UND Coach's Show

[forecheck]

My last one until after Christmas break. Tonight at Lola's:

Caller loved "Goldilocks" from Canisius. Blais said the fans loved him too, especially the students, but he was close to getting his face punched. He started playing chippy, and when he slashed Parise's wrist toward the end of the game the bench almost came unglued. He even yelled at Blais when he came by, and Blais just said get your hair cut. The caller mentioned every time he looked at the bench, Durno was taking his helmet off and tucking his hair behind ears like a beauty queen. Blais said he didn't want to be making fun of anyone, but when he first saw him on the ice in Buffalo, the first thought that came to his head was "Chewbacca." Talk about how the goaltender didn't lose the game at all. He made some great saves. Cansius is doing fairly good in the MAAC, something like .500.

Tim says that UND has come along a lot farther than Canisius since Buffalo, and the Sioux made them look bad.

Caller: Wondering if there was a rule if Greene would have laid out Durno, would he have had to miss a game besides the ones he was going to miss for the World Junior Tournament. Blais said he would have had to miss the first Gopher game. Also wondering which ice is more conducive to Sioux PP, NHL or Olympic. Right now Blais thinks they are a better cycling team on a smaller rink, but they might get more shots off on the bigger ice. Tim mentions that with the speed on this team, the bigger ice may become better though, which is good since they're going to be playing on Olympic sheets more in the second half.

Tim brought up this message board, and laughed about the suggested name of the Christmas Tournament. I believe it was "The 1st Annual 'We Promise This Is The Last Year We Host a Tourney With Three Horsesh!t Teams' Tourney". Lots of laughter about that one.

The difference between last year's team and this year's team was evident again last week when Jones was being interviewed by Tim. Tim said I bet you're excited to go, and Matt said yeah but it would be nice to be here for the tourney and CC. These guys don't want to miss out on any games because they're having so much fun.

Talk about the record. UND has found a way to win, they've had come from behind wins, and they can maintain the lead in the 3rd. We've had weak teams on the schedule, but so has everyone else. Gophers have played Tech 4 times. Blais mentions that our team is only giving up 20 SOG per game, and he wouldn't be surprised if MN and CC get that many too. Teams like Michigan are averaging 30 SOG, but they still only got 20 SOG against the Sioux. Fatigue could set in with all road games, but the team is in top shape right now. Last year they weren't in the best shape. The freshmen can be big shots wherever they come from, but they never know what it's going to take until they step on the ice and play a game. Blais said it makes you realize how good Parise is, coming in so highly touted, and he is backing it up by playing.

Mike Commodore's brother blew his knee out, had major reconstruction, and he just couldn't come back to play. Talk about how Curtis Murphy got his first sniff at an NHL game.

It's tough to play 10 straight games at home, with 8 of them being WCHA games, and then have to go on the road. There's a tendency to become complacent. January is going to be a tough month. The goal has to be split on the road, and if they do better, great. As for the home CC games, the question is will the team be able to win without Greene, Jones, and Parise. Blais wants to have the lines set up in the Christmas tournament that will play against CC. Right now he will probably have McMahon, Spiewak, Notermann out together to offset Senja's line. They neeed to have a checking line in this game.

Mankato and Duluth have a chance to be in the top 5 in the WCHA this year. They talked about how Prpich has played with everyone, he's been around. "These Candian kids know everybody."--Blais.

[PCM]

Great job as usual, forecheck. The one thing I'd add is that Blais said Zach Parise is considered a Peter Forsberg-type player by the NHL.

[dagies]

McMahon, Spiewak, Notermann out together to offset Senja's line. They neeed to have a checking line in this game.

Wouldn't surprise me to see this line together at MN either...But maybe not having the last line change negates the impact.

[schmidtdoggydog]

Was there any word on Ryan Hale's status?

[shootdogger]

Mike Commodore's brother blew his knee out, had major reconstruction, and he just couldn't come back to play.

Can someone fill me in on this? I must have missed something about Commodore, Jr.

[The Sicatoka]

Matt Commodore, Mike's younger brother, was supposed to be a part of this year's freshman class. He blew a knee playing juniors about a year and half ago.

Think about this: If his health would have been good, and with Smaby coming next year, and with Jones and Greene in, the UND defense wouldn't have taken anyone to the mat; the Matt would have come to them!

[Tommiejo]

Happy Holidays everybody I'll be vacationing in the keys & I'll be thinking about everybody up there.

[forecheck]

Was there any word on Ryan Hale's status?

I'm trying to remember, but I don't think Hale was mentioned. (PCM?) My understanding is that Blais hopes to have him back in a couple weeks, so he should be ready to go for CC. Hopefully.

[PCM]

I don't think anything was said about Ryan Hale's injury or status. It's a good question, though.

[shootdogger]

Matt Commodore, Mike's younger brother, was supposed to be a part of this year's freshman class. He blew a knee playing juniors about a year and half ago.

Think about this: If his health would have been good, and with Smaby coming next year, and with Jones and Greene in, the UND defense wouldn't have taken anyone to the mat; the Matt would have come to them!

Thanks for the info. I knew he had been injured, but didn't know it was this bad. Are they thinking he could rehab to get it strong enough to come in next year or is it over for the kid?

[dagies]

I've searched the internet (a while back) and have had no luck finding Matt Commodore playing hockey anywhere. I think that doesn't bode well.

[Goon]

I don't think anything was said about Ryan Hale's injury or status. It's a good question, though.

Pat,

The message that I got was that Ryan would be fine they just gave him the time off to rest so he would be ready for the second half of the season.

His brother David didn't seem to think it was that bad when he was interviewed after the Friday Game. I bet its hard to tell since its now X-mas break and most of the guys are probably at home.

[Greyeagle]

Off topic some, but does anyone know if Ryan and David are related to former (and somewhat obscure) NHLer Larry Hale?

My dad and Larry were friends when Hale played for the Mpls Millers. Larry later played with the Broad Street bullies, and we happened to live in Baltimore. If you want to hear funny stories ask my pops about metting Larry and the boys for a beer after a Flyers game. Lets just say those guys were nuttier off the ice than they were on it. Unfortunately pops has lost touch with Larry and asked me to ask UND fans if there may be a relation. Thanks.

[jimdahl]

Off topic some, but does anyone know if Ryan and David are related to former (and somewhat obscure) NHLer Larry Hale?

Their parents are Jennifer McEwen Enoch and Eric and Karen Hale. I can't guarantee there's not a more distant relationship, but there's also no evidence of one.

Doing a little further research, apparently Larry Hale was long enough ago that he's probably a bit old too be a parent of WCHA players, so I guess I didn't really add much interesting.

[Greyeagle]

Thanks Jim. I didnt' think it was likely and did see his parents names listed somewhere (probably the Sioux homepage). Many of you are very tuned into the recruiting at UND and thought it was worth asking. Thanks again.