Best WCHA Returning Goalie

[redwing77]

Was away from UND and hockey when he was a Sioux so, unfortunately, no. No, I haven't.

Too bad for me.

[Mad Man]

How about a guy named Belfour?

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Isaac Reichmuth. Everytime I saw him play last year, I was impressed by his play. Teams would let loose great shots, and out of nowhere comes Reichmuth to make an incedible save. An argument can be made for Berkhoel as well. I've noted that some people have been quick to discount Cam Ellsworth. Ellsworth is as good a goaltender as I've seen, and definately played a huge part in Tech beating us 5-2 last year. He has the ablility to steal a couple of goals a game from you.

HKNTSMN...I'd love to see Ranfranz back this year, as well. He had some impressive outings last year, and I hope he can bring something else to the table.

[flatspin7]

Cam Elsworth is the only reason that that team doesnt get smoked any worse than they do night to night.

He is a great goalie on a real POS team.

Long time - no speak-- hows everybody doin?

[redwing77]

Ummm I was 10 when Balfour came to UND. I didn't like hockey at the time. What can I say? I was ignorant of the true glory of a real sport. It changed, trust me.

That's why I was supportive of Ellsworth. True, his /stats/ don't stack up to it, but I wonder what it would have been like if Ellsworth wore a Sioux jersey? I highly doubt it would have been that bad. For some reason, MTU attracts some decent goaltenders and they cannot recruit a defenseman to save their hides. Even the Wookiee wouldn't save them... if the Wookiee could skate, play defense, stick handle...

Reichmuth, Burkhoel, and McElhinney are the top three for sure in my mind (and not in that order either). They show their talent time and time again throughout every season (whether it is one for Reichmuth or 2 for the other two.. or is it 3 for Burkhoel?) and they are consistent. I think the others would be nearly as good as these goaltenders if they were more consistent.

I'm REALLY excited to get this season underway. I have to see how all the goalies and their teams do!

[WPoS]

If it's true he left because of his brother's health situation I would say calling him 'turkey" is a little insensitive.

redwing77, turkey? so what would you do if your family had a member that ended up with a real bad disease and you were very close to them and they asked for your support? I think the only "turkey" was the one tossing names around, as GE put it "insensitive".

WPoS

[airmail]

Greyeagle & WpOS:

I don't think RW77 was trying to be insulting, just comical at the expense of the gophers as a whole. I'm sure he wasn't trying to make light of a family situation; he possibly didn't even know. No harm no foul, I say. (no pun intended on the word "foul")

Now go back to POI you turkeys!

[schmidtdoggydog]

Before anymore Gopher fans blast a Sioux fan for his comments on a Sioux message board, what is the real story behind Weber's departure? There have certainly been conflicting reports.

It is understood that a family member (brother?) had some form of cancer last year. Is the cancer in remission? If the reason he left is solely due to a family member's illness then the poster would likely agree that the comments were inappropriate.

However, several quotes attributed to Donnie-boy Lucia made it clear that Weber lost his desire to play hockey and no longer had the dedication or requisite level of commitment needed to be successful at the D1 level. Perhaps the illness contributed to TW's outlook, but who's to say?

My understanding is Weber basically took the summer "off" from hockey, rarely skated in Minneapolis with the rest of the rodents and returned to school many, many pounds overweight and sadly out-of-shape, ala Chris Fournier circa 2002.

If that is the truth, then Gopher fans need to back off. Until those questions are answered I do not believe the poster should be deemed insensitive for his/her comments.

[Greyeagle]

Schmidt - Maybe the lost desire and his brother's health are related? Seems logical to me.

[sprig]

If that is the truth, then Gopher fans need to back off. Until those questions are answered I do not believe the poster should be deemed insensitive for his/her comments.

No matter what the truth, backing off is necessary. After all the negative comments regarding Blais, schedule, goalies, etc, etc, etc, from goph fans on uscho and poi, we hardly need the gopher police here, especially with comments as mild as these have been.

As far as Weber being in the poll list if he was still a gopher, he wouldn't be in my top 4 on that list. The top 4 in my estimation are listed as 1, 2, 3, and 4 (not necessarily in that order). Weber fits in with the 5 through 11 group (if he was playing).

[CoteauRinkRat]

Let's move on.

Forget who is the best goalie returning, what school has the best duo/trio of goaltenders?

[Goon]

Ummm I was 10 when Balfour came to UND. I didn't like hockey at the time. What can I say? I was ignorant of the true glory of a real sport. It changed, trust me.

Isn't Balfour the Twin's Relief pitcher?

[CoteauRinkRat]

Isn't Balfour the Twin's Relief pitcher?

lol

I think so

[schmidtdoggydog]

Schmidt - Maybe the lost desire and his brother's health are related? Seems logical to me.

I agree that they could be related and I certainly have no problem with either you or WPoS, I simply didn't want it to turn into a situation where several Gopher fans got involved and the thread got out of control.

As previously stated, let's move on.

[Greyeagle]

I concur.

[redwing77]

As for the best goaltender duo/trio, I would not be able to tell you under the guidelines of this poll because I took care not to include incomming freshmen. However, from last season's stats, I would have to say UMD, DU, and MSU-M had good duos. Overall, I'd say DU had the best duo. I was almost sure that Denver would knock us off in the WCHA tourney.

UND obviously did not. Teams like UM and CC, however, I don't know about. I never saw who backed up McElhinney. UM was almost entirely Weber all year long except for a short bout with Johnson at the helm.

For the folks at UM on this board, what's the word on your freshman, Briggs?

As for the Weber comments, I didn't know about his family's health situation. Sorry.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I didn't know about Weber's family situation either. I apologize if any of the comments seemed to be insensitive, but i'm sure I was not alone in not knowing Weber's story.

[Greyeagle]

No problem and I apologize - I probably jumped on you guys a little to quick. I suspect my buddy WPoS would concur.

As for Briggs, from what I've read the staff is high in him, but in the end they anticipate JJ to be the man. Of course, what would one expect the staff to say, Briggs is a mutt? Anyway, look for JJ & Briggs to alternate early and for JJ to assume more time as the season progresses.

They are looking for a third goalie - if only to have available for practice as (insert name here - I can't recall) did last year.

It sounds like Weber has an open invitation to return if he chooses even though it appears his abrupt departure blindsided the staff.

Is it just me or does UMD always seem to have a netminder who is capable of stealing a game? Much like UW when Sauer still cared, IMO. That should be taken as a hint as to how I voted.

[redwing77]

Greyeagle,

I think Siembida is available. As is Sofie.

What does the UM fanship think about the Weber situation? Will he return? Also, does he lose this year's eligibility if he decides to return next year?

[Greyeagle]

Umm, no.

From what I can tell very supportive. Contrary to our reputation, we are very sensitive and caring. Not sure if he will come back or not - he hasn't indicated. Lucia said the door is open. As for eligibility, I do not know. Maybe this is considered a redshirt year? Not sure how that works if he's not in school anywhere.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I'm not an expert on NCAA elgibility, but I would think that this year would count towards his elgibility. I could definitely be wrong, but he isn't transferring, and he personally isn't injured. The NCAA does make exceptions, but from what we know of the NCAA, a majority of their decisions are never in favor of the athletes, coaches, schools, or fans.

[NorthDakotaHockey]

Best of luck to Travis Weber in whatever he decides to do. Good for him for making decisions that there are things more important in life than being a member of the Gopher hockey team.

Truth be told, he really was just an average to mediocre goaltender who got hot at the right time. I do not recall him really being tested down the stretch. Had mostly comfortable leads. Let in a couple of soft goals that really didn't matter. Didn't do much in the way of spectacular game-saving stops.

The Gophers didn't lose a thing when he decided to pull the plug. Their fans know this, but you can be sure they will be crying that things would be different if he were with them after Christmas hits and they are but a middle-of-the-pack player in the conference standings.

[jk]

I can't imagine that sitting out this year would count against his eligiblity. The only impact I can see would be that his five-year clock is ticking; you have five years to complete your four years of competition, and the clock starts when you enter school. That's the rule that nailed Tim Skarperud. So if he missed this year, he could come back and still have three years left. If he skipped two years, he would return with just two years left.

[skateshattrick]

Best of luck to Travis Weber in whatever he decides to do. Good for him for making decisions that there are things more important in life than being a member of the Gopher hockey team.

Truth be told, he really was just an average to mediocre goaltender who got hot at the right time. I do not recall him really being tested down the stretch. Had mostly comfortable leads. Let in a couple of soft goals that really didn't matter. Didn't do much in the way of spectacular game-saving stops.

The Gophers didn't lose a thing when he decided to pull the plug. Their fans know this, but you can be sure they will be crying that things would be different if he were with them after Christmas hits and they are but a middle-of-the-pack player in the conference standings.

Very good post. I also wish him luck, but I agree that the Gophers did not lose a whole lot. The Gophers won the last 2 years with pretty average goaltending, which is really a compliment to the amount of talent and depth they have had the past 2 years. Losing Paul Martin is a much bigger loss.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

I'm surprised to see that Berkhoel and McElhinney have the same number of votes. I need to see how he responds to the losses of the several All-Americans and two Hobey finalists (including the winner) in front of him. He really didn't impress me when I saw him play, but maybe they were jsut bad games.