WHAT'S HAPPENING????

[Heidisioux]

Up 6-2 18 minutes left in the 3rd - Lose 7-6 in overtime?

What's going on?

[Goon]

I Just hope coach Blais can get the boys on track soon this is getting painful to watch/Listen to...

I thought he was going to give Jake a chance...

[leifolson]

I...I...I...I...have no idea what to say.

[leifolson]

Wait...yeah I do....You've got to be ....... kidding me...........!!!!!

[ScottM]

Um, Dean, remind the troops that hockey has three 20 minute periods of regulation play and should be played for that entire sixty minute frame.  OT is not a luxury, like in the NHL.

Unreal ...

[dagies]

Give the boys some credit.  They played very well 5 on 5 for most of the night.  They need help on the PK, but the PP was great last night too.

Unfortunately, a couple bone-head plays really cost the Sioux last night.  Even though he gave up 7 goals, it seems as if Andy had a solid game.

I'm only going to by what I heard on the radio.  I didn't see the game....

I'm afraid this loss will be a real crusher.  It seemed like the team was really trying to put the past weekend behind them.  In terms of effort, I think they did.  But didn't get the job done that should have been finished.

I don't know what to think about tonite's game now.  Had we won last night I would have predicted another win tonite.

Now I don't know what will happen.  We have dug a deep hole.

[ScottM]

I have to disagree Dagies.  IMHO the true mark of any team is how they finish a game or season.  The Sioux should have won and kept pressing the lead in the third, not sit on their heels and wait for the clock to burn, like the gophers used to in those third period blowups we did to them.  They got lazy, complacent and it showed in the final result.  

Now that this half of the season is nearly at an end, thankfully, these guys have to figure out where they want to finish and how they're going to get there.  Then they have to execute.  If some of them don't want to exert themselves and move to the next level, I recall the bus station is/was on Gateway.

No amount of great coaching is going to make up for a losing attitude.  I think that's the most disappointing element of this team so far in that they give up, stand around and play like a scrub team most games.  I'd probably feel differently if the losses were near misses or their was some inkling of improvements on the horizon.  Maybe two-a-day practices aren't a bad idea to weed out the deadwood before it's too late for this season.  

[leifolson]

I, unfortunately, don't like our chances tonight.  I hope that I am completely off base, but it seems as if losing last night the way they did will only prove to soften them a bit tonight.  In years past, a loss like last night's would have gotten the juices flowing in many players and the Saturday game would end up with the Sioux just destroying their opponent.  However, it doesn't seem as if any of the guys have that passion this year.

Where are the team leaders?  The guys who walk into the locker room the day after a loss like that and start smackin' guys on the back of the head stirring them into a frenzy to go out hit somebody?  Unfortunately, it seems as if they all left at the end of last season's heart-wrenching loss in the finals.

I hope I'm wrong.  I hope they come back and beat the living crap out of Wisconsin tonight.  I hope they carry that through into next week.  And the week after that.  And the weeks following that, until they are, once again, facing off for the NCAA Championship.  But, in order for that to happen, the Mazuraks and Schneekloths and Skarperuds and Notermanns and Spiewaks of the team have to make it happen.  I haven't seen it yet this season.

Here's to hoping it does.

GO SIOUX!!!

[dagies]

Scott, you are right about that.  The 3rd period in the Friday game IN Mankato was similar.  Just kind of a defensive shell, but not much defense.

Uncharacteristic, for sure.

[The Sicatoka]

David Lundbohm, interviewed between periods on Saturday because he was hurt Friday, said it best.

"We only played 50 minutes."

Believe it or not, that's a positive in ways. Not long ago they were only playing 30 minutes.

[Kuhninca]

This team is tanking.  The leadership of the upperclassmen is lacking big-time.  I'd be surprised if they don't finish in the bottom three, based on the pathetic 1-6-1 tally they have in the last 4 series.

Dean may yet right the course of this ship, but don't hold your breath.  During the last few seasons, Blais' teams absolutely flew out there on the ice.  This season, the games I've had the misfortune to watch look like slow motion hockey.  I think Dean ought to cover the "speed kills" sign over the locker room with black cloth until this team learns to skate much harder.

[dagies]

Blais was not happy with the team's effort after the game tonite. He said this team has not learned to have a consistent effort and probably does not deserve to be an upper 5 team in the league.

He was happy with Jake, and seems like he has confidence in him right now.  But very unhappy with the effort of the forwards.

Thank God Schneekloth came through with a couple tonite to bring home a W.  Maybe we can pick up another tomorrow night and start building something.