Canuck

Here's one more spin on the power-play situation that seems to have gone unnoticed so far. First, let me begin by saying I believe Dean Blais is arguably the best coach in college hockey, mainly for being able to spot talent, particularly diamonds in the rough like the Goehrings and Panzers, and then for being able to get the most out of said talent without having to rely on "systems." Having said that, I've been in Grand Forks nine years now and I was thinking that I don't remember our power play ever being that great under Blais. So I did a little digging to either verify or contradict what I was thinking. Take a look at UND's PP in recent years, including some of the big guns we had during each of those years: 2002-03 Bochenski, Parise, Lundbohm, Schneider, Massen... 23.2% 2001-02 Bayda, Skarperud, Bochenski, Schneekloth, Lundbohm... 18.7% 2000-01 Panzer, B. Lundbohm, Bayda, Roche, Dorey, Skarperud... 20.0% 1999-00 Goren, Panzer, Ulmer, B. Lundbohm, Bayda, Dorey, Roche.... 23.5% 1998-99 Blake, Jay Panzer, Jeff Panzer, Williamson, Goren, Hoogsteen, Jeff Ulmer 23.9% 1997-98 Blake, Hoogsteen, Murphy, Jay Panzer, Henderson, Jeff Panzer, Williamson 19.9% 1996-97 Hoogsteen, Blake, Murphy, Panzer, Kallay, Calder, K. Hoogsteen 23.3% 1995-96 Wynne, Kallay, Mitani, Naumenko 25.0% The numbers show, with the possible exception of 95-96, the PP has been decidedly average in recent years despite an abundance of offensive talent. So what does this mean? Essentially, it means nothing. It means that despite an average power-play, only a fool could argue with Coach Blais' track record of winning. Would a more efficient power play help? Obviously. But it certainly shouldn't be cause for alarm. We've proven in the past that few teams can match up against UND at 5-on-5, and that appears to be the case again this year. And with the talent we have, the potential will always be there for PP success.

This may sound absurd considering we are statistically dreadful on the power play, but I think everyone is making too much of this slump. First of all, yes, the numbers are dreadful, but in my opinion it appears to be "just one of those things." I think the danger here if you're the Sioux would be to overanalyze the PP woes to the point that it becomes paralysis by analysis. If you're a regular Sioux hockey observer (and obviously everyone on this board is), you'll notice that the power-play woes haven't been for a lack of scoring chances. In fact, over the past two weekends alone we've had several scoring chances on the power play; the puck just isn't going in. With the talent we have, you throw them out there in a 5-on-4 and they're bound to create scoring opportunities with or without a "system" in place. It's just like a player in a scoring slump, eventually you'll get one flukey one and then you'll get on a roll. That said, I think Blais and the coaches have done the necessary tinkering to help things along. Moving Lundbohm off the point was the first good move; he hangs on to the puck too long, and is very susceptible to giving up odd-man rushes. I would like to see the Sioux stick to using D-men on the point; we have three of the best in Schneider, Jones and Fuher. Now that they seem to be better at avoiding their shots being blocked, there's no reason to not use any of those three on the PP. What does bother me is the fans' lack of patience at the arena while on the PP. Yelling "Shoooooooot....shoooooooot" each time the puck reaches a new stick is assinine. Obviously you don't score if you don't shoot, but at the same time you still have to be somewhat selective and pick your spots.

Good point about that championship game. It's true about his mother passing away; I believe that happened during the summer prior to his senior season. I was always a fan as well and thought he never quite got a fair shake after his senior season, and who knows how differently his pro career would've turned out if things had gone differently while he was here. Although I was already living here when he arrived as a freshman, I am from Saskatchewan and was still following the SJHL fairly closely at the time and he was as close to a household name around the region as any junior player could be. He got lots of ink and at the time was widely considered to be an NHL-calibre prospect.

Wes didn't necessarily do anything wrong in particular. What I think they're getting at would be his (in many people's eyes) disappointing numbers while at UND. Wes came to UND as a MUCH-hyped recruit out of juniors in Weyburn after scoring approximately 180 points (counting regular season and playoffs) and being named SJHL MVP. If I remember correctly, early in the fall of Dorey's freshman year (1997-98), Blais was predicting big things from a line of Dorey, Jason Blake and Lee Goren, who was also expected to have an immediate impact. As it was, Wes didn't have that bad of a freshman year - 11 goals and 22 points in 33 games. But for whatever reason, he was in and out of Blais' doghouse the final three years and never was really to build on that solid rookie season. He spent a lot of the time either on the third or fourth line or as a healthy scratch. It was too bad, really, because had pretty good skill and was feisty when he wanted to be. The difference between Wes and someone like Lee, from where I sit, was Lee got a chance to re-establish himself after his first year while Wes slowly became somewhat of an afterthought.

Here's the official skinny on handing out assists: First, the referee does NOT give out assists. Goals and assists are awarded by the official scorer, who is stationed in the press box. Like PCM mentioned, most schools review the tape between periods if there is reason to. Sometimes a play just happens too fast for the naked eye to correctly call. However, I can confidently say that UND has become one of the most accurate schools in awarding goals and assists. In addition to an official scorer, the SID checks each goal on tape immediately after it happens and either verifies or corrects the official scorer. Woog's comments probably aren't completely unfounded, but they are, however, likely rooted in the past. Phantom scoring goes on all over the place and the most glaring example I can remember is when Peter Sejna was riding his long scoring streak last year and was given an assist half an hour after the game ended to keep his streak alive. He wasn't even on the ice. To me, that's embarassing. Speaking from experience, if someone deserves an assist, they'll get one. If they don't, they won't.

I said he was -3 and his line got lit up. How exactly is that glossing over it? The only part I disagreed with you on was your summary of his play against the Senators. You stated he did not play well at all in that game, when in fact he was one of the best players on the ice, with the exception of one giveaway.

Hard to believe we were watching the same game, because I couldn't disagree more. The giveaway occured later in the game - definitely not his second shift. He had been logging a ton of minutes to that point and was on the top line with Kozlov and Huselius, as well as regular PP minutes. With the exception of the defensive-zone giveaway, he played outstanding and was described in one game story as being a force on the power play. He finished with 20+ minutes and took a regular shift even after the giveaway. Things didn't go as well Sat. night against San Jose...I believe he was -3 and the line he was matched up against lit up the Panthers. He said it seemed like everytime he stepped on the ice, the puck went in the net before he had a chance to even get involved in the play. Hopefully he gets back to the show sooner than later.

Here's an update on Lee, who is now the captain of Florida's AHL affiliate in San Antonio. http://www.sarampage.com/goren_captain_03.shtml If you ask me, after the season he had last year in Providence, it's a crime that FLA didn't give him anything resembling a fair shot to crack the lineup this year.