Offense - who will step up and lead?

[ScottM]

Dmen

Hale Schnieder

Jones Lienweber(I think Chris will give us some punch)

Fuhrer Marvin Greene

I don't share your confidence in Leinweber, unfortunately.  I'd bet Fuhrer or Greene will play more shifts than he will.

[dagies]

I agree, Scott, but I think Leinie will be the 6th man more often than D. Marvin.  Just guessing...

[Goon]

Notermann Spiewak Massen

Bochenski Fournier McMahon

Lundbohm Parise Hale

Genoway Fylling Canady

Connelly Faul Palmiscno

B Connelly

I like those offensive line pairing. I am sure that Practice this fall will be very spirited like throwing a piece of meat on the ice with a bunch of rabid dogs going for what ever scraps they can get.

As far as talent I think UND will be just a talented as any other team on the ice this fall... Only about 5 months left till the puck drops so its really not that long till hockey season starts again.

[PCM]

I'm not going to make any predictions about who will score how many goals, but I don't think the Sioux will have any problems offensively next season.

[Stack]

I've been looking at the returning players and new players a lot recently. Like everyone else I'm expecting great things from Parise. I'm also expecting Fournier to show this year why he led the uSHL in scoring two years ago. I'm also expecting to see a more mature Fylling come in and contribute big time.  I think that McMahon will be an force on the ice this year both offensively and defensively.

I've tried to guess the line combinations with some of these things in mind. I've also looked at the production of some of the players last year. I decided that this year it's time to break up Noterman and Spiewak. They are fine on a penalty kill but I think they need new linemates. Also I have seen Lunbhom's proudction decline rather than improve so I've moved him down until I see an improvement. Here are my guesses:

Parise centering Bochenski and McMahon (I think McMahon will have a breakout year)

Fournier centering Hale and Spiewak (Fournier needs to get stronger and stay healthy. If he does I can see the second line being very good. I'm sure this line will have a lot of changes depending upon who works the hardest this summer. You could see a number of players moving up and down.

Fylling centering Noterman and Massen

Lundbohm centering Cannady and Genoway

(I've tried to keep the speed with at least two faster/smaller players on a line along with a bigger player but it's so dang hard to predict.

Other forwards:   Faul, Connely, Palmiscino, Connely

D: Hale and Schneider

   Jones and Greene

   Fuhr and Marvin/Leinweber (I'm not optimistic about Leinbweber either. He seems to have gotten worse rather than better as his career went along.

G: Siembida #1

   Brandt #2

   Sedevie sits unless these guys don't produce or get hurt.

Watching Siembida I sure hope the coaches work on his tendency to go down right away. He's got a great glove hand but leaves too much room upstairs because he's down on the ice too quickly.

The area this team needs improvement in the most excluding goaltending is special teams. We stunk it up last year on the power play. We played with anyone in the country 5 on 5 but our downfall was goaltending and special teams. We need someone on the point  (schneider or Jones?) and we need someone who can stand in front of the net and not get moved out of the play like a Goren (Canady or Massen?)

[jk]

The fun part about projecting next year's lines is that, with Blais as coach, we all get to be right by about the third game of the year.  Although with Genoway sitting for three more games, it will take until the fourth game for all the possible line combos to see the ice.

I have lately been pondering:

Fournier, Bochenski, Lundbohm

Notermann, Hale, McMahon

Parise, Spiewak, Genoway

Fylling, Massen, Canady, Connelly

That is with no sense of who is a righty/lefty or a more natural center, but refer to my first sentence for my response.  I could also see a team with lines so balanced that it would be hard to tell which of the first three is the "first" line.

I really have no idea, though.  It should be fun.

[The Sicatoka]

Random thoughts:

To me the best UND lines were the ones that had all three factors:

Playmaker

Board grinder

Scorer.

Think about Ulmer, Goren, Bayda:

Jason Ulmer was the playmaker.

Ryan Bayda owned the boards.

Lee Goren scored.

Bayda got a lot of goals that year but they were mainly from three feet and were rebounds of Goren shots.

How about Panzer, Lundbohm, Bayda:

Panzer set it up.

Bayda ran the boards.

Whitey Lundbohm scored.

Why not go back to The Circus:

Hrkac set it all up.

Bob Joyce scored, but was strong enough to run the boards also.

Steve Johnson was great on the boards, however, later in his career became a playmaker.

The third guy on that line (Johnson, Parks, Bobyck) only had to not make mistakes.

Break this down and what do you need?

True playmaking centers, true goal scorers (with a preference to the stand in front and take the abuse variety), and a guy to dig the puck out and get it to the creative guy.

Now, think about each player and what they do. Rate each guy (on a 1 low, 5 hi scale) in those three areas: creativity, board ability, scoring ability. You need some of each on each line. And then throw in the other factor: chemistry (good luck at that).

It's hard going on second-hand knowledge of Genoway and Parise and not knowing how Fylling's game changed at Sioux Falls.

I'm pondering it now. It ain't easy.

[PCM]

I can imagine of some line combinations that I think would be effective. But I know that I'll just end up looking dumb when next season starts and Blais starts shuffling people around.

It would be fun to look back in old threads to see if anyone predicted the lines of Bayda/Ulmer/Goren, Bayda/Lundbohm/Panzer or even Bayda/Skarperud/Bochenski in their preseason analysis.

Gee, anyone notice the common thread in those lines? We're going to miss him.

[dagies]

It would be fun to look back in old threads to see if anyone predicted the lines of Bayda/Ulmer/Goren, Bayda/Lundbohm/Panzer or even Bayda/Skarperud/Bochenski in their preseason analysis.

I did.  

Prove me wrong...

[CAUNDfan]

Having looked at the schedule, I got 'em pegged to go about 25-10-3 next season, with a dominating season afterward in 2003-2004.  Thoughts?

[Goon]

25-10-2 would be a good record. I'll take it. I'd love to see a 30 win season but I am a realist.  I am sure that would proabably be good enough to make the playoffs too...

Blais will tinker with the line up, that is for sure. Anyone notice though he ussally keep Spiewak and Noterman together, I hope he does this season too. Well you can bet Blais will have those two guys killing penalties.

[PCM]

Dagies, I know you did. I just wanted to see if you were too humble to admit it.

[sprig]

25-10-2 would be a good record. I'll take it. I'd love to see a 30 win season but I am a realist.

[CAUNDfan]

The overall record pondered above includes a 16-9-3 WCHA record, which is not at all unacheivable.

[HKNTSMN]

26 would be a good # of wins and a good # for Captain too!

[PCM]

I said I wasn't going to make an predictions about line combinations for next season, but my daydreaming and Sicatoka's comments got the better of me. Here goes.

1st Line

Scorer: Brandon Bochenski

Corner man: Quinn Fylling

Playmaker: Chris Fournier

Prediction: Plays great! More Fylling! When Fournier and Bochenski are reunited, their USHL chemistry returns. Fylling

[dagies]

I kind of like it, though I am not sure I am as confident in Fylling in that role as you, on the first line.  I just don't know what he will be bringing next year.  I will say that I was impressed with his effort and his role in 2001.  That 4th line of Fylling, Oleary and Hasbargen played above their heads, IMO.  So maybe you are right there.

Also, I think McMahon is ready to step up higher than his 4th line role.  Just my impression and I am always SO right.  So maybe I would switch the 2 of them.  Not sure I would argue any of the other options you suggested.  Like jk said, at some point next year you are going to be right.

[ScottM]

I think I would move Spiewak to the first line, in place of Fylling.

[Speez]

CAUNDfan,

I wouldn't write off the 2002-03 season just yet. I think the team has a lot of payback to make up for from last year.

With a year of experience for the frosh & getting to know what it takes to play & win in the WCHA, next year should be exciting.

I can't wait.

[YaneA]

I've stayed out of this discussion because I'm not as hockey savvy as the rest of you guys and didn't want to

put my ignorance on public display.

[PCM]

I really like Canady and McMahon. I agree that it doesn't seem right to put them on the fourth line. On the other hand, if those two guys are on the fourth line, it's because some other players are doing very well, which gives the Sioux one heck of a fourth line.

Massen played most of last season with a bum knee. Despite that, I saw him do some things that demonstrated his potential. Maybe it's not saying much, but he was simply awesome against Michigan Tech. I also remember his breakaway goal that Blais said very few forwards in the WCHA could have scored. A healthy Massen teamed with a playmaker like Parise and corner man like Lundbohm might make a good combo.

[dagies]

I've stayed out of this discussion because I'm not as hockey savvy as the rest of you guys

Ok, I know YaneA's not including me here.  

[dagies]

I really like Canady and McMahon. I agree that it doesn't seem right to put them on the fourth line. On the other hand, if those two guys are on the fourth line, it's because some other players are doing very well, which gives the Sioux one heck of a fourth line.

Massen played most of last season with a bum knee. Despite that, I saw him do some things that demonstrated his potential. Maybe it's not saying much, but he was simply awesome against Michigan Tech. I also remember his breakaway goal that Blais said very few forwards in the WCHA could have scored. A healthy Massen teamed with a playmaker like Parise and corner man like Lundbohm might make a good combo.

[CAUNDfan]

CAUNDfan,

I wouldn't write off the 2002-03 season just yet. I think the team has a lot of payback to make up for from last year.

I'm with you on that, Speez.  Last season was a brutal lesson for the freshmen and the rest of the team, too.  I can only hope that they are working that much harder in the offseason because of it.

If this team plays to it's potential, it could be better than Minnesota or anyone else.  However, the balance of players is still lopsidedly young.  We're going to have to have 3 or 4 Soph's with "break-out" seasons in order to do really well.

My predictions for "break-out" soph's:

McMahon

Fournier

Massen??

Other players with big y-o-y improvement in scoring (hopefully):

Lundbohm

Spiewak

Notermann

R. Hale

Pretty much all of these things have to occur for the Sioux to challenge, but hey...why not!

[jk]

OK, How about this perspective:  What line will each forward play on?

Example:  Spiewak Somewhere between line 1 and 3

Spiewak     1-3

Notermann  2-3

Hale           2-3

Lundbohm   1-3

Fournier      1-3

Bochenski   1-3

Canady       2-4

Connelly      3-4

Massen       1-4

McMahon    1-3

Fylling         2-4

Parise         1-3

Genoway     2-4

Faul              4

Palmiscno       4

B. Connelly     4

Looking back at my list, I'm not sure I completely agree with it, but... oh, well.

I guess what this and the many possible line combinations suggest is that the Sioux have a lot of quality forwards, many with the potential to play on the top lines.  The $64,000 question is which of them will develop sufficiently to become stars to be feared when they're on the ice - like Blake and Goren and Panzer, and, from the other side, Pohl and Taffe this year.  It should be fun to watch.