jk

I was also encouraged by UND

On to Friday night

What a weekend! Between Cub Scout Pack 406 meeting (and all-scout cake bake) Thursday night to Cub Scout Den 8 bowling at the Super Bowl in Ramsey Sunday afternoon, it was hockey, hockey and more hockey. I was able to find the television Thursday night in time to see the last fifteen minutes of CC/UAA. At times down the stretch, the question of whether eleven hockey players and their gear (and one puck) would fit in a phone booth was answered affirmatively, as everyone converged on the puck as it bouced about in front of King. Friday started with a downtown St.Paul traffic jam 80 minutes before game time, but we made it fine. At the start of warm-ups, Bochenski was on his knees stretching along the side boards when a puck found its way to him. From his stretch, he fired it at the net, just missing. So he sent another, catching the upper left corner. At the end of warm-ups, when a flowing crowd of Sioux players was skating through the slot shooting pucks, Zach stood just off the left post, roofing any strays that came his way. To be honest, the UND/UAA game was a typical sleepy afternoon affair between a favored #1 seed and a tired play-in winner. It followed a familiar formula: the favorite applies its will on the game, gets its lead, and basically skates off the game. I would have liked to have seen the score go to 5-1 in the third just to take any further pressure off, but it wasn

I'm sorry, but when I read that a team's three scouts think a prospect could be in their lineup right now, "two more years" isn't the first thing that comes to mind. I think Matt Greene has a big future in professional hockey, and it probably starts next fall, unless the lockout saves the Sioux roster.

Thanks again for helping many of the metro Sioux fans see the team's games this year. We appreciate knowing we have a place to go watch the Sioux (and perhaps have a beverage as well).

You are the man, dagies. My thoughts exactly. Go Sioux.

PCM, I was delinquent and didn't get to the USCHO article until now, but I wanted to compliment you on your writing. People sometimes say that someone is "easy on the eyes." Well, your writing is just that: very easy to read. Thanks for the good work.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforkshe...rts/8213688.htm Congrats to Coach Blais, coaching the US team in his own rink. So when the US team plays UND on December 19, Blais and Stafford will be on the visitor's bench. Someone put a leash on Prpich for that game, please.

NDH, I disagree. I think you can divide your Friday afternoon estimate by three to arrive at a closer guess. There will be a ton of empty seats for all the non-Gopher games.

Oshie is a junior in high school. The newspaper article announcing his commitment quoted Oshie as saying that he would be coming in 2005 or 2006, depending on how rapidly he developed. After watching him skate (on TV) this weekend, I think he'll have to improve that part of his game a lot to be ready for 2005.

Farce, Love your postgame comments as a general rule. To answer a few questions, Genoway tweaked his groin (sounds dirty), but they made it sound minor, as though they were holding him out as a precaution. TH and Blais (I think) commented on the similarity to Kolanos's goal, so, yes, a few very important people had visions of the play you mentioned. I believe the lapse in effort tonight was just simply human nature taking over. You can talk about being intense all you want, but five consecutive butt-kickings will eventually make you think a little too highly of yourself. I'm glad they had to go through what they did tonight. A nice wake-up call, without having to suffer through the doubt-inspiring pain of a loss. It gives the coaches a little ammo for this week's work as well.

Actually, it's five skaters in plus one goalie. It breaks down fine. Three senior forwards graduate - Hale, Lundbohm and Palmiscno. Three forward recruits come in - Zajac, Spirko and Kaip. There is no logjam at forward, so no need to list potential departures there. If the future roster is a little heavy anywhere, it's at defense and goaltending. No defensemen graduate, and two arrive - Radke and Beaverson. In goal, no one graduates, and one arrives - Lamoreaux. We don't know what will happen with the NHL and potential early departures, but we do know the current roster is loaded with the kind of top-end talent that doesn't always stay in college four years. If no one leaves early, the roster may be a little heavy next year. However, that will be a one-year price to pay for having a shot at a decent team in 2005-06, when half the roster leaves. Think of the players who will exhaust their eligibility at the end of next season: Bochenski, McMahon, Canady, Massen, Genoway, Fylling, Schneider, Fuher, Jones and Brandt. In addition, Parise and Greene are almost sure to be gone then. UND will need the bodies in 2005; so if one or two of them come in 2004, so they will be ready to step into a major role in 2005, that's fine with me.

Geez, all I had to do was ask again!!!

Sorry 01, too darn nervous to do anything but listen. Michigan lost to UNO and will have to play tomorrow. How are the Sioux not cashing in on these chances?! Gotta bury one here.

I recall a comment from one of the booster lunches where a UND coach mentioned the Sioux being in the hunt for their first Euro. Some of us assumed it was either Stastny (sort of a Euro) or Spirko.

Tool?! The graphic on the screen said: Player of the Game 5 goals, 4 assists.

Riddle was the player of the game there; FSN said he had 4 goals and 5 assists in the 7-3 win. Now THAT is a game.

MTU timeout appears to have worked. They fought off the Sioux flurry and are back in it.

Centennial wins 1-0, putting on a defensive clinic. Shut down a really vibrant Moorhead offense.

Scott, We've been discussing what happened to Spirko, scoring-wise. He's really tailed off. I haven't ever seen him play, but I have the theory that the WJC (he played a lot for Slovakia) has taken the starch out of his second half, as it does for so many NCAA freshmen. Good news, though, as he was the league's best forward until Christmas.

Crunch time in the MN HS tourney. 4:30 left. 1-0 Centennial.

Well, if someone would have told me all I needed to do was ask for it, I would have asked a long time ago. Way to go Zach.

clock's ticking... Not to put pressure on any particular guys, but everyone on the team has a role. For Parise, Bochenski, Murray, Lundbohm, their job is to score. One of these guys needs to step up and make a special play to score a goal.

sounds like a team effort. JB would maybe like one or two back - but I'm not watching

last I saw... bu 4 bc 2 3 mins left umd 3 msum 1 wis 4 aa 0 mn 2 sc 1 unh 1 pc 0 F maine wins final uno 1 mich 0 2nd