Sioux/UAA series

[kr]

To belabor the point about the players sticking up for each other..... ZP and other players can take care of themselves (for example: ZP isn't afraid to get physical) but if an opponent does something cheap/dangerous, one of the "bigger" Sioux players is going to be in their face right away - it's pretty straight forward. I'm not a big one for fighting, but I was d@rn glad to see Greene go at it RIGHT away, and no one else on the Seawolves "went" after ZP after that. And any opponent stupid enough to go after someone when Andy S. is on the ice needs some sense beat into them, and he's just the one to do it.

James Massen looked very strong last night - not to put pressure on the guy, but he looks like he's in the mold of a Lee Goren, stong on his skates, physical, nice speed and a good shot.

Unlike last year UND players aren't getting "knocked" off the puck. The team looks tough and strong.

ZP might not have had his best game on Friday/last night, but with under 5 minutes left in the 3rd period, with a decent lead, who was the UND player who went down and blocked a shot out at the point? It was ZP, he is such a gamer.

Notermann - what can be said, can we just call him "Motormann" 'cause he is all over stirring the pot... UND does have good leadership from the seniors.... JN, KS and CL all looked good last night.

I agree about the shots on net being questionable - prior to UAA's first goal, UAA had 2 shots on goal, after their 1st goal there were still on "2" shots on goal on the scoreboard..... maybe that was changed later. Regardless, the defense did limit the number of shots UAA and did a good job.

3 of the goalies were out during warm-ups.... I was late, but I think the 3 were Siembida (who played), Brandt and Sofie.

For UAA their #82, Curtis Glencross a freshman, impressed me. Strong player, to me he seemed to play bigger than he actually is. The goaltender, Kevin Reiter, was good too, but his clearing attempt which resulted in Rory McMahon's goal was soooo ill-advised. Props to Rory for making a really good play - it's all about hustle.

The best thing is that the team is winning the games it should win. It might not be a "pretty" win but after last year, ugly wins are way better then pretty and/or ugly losses.

[forecheck]

3 of the goalies were out during warm-ups.... I was late, but I think the 3 were Siembida (who played), Brandt and Sofie.

For UAA their #82, Curtis Glencross a freshman, impressed me. Strong player, to me he seemed to play bigger than he actually is. The goaltender, Kevin Reiter, was good too, but his clearing attempt which resulted in Rory McMahon's goal was soooo ill-advised. Props to Rory for making a really good play - it's all about hustle.

Actually, it was Siembida, Ranfranz, and Sofie who dressed for goalies last night. Brandt was in the stands.

Reiter definitely made a bad clearing pass, but he also didn't have much of a chance to do anything else....Spiewak was racing right toward him, giving him a split second to react. It was a good hustle by Spiewak to force a turnover, and a good hustle by McMahon to get into the zone and glove down the clearing attempt. Let's hope the team finishes on more of these great scoring chances tonight!

[kr]

Thanks forecheck --- I just assumed that it was JB and not MR as one of the three...... Did you hear who'd be in goal tonight for UND?

[dagies]

Sounds like the Sioux ran into the Great Wall of China again tonite. Reiter really played well and stoned numerous good chances. Good thing the guys found a way to win.

Again outshot the Seawolves pretty handily.

Blais was real happy with the play tonite. Said at no time did he feel in danger of losing this game with a 1-0 lead they way he was concerned last night with a 2 goal lead. He was that happy with the play. Blais was real impressed with Reiter.

Tim asked him about the number of bouncing pucks and Blais said last night they questioned whether the pucks were frozen but that they freeze them themselves so knew they had been.

Said Brandt did a good job tonite. Did some real subtle things with the stick that helped him out, i.e. pokechecking the puck, etc.

Said Robin Anderson came to the bench and apologized for having to call off that goal. Said he just lost site of the puck and had to blow the whistle but realized it was the wrong call and admitted it. Blais said Anderson had a real good weekend, even with the calls on the Sioux players, they were all penalties.

Brandt was also interviewed and I was real impressed with him. Really up front with his own frustrations with his play, and took responsibility for it. Said that it is hard when you face only so many shots a game but that he is really working to maintain his focus now, so he can be ready when he needs to make a save. Was pretty critical of his play. Seemed like a great kid.

Sioux had 34? shots to 22 for AA.

Bring out the brooms at the REA!

[U2Bad1]

I keep thinking that the sioux one of these days are going to run into a poor goaltender and light up the lamp until the light burns out.

[sprig]

Revenge weekend one completed; on to another.

[forecheck]

Great weekend for the team! Spiewak made a beautiful deke for tonight's only goal (that counted). Glad his parents got to see him score, since they can't make it to too many games. Too bad for Parise that Anderson screwed up on his goal, since this is the first college series his parents got to see as well.

Reiter played amazing tonight, but Brandt impressed me too. I think that has been his best game so far this year. Part 2 of the revenge tour is coming up next week with Wisconsin. Can't wait!

[PCM]

Even though he didn't score a point, Jason Notermann was on fire tonight. Blais said after that game that for the past four games, Jason has been rated as UND's top forward, even above Parise.

Brandt's performance in goal gives me hope that the Sioux will eventually find someone who's the go-to guy. If that happens, the Sioux wil be scary good.

Addendum: My recap of the second game with UAA is posted on the USCHO Web site. Be sure to read John Hill's comments about Parise near the end.

[U2Bad1]

"scary good?" I like that thought of that , but it irks me whenever the gopher fans use that phrase about their team when they get potulny, waibel and tallackson back.

Brandt played solid tonight, he definitely had to be the star of the game. He wasn't challenged a whole lot, but he made the saves that a lot of times siembida and himself havent been making lately.

Notermann is so unreal, he hasn't lit the lamp excessively this year, but how about that move in the third period? If he would have scored on that, it would probably count as the best goal i have ever seen scored in person.

Hopefully the sioux can continue their phenomenal defensive play next week against Wisconsin. GO SIOUX!

[U2Bad1]

Just read hill's quote, very funny stuff! During the game, when parise had the break away i thought that the goalie just made an awesome save. In reality, somebody who watched the game on tv told me he hit the pipe. Is this true??

[sprig]

Hennesey said the goalie was beat but the shot hit the outside of the net.

[Schmitzzz]

I didn't get to watch/listen to the game... what kind of game did AA play? Were they playing that boaring trap like the old days or did it seem they were trying to take some chances defensively to generate some offense?

Not too worried about ZP not getting any points this weekend... seems this team is deeper than other fans (and coaches) gave them credit for. They are focusing on stopping Zach right now, but soon the league will realize that the Sioux have many scoring threats and perhaps they should pay attention to them as well. This will help open things up for ZP. Seems to me our friends down I-95 have more of a depth issue than the Sioux.

[PCM]

During the game, when parise had the break away i thought that the goalie just made an awesome save. In reality, somebody who watched the game on tv told me he hit the pipe. Is this true??

According to the official score sheet, Parise indeed hit the pipe, which is what I saw.

[PCM]

I didn't get to watch/listen to the game... what kind of game did AA play?

Kevin Spiewak described UAA's defensive scheme as a neutral zone trap that gave some of the younger players problems. Defensively, particularly Saturday night, I thought UAA looked good. They blocked a lot of shots and clogged up the passing lanes well. When the Sioux got good opportunities, Reiter made big saves.

The score sheets for the series show the Sioux hitting 6 pipes -- three each night. The God of Lucky Bounces was smiling on UAA this weekend.

Even though the Sioux have scored just 11 goals in the last 4 games, Blais said he isn't worried about the offense. He thinks the forwards are generating plenty of good scoring opportunities. If he thought scoring was problem, they'd be playing a more defensive style, and they're not.

The good news is that even though the Sioux in general and Parise in particular are scoring less, they're still winning because players like Spiewak, R. Hale and McMahon are chipping in goals.

[ScottM]

I agree that if people focus too much on Parise, it could cost them. What is nice though, as this focus allows guys like Spiewak, McMahon and Notermann to score or set up a goal. I think the better teams will know you can't focus just on Parise, but you do have to keep an eye on him.

[Schmitzzz]

Seems to me our friends down I-95 have more of a depth issue than the Sioux.

I, of course, meant I-94. We can worry about I-95 in March and April.

[Goon]

This will help open things up for ZP. Seems to me our friends down I-95 have more of a depth issue than the Sioux.

So are we referring to buddies in Mpls, or Boston

He,he,he... Thats ok, the rubes in New York think Cornell has a decent hockey team too. Yesh

Defensively UND looks really good, even though some claim that we don't have a defenseman that can hanble the puck, sure we don't have a Travis Roach, but we look pretty damb good, in fact i believe that the UND defensive core is more solid than 2000 crew, no kidding, and no I am not drunk either. If you look at these players below, Sneaks and Mazurak couldn't hold any of the following players jocks...

Everyone talks about Zack staying all four years, I think it is going to be tough to Keeping all four of our solid defensemen for four years.

Andy Schider is an awesome puck handler and a great defensemanand he can check great. Definately has the potential to play in the NHL. Mean streak and can hold his own... In 11 games he has 3 g's 8a's for 11 points. Good for a point a game.

Matt Greene is a Commodore type player with a better up side, Matt skates better than Commodore. He also doesn't have the folk hero following yet. The UAA Rube that he challenged for a fight after he cheaped Zack wanted nothing to do with him.

Matt Jones played solid all season and definately is a good defensive player. Great stay at home defenseman.

David Hale was crushing people and playing great solid defense. I love when he plays defense with the crash line of Cannady, Genoway and Prpich. They thump people...

Fuher looked really good and is not affraid to pound anyone that get near Zack.

[jk]

Back from the "Grand Cities," after my first look at this version of the Sioux. I can be a big homer, so sometimes I see too much of the good and go into denial about the bad. (I thought they looked pretty good when they lost 7-3 to SCSU.) For instance, I should be concerned about the lack of finishing. But even that doesn't bother me; if a team works as hard as the Sioux did this weekend, the goals will come. It's also worth noting that the opponent was a pretty badly outmatched UAA team, so maybe that should temper my enthusiasm.

With those concerns noted, my initial opinion about this Sioux team is: WOW. They looked fabulous. This was the most lopsided 4-2, 1-0 sweep in history. All four lines worked and worked all weekend long, and the defense was stifling. I guess they eventually have to score more to prove that all is well, but my concerns about scoring depth are gone after watching the team. On Friday, the third and fourth lines may have applied the most consistent pressure, even though the top lines definitely had their chances. I have to laugh now when people think this is a one-line team, like the last few years. This year's second and third lines are better than the second line on either of the last two teams, even though the second line two years ago (Spiewak, Notermann and Lundbohm) played great down the stretch. I have no problem seeing any of the top three lines out against anyone, which is different from last year, when it seemed like the freshmen needed matchup protection.

More impressive than the forwards, who I really like, are the defensemen. When UAA tried to go wide, whichever defensemen happened to be there stapled the opponent into the sideboards. Even a lot of the rushes up the middle ended up with someone getting drilled into the side or end boards. Did anyone get beat wide all weekend? I didn't see it, but I didn't have a good view of the other end of the rink. I would love to hear what all the pro scouts showing up to watch Parise think of the Sioux defense, because I was impressed. Someone mentioned somewhere their concern about the defensemen leaving early. I agree. Hale, Jones and Greene will all be pretty big early departure risks.

After Friday's game, I commented that I was pleased the Sioux didn't have Wisconsin's Heatley syndrome, where everyone stood around waiting for Dany to do it. One of the advantages of having a hungry scorer like Bochenski on the same line is that he's not going to watch anyone do anything. Goal scorers have a selfish streak by nature - they want to put the puck in the net - so I like that Bochenski wants the puck and wants to score. By the end of the weekend, though, I thought the Sioux were trying too hard to get the puck to Zach. The PP point men love to fake the shot, then pass it to Zach down low to the right of the net. But if you try it every time, the other team has an idea that it's coming.

It's been kind of shocking to see Blais stick with his line combos so consistently; I hope Dean's feeling OK. He put Spiewak in Fylling's spot Saturday against SCSU, and Notermann there Saturday against UAA. But other than that, the same combos have been going out game after game. I noticed that sometimes he spotted Fylling or Prpich into lines after Notermann or Spiewak had just finished a PK shift.

Notermann, Fylling and Parise have got to just be dying to see the red light go on. Notermann looked great. Friday he had the play where his shot went through Reiter, only to have Reiter dive backward and knock the bouncing puck away just before it crossed the line. Shortly after that, he had the rebound of the Massen shot (Massen made a gorgeous move on the left-hand side to get to the middle and take the shot - the kind of move that makes him an early-departure risk as well) that Reiter somehow got his glove on. Then Saturday he had the breakaway where he got hauled down - penalty shot? - and that stunning shorthanded rush - spin-o-rama at the blueline to lose one guy, then deke the next guy to get the shot off. After all that, he's due.

I can't get on Fylling's case about all his missed chances, because you don't get those chances by accident. He had to be fast enough and see the play well enough to get those breakaways and open chances, and they will eventually go in. The one I can knock him on is the 3-0; when you're in with two of the top snipers in the country, move the puck over to one of them to pick a spot. They weren't even close to being in too deep yet.

I'll post this now so I don't lose it.

[The Sicatoka]

Not to pat myself on the back too much (which means I'm about to), I must admit that I called it on Saturday night.

Right after Spiewak put the big-time "How's she goin'!"

[choyt3]

Not to pat myself on the back too much (which means I'm about to), I must admit that I called it on Saturday night.

Not bad for a knucklehead.

[jk]

I've now watched three games, Friday against SCSU, and two against UAA. I've yet to see Parise tally a point. I'll stop watching now so he can get back to business. It seems to me that Zach shows flashes of brilliance, but, given his size, he won't be ready to move on after this year. Still, he was fun to watch. One of the neatest things for me to see, more than once, was his pursuit of a loose puck in the corner. For me, it was complete deja vu for the former number 17, and it went like this: See the loose puck, and skate to the open spot where it's going to end up. As soon as your set your body in motion to get to that spot first, it's "head up" and looking in all directions to see where to go with it when you get there.

Impressions of other players: Bochenski seemed to struggle a little Saturday, but he is faster this year. Lundbohm, Massen and Fylling worked the offensive zone for a while Saturday like they were on the PP. Lundbohm looks faster also. Massen is locked in a battle for most-improved honors with Notermann and Fylling. It looks like he's getting more comfortable, his effort looks more consistent, and his talent seems to be shining through as a result. Spiewak called his Saturday goal-scoring move lucky, but it was beautiful. I thought he had a nice puck-control game Saturday, better than Friday. That line, with McMahon and Hale, makes just as many nice, short passes as the first two. The puck movement is really impressive, and it will pay off for the team down the stretch.

Even the fourth line moved the puck well. I thought Prpich looked out of place against SCSU, but he looked much better against UAA. (Perhaps that says something about SCSU and UAA.) He was really drilling people late in the game Saturday. I've said it over and over, but Canady can fly. He must be one of the fastest guys on the team. He needs to work on play-making at high speed, but the guy was winning foot-races to the puck all weekend long. I saw some of the good and bad from Genoway. He made a really nice touch pass on a rush, and I was asking "who was that?", and some other nice offensive plays that required vision and touch. I also saw him get muscled off the puck more than once. I think he may not be strong enough right now, which is reminiscent of some freshmen last year. By contrast, more than once I saw Fylling muscle an opponent off the puck in the neutral zone; he has matured physically.

From what I saw, the Sioux committed hardly any "dumb" penalties. UAA's first goal on Friday came on the 5-3 that resulted from Greene sticking up for Parise. I have no problem with that. I didn't see what Hale did to get called on Saturday, but when a UAA forward is laying on the ice in front of Brandt, and Hale is standing over him, I consider that a good penalty. I continue to really enjoy watching Jones play. He wins races to the puck, preventing the other team from getting the forecheck going. Also, when he decides to pressure someone on the PK, he doesn't do it halfway. He goes after the guy with gusto. Physically punishing. Leinweber played a nice defensive game; I wish he had another year. Not only are the Sioux fresh in the third from rolling four lines, but also from rotating six defensemen.

Brandt looked solid. I don't fault Siembida for the goals, but he looked shaky when the puck was bouncing around in his end. I just didn't feel very confident with him in there.

Overall, the team looks solid. Good defensively, and dangerous offensively. Fun to watch. I felt like they used up a month of bad puck luck and still got four points. If they were to advance far nationally this year, I wouldn't be surprised. They will need good-to-great goaltending to get there, though, because the attacking style of play that is so easy to cheer for does yield chances the other way. (See the loss to SCSU). One of the best impressions I left with is that the team played hard for six periods, shift after shift. That's really easy to cheer for.

[dagies]

jk, Blais better get on the recruiting trail because you've got most of our guys gone early!!!

Don't forget Fuher in your "most improved" list. I think he is up there too.

Your report is exciting. Can't wait till I get to finally see the team live myself.

[PCM]

"scary good?" I like that thought of that , but it irks me whenever the gopher fans use that phrase about their team when they get potulny, waibel and tallackson back.

Okay, maybe we need to copyright our own phrase. How about "alarmingly excellent?"

[forecheck]

Okay, maybe we need to copyright our own phrase. How about "alarmingly excellent?"

Goose-bumpy good?

[U2Bad1]

Goose-bumpy good?

Orgasm inducing good.