jk

jloos, I agree, although I would hope they shorten the bench and roll three lines in the third period - with the Parise line mostly on the bench.

I have no doubt that Holy Cross would finish last in the WCHA. We happen to be talking about one game in this case, in which anything could happen. I'm looking for th Sioux to play well and win solidly, but they will need to go out and actually make it happen.

I'm sure the vast majority of the regulars on both boards agree with you. Thanks.

Findlay and HC did not play, but they did have common opponents: Holy Cross's schedule (4-1-3, .6875): Sat 10/11/2003 W 3 @ Canisius 1 Sun 10/12/2003 T 3 @ Canisius 3 ot Sat 01/03/2004 W 5 Alabama-Huntsville (nc) 4 Sun 01/04/2004 T 2 Alabama-Huntsville (nc) 2 ot Sat 02/07/2004 T 2 Canisius 2 ot Fri 02/13/2004 W 8 @ Air Force (nc) 4 Sat 02/14/2004 L 2 @ Air Force (nc) 5 Sun 03/14/2004 W 4 vs Canisius (nc) 1 Findlay's schedule (4-5-2, .4545): Fri 11/21/2003 W 5 Canisius (nc) 0 Sat 11/22/2003 T 2 Canisius (nc) 2 ot Fri 12/05/2003 T 1 Air Force 1 ot Sat 12/06/2003 L 2 Air Force 5 Sat 01/10/2004 L 1 @ Alabama-Huntsville 4 Sun 01/11/2004 L 1 @ Alabama-Huntsville 3 Fri 02/06/2004 W 5 @ Air Force 2 Sat 02/07/2004 L 1 @ Air Force 2 Fri 03/05/2004 W 2 Alabama-Huntsville 1 Sat 03/06/2004 L 1 Alabama-Huntsville 3 Fri 03/12/2004 W 9 vs Air Force (nc) 1 It is hard for me to reach a conclusion that Findlay would smoke Holy Cross. I agree that UND should pound HC, but last year's Gopher romp over Mercyhurst is closer to the exception than the rule. UND needs to play extremely hard, both to win the game and to carry momentum forward to its next opponent.

1. USA 4, USSR 3 ... 1980 ----------------------------------------- 2. North Dakota 3, Findlay 1 Saturday, December 27, 2003 at Ralph Engelstad Arena (Att: 9410) Findlay ........ 0 0 1 = 1........ 4 4 7 = 15 North Dakota 0 0 3 = 3 ...... 11 11 19 = 41 Third Period find-1 Mark Bastl (Kyle Ukrainyc) 4:30 UND-1 Andy Schneider (Chris Porter, James Massen) 4x4 12:04 UND-2 Chris Porter (David Lundbohm) GWG 14:15 UND-3 James Massen (Rory McMahon, Mike Prpich) ENG 19:23 ------------------------------------------ 3. Michigan 4, Mercyhurst 3 Saturday, March 24, 2001 at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI (Att: 6792) NCAA West Regional (Grand Rapids, MI) Mercyhurst 2 0 1 = 3........ 7 8 9 = 24 Michigan ... 2 0 2 = 4 ...... 21 15 15 = 51 Records: Mercyhurst (22-12-2 Overall, 19-6-1 MAAC) Michigan (26-12-5 Overall, 16-9-3 CCHA) First Period merc-1 Mike Muldoon (Louis Goulet) 5x4 3:31 um-1 Scott Matzka (Dave Huntzicker) 5x5 7:11 um-2 Mike Cammalleri (Unassisted) 5x5 7:17 merc-2 Brad Olsen (Unassisted) 5x5 18:31 Third Period merc-3 Adam Tackaberry (Jody Robinson, Jeff Gould) 5x4 6:15 um-3 Mark Kosick (John Shouneyia, Mike Komisarek) 5x4 9:22 um-4 Andy Hilbert (Jay Vancik, Mike Cammalleri) GWG 5x5 16:27 --------------------------------------------- 4. Niagara 4, New Hampshire 1 Friday, March 24, 2000 at Mariucci Arena Niagara ........... 2 1 1 = 4 ........ 6 5 8 = 19 New Hampshire 0 0 1 = 1 ...... 12 12 11 = 35 Records: Niagara (30-7-4 Overall, 15-0-2 CHA) New Hampshire (23-9-6 Overall, 13-5-6 Hockey East) First Period niag-1 Randy Harris (Chris Sebastian) 5x5 7:23 niag-2 Kyle Martin (Peter DeSantis, Jay Kasperek) GWG 5x5 9:06 Second Period niag-3 Mikko Sivonen (Mike Isherwood) 5x5 11:19 Third Period unh-1 Darren Haydar (Lanny Gare, Kevin Truelson) 5x5 1:29 niag-4 Mikko Sivonen (Timo Makela) ENG 18:40 5. Holy Cross has a goaltender, which is the biggest thing an underdog needs to make it a game. Tony Quesada, So 25 17-5-2 52 2.19 2 .926

Either something was lost in translation or their was a bit of group insanity going on there, because none of MN's goals were your classic top-shelf goal. 1. Irmen - Back-door PP - put in the open net. Nochance for JB. 2. Waibel rebound - skate around prone Brandt and slide in open net. 3. Vanek - skate giveaway around diving Brandt and basically into open net. 4. Riddle - 5-hole rebound. 5. Potulny - wrap-around (5-hole). Farce, Wasn't it JPar who basically stole the point from Denver in the Saturday game at REA? My recollection is that Denver turned it on in the third when the Sioux finally got complacent after kicking Pioneer butt all year long, and JPar made a bunch of huge saves. If the JB from last year's playoffs and this years UMD road series is available, I choose him for UND's goaltender.

Excerpts. --------------------- "He's the most dynamic player in our league," Littler said. "If he were 6 feet, NHL teams would be all over him." ... "He's a very special player," Littler said. "He moves very well east to west as well as from north to south. And when he has the puck, he's a finisher." Littler said it's unclear whether Spirko will join UND next season or whether he'll spend one more season with Tri-City. Littler said that Spirko is probably smaller than the size he's listed at, which is 5-9 and 175 pounds. ---------------------- Sounds very small. Hopefully small like a Panzer or Hoogsteen. It's not fair to throw names like that around for a recruit, but UND has had some luck with smaller guys. On another related note, Dan Bertram just committed to BC. He is probably the top forward recruit in the nation, although he will be just 17 as he accelerated, so he might not have a huge impact right away. I know I was holding out some small hope that UND might be able to get into the mix for him, but it sounds like he might be more of a city kid, being from Calgary.

I agree with your comments about Vanek's talent. He is in the wrong league talent-wise. He looked flat-out unstoppable against UMD Friday, generating one great chance after another in the second and third periods. He is the reason I think MN will not be beaten by anyone other than UND the rest of the way, because only UND has the big NHL-style defensive defensemen who are not only theoretically capable of containing him, but in fact have throughout the season series. He has picked up his points here and there, but he has not been the shift in-shift out force he can be against most teams. Bash his work ethic all you want, although I think that is way overdone, but bashing his talent is just silly, IMO. Likewise, the bashing of Parise and Bochenski that goes on at POI left ridiculous behind a long time ago.

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.