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Thought I'd roll this one back to the top now that we're officially looking forward to next year. How are we supposed to put hippity-hoppety lines together for next year if we don't know if Genoway can play? Someone must have an idea now whether we should expect an inconsistent third or fourth-liner or someone who will be competing for time on the top lines. Anyone?

Very nice, non-homer, analysis. I can't seem to keep the green glasses off when I look forward. Considering their losses, I see SCSU and CC in a big group behind the top teams, fighting with UND, Mankato and maybe Duluth to finish third and stay out of the play-in game. Denver: Head-to-head, the Sioux seemed to match up fine with Denver, but the Sioux now lose more from this year than they do. When you look at the year they had, though, and the players leaving and arriving, it's hard not to like their chances. SCSU: They could have the kind of year the Sioux had this year - UND lost Goren, Ulmer and Commie and surprised people by contending. Then they lost "the rest" of their stars, Panzer, Luhdbohm, Roche and Goehring, and slid pretty far. Well, SCSU lost Arnason, Westcott and Meyer and surprised (me anyway) by contending. Next year they lose the rest, Hartigan and DiCas. Plus the jury's not out on Dahl. MN: I think Taffe leaves. If Vanek arrives, MN should be very good. If he bolts, I think MN falls into the mass of mid-level competetive teams. CC: Good talent, but lose a lot. How they adjust to the loss of their best players just isn't known. The jury's still out on Owens. Wisconsin: Eaves will be good for them, but the biggest problem for Sconny is Sauer left a year too late. This is their year for a big recruiting class, and it's probably not what it could be had a promising new coach been reeling them in. I would be shocked by an upper division finish. Mankato: I don't know why they don't stink. Brose/Jutting must know how to coach. UAA: I think they fade, as they lose much more than they bring in. UND: Suddenly lose a lot. They really need the sophomore bump across-the-board. Duluth: Despite their losses, they are getting a taste of success. I think they'll continue to come on. Tech: What dan said.

Verrry interesting. In some ways it's like a mirror image of this season: home from mid-November to mid-January instead of away for all that time, and finish with three of four weekends away. Things I like: Only three weekends off all year - Oct 18-19, Dec 20-21, Jan 17-18. Four if you count the week between the regionals and the Frozen Four. No three-month road trip - It's still not balanced (three straight road series followed by six straight home weekends), but it's better. Things I don't like: Very weak non-conference opponents - It is good for college hockey to schedule these guys, but they won't do much to prepare the team and the RPI is already begging for mercy. I wish we could get all the schedule abuse from some of our opposing fans out of the way now. Since UND has the extra games from the UAA trip this year, I guess you could consider the Canisius series in mid-December as two extra games instead of having the weekend off. SCSU in the first half - Once again we aren't able to participate in the Husky Swoon, as all of our SCSU games are done by December 7.

Ouch. Best wishes to Ryan. As for leadership, there will be three fourth-year players on the team, all good character guys - Spiewak, Notermann and Ryan Hale. I'm not so worried about the leadership. It's the production I'm worried about. Its going to take more than one person stepping up to replace Bayda's offensive impact. One of the guys in the group above needs to have a Skarp-like breakout year. A few members of the big class need to move into the 30 to 40 point range. One other implication is that another scholarship has probably been opened up. Does Porter now come this year? Or does Blais have someone else in mind? Even without Bayda, strictly by the numbers there are plenty of forwards for next year.

Ryan Bayda, thanks for your great contributions to the Sioux's success from 1999-2001, and for helping to teach the new guys what Sioux hockey is all about. You will be missed. Good luck. For that matter, thanks also to Chad Mazurak, Aaron Schneekloth, Tim Skarperud and Andy Kollar, who all played significant roles in the Sioux competing for the national title in two consecutive years. Things didn't end the way everyone would have liked, but I'll remember the contributions during the great years.

We'd love him if he chose the Sioux. I can't complain about nothing being called on the jersey play because that was the way the OT was called - and I loved it. End-to-end, great chances, great saves - a bit of hooking and holding along the way, but that was due to the utter desperation on both sides. I can still picture Bayda floating in front of Hauser with the puck, all alone, waiting for an opening. Alas, he tried to move it over to Skarp, and it bounced around instead.

From Sunday's Herald: "As far as I know, Ryan will be back," Blais said. "But you never know when any player you have who has been drafted by the NHL might sign a pro contract." -------------------------------------- I am reasonably encouraged by this. It's been said by many, but it really is miserable to not have the Sioux playing now, especially when they're just as good as many of the teams still playing.

In 28 games for each: Skarp 18-19-37 Cullen 10-24-34 Cullen does win a ton of faceoffs, though.

Congrats to Bayda and Bochenski. Timmy Skarperud got shafted big-time. Fourth in WCHA scoring, second in goals, and not among the top nine forwards in the league. Huh? Behind him in scoring, but ahead on the All-WCHA teams: 1st: Cullen, 2nd: Medak, DiCas 3rd: James, Sejna, Taffe Ah, well, great job anyway, Tim. Congrats on a fine season.

Did they have a coach's show last night? If they did, I assume it was the last one of the year. Will anyone who heard it please pass along the highlights? Thanks.

I track +/- for every shift of every game and you guys come on here and question my numbers? Just kidding. I got them here: http://www.fightingsioux.com/admin....EAM.IND I have no idea why they don't add up. There must be an element of truth to them, though.

You see Nick Fuher?

If Taffe and Vanek are at MN next year, they are the instant favorites. Even when he was an inconsistent frosh, Taffe always had his best games against the Sioux. He has dynamite skills. I understand Vanek is likewise blessed with stunning talent. With neither Taffe nor Vanek, I think MN slides a bit. Koalska, Riddle and Tallackson are all maturing nicely into impact players, so they won't stink, but it would be hard to adjust to the absence of Taffe in addition to Pohl and Leo. With either Taffe or Vanek, I think MN contends. (I've never seen Vanek, so I'm going strictly on reputation). Guyer is supposed to be roughly of the same quality as Parise, and I think Gopher fans like Erickson and expect him to be a fixture in the lineup. How the Sioux compare will depend on whether Bayda returns and how this year's frosh grow. I think the youngsters should progress well enough to make the Sioux forwards basically a push with MN's, and give the Sioux the edge if MN is without Taffe and Vanek. (Gopher fans, of course you have to expect me to like our forwards here.)

HKNTSM, I know you really got frosted this year when Blais was talking about winning in two years. I've always hoped he meant sometime in the next two years, like next year included, because if things go right the Sioux could contend nationally next year. The biggest thing the team would have going for it next year, and what would be absent the following year, would be a big group of fourth-year forwards, all of whom are strong character guys who have played big roles in the national playoffs in multiple years. What would have to go right? The frosh make the jump to productive sophomores, the young D grow offensively, one of the goalies steps up, and they get a few bounces. Goodness knows they have a few coming from this year. I predict Notermann and Spiewak have the top point years of their Sioux careers next year.

Goon, Tell us what you really think.

Interesting, dagies. Thanks for the info. I had e-mailed Chris Heisenberg with the same question, but haven't heard back from him yet. It should be interesting to see how he does at Lincoln next year. Regarding Parise's effect on recruiting, I'm hoping some slick defenseman from the Canadian prairie sees what the forward lines look like for the next few years and wants to pad his assist stats a bit. There must be one out there somewhere.

Ahh, Greyeagle, there you go ruining all the ill will. Thanks for your input. The downside for you is you now (or at least next year) have another spot to check on the internet. Good luck, but you might not need too much of it.

A BU fan (might have been King) described cheering for BC during the 1998 NCAA championship game (I paraphrase): I was pulling for BC to defend the conference's (Hockey East)honor, but when Langfeld scored I was surprised that I was the first one out of my seat to celebrate. (Michigan's Josh Langfeld scored the OT game-winner.) You pull for your conference, but it's hard to have too much affection for your big rival.

Final plus/minus for 2001-02: Skarperud +18 Bayda +11 Bochenski +10 Massen + 3 Palmiscno + 2 Notermann + 1 Fournier + 1 Spiewak 0 Lundbohm - 1 Faul - 1 B. Connelly - 2 Canady - 6 R. Connelly - 7 McMahon - 8 R. Hale - 9 D. Hale +14 Schneider +11 Fuher + 5 Jones + 4 Schneekloth + 1 Leinweber - 3 Mazurak - 6 Nice to see the performance by the top four defensemen, one sophomore and three freshmen.

Speez, I appreciate you chiming in here from time to time; it's nice to get an opinion from someone who really has a reason to care, rather than the rest of us, who are just big fans. It must have been a tough year for the guys. Hopefully some of the payback they get to deliver next year will make up for all the bad breaks and tough losses.

Kuhninca, I disagree on Connelly. As for recruiting offense for next year, exactly who do you think is out there? There are a lot of high profile forwards coming into college hockey next year (Vanek, Parise, Guyer, Gauthier, Tambellini, Eaves, Sterling - you know, BC's top two lines), but, ahem, they're all signed up to play already (MN, UND, MN, DU, Mich., BC, CC). I like UND's forwards for next year, and the few years after that as well.

Parise - I've seen him once, but I'm such an amateur I'll have to rely on the opinions of others (like Louie and Glen) to believe that he'll be a fixture in the lineup. R. Connelly - Got better all year long, until the season-ending injury. Has a necessary commodity for all Sioux teams - speed. UND needs more of it up front, and I think he'll play a lot. Massen - Probably the one freshman I can say I was disappointed with. He seems to lose many more battles for the puck than he wins, and doesn't seem very strong on his skates to me. Reminds me of Grant Paranica - big guy, looks like a smooth skater, seems to have good hands, but can't get the job done. Hopefully he'll work on his deficiencies and come along. Fylling - He's had a nice year in the USHL, which was expected. I like that he can skate well. How will he look compared to guys like Canady, Connelly and Palmiscno when practice starts? I don't know. Genoway - I have no idea how he has looked this year. Maybe he'll be a fixture in the lineup, but I have no way of knowing. B. Connelly and Faul had trouble getting into the lineup this year, and it just gets harder next year. Faul looked decent to me when I saw him, but I assume he would have played more. Palmiscno basically didn't play until injuries opened up a spot, and I think he'll also have trouble with the numbers game next year.

In some cases, the player's importance to the team and talents need not be mentioned, so I skipped them. Hale - I thought he started slow and showed quite a bit of rust from the year off, but he was very solid down the stretch and has shown flashes of offensive skill. Getting the medical redshirt will pay big dividends for the team in the next two years. Lundbohm - Not a good year, but by the end we saw once again how good a player he can be. He was in a funk even before his injury, and then seemed to take a long while after coming back to get into the groove again. Even though the points didn't come, he played well at the end, in all zones. He has the best moves with the puck in a little one foot square box, which is where those battles for the puck are often won. Fournier - I think we have an idea now what the big deal was about Chris Fournier. Put him behind the net on the PP! What a difference he could have made if he was healthy. He's not fleet-afoot, but centering the puck well (getting it through defensemen and the goalie) is not easily done, and he has a knack for it. Seems to be the best on the team at it, except for David Hale. Bochenski - Looks like cra* a lot of the time, but he manages to get his shot off all the time when he's covered, especially when it just comes to him as he's skating into the zone; he has it off before he even seems to get the puck. I'm often just puzzled at how he got the shot off. Someone who can flat-out score is invaluable, but I hope he works on his skating. McMahon - Going to be the best all-around player from this class and a fixture on the top lines in his last two years. Canady - For me, probably the best surprise of the freshmen. I expected a hard worker, but he's faster than I thought and always involved. I expected him to be one of the ones to lose ice time because of the team's forward depth, but he got better as the year went on. And let's face it, college hockey is not for the meek; it's rough out there, and you need some guys on a mission.

A lot of players floating around next year. I'm thinking of the forwards like this: In the lineup basically all the time: Bayda, Sr. Notermann, Sr. Spiewak, Sr. Hale, Jr. Lundbohm, Jr. Fournier, So. Bochenski, So. McMahon, So. Canady, So. Parise, Fr. Battling for the last two spots: R. Connelly, So. Massen, So. Fylling, So. Genoway, Fr. Will not play much except against Canisius: B. Connelly, Sr. Palmiscno, Jr. Faul, So. I'll add some thoughts in a bit.

Once again the season ends with an overtime loss, and once again I am so proud of the program. What a gutty, determined effort. Even though 52 shots were allowed in four periods, the Sioux played a fine checking game, covered the slot well, and were always there to carry or sweep away rebounds, except for that one at the end. As many of you said, there is so much to say, but I'm very happy for Andy, most of all.