jk

Chainsaw?

As they were being separated at the end, Greene patted Commie, like, OK thanks for going, I had to stand up for my guy.

The CC series was the start of a stretch that will run to the end of the season of playing desperate opponents who are fighting for their lives. No one in the NCAA tournament will be any more motivated than CC last week, or Wisconsin next week, or whoever is playing to extend their careers in the WCHA first-round. Then the final five looks to be a cage-match of teams trying to qualify for the NCAAs. Looking at Jim's PWR analysis, the Sioux should be pretty darn desperate themselves this weekend.

He passed Eades, but is a long way from the top of the list. Still the MVP in my eyes.

Period 1 Indiana - Mike Cichy (unassisted) 3:30 Indiana - Mike Cichy (powerplay) (Torey Krug) 7:25 Waterloo - Nick Larson (powerplay) (Lee Moffie, Craig Smith) 9:50 Indiana - Mike Cichy (unassisted) 20:00

Miller has been much more effective on defense than he ever was up front. In an interview he talked about liking it because he gets to have the puck a lot more, and that really shows. Just that little bit of extra room makes him a much more dynamic player. For me, especially with LaPoint out, and despite the fact that he's not perfect in his own zone, Miller's back on defense the rest of the way. Up front, I don't break up any of the lines unless injury forces it, and then I try to only touch the line directly affected by the injury. In other words, I'm not breaking up Zajac, Martens, Watkins because of an injury on another line. Likewise Duncan, Gregoire, Hextall, and I would have said the same about VV, Trupp, Frattin until Trupp went down. There's just too much chemistry built up now with such solid results to be messing with it.

Wiercioch (sp?) will be ROY probably.

Sioux played really well all night long. Created a lot of offense and played a sound defensive game (Made a few mistakes, but that's hockey). The only reason UND is not competing for a #1 seed right now is Finley's injury. Without Miller back there (yet), the team was just not ready to be without him. If you think about it, the three losses that have haunted this team (UMass, MSU, and MTU) were all Finley related. UMass he played with the concussion, and the other two were his first real games back and he was understandably not very good then. Since the MN series, he has been outstanding, just what you would hope from a big senior defenseman. He's not fleet, but he has good feet, and he makes such a nice pass out of the zone. This team is going to miss Duncan next year. Wow is he ever savvy. Does all the little things, and does the big things too. Finishing is a rare skill. The Zajac, Martens, Watkins line is playing outstanding hockey. With the injuries, I hope they don't mess with the chemistry those guys have going. Malone seemed to fit well with VV and Frattin with Trupp out. I think that's the lineup change, with Toews or Davidson playing with Mario and Kozek. Even so, get well soon Trupp.

First time all night the UAA PP has set up and gotten anything going. Unfortunately they made something of it.

Leinweber's a freshman and looks like he could end up being a Genoway type. Boy Olthuis is keeping them in this game. Big saves on Frattin (x2) and Zajac so far.

Really nice set up that will often result in a goal - when Kozek shoots from there on the move he hits pretty often. Hope I don't jinx him, but Blood is starting to look like a WCHA defenseman, like he's making the adjustment.

3-1 Sioux after 1. And just about had the 4th on the first rush up the ice after the 3rd goal.

I don't understand all the bitching. Sioux are playing very hard. They haven't matched up well against UAA the last couple years - they're big and can skate and they do an outstanding job clogging up the neutral zone.

One of the season's crucial periods coming up here. Gotta get points out of this weekend, and with a lead after two this is the time to start getting them. I don't think 1-0 is going to stand up though; UAA's got a bit too much jump and they're too strong standing in front of the net for the garbage. Huge play late in the period to break up the pass across on the partial 2-on-1. Think it was Watkins.

Sioux just can't establish possession in the zone. They try to skate it in like Kozek just did and it gets picked off. They try to dump it and UAA has done a good job moving it out quickly.

UAA's going to score here pretty soon if this keeps up. They've got the ice tilted a bit.

I'm not Vegas, but St. Croix has played in at least one MJ game already this year. He scored in his debut. I have a question for Vegas, though. What can we expect from O'Donnell if he continues to develop? Thanks.

Committed to Harvard according to Heisenberg. No uncertainty.

I think the point was that the emotional effort of pushing so hard left the tank empty, so that will be a risk again this year. There is a physical aspect to it though, and that should be better this year. Never shortening the bench keeps everyone fresh for the stretch run. This is the first year in about ten that the Sioux can truly roll four lines and never worry about who is on the ice. LaPoint's injury will begin to stress the top defensemen, but maybe Finley missing the first half of the year will be a blessing in disguise that way.

I think they moved Martens up to Hextall's forward spot on the PP, so they needed someone to fill Martens' PP point spot. Personally, I hope they move Martens back to the point and find another forward for Hextall's spot.

Good luck to Derrick. He has a few things going for him in the healing process. 1) He's young. 2) He's incredibly fit, with robust circulation. Blood is the healer, and his body will keep it flowing better than yours or mine would (well, mine anyway).

Not to be too big of a jerk, but if we were fans of the other team we'd be screaming about being homered. PP after PP after PP. I watched on webcast so I just couldn't tell if they were all legit calls. Still a good win, but the Mavs were shorthanded a lot. On the other hand, that's when they play their best hockey.

God that was awful. This is going to get extremely ugly, almost guaranteed. The D cannot fight, because now Jones and LaPoint are down. Mario, Malone?

The PWR has broken into pretty distinct groups this year. The top 10 are pretty solid, and someone's going to have to fade to fall out of it (as MN did, and someone else surely will). Then there's a pretty big gap to the next 7 teams, who are quite tightly bunched in RPI (and therefore, basically, PWR). UND is in this group. Because the teams are so close in RPI, one bad night moves you down to the lower end of the range (the 15-17 area), and one good night moves you closer to the top (11-13). You saw that tonight with MN and BC slipping, and UND rising. For any of those teams, your move on Friday can be undone with the opposite result the next night. Just win I guess.

Malone is turning into a nice hockey player. Big strong kid who can really skate, with better hands and instincts than you think. Hits a ton; not all big kids know how to use their size like he does.