Kermit

Disclaimer: I have a pro-Spuds bias, I was at the game, and I've seen the video. The photo doesn't tell the whole story. Johnson actually took a swipe at the puck starting with his stick over his head! It is doubtful that Johnson actually ever touched the puck at all. If he did, it was well below the crossbar when he made contact. Still, I can see how the ref interpreted the play otherwise. I really feel bad for the Moorhead players. They carried the weight of their entire school and town as well as the ghosts of past Spuds teams into that championship game. They came out very tight. The first period was one of their worst of the season. After that the Spuds played like champs, but Holy Angels was very opportunistic and very fast.

A newspaper article about Matt Watkins and his brother: http://www.bchl.bc.ca/leagues/newsletter.c...=1413&page=7080

I don't take HF ratings very seriously. I think they're often done by casual fans. No offense intended to Greene--I'm sure he's an excellent NHL prospect.

I agree about the mobile d-men. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Denver, CC are all going in this direction.

True statement, but it doesn't tell the whole story. The current group of defensemen is also part of the problem on the offensive side of the ice. Doug Woog has been like a broken record on this, but he has a point when he talks about UND's lack of a top offensive defensemen.

If the Sioux still need another defenseman, I hope they take another hard look at Moorhead's Jon Ammerman. Ammerman has seen his stock go up and down the past couple of years, but he has some tools that are hard to come by. He is a tremendous skater who will join the rush and make plays on the offensive end. He isn't real big, but he is strong and tough. He was outstanding last night in the Spud's win against Centennial. His style of play is similar to Centennial's RJ Anderson, or former Gopher Keith Ballard. I'm not saying he is as good as they are, but he has some of the same skills--and not many do. He probably needs a year in the USHL, but I think he will be a very good D-1 player When I watched the Sioux vs. Bemidji Friday night, I was struck that the Sioux were not outskating Bemidji and that they didn't have the overall tremendous speed advantage that I've come to expect against "lesser" teams.

You're right. Sometimes I don't communicate very well. Anyway, I respect and appreciate the observations and opinions that you bring to the board. Thanks.

My glasses are green. That said, I disagree. Bochenski's problems occurred before he came to UND. The Sioux coaches decided to give the kid a chance. As far as I know, he seems to have met the challenge and earned the confidence shown in him. How much concern should UND/UND fans have about that? That leaves two issues that I know about. Brandt and Greene. Is that more than UND's fair share? Maybe. Has UND handled them appropriately? I don't know much about the Brandt situation. We'll see how the Greene matter is handled. A DUI is very serious. The apologists are wrong.

I thought I'd bump the thread since the complete list is now publicly available. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=9330

Ams Prospect Commits to College http://www.sportstricities.com/sportstc/ho...p-5911783c.html This article contains quotes directly from Toews about his decision.

You are absolutely right dagies. I just think that the over-emphasis on size by some of the NHL scouts is bordering on lunacy..

Cary Eades. Jim Archibald! I've never seen Boll either, but he'll be in the USHL All-Star Game Feb. 8 at the Ralph. As a side note, the influence of NHL scouts on selections for the game are obvious. For example, from Green Bay, John Mitchell is selected (6'5" LW, 18 games, 0 goals, 1 assist), but Brad Miller is not (5'11", 10 goals, 11 assists). I'm not saying Miller has been an all-star this year, but come on..

And I agree with you. My point was that it appears the Sioux have addressed the speed/skill issue in their recruiting. The forwards and defensemen coming in the next two years all fit the bill. I'm thinking they need to add a banger or two as complementary players.

I like Corey Loos for the same reason. I think he definitely needs a year in the USHL though. A quibble with Goon though..we have guys who will go into the corner and hit. We need a few more who will go to the net, take some abuse, and have the moxy to get the puck in the net.

The article mentioned that the Sioux are one of several teams recruiting Jared Boll of the Lincoln Stars. I think other teams mentioned were Wisconsin, UMD, and Bowling Green. http://www.ushl.com/statistics/index.cfm Boll is an 18 year-old 6'2"' 180 pound winger from Illinois. He leads Lincoln in goal-scoring (one behind the league leader) and leads the league in penalty minutes. Here's a profile: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article.php?s...hreaded&order=0

Green Bay has a couple defensemen that may be of interest. Spencer Dillon is a big stay-at-home defenseman who played with Travis Zajac last year with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. He was previously at Shattuck St. Mary's. He has been drafted by Florida. Jeremy Dehner is a small kid from Culver Academy who played with Brian Lee and Taylor Chorney on last summer's USA Select 18 team.

Sometimes the term "puck luck" is used when "puck skill" would be more apropos..

I'm not criticizing the effort shown by Fylling, Schneider, Fuher, or anyone else. I am criticizing the results. It seems that it is getting harder to score in hockey at nearly all levels of play. That makes players with "special" offensive skills more important than ever. I think the Sioux have some of those players, but they are young, and perhaps they need a little more help around them. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I don't have any special insight.

I think the "domination" thing is being over-played. Last I checked, scoring goals is a fairly important part of the game. CC was playing with the lead most of the weekend. Who can say that they wouldn't have found a way to score a couple more if they needed to? Maybe the Sioux aren't that great at scoring goals. They have a lot of good hockey players, but the team can't seem to put the puck in the net. It has been a consistent issue and I don't think it is a fluke or related to hot goaltending. The highly skilled forwards are almost all freshmen and sophomores. Seniors like Fylling and Massen have made absolutely no contribution to the offense. They don't have a defenseman who will make a big rush or a great play to change a game. I think the Sioux are going to have to win some 2-1 and 1-0 games.

Eades scored 85 goals for the Sioux including 27 as a freshman. He wasn't super-skilled, but he was relentless at getting to the front of the net and staying there. In my opinion, a player like him would be a very big asset to this year's team. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=7536 Edit: Sorry, Schmidtdoggydog. I was working on my post when yours appeared.

IMO, the VandeVelde-Porter comparison is right on. They are about the same size and both have great speed. VandeVelde has scored quite a few goals this year, but I don't see him as a first-line type offensive threat.

Oshie got lots of "extra attention" from the Spuds--including being laid on in the slot by Loos leading to the tying goal after time had run out. He has fantastic puck skills and he's strong on his skates, but I still think he needs to get stronger overall. Aaron Marvin, Warroad's sophomore center is an intriguing young player. I thought he was Warroad's best forward in this game. For Moorhead, Lee took two consecutive penalties in the second period. This is becoming a bit of a pattern. He showed his usual great skills at other times. VandeVelde never got untracked in this one. Jon Ammerman of Moorhead and Kyle Hardwick of Warroad both looked good on the blueline. Ammerman is a superb skater who made a couple of great rushes, but came up empty. Hardwick had some big hits and the game tying goal off a faceoff. I would think both are valid candidates if the Sioux are looking for another defenseman.

I edited the list above to include a few more WCHA players/recruits.