Guesstimate the lineup!

[OETKB]

I know it is just guesswork at this point, but why not take a shot at what the Sioux will look like in personnel pairings?

My humble prostidigitation:

Hale - Parise - Bochenski

Prpich - Spiewak - Notermann

Lundbohm - Fournier - Massen

Canady - Genoway/Palmiscno - McMahon/Fylling

[ScottM]

Hale-Spiewak-Bochenksi (Hale has a breakout year, and Bochenski takes skating lessons.  Spiewak wears a C. )

McMahon-Parise-Canady (McMahon continues to develop and Parise gets into his groove by December.  Canady is resident enforcer and set up guy.)

Lundbohm-Notermann-Fylling (Lundbohm gets his chance, again.  Notermann will probably see improvement in his game.  Fylling puts his USHL experience to use.)

Prpich-Fournier-Genoway-Massen-Connelly (Prpich, Massen and Genoway bring their "lunch buckets" and introduce other teams to the boards and turnovers.  Fournier has a chance to shine.  Connelly may sit in favor of Prpich.)

Defense:

Hale Jones

Fuher Greene

Schneider Marvin

Bubble boys:  Palminsco; Leinweber, maybe room for Fournier.

Then again, I could be wrong.  

[The Sicatoka]

Somewhere back in here, http://siouxsports.com/cgi-bin....1;t=202 , I made the following comments:

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.

I'm still pondering and it still ain't easy.

[dagies]

It certainly ain't easy because I am leaving guys sitting on the bench that I don't want to leave on the bench.

I don't have a 1-2-3-4 line set because I don't know which of the first 3 at least lines might be the best.  So I will just list the lines and then Coach can put them out in whatever order he feels appropriate.  

Genoway        Spiewak        McMahon

(Hoping that Genoway can score, Spiewak is the speedy set-up man, and McMahon uses his grit and developing offensive skills in a dangerous combination.  I bite the bullet and break up the dreaded Spiewak/Notermann combo)

Bochenski       Fournier       Lundbohm

(I just like Fournier and Bochenski together too much to break them up for now.  Lundbohm provides additional grit and hopefully becomes the "captain" of that line.  Bo and Fournier need a steady upperclassman who can skate to provide backchecking assistance and leadership)

Massen         Parise          Hale

(My attempt to jump start Massen.  Try him with Hale and Parise to start the year and see if he can put it together.  Parise to make plays, Massen to finish, Hale to control the puck and again provide a steadying influence and leadership on the line)

Canady       Fylling         Notermann

This line could outwork anyone in the WCHA.  Fylling and Notermann can make up for Canady's slower skating.  Fylling provides strong effort, speed and offense, Notermann the same, Canady provides additional physical play)

I see Prpich and Canady as almost interchangeable.  Some offensive capability, good size, and real physical.  Might alternate sitting.  I hate to keep Connelly on the bench as he is, IMO, a clone of Spiewak/Notermann.  Speedy and long on effort.  Plays bigger than he is.  And it's great to see speed on the ice.  Sioux can use more of it.  Palmiscno just seems outclassed by the rest.

Schneider - Jones

Hale - Greene

Fuher - Leinweber

Marvin

Brandt and Siembida duke it out in goal.  Both alternate a majority of the season.

[OETKB]

I see Prpich and Canady as almost interchangeable.

[sprig]

One thing for sure, when you try to figure out which forwards to leave off the 4 line list, it's apparent that there will be major competition for ice time. Should be a good thing. Not much taking a night off when you get the chance to play.

[forecheck]

I've been way too busy this summer to think about hockey much but I'll give it a shot.

Like dagies, I'm going to wuss out and put these lines in no particular order.

[dagies]

I was curious who shoots righty and lefty and which position they played to consider for these line combos so I watched pieces of a couple of last years games and got this info from the tapes.

[The Sicatoka]

Pssssst, dagies, ..... NHL CSB says Parise shoots left. Otherwise, I agree with the rest.

[dagies]

Pssssst, dagies, ..... NHL CSB says Parise shoots left. Otherwise, I agree with the rest.

Thanks, I'll believe CSB over Heisenberg and since I only watched Parise once last year and can't remember which way he shoots (boy, my scouting skills are lagging

[U2Bad1]

forecheck, i like those lines. If it were my list i would put massen in place of connely. I think massen showed much more promise than connely.

[The Sicatoka]

Just random ramblings, and I'm sure most of these won't meet my own past thoughts/criteria:

Fournier and Bochenski were a force in Lincoln two years ago. What I perceive them to lack is the grinder mindset. My first pick would be, based on numbers, either Fylling or Prpich or Canady, because you'll need a guy who can agitate and pick up their cheap points too.

Spiewak and Notermann have a natural synchronism. Spiewak loves to pass and Notes loves to hit pipes. Put someone out there that has what they don't: size and a more of a scorers touch. James Massen needs to become their "third." He did it with Skarp and Bayda when Bochenski wasn't there. He'd get a lot of points trailing them down the rink and picking up their garbage, plus he's strong enough to take care of himself if either sends him away with a pick and a long pass.

Parise is going to need some time to adjust. All freshmen do. He's also going to be a marked man. I'm thinking let him adjust on the left wing at the start. I'm also thinking personal escorts and body guards. McMahon (at center) and Ryan Hale could do that. And if either of those two aren't available for whatever reason, I'd have Canady and Prpich ready. Oh, did I mention I'd like to see Schneider and David Hale out with him also?

Beyond that? Who knows. We'll all probably be surprised by what we see.

The beauty-part of all this? We'll ALL be right at some point in the season the way Coach Blais bounces his lines whenever he feels he needs to.  

[dagies]

Now that I have had a chance to review the righty-left situation I am going to take another crack at this.  In fact, I am going to throw out 2 different scenarios depending on how some players earn or lose their chance to play from game to game.  After all the hard work we are doing for Coach this summer, this next year is going to be a breeze for him.  

(lines are in no particular order)

Left Wing               Center                  Right Wing

Fylling-R                Spiewak-L              Lundbohm-R

The lefty Spiewak throws to the righty Lundbohm.  This is Spiewak's line to run and Lundbohm's chance to showcase.  The hardworking Fylling adds tenacity and effort, even though he is playing the off hand.  This is ok as the speedy Spiewak will be setting up Fylling from behind the net, and playing the off hand will give Quinn better shooting angles.  This line is balanced offensively and defensively, and is very effective overall

R Hale-R                 Parise-L                  Massen-R

This is Massen's chance to break out.  The righty Massen receives from the left Parise.  This is a young line, so Hale plays the off-hand wing to provide leadership and a physical presence to help protect "The Bullseye" Parise.  Hale's ability to control the puck and work the boards and Parise ability to see the ice and make plays compliments both Hale and Massen and plays to their strengths.  This line should be very strong offensively, and solid defensively with Hale and Parise.

McMahon-R              Fournier-L             Bochenski-R

I bet you have figured it out haven't you.  I can't break up Fournier and Bochenski, and the lefty Fournier is throwing to the righty Bochenski.  The hard-nosed and skilled McMahon, like R Hale and Fylling, can adapt his game to play the off-wing providing the physical presence this line needs, along with some strong 2-way play.  This line will be overbalanced offensively, and needs a strong core of stay-at-home defensemen to balance it.  

Notermann-L             Genoway-R           Canady-R

Hey, what's going on here?  A righty center?  We'll have to put a lefty wing with him that can throw the puck at the net.  Yep, here's Notermann's chance collect all the goals the posts have cheated him out of the last 3 years.  Canady provides a gritty, physical presence that compliments Notermann's speed.  This line will probably be stronger defensively than offensively, but opponents will not be able to take them for granted because they will score.  This represents my thoughts that Genoway did not sit out a year for nothing, that he can play some and will show it.

Prpich-L                Connelly-L                Palmiscno-L

These guys bust their butts and make the other 12 earn their spots.  They will not be on the bench all season, they are too good.  Palmo is the one I most worry about.  I just think it will be tough for him to earn time this year.  Below is what happens when a couple of these guys earn their way on the ice for Sat night:

Notermann-L          Spiewak-L                R Hale-R

Notermann and Spiewak are reunited, and along with R Hale they will provide a dominating line that no one score against, and generates scoring chances.  Hale basically takes over where Bayda left off with the corner play, strength on the puck, etc.  Notermann provides support and Spiewak sets 'em up.

Fylling-R                 Parise-L                Lundbohm-R

Lundbohm is the centerpiece of this line, his chance to really show his stuff receiving from Parise.  The hard working Fylling provides speed and physical play to complement Parise and Lundbohm.  This line is balanced offensively and defensively and Lundbohm has a chance to shine.

Connelly-L              Fournier-L             Bochenski-R

This time the line adds the speed of Connelly over the physical play of McMahon.  The line is not real physical, though Connelly plays bigger than he is.  He's just not that big. But Connelly's speed creates opportunities.  Fournier will utilize Connelly's speed and Bochenski will pick up the sloppy seconds when Connelly can't convert.  Connelly's speed with help to recover when the line gets caught too deep.  Again, this line wants a core of solid D-men to back them up.

Prpich-L              Genoway-R             McMahon-R

Anybody want to watch a line that has fun together?  Prpich is not a scoring machine but gets his chances receiving from Genoway.  Prpich gets to play because he and Canady are so similar and today we go with another left shooting wing to balance things out again.  McMahon is back to his natural wing position and Prpich and McMahon have a blast playing together and want everyone to know it.  Genoway is the recipient of all the energy and chaos created with McMahon and Prpich hitting everything in site.  If Prpich can stay on the ice long enough, it is possible other teams might just refuse to come on the ice against these guys.  A balanced offensive and defensive threat is this line

Canady-R        Palmiscno-R           Massen-R

These guys sit and wait for Monday's practice and try to earn their spots back.

[SiouxperFan]

I think you  are all putting toooo much hope in Fylling.  Remember he could barely crack the line up as a freshman, and then he went "back" to  juniors and did not do as well as most of our incoming freshmen did when they were in juniors and he had already had a year of college experience!!!!  Our sophmores now, cracked the lineup all last season and got a lot of experience at the  college level.  Connelly, Fylling, Palmo, and Genoway are going to have to work to get in the line up.

That group of freshmen have a bad taste and they want to change the way things turned out last year.  I look for a " new and improved team" this fall.

I can hardly wait.

[OETKB]

While I agree Fylling may be in the "competition for ice time" bubble, I don't think it is fair to say he did worse than some of the other soph's in the juniors.  I mean, he had 58 pts, including 25 goals, at Sioux Falls last season and won the team MVP award, as well as being named a USHL All Star.

IMO, he's in the same category as Canady/McMahon - super hard working with some offensive skills to match.  Of course, at 5'10" 170 lbs, he can't have the same physical impact, but the drive is there and he did manage to score 7 pts as a freshman at UND.

Anyway, I don't anticipate that anyone will be cut at the beginning of this season, as the roster is not quite as overloaded as last year.  If that is true, the competition for ice time will be fierce and that is a good thing.

[SockeyeSioux]

Canady-R

[dagies]

[Goon]

Connelly, Fylling, Palmo, and Genoway are going to have to work to get in the line up. That group of freshmen have a bad taste and they want to change the way things turned out last year.

[forecheck]

I think you

[The Sicatoka]

For the record: Canady played in 36 of 37 games last season.

Matt Jones was the only freshman to play in all 37. Canady, Bochenski, and McMahon were all at 36.

When I think of Fylling I think of the best pure skater on the 2001 team. Not the fastest, just the purest skater. What he didn't have was strength along the boards on those skates. If he fixed that he could be a lot of fun to watch.

[SockeyeSioux]

For the record: Canady dressed for all the regular season games. Yes, he missed the final game against Minnesota during the post season when he had his knee injured. Picky, picky, picky...

[OETKB]

One thing is for certain, a team could do a lot worse than to have "bubble" players (that have to compete hard for playing time) like Palmiscno, Fylling, Connelly, & Lienweber. UND has a luxury this coming season it hasn't had for a few years - a roster deep enough in talent to run 5 offensive lines successfuly. Blais could probably swap the 4th line each Saturday and not have it hurt the team much.

Ditto for the "backup" players on defense (Marvin/Leinweber) and in goal (Siembida/Brandt). Who dresses, there, anyway?

This years' team will be stronger in the experience department. We may not see a duo of players scoring in the high 40's like last season (or maybe we will), but I'm hoping we can have 9 or more players who score 20+ points.

[The Sicatoka]

Of the "second year" players, Fylling has more games than any (42). I suspect he'll work his way into the normal line-up.

[PHE]

I won't try to guess the lineups that Blaiser will use. Rather I'll offer up my predictions on post-season awards for the 2002-2003 Sioux team:

Craig Ludwig Award (Goalie's Best Friend)-Matt Jones. Jones is the guy I want on the ice when we have a one goal lead and with only a minute left in the game. I was very impressed at the strides he made from the beginning of last year to the final few series. He may not be as defensively strong as Mr. Ludwig nor as offensively gifted as Mr. Roche, but he'll be our top defenseman for the next few years. He'll be the next Scott Sandelin, which is a very good thing.

Tim Skarperud Award (Biggest increase in production)-James Masson for goals and Chris Fournier for assists. Until Bryan Lundbohm decided to turn pro after the 2000-2001 season, Masson was scheduled to play one more year in Sioux Falls. After a year of learning the ways of the WCHA Masson is ready to start scoring some goals. I think he goes from 5 to 18. Chris Fournier's production will increase when he's paired with Bochenski. They worked together well at the end of last season and hopefully that will carry over. I say he goes from 9 assists to 22.

Cary Eades Award (Blood & Guts, Heart & Soul)-Jason Notermann. A definite leader of this year's team, Notes plays all out every time he's on the ice. The younger guys should watch and learn. Hopefully he hits more net than iron this year. Should wear a "C".

Landon Wilson Award (Most Likely to End Up in Coaches's Doghouse)-Brandon Bochenski. I don't know why but it just feels like he's going to have an off year. Maybe it's the dumb penalties, maybe it's the increased focus he'll see from the opposition, maybe it the lack of hustle on the defensive end. Something tells me that Blaiser will sit him a few games. I hope I'm wrong.

Doug Smail Award (Speed and Hustle)-Kevin Spiewak. Spiewak's strengths are two of my favorite qualities in a college hockey player-lightning speed and 110% effort every shift. I love watching him. Speed-Wack will lead the forwards in ice time and will wear a "C". Team MVP.

Jim Archibald Award (PIM Leader, what else?)-David Hale. Hale replaces Schneider as the PIM leader. I'm not sure what happened last year but clearly he was not the same guy we saw as a freshman. Here's hoping that all of last year's demons (personal issues, injuries, illnesses, etc) are gone. I'm looking for DH to have a MONSTER year.

Troy Murray Award (Freshman Leads the Team in Scoring)-Zach Parise. Am I getting too caught up in all the hype? Perhaps. Is he's too short, too inexperienced, too much a target, too light? Maybe. I do know that the kid is special. I've read, heard and seen enough that convinces me that he will be a difference-maker early on. Contrary to most prognostications, I think he'll produce right away and by Christmas he'll be centering the first line. I don't see Blaiser holding him back in order to ease his transition to WCHA-style hockey. He won't come anywhere close to Troy Murray's freshman total of 78 pts but he'll get 48 and lead the team.

Did I miss any awards?

[OETKB]

48 as a freshman, huh? I hope you are right!

I was hoping for half of that. If he truly is talented enought to center the top line, but Fournier is teamed with Bochenski, who is on the top line?

I'll get a line combo out of you, yet.