2014 Pairwise rankings

[BeazSioux]

I like it all. I too feel that there is more to this team than what we showed early on and now that we are healthier, it is showing up. However, I do fear that we have dug ourselves too large a hole to climb out of in regards to an at-large bid. The poor showing by the NCHC out of conference is partly to blame of course. Of course, nothing says that the boys can't win the first NCHC tourney and ride it all the way to Philly. I have learned repeatedly in the past decade not to discount SIOUX teams turning it on just when you start to lose hope.

So I'm with you. I won't ever give up on these boys. Go SIOUX!

[smokey the cat]

Excellent query,

The short answer is this; This team doesn't f_ck up.

While I have always been a strong supporter of more offensive prowess with respect to many of our past Sioux teams( just check my history on this forum to see how I feel about the value of dynamic offense), the number one thing I pay attention to when watching and re-watching Sioux games is who screws things up. I could go back to pretty much any team since Hak has been at the helm and point to more than one player on each team that perpetually mucked up possession. Of course this was and is my perception and my opinion but I do recall it was others as well.

I don't want to go through the last 8 years and throw players under the bus because that is not nice to some very passionate members of Sioux hockey alumni. I am although going to pick one guy out because I need him to make my point. Chay Genoway. (its ok he's currently making a half million a year). Now this guy was probably the best skating defensemen I have ever seen and he bled Sioux green. I really was a fan of his for that. But he had a weakness. He would get toasted by a good forward and give-up plays which allowed opponents offense in vulnerable situations. Every team has had Genoways over the last several seasons.

Tell me I am wrong when I say that we as Sioux fans have seen team after team dominate play against opponents but yet lose games when the other team gets odd man rushes once or twice a game and scores on them. You know what I'm talking about. The, "wow we have been kicking their ass! They can't even get the puck out of our end" Then they get a two-on-one breakaway or two during the course of the game and now we are losing. Shots 35-15, but we lost.

This years team is starting to look different in that they are not allowing the odd man rushes. Even when the opponent gets past our defense we catch them and shut them down. Why is this?

Because we have 7 awesome defensemen.

I was at the Denver series and Friday night was a sight to behold. (Sat was the standard Colorado high altitude/bought refs game I have seen for 12 years here but Friday was impressive). I focused on our blue-liners looking for weakness in their game. Every one of them was dominant. Simpson and Schmaltz go from 99% solid to Hobey caliber play throughout the game. They are complete. Shooting eye, skating, passing, decision making, calm under pressure, defensive control, outlet passes, jumping into the play both to keep possession on the boards and up the middle to score. All of it. Top notch All American level play.

Now the other 5 guys and I'm not talking burgers and fries. Here is the best way to say how I see them; in a comparison with our top two I struggle to find any significant reduction in the level they are at when I break down their game. I watch Ladue and Stecher pinch and I am in awe. They are so effective. They never get burned. They should get burned! They are frick'n freshmen??

If you took these four guys off our team and had to look to Mattson, Ausmus and Thompson as your guys. Well Asmus is pretty solid-Very few and little F_ck ups. Mattson, now that he is skating with the puck, is starting to look like a bit like Chorney and finally Thompson, Hmmmm? leads the team +/- and scores in critical situations. (BTW Hakstol screwed up not switching the lineup for Sat in Denver. Poor respect for altitude. I appreciate him wanting to go with the highly successful group from Friday's annihilation but ya gotta respect high altitude fatigue.)

Ok so there you go. I obviously am pretty high on our blue liners right? But is that enough to justify my claims of great potential? Maybe not. So I will add a little mustard. Two more reasons why this team can be great:

1. I think Hak is a great coach. I have some issues with his what I would call 'lack of focus on offensive creativity'. Just my take on him. Having said that I think he is destined to excel the most with a team that's strength is at the blue line. Given my assertion above then this may be his most appropriately skilled team to coach to a championship.

2. I haven't said anything about the forwards? Well about the forwards. In the course of this season we have all seen the offensive zone game plan; Gain the zone and move the puck to the point and cycle between a winger and the two defensemen until a shot is there, shoot and get bodies to the net.

I have noticed a change in the offensive zone puck movement the last few weeks in two areas; A) The defensemen are moving the puck to the wingers of the circles and the forwards are looking for shots and feeds through the middle depending on how aggressive the defense is toward the top of the zone. Our forwards are doing very well at this. Rodwell, Parks, O'donnell, chyzyk, Grimaldi, St.Clair and others are preforming with a lot of hustle and smarts in this role. I.e. they are not f_cking up. This is a second dimension as compared to before X-mas. B) The defensemen (mostly Simpson and Schmaltz) are moving deep into the zone with a frequency that I have never seen before in the Hak era. I think this is not only indicative of how talented our defensemen are but also I think it speaks to my first point. We don't f_uck up!

That's my spiel..

For extra credit I say this,

Rodwell is starting to remind me of Porter.

St.Clair's penalty kill is starting to remind me of Travis Zajac.

and a couple times a game O'Donnell kind of reminds me of Stafford.

how about a healthy McMillan? a cross between trupp and Oshie? maybe Panzer??

com'on who's with me?

Try Genoway is making around 70K not 550K. That is what he would make in the NHL and not the AHL.

[I Ranger]

..Why no 08?...

a couple of ways I could answer this;

If I was going to be a wise guy I could say, Longer than you have been able to read well as I said "one of the better" not better than. I further qualified the statement with a "developing" into clause... But I'm guessing you are a gentlemen and thus would not deserve such a gruff response...

or I could answer your inquisition into my qualifications and say to you that you have me on 87. (Although Greg Johnson is my all time favorite Sioux player and Dixon Ward and Russ Romaniuk were fun to watch put the puck in the net) I saw my first game two years after the 87 team. Not that this matters because a comparison to that team would be silly at this point.

Having said that I would agree that this team is not the 97-99 team. As far as 04 and 11 go, I would say 04 was better (I was at World Arena when that all ended). 11, now that is a bit more of a question. That team was really good in many way but it's weakness was at defensive depth and completeness. It also relied a bit to much on Frattin's deadly shot (It was something to behold that shot!) but that is not relevant to this comparison because beside the goalie question, consistent scoring is this teams "need to improve" area.

I will explain why I think this team has a big one up on many of the recent great Sioux teams and could thus be on the verge of greatness in my response to Heaven no beers post. I am impressed by his response to my rhetoric. It was what I was fishing for.

I have to comment on the bolded statement above and totally disagree with you as I can't think of another Sioux team that had as much defensive depth and completeness as that one. They were 8 D deep with Genoway-MacWilliam, Blood-Forbort, Marto-LaPoint, and Simpson-Gleason and the mix between big defensive D-men and strong skating offensive D-men was there. In my opinion, I would take the 11 team over the 04 team due to depth throughout the lineup. The 11 team was 4+ forward lines and 8 D deep. That team was made to win it all and it still stings me that they couldn't find a way to score on that little Michigan goalie.

[scpa0305]

Excellent query,

The short answer is this; This team doesn't f_ck up.

While I have always been a strong supporter of more offensive prowess with respect to many of our past Sioux teams( just check my history on this forum to see how I feel about the value of dynamic offense), the number one thing I pay attention to when watching and re-watching Sioux games is who screws things up. I could go back to pretty much any team since Hak has been at the helm and point to more than one player on each team that perpetually mucked up possession. Of course this was and is my perception and my opinion but I do recall it was others as well.

I don't want to go through the last 8 years and throw players under the bus because that is not nice to some very passionate members of Sioux hockey alumni. I am although going to pick one guy out because I need him to make my point. Chay Genoway. (its ok he's currently making a half million a year). Now this guy was probably the best skating defensemen I have ever seen and he bled Sioux green. I really was a fan of his for that. But he had a weakness. He would get toasted by a good forward and give-up plays which allowed opponents offense in vulnerable situations. Every team has had Genoways over the last several seasons.

Tell me I am wrong when I say that we as Sioux fans have seen team after team dominate play against opponents but yet lose games when the other team gets odd man rushes once or twice a game and scores on them. You know what I'm talking about. The, "wow we have been kicking their ass! They can't even get the puck out of our end" Then they get a two-on-one breakaway or two during the course of the game and now we are losing. Shots 35-15, but we lost.

This years team is starting to look different in that they are not allowing the odd man rushes. Even when the opponent gets past our defense we catch them and shut them down. Why is this?

Because we have 7 awesome defensemen.

I was at the Denver series and Friday night was a sight to behold. (Sat was the standard Colorado high altitude/bought refs game I have seen for 12 years here but Friday was impressive). I focused on our blue-liners looking for weakness in their game. Every one of them was dominant. Simpson and Schmaltz go from 99% solid to Hobey caliber play throughout the game. They are complete. Shooting eye, skating, passing, decision making, calm under pressure, defensive control, outlet passes, jumping into the play both to keep possession on the boards and up the middle to score. All of it. Top notch All American level play.

Now the other 5 guys and I'm not talking burgers and fries. Here is the best way to say how I see them; in a comparison with our top two I struggle to find any significant reduction in the level they are at when I break down their game. I watch Ladue and Stecher pinch and I am in awe. They are so effective. They never get burned. They should get burned! They are frick'n freshmen??

If you took these four guys off our team and had to look to Mattson, Ausmus and Thompson as your guys. Well Asmus is pretty solid-Very few and little F_ck ups. Mattson, now that he is skating with the puck, is starting to look like a bit like Chorney and finally Thompson, Hmmmm? leads the team +/- and scores in critical situations. (BTW Hakstol screwed up not switching the lineup for Sat in Denver. Poor respect for altitude. I appreciate him wanting to go with the highly successful group from Friday's annihilation but ya gotta respect high altitude fatigue.)

Ok so there you go. I obviously am pretty high on our blue liners right? But is that enough to justify my claims of great potential? Maybe not. So I will add a little mustard. Two more reasons why this team can be great:

1. I think Hak is a great coach. I have some issues with his what I would call 'lack of focus on offensive creativity'. Just my take on him. Having said that I think he is destined to excel the most with a team that's strength is at the blue line. Given my assertion above then this may be his most appropriately skilled team to coach to a championship.

2. I haven't said anything about the forwards? Well about the forwards. In the course of this season we have all seen the offensive zone game plan; Gain the zone and move the puck to the point and cycle between a winger and the two defensemen until a shot is there, shoot and get bodies to the net.

I have noticed a change in the offensive zone puck movement the last few weeks in two areas; A) The defensemen are moving the puck to the wingers of the circles and the forwards are looking for shots and feeds through the middle depending on how aggressive the defense is toward the top of the zone. Our forwards are doing very well at this. Rodwell, Parks, O'donnell, chyzyk, Grimaldi, St.Clair and others are preforming with a lot of hustle and smarts in this role. I.e. they are not f_cking up. This is a second dimension as compared to before X-mas. B) The defensemen (mostly Simpson and Schmaltz) are moving deep into the zone with a frequency that I have never seen before in the Hak era. I think this is not only indicative of how talented our defensemen are but also I think it speaks to my first point. We don't f_uck up!

That's my spiel..

For extra credit I say this,

Rodwell is starting to remind me of Porter.

St.Clair's penalty kill is starting to remind me of Travis Zajac.

and a couple times a game O'Donnell kind of reminds me of Stafford.

how about a healthy McMillan? a cross between trupp and Oshie? maybe Panzer??

com'on who's with me?

Those comparisons at the end made me laugh....thanks I needed that.

[yababy8]

Those comparisons at the end made me laugh....thanks I needed that.

Hey you're always allowed the most liberty in the extra credit section. Bottom line is the recognition is not unwarranted.

[jdub27]

Try Genoway is making around 70K not 550K. That is what he would make in the NHL and not the AHL.

Not that it matters, but he's making $105K in the AHL and would be making $600K in the NHL. -Source: CapGeek

[MafiaMan]

Not that it matters, but he's making $105K in the AHL and would be making $600K in the NHL. -Source: CapGeek

Interesting stuff. That's probably enough dough to be able to afford a really nice watch.

[choyt3]

Interesting stuff. That's probably enough dough to be able to afford a really nice watch.

Well, maybe a Rolex, but a nice watch? Doubt it.

[MafiaMan]

Well, maybe a Rolex, but a nice watch? Doubt it.

I'd better quit this conversation while I'm ahead, LOL.

Pairwise-be-damned...UND is making the NCAA tournament.

[tnt]

I think Duluth is right on the bubble of the NCAA tournament right now with a 10-9 record, and with each team playing each other down the stretch, I would say focus on finishing top 2 in the conference and hope that is good enough to be in position come playoff time. Any team in this league is going to have to perform in the playoffs, and most will be facing stiff competition in first round matchups. I have been worried about that 8-4 record that Jim said we needed, but if they can finish top two and win at least 3 in the playoffs, you would think that would be good enough.

[smokey the cat]

Not that it matters, but he's making $105K in the AHL and would be making $600K in the NHL. -Source: CapGeek

Thanks. Good money for the AHL. Thanks for the link. I am going to bookmark that.

[smokey the cat]

Well, maybe a Rolex, but a nice watch? Doubt it.

Many watches in the Rolex price range that are good. So that would be a yes.

[siouxfaninseattle]

Great analysis yababy8. After watching (in person) two of the crappiest games the team has played in a few years, Friday St Lawrence and UBC, I was ready to throw in the towel for this year's team. I'm still not real optimistic that they can win it all - not with inconsistent scoring and on/off goaltending. But I like their chances next year a lot!

[MafiaMan]

Great analysis yababy8. After watching (in person) two of the crappiest games the team has played in a few years, Friday St Lawrence and UBC, I was ready to throw in the towel for this year's team. I'm still not real optimistic that they can win it all - not with inconsistent scoring and on/off goaltending. But I like their chances next year a lot!

Just get in the tournament...anything can happen after that.

[cberkas]

UND sitting at 16th at the moment.

[scpa0305]

UND sitting at 16th at the moment.

Yup, we'll need another couple upsets tonight.

[Old Fella]

Yup, we'll need another couple upsets tonight.

Notre dame lose/Sioux at 15

[cberkas]

Yup, we'll need another couple upsets tonight.

At 15th need Michigan to beat Wisconsin.

[Old Fella]

At 15th need Michigan to beat Wisconsin.

USCO now has Sioux at 15/Wisco loss moves Sioux up/nice if we didn't play next weekend.

[Old Fella]

USCO now has Sioux at 15/Wisco loss moves Sioux up/nice if we didn't play next weekend.

Wisco now at 14

[Wilbur]

UND doesn't play this weekend and moves up two places. Nothing wrong with that. Nice to be above the line.

[smokey the cat]

UND doesn't play this weekend and moves up two places. Nothing wrong with that. Nice to be above the line.

At this rate they would be better off not playing the next 5 weekends.

[siouxweet]

IF UND were to finish 7-3 the rest of the regular season, win its first round playoff series and win one at the Target center I think they would end up in that 8-11 range. but there is alot of hockey left starting with this weekend.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

IF UND were to finish 7-3 the rest of the regular season, win its first round playoff series and win one at the Target center I think they would end up in that 8-11 range. but there is alot of hockey left starting with this weekend.

Starting with a team that hung 8 goals on SCSU, not going to be easy but we can do it!

[brianvf]

Starting with a team that hung 8 goals on SCSU, not going to be easy but we can do it!

To be fair, I think that game was played without goalies and they were just playing pipes instead.