PHE

u gunna announce aafter the game? im thinkin i know who it is. he wil be at und friday too. to tour the campus

I'm trying to subscribe to the video package but it won't take my entry in the birthday section. Did anyone else encounter this? Verfy frustrating!!

Bump

Rick, I think Gleason is a terrific talent, I just didn't see as much as I had hoped to on Friday. I thought he had an average day. I recall one play in the first period where he was beaten, badly, and it led to a goal and he came off the ice shaking his head. My guess is that he would tell you it wasn't his best day on the ice. Having said that, I think we'd agree that we're happy to have him as a Sioux recruit. USA Hockey, I feel bad for you having been taken to the woodshed on GPL for your response to my Gleason comments. I thought your response was innocuous but somehow it took on a life of its own for a while on GPL.

Finehage was the one kid I wanted to see but didn't get the chance. I did see Landman but it was only for a few shifts.

I went to the Select 17 camp on Friday....I came away very impressed with the Sioux recruits. A few comments: Fink...strong on the puck with very good vision. Paid attention to the defensive end (sounds like a typical Sioux forward, eh?). Started slow but picked it up in the second half when Kristo was moved to his line. He's got that quiet skill of letting the play come to him (very patient). Cichy...this has already been mentioned several other places but this kid is the real deal. In the game I saw he had two assists and scored on a beautiful one-timer. Very smooth. A bit on the slender side (but, hey, so was Phil Sykes). Great hands. Centered the top line of his team and was clearly the team leader. Gleason...I was here three years ago when Taylor Chorney played in this camp and it was obvious that he was top shelf. I didn't get that feeling with Gleason. Ness (Gophers) and Gardiner (Badgers) looked better. I didn't get to see him use his great skating ability so that probably had something to do with an average day for him. His fashion choice was impeccable however as he was sporting a University of North Dakota tee-shirt before his game. Kristo...the biggest surprise of the day for me. He looked great. He is fast, fast, fast. His intensity level is high; not quite Oshie level but almost. I think the best word to describe him is explosive. He's got a good frame to add another 15-20 lbs and he'll be a monster. I also saw all of the eastern North Dakota kids play (Groth, Swanson, Gaustad, Arnason and Simonson). They all played well; Simonson looked particularily strong. It was fun to all these kids. Kristo, Gleason and Fink were all on the same team and before their game they were sitting together in the stands. You could tell they're good friends. Hak, Eades and Jackson continue to produce top end players and great kids. Based on the four kids I saw Friday the '08/'09 classes could be something very special. On a side note, I also got to see one of my all-time favorite Sioux players...Craig Ludwig. He was there watching his son, CJ. All in all it was a great day for this Sioux fan.

Thanks for the quick reply, Jim.

I won't be able to watch the game on April 5 and would like to receive updates via text msg? I'm curious if anyone has used this service recently and, if so, how well it worked. Thanks.

Here's a nice article on Ryan Johnson Ryan Johnson

Does anyone know if UW is webcasting this weekend's games? On their sports website there is a webcast section and tonight's game is listed but I can access it. Has anyone used their webcast in the past?

I hope TNT is right in thinking the Sioux have a great shot at landing Wilson. According to ISS he is ranked fifth overall for the 2008 NHL draft. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=7006&hubname= I've read where he's from Winnipeg but he plays for US NTDP and lists his hometown as Greenwhich, Connecticut. I know someone (Vegas?) has mentioned him before on this board. Does anyone have any insight on this kid.

Classic!

Anyone remember Tony Couture? He played goalie for the Sioux in the late 80's. Currently he is the head coach of the Little Falls high school hockey team. They are in their second consecutive state tournament and made it to the semifinals today. Their top scorers are young (a soph and a freshman) so Tony might be building a central Minnesota Class A powerhouse. Oddly, their weakness appears to be playing solid defense which, considering Couture's background, is a surprise.

Assuming "audio13" is correct and it's both his ACL and MCL does that mean he'll likely be out for the start of the '06-'07 season?

Thanks Dallas. I'm having trouble getting my account set up; it keeps telling me my cart is empty. I guess I'm out of luck.

I was planning to try Dataflix tonight for the first time. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Has it been working lately? Thanks.

I'm anxious to see what kind of year Joe Finley has this year. I don't know much about him other than he's 6'7" and 240 lbs and that he skates well for someone as big as he is. I'm curious about the other parts of his game, e.g. can he play under control, make good outlet passes, lug the puck, play consistently game after game, etc? Has anyone seen him play? Maybe some of our USHL posters know something about him from his Sioux Falls days (StarzUND or spfreak, can you help?) As I was thinking about Finley it made me think of some of the recent "oversized beasts" the Sioux have had (Commodore, Greene and Smaby). There are several parallels amongst those three. They all: 1. Struggled mightily their first year and a half in the WCHA. 2. Took stupid, ill-timed penalties. 3. Became fan favorites. 4. Became the leader of the team (two of them were/are captains). 5. Left/Will leave after their junior season. I think we'd all be pleased if Finley followed the path those three took.

Most of the prognostications I've seen for the Sioux have them starting slowly and getting stronger as the season progresses. I'm projecting a different path...I think they'll start fast, tail off mid-season and finish strong. I understand all the rationale for a slow start (13 freshmen, green defense, etc) but I firmly believe that these guys with come out of the gate stronger than most people think. To begin with, I wouldn't trade the Zajac-Stafford-Spirko line for any other. Throw in high energy guys like Kaip, Porter and Prpch and you have great balance from the returning forwards. Many of the freshman forwards are high ceiling guys and we're all anxious to see how they perform early on. I actually think Oshie will have a better first half than Toews. Watkins and Duncan will be pleasant surprises. The defense will have have growing pains to be sure but, much like the forward situation, the talent level of the freshman will help overcome some of the early mistakes. As far as returning D men, Smaby will be the key and Radke will be the wild card. If those two play to their high levels it will make things a lot easier for J Par and Lammy to settle in. Lee and Chorney will play well but probably hit a wall mid-year, similar to the Gopher's Goligoski last year. Jones and Finley will struggle while learning what the WCHA is all about, not unlike Matt Greene's freshman season. We'll probably see Lee Marvin get more ice time early on in order to help stablize things on the blue line. This will be a very exciting team to watch. It will be fun to watch the young guys grow and develop their game....I just don't think it will take as long as most people think. Let's Go Sioux!!!

I was impressed with Chay Genoway when I saw Shattuck play a couple of weeks ago. He's on the small side but he has very good skills. What I noticed most was that he worked his tail off every shift (similar to Colby). FWIW, Heisenberg has Chay "ranked" fairly high in the Minnesota/West section on his listings; right next to Vandevelde and Oshie. You can bet that Berry and Eades have him on the radar screen; perhaps they're waiting to see if they can land someone who they have ranked higher. Taylor Chorney was solid again when I saw him. I thought he looked great at the Select 17 festival in July but he looked even better two weeks ago. Great pickup for the Sioux. Toews was, as expected, a top shelf player but the guy who impressed me the most was Kyle Okposo. He's only 16 but I think this kid is going to be great. He's from St Paul and I read somewhere that the Gophers have the inside track on him. Hopefully the Sioux-SSM pipeline can stretch to include Okposo.

Since this is the third year in a row that the Sioux have had a recruit playing for Salmon Arm, I'm wondering if there are any Silverback fans who periodically check this board. If so, I'd like to get some "insiders" info: -what level of impact might we expect from Travis Zajac this year? -is Darcy Zajac a Div 1 recruit? Is UND interested? -how big of a role is Ryan Duncan expected to play this year for SA? Thanks in advance. Any updates on Duncan throughout the year would be appreciated.

I went to Wednesday's Select 17 games in St Cloud and enjoyed it thoroughly. If you get a chance to go in the future I suggest taking the afternoon to go watch some very good hockey. Here are some impressions of players of interest to Sioux fans: Chris VandeVelde-for the second day in a row he scored Team Minnesota's only goal (currently leads team in goal scoring with three in five games). He's 6'2" and 177 lbs with terrific stick-handling skills. Once he gets stronger on the puck he's going to have very nice all-around game. Knows how to bury the puck. Zach Jones-Hak and Berry need to get the LOI on this guy so we can all stop wondering if Zach will follow his brother to Grand Forks. Smart player with great skating skills. Not as big as Matt but has lots of talent. (Side note: one of the Team Illinois parents told me that Matt has bulked up this summer. More bulk to go with his skating and experience? Prediction: big year ahead for Matt). Taylor Chorney- a future star. I'm trying to be realistic and not wear my Green-colored glasses about it but I think he's going to be great. All the adjectives apply...heady, tough, effortless skater, strong at lugging the puck, etc. The one thing that stuck with me the most was that he was calm (meaning he never rushed his decisions or actions). I'll be shocked if he isn't wearing the "C" someday. Brian Lee did not play on Wednesday. As Greenbayguy noted previously he's been out with an injury. I was anxious to see him play again as I was very impressed with his play at the MN State tourney. Ammerman looked OK but had a few sloppy outlet passes. He's still a very solid player...hopefully he can land in the WCHA somewhere if the Sioux don't offer him a ride. One of the kids on the Dakotas team was defenseman Jake Vigen. He's 6'4" and 220 lbs and was impressive. He's not a great skater but he plays a nice, tough game. I don't know much about him but I know he played at Red River last year. He's may not be a big-time recruit but he looked good to me. Anyone know much about him? Here's a name to put in your memory bank...Zach Harrison. He's a 5' 11", 163 lbs forward. He's a young 87 so he'll be just a junior at Shattuck this fall. He played on Shattuck's U16 team last year and scored 41 goals (110+ points) in 64 games. Very nice looking player. If Hak and Berry keep the Shattuck pipeline going this is a kid to watch. The area WCHA coaches group was well represented at Wednesday's Festival. I saw Jutting, Lucia and Dahl. Steve Johnson was there as well (hopefully his evaluations will soon be utilized in Grand Forks, not Lincoln).

Just out of curiosity I put together a list of North Dakota kids currently playing D1. It consists of 10 forwards, six defensemen and three goalies. Not a bad team: 1st line: R Potulny, Fylling and G Potulny 2nd line: Irmin, Cory McLean (Notre Dame) and Grubb (Alt Cap at Wayne State) 3rd line: Garrett Larson (SCSU), Kresbach (Wayne State), Masson and Gasparini (Vermont) Def Pair 1: Schneider and Markuson (Alt Cap at Mich State) Def Pair 2: Fuher and Bina Def Pair 3: Eikman (Neb-O) and Mike McLean (Cap at Army) Goalies: Sedevie, Ziegleman and Haaland (Neb-O).

Fuher Family, I'm glad that my message got back to you. My son can't get over how "cool" it was to sit with the family of one of the players. I'm certain that #8 is now his favorite player. Kudos to Nick for a terrific season thus far. If I remember his bio correctly he's been true student-athlete, having been an honor student in high school and all-academic at UND. I'd bet that Coach Blais would consider Nick to be a great example of what he wants his program to represent. Thanks again.

Hats off to Nick Fuher for a great weekend of hockey in Duluth. Friday night he was the Duluth Tribune (?) player of the game. He doesn't get the media attention of some of his cohorts on the blue line but he has quietly put together a very solid season. Plus, he's turned into Bobby Orr...eight goals, seventh best on the team. Side Note: my two sons and I went to Friday night's game. Unfortunately we had single seats and we were scattered in three different sections. Needless to say I was a little worried about them being alone in enemy territory. After the game I asked my oldest how it went and he smiled and said he was in a group of Sioux fans..."really nice people", he said. Turns out he was sitting with the Fuher family. He spent the whole game sitting next to Grandma Fuher! Of all the places for a kid Sioux fan to end up sitting was there a better place than next to the grandma of one of the players? If there are any Fuher family members who read this board I'd like to say thanks for making my son feel at home. (Any chance he can go with you to Boston in April?)

Coach Blais mentioned in last night's coach's show about the "fifth" line guys getting a chance to show their stuff over the next two weeks due to the WJC. I'm hoping that Tyler Palmiscno has some success during that time so that he can get more ice time during the second half of the season. I don't know Tyler personally but I do admire guys (seniors in particular) who stick it out despite lack of playing time. He played 30 games as a freshman but his games played have gone down every year since (partly due to younger stars coming in and partly due to injuries; i.e. DeMarchi's check from behind two years ago and a monster, but clean, hit in St Cloud last year). I applaud Tyler's perseverance and dedication to his team. Hopefully he can show off some of his playmaking skills during the Subway Classic and the St Cloud series. Here's a holiday wish....Palmo scores a GWG in St Cloud!