Meet the Sioux hockey team

[LFSPRO]

Wondering if anyone knows if a meet the Sioux hockey team night has been scheduled?

[LadyDy]

Wondering if anyone knows if a meet the Sioux hockey team night has been scheduled?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is on Tuesday, October 4th.

[RedFrog]

It is on Tuesday, October 4th.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you know what time?

THANX!!

[LadyDy]

Do you know what time?

THANX!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Doors will open at 5:00 or 5:30. We are still waiting for the coaches (Hakstol and Rivard) to tell us what their line up will be - which team goes first, etc. I'll try to remember to post it when they call me back.

[LadyDy]

Doors will open at 5:00 or 5:30. We are still waiting for the coaches (Hakstol and Rivard) to tell us what their line up will be - which team goes first, etc. I'll try to remember to post it when they call me back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is the skinny: Doors open at 4:30 - Women's team scrimmages at 5:00 - Men's team scrimmages at 6:00 - autograph session at 6:40 - prize drawings throughout the evening.

[jk]

Five days until the exhibition game, and a week until "Meet the Sioux." Anybody have any idea what we have for a team this year?

From a pure talent standpoint, this team probably has six NHL first-round draft picks and three second-rounders. ("Probably" includes Toews being drafted in the first round, which isn't assured but seems reasonable at this point.) Of eighteen skaters, nine will be first or second rounders. That's just sick. Has anyone ever heard of that much pure talent on one college team before? It's possible that in ten years perhaps half of those players will be in the NHL and we'll look back amazed that they were on the same team.

Here's the downside: They may ultimately be among the most talented teams in NCAA history, but barely in the top half of the league this year. All that talent is extremely young by NCAA standards. This is the extreme example, but Jon Toews, when he's 22, may well be better than 99% of the players in college hockey this year. Unfortunately, that's five years from now, and he's just a shadow of the player he'll be then. Even elder statesman Drew Stafford, a junior this year, is still just 19.

One of the tired old message board disputes discusses a hypothetical matchup between a major junior team and a college team. Part of the support for the college team is that, while it may be less talented, it is usually a few years older, on average. This season's UND team may be as close as we get to seeing this matchup, as you could view UND this year as a super-talented major junior team. There are a few older players, like Fabian and Prpich, but mostly this team is stacked with elite teenagers. There have been a lot of good college teams, championship teams, that won with 21, 22, 23 year old players. One even won a title with NO NHL draft picks, let alone first and second rounders.

Of course the defense is especially young. Their potential is intriguing, especially the potential to move the puck a little better than we have seen in a number of years. But consider the skates they have to fill: as of today, Matt Jones, Matt Greene and Andy Schneider are still up with the big clubs at their NHL training camps. I don't think any will make their NHL clubs out of camp (and I could be wrong), but all three are very nearly NHL players. That's how good the defense was last year.

Anyway, it should be very interesting to watch the young guys move closer and closer to their potential; there should be some real flashes of brilliance. But it could also be ugly at times, against the usual suspects, but also against some teams with older, experienced players like Mankato, Tech and UAA. So we may have to be patient and hope they come together in time to make a run.

[sprig]

Seems to be a new era, of sorts, for Sioux hockey, with so many highly touted, high draft pick teens. If this bunch is going to win an NCAA title together, it will have to be done this year, or maybe next, as there is little expectation that they'll be together longer than that.

One of the best Sioux frosh classes ever (1982), won an NCAA title their first year, and were very large contributors to that successful season, although I think there were only about 5 of them (Patrick, Shervin, Archibald among them). Also, they may have been older frosh, don't remember, although I believe they all came from the Notre Dame Hounds SJHL program.

Although Patrick was a super frosh dman, there were other experienced dmen on the team, including Ludwig, etc.

Will be an interesting season. It may be years before the Sioux again have any significant number of juniors/seniors on the team.