yzerman19

Make no mistake, MN is going to come to play. They can still salvage a shot at the NCAA tournament by getting some big wins. If I were the Don, I'd be telling the players that everything up to this point in the season is behind them, and they can start from scratch with this series. The complete apathy which we played with on Saturday also has me concerned. We played with apathy against the Gophs at home too. This series will tell me a lot about both teams. Minny is going to come out with an extremely aggrassive forecheck. If we can make one guy miss, the olympic sheet of ice should leave plenty of room for our fast, skilled forwards to make it happen. On the same note, our defensemen are going to have to play their smartest hockey of the year. Minny might not be having their best season, but they definitely have guys who can make you pay if you slip up, especially on the big ice sheet. There is a lot of room to go wide. D-men are going to have to watch the angles they take to slow up the rodent forwards. If they bite early, well, it could be along night. We have the advantage on paper. Better goaltending, we're bigger and stronger, skating is about equal. The Osh and Duncs need to show why they are the best. Those two need to put together a performance like they had against CC. Biggest concern this weekend: STAY OUT OF THE BOX

Gonna go with the Osh on Friday.

Common man, Marto's a scratch.. just trying to help a guy out, you know

Zagainst ze rules, no, no you never do that. Never. If you do that you're nothing but an english pig

JT would've been named to the young stars game for sure. It still makes me laugh that if he buys the boys a steak dinner after the game, he can't legally order a bottle of wine Anyway, I hope the boys worked out the bumps and bruises. Especially the d-corps who were getting pounded down low by the AA forecehck all night. I think one thing from last night that people are glossing over is that we came back from being down 1-0 against a tight-checking, trapping team. This is a GREAT sign. It is the first come from behind win of the year when the opponent scores first (i think). The Osh was playing like a man possessed last night. I think he'll keep it up. Duncan is due for a hatty. Let's go out and get the first goal tonight, set the tone, and force them to play up and down hockey...FIGHTING SIOUX HOCKEY!!!!

Nice shout out to BB, Redwing77. Radio personalities are different than experts. Woog is an expert, Lou Nanne is an expert. Jeff Dubay is an entertainer, just like a clown in the circus or a poodle in a dog and pony show.

Well, I think some on this board know my hatred of Dubay runs deep. It doesn't surprise me that he doesn't think UND is that good. He lives in the Gopher world. He only saw UND play against the Gophers, where we played perhaps our most uninspired series of the season. How can UND be ranked ahead of Denver...hmmm...AA this weekend is the only team we've played that isn't a team under consideration...hmmm...No one has a winning record against us....hmmm...

On the replay of the Watkins chance, he was striding away (flat-out out skating the two Seawolves) THe reason he didn't get in the clear was that he was hooked. I do agree with the call, however, you can't give him a penalty shot unless he's pulled down from behind. As for the overall performance. AA played a trap from the beginning and worked hard to be aggressive on the forecheck, and clog up the front of the net in their defensive zone. They are going to get chances off bounces and hustle playing this style, but they were never in any way shape or form in control of the game. In fact, I can only think of one time when they had sustained pressure. The rest of the opportunities were generated off turnovers, blocked shots and their aggressive attacking on the forecheck. Regarding Bucky and Goldy: I've never seen a Gopher start a fight that the ref didn't finish. And oh, Mr psycho Eaves, scrapping again? I don't see any kelly green in the Kohl center.

correction, i see that NH won. I was looking at the Northeastern score and thinking NH

Thought it was a solid all around effort. We struggled a bit early with the trap and the clogged up ice, but we fought through it. AA brought the serious forecheck, and I am proud of our d-men for the way they handled it. A couple times the guys new they were going to get rocked (Jonesy really took one) but they made the plays they had to make. Phil saved the bacon a couple times, and the puck luck definitely went our way...although TJ's full speed shot off the crossbar was a little luck to a rookie goalie. Watkins' speed is remarkable; on that near break he had, he just used his stride and out ran two defenders. He played his typical solid game. Kozek, what can you say, I am so happy this kid is finally making the Atlanta scouts look smart. He has all the tools. I think skating with Osh and Duncs will make him that much better. I really do think we've found our lines. Tonight wasn't raw dominance, but we seemed to be in control for most of the game. Only a couple scary moments. I find the Pairwise odd where we win, NH loses, yet we slip. I guess that's how it works. I am happy about the land cows and about Whiskey. Both wins help our cause. Second half surge here we come. Sidenote on JT. He is a great player. He may very well be the best NHLer the Sioux have developed. Both he and Parise are standouts at the next level, which only helps our recruiting.

I've got Vandevelde too

New Game! Congrats NODAKVINDY I'll take Vandevelde for tomorrow night

Every member school contributes positive revenue to their respective community as well as the communities in which they play road games. The question isn't whether or not it is positive, but whether or not the revenue exceeds that of the potential revenue from a different school's inclusion. I do not believe that removing a team adds value, unless of course the costs associated with playing them exceeds the revenues. Anyway, enough finance. Sioux sweep. Fourth line I'd like to see Davidson, Radke and Malone (although we don't really have a center with that set-up) I like the idea of 3 deep scoring lines and one beat you up line. Forney and Miller are potential scorers, so they don't make sense on the fourth line, IMO.

100% agree with OTH. This league needs a complete overhaul of officials. An official should NEVER seek out physical contact with a player. In all fairness, however, we don't know what was said on the ice. Maybe Gergen told him to get the f out of the way or something to that affect. I think that an official who grabs a player by the jersey should lose his job. Imagine if you didn't like how something happened at the office and you grabbed a co-worker by the shirt! You wouldn't have a job for very long. Ridiculous act.

We need to keep winning and get a #1 seed to avoid the NCAA pittting two top contending WCHA teams in the same bracket. I built the same bracketology on a diferent thread yesterday with one difference. I didn't do any attendence manipulating. Getting CC in Colorado Springs is almost as bad as getting Michigan at Yost.

Gopher athletics need help to balance the budget??? Please. The Athletic Department is completely self sufficient. If they need to pinch pennies because of their multi-million dollar football and basketbal coaches, I guess that might make sense. My understanding is that U of MN athletics always operates well in the black. It is public record too. You just have to dig.

I'll take a third place finish so long as we go into the playoffs as the hottest team in hockey. Winning is contagious. If the guys believe it, we can do it. I just really hope to avoid Michigan. Although in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. I just don't like the thought of having to end their season for the third year in a row. Especially with the differences in the CCHA vs the WCHA style of play and officiating. I also think that it will be really unfortunate if we have to face Denver or CC in a Regional Final. The current PWR would have us with Lowell and Denver vs Quinnipiac in a Regional Bracketology: Michigan vs Bemidji State BC vs Clarkson Miami vs RIT Michigan State vs Northeastern* CC vs UMass NH vs Notre Dame* Denver vs Quinnipiac UND vs Lowell *switched to avoid first round intraconference matchup

Wow! Did the what if, and we basically need to sweep out to take second. That's assuming Denver beats up on the teams that they should beat up on. Not that that's impossible, but that will be tough. I predicted a strong third place finish with us hosting either Tech or UMD in early March.

It looks like AA has one pretty decent forward line. From the stats, it looks like they might have an issue with goaltending. An 88% sv percentage would translate to 3 goals if we can put between 26-30 SOG. Add the Oshie and Duncan Factor and that number should be more like 4 or 5. I think the Sioux depth will be apparant in this series. CC has beaten these guys 4 times, Denver has beaten them twice; although MN and UMD have been beaten by them and WI and SCSU skated to ties. I think this is a separate the men from the boys kind of weekend. The top teams in this league beat AA. A loss will hurt us terribly, especially if we have any hopes of picking up ground on CC and DU in the PWR, as they are a COP. It is the second half surge. We are in better shape for it this year than in any of the previous 3. It is time to stop talking and start doing. Each unit, each line, each D-pairing has already put together 3 periods of perfect play. They might not have been in the same game, but it has happened. It just has to all happen in 60 minutes now. Build every week. Practice should be fun now. Winning is fun. Hockey is fun. I am excited for this second half surge!!!!

This is great fun I wish I would've been on for last weekend's games. There should almost be a requirement that you can only go with the Osh or Duncs once in the survivor season!

Only thing about a #1 seed in the regional is we'd have to leave the black Nike Swifts at home!

4th is good. I'd like to see that 4th place in the PWR to lock down a #1 seed. This is key to a. avoid Michigan in a regional and b. to have the last line change throughout the regional. Still early, but we are striking distance to the coveted #1 seed in a Regional.

I also don't think that they are struggling at all. We've won five in a row!!! They have not been the dominant force of last year, and I think AZ is right. You can't take JT out of the equation and expect it to net zero. We are in good shape. Keep working and clicking. I predict a strong stretch run. If the other two scoring lines are able to get going too, that will provide more opportunities for that top line.

Agree 100% that Duncan has not had the space this season. He has done a great job this year when he just cuts to the net and lets his wrister go. The only way that I've thought you can free up some space for Ducs is to separate him from Oshie. Try and get one or the other out against an opponents third scoring line and/or d-pairing. Although a point per game in this league isn't too shabby. It might be hard for those guys to get the chemistry rolling with other linemates at this time of the season.

I think Duncs and Osh can play with whoever is on that line with them. I think the bigger issue with those two is deciding who does what. They can both make plays and they can both finish. I think they are both trying to do both a little too much.