yzerman19

I'd be surprised if there was a lot of trash talking on the ice. Hockey has usually been a game where that is kept to a minimum. Primarily due to the condoning of fighting and the presence of sticks. You hear a lot of occasional swear words, and the typical "stay down" or "hey tough guy". The tremendous skill level at the top of both MN and Sioux is such that they don't need to say much, maybe "see you in the show".

Any stats types have the time or energy or desire to breakdown Toews' production on NHL vs Olympic sized ice this season? Include the World Juniors on Olympic ice. I am guessing that it is a huge difference in points per game.

Going to be wide-open old time hockey this weekend. 3 teams loaded with NHL picks who do not play the trap. Should be a blast. Ned Braden would love it...

The heated rivalry stems from putting together a top team every single year. Our benchmarks for a successful season are frozen four appearances and national titles. Think how lucky we are!! Both us and the Gopher fans. I personally am ever hesitant to gloat too much over a win, because the tables are always turning. This year is no exception. If we meet again on Sunday it will be a coin flip. I am not going to gloat if we win, because I know how bad it sucks to lose, and a little puck luck, a bad line change, a stupid penalty, a bad call...its all part of the game. Anyone who blames any single player for a loss is nuts. It is a game of inches and seconds, and it is a team game. As for booing Lammy, it is the nature of the beast. I don't think any rational or sober person would be booing out of disdain for his performance or his personality. He is probably the most emotional Sioux player on the ice, and so he is the player the fans love to hate. I used to boo Vanek, not because I didn't think he was talented, because he was a guy every school would want on your team, and he was wearing the wrong color jersey. It was easy to label him a loafer or a one way player and boo him, but deep down we all knew he was the real deal (34 lighters and leading the NHL in plus minus_) Think how lucky both squads are, out of the last four or five years we have 2 budding NHL superstars in parise and vanek. Martin, Ballard, Leopold, Taffe, Bochenski, Zajac, Kessel, Greene, Commodore, Stafford all skating regular NHL shifts right now. Toews, Oshie, Chorney, Johnson, and Okposo could be joining those ranks next year. Wow! No boos on this season, we've both had successdul ones so far by every other team in the leagues standard. One (or both)of us will be disppointed after this weekend.

Just got off the phone with Senser's Bloomington. As of now, the game will be shown on tape delay. If they don't pick up the Sioux Regional, noone in the Twin Cities will I will be anxiously awaiting any positive word on televising our game live.

I didn't notice it, but I would think that it was not by design, but by taking what was given. I am not Don Cherry, however, and do not profess to be. You are often taught to look for the lead man on offense, and clearly on defense you don't ever want anyone behind you. You also need to challenge the puck carrier when evenly matched. When out numbered, you play the pass and let the goalie get a good look at the shooter. So, if a forechecker is going after the puck carrier in the middle of the rink and the defensemen are covering the two wings, if that puck carrier gets around the forechecker, then depending on what the defense does, either steps up to challenge him, in which case you pass to the open wing, or he stays and plays the pass between the two forwards in which case you would go straight ahead. Your entrance to the offensive zone is usually dictated by the defense. That being said, however, some teams load one of the wings in order to "pick" and create space for the trailer. The constant forechecking and backchecking in the game on Saturday makes me think that it was just going to wherever there was open ice. I could be wrong though. Another good explanation is simply the position of the player leading the puck into the zone. A wing is going to stay on his side of the ice 95% of the time. A center will take the puck wherever.

As a number 3 overall, Toews would've been offered the rookie max contract under the CBA and that won't change this year. The only thing that would keep JT in green is if CHicago can not guarantee him a spot on the big club. Chicago is terrible, however, and JT with Havlat could be a great combo. JT will be gone. TJ, I don't know yet where he fits ina nNHL lineup. He is a very physical player...sort of a Roenick kind of guy, my question is, is he strong enough to play that style over an 82-100 game season?

I did not notice a change in tactic, only better execution by the players in the SCSU game. Breaking out is a lot about timing. The player who starts the breakout can't get too hurried, and sometimes its hard to do when you see one of your top scorers open on an outlet pretty far up the ice. You want to get the puck up to him as fast as you can, but that might not be the best way out. I see a lot of rushed passes end up off target or telegraphed to the forechecker. Secondly, the forwards need to get into position to receive the puck where they can do something with it. Taking the puck while trying to evade a forechecker and looking at your own net is very dangerous. They need their feet moving and they need to be moving in the right direction. THat is one of the big reasons why I said that they need to get lower to start, that gives them more ice moving forward. Also, the passer needs to recognize this and maybe go a different direction. Lastly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with holding the puck, shaking a defender, and regrouping before breaking out

Sioux run a pretty classic positional breakout (although I tend to think the wingers stay up too high to be truly a classic breakout). From my perspective, in this form of breakout you need short crisp passes, and the high wingers make those passes longer and less likely to be tape to tape. Most defenses will forecheck aggressively on this breakout with their forwards. The Sioux, due to some highly skilled forwards ala JT, have been able to beat a guy and create offense on Olympic sized ice doing this breakout, because there is more room to maneuver. The Gophers, Michigan Tech and Wisconsin all had success against the Sioux on NHL ice by shutting down passing lanes and not giving the forwards any room to maneuver through good forechecking. Since we can not widen the NHL rinks, we can use the length to create space. Send Oshie and Duncan full throttle up the middle and one side of the ice. That will definitely panic the center and 2 defensemen into a hard backcheck. It will also open up room through the defensive zone and neutral ice. I stand by Chorney and Toews being able to dangle their way past anyone one on one. I like this idea to open it up, but it might be late in the season to change the breakout. That being said, then those wingers have to get down low, low , low and make a couple short passes to beat a guy. A good pass can even beat a guy who skates like Paul Coffee.

Maybe we should send some groupies over to MI and MN, like LT used to do in the NFL

No comments on the spread 'em out North-South breakout? I thought it sounded good.

That is interesting that only one MN loss is on NHL sized rink. Very interesting. MN did outshoot the Sioux in terms of shots on goal by a large margin, and I think they were in offensive zone a lot more in the third period, but I do think shots attempted would've been a lot closer, as many have posted that MN blocked a ton of shots. I feel the need to clarify my statement about defensive style. I by no means meant that they were trapping, I think that they were playing defense first and counterpunch. Sort of the philosophy of play good D, get a turnover and then transition rather than all out attack. Shut down the DOT line and hope that you can keep the likes of Porter, Watkins, Kaip, Zajac, Fabian etc off the board. It is definitely a tall order; MN did it, and MN deserved to win. New tournament this weekend, and you can bet our boys are going to want it. Nothing like being shown your vulnerable to make you smarten up.

I think the Sioux fan got an extra fine for instigating

MN did block a ton of shots. They played bust your a$$, hard-working defense and clearly frustrated us. It was a great game plan executed well by some top-end skaters.

OK, teams have been able to frustrate us by taking time and space away from our top line. How can we effectively open up the ice when a team takes a defensive, counter-punch strategy against our beloved DOT line? What about this idea: Can we try and put two of our gunners deep? Maybe Oshie and Duncan sitting way up just outside the opponent's blue line on the same side of the rink? You can't pinch the two D on the same side or you risk getting beat on speed into an odd-man, so you need to bring your center back. That would limit the forecheck to the two opposing wingers. It would also open up the rink on the side away from those two forwards, creating space for Toews, Chorney and Lee to tic-tac-toe it up the ice. As you enter the offensive zone the middle winger can cross with Toews and attack normally. Any thoughts or feedback? I think it is a thought. I think Chorney, Lee and Toews can stick handle up the ice as well as anybody and open up that space to enter the zone with speed.

I don't think that Lee was holding up for an icing, I think that he was scared of getting a penalty call,and rightly so. He can not be blamed for the miracle goal. It wouldn't have been an issue had the entire team played their best game. I am now over the loss. Let's go Sioux. Its a new tournament. The big one. Play Sioux hockey, Play the way that got us here.

Any stat types out there know Duncan's shot percentage this year? He is so deadly from the bottom of the circle with that quick wrister to the near upper corner. It seems like if he gets a clean look from down there he is about 50%+ Clearly not all of his shots are from there. As for it being a tough draw; every draw is tough from here on out. Every team in this tournament can beat you if you don't bring it. Case in point Holy Cross. MN clearly had superior talent last year and got beat. Interesting thing on Air Force, they sure seem to put the shots on goal. Even though they got beaten by CC by a goal and Notre Dame by 2 goals, they outshot them in both losses. I didn't see the game; and I have not seen them play, but they are riding a 6 game winning streak that got them to the dance.

It looks like Michigan had a similar playoff run to us in the CCHA. Nice win over Michigan State and then a tight loss to Notre Dame. Do they stack one line like we do? Are Hensick, Cogliano, and Porter on the same line? I know Jack Johnson is solid from watching him in the world juniors. Michigan scored 9 goals in beating Ferris State in late Jan and 8 goals against Northern Michigan in the first round of their conference match-ups, so they clearly have some fire power. Pretty decent size from checking out the roster. One Duncan size guy and the rest 5-10 or taller.

Agree on the booing deal with SiouxAddict, it was not mean-spirited. I don't think the game had the flow that the SCSU game had on Friday, but you do speak the truth as far as it being a good game. I think it was frustrating that the Gophers were talented enough to not let our boys play our game. I think MN clearly wanted that game and came out and gave it their all. I don't think our guys lacked in effort, i think that the Gophers just had the right game plan and frustrated us, and they clearly have some top-end talent and were able to win in the end. There was a post about Hakstol talking to some parents, any word? What is described sounds like an injury that would require medical attention. Not good at this time of year if we lost someone. GroupThink, eh? I didn't know that I was being judged on my posts. I thought it was sort of fun to talk about wins and wallow in self-pity with others following losses. Hating the Gophers is fun for me, It doesn't occupy my life. It is fun to rip on them. As stated before, being in their city, this is the only forum for me to find any other anti-Gophers. I have posted a lot today, because my girlfriend is out of town and I am hung over. Killing time and having fun.

I did actually post once stating that my hatred borders on mental illness Power play did look good. Porter had a pk shift that was as impressive as any i've ever seen.

How is my last post whining? In numerous threads here I have posted props to Lucia and to the Gophers. I also quite clearly state on one post that I don't blame the refs for the loss. I did think that the calls should've been even out of the ruckus. EMBARASS you. Please. I hate the Gophers. I hate their fans. I went to school at MN and have lived in the twin cities for over a decade. I have to deal with them all of the time. It is not easy to deal with the tremendous amount of ignorance, arrogance and homerness. I am posting to try and get over the loss. I was at the game yesterday and had the great joy of being heckled down West 7th by fans referring to the game as an a$$ kicking. I am posting not to enlighten anyone, but to try and work through my severe disappointment in losing to the team that I despise more than all others. If you are looking for enlightenment, I would clearly state, as I did previously, that the Gopher game plan was a perfect way to shut down the top Sioux line and we were unable to mount any kind of successful attack with lines 2-4. The tight checking game seemed to surprise the Sioux, and we were unable to cycle the puck or have any success on the attack or along the boards. I do think that the frequent early penalty calls moved us off our game and the 2-4 lines did not play the aggressive style that we are used to seeing.

Duncan is tough, and he went after Vanelli as soon as he regained his skates. I love a good hard, clean check. When you are standing still and the puck is away from you, that is not good or clean. The check could've bordered on charging as well. I am quite aware of the 911 pass, I got leveled a few times myself. But you take those lumps when it is clean. That was not. I wouldn't care so much if Vanelli and the rest of the Goofs hadn't run to the bench. If you are going to cheap shot Duncan, then you need to be prepared to back it up. Now neither team can afford to lose a player for the Regionals, but if you do that, you need to be prepared to take the consequences on the ice. I look forward to that check and the ensuing team unity being the motivation behind UND's next four wins!!!!

Earlier on this thread or another, I commented that MN had an elite hockey program, and I don't think there is debate on that. My small comments are related only to the ridiculous comments that I heard last night.

I definitely did not see a fast and loose game. I saw a tight checking game. It was a good game, but not the game that i have seen from the Sioux the last month or the Gophers for that matter. Living in the Twin Cities, I watch all Sioux home games, but often watch the Gophers when the Sioux are on the road. Neither team played the game that they usually do. I give the win to DL for outcoaching DH last night. DL also spun it nicely to make the rodents on ice motivated like an underdog. My compliments to him. My compliments to Blake Wheeler for a fantastic game winner, although I still believe it had a lot of puck luck. In an OT game where you have the talent that both sides have, all it takes is one shot. Much like the near misses at the end of regualtion by the Sioux. Clearly an Okposo, Bariball, Toews, Duncan, Oshie or Chorney can bury an open look. You never want to be in that position as an opponent.

Not a cheap shot! He ran a guy without the puck. That is not green colored glasses, that was cheap. I give MN props for winning the game and am not blaming officials for the loss. Gophers won yesterday, bu they are still the fourth winningest program in the conference in terms of national championships and the laughing stock of the Big Ten in football and hoops