SIOUX VS BIG RED

[Oxbow6]

LaPoint:

There is a reason he is here at UND. It's starting out the same way everyone talked about Finley. Now, he isn't here due to an injury, and he is missed. I feel for Derrick, having to scrub off all those bus tire tracks every night he plays.

Finley was a physical presence from day one. Not a solid d-man early on, but physical. LaPoint is not physical, not good defensively, not as offensively skilled as he was billed to be and just not as good as his incoming hype. Tire tracks or not, this a like dating a girl. You want to date a girl who is a 7 (1-10) but thinks she is a five. You don't want to date a girl that is a 3 but thinks she is a 9. LaPoint came in as a 8 but plays like a 4! Again it is what it is and expectations and perceptions are reality. If all our d-man are healthy, he is or 6th of 7th best option in my opinion.

[Oxbow6]

And by the way, even though Riley Nash was the 21st pick in the NHL draft, his brother is more than capable out on the ice as well. I thought the unknown Nash was on of their top 3 players on the ice last night.

[YaneA]

I think last night's game was the confidence builder the boys need. I'm not saying play was perfect (see defensive lapses described by many others) but

I am hopeful that we've turned the corner--earlier this year than in the last four. Just wish Finley were back already.

I also missed the students and the band. It would have been a whole lot worse if 11,000 Sioux fans had failed to drown out 75 Cornell fans. I know nobody asked me, but who was setting PA sound levels, Nigel Tufnel ["These go to 11."]!! Gratuitous "This is Spinal Tap" reference.

[The Whistler]

My observations. I think Lapoints been improving right along. I was happy to see Fienhage play so well last night.

I think as Malone gets more playing time he'll come along very nicely.

Maybe the Sioux have caught on or maybe this will be a down year. You have to expect that in COLLEGE hockey when you don't have control of what players you have year to year and you don't have the luxury of pocketing some redshirts just in case.

I hope they catch on, but as long as they compete hard every night it's a good game to be at.

[Fetch]

Now Now Yana Iike Loud (because I need a Hearing aid) had 2 but keep losing them But I liked loud before (maybe that's why I can't hear now)

I also like the Organ music

[siouxweet]

us sioux fans are fricking unbelievable. we bitch because they lose and can't score and then we beat a good cornell team 7-3 and we bitch about that. how about we just enjoy a win for once.

[The Whistler]

us sioux fans are fricking unbelievable. we bitch because they lose and can't score and then we beat a good cornell team 7-3 and we bitch about that. how about we just enjoy a win for once.

Seconded!

[nodak hockey fanatic]

The only criticism you can give on Lapoint is he hasn't been putting up offensive numbers...

How many times have you seen Lapoint back in position on a 2 on 1 because his partner was trying to do too much offensively.

Defensively Lapoint is probably the best out their for the Sioux.

first point... no, in fact i don't think i said anything about his lack of offensive prowess, although that is a very valid point. my biggest observation on lapoint is how tenative he is anytime he gets the puck, and it hasn't seem to improve much yet. he makes poor decisions (like the weak pass into three cornell players last night which lead to the second or third goal) or even worse is indecisive. defenseman will make mistakes, they all will, but at least make them being aggressive.

second... not often enough, but that is the assignment for the defensive partner when his partner jumps in offensively, along with the wing dropping back to help.

third... let's not be silly. jones is hands down our best defensive dman, with finley a close second... i might actually put blood in the third slot, i've liked what i've seen out of him lately, he shouldn't be sitting.

and to all the "thrown under the bus" apologists, get off the high horse. lapoint is a sioux, and because he is, we will cheer for him every game, and there is nothing wrong with voicing opinions or criticisms if we see something, we aren't throwing personal attacks or namecalling here. i hope he starts living up to his billing soon, we need him. he was billed as an offensive dman, and we need him to be that. there's nothing wrong with saying watching a game from the pressbox might be good for him... it might, it seemed to get the message to trupp and kozek.

[BigGreyAnt41]

Finley was a physical presence from day one. Not a solid d-man early on, but physical. LaPoint is not physical, not good defensively, not as offensively skilled as he was billed to be and just not as good as his incoming hype. Tire tracks or not, this a like dating a girl. You want to date a girl who is a 7 (1-10) but thinks she is a five. You don't want to date a girl that is a 3 but thinks she is a 9. LaPoint came in as a 8 but plays like a 4! Again it is what it is and expectations and perceptions are reality. If all our d-man are healthy, he is or 6th of 7th best option in my opinion.

This is only partly true. He was physical, then kept getting tons of penalties called on him because he's so much bigger than everybody else. After that, his only option was to not be physical. Then everybody got mad at him and called for him to sit because he wasn't playing physical enough. It was the exact same thing that happened to Matt Smaby and Matt Greene.

Then, after a bit of time, for all three of them (Smaby, Greene, Finley), they learned how to play in the WCHA with their size, and they became a force.

But to say Finley has always been a presense is not true.

And if people are going to complain about LaPoint's lack of offense, then we should have the forum flooded with threads calling for Jones to be benched.

[burd]

us sioux fans are fricking unbelievable. we bitch because they lose and can't score and then we beat a good cornell team 7-3 and we bitch about that. how about we just enjoy a win for once.

To top it all off, we bitch about our bitching (or, in my case, bitch about bitching about bitching).

Should be fun tonight.

[The Whistler]

At least people quit hacking on Frattin like they were all week.

[yzerman19]

Nice to see some of you at the game last night. I'm not in GF often, but it was nice to see a win.

I've typed and deleated several examples of why I am not a fan of Lapoint, but after reading them, I am going to leave it at that. I am not a fan of Lapoint, and this team is lacking defensively due to his play. The absence of big Joe makes the inadequecies of others all that more apparent. Genoway does get caught up sometimes, but he is also leading the team in scoring. Genoway's game is that of an offensive defenseman; you can't blame him for getting caught up, it's how he plays and how he needs to play. The freshmen are playing like freshmen and will be fine.

On a very positive note, Matt Frattin is starting to look like the player many thought he could be. He has good speed and some good moves. His shot accuracy and nack around the net is starting to show too.

Kozek didn't hit the scoresheet, but he hit everything else last night. The guy was a man possessed finishing every check with authority. Props to Andrew.

One anti ref statement: The interference call on Miller was horrible. Since when can't you play the body?? If you didn't want to get hit, you should've joined the band.

[nodak hockey fanatic]

And if people are going to complain about LaPoint's lack of offense, then we should have the forum flooded with threads calling for Jones to be benched.

that is so silly, it probably doesn't deserve a response, but i am bored. jones and lapoint are not even on the same page defensively. they are two completely different dmen, which is fine, and they each were slotted for different roles. lapoint is big and fast and has offensive potential, but until it starts to produce, he will not be living up to the type of dman he was brought in here to be.

[redwing77]

You are pro-best player yet you seem to have a thing for Malone and LaPoint ? Neither one of them have done much in 1+ years. LaPoint was a minus 2 6 1/2 minutes into the game! If Finley come back, both those two should sit and Miller goes back to forward.

You are dead wrong on Martens. He has been one of most solid 2-way forwards night in and out.

As far as Mario and the teams record, it is what it is. Your 201K if he doesn't play tonight, they lose.

Kozek and Watkins, at this point at UND, should be scoring, but they also need someone to help create for them at the center position. Malone is gritty but can't create much...but still not as gritty as Mario!

And by the way, lay the points and take the Pack at home vs. the Panthers. It won't be close if GB gets an early lead.

Hakstol seems to think they are the best, so I'm all for them. And LaPoint did just fine for offense. I agree with whoever said he is tentative with the puck. That needs to improve. No way is LaPoint our best defenseman on either side of the ice, but he's not bad either. He's a sophomore for goodness sake!

Martens is a consistent contributor. And I guess Malone would be one to sub Mario for. But a complaint is that we haven't been gritty enough. Malone is gritty even if he isn't putting up offensive numbers. I don't see us getting grittier by performing a 1 for 1 swap, even if Mario is the better of the two. I kinda think it would be neat to have a checking line of Zajac, Malone, and Mario.

As for whatever a 201K is, I think if we don't score goals we lose. Period. Like it or not, we're good for at least 2 goals against per game. It doesn't matter if Mario is or is not in the lineup. If we don't score 3+ goals, we will lose. That is how it is.

I can't lay any points on the Pack. They should have beat New Orleans. They should have beat the Queens. They didn't x2. I'd LOVE for the Pack to beat up on the Panthers, but they are very inconsistent this year.

[yzerman19]

It also doesn't help to pair up Lapoint and Genoway. The absence of Joe figures into this heavily. You need to match up a physical, defensive minded dman with a smooth skating offensive dman.

Genoway and Marto are both gifted skaters and should be paired with Finley and Jones respectively. No Finley forces Lapoint to play with Genoway, because the two freshmen simply aren't ready for that much responsibility yet.

[redwing77]

that is so silly, it probably doesn't deserve a response, but i am bored. jones and lapoint are not even on the same page defensively. they are two completely different dmen, which is fine, and they each were slotted for different roles. lapoint is big and fast and has offensive potential, but until it starts to produce, he will not be living up to the type of dman he was brought in here to be.

He wasn't talking about defensively. He was talking offensively.

And I think LaPoint's biggest problem is psychological. He's worried that he'll make a mistake. It's the same problem Finley had his freshman and beginning of his sophomore season. The problem is that Finley made mistakes that resulted in penalties. LaPoint makes mistakes that results in odd man rushes or turnovers.

He cannot be fast if he's tentative or is doubting himself. He just needs to play his game and know his assignments/positioning. The rest is out of his control and should not be worried about. When he stops worrying about what he cannot control, self-confidence grows and his game will improve. It comes with maturity. I don't think LaPoint is as mature as we all expect him to be. Unfortunately, what they do in the NHL won't work in the NCAA. In the NHL, if they lack maturity, the answer is to either bench them or send them to the minors. In the NCAA, you don't develop players by having them ride the pine.

As tough as it may be to watch LaPoint play at times, I think he needs playing time.

[nodak hockey fanatic]

He wasn't talking about defensively. He was talking offensively.

no @#*! sherlock, and i was explaining that jones isn't out there and expected to put up points, lapoint is, that is part of what he was brought in to do, so comparing the two of them is silly. the rest of your post i agree with for the most part, as it is what i said in my previous post, except i think sitting a game would be good for him, and the team.

[burd]

There is truth to Redwing's last post.

[siouxforce19]

sources say no mario tonight

[BigGreyAnt41]

no @#*! sherlock, and i was explaining that jones isn't out there and expected to put up points, lapoint is, that is part of what he was brought in to do, so comparing the two of them is silly. the rest of your post i agree with for the most part, as it is what i said in my previous post, except i think sitting a game would be good for him, and the team.

Calm down, all I was saying was that since LaPoint is a defenseman, there's no use in complaining about his lack of offense right now. If he was brought in as an offensive defenseman, but locked down the blue line like Matt Greene, then sure, go ahead and complain that he's not scoring a few points here and there.

The fact remains, though, that they are both defensemen. If you're relying on your defensemen for offense, then you have bigger problems.

[Oxbow6]

As for whatever a 201K is, I think if we don't score goals we lose. Period. Like it or not, we're good for at least 2 goals against per game. It doesn't matter if Mario is or is not in the lineup. If we don't score 3+ goals, we will lose. That is how it is.

I can't lay any points on the Pack. They should have beat New Orleans. They should have beat the Queens. They didn't x2. I'd LOVE for the Pack to beat up on the Panthers, but they are very inconsistent this year.

It is what is left of your 401K.

Me too! IF GB gets ahead early, they'll roll. If they fall behind early...?

But you're 100% correct in the fact GB has been extremely inconsistant!

[bauer]

what up with the sound on fssn?

[bauer]

what up with the sound on fssn?

looks like both teams are checking hard

[redwing77]

As for whatever a 201K is, I think if we don't score goals we lose. Period. Like it or not, we're good for at least 2 goals against per game. It doesn't matter if Mario is or is not in the lineup. If we don't score 3+ goals, we will lose. That is how it is.

Looks like I was right.