jk

After sleeping on it and reading the post by Taz (who always does a great job of calling it as he sees it), I'm more negative than I was last night. Wasn't it Parcells who said something like "you are your record"? Regardless of having played "well" at times and running into hot goalies, the Sioux are 1-6-1 and that's how good they are. It must be very disappointing for the team.

I'm sorry but I just won't be able to rip the team up and down for this streak. It stinks, as they have played themselves out of the coveted Top 3 spot in the league, maybe out of home ice (they are two points out of sixth place) and right onto the NCAA tourney bubble. But I can't just blindly rip them because they aren't playing terrible hockey. After last night, I thought questions about the team's character were appropriate. But I (and I realize I will probably be in the minority) can't question the team's heart after tonight's game. They knew it was a must win and did everything they could to get it. It just didn't happen. In Denver the Sioux earned at least two points with their play. They only got one because Dubie stood on his head and Denver got a bounce with two seconds left in the weekend. In Mankato the Sioux also probably earned two points. Four pipes on Friday, followed by an admittedly weak effort to close out the third period. Then a couple more pipes and outshooting the Mavs badly on Saturday, with another goalie standing on his head. Bochenski puts one in about four seconds later than MacKenzie did the weekend before. Points, and NCAA positioning, are what really matter, and UND is failing badly on those important measures. But I don't think they're failing because they suck, or because they lack character. It's just not working now. I firmly believe that if you just continue to do the right thing, results will follow. Obviously I've been let down badly by this belief, but I'm a stickin' with it. The only bright side I can see right now is that the "Last 16" is no longer a pairwise component. Whew! Go Sioux.

Sioux on the PP. Gotta get one here to set the Mavs back on their heels even further. Especially since the next PP goes to the Mavs.

Interesting that the Palmo/Fylling/Connelly line has seemed to put more pressure on than Spiewak/Lundbohm/Massen. Maybe it's a reflection of who the Mavs have on the ice at the time.

Signs of life for the Sioux. Keep the puck bouncing around in front of Jensen and maybe something good will happen. As I type that, Connelly to the box for tripping. Tough to get much momentum going when you have to take two minutes off and hope to keep them off the scoreboard to boot.

When things go right, Prpich puts that one in at the end of the major, for the tie. Or Parise scores on the 3x5 shorthanded break at the end of the period for an absolutely huge goal. But things aren't going right. I preach to keep the faith, but it could be an awfully long third period if MSU scores the next goal.

Ha HA. I jinxed the Mavs PK unit by complaining and Palmo scored. And why can't the Sioux ever score more than once on a 5 minute major PP?

I am so sick of hearing: and Abel shoots it down the ice... on the Sioux PP. Why do other team's PPs spend all day in the Sioux zone and the Sioux can't even get it set up? I'm just frustrated.

Hammy, there have probably been 200 posts on POI this season that have been dispairaging (sp) in one way or another towards UND (and that's just from smitty), but I don't respond to them because it's POI and they don't need to have me argue with them about UND on their board. Sure there were a few Sioux newbies who made a mess over there, but for the most part we exercise discretion. Rubbing in the "reversal of fortunes" after a tough loss would be maybe something that falls into the discretion category. I don't mind at all that you post here, but don't think you need to chime in to defend MN just because someone said something about them you disagree with. I bite my tongue on POI all the time. JMO.

I agree with Taz. All is not lost, and the most important time to keep the faith is when things look their worst. Good things can still happen, but they need to go out and make them happen. I think any chance at third place is gone if the Sioux lose tomorrow. They would be seven points behind Mankato, which would require the Sioux to run the table and Mankato to go pointless against CC. The way MN is playing, even with their tougher schedule, making up their three point lead seems tough to do now. Running the table seems laughable, though, since they haven't even had a lead in the last four games. Not to bag on Zach, because he always plays hard and gets his chances, but I think now Vanek is probably ROY. The guy scored the third and fifth goals in a big game for MN tonight, and seems to be coming on, while Zach is in a bit of a slump. I haven't looked at WCHA stats to see where they stand. Heck, you could make arguments for Reichsmuth, Sterling and Stuart as well. Who would have thought Ranfranz would come in and allow four goals on about 60 shots over two road games, and people would be on here thinking the season is over? It's interesting that so many top teams are struggling now. Maine can't seem to pull it together, BU and BC each go on runs, then surprisingly drop a couple. Two of the hottest teams seem to be Providence and Michigan State. No top team seems as cold as UND, though. Enough rambling. Go Sioux.

This is just depressing. It was miserable listening to the third period tick away with not a lot of pressure by the Sioux. I can accept that you're not going to outplay a good team for the entire game, but that just makes it so much more important to score when you're controlling play, which they seemed to do for the first two periods. Another solid goaltending performance wasted. It's got to end sometime, doesn't it?

From USCHO's weekly report: "We're still fine. There's no time for panic," Blais said. "The big thing is with this time of year is being healthy and not playing bad. It's different if you're playing bad, but we're playing really well. You're going to win some of those and lose some. -------------------------- This might be a little too nonchalant an attitude, but it basically is why I am not panicking. The key is turning the good play into points. If that happens this weekend, I think things will be fine. If it doesn't, then the comfort of "playing well" starts to sound too much like claiming moral victories. I'm pleased for Mankato that they are developing some passion in town for the program, but I hope the Sioux are playing the third period before a half-empty rink tonight.

Regarding transfer rules, it is my understanding that a player cannot transfer from one Division I school to another without sitting a year. He could go to a Division III school and play the next year, but not Division I. There may be an exception that allows the player to skip the year on the shelf if the school gets hit with NCAA sanctions, but I'm not sure about that. For this reason, I never understood the discussion of Blais granting a release to Fournier. As far as I know, Blais could have "granted him a release", co-signed his mortgage and legally adopted him and Fournier would still not have been eligible to play for UAA this year. Perhaps someone could help with the transfer rules.

http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejourn...ports/43054.php Yikes. The Leavitt/Eaves confrontation in GF was apparently more serious than the initial reports. If only Alex had stuck with his initial lean and chosen UND, his life would be a lot more pleasant now. I hope they get things squared away down there (after UND beats them) because it's not good for the league to have Wisco so down.

Considering what the Mavs PP did to the Sioux earler this year, I'm guessing the word has been given to the players to stay out of the box. No stupid penalties. If you have to take a good one, fine, sometimes you're beat and it's the best option. But no penalties 200 feet from your goalie. I have a feeling that Prpich or McMahon will score this weekend, and I also think that Canady or Connelly will score this weekend. The time has come. If you take out the Michigan Tech blowout, Bochenski has 4 points in the last 6 games. In the same stretch, Parise also has 4 points. Even more shocking is that Parise has 1 assist in the last 6 games, and 3 assists in the last 9 games (and that includes the MTU blowout). Either they're coming back to earth, or they're DUE, in a big way.

What has gotten out of hand on this thread? I wish it had gone away a long time ago when it was discussing the initial topic, but the latest bump of it was a very good public service announcement: Don't try to go to POI because you'll get directed to an inappropriate site. And the subsequent discussion has been tame. My current question: Is it safe to go back to POI? I don't want to try at work.

Following is a great article on Ryan's debut. Credit jen (THE jen) for posting the link on USCHO. http://www.caneshockey.com/custom/rad0A383.asp "I really liked his game, because there's an intelligence to it," said Hurricanes head coach Paul Maurice. "He gets the puck down low in our end of the ice. He's not giving it up. He made two or three great plays defensively and offensively and we kept using him. He played a very good game."

When he got called up, maybe partly because it was to Carolina, which isn't exactly dripping with tradition, it didn't quite seem like he was in the NHL. But his first game was against Jagr, he just scored on Eddie (on a rebound of his own shot), he got called for tripping Mogilny, and his goal was assisted by Ron Francis. Those are names I recognize. I guess he is in the NHL! That's so cool. I hope he makes a good impression and soon becomes an NHL regular.

1-4-1 in the last six has been bad, to be sure. But 22-6-4 counts for something.

I didn't see the games this weekend; I only listened. Getting only one point out of Denver and 1-4-1 in the last six bites, to be sure. Based on what I heard, the Sioux earned at least two points this weekend, and probably three. They were undone perhaps by their own goaltending a little bit on Friday, and by an outstanding opposing goaltender on Saturday. On Friday, it sounded like UND played a strong first period, followed by a lousy second, their worst of the weekend, and an outstanding third and OT. Saturday they had some excellent chances in the first, were pretty even in the second, and had again a very good third period. My optimistic viewpoint right now is the team is playing well. If they continue to play well, they will win more of these games than they lose. They also got a nice goaltending performance Saturday. The pessimistic view is that not only is a top three finish in jeopardy, but home ice is now in question. "Playing well" is encouraging, but wins and points earn favorable playoff seeds and NCAA tournament berths. This doesn't seem like last year's team to me. They move the puck a lot better, and the defense stands people up at the blue line. The results have been familiar for a few weeks now, though. At Mankato? Two points are now a necessity, but anything more than that would be in the realm of hope rather than expectation. Hosting Duluth? The way Sandelin has them playing, a sweep doesn't seem very likely. At home, with the proper motivation, a sweep should be do-able though. At Wisconsin? I fear a miracle by a motivated Badger squad, but this should be four points. Most likely result down the stretch:4-2 Next most likely: 5-1 Next most likely: 3-3 Eight more points puts them at 36. Everyone can run their own what-ifs to see where that puts them, but it must get home ice.

Heard? Did you read it out loud?

Pretty nice game last night for Brady Murray: VERNON VIPERS 2 at SALMON ARM SILVERBACKS 4 VE- 1) Chad Murray(Han, Claffey), 2) Bryan McGregor(Reaney, Kisio). SA- 1) Brady Murray(Nikiforuk), 2) Murray(Nikiforuk, Veideman), 3) SHG/WG- Murray(Nikiforuk, Kestell), 4) PPG-Alex Nikiforuk(Murray, Veideman).

Although Spee was with Parise for a shift in the OT, I think the third period was Parise, Bochenski, Notes and then Lundbohm, Massen, Spiewak - these would be the lines we're most used to, IMO. Yep, this experiment lasted about a period longer than the last one, which had Parise with Massen (I think). Blais doesn't hesitate to pull the plug on his own ideas, if he doesn't think they're working.

Bayda is held off the scoresheet in a 3-1 win. He played a lot though, and even got a little PP time. Lost in last year's disaster was how good he was. Congrats, Ryan, on advancing your dream one step further by playing in the NHL.

Hey, I didn't know you guys were over here! Parise must have had about five excellent chances that were all either saved or near misses. I predict that both Parise and Bochenski find the net tomorrow. Whether it will be enough to win, I don't know. How about Connelly getting robbed in the first by Berkoel? He just can't buy a goal. And so nice to hear Canady playing. Good job, Sioux. I really thought they were going to pop one in in the OT.