former players

[redwing77]

Funny thing the boys on XM-204 today were talking about Blakes spear on Crosby and then the discussion of not having any goons anymore to police the game anymnore because of the changes in the game. Kind of funny but they basically made the argument that when A star get slashed, hack, cheaped, speared in the old days that guy would be dropping the mits and fighting. Now with the PC NHL basically isn't protecting their star players anymore, allowing them to get hacked and not having an consequences for bad behavior anymore.

As far as goons go they might be a think of the past, I think eventually the multi skilled players that can score and fight will be looked at as a plus in the future. After watching Booguard (sp) last night in the wild games the man has no talent but can fight, however in his last fight he got killed by a lesser AHL player, hence no one is going to be scared of the Boogey man anymore. I think unforunately the NHL is starting to have a lot of stick work like the college hockey.

I disagree with the "boys" on XM-204 then to a certain extent. The NHL didn't outlaw fighting. They made it harder to justify keeping a roster slot open for a guy who is only good at fighting (aka an enforcer or, slangly speaking, a goon). No one said players can't stand up for other players. They just now have to be able to do something other than fighting well in order to make the NHL.

Bolded statement is already true. If you fan fight and be dominant in at least one other aspect of the game, then you will be valued. I know some call him cheap, but Scott Stevens was one of those types of players. As far as Red Wings, before his injury Vladimir Konstantinov was another. Kris Draper is another, although I'm not sure he fights much anymore.

I think Matt Greene and Mike Commodore could be that kind of player. The more I think of it, the more I think a defenseman would fit the role.

As for Boogaard, it never ceases to amaze me how much in dire need the Wild are for scoring yet they suit this guy up. I'd rather have a medicore scoring forward in the lineup than a top notch fighter who can't play any other aspect of the game very well at all.

[stickboy1956]

Funny thing the boys on XM-204 today were talking about Blakes spear on Crosby and then the discussion of not having any goons anymore to police the game anymnore because of the changes in the game. Kind of funny but they basically made the argument that when A star get slashed, hack, cheaped, speared in the old days that guy would be dropping the mits and fighting. Now with the PC NHL basically isn't protecting their star players anymore, allowing them to get hacked and not having an consequences for bad behavior anymore.

As far as goons go they might be a think of the past, I think eventually the multi skilled players that can score and fight will be looked at as a plus in the future. After watching Booguard (sp) last night in the wild games the man has no talent but can fight, however in his last fight he got killed by a lesser AHL player, hence no one is going to be scared of the Boogey man anymore. I think unforunately the NHL is starting to have a lot of stick work like the college hockey.

The NHL enforces stick fouls more aggressively than any other league in organized hockey. If the Alaska Anchorage series was officiated with NHL rules, AA would have been in the box the entire weekend. The refs aren't going to catch every sneaky spear (Jason Blake) but overall the game is much more watchable than the slash fest the WCHA too often becomes.

Regarding the game in question (Pitt v NYI) Sid was protected by a teammate earlier in the game after Sid took a hard open ice hit, which is normally the case.

[siouxforeverbaby]

looks like that suv is taking zajac out. first greene and now travis?

it had to have been going fast to flip him like that! i do hope travis totalled it like Matt did!

no, I just hope that he wasn't hurt in anyway because of it.

[Sioux_Hab-it]

Yeah it was a classless move and I'm not here to defend Blake; but Sid played the part pretty well. I lauged when Brian Englblom said he could've hurt him more with a campfire stick that had a marshmellow on the end of it.

Funny thing is they'll have to sit on the bench together next week during the all star game. I wonder if they'll kiss and make up?

Blake was handed a $1,000 fine by the league and no suspension. Supposedly Crosby got talked to about embellishment.

[Smoggy]

Funny everyone is talking about Blake, because this article appeared in the NHL email newsletter.

He was a checking line player who once got Mario Lemieux so mad that No. 66 held his stick up in front of Blake

[UNDintheNHL]

Tonight in Former Sioux

NHL

Drew Stafford: Buffalo vs. Boston @ 7:00 pm ET

Travis Roche: Phoenix vs. Colorado @ 9:00 pm ET

AHL

Colby Genoway: Portland vs. Manchester @ 7:05 pm ET

Lee Goren: Manitoba vs. San Antonio @ 8:30 pm ET

Sioux vs. Sioux

Brando

n Bochenski: Norfolk vs. Ryan Bayda: Albany @ 7:00 pm ET

NHL

Drew Stafford: 6 shifts, 2 PIMS in Sabres 6-3 win (Kessel also had 2 goals, good for third star for Boston in this game)

Travis Roche: 26 shifts, 2 blocked shots, 2 hits in Coyotes 2-3 loss

AHL

Colby Genoway: -1 +/- in Pirates 0-6 loss

Lee Goren: 4 SOG in Moose 4-1 win

Brandon Bochenski: 1 goal, 5 SOG, 2 PIMS in Admirals 2-3 loss

Ryan Bayda: 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 SOG, +1 +/- in River Rats 3-2 win

Scoring:

Goals: Bayda=1

Assists: Bayda=1

Total Points: Bayda(2)=2

[31-9]

Article not about a former player (Kessel) with quotes from a former player (Stafford) as below:

Word of Kessel's circumstance spread rapidly throughout hockey circles. E-mails and calls of support began pouring in, including one from Sabres winger Drew Stafford. The two were U.S. teammates at last year's World Junior Championships. Stafford's father, Gord, coaches the girls hockey team at Shattuck-St. Mary's prep in Faribault, Minn., where Kessel's sister, Amanda, is a heralded freshman.

"Anytime you hear news like that you pray for the guy, pray for his health, hope his family is doing all right," Stafford said. "I gave him a call, left him a message, just wishing him the best, saying I was praying for him. In a situation like that hockey kind of takes a back seat to everything."

Nice gesture by Drew, old and current rivalries aside he seems like a real good guy to reach out to Phil like that.

[Goon]

As for Boogaard, it never ceases to amaze me how much in dire need the Wild are for scoring yet they suit this guy up.

The other night Boogaard had like three or four shifts maybe a few more and they took two penalties one, which lead directly to a power play goal.

I am not so sure I couldn't skate as good as him. Boogaard is a waist of a roster spot. I love a good fight but there doesn't seem to be any Rick Tochets or Cam Neeleys in the league anymore guys that can score 30-50 goals and still

Get 100+ minutes in Penalties...

[AZSIOUX]

Article not about a former player (Kessel) with quotes from a former player (Stafford) as below:

Word of Kessel's circumstance spread rapidly throughout hockey circles. E-mails and calls of support began pouring in, including one from Sabres winger Drew Stafford. The two were U.S. teammates at last year's World Junior Championships. Stafford's father, Gord, coaches the girls hockey team at Shattuck-St. Mary's prep in Faribault, Minn., where Kessel's sister, Amanda, is a heralded freshman.

"Anytime you hear news like that you pray for the guy, pray for his health, hope his family is doing all right," Stafford said. "I gave him a call, left him a message, just wishing him the best, saying I was praying for him. In a situation like that hockey kind of takes a back seat to everything."

Nice gesture by Drew, old and current rivalries aside he seems like a real good guy to reach out to Phil like that.

nice by drew, for the most part, almost all these guys know eachother through teams they have played on in the past and are very good friends. it only divides when they play eachother on the ice.....there is a huge shattuck/ usa conection as well with the sioux/gophers and so forth, toews is very good friends with ej, okposo and company, but come jan 26,27 lets hope toews gets a chance on a penalty shot to beat the long island frazee

glad phil is healthy, he had 2 goals last night

[roper1313]

Everyone is talking about no skill "enforcers", but has anyone had a chance to skate with them to see how skilled they actually are. I was luckey enough to play in an adult league tourney about 5 years ago when in walk Mike Peluso (not from Bismark, but the career goon). Somebody on our team knows somebody who knows Mike and asked him to play. Needless to say I was expecting a no skill goon, but I was very wrong. Mike had fantastic stick skills (with the puck ) and in a no check adult league game could dangle around guys like nobodies business. After the weekend I had a new found respect for the skill level that every NHL player has. I can't imagine how good the superstars are.

I'm sure somebody will say that it was only adult league hockey and it was, but stick skills are stick skills and if you play long enough you know the guys who have them and the guys that don't (I don't).

[UNDintheNHL]

Tonight in Former Sioux

NHL

Mike Commodore: Carolina vs. Washington @ 7:00 pm ET (I'm going to this game tonight, pretty excited)

Jason Blake: New York I. vs. Philadelphia @ 7:00 pm ET

Zach Parise: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Travis Zajac: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

David Hale: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Ed Belfour(pos): Florida vs. Toronto @ 7:30 pm ET

Matt Greene: Edmonton vs. Anaheim @ 9:00 pm ET

Travis Roche: Phoenix vs. San Jose @ 10:30 pm ET

[Siouxmama]

Tonight in Former Sioux

NHL

Mike Commodore: Carolina vs. Washington @ 7:00 pm ET (I'm going to this game tonight, pretty excited)

Jason Blake: New York I. vs. Philadelphia @ 7:00 pm ET

Zach Parise: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Travis Zajac: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

David Hale: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Ed Belfour(pos): Florida vs. Toronto @ 7:30 pm ET

Matt Greene: Edmonton vs. Anaheim @ 9:00 pm ET

Travis Roche: Phoenix vs. San Jose @ 10:30 pm ET

While you are at the game tonight, send out a BIG WHOOOOO HOOOOO from me!

[redwing77]

Everyone is talking about no skill "enforcers", but has anyone had a chance to skate with them to see how skilled they actually are. I was luckey enough to play in an adult league tourney about 5 years ago when in walk Mike Peluso (not from Bismark, but the career goon). Somebody on our team knows somebody who knows Mike and asked him to play. Needless to say I was expecting a no skill goon, but I was very wrong. Mike had fantastic stick skills (with the puck ) and in a no check adult league game could dangle around guys like nobodies business. After the weekend I had a new found respect for the skill level that every NHL player has. I can't imagine how good the superstars are.

I'm sure somebody will say that it was only adult league hockey and it was, but stick skills are stick skills and if you play long enough you know the guys who have them and the guys that don't (I don't).

Hmmm... I can see where you'd think that about my opinion about goons. However, goons only use their fighting ability and only hone the other stuff just good enough to keep them in the league if they get the shot in the first place.

Fighting is legal, sure, but it should be a secondary part of the game to EVERYONE. What I mean is, if the goon has skills other than fighting, those should be the skills that get him and keep him in the league, not his fighting ability. If a forward that is thought of as a guy who can bury the puck isn't burying the puck, I don't care what he did to the other guy's face. He's not going to last in the NHL very long. Same thing for a defenseman who can fight better than Ali but can't play responsible defense.

Boogaard just goes out and tries to hit people and tries to instigate. He may occasionally try to hop into something else, but really, he's so much not a threat with the puck.

[31-9]

Bad news for David Hale . . . he's the odd man out on the Devils' blue line right now and is a healthy scratch tonight as former Redhawk Andy Greene has taken his spot in the lineup. Devils fans have mixed opinions on Hale's potential and development and many believe he'll be moved at the deadline, but I'd personally hate to see him go. Hopefully things will work out well for him.

[AZSIOUX]

Bad news for David Hale . . . he's the odd man out on the Devils' blue line right now and is a healthy scratch tonight as former Redhawk Andy Greene has taken his spot in the lineup. Devils fans have mixed opinions on Hale's potential and development and many believe he'll be moved at the deadline, but I'd personally hate to see him go. Hopefully things will work out well for him.

i would love to see him go if it means he may be able to land a 4 or 5 d man spot on another roster instead of a 6/7 spot

[CVCL]

http://www.uspondhockey.com/page/field.jsp

I guess we cheer for these teams this weekend as well???

The Federal League All-Stars

Team Captain: John Blooston

Players:

Jeff Sorem

Pete Armbrust

Tom Bennett

Scott Collier

Matt Henderson

The Wiz

Team Captain: Daniel Peschel

coming soon

Players:

Pat Peschel

Brian Samek

Troy Cusey

Chris Gotziaman

Mike Broyles

I really didn't look all that close at the rosters, so I probably left people off, but noticed Lund-Bloom and Speed-wak aren't playing again, shucks.

[UNDintheNHL]

i would love to see him go if it means he may be able to land a 4 or 5 d man spot on another roster instead of a 6/7 spot

i kinda wish carolina had traded up for him when they needed a D-Man. he was starting to lose time, and i was hoping they'd get him. and since they went with Phoenix for the trade, i had hoped they had gotten Roche (esp with how wel lhe's playin lately) or Jones (who has been non-existant lately). but oh well. Hale, however, was starting to get less and less ice time. i think he had 6 shifts in last nights game.

[UNDintheNHL]

Tonight in Former Sioux

NHL

Mike Commodore: Carolina vs. Washington @ 7:00 pm ET (I'm going to this game tonight, pretty excited)

Jason Blake: New York I. vs. Philadelphia @ 7:00 pm ET

Zach Parise: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Travis Zajac: New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay @ 7:30 pm ET

Ed Belfour: Florida vs. Toronto @ 7:30 pm ET

Matt Greene: Edmonton vs. Anaheim @ 9:00 pm ET

Travis Roche: Phoenix vs. San Jose @ 10:30 pm ET

NHL

Mike Commodore: 1 assist, 30 shifts, 3 SOG, 2 hits in Hurricanes 2-5 loss

Jason Blake: 1 goal, 20 shifts, 7 SOG, 1 blocked shot, First Star in Islanders 4-2 win

Zach Parise: 1 assist, 21 shifts, 5 SOG in Devils 2-3 shootout loss

Travis Zajac: 21 shifts, 1 takeaway in Devils 2-3 shootout loss

Ed Belfour: 19:11 MIN, 5 SA, 5 SV in Panthers 2-3 loss

Matt Greene: 24 shifts, 5 blocked shots, 1 hit, 5 PIMS in Oilers 4-1 win

Travis Roche: 1 goal, 23 shifts, 1 SOG, 1 blocked shot in Coyotes 2-5 loss

Scoring:

Goals: Blake, Roche=2

Assists: Commodore, Parise=2

Total Points: Blake(1), Commodore(1), Parise(1), Roche(1)=4

Pics:

Mike Commodore:

Jason Blake:

Matt Greene:

[UNDintheNHL]

FINALLY getting to watch Commodore tonight was awesome. He played pretty well, which is more than i can say for alot of the guys on either team. Even Ovechkin seemed a little sluggish tonight. The assist Commy got should have been his goal, but it didnt bank off of Kolzig's back like he intended for it to. Kolzig had come out to stop a shot but it was deflected down to Commy, who was along the goal line and shot it to the goal while Kolzig was still out from in front of it. It hit off Kolzig's glove, however, and went right to Cole. It should have just deflected off of Kolzig's back and gone in. He had enough room to do that. Oh well. Glad to finally get out to an NHL game. The best part was, i had tix for row YY (51st row), but when we sat there, these 2 old guys i was talking to said they were jsut sitting there, that there seats were in row K (11th row), and that we could go take those 2 seats if we wanted. Of course we did. It was much better from there. THANKS to those guys.

As soon as i get my pics and vids from the game (the camera died last night, so i ahve to charge it) i will post them

[UNDintheNHL]

Tonight in Former Sioux

NHL

Drew Stafford(pos): Buffalo vs. Vancouver @ 8:00 pm ET

AHL

Colby Genoway: Portland vs. Hartford @ 7:05 pm ET

Matt Smaby: Springfield vs. Providence @ 7:05 pm ET

Brandon Bochenski: Norfolk vs. Wilkes Barre/Scranton @ 7:15 pm ET

Ryan Bayda: Albany vs. Syracuse @ 7:30 pm ET

Curtis Murphy: Houston vs. Manchester @ 8:35 pm ET

Bryan Lundbohm: Houston vs. Manchester @ 8:35 pm ET

Sioux vs. Sioux

Karl Goehring(pos): Milwaukee vs. Drew Stafford(pos): Rochester @ 8:00 pm ET

Matt Jones: Sna Antonio vs. Lee Goren: Manitoba @ 8:30 pm ET

[jimdahl]

Commie's either getting smoked or about to get called for tripping in that shot

FINALLY getting to watch Commodore tonight was awesome. He played pretty well, which is more than i can say for alot of the guys on either team. Even Ovechkin seemed a little sluggish tonight.

Caps have been really off the last few weeks, worst road losing streak in years. Plus, this was the final game in a 4 game road trip, so it was nice to get the win against Carolina. We're definitely not as deep as Carolina, but when Semin and Kolzig are on, they can beat anybody. Clark's opening goal, which probably decided the game, was pretty lucky

[UNDintheNHL]

Commie's either getting smoked or about to get called for tripping in that shot

Caps have been really off the last few weeks, worst road losing streak in years. Plus, this was the final game in a 4 game road trip, so it was nice to get the win against Carolina. We're definitely not as deep as Carolina, but when Semin and Kolzig are on, they can beat anybody. Clark's opening goal, which probably decided the game, was pretty lucky

He didnt get any penalties last night, he just got smoked lol.

yeah tell me about it. it was total BS. Tanabe tried to make so many excuses for it, but he just shouldnt have played the puck in the air like that. Although, if Ward would have been in net and not Grahame (major puckhandler), it would not have happened anyways becuse Ward would have stayed in front of the goal. Kolzig WAS really on last night. It was tough watching him make all those nice saves and give up hardly any rebounds. Obviously, with 2 goals, Semin was on as well. Ovechkin definitely was NOT, as Carolina's defense held him up pretty well.

[31-9]

Travis Zajac is happy . . . link

And David Hale has been sent to Lowell on a conditioning stint . . . there has been some speculation that an injury (you never really know what's going on with the Devils) is what has caused his lack of ice time so it'll be interesting to see how things play out with him in Lowell.

Okay, forget the stuff I said about Lowell, 'cause I haven't found significant proof to substantiate that claim yet other than word of mouth, but the injury stuff I have wondered about especially with Hale's pre-existing condition.

[PCM]

Travis Zajac is happy . . . link

Great article! But just wait until THETRIOUXPER finds out about this:

Pizza: "I'd have to say it's better in New Jersey. In Grand Forks the slice was pretty good at Italian Moon. Here we go to Fotisimo's. There are a lot of Italians in this area and they take their food seriously."

[GeauxSioux]

A reunion party like it's 1999

Ludwig recently visited the University of North Dakota for the 25th anniversary of its 1982 NCAA championship team and said there's something about winning a championship.

"Some of those guys I probably hadn't seen in 25 years, but it all comes back to you," Ludwig said. "When you go through something like that, you bond as a team. You don't have to talk to guys all of the time; you can just walk into a room, and it's like you never left. It's a great feeling."