fightingsioux4life

I understand that. But being that Mariucci is a tough place to play, we'll have to play better than this to win one game, let alone two.

And right now, we are not. We don't look like we belong on the same ice with them. Next weekend could be brutal. And against a team we all love to hate and beat.

I guess I don't understand some of the play calling. Running to the outside over and over again against Weber's fast DLs and LBs? I think a North-South running attack would have been more effective against those smaller guys. But you are right, recruiting will help build depth on both sides of the ball and this staff just hasn't been around long enough to do that.

Nobody is disputing this. What people are frustrated with is the offense being unable to move the ball against defenses that have given up a ton of yards and points to other teams. I do not think Weber has a top-notch defense, but we made them look good and that is what is frustrating people. The defense can't do everything all the time. Sooner or later, it will bite us in the a$$.

No matter how ugly it was, we are still 7-2 and will make the playoffs if we win out. And both of those games are very winnable. Second straight week we have made a defense look like the 85 Chicago Bears. Weber gave up 35 points last week and looked like world-beaters this week. That has to stop. Very disappointed in the crowd today. No excuse for that. No men's hockey in town. Cloudy and cold outside. Hunting opener is a couple of weeks away. Where are all those people who used to complain about us playing UM-Crookston and Winona State and wanted us to play better teams? Well, we are playing better teams and it still isn't good enough. Kudos to the fans who did show up and shame on everyone else. Defense is beyond awesome despite not having much depth and being very young in some areas. Scary to think how good they will be with a few more recruiting classes.

Funny, if you listen to the talking heads (the analysts, not the band), everyone has better pitching than the Cubs. Some people thought the Dodgers had better pitching than the Cubs. And now some people think the Indians have better pitching than the Cubs. The truth is, both the Cubs and the Indians have pitching and this series may very well go 6 or even 7 games.

I forgot to mention Thomas Vanek, who helped them win their second title in 2003. Another player who would never, ever have been part of the program if Woog was still in charge of it.

If this is the standard we are going to use for criticizing someone on this forum, then we are all 100% guilty as charged of this "crime". Hakstol was well-paid at UND and is even more well-paid with the Flyers and thus understands that criticism goes with the job. But some people think there is no place for it. To each their own.

He also did it with two North Dakota boys, whom Woog would never, ever have recruited because they lived in the "wrong state". Yeah, he had some of Woog's leftover players, but he also brought in some players of his own. Blais won the 1997 NCAA title with some leftovers from the Gino regime, but I don't think anybody questions who turned the program around and that it likely would not have happened if Blais hadn't been hired in 1994.

Why are you injecting common sense into a perfectly good b!tchfest?

I never said any of these things, but please feel free to continue pontificating if that floats your boat.

With all due respect, nothing either of them said was false. If they truly were "gutless", they wouldn't have posted their comments at all.

When I used to talk about this, people wanted me to point out concrete examples to back up my point. Here you have a concrete example pointed out by someone......and those same people ignore it. Funny how that works.

No, he played at UND during the 10 year gap between #5 and #6 (1987 to 1997).

Hey, that is pretty good!

In other words, run the athletic department like a high school.

Honestly, this is all water under the bridge. Hak is in Philly, Berry is in Grand Forks and #8 is hanging from the rafters. Life is good.

That is not what I was referring to.

Okay, I think we should stop the talk of Finley's personal life and/or behavior. Whatever problems he has, I hope he straightens them out.

Lee never seemed happy in college; perhaps he didn't like the academics. Finley was big and physical, but just didn't have the quickness to counter the speedy, skilled forwards that other teams had. Nothing against either of them as people, but they just had some major flaws as players.

Lee didn't have a long, successful NHL career like Oshie and Toews have had. I recall him bouncing between the AHL and NHL quite often. As for Finley, his struggles helped change our recruiting philosophy for defensemen. We switched to more mobile defensemen who could move more easily and contribute on the offensive end. You saw how valuable that was last year.

Joe "The Pylon" Finley and Brian "I can't hold the zone on the power play" Lee earned most of the criticism they got.

That is what the UC-Davis D2 National Semifinal game was like in 2001. And even the GVSU National Quarterfinal game in 2004. We'll get it back there, it will take a little more time. We were so bad for so long that people have forgotten how to get excited at our home games. It is getting better and will continue getting better.

Kind of like the logo the T-Wolves started out with back in 1989. It looked like the family dog, not a wolf.

There is always a lot of walk-up, so I wouldn't be writing off the fans just yet.