jk

Good news on welcoming Brock Nelson into the program. I've only seen him in the state tourney, but he seems to have unusually good hands for a big kid. With the combination of his frame, hands and bloodlines, I imagine he'll get quite a bit of attention from the pro scouts.

System-wise, I'm not smart enough to say. But I will say that I think Blais pushed conditioning to a new level when he arrived at UND, and it gave the team a competitive advantage for years. By the end of his UND stint, everyone else had caught up, and now it's the norm. (You can see his reputation is intact when his new players get messages from friends: Get ready to run. As I said, though, I don't think it'll be revolutionary as it was 15 years ago.) To get to the point, maybe Blais' UND teams were so up-tempo because they were best conditioned. One other thing: You carry it in if you can avoid turning it over at the blueline. Otherwise chip it in. That seems to be the way Hak's teams do it. Trying to carry it through a shelterbelt of sticks just gets the puck going the other way, with about the same momentum your guys have the other direction.

I haven't seen them play, so I have no idea who is more gifted or even what they look like on the ice. My impression from all of my internet scouting though is that Bruneteau is more of a smaller, offensive player, and his fighting career (barely survived and almost had to quit the sport) makes me question a comparison to Mario, who's not short of grit. Rowney, on the other hand, may have been able to finish last year, but he did so as a pretty old kid in the AJHL. That profile doesn't lead to a big college scorer very often. I expect him to be a complete player, with plenty of jam; maybe a Darcy Zajac type. But again I've never seen him play.

That's a pretty big deal, and a big blow to CC. The Forum indicates he's accelerating, which is very unusual for UND.

Watkins skates better than most, and that'll get him at least his shot at the AHL. Teams at every level need role players, and the better you skate, the better your chances. Watkins went down after a knee-on-knee check against UMD at the Final Five, and the Sioux didn't win again. He came back out in the third period to test it, couldn't go, sat out the next day against Wisconsin, and then was clearly not full strength against UNH. Every team's nicked up, so no excuses, but who knows how it goes if he's flying around out there.

We know he skated at Atlanta's prospect camp last week.

I thought Melrose was here before ending up at Harvard (and I think the 1989 title team), but he didn't show up on hockeydb as playing any games at UND. Harvard's not a bad fallback.

I have these ones.

I think they want 8 defensemen in case of injuries, and this has nothing to do with Forney or LaPoint. If Forney doesn't come, I wouldn't be surprised to see another forward in next year, for the same reason.

If by physical issue you mean injury or health, I don't think that's it. If you mean size and whether his frame projects to an NHL body, that might be it. I think he's getting ready for Omaha and needs to have the attitude Cichy had last year: what's wrong with my game and how can I fix it? It's a big year for him. I think his coach at Omaha will be Bliss Littler, who is respected. (Littler's high school coach will be joining him in Omaha, as he played hockey in Minot at about the time Blais was coaching there. I know because Blais was my ninth-grade phy-ed teacher at Minot High.)

Latest word was that Forney is still deciding. Regarding the draft and WCHA rivals, it would seem naive to assume everything is "fine" and our recruits are as good as anyone's, since, after all, the NHL scout's jobs are to identify the best hockey players. They are, however, trying to project who will have the skillset to eventually play in the NHL as men. I wonder if the key missing feature in some of UND's current and future players is a world-class level of athleticism. Unless you're a pitcher in baseball, you pretty much have to be blessed with remarkable athleticism (speed, strength, reflexes), to be a professional athlete at the highest level. No matter how special Duncan is in so many ways, he most likely just simply won't have the speed and strength to play in the NHL. The electric speed is what got Kristo drafted in the second round. If you looked at the recent USHL season, Cichy was miles better than Josh Birkholz at Fargo, but Birkholz, despite reportedly not being very coachable or a great teammate, also has the breathtaking speed and was picked high, while Cichy barely got picked in his second eligible year. What will it mean for UND in the future? When the Sioux were young and talented in the past, they often had trouble with older teams like Mankato and Tech. What would happen if you built a team like that, but used more talented building blocks? I think that's what we're going to see. It may be naivete, but I really like this year's team. Last year's top two lines at year-end (Vandy, Frattin, Malone and Duncan, Hextall, Gregoire), were hard to handle, and only Duncan is gone. Other forwards who showed some real ability are back (Zajac, Trupp, Mario), and the team adds three guys who should be power-play type players (Kristo, Cichy and Toews). As AZ has said, the depth should be great, maybe as good as we've seen since 1999. Four lines, which should balance out the icetime and hopefully keep everyone fresh and perhaps healthy. The entire freshman class played at least one extra year of junior hockey, so they will be physically mature and ready to step in. The key question for me (and it's a big one) is whether Blood, Finehage, LaPoint (health) and MacWilliam are all ready to play against good players.

I don't watch much pro hockey, but watching the Pens in their own zone in the third, there's still a place in hockey for the big defensive defenseman. Orpik was crashing and crushing guys all period. (Yes I know he played at BC.) You don't need great hands to play that role, but you do need good quick feet.

Garth was apparently sniffing around already this year, so that's a big risk. In addition, only because they've already watched him in one post NTDP season already, I wonder if Montreal could have some interest in Kristo before Sioux fans would like.

I'm a big fan of Blais, but 1998, 1999 and 2004.

Cichy (0-3-3 tonight) and Indiana beat Green Bay and advance to take on Blais and Fargo in the USHL finals.

Grande Prairie's season ended last night with a loss to Vernon, so another recruit is done for the year. Nice season for Rowney and his team though. I believe that leaves just Cichy and Forney (and again we don't know Forney's status for next year), who are playing against each other tonight.

Cichy's Indiana team won the deciding game 5 tonight 7-6 on the road, with the winner coming with 15 seconds left in the third (an eternity by our new standards). They advance to play Forney's Green Bay team. Rowney's AJHL champion Grande Prairie looks like it might be in over its head against the BCHL's Vernon Vipers in the Doyle Cup series. Vernon won game one last night 2-1, although the game and shots were much more lopsided than that. I listened for a bit and Vernon had the puck the whole time. Tonight Vernon's up 4-1 in the second. Maybe Grande Prairie can turn it around at home later in the series.

I think the league will be better next year. Denver's beat writer recently posted on his blog that he expects next year to be Gwoz's best team yet. They bring back a deep group and add a great class. Wisconsin also has high hopes for next year, as they were very young and have the really high-end talent that just needs to mature. MN didn't lose much and I'm guessing their fans expect them to be better.

Must be the offseason.

Don't be surprised if Knight is the first Sioux recruit taken in this year's draft. Yes I know his rankings were not that high. All it takes is one team who really likes a player.

http://www.ushl.com/news/0708/20090405Awards.pdf RBK First-Team All-USHL Goalie: Brett Bennett

Des Moines was playing short-handed because of its actions in a game against Waterloo on Friday night. Six Buccaneers were suspended

Always a good laugh reading about guys who don't show up. Frattin has gotten steadily better in his time at UND. The game was just a touch too fast for him in his first year, and I thought that even carried over to the first few weeks of this year. Then, all of a sudden, his near misses started to click, and he was suddenly a good college player. He contracted a serious case of Notermann Syndrome down the stretch this year, but he was still playing very well (as Notermann did when his great chances caught iron). He especially picked up his physical game when the puck wasn't going in (perhaps something he picked up from Kozek). He'll be a huge part of the team's success next year.

The best thing he accomplished by waiting a year was getting his high school diploma.

I'd take McDonagh before Wiercioch, but that's it.