jk

Faceoff, shot , goal ... five seconds into the PP. Sioux did turn it up in the last five minutes. Started when they had a long shift, then the Huskies iced it and had to keep the tired guys out there. The Sioux kept the pressure on for a bit, and MTU never quite recovered their edge after that. MTU doesn't suck, though, and the Sioux'll have to work all weekend long.

Bit of a snoozer so far. Eidsness is going to have to be sharp because he'll face those trap turnover chances.

Tech split a pair of 3-1 home games with SCSU. Considering how difficult it's going to be to get points out of most league opponents this year, I'd really like to see four points. Considering how easily UAA was dispatched this weekend, I'm a little more ornery about last Saturday than I was before.

Canada East edged the US 5-4 in a shootout today. The US outshot them 35-19, Parks had 1-2-3, and St. Clair had an assist.

All three of them are there.

I don't know how we could know where he'd fit best. After seeing his brother's experience, maybe he wants to go to MN or maybe he doesn't. Kessel's brother went to UNH and has done well there.

I think they're talking about Forbort being ranked in Red Line's top ten. FWIW, Red Line had Mike Forney in its top ten for part of his draft year.

Ton o chances, but not meant to be right now.

Hextall must be hurt. Knight had his last 5-5 shift and now his PP spot.

Sioux not standing around; I don't think it's a lack of effort. More execution. Christiansen hasn't had to make many sparkling saves.

This kind of thing happens. You dominate one night, and through most of the first, dominate again Saturday. Without realizing it, you take your domination for granted. And that's the moment you stop dominating. It happened last year against Wisconsin when they blew up in the third. If the Sioux can get one, it will get interesting. Otherwise, meh...

Tough crowd here. Not sure how that second one is soft at all.

Hard to complain with the Sioux effort and play. A lot of nice plays but nothing found the net. I was pretty worried about the defense heading into the season. Genoway and Marto I expected to play well and they've been great; Jake especially has taken some of the mistakes out of his game. They are undersized though, which left me worried for the rest of the group. I liked Blood last year as a frosh, but if that level of play was going to be a top 4 defender, I felt the Sioux were in trouble. Instead he has settled in quicker than the usual UND big guy, and been reliable. Best of all for me has been LaPoint. Who knew how that was going to work out? I felt that he was just starting to lose some of the indecision that plagued him, then he got hurt. And now it seems almost entirely gone. I see a much better player than when he went down. MacWilliam moves better than I expected, and is also well ahead of the usual big guy curve. And Gleason has reminded us that he was the best player on those loaded Edina teams down the stretch.

3rd and 4th lines having the best shifts. Not sure how the Toews line didn't score there.

Blood and Genoway looked like the Keystone Cops trying to get the puck out of the zone there.

Heck of a shift by Zajac there.

Rowney came off the wall just like that with a minute left in OT last Saturday, and got a great shot off. This time the puck dribbled to Zajac, who took the shot that left Mario's rebound. That's been arguably the team's best line for a little while now.

I didn't hear it, but is it possible it's not related at all to "the room," but instead to the actual locker room. Like, for instance, some physical attribute of a UAA locker room?

I agree. His slide over to cover the cross-crease play is outstanding, and has yielded some highlight saves, but the recovery is late, as you said.

I don't disagree with anything said about the potential logjam, but I will say that every year it appears there is a bulge in the pipeline and every year it gets resolved. I have a feeling it will again, and it's just a matter of sitting back and seeing what the roster looks like for the Manitoba series.

I don't think the Sioux have matched up particularly well with UAA the past few years - they're not the most skilled team, but they're big and fast, and they've worn out the Sioux D. Blood and MacWilliam both know how to use their size, but the rest can get pushed around. I wonder if we might see Fienhage play this weekend. UAA just lost to Robert Morris (still can't believe they let one guy beat them), so they are obviously not unstoppable, but I expect a tough weekend. For the last few years, it has seemed that if UAA could go from decent to good goaltending, they could contend for a top-half finish.

Good effort by MN tonight, and a good job by UND to match them. Sioux got a couple huge breaks when Fairchild missed and Hoeffel (?) missed right near the end of regulation. When Pointer blocked a shot in the third off his ankle, did it clank?

Very insightful post that highlights the various motivations. I agree that the occurence of actual discussions is a potential watershed event, changing this topic from internet speculation to a genuine issue.

Chambers has had to amend his T-shirt order. He sent back the 44-0 shirts and is getting 43-1 instead. That's still better than '93 Maine, which had a loss and a tie.

Fienhage is going to be a giveaway machine for a while, but the only solution to that is playing time. He has the tools, but everyone will need patience because it might not be pretty at first. I expect he'll come along as most of the other big Sioux D have. He is a nice skater for his size, so he'll win some races (might help cover some giveaways) and he'll definitely win some wrestling matches along the boards. Word around the league the last few years was the Sioux were soft on the blueline, but that won't be the case anymore as Blood, MacWilliam and Fienhage all know how to use their size.