SIOUX @ UAA & ALASKA

[GeauxSioux]

On the WDAZ news tonight they said both games will be on channel 27 in grand forks...

Watch hockey, football live this week

The University of North Dakota department of athletics announced today that UND's men's hockey games at the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, this weekend will be broadcast live on the Fighting Sioux Sports Network (FSSN) and Midco Sports Network (MidcoSN)......

...Saturday's football broadcast begins at 4 p.m. CT and will be available on FSSN, MidcoSN and Fox College Sports Central. WDAZ's Pat Sweeney will handle the play-by-play with Jody Norstedt providing color analysis.

Friday's women's hockey game against Minnesota-Duluth, the defending national champion and current No. 1 ranked team in the nation, is also scheduled to be aired on FSSN, MidcoSN, Fox College Sports Central and DirecTV channel 617. Gametime is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Looks like a Sioux sports weekend.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

Watch hockey, football live this week

Looks like a Sioux sports weekend.

I will miss saturday's hockey game due to the Brad Paisley concert at the Ralph. Oh well, I will be sneaking a peek on siouxsports.com on my phone throughout!

[duluthSioux]

looks like I'm stuck with UM/Massachsetts & Miami/New Hampshire

[Wilbur]

Hey! Alright! Sioux hockey! Put the coffee on at 10:30 and watch the sioux play into Saturday morning!

[siouxnami]

My lines for Game 1:

Malone with Frattin and Trupp

Knight with Gregoire and Hextall

Lammy with Bruno and Rowney

Nelson with Cichy and Kristo

Forbert and Genoway

Blood and MacWilliam

Marto and Simpson

Dell

My lines for Game 2:

Malone with Frattin and Trupp

Knight with Gregoire and Kristo

Lammy with Davidson and Hextall

Nelson with Cichy and Rodwell

Forbert and Genoway

Blood and MacWilliam

Marto and Lapoint

Eidsness

If LaPoint sits for Simpson I'll eat my shoe...

[Big A HG]

If LaPoint sits for Simpson I'll eat my shoe...

If LaPoint sits for Simpson, I'll eat your other shoe.

[tho0505]

The Alaska game has CCHA pwr implications; for that reason I tried to load up night 2.

I did really like what i saw with Knight, Gregoire and Hextall as a line combo. Imagine a scoring line 3 with Nelson and Kristo on it. That is serious talent deep into the lineup.

Frattin, Gregoire and Kristo on 3 different lines...that could spell 20 goal men on each scoring line.

Can you imagine the nightmare teams are going to have trying to match lines. You just can't. Who knows who Hakstol will have out there in the final minutes as well.

[jk]

It still feels like the offseason, where everyone's vision of a player's ability is of their absolute best, when the truth is they'll see those heights a few times a year, mixed in with some clunkers and a bunch of average games. My feeling is every WCHA game will still be a battle. Even a down team like UAA usually gives UND fits, with their stable of strong, fast and especially big forwards. They may not be the most skilled, but they'll win races and wear a team down physically.

[johnsowe]

I have looked at the FCS sch and they have nothing about the Alaska games on.

[dagies]

It still feels like the offseason, where everyone's vision of a player's ability is of their absolute best, when the truth is they'll see those heights a few times a year, mixed in with some clunkers and a bunch of average games. My feeling is every WCHA game will still be a battle. Even a down team like UAA usually gives UND fits, with their stable of strong, fast and especially big forwards. They may not be the most skilled, but they'll win races and wear a team down physically.

I think this weekend might be a good way for the Sioux to start the season. AA will try to beat them up a little. Welcome to the season, everyone. Could be a good thing to get the team into the groove.

[siouxforeverbaby]

I have looked at the FCS sch and they have nothing about the Alaska games on.

that is because they won't be on fcs, only on fssn. Brad's blog has a link to a webcast to watch Friday's game, but Saturday's came won't be webcast online.

[yzerman19]

I put Simpson out there to get some reps in a non-conference, conference game. Simpson is going to get playing time, and the UAA game carries far less PWR ramifications than the UA game.

[82SiouxGuy]

It still feels like the offseason, where everyone's vision of a player's ability is of their absolute best, when the truth is they'll see those heights a few times a year, mixed in with some clunkers and a bunch of average games. My feeling is every WCHA game will still be a battle. Even a down team like UAA usually gives UND fits, with their stable of strong, fast and especially big forwards. They may not be the most skilled, but they'll win races and wear a team down physically.

It still is the offseason. The regular season doesn't start until Friday. Reality will strike soon enough. This is still a college team. They will have good games and bad. There are other good teams in the league and around the country. Let's just hope that the team approaches its potential and keeps the season going until April. At that point it becomes a crapshoot and the best team that particular weekend becomes the champs.

[redwing77]

I put Simpson out there to get some reps in a non-conference, conference game. Simpson is going to get playing time, and the UAA game carries far less PWR ramifications than the UA game.

At this point, this makes sense.

I think Simpson should get ice time somewhere. UAA, MTU, exhibition games, and games that don't mean a lot otherwise... And injuries and bad practices/games by regulars.

[MissSioux85]

Travel Blog for the Weekend

http://www.fightingsioux.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=205007916

[richthorpe]

If LaPoint sits for Simpson, i will watch you guys eat each others shoe's...

[Goon]

If LaPoint sits for Simpson, i will watch you guys eat each others shoe's...

Personally, I don't think Lapoint is going to sit much this season, however time will tell. Nice to have a dilemma like this.

[Big A HG]

I put Simpson out there to get some reps in a non-conference, conference game. Simpson is going to get playing time, and the UAA game carries far less PWR ramifications than the UA game.

I certainly agree with trying to get Simpson playing time, I just don't think you can break up Marto and LaPoint to do it, even for a game. I think it's going to come down to rotating with Forbort, but with Forbort seeing the majority of the chances. You can't sit Mac, Genoway, Blood, Marto, or LaPoint really...and if Forbort continues to play like he did against Manitoba, how do you sit him either?

Simpson, as good as he can (and probably will) be, he still did look like a young player trying to get up to speed with the college game. It will be nice if he can come through big when some guys get nicked up, but if everyone stays healthy, I don't see a ton of time for him.

[yzerman19]

Forbert looked great against Manitoba. He needs to keep it up, but he earned a start with me based on performance.

Interesting how Cichy got so many pp reps vs the Bisens

What do you think the special teams units will look like?

We're so deep we could essentially run all 3 scoring lines on the powerplay...

[Big A HG]

Forbert looked great against Manitoba. He needs to keep it up, but he earned a start with me based on performance.

Interesting how Cichy got so many pp reps vs the Bisens

What do you think the special teams units will look like?

We're so deep we could essentially run all 3 scoring lines on the powerplay...

Well, if you base Cichy off what he did last year, than yeah it's surprising. However, Cichy was a pretty good looking recruit when he first committed, then seemed to get lost a bit in the speed and physicality of some better hockey leagues. He certainly wasn't terrible last year, but had the skill set. Now, he's a year bigger, faster, and more mature, and is up to the speed of college hockey. Hopefully that bodes well for Mr. Cichy, because if he can show flashes of brilliance, that's one more awesome weapon we have. I still have high hopes for him, and if we can get him in there to play some key roles, he just might wow us a bit.

Some might call it wishful thinking that he could be a stud, and those people may be right. But, I'm not going to hold it against a former freshman entering only his sophomore year based on a seemingly lackluster rookie campaign. I think he can fit into a nice 3rd line scoring role that can play a bit of defense too.

[tho0505]

I certainly agree with trying to get Simpson playing time, I just don't think you can break up Marto and LaPoint to do it, even for a game. I think it's going to come down to rotating with Forbort, but with Forbort seeing the majority of the chances. You can't sit Mac, Genoway, Blood, Marto, or LaPoint really...and if Forbort continues to play like he did against Manitoba, how do you sit him either?

Simpson, as good as he can (and probably will) be, he still did look like a young player trying to get up to speed with the college game. It will be nice if he can come through big when some guys get nicked up, but if everyone stays healthy, I don't see a ton of time for him.

Great post, sums up the defense for us this year. You just can't sit Lapoint, Blood, or Marto for sure (Genoway doesn't even need to be mentioned). Unless injury happens and we're set on dressing only 6 defense, I think we'll see Simpson for 15-20 games tops. Which is fine considering he's only 17 and still (hopefully) has 2 yrs + with us here depending on development and draft position. He'll log plenty of time next year thats for sure. We also have Gleason as well, with plenty of experience.

[yzerman19]

Well, if you base Cichy off what he did last year, than yeah it's surprising. However, Cichy was a pretty good looking recruit when he first committed, then seemed to get lost a bit in the speed and physicality of some better hockey leagues. He certainly wasn't terrible last year, but had the skill set. Now, he's a year bigger, faster, and more mature, and is up to the speed of college hockey. Hopefully that bodes well for Mr. Cichy, because if he can show flashes of brilliance, that's one more awesome weapon we have. I still have high hopes for him, and if we can get him in there to play some key roles, he just might wow us a bit.

Some might call it wishful thinking that he could be a stud, and those people may be right. But, I'm not going to hold it against a former freshman entering only his sophomore year based on a seemingly lackluster rookie campaign. I think he can fit into a nice 3rd line scoring role that can play a bit of defense too.

I too have high hopes for Cichy. I like the idea of a 3rd scoring line consisting of Nelson, Cichy and Kristo...that could be a sick line...

Malone with Frattin and Trupp

Knight with Gregoire and Hextall

Nelson with Cichy and Kristo

Lammy and a couple energy boys to keep up the tempo

You can't match up with all three lines...other team's 5th and 6th defensemen will have to go head to head with one of these lines on a regular basis, I like our odds in that scenario

[AussieSiouxFan]

Hello everybody, I hope all of you had a nice summer and are looking forward to the last season of Fighting Sioux Hockey.

I am very excited to see the Sioux in action this weekend, I hope the games are be available to watch online, if anybody has a link or can tell me where i can watch online that would be great.

i think this will shape up to be an awesome final season of Fighting Sioux Hockey and i can not wait for it to get started, i think the freshman class looks great and i have no doubt they will contribute right off the bat, and there is a lot of talent on this team, with hard work i think this team has a very good chance to go all the way this year (knock on wood). the skate for 8 starts tomorrow, i cant wait!!!!!!!

[brianvf]

Malone with Frattin and Trupp

Knight with Gregoire and Hextall

Nelson with Cichy and Kristo

It's been awhile since the Sioux have had this much talented depth at forward (and defense, but that is another topic entirely).

It's a far cry from the days of one uber-line (DOT, Money Line, Line of Fire) and then a decent dropoff.

Each of those lines has a probable 20+ goal scorer (Frattin, Gregoire, Kristo) and the top two even have other potential 20-goal scorers as well (Trupper, Malone, Hextall). It really isn't even that far fetched when you look at their goal totals from last season:

Gregoire - 20

Kristo - 15 (missed 2 games)

Hextall - 14 (missed 9 games)

Frattin - 11 (missed 19 games)

Malone - 11

Trupp - 8

Malone and Trupper might be long shots for 20 goals, but when you take into consideration that they both really took off later in the season, especially once that line started to gel with those two and Frattin...it's not as big of a stretch.

Do I really think that we will have 6 20-goal scorers? Absolutely not, but I think that this team has the potential to be something special and score a ton of goals.

It could be a special season, let's hope that they can play up to their potential!

[stickboy1956]

Great post, sums up the defense for us this year. You just can't sit Lapoint, Blood, or Marto for sure (Genoway doesn't even need to be mentioned). Unless injury happens and we're set on dressing only 6 defense, I think we'll see Simpson for 15-20 games tops. Which is fine considering he's only 17 and still (hopefully) has 2 yrs + with us here depending on development and draft position. He'll log plenty of time next year thats for sure. We also have Gleason as well, with plenty of experience.

1. He will need to play to develop.

2. It is his draft year - it would be good for him and the program if his draft stock went up and not down this year. The only way his stock goes up is if he plays.

I'm sure the coaching staff will do what's best for the team = what would be good is to have a talented/highly touted prospect get better under their watch.