jk

Disagree. This was going to be a tough weekend, without some key forwards and against a real good opponent. Still, they skated right with them, and must have clanked about 4 posts each game (not exactly sure). Posts don't go on the scoreboard, but I think it shows they are right there. I think there is still some goodness left to this season.

"Austria is hosting one of three Olympic qualification tournaments in Klagenfurt from February 10 to 13. Vanek will be joined at Team Austria by several more key overseas-based players: New York Ranger Thomas Poeck, currently with the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack; Syracuse Crunch's Matthias Trattnig; Christoph Brandner of the Houston Aeros, and University of Wisconsin goalie Bernd Brueckler." If this is right Bruckler would be missing the Denver series. I would find it quite bizarre for him to miss a part of the stretch drive of what has been a very good season for them. Plus the travel fatigue may have an impact beyond that weekend.

For fun I thought I would see who scored for the Sioux against Denver last year. UND-1 David Lundbohm (unassisted) UND-2 Mike Prpich (Colby Genoway, Robbie Bina) UND-3 Brady Murray (Zach Parise) UND-4 Mike Prpich (Matt Smaby, Colby Genoway) UND-5 Chris Porter (unassisted) UND-6 Robbie Bina (Drew Stafford) UND-7 Nick Fuher (Brandon Bochenski, Brady Murray) UND-8 Mike Prpich (Nick Fuher, Drew Stafford) UND-1 Brandon Bochenski (Zach Parise) UND-2 Drew Stafford (Colby Genoway, Mike Prpich) UND-3 Brady Murray (Brandon Bochenski, Zach Parise) UND-4 Colby Genoway (Chris Porter) UND-5 Chris Porter (David Lundbohm) UND-6 Colby Genoway (Mike Prpich, Drew Stafford) UND-1 Brady Murray (David Lundbohm) UND-2 Brady Murray (Brandon Bochenski, Zach Parise) UND-3 Brandon Bochenski (Colby Genoway, Zach Parise) UND-4 David Lundbohm (Andy Schneider, Nick Fuher) UND-5 David Lundbohm (Chris Porter, James Massen) UND-6 Zach Parise (Brandon Bochenski, Andy Schneider) UND-1 Zach Parise (unassisted) There are an awful lot of names on the list that are still on the team this year. Here are the scoring leaders summarized from the above list: 2-5-7 Parise 2-4-6 Bochenski 2-4-6 Genoway 3-2-5 Lundbohm 3-2-5 Prpich 4-1-5 Murray 2-2-4 Porter (look! an assist!) 1-3-4 Stafford 1-2-3 Fuher 1-1-2 Bina 0-2-2 Schneider 0-1-1 Smaby 0-1-1 Massen These guys are plenty capable of scoring. They've just ... forgotten?

Realistically the ice seems to be tilted towards Denver heading into this one. DU is healthy, playing well, generating a lot of chances and shots, and scoring a lot of goals. They have a goalie who lately is more likely to post a shutout than allow a goal. The Sioux are the opposite of most of the characteristics listed above. Capping it off, they will be undermanned against a deeper team this weekend. In fact, the main thing in favor of the Sioux is that everything seems stacked against them right now, and it's never that simple in the WCHA. In addition, DU, while formidable, isn't a perfect team. If MTU can scratch out a win over Denver and UAA can take them to overtime, a Sioux win this weekend doesn't seem too outlandish. But it will take a terrific effort by UND, and a few good bounces. Even with those things, it is hard to picture this very solid and dynamic Denver team getting swept. So I'm expecting and (sadly) even hoping for a split this weekend. A Sioux sweep would be an unexpected bonus, and a Denver sweep would be a crushing disappointment. I think that sitting Murray, unless he's 100%, is the right answer (and it doesn't sound like there is a question about it any more anyway). With next week off, it makes complete sense to bring him back in two weeks against UAA, and try to get the team geared up for the playoffs. This weekend may be tough, but if you add Murray and McMahon back in, you have a faster, grittier, more potent team on the ice. With or without those guys, I expect close games the rest of the way. Heck, the Sioux have hardly been in a "not close" game all year (just a few each way). My advice for the Sioux this weekend: win Friday, then you have a chance for the surprise weekend result on Saturday.

Has UND even had a decent scoring chance? This sounds terrible.

I am hopeful that UND will come out and get results, but we'll have to see them do it. The one out-there prediction I have for this weekend is that Canady and Fabian will combine for two goals this weekend. Sounds like they have been the team's best line at times and I think it's time for some pay-off.

sagard, I appreciate your posts on all the boards, as you are the utmost in even and unbiased analysis of college hockey, but please stop predicting Sioux sweeps. Everytime I see that, UND ends up dropping a game or even getting swept (Wisconsin a few years in a row). Maybe tempering the prediction by calling one of the games to be close will help the Sioux. Just kidding around. Thanks for the reminder about last year's MN/BSU series.

This doesn't exactly set him too far apart from a college culture that celebrates drinking and a hockey culture that celebrates drinking. Matt, just don't be so stupid about it next time. As for being a distraction, what's it gonna do, Scott, slow down that torrid goal-scoring pace? I say let Mr. Greene pay his debt to society, let him be punished according to team and athletic department rules, and get on with winning games. Edit: To clarify, getting legally drunk is arguably not stupid, but driving that way is.

This is sort of off-topic, but instead of looking back for a better thread I'll put it here. Many people have commented on the lack of net-crashing by the Sioux as a key factor in the scoring drought. I found it interesting, then, to come across this comment by CC goalie CuMac after his win Friday against UND (from the CS paper): "The one thing about North Dakota is they throw a lot pucks on the net, and they try to go to the net hard and look for rebounds," McElhinney said. "They tried that again tonight, but fortunately my defensemen did a good job in front of me."

jloos, The best of those guys (Goren, G. Potulny) are like gold. If you can find the right ones, you should definitely bring them along. The question for me is which of the guys are the right one or ones. For instance, it could be tough to take Loos if you could get a guy like Boll, who is scoring well in the USHL. Then again, maybe with a year in the USHL Loos could prove to be as good or better. I've never seen Boll and barely seen Loos, so I have no idea.

You can't toss out the ties. If you did, a 30-0-1 record would show a 100% winning percentage, when it isn't. Calculate it as though you were computing league points, 2 for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss. So 49-19-7 is 98 points for the wins and 7 for the ties, totaling 105. In 75 games, that's 1.4 points per game, or a .7000 winning percentage. Likewise, my example 30-0-1 record would be a .9839 winning percentage.

I think that's obvious at this point. Actually I sit in front of a computer at work all day and there are occasionally lulls. Sagard, not wishing bad karma on UAA; strictly a defensive measure. The Sicatoka, thanks for a terrific discussion and for providing a potential solution.

(I typically don

Only four players in all of the USHL have more than 101 PIMs. Boll leads with 191. Notably, one of the other three is also a Lincoln Star.

That is the best table ever. Really fabulous. It looks like you put a ton of work into it. (You must not be married.)

Thanks, PCM, for this extra bonus coverage from GF. I'm sure Hakstol's comments will very shortly be dissected, and he will be ripped for taking the wrong tone about one thing or another, but it's hard to imagine a "right" thing to say now. They asked the guys to play hard, smart, aggressive hockey, and they basically did. I've been thinking of UND's postseason prospects, and it looks like recent results have basically changed the focus from the windshield to the rearview mirror. (Thankfully Hakstol is still looking at moving up, even though I'm not.) Ahead in the standings, CC, MN and Wisconsin show no signs of slowing down. Denver had the little hiccup against Tech, but they just have so many more games to play (and they are very good) that they will probably end up far ahead of UND. Instead of hoping to catch the top four teams, I'm now looking for UND to hold onto fifth. I will be changing my normal weekend cheering interest from hoping for the lower teams to steal points from the upper guys, to sadly pulling for UAA, SCSU, MSUM and UMD to lose. UND is following in the steps of a few recent teams. - Two years ago, Denver was on the NCAA bubble with a good but flawed team, and they were eliminated from NCAA tournament contention when they lost in the first round of the WCHA playoffs to UND in the REA. - Last year, CC was on the bubble. They won the first-round series, but were upset by UAA in the play-in game at the Final Five and just missed the NCAA tournament. - Last year, Denver was on the bubble. Despite losing in the first round of the WCHA tournament, they snuck into the NCAA tournament and did well. UND is probably looking at a very difficult first-round series, hopefully at REA. If they were to win, they would then be facing another difficult opponent in the play-in game. UND could move off of the bubble and be a certain tournament qualifier with a strong finish, but that just seems unlikely given the remaining schedule and recent results. The remaining schedule is: Off BSU Denver - very tough team; better than a split seems unlikely Off at UAA - split with them at REA; they have taken points from most teams Wisconsin - see Denver; they just win at SCSU - road sweep seems unlikely. My perspective is a little depressing, but at this point I think it's realistic until the team starts scoring and winning.

I can't find a game summary anywhere, but the BCHL all-star game ended with an 11-8 final score. Duncan, Watkins and Kozek were all scheduled to play. From a message board post (and we know how accurate those are), Watkins apparently won the "fastest skater" contest in the skills competition. Speed!

It's not over till it's over, but today's GFH has a pretty definitive account of Toews' commitment: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/10631832.htm Tom Ward, head coach of the Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep School in Faribault, Minn., where Toews plays, confirmed that Toews had chosen UND. "It all went down last night (Tuesday)," Ward said. "The family called the Tri-City Americans (of the Western Hockey League), and then Jonathan called Coach Hakstol."

About Fylling, he hasn't played much in that role this year, but last year he spent some time on a checking line with McMahon and Prpich. They were together in the REA series against MN when they were so effective in shutting Vanek's line down. It's really not that surprising that the coaches would consider him effective in that role. Sorry to rain on the parade-raining. Commence the ripping.

airmail, I agree. Every week, I think it's going to happen (the pulling their heads out). I think it a little less this week, considering how great CC looked. But then again, I was at the CC-UND game earlier this year where it was the "men against the boys" and the Sioux were the men, really controlling the game. PCM, Your examples actually highlight the point that you never know how a team will come together, and considering players departed and returning isn't a very good predictor of future success. A few years ago, CC was the preseason pick, and they fell on their face. Then Denver had the big year, and returned most everyone, and the following team just never came together (I believe their season ended in REA in the WCHA playoffs). UMD (and UND) this year brought back a ton of guys, and they just haven't played to the level expected. Then you have examples in the other direction, as you cited: teams that lost many important players, and skipped rebuilding. I would never have predicted that either the 2000 or 2001 Sioux would be anywhere near the national title game.

Had Parise and Bochenski returned, I would agree that Hakstol would have inherited a stacked team. But when you subtract the two of them, plus Lundblom, you take three of the five best forwards, two of them Hobey finalists, off last year's team. It's hard to predict how players will step up and fill a void like that in the scoring lines. There are some special offensive players on this team, but they are mostly freshmen and sophomores. That said, I agree that Hakstol has inherited a better team than Blais did, and I expected, and still expect, more from this team. Blais might have been in a better position with the fans, though, arriving on the heels of three losing seasons. Hakstol inherited the defending league champion, and all the expectations that come with that.

I'm not being a Parise apologist by recognizing his solid play. He is having a very solid season in the nets and deserves better than the potshots he's taking. He hasn't been perfect but he has made some big saves this year and stolen some points practically by himself. The Hakstol stuff is way too early also. Mike Tice? Pulease.

FWIW, I heard that during an intermission during the Canisius series Hakstol blistered the paint off the walls on this very topic. -- paraphrased: I don't care about all that other stuff, I want the puck in the net. I don't know what the problem is either, but I wouldn't assume that because Hakstol is measured with the media that he is also that way privately.

At least twice this year, but they were a long time ago. I remember because I noted at the time that we outgoaltended the opposition. Sat 10/16/2004 W 2 @ Minnesota State 1 Fri 10/22/2004 W 4 Minnesota 2

Accepting reality hasn't always been one of my strengths, but I can't escape the conclusion that we have a pretty good picture of this Sioux team, and it's a little short of the one I expected (not a lot, but at least a little). Sometimes you can get fooled by how things "feel." They played well, etc., which suggests that they are truly an elite team. But the facts are these: Overall 14-8-2 (71 GF, 57 GA) WCHA 10-7-1 (49 GF, 43 GA) That's exactly two-thirds of the regular season done. In addition, the last three WCHA series are these: Fri 12/03/2004 W 4 Alaska-Anchorage 2 Sat 12/04/2004 L 1 Alaska-Anchorage 2 Fri 12/10/2004 W 5 @ Minnesota-Duluth 1 Sat 12/11/2004 L 3 @ Minnesota-Duluth 4 Fri 01/07/2005 W 3 Minnesota State 2 Sat 01/08/2005 L 3 Minnesota State 4 UND appears to be in the "middle" group of teams that includes the three opponents listed above, and the results spanning the last month don't make a convincing argument that UND is superior to them. Before the season, I expected the team to be on a par with CC and UMD near the top of the league. I was wrong (a lot) on Denver and MN, and on UND and UMD. For this weekend, I need to consider what I would think if UAA, UMD or MSUM were traveling to CC for a series. I would think that those pretty scrappy teams would have a chance to squeak points out of the weekend, especially with CC on a bit of an emotional hangover after beating MN, but that a CC sweep should probably be expected. Since UND seems to be on a par with the huddled masses in the middle of the league, then that is my rational expectation for them this weekend as well. For the postseason, I have held for some time that UND has the ingredients to go on a postseason run: goaltending, defense, size, skill, some speed. But the first ingredient needed to play well in the postseason is to qualify for it. There are plenty of things left to play out, but right now UND is 12th in the PWR, in about a 13-team field (after autobids). If they slide into the end of the year at .500 or so, they could very well slip out of the field. I won't be surprised at all if UND puts it together and finishes strongly. But so far the evidence doesn't point to that happening.