SiouxTupa

You've got your scores swapped. UND won game two 5-2...game 1 went to CC.

At this point in Blais' head coaching career, he hadn't even made the tourney. Granted, the talent was different, but basically Hak's been to two FFs in two years...that's good for any coach. As was said, we have no idea what he's like in the locker room. He could be an animal, but remaining calm and in control on the bench is something to admire. Players draw strength from a coach who's not blowing his top every five seconds. Though, Hak can be and has been vocal on the bench when times call for it. Ultimately it falls on the players, the chemistry should eventually develop, but you can't coach chemistry. Hak can only stimulate team building. I think Toews and Oshie miss having guys like Stafford and Zajac to take the pressure off. Ideally those guys would hang out longer and harness the skills we all know they possess, thus opening doors for more guys like them. Without proven upper-class leaders who are legitimate scoring threats, these two guys have to shoulder the load. I'm sure Duncan likes having the freedom of a 5'6" frame and little attention paid to him... and we can see what he's doing with it.

I remember another team that started a season a few years ago on a 13 game unbeaten streak. We all remember how that season turned out. Fortunately, I don't think it could be much worse of a collapse than the gophs had last year. Can't say that's not motivating for those that were a part, so UM will be a dangerous team until they prove otherwise.

The first year in the new Ralph, the cup holders in the student section were being broken off. Whether by people standing on them for better viewing or purposefully breaking them off, this was something officials obviously wanted to stop. The next year (or the 3rd, can't remember) the cup holders were removed from the entire student section. Unfortunate, but true.

Pretty sure Johnny Toews said "Alternative and Classic Rock" NOT crappy country. No offense.

1. I somewhat disagree. I understand how a person could think he looked stiff, when normally he's making crazy moves. St. Cloud, like Wisconsin, isn't a team that you can make crazy moves against (typically). You have to win by scoring crap goals or by moving the puck. I think he went after it very hard, and much harder than I expected after three games of no action... with little or no apprehension. 2. I completely disagree. I think both teams played very quick. By the 2nd period St. Clouds feet began to give way, and UND started to "gain momentum". In reality, UND never stopped relentless pursuit, and skated hard all game long. What caused all the odd man rushes, I think, was relentless (over)pursuit. During a lot of the game guys were pressuring the Huskies so much that they'd over pursue and leave somebody open. As you said, a better team would capitalize on those chances. I was very pleased with the work ethic of the team. Aside from a couple dumb penalties, they really went after it hard. Everybody was skating during the game. The dumb penalties allowed UND to show what the PK can do, and it's really starting to come around. I think St. Cloud looked much quicker than they have in the past. I don't know if its wise to get in a foot race with UND, but I applaud them for playing a solid game even though they don't have any firepower. That Motzko is really turning them into a respectable team.

Probably lost a bet. Bold move actually going through with it.

All you can do is take care of things on your end. The rest will sort itself out. Ideally the best team will win each game. If UND beats itself with penalties or poor play, that would be disappointing. Otherwise it should be a good couple of games.

As much as her comments on the blog are hurtful and disrespectful to Sioux fans, we need to remember that it is HER blog. If you don't like it or don't want to read it, then don't visit. It's free speech at its finest, and blogs are opening the door for people to say pretty much whatever they want online. It makes me a little angry when people search out dissenting opinions on blogs and then smear them with anonymous comments. It's her blog, and if you don't like what she writes make your own and write on there. She has NO REASON to take down her posts. Please don't hate me or shun me for saying so. I just respect people who put opinions out there and aren't afraid of the consequences. They shouldn't have to constantly defend them, even if they offend others.

Radio. Tim Hennessy and friends. Not as good as moving pictures, but fine for understanding what's going on.

Yeah, when the other team is skating circles and cycling like Maine did, and your defense is just grouped in the middle looking around for their assignments, how can you be expected to make a play. Maine executed to perfection when they scored. I think the ONE bad goal of the weekend was the first goal on Saturday. It may have deflected off the Dman's stick, but I imagine he could see it well. That one was low blocker, so maybe you're right Vegas. Everything else was a result of great passing and pin point accurate shooting. Levellier (sp?) standing in front of the net with 2 defensemen draped on him, and the pass not only finds him but he gets a great shot off. That should not happen. It's the defense's responsibility to make sure that anyone in front of the net is taken care of and unable to catch passes or shoot. Three of the goals were scored on one-timers like that. On one goal Levellier finished a cycle by cutting to the net for a wide open shot from a foot away. That is what I mean by the team hanging Phil out to dry. It's a team game, and honestly, if your team isn't scoring more than 2 a game you're going to lose a lot (or you better be DAMN good defensively (UW)).

In 03-04 Maine started out the year 6-6 including losses to St. Lawrence, Northeastern...and a home sweep at the hands of North Dakota. That year the team finished 20-13-7, and made the NCAA tournament. They lost in the regional semi-finals to UMN 1-0 in overtime at Mariucci Arena. Our season is FAR from over. That Maine team lost to teams they really shouldn't have for being such a strong team. UND has not lost to anyone they shouldn't have. Maine is playing on a higher level right now. That will not be the case all year. Wisconsin did not look nearly as good this time around as they were last year. The Sioux will be fine as long as they work hard in every game. I think Phil had a great weekend in Wisconsin, and got hung out to dry this weekend. Getting into the WCHA schedule will be tough, but not quite as tough as playing 2 top-3 teams right out of the gate.

A stretch? That's what was said, Bohl handled it well. It is very disrespectful to get the team name wrong. I think they maybe should have started the interview over (taped). Oh well. It's very true, and very unexpected. I think Bohl even smiled as the guy said it. IMAGINE if he had said Fighting Sioux...er...Bison. THEN they definately would have redone the interview.

Can't really blame the refs for the loss. They were horrible, but they don't cause a team to stop skating. Basically, Maine took UND out of their game early in the second. They may have been playing ultra chippy, but UND is the team that got frustrated. In the 2nd, UND stopped playing hockey and started trying to hit people. Players were just standing around, being lazy and trying to lay someone out. It didn't get Maine off their game, they were still skating (circles around UND). AND UND didn't even succeed at laying people out! Lammy starts tomorrow. You need to show confidence in your 1st year full-time starter. I applaud Hak for keeping him in, and I know the team will pick him up tomorrow. The team needs to go back to what they do best, and stop focusing on cheap play and bad reffing. They were able to succeed in the 1st, and they made it respectable in the 3rd. If there was ever a game to show the importance of 20 mins out of a 60 min game, that was it. UGLY. You think Maine has Alfond on the mind from 2 years ago?

The most impressive player, and most surprisingly good, in my opinion was Robbie Bina. He's got to be back to 100%, and made absolutely no mistakes tonight. Great job!! Good win, fun game to watch. Truthfully I hope Skille and Carlson aren't too injured, they're great players. The FSNA announcers were VERY complimentary of UND players. It was almost like they thought if they were homers they'd be jinxing the team. It was fairly refreshing, and I didn't mind watching it at all. BE GREEDY TOMORROW!!!

Buffalo Wild Wings 100% will, in both Fargo and GF (and elsewhere if you tell them). Ground Round probably will, Overtime (Dagwoods) probably will. This isn't a hard channel to get for restaurants. All they need is the Fox Sports package through Direct TV or Dish network. Don't know if Green Mill or Applebees have the package.

Who is this Mr. Ding, and how's he going to pull this one out?

I think the main reason we kept having to deal with that is because QU kept floating guys up ice. They knew that we would be aggressive, and that mabye they would be able to get a guy behind our defense. The funny thing is when they would flub those great chances. The best was the blown 3 on 1, not even ONE shot, just a missed pass. I highly doubt UW will try that same thing, why get rid of a defender? It's not the badger way. The missed passes are things that Wisconsin will NOT do, so we shouldn't expect it or count on it. If a play will be missed, UND will have to break it up.

For reference, (and maybe you can pass this up the chain) when you link to a uscho page lately the link will bring you to the ECHL page. I did the same thing. It's a good thing most of us have the magic of fingers, to type www.uscho.com

Meh, I'm going to have to pass... Not a big deal, not worth mentioning. It's possible that Hak said to sit a game, but I am not sure.

Said on the radio that it's a "lower body injury", but also that he could play if he needed to. TH asked him outright whether if the game was of greater importance he could play. Finley said: absolutely. And I did find out what his legal issue was, and it wasn't major. At least not in my determination of a major (or even semi-major) offense. 100% he'll be on the ice next week.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you've never been carded you're either a VERY casual fan, VERY new to the arena, or VERY lucky. I've been at UND for 5 years and have gotten my ID checked 95% of the time I sat in the student section. If you want to not get that checked you can try the main entrance. Sometimes they don't card there, but others they'll just send you to the student door.

Right, I guess I don't know what I was talking about. It was also 2 comebacks. One from 3-0 and another from 4-1. The final was 6-4. UGH...I should have a better memory than that. At least I got the hatty right. Well, that link doesn't work! Ummm... I thought I'd be all cool and post a recap. But the linking is screwed up. USCHO has a decent writer who can give you the rundown, if you so desire

There can't be more than 53 teams total in NCAA Men's Hockey. You can't tell me Anchorage will be the WORST team in the nation? Can you?

What else can people come up with for ALL-TIME (5 years of course) great Ralph memories?? This could be a fun list.