jk

I am really impressed by the thoughtful nature of both RT's letter and the discussion of it on this forum. If RT wrote that himself, he is an awfully good writer for a person in his position. I think our (Sioux fans and advocates) goal should be to influence the outcome of the game by irritating and demoralizing opponents and by encouraging the home team. In addition to obviously winning more games, this would help recruiting (as who wouldn't want to play in front of such a crowd) and make the evening more enjoyable for fans. I don't think you can change the crowd's behavior just by telling them what to "not" do. Instead, perhaps they can be led away from the profanity by offering and promoting alternative cheers, as has been proposed by others here. It would be great if the accomplishment of RT's goal could also further "our" cause of making the Sioux crowd more of a factor in the contest. Perhaps we need a liaison in the Athletic Department and at the REA to help make some of these things happen. I extend my thanks to YaneA as well for her efforts this year. Maybe she could be retained by RT as the Assistant Athletic Director for Hockey Crowd Improvement.

sagard, great post. I say that because I have been meaning to list those six teams somewhere for the last few weeks. I could see a few of them being tripped up by someone else along the way, but like you I would be shocked to see any other team in the field go all the way. Maine may be the weakest of that group. MN and Michigan have proven in the recent past, with the same players, that they have what it takes to be there. BC may be the best team in the field (SOG 46-12 ?? or so against BU). UMD needs to prove in the next few weeks that they belong in that group, but I will not be surprised if they do. UND now needs to prove that this is a little slip in a long season and not the beginning of weaker play. It should be fantastic down the stretch. If UND can get the swagger back, I like their chances.

Ryan Duncan just hit the century mark for the year. In 52 games, he is 49-52-101. Congrats.

Dishman is a POI regular, not a Badger fan. His claim to fame is being the biggest UND hater.

If another of those players decided to come to UND, it would be great news. However, I think it's worth noting that even though message board participants (at POI, here and the HS board) may really like a certain player, it doesn't mean the coaches are necessarily as high on him. It should be fun to see it develop.

Scott, I know you are right, but di**man needs to be welcomed here. He is just about the worst at POI for spewing anti-Sioux nonsense, but it's not my place there to call him on it ... because I respect their website. Go away, di**man, unless you'd like to discuss hockey.

I tend to agree with the concept that this isn't necessarily the end of the world (season), but I have a few comments on the excerpts of your post. As for the fire being re-lit, it could be viewed as a little discouraging that the team played well and got beat 5-2. CC may be just coming out of their own swoon right now, so it could be that they are not struggling so badly. They are 4-1 in their last 5 (better than UND), they split with Wisconsin (better than UND) and they swept UAA (better than UND and most everyone else this year). "nor is it the start of a slide" -- I think it's not the start, but maybe the middle, and hopefully near the end. As for UND's youth, I was recently considering the same. There are a lot of experienced guys on the team, so it's tough to call the team "young." However, with three freshmen forwards on the top two lines, there is at least an argument.

With his 1-5-6 game last night, Zajac moved into the scoring lead in the BCHL. Congrats.

Agree with the general concept here. I'm not happy with the weekend either, but I think people have gone overboard a little. I'm keeping the faith. Without checking, I think most of UND's national title teams have had something like 8-10 losses on the year. This means those teams had their trying times as well. Struggling early in February does not preclude peaking in late March and April.

It's not gonna be that way this year. They probably needed this. This slump may not be over, but they'll come out of it this year. Also in 2000, they went to SCSU and scored their only goal after 119 minutes of hockey. One goal in two games. Two months later they beat SC 7-3 (I think) in the Final Five. I would love another shot at WI.

If the Sioux could just get one here, I'm sure they'll be able to get another. They just need to get a break. 62-24 shots attempted through two? That kind of play will get you the win most of the time. I'm not discouraged.

Well, that stunk. We have seen this too much lately. The team plays well, then allows the opponent a bit of hope and all of a sudden it's a battle. It was like the Denver game in that way. The Sioux really did play well for fifty minutes; they seemed in control and were clearly the better team. Had they scored on a few of their second and third period chances, they could have put it away. They need to fix this consistent effort problem. The team has now won one of its last four games. They have had poor third periods in each of the three games they didn't win.

One other thing about Oshie and Lee - the MN HS tourney should be must-see-TV for Sioux fans this year, as both Warroad and Moorhead have great chances to advance to the tournament(s). I don't think Woog's far off on Spehar. Try to black out everything you know about his Gopher career and go back to his glory days. In the legendary game, he was the only skater with any legs left in the later OTs, and had bunches of scoring chances. Only a superhuman goaltending effort kept him from netting the winner. Anybody know whatever happened to the goalie? Duncan's pace has slowed a bit. Toews is a big-time prospect, as he was the first pick in the WHL bantam draft last year. He may be the best forward his age in all of Canada. I don't know anything about the situation, but to me that says he is likely to end up playing major juniors rather than college. Maybe the director of hockey operations at his current school has some advice for him.

Great news on Oshie. He's a bit of a mystery, as I haven't seen any mention of him at the national festivals that USHR writes up. It's hard to know how he stacks up against some of the other forwards in his age group. Some Northern observers definitely like him, so it should be fun to watch him develop. Interesting that the commitment is for either '05 or '06. That reinforces an important point about both Oshie and Lee. They are both just high school juniors, with a lot of developing to do. We need to remember how rare it is for a player to make the jump straight from high school to the WCHA. Anyway, with that cautionary note out of the way, it's great to hear of these commitments.

This is now updated through 25 games. This is how UND's and its opponents' scoring breaks down this year (UND's scoring listed first): 5x3 3-0 (When UND has the 5x3 advantage, it has outscored its opponent 3-0.) 5x4 16-3 5x5 83-35 4x4 9-0 4x5 2-14 3x5 0-2 6x5 1-0 (extra attacker goal) 5x6 4-0 (empty net goal) Total 118-54 Special teams play has finally swung UND's way. The Sioux are +16 on the PP and -14 on the PK. Although some games have been a struggle lately, the best numbers are the Goals Allowed in the last five games: 0, 2, 2, 1, 1.

More outstanding work from the badger board. Maybe it's because they haven't been very competitive in the last few years, but the UND fans' hatred of the Badgers seems a little subdued. http://pub104.ezboard.com/fbadgermaniacsbadgerhockeyboard ------------------------------------- I am hockey fan, Hockeyfan I am. I do not like the hockey club from North Dakota, I do not like them one iota. I do not like the fighting Sioux, I do not like them anywho. I did not like to see them When we played at the coliseum. Now I do not like them at the Kohl, When our record is .500 and below. I am hockey fan, Hockeyfan I am.

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/mhky/h...3_16_21_20_mhky You can watch Saturday via UW's internet feed - and I think it's free.

The '05 class needs to be good. UND loses 6 senior forwards (plus early departures) and 3 senior defensemen (again plus early departures) that Spring. I believe Spirko is an '84, so I doubt he would wait until 2005, although I don't know anything about the situation.

Someone at POI (who has a total of 1 post ever there, and therefore limited credibility) has said that Lee from Moorhead has verbally committed to UND. I have no idea whether it is true, but we should know soon enough.

I am not a fan of posting stuff from other boards and then taking shots at it, so that is not my intention here at all. I found this Badger fan summary of UND, and I think it's funny. Good rivalry stuff, IMO, if you are in a mood to not be offended. ------------------------------------ Current Record: 19-3-3, .820 (WCHA: 13-2-3, 29 pts.) Location: Grand Forks, N.D. (founded: 1883) (flooded numerous times since then) Enrollment: 11,500 (not counting sheep) Nickname: Fighting Sioux (real effing PC there boys!) Colors: Green and White (green and white? are you kidding me? what, LIME green and EGGSHELL white?) Conference Affiliation: WCHA Head Coach: Dean Blais (Minnesota '77)(son of bezelbub) Assistant Coaches: Dave Hakstol, Brad Berry (sodom and gemorrah) Captain: Andy Schneider (awaiting pardon from govenor) Assistant Captain: David Lundbohm, Ryan Hale (convicts) Athletic Director: Roger Thomas (son to wendy's founder Dave Thomas, but Dave chose to only reconize wendy as his only offspring) Home Arena: Ralph Engelstad Arena (built: 2001) (hell hole) Capacity: 11,500 (again, not counting sheep) Rink Dimensions: 200x85 Arena Address: One Ralph Engelstad Arena Drive; Grand Forks, ND 58203 Ticket Information: (701) 777-2236 Radio Station: KQHT 96.1 FM (Internet Broadcast) Press Coverage Local Media: Grand Forks Herald Student Paper: Dakota Student (I am not even going to touch this one)

Thanks for the extended recaps. In thinking about the "troubles" of late (Saturday struggles against UAA, MN and DU, higher shots allowed, lack of scoring depth), I have realized what I think about this team's ability and success. The money line makes this version of the Fighting Sioux a very good team, but only if everyone is going all out all the time is this a "special" team. I don't believe the talent level is overwhelming to the point where the team can get by with less than their best effort. We have seen ample evidence of this lately. My understanding of the Saturday Denver game is that no one who watched it would conclude that either team was clearly better, which is contrary to what I hope is the truth. (This is in contrast to the Saturday UAA game, where UAA hung in there but clearly was less talented.) As I mentioned earlier, I understand how the Sioux players could have lost their edge a bit by the end of the weekend - they had had their way with Denver earlier, maybe the emotional effort of the MN weekend catching up to them - but whatever the reason, the resulting battle showed what can happen when the other team plays with more passion than UND. When the team is "on" it seems like few teams can stay with them. They key will be to be at their best for four straight games in March and April. It's nice that the goalies are playing so well.

I didn't see the game, so perhaps if I had I would be a little more down, but I don't think this game is reason to get too down on the team. I look at it this way: The Sioux had outscored Denver 20-5 over three games, and had a 1-0 lead after two periods. The game seemed in control. Then Denver came out and got some momentum and played their guts out. I can't fault the Sioux for having lost a little respect for Denver and underestimating them. 20-5 will do that to you. I had the same uncomfortable deja vu after UND lost 2-1 to SCSU early. They couldn't seem to buy a goal. I've seen enough now to know that I'm not going to worry about it if they run into a hot goalie or fail to convert for a game here or there. As the third rolled on and it was apparent there was a real battle, I was happy to take the point and move on.

As to the quality of play, some of the POI guys can really skate and move the puck. There are a few scrubs (WPoS), but mostly they are very good. I feel qualified to call WPoS a scrub because I'm worse than he is. forecheck (or whoever feels in charge), when you list me as playing, you should know that I can't play very well at all. I can give someone a rest for a few minutes, but that's about it.

A few funky line combinations for consideration by the panel of experts (tks, gator): Parise, Murray, Stafford The Golden Line - A great team was able to keep them mostly in check. Against a good team (Denver), they should be able to show some of the brilliance we are used to seeing. Genoway, Bochenski, Hale A stretch, maybe, but I thought Hale was one of UND's best forwards against MN. Maybe he can loosen the defense up a little for the other two by banging Denver's loving, cuddly defensemen around a bit. Lundbohm, Porter, Fylling Cycled brilliantly in the HOF game against Duluth. Might be time to reunite these guys. McMahon, Prpich, Canady/Massen I've liked Canady's revival this Winter, but Friday wasn't his best game. Massen also didn't seem to have a strong game Friday, but I feel like he needs to continue to see the ice to try to get him going. This line could be matched up against Gauthier, who I think is Denver's best offensive player. The MN series was chippy and scrappier than heck, so I understand and appreciate Prpich's function in such a series. While I know Denver is also physically very tough, I'd like to see Prpich get back to playing hockey as though a puck were involved.

NDH, I understand the sentiment, but, when in doubt, I like to put the points in the bank, especially at home. I have a feeling this weekend will have its tense moments, and I hope the guys can put last weekend's emotions to rest with the care necessary to allow them to come out firing this weekend. If you think another couple losses might be good for the attitude, there are a couple of road trips to Madison and Duluth where that might end up happening (I'm sure you'll be there to help prevent them).