jk

Ness of course has looked great for Roseau, and I wouldn't mind if Landman traded in his green-and-whites for more green-and-whites in a couple years either. That said, I wonder if the best of them might end up being Lee, the sophomore goalie. He admittedly hasn't been tested much, but he seems so composed.

Festler and Marvin are both SCSU recruits. The better of the Hanowski's is being recruited by a lot of people but is said to be a MN fan. LeBlanc will also be recruited by more WCHA schools than just UMD, including some bigger names.

Don't look now, but UND's old nemesis BC is smoking hot right now. They've won 5 in a row, 7 of 8, and 9 of 11. Only loss in the last five weeks was in OT to BU in the beanpot final, which is just one of the laws of nature. They've also done that against good teams, including UNH and Maine twice.

There may have been a time twenty years ago when a UND recruiting pitch focused mainly on hockey, and not academics. That's no longer the case. To avoid retyping it, I'll copy dagies' convincing post from earlier this season:

Mosey to SCSU per Heisenberg.

Especially in the third. I can't remember Lammy being asked to make a spectacular save in the third.

Here's one for all the people who couldn't believe that UND could only get three points each from Mankato and Duluth: Mankato swept CC this weekend, and Duluth swept UAA. Yes I'd love to have that point back from the Saturday Mankato game, but that was still a very solid two weekends of work.

It may be that it is only quality road wins that count, not neutral site wins.

They're going to need a big lead.

It did seem like May held up though. It wasn't vicious at all.

UND will need plenty of defensemen in 2008. Bina and Radke graduate, and Chorney, Lee and Finley will all be legitimate flight risks, based on their lofty draft positions. Of course some of those sophomores could leave after this year too. As for Denver's other recruits, I think Nash is the type of player that Denver or UND will find room for, whenever he wants to come.

Be careful on the pairwise. UND has a ton of TUC wins over teams that are barely clinging to TUC status. If those teams slip out of the RPI top 25, UND's TUC record goes with them. We should be big fans of SLU, Dartmouth and especially Bemidji, Quinnipiac and Mankato.

Honestly the Sioux had no reason to tackle anyone late in the third and in the OT because UMD wasn't trying to push the play and score. They were laying back and waiting for a mistake to jump on. If they mugged Raymond earlier I apologize because I wasn't watching then.

I admittedly only saw the last 7 minutes plus OT, but it looked to me like UND was playing very hard and pretty well. Not sure what everyone is whining about. UMD looked very good as well; it was a playoff-type game. UMD fell back and let UND try to push the play, and was hoping for a mistake to pounce on. The Sioux didn't make many mistakes down the stretch, though. Porter and Watkins were each tackled in the last five minutes, and I didn't see any similar mugging by the Sioux.

With Martens apparently hurt, I think Forney and Foyt are the only remaining skaters available to join the lineup. I would guess that Foyt will skate on defense, leaving Radke at the forward spot where he has been so effective at stirring things up. Forney will hopefully get plugged into a spot on the third or fourth line and get a chance to get up and down the ice.

OK, hockey. The last time these teams played, UND was without Toews and Lammy, and Oshie was quite banged up and not able to make his usual spectacular plays. MSUM probably deserved some points out of that weekend, but Tormey was ugly in the nets. This weekend, both teams should feature better goaltending, and both are confident and on a bit of a roll. The Sioux will play with an edge, because they think that's what turned their season around, and Mankato always plays a chippy game. In a special teams battle, I like UND's chances with DOT, Chorney and Bina.

Not to cast myself outside the faithful, but I personally would prefer that he show his affection for the hockey program by approving requested raises for assistant coaches. Men's hockey is the proverbial golden egg-laying goose, and they should do absolutely everything possible to keep it at the top. Saving a few bucks here and there for your prime revenue-generator is counterproductive.

http://insidecollegehockey.com/7Archives/p...7/potw_0521.htm "Given his play over the last 10 games

IMO every game a healthy Jonny T. plays down the stretch will reveal more and more clearly that he is the best player in the country. At age 18. Whether he carries the puck in 1-on-2 or 1-on-3, he makes shifty little moves to avoid the defense and get the puck safely in the zone. When he comes in 2-on-1 (Bina) or 2-on-2 (Oshie), look out.

Beating the Gophers is great, no doubt, but the big thing out of this weekend is the two wins and the four points. In the league, here's why: With this weekend sandwiched between an out-of-conference weekend and an off weekend, the four points at Mariucci were the only ones available to UND in a three-week span. If this had gone the other way, UND could have been in a position where it gained no points in three weeks, while some of its rivals could have earned as many as 12. It could have really buried UND into the bottom half of the WCHA. Instead, the Sioux have held their own in this three-week stretch. Here's what the league has done: MN - Earned 2 of 8 points, can get 4 more. SC - Earned 6 of 8 points, done for now. DU - Earned 4 of 8 points, can get 4 more. CC - Earned 1 of 4 points, can get 4 more. UND - Earned 4 of 4 points, done for now. WI - Earned 2 of 4 points, can get 4 more. AA - Earned 2 of 4 points, can get 4 more. MT - Earned 5 of 8 points, can get 4 more. MSU - Earned 2 of 4 points, can get 4 more. UMD - Earned 0 of 4 points, can get 4 more. This off weekend for UND includes these matchups: MN at UAA UMD at DU WI at CC MTU at MSUM

Considering how good Toews, Duncan and Okposo are, and Chorney having captained Team USA, and Genoway's slick move to set up Toews' goal: How good was that Shattuck team a few years ago? Also, with Lammy, Bina and Porter all playing very well, and Backes, Potulny and Irmen all drawing paychecks playing the game, how good was Lincoln in the USHL four years ago? While the internet has turned the rivalry volume way up among the fans, I think the lack of vitriol last night between the teams is partly due to a lot of the players being friends and occasional teammates. Okposo and the Shattuck guys, plus all the guys who have been teammates on Team USA the past few years. They are all competitors and really want to win, but I don't think the hatred is where it was even a few years ago when McMahon fought Vanelli's face.

The lines for tonight, as posted on gpl by hubba... Minnesota Stoa-Okposo-Howe Lucia-Wheeler-Barriball Carman-O'Brien-Flynn Schack-Bostrom Goligoski-Vannelli Peltier-Johnson Fischer-Anderson Briggs North Dakota Duncan-Toews-Oshie Porter-Watkins-Miller Fabian-Kaip-Kozek Radke-VandeVelde-Zajac Finley-Bina Chorney-Lee Jones-Genoway Lamoureux

Anyone remember when Matt Greene got in trouble with his mom, coaches and others for an interview with Hockeys Future where he said something about UND being a hockey factory? I guess EJ might be getting a similar call: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...27?OpenDocument "No one on the hockey team is here to go to school. You get a good education, but everyone is here for hockey."

Twice in the last few minutes of the third period of the NHL all-star game, Blake was stopped in close by Turco. Painful memories.

"Lies, damn lies and statistics" Vanek - second leading goal scorer on his team during the regular season; healthy scratch through the playoffs because of his one-way play. Parise - elevated to the second line for the playoffs (although this was admittedly in Lou's run-and-gun offense)