NORTH DAKOTA vs. St Lawrence - FRIDAY Gameday

[Wilbur]

Thoughts:

~Good luck guessing who sits tomorrow night......lot of candidates.

~Nothing spectacular, but Cam was a steady force that made the breakaway save when it counted.

~The NCAA says every year...."we are cracking down on obstruction and especially that interference play by the d men...."  And every year.....by like game three....its back to normal.  

~Jones, Bowen, and Smith can play on any team I cheer for forever.  Constant effort, playing on the edge.  The look in Smith's face when he's out there battling gives me the impression that he cares a whole lot. 

~Got to get to the tough areas......they can say net front until they're blue in the face, but until it actually happens they aren't going to score 3 goals a game. 

[sioux hockey is the best]

Thoughts for me:

Cam was steady again we need him to grind out these wins

We need a better power play we've been saying this for years but it needs to happen we struggled tonight (what else is new) but the freshie puts one away for the W thats what matters got a W and not an L 2-0-1 to start the year. Good start for our guys 

This team will develop but its going to take some time we will be able to gel we are so deep at the foward spot my gosh overall i think we are solid just need to bury more opportunities 

[SiouxTupa]

There was a big lack of speed and intensity from our guys. StL could just sit back and pack it in, and did most of the night when they weren't obstructing. UND not moving feet and content to just reach with their sticks to get loose pucks. Need more jump tomorrow. As others have said, Cam looked great again. StL's goal was pretty fluky, but they had a few grade As thanks to bouncing pucks or sloppiness. 

[Irish]

We did not look good - Scoring by committee only works if you have people on the committee that can actually score.  We need to recruit some high-end studs and turn them loose.  Other teams get them - absolutely no reason we should have a whole team of grinders.  I'm not seeing much improvement from our returning skaters.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

Sit Gardner, play simo if he's healthy 

[Oxbow6]

This squad misses a true #1 center. A kid named Jost comes to mind. Heard he's pretty good.

[Oxbow6]

Jones Gersich and Adams tomorrow

[OgieOgilthorpe]

19 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

This squad misses a true #1 center. A kid named Jost comes to mind. Heard he's pretty good.

I just don't see Hoff there yet, nor anyone else so I agree. Gersich needs that support to play his game. He's not really a guy that does it all on his own very often 

[TrueSioux2000]

3 hours ago, Siouxhawkey said:

Und's passing and puck handling looks like something from my Sunday night men's league!!!!

I swear I've said this most games for the past year.  Their passing is soooooooo mediocre.  Crisp it up for me, one time! I need to hear that sweet sweet crack of the puck hitting the stick every pass like I need air to breathe.

[SiouxFan in DU Country]

My two cents is just play smarter hockey.  I think there is a bit of line chemistry that needs to happen which every team grows into - but there are a lot of fundamental hockey decisions being made right now that are not the correct decisions.

[MDtoGF]

My recap with thoughts for the rematch on saturday. 

https://seamoresports.com/2017/10/14/und-squeaks-past-st-lawrence-2-1-a-recap-and-thoughts-for-saturday/

[siouxfaninseattle]

I didn't see the first period but watched most of the second and third. I thought they looked out of sync, poor passing, couldn't get the puck out of their zone to another UND player, and just generally ran around with no cohesiveness. PP is just lousy. Tomorrow  night and the series against the goofs will set the tone for the rest of the first half. On the other hand they are 2-0-1. I can see this team getting it together in the second half much like teams in the past. Until then it might be a little hard to watch.

[Irish]

26 minutes ago, TrueSioux2000 said:

I swear I've said this most games for the past year.  Their passing is soooooooo mediocre.  Crisp it up for me, one time! I need to hear that sweet sweet crack of the puck hitting the stick every pass like I need air to breathe.

And enough trying to skate through people with the puck.

[Blackheart]

St Larry knows who Gersich is...they were on him like white on rice as he was getting manhandled all over the ice the entire game...Sioux better figure out a way to free him up as he is the #1 target for every opponent.

[burd]

All valid criticisms. 

I like that they found a way to win. 

[scpa0305]

56 minutes ago, burd said:

All valid criticisms. 

I like that they found a way to win. 

Agreed.  Again they didn't play that well but whatever they won.  Each game they should grow and play better with each other.  Hopefully berry gives them another shot together.

[SiouxForever]

It’s October, I expected a close game and saw early season hockey. 

Positives - the freshies and the team won. Can also played decent despite a lack of shots. 

Needs improvement - PP, passing, defensive possion/then transposition.  

Tonight I could see like a 4-2 game. 

[shep]

Really dull team right now. Jones plays hard; fast and intense on each shift. Thought Wolanin showed a presence on D. Cam was solid. Adams in spots was good.

Can't believe Olson and his "pulling a plow" skating is playing. NO Gardner or much from Gersich though.

REFS had a mediocre night. Both ways as in I thought they called things on us they shouldn't have and could have called a couple they missed, but also missed one or two on St L. But the BIG thing is the linesman and the face off. This is happening in every Blackhawk game I've watched too. It's like the guy with the puck figures it's his time to shine and dammit he's going to show everyone who's boss. In the NHL, they dick around so much on FO's that one game last week, I bet they kicked out a player in 75% of all FO's. 

We don't watch games for the Refs/Linesmen.

[southpaw]

7 hours ago, Irish said:

And enough trying to skate through people with the puck.

Yeah...  We need more dump and chase.  Fans here really liked that! 

[bigskyvikes]

13 minutes ago, southpaw said:

Yeah...  We need more dump and chase.  Fans here really liked that! 

Same thing I was thinking! 

[fightingsioux4life]

This is what most of us expected. Solid in goal. Solid on the blue line. Lots of growing pains up front. These guys have tons of speed and skill, but they have to learn how to use it at this level. The young guys also need to learn that you must bring it for 60 minutes, not 10 or 20 or 30, if you want to win games at this level. The line combos will figure themselves out.

Looking forward to tonight.

[fightingsioux4life]

9 hours ago, Irish said:

We did not look good - Scoring by committee only works if you have people on the committee that can actually score.  We need to recruit some high-end studs and turn them loose.  Other teams get them - absolutely no reason we should have a whole team of grinders.  I'm not seeing much improvement from our returning skaters.

You mean like BU's "Diaper Dandies" last year? The ones that have already left for the NHL or Major Juniors? I don't know if The John Calipari Method necessarily works in hockey.

It is too soon to judge this team. If they still are struggling to get pucks to the net around Christmas time, then I will start being concerned.

[Wilbur]

9 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Jones Gersich and Adams tomorrow

Yes.  And keep together Pogo-Rhett-Mismash.  Or you could make it a really heavy line and put Smith with Pogo and Rhett.  

I'd like to see Mismash play with Bowen at some point.  

[Snake]

I keep thinking of the football adage "If you've got two quarterbacks you've got zero quarterbacks."

I hope this year's "depth throughout the lineup" mantra doesn't end up meaning "zero legitimate scoring threats."

Its still early though. 

[yzerman19]

1 hour ago, shep said:

Really dull team right now. Jones plays hard; fast and intense on each shift. Thought Wolanin showed a presence on D. Cam was solid. Adams in spots was good.

Can't believe Olson and his "pulling a plow" skating is playing. NO Gardner or much from Gersich though.

REFS had a mediocre night. Both ways as in I thought they called things on us they shouldn't have and could have called a couple they missed, but also missed one or two on St L. But the BIG thing is the linesman and the face off. This is happening in every Blackhawk game I've watched too. It's like the guy with the puck figures it's his time to shine and dammit he's going to show everyone who's boss. In the NHL, they dick around so much on FO's that one game last week, I bet they kicked out a player in 75% of all FO's. 

We don't watch games for the Refs/Linesmen.

Toews has been very displeased with this.