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Stafford 2nd team. Thats it for the Sioux...

F Drew Stafford - Jr. - North Dakota

Starman says: Great speed and great hands.

We say: Had a great World Junior tournament, will be needed to step up huge for a team that made the finals last year, but lost a lot of key players to graduation and defection.

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2005...hnpreseason.php

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What kind of an idiot puts a player on this team without a single NCAA shift.  I can't wait to see the Goofs Mr. Media pummeled by each and every WCHA team.

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I for one believe he will put up some pretty impressive numbers, especially considering some of the opponents the gophers will be playing on the large ice surface. I would be interested to know how many points you think he will put up? Remember, the people who pick those teams aren't going to use the same arguments about him being a one-way player that a lot of Sioux fans do.

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I dont think hes a one way player.  when he needs to back up a D then he'll be there.

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I saw Kessel play in the WJ and the only time he impressed me was when he had the chance to go one-on-one. He did not generate opportunities for his linemates. Expect him to score some goals, but not many assists. And if I was on defense, I would not be overly confident on him picking up the third man into the zone.

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OH! that hurt my feelings dude! i would totally count on him!  are you talking about kessels jump over the dudes stick and then he scored or are you talking about someone else?

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Sorry about that. Kessel was outstanding undressing the Swedish defensemen one-on-one. He made a couple of moves that were incredible. Absolutely no doubt about that. But he had a tendency to do a Vanek-style disappearing act in other games, and had a tendency not to pass the puck to linemates.

Meanwhile, Stafford continuously created scoring opportunities for himself and his linemates. While they didn't finish them off many times, they definitely had significant opportunities.

Physical skills Kessel clearly has. He needs to ratchet down the "me" philosophy and ratchet up the "us" philosophy. He clearly should have the ability to do that. I have a lot of respect for Lucia, but he wasn't able to fix Vanek's shortcomings. It remains to be seen about Kessel. It should be interesting, no matter what.

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Those moves may have worked against Sweden, but Kessell found out they didn't work so well when he tried them in the next game against Russia's more skilled defensemen. I have to believe it'll be the same thing in college when he tries it against the better defensemen in the WCHA.

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I expect Kessel to put up numbers similar to what Zach did his first year, maybe even better. Offensively, he is more gifted than Zach and that is what we are talking about when we discuss points, not the defensive side of things. He will definitely get a lot of powerplay time and the Gopher powerplay, especially on the big ice, has to be much better than the horrible powerplay we had back when Zach was a freshman. Also, the Gopher non-conference schedule is very soft this year so that will also help his point totals. In addition, there has been some crackdown on the extreme obstuction that Zach encountered on almost every shift. This is also a gopher team that is returning a great deal from the final four team of last year so I expect them to be very good.

I think 60 points is almost a given, with a chance at 70-80.

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Those moves may have worked against Sweden, but Kessell found out they didn't work so well when he tried them in the next game against Russia's more skilled defensemen. 

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One word: Belarus.

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