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Coaches show 11/20


U2Bad1

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First, get well, forecheck, so I don't have to do this again. ???

Second, U2Bad1, get a freakin' radio already! :angry:

I listened to the show while walking my dog. For the past two weeks, she has decided that she needed to go out when the show was on, preventing me from taking notes. I'll try to recount the show from memory, which is always dangerous.

Blais was pretty loose again. Dare I say squirrely? Some of his comments were quite funny, but I won't post them here because I don't want to provide bulletin board material for Sioux opponents. :p

Hennessy opened the show by mentioning that UAA goalie Kevin Reiter was WCHA defensive player of the week, even though the Sioux swept the Seawolves. He noted that last season, the Sioux made several WCHA goalies defensive players of the week in losses.

Blais said he was very impressed with Reiter and that he deserved the honor. He commented on how big Reiter was and how agile he is for his size.

They talked about the two games against UAA with Blais mentioning again that he never felt like they were in any danger of losing the Saturday game, even though it was a one-goal game. He thought both teams played better Saturday night, but that UND was clearly the better team.

Hennessy said Andy Schneider told him the games were almost boring at times because all the defensemen had to do was stand around and watch the forwards cycle the puck.

That led to a discussion about the Sioux defenseman. Blais said they had all been performing as well as he predicted before the season started. He credited the low number of shots on goal to the outstanding job by the defensemen.

Hennessy said he thought David Hale had a monster weekend and asked Blais what Hale's chances were of making All American. Blais said he thought that Hale might be one of the few defensemen to do it without putting up great offensive stats, especially if the Sioux win a national championship.

(I thought this was an interesting comment. It's the first time I've heard Blais mention the possiblity of a national title with this team.)

Blais said that he would rather have the type of defensive corps the Sioux have this year instead of defensemen who are good offensively, but play average defense. He said they are so physical that after a while, the other team's forwards don't want to come down the ice any more.

Overall, Blais is happy with the forwards, particularly Jason Notermann, who will probably be playing with Parise and Bochenski this weekend. He said that in the coaches' post-game ratings, Notermann has been at or near Parise's level the last several games. He is also happy with Mike Prpich, who's been playing with Ryan Hale and Rory McMahon. He likes the way Massen and Lundbohm play together, but didn't say who else would be on that line. (Fylling? Spiewak?)

Blais said he thinks the Sioux are much deeper and stronger at the center position. Last season, that was one of their weak points.

Despite Jake Brandt's shutout against UAA Saturday, Blais said he thinks the team will only go as far as the goalies take them. He said the reason Brandt played so well was because he spoke to his father who told him to keep it simple and try not to do too much. Right now, the plan against Wisconsin is to play Brandt one night and Siembida the other night, but Blais said that could change between now and Friday.

They talked quite a bit about Marc Ranfranz. Blais really likes his attitude and work ethic. He said that Marc had been playing very well in practice. Hennessy reminded him that this is third week in a row that he's said that.

The discussion turned to talk of team chemistry and how this season, the players like each other and hang out together. Last season, he said there were cliques between the classes, which wasn't good.

They actually didn't spend a lot of time talking about Wisconsin. Blais said he expects Eades' team to play a more disciplined style of hockey than Sauer's teams.

I probably left out some interesting comments. Others will fill in the gaps, I'm sure.

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Thanks PCM. As you know, those of us who are outside of the radio area can only get the coaches' show stuff here.

Thanks also for taking the arena reporter gig at USCHO. It's very cool to be able to log on there and get a recap of the games. Lord knows the Herald doesn't do much online. This year there are more stories than last, but the coverage is still sparse.

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Thanks also for taking the arena reporter gig at USCHO.

You're very welcome. It's such a fun job that I don't think anyone needs to thank me for doing it. :angry: Now if only it paid something....

After saying that I couldn't take pictures and cover games at the same time, USCHO now wants me to try shooting some pictures for them. I'm going to give it a try to see how it goes. With any luck, there will be a photo or two to go along with my recaps starting this weekend.

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I'm groggy and struggling to swallow my own spit right now ....

Either you need to go to Stupid, I mean STUDENT Health, or you need to stop going on Al Pearson's bus trips. :p:angry:

I believe the statement by 'forecheck' just might be the definition of "way too much information." ???

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One thing I fogot to mention from last night's show is that Hennessy asked Blais about Tyler Palmiscno. Blais said that Tyler had been cleared to play again, but when he tried practicing yesterday, his headache came back. They don't know how long it will take him to recover. Blais sounded very concerned.

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Lord knows the Herald doesn't do much online. This year there are more stories than last, but the coverage is still sparse.

I was actually reading an interesting article about how Knight Ridder forces all of it's newspapers to have that (less than innovative) web design.

The Herald has great coverage of the local sports in the print edition, but I think that web design and the processes behind it prevent all of the sports stories from easily reaching us over the Internet. For example, photos would be great (though at least we still have PCM).

It's a decent article if one cares about the business side of news delivery:

http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/prin...3,44495,FF.html

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I always look forward to reading Ice Time in Friday's Herald. Virg Foss does a great job with that page. I wonder how many other newspapers with college hockey teams provide that much game day coverage? It is a shame that people can't access it online.

Before Knight Ridder forced all its newspapers into that horrid Real Cities design referenced in the link Jim Dahl posted, the Herald did post nearly all of the Ice Time stories and information to its Web site. They also kept a running tally of links to game recaps and, I believe, box score information. It was great.

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Thanks for the CS info.

This morning KCNN announcer Mike M had Coach Blais on the radio. (The radio station, along with other area businesses are raising money for the Roseau youth hockey community - Play it Again Sports is accepting used hockey equipment, goalie equipment is really needed - Coach Blais made a very, very nice donation as have hockey teams and other individuals. At the end of the program it sounds like 1000 dollars in addition to used equipment had been donated.)

Prior to the CB interview, Mike interviewed John Noah, UND 1st All-American in hockey. John is doing some coaching in the Shanley (Fargo) and is just turning 75 years old - he wouldn't mind CB's job! :angry:

Mike mentioned this to CB and CB mentioned that while John was UND's 1st AA and is a great guy, he probably belongs in an old folkes home (sorry, it was so way more funny on the radio - and this was totally joking). This just illustrates what CB touched on later in the interview, the UND hockey community, both fans and players/coaches/support staff, in GF and around the country are a tight knit group, something special, and even if the former/current players and coaches and fans didn't have direct "interaction" with each other the UND bond goes so deep that the lack of direct interaction is immaterial. Talk about the inducting of the 1959 championship team.

Touched on CB's ties to Roseau and how good it is to see the support for Roseau by the local community and by the "rival" communities. This led into CB's role with UND hockey and his part in the recruitment of James Archibald. CB first saw James in a tourney in Moose Jaw SK in 1982, he (James) was playing on a team with a guy named Chris Chelios. I believe he said that on another team was James Patrick. This led the conversation into the great players/recruits from the early 80's (Rick Zombo among others). CB mentioned the great tradition with Wisconsin, not only in the games but with the great recruits each team pulled/pulls in. In describing James, CB said he was the most intense player - he had a "flair" - the guy would sacrifice himself. The teams James played on did not resent killing off the 2 or 3 penalties a game that James would pick up because he'd be taking the penalties for the team so killing off the penalties was the least the guys could do (plus UND had great penalty killers then too) - additionally, although James racked up 500 penalty minutes in four years he also racked up 75 goals. The guy was a gamer and a team player.

There is more - but I have to run...... will post the rest in a bit...

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Mike asked about the shot counts (both for and against)... if a team has a lot of shots on goal isn't that indicative of a wide open game, and then wouldn't that mean that the shots against UND's goalies would go up (think back to Blake/Panzer years as the goalies did face many shots). CB said that this years defense is not a trapping type. He said that Virg Foss' column today hit the nail on the head "big, strong and mobile" and the mobile is the most important; just a guess from CB but 4 or 5 of the d-men could see the NHL within 4 to 5 years. This success (the transformation of the d-men from just last year) is the result of the coaching of Brad Berry and David Hakstol. Those two are willing to be at practice early, late or whenever it works out to help ("any time of day") and work with the d-men. Mike asked what CB expects of the d-men (in front of the net and in the neutral zone) CB said he and the coaches don't want to see the d-men getting "backed into their own zone" - the d are very good at forcing the other teams to the side/corner and limiting the oppurtunities for garbage/tip in/camping out front goals; they are giving the goalie(s) a chance to see the puck.

What is the difference in this years team from last years? Leadership which results in the chemistry this team has. Right away, at the Buffalo tourney, someone took a shot and with no hesitation a teammate stepped right in to help out/defend. There is always a tendency for cliques to form (ie last year you had 10 freshmen who'd come to study tables together and then the upper classmen would have their groups and so on) - this year they are a team, they like each other and they're there for each other. Another example is that they are holding each other accountable. Last year was not acceptable - as a team they expected everyone to work out/be in decent shape for the season, Chris F. wasn't and it sounds like the captains let him know that wasn't acceptable. Mike mentioned that David Hale was at Dale Brown's motivational talk at the REA this week and that DH seems like a "fine young man". Mike mentioned "everything" that DH (and his brother) had to go through and how proud their family must be of them. CB said that there is not arrogance on this team, but they are a confident group. Talked about that the boys recognize that they are role models to the kids in the community (they go to the schools to talk about sports, drugs and alcohol) ...... CB said "they like to have their fun" but they know that they are here for "an education and a chance to play hockey".

As far as the weekend series: UND can't control what UW will do: have to limit the 3 on 2 rushes - UND will play their own game.

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and they're there for each other.

Thanks for the great update. I had to laugh reading the quoted line, as it would be wrong in many message board posts (sad to say).

Your right, their they're for each other, you can bet you're farm on it.

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JK - "your write" about that - "its" a crying shame "four" sure. :angry:

Truthfully I'm a big offender of grammar and the like - it's just in the off chance that Miss Betty Mogck, 9th grade English teacher sees what I write - she'd kick my butt - that I try my best to be proper. ???

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