Fifth Line

Gophers score. 1-0

That's 20 for Bo

I am not having any luck getting the audio from the Sioux Hockey Homepage. Is there another way I can listen to the game?

Thanks for the lesson Diggler. The only thing missing from the link was the actual mug shot of the Duke.

I just entered the 21st century and am still learning my way around the computer. I wanted to include the link, but was not sure how. Also, I live in cloudy town and was reporting from the actual paper. If anyone would like to give a adding links for dummies lesson, feel free. The advice will be well received on my end for future use.

Breaking news out of the St Cloud Fish Wrap reports that once again that a Sioux fan has had an incident with JBSU's mascot "Blizzard" during the January 3rd Sioux/Husky hockey game (It happened Jan. 3rd, but it is breaking news. Must have been a slow news day). It mentioned the accused name, however I don't feel it necessary to mention his name here so we will just refer to him as "Duke" (If you read the article, you will get the nickname"). Allegedly, the Duke was approached by Blizzard who was looking to give him a little hug. The Duke, who according to police had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit for driving, took offense to the hug and a agument insued. The Duke was asked to leave the arena at which time he allegedly returned and security was notified. He was reported that he became verbally abusive to a officers and had told them that he should get a break because he was going to be a police officer and that police had always giving him a break in the past. His argument must have worked because the Duke was awarded with a night in the St Cloud Hokie. Although I don't condone this type of behavior, I applaud Sioux fans for setting precendent with the oppositions mascots. Maybe now that BULL down at MSU or Prowler the Tiger at CC will think twice about harassing us. For the Duke I can only say that maybe the next time you are in St Cloud your argument should be that you were a member of PETA and you were just protested the cruel and unusal treatment of sled dogs and that your actions were just to display the many years of hardships that sled dogs before Blizzard have endured.

I think with the parity that exists in the WCHA this year it is way to early to be confident about anything. Most teams have around 30 points that they can get and for the top teams those will be 30 hard points to defend. I am willing to bet that there are teams thinking that they will be home first round of the playoffs that might be packing their bags for a road trip. Oh by the way, we could be one of them. Having said that I would say that this is the year that you could easily see two teams from the bottom five in the league playing in St Paul in March. This should be one of the most exciting WCHA playoffs in year and depending on end of season play quite possibly a record amount of teams from the WCHA in the NCAA tourney barring automatic bids.

Agree on Pittis, but I think that I would have to disagree on goaltending. What type of numbers our their goalies putting together? Does anyone know how they rank in the league?

You are correct beg2. I was confusing Murphy with Pittis. The first series that I watched he was just as disruptive to the opposition offensively as Murphy. So make it three players the Sioux will have to shut down. I will add to the report that Tech's record could easily be hovering around .500. That is what probably scares me the most about this series. Tech has had a chanceto win a lot of games that were very close and seem to be improving every game. The series should be determined by a quote probably paraphrased by Barry "my mullet is at mid-season length" Melrose that "a good goalie is a lucky goalie and a lucky goalie is a good goalie." If Tech's goalies can find a way to have a big game (and we all no that when you are number #1 everyone tries to have a great game against you) the Sioux may have to hope to get out town with at leat two points. A close win for the Green team should keep them on their toes for the weekend sweep. A blowout could make them too comfortable on the road for the second game.

I have had a chance to watch Tech play several times this year and here is the quick scouting report. Tech is a team that will not go to sleep. Someone had mentioned them getting down early and coming back. They have made a habbit of that all year. There two smallest guys are their best scorers in Conner and Murphy. Shut these guys guys down and you litterally shut down the offense. Beware, many teams have tried to shadow them and they still seem to find a way to get free and on the puck. Is Tech's rink Olympic? If so this task will be that much harder. Look what Jan Brady's offense did to the Sioux defense on the the large sheet and there fastest player skates as if he is dragging a plow at best (ok, just taking a shot at JBSU). Also, with the season woes of the Sioux powerplay they will definitly need to keep an eye on Conner on the powerplay. He is probably the most potent player in the WCHA when shorthanded. Defensively Tech is horrible. Goaltending has got to be the worst in the league. The name of the game will be shot, shoot and shoot again. They don't even need to be good shots, just directed on net. Tech's goalies will give up a hundred of not a thousand rebounds a night. Also, they have "Too Tall" Tom Schimanski playing defense for them. The guy is about 8 feet tall. The only thing he has going for him is the length of his stick which allows him to do some damage pokechecking, other than that he is terrible and spends most of the time in front of his net just getting in the way. The Sioux will be focused on his size at first, but will soon realize he is a weak (maybe missing) link.