretty lines equals maroon and gold and watching the guys in green end your season. I'm still not sure if Mattson plays junior. He might not want to, and he would certainly be welcome on many campuses with the guarantee of ice time. If were seriously looking at something like VV with Gregoire and Cichy Malone with Frattin and Kristo Lammy with Hextall and Davidson or Bruneteau Toews with Trupp and one highly contested spot

every fourth line i hope I'm not a scratch tonight NHLer scored goals in college or junior. The difference is that they had the strength, positional play, skating ability, faceoff ability, etc to set them apart from the masses of scorers at an NHL camp. I've said it before, but guys find out quickly who the Ovies are. There are what, maybe 5 guys per NHL team who score goals with regularity. Thats 150 jobs. There are 4000 excellent goal scorers world wide looking for those jobs. If you don't have all the little fundamentals and some other intangible, you are in trouble. As for Edmonton, I'm sure they'd like to see if VV can develop into a sound physical center with soft enough hands to score 20 goals, but he is not a high draft pick. Therefore he isn't a huge investment. Those picks after the first 2-3 rounds are more like lottery tickets... If you win, awesome, if not, its only a buck or two. Especially if a CHL or NCAA team is footing the bill.

In just saying that if two guys are competing for the same spot and the competition is pretty close, I go with the guy who has more eligibility and therefore can potentially develop and give me some ROI on his icetime this year. Clearly VV, Malone, Frattin, Gregoire, Hextall, and Trupp are getting ice time. I would suspect Toews and Lammy to be on the short list too. Cichy and Kristo will get ice. Davidson and Bruneteau will compete for checking or fourth line ice. I would guess that depending on draft status a kid from Holy Angels and a kid from Alberta might need dorm rooms too.

I don't know if I give ice time to a guaranteed two year player who is an unknown commodity at the WCHA level. It is a strange situation with Forney. I would play it basically as a tryout agreement. Forney makes top six forward on the team out of camp or adi