yzerman19

thanks

It is also a federal offense under HPPA.

The game evolves. Equipment changes, training changes, innovation occurs. Change is inevitable. The refs interpret the rulebook. As far as being quicker to the puck or in better position? Do you just surrender goals every time that happens? Any player worth his salt who knows anything about puck protection could score at will if the rules were enforced to the letter. Or if another player is a half-step faster or stronger up top or is a better position when the puck takes a funny bounce, am I just supposed to give up? Do you want offensive holding called on every play in football too? It happens every single play. I don't advocate cheap play, but there is so much going on you don't see. If you think the WCHA is bad you should try a shift in the MJHL.

Come on, do you really want a game where they call everything? It would seriously look like a park game.

For what it's worth, I say CC, Denver, Maine and BC. I know, it hurts me to not put the Sioux in there. If they were healthy with Prpich and Murray and Bina, i would give them a fighting chance with BC, but not without them...although Gionta and Eaves are supposedly injured for BC. Has anyone heard anything about that?

Telling refs to call everything won't stop the little stuff. I equate the little stuff on the ice to driving 5 mph over the speed limit. Besides, most of these guys have been playing organized hockey for 15 years. They have habits and do things that they have developed over many years. You aren't going to break that habit by calling a penalty. If the game is going to change it has to start at the ice mite level and be reinforced the entire way up. I hate cheap play and I hate players hanging all over skill players. I just think that if you call a slash every time a player takes a whack at another player's stick or a cross check every time a defender knocks down a forward trying to get position in front of his net you really take away from the game. You end up with a second period like UND vs UMN in the third place game. The game is very physical and there is a lot of little crap that goes on all over the rink. If you want guys to play defense you have to let some little stuff go. Otherwise you will have scores like in a park game. No one will backcheck, no one will want to go in the corners. It would not be hockey if it was enforced so closely. You let incidentals go and call penalties on plays that could result in injury or directly affect the play at hand. The refs talk a lot out there too. I can think of millions of times where I've heard ..two, three, four..let him go...now; or watch the stick 9, or that's almost a hook..your hooking him, knock it off. ANyway, that is the last of my rant. I like a clean game, but I don't like the idea of calling every minor infraction. DO you want to get a speeding ticket every time you go 1 mph over? You'd never get where you want to go. Same with hockey.

I didn't see him go off the ice, but I heard that the camera's caught TZ uttering a profanity as Murray went off. DO you think other teams have been targeting him and that shoulder? Seeing the way the line of BM, TZ and DS played against Duluth , it is heartbreaking to lose Murray. They play so well together and look like an offensive force when BM is healthy. I'm glad that BM still plays the same way despite his injury, even though it is probably a major reason why it keeps reoccurring. Love to have him in beantown, but not at the expense of his future.

DOes anyone know the extent of the injury? Did they pull him to err on the side of caution or is he really dinged up again? Without Murray, the Sioux are a different team and I really don't think we stand much of a chance. However, for his sake, it is better for him to not play than risk a career threatening injury.

The thing is, that calling penalties will not change the way these guys play. It will just make the game less fun to watch. If you enforce every infraction you see it will result in tons of penalties and then eventually a game where you remove all defense. If you want to see nothing but wild moves and scoring or spectacular saves, just change the game to a shootout.

I did see the hit, but admittedly; I had a few pops in me. I just remember seeing it and then knowing immediately what happened and being sick to my stomach and hoping the best for Bina. I have hit and been hit in very similar fashions. I once broke a stick (thank God for wood sticks) in my stomach because I was trying to dig the puck out of a corner and got ran from behind in such a way that my stick jammed against the boards and my own stick's butt was forced into my stomach. I remember seeing blood on my jersey and being scared to look. How do referees impact the game? I honestly don't think that they can do nearly the job that allowing fighting can. I never once changed how I played because of a ref. I never once thought about whether or not a ref would or wouldn't call something. You do little stuff all game, a little holding of the stick, a little slash, a little hook. It is part of the game. Refs should not, in my opinion, call penalties unless a play can result in serious injury or directly influences a scoring opportunity. Intent should be considered and punished more severely.

I didn't know there was a delayed penalty on UND at the time of the hit. That makes it even worse.

The onus is on the players, and if the DU player is any kind of human being he is thinking about that hit. It is a reality check. I would imagine that he has hit guys from behind like that 100's of times in his hockey career, and this is probably the first time a player has been seriously injurred. People often do dangerous possibly lethal things that aren't filled with intent to injur but result that way. How many people do you know who right around .10 drive home? It would take a DWI or an accident to affect them, and even if that is the case it doesn't change the activity of their buddy doing the same thing. The game is brutal and violent and injuries are a part of it. It is just very unfortunate when injuries result from infractions. I will keep stating that my thoughts are with Robbie for a full recovery.

In my opinion, there is no way that the DU player even thought about how far Robbie was from the boards when he hit him. He saw a player with a different colored sweater on with the puck at his feet and hit him. I don't condone it. It does happen though. When you are battling on the ice, you don't stop and think before you do anything out there. Not at game speed. The actual events that put a puck and a player 7-8 feet off the boards with an opposing player in hitting distance directly behind the player all at the same time is not all that common. I feel terrible for Robbie, but I don't think the league can do anything to stop the circumstances that occurred. DO I think it should've been 5? Absolutely. Do I think the DU player should have a misconduct? given the results, yes. Do I think that it looked like a play where he should be suspended indefinitely? No.

The bad luck and timing to me is that you are off the boards just the right distance, forced to put your head down to look for the puck and you have your back turned towards the middle of the ice. I don't want to see defensive players get game misconducts for giving a forward in a corner a shove in the back or for a nice crisp shot to the back in front of the net. It is a physical game, and as one of my coaches once put so eloquently: if you didn't want to get hit, you should've joined the band! What happened is terrible, but I see a difference in the hit on Bina and the beating of ZP vs AA last year.

The college game will never be as clean as the WJC, as there isn't the parity in skill level among players that their is in international play. With that skill comes a certain respect for each other too. I watched the AA game referenced, and if I had been on the ice with Zach, the Sioux would've been without my services for 10 and a night. A third paired defenseman at AA versus a first round draft pick in ZP is a no win for AA unless he breaks the rules. The league has to shut this down. The NHL and Major Junior allow fighting to enforce justice on the ice. Maybe the WCHA should too. I am a hockey purist and don't like gooning and fighting, but I definitely understood the role of Marty McSorley and Wayne Gretzky. I don't want Ogie Oglethorpe and Dr. Hook McCracken out there, but I think the players should be allowed to enforce the cheap stuff. As far as the hit on Robbie. I first wish him the best in terms of a speedy recovery. The hit is the same every time when a player breaks his neck or becomes paralyzed. It is a combination of bad luck and timing. As a former player, when I saw the hit on Friday, I knew what was coming. It is terrible and sickening and is about the only thing that makes a player on the ice feel vulnerable. You are taught from the first days of checking to be aggressive and hit every different colored jersey that gets near you. In the heat of the moment and speed of the game it can be really difficult to not hit someone. I don't see how the league can stop those kind of hits. I think the better choice would be to try and develop a helmet that can somehow absorb the impact. Equipment is our best hope. This is also a double edged sword, but that is a different story. Get well soon Robbie.

I'd love to see it at the REA, but who is going to travel to GF to watch it? How many die hards get to go to the F5 simply because their wives can go to the MOA while they go to the games. Having the F5 at someone's home rink wouldn't be so foreign to the NCAA, Michigan seems to get toplay at Yost every other year for the NCAAs. Home ice would be nice. Did you know that we are the only team in the WCHA with an all-time winning HOME record against the Goofs

JPAR from here on out. You have to stick with one goalie when you are making a playoff run, and he is HOT right now! JPAR is definitely playing all games this weekend. It sounds like the guys really have confidence in him and that is huge. He seems confident in himself right now too.

The X is a great place for the final five. There is obviously much more to do in the Twin Cities than any other WCHA city (except possibly Denver). It is a destination city. Does this benefit the Goofs? Well, yes it does. Does it make it lopsided in favor of them? No, it doesn't. The guys still have to do it on the ice. Last year at the Final Five Championship the seats were probably 65-35 Gopher-Sioux, and in one of the best games I've seen in a while MN toppled a more skilled UND team. The fans didn't stop Parise, Murray, Bochenski and Stafford from winning the game, Koalska, Riddle, Ballard, Waibel and Briggs did. Just like in the Goofs first championship in 2002 when they made an improbable comeback against Maine. The point of this is that although the fans help, MN had some pretty good teams those years and couldn't have beaten the competition they played if they weren't talented. The home ice factor is there, but it isn't that significant.

It's his lifestyle choice.

I think we should do a big thunder line with Zajac, Stafford and Porter on the other wing and have them really rock UMD's small forwards on the forecheck. I watched UMD's win over Denver on TV a few weeks ago and saw UMD run a nifty little power play trick play where Schwabe and some other forward both went behind the net and each went out a different way for the wraparound and the goalie couldn't tell who had it or which way to go. Schwabe stuffed it home. I hope Dave's seen this tape and knows about this play if we are in a tight game. Has anyone else seen them run this play? The 7-11 portion of the money line was reunited at the AHL all star game and they picked up right where they left off. Phil Kessel can't hold ZP's jock!

I guess blow up is a bad choice in phrasing. I'd really like the guys to break out of their collective scoring slump this weekend. We dearly miss having a player who can create during any shift from anywhere on the ice...11

I agree that a hot goalie in the playoffs is a dream come true for any team. The Sioux need a scorer to get a hot hand too and we could actually make a push at another title. We have some seriously talented offensive players in Murray, Zajac and Stafford. One of them needs to get hot. My vote is Murray.

Woog nows a ton about hockey, that is why with the pick of the recruiting class he could never wina title.

OSU knocking off the Goofs? Please. That's as good as INCH having Cornell number one in the power rankings. IMO Mankato could beat Cornell.

Brady Murray is going to blow up this weekend. Hat trick on Friday. Zajac will score 4 pp goals in the series. Prpich will score 2. GWG Friday: Murray GWG Sat: Caig GWG Sun: Mcmahon