dagies Posted October 2, 2002 Share Posted October 2, 2002 Nice article on the defensive corp in the Herald today: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/s...rts/4193128.htm Sounds like this will be an aggressive bunch. Even Hakstol admits the challenge will be keeping them out of the box. That will be even tougher considering Blais' comments on the WCHA cracking down on stick infractions. Time to practice those hip checks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kr Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Today while driving I happened across the PA and Dubay show on 1440 (they're the hosts of a Mpls sports talk show), I've "known" of them but I've never "listened" to them. They had a statement or two which were interesting to say the least. I'll preface this by saying that I did not hear the lead in to this but the gist of the statement was: Josh Siembida was the worst goalie last year (in the WCHA), he (I think it was Dubay talking??) couldn't grade Travis Weber or Justin Johnson as he didn't see them enough to judge 'em. I don't think anyone would dispute that Josh "fought" the puck a few times last year, however, the "worst comment" made me look up Glenn Mitzels's Part II: Return of the Netminders: Games played: (UND)JS 10; JB 7; (MN)JJohnson 5; TWeber 7 Save %: JS .897; JB .889; JJ .855; TW .840 Win %: JS .450; JB .200; JJ 1.00; TW .600 Out of all those stats, the most important, I thought, to the overall picture was wins, a category in which last year UND was definitely lacking in comparsion to MN. Why worry about how we compare to MN? Brian Canaday, in today's paper indicated that there is a feeling that UND can be/is a strong team that can compete with the MN and Denver, arguably the 2 strongest teams in the WCHA. (for the sake of this post/argument I'm only addressing defense/goal tending not offense or special teams) Barring an incredible turn of events/fortunes UND's goalies won't exceed what the Denver goalies accomplish in terms of save percentages. However, that thought can't be stated in regards to a comparsion of UND and MN goalies. And since PA and Dubay felt free to mention JS I thought that the MN goalies are open for debate. I think the most significant stat which Glenn complied is the shots faced by each goalie. JS 31.5/game; JB 36/game; JJ 28.6/game; TW 26.6/game. With UND's bigger defense (clogging up the front of the net) I'm hoping that the number of shots JS and JB face a game goes down significantly. If that happens I believe that the winning percentages for both JS and JB will go up quite a bit. Then I can call in to PA and Dubay and ask who's the worst goalie in the WCHA. (note: All the stats used were from the conference section of Glenn's work as the PA and Dubay comment was in regard to WCHA.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 Well there is no doubt that other than a couple of very good games Josh did not stand out last winter. However, he appears talented, and had big schools after him. Let's hope he can find a consistent solid game. And if not he, Jake Brandt. However, I think Dubay was coming from an understandably tainted perspective. Weber and Johnson both had some good and bad outings last year. From what I read on the internet (always accurate, right?) and from an interview with Wooger I heard on KFAN neither of the Gopher goalies look like world beaters right now either. To quote Woog, he said they both had "some swiss-cheese action" going during their intrasquad scrimmage last sat. Reality is it is very early in the season to worry too much about goaltender performance, though you would rather be hearing great things vs. average to poor things. Regardless, I don't think you can make a drastic distinction between Siembida and the Gopher goalies at this time. Could be Dubay turns out right. Could be he will be wrong. I think it is funny, though, that Dubay can claim Siemida was the WORST goalie in the league last year but hasn't seen enough of the gopher goalies to judge them. I wonder how many times he actually saw Josh play last year? Probably less than he saw his 2 boys.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kr Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 good points dagies..... and they/he definitely said "worst" 'cause that's what made me take notice of what they were saying. my only disclaimer is that since I'm not a listener and I came into the radio broadcast in the middle it could've "possibly" been a caller who said "worst" but from the conversation and listening to them talk I honestly believe it was a host/PA/Dubay who said the word "worst" ........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Funny..... I seem to remember the "worst goalie in the WCHA" stonewalling the Gophers for 2 games in Minneapolis the weekend after beating Michigan State in the GLI championship. I enjoy listening to PA and Dubay....they're very passionate about their teams, and about ripping other teams, so I wouldn't put it past them to call him "the worst." Siembida showed flashes last year that were encouraging. Consistency is key. Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDHockey Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Dubay says things to get a rise out of listeners of other teams. I don't think he often really believes some of the things he says about other teams but he knows it will get a reaction. kr just became a "sucker" of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kr Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 sucker....fished in...... that'd be me.... just call me "guppie" actually this was my attempt to post last year's SAVE percentages of those 4 and put in a subliminal dig.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 kr, don't feel that way. Regardless of whether or not Dubay was trolling he is still the enemy and should be held accountable for what he says if it turns out he was off base in the future. Besides, he believes he is more of an expert than he really is. Chumming along with players because you have a radio show doesn't make one a hockey expert. I like listening to PA and Dubay mostly but when they get on Gopher hockey I usually end up shaking my head. Hey, he's a fan and has a radio show so he's probably no worse than any of us. Wait a minute. HE'S THE WORST SPORTS SHOW HOST THERE IS! I just haven't evaluated the rest of the Sioux faithful enough to know....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kr Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 He did mention that Johnny Pohl and Jordan Leopold haven't bothered to return his phone calls! (could always tell those two boys had class) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 There are few things that Dubay dislikes more than UND hockey. He likes to rip the arena, UND's Canadian players, Ralph Engelstad, UND fans, Grand Forks and anything associated with Fighting Sioux hockey. He likes to refer to Engelstad as a Nazi. He still trys to convince listeners that most of UND's recruits are 23 year old freshmen. I have always thought that Jeff Dubay and "happy" are the same person. It wouldn't surprise me if Dubay was the person who took down Shane K's Fighting Sioux website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 I have always thought that Jeff Dubay and "happy" are the same person. It wouldn't surprise me if Dubay was the person who took down Shane K's Fighting Sioux website. Dubay's not bright enough to bring down a website, let alone figure out his new, Velcro shoes. Before Lucia brought Minnesota's program around again, he and the rest of the local "media" barely mentioned gopher puck in positive terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kr Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Speaking of "happy" - he was the one poster on uscho who really got my goat (the relentless digs at UND/ND/Canandians/the list goes on - just his overall obsession with the green team, ugh) - then during the time when the UND posters were taking a beating (regarding the name and new arena) happy came in and delivered a nice put-down to a bc poster - shocked the h@ll out of me - so since then I picture him as the Walter Matthau character from "Grumpy Old Men" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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