sprig Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Forgive me, but I thought (expected) this was one of the "easier" home series. If they go 5-3 you think that's gonna be good enough or that it's a win-or-go-home first round proposition. I would guess with a 5-3 they still have to make it to the X for the final five, and maybe even win the play-in game in order to get two more games against teams that are highly ranked in PWR. The big question is, can this team sweep Duluth and MTU at the REA? Maybe finishing at 6 and going on the road is a good thing, given the home record. It will mean going to either CC or SCSU, more than likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7>4 Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Reality check. The season is not over. Sure, the sweep this weekend hurt. Sure, it sucks to lose two to SCSU. However, there are 8 regular season games left followed by the WCHA playoffs. Overall record wise I think we are about where we were last year. A big weekend in Colorado next weekend will do wonders for the pairwise. I'll be in the stands next weekend wearing the green and white for what should be a great series. Looking forward to it. For all of you pulling out the clubs and giving up on the season, send me an e-mail and I'll tell you where you can send me your West Region tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Just a quick glance at the PWR comparisons makes it seem like the Sioux are getting killed on their TUC record. They have a terrible record against good teams, so they're losing comparisons to teams which have a much lower RPI. UND is 11th in the RPI, but 18th in the PWR. This means they really need to do well on their two Colorado trips. So much can change in the PWR in one weekend, let alone in five, so it's not worth putting too much effort into it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Reality check. The season is not over. Sure, the sweep this weekend hurt. Sure, it sucks to lose two to SCSU. However, there are 8 regular season games left followed by the WCHA playoffs. Overall record wise I think we are about where we were last year. A big weekend in Colorado next weekend will do wonders for the pairwise. I'll be in the stands next weekend wearing the green and white for what should be a great series. Looking forward to it. For all of you pulling out the clubs and giving up on the season, send me an e-mail and I'll tell you where you can send me your West Region tickets. I prefer to be hopeful about things that offer HOPE. For example, that stock I own that has lost money for the last two quarters is probably not gonna turn into a goldmine just because I hope it will. Same with this team, but it doesn't trouble me if you want to keep the hope in your heart, I'm just going to live with reality, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runninwiththedogs Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Glad I'm not a Duluth fan this year.... You sadist! I would take a 2-1, 2-1 (OT) sweep any day over the crap going on north of us. But I still love my 'Dogs, always will, even if they don't win another game. Take a deep breath, people, and remember that it could be worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagard Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Just a quick glance at the PWR comparisons makes it seem like the Sioux are getting killed on their TUC record. They have a terrible record against good teams, so they're losing comparisons to teams which have a much lower RPI. UND is 11th in the RPI, but 18th in the PWR. This means they really need to do well on their two Colorado trips. So much can change in the PWR in one weekend, let alone in five, so it's not worth putting too much effort into it right now. After the Gophers series I figured the Sioux need to finish 8-6 heading into the Final Five to be a tourney team. They are now 2-2 since then, but as you point out the SCSU games hurt. I think the WCHA will get four teams and either the Sioux or DU will be the odd man out. Needless to say that series is huge. A quick scan of the UND comparisons lost: Fairbanks - UND needs to take over TUC currenty 6-11-1 vs. 7-11-3. 50/50. BC - UND needs to pass them in RPI. Will be tough. BU - UND needs to pass them in RPI and maintain CO. 50/50. CC - UND needs to pass them in RPI and win the season series outright. Better sweep them to be sure. DU - UND needs the sweep. Ferris - UND needs to pass them in RPI. Should happen. Harvard - Lost. Miami - Lost. Michigan - UND needs to pass them in RPI. Will be tough. Mich State - UND needs to take over the CO. Will be very tough. Minnesota - Lost. Northern Michigan - Sioux need to sweep Tech. SCSU - UND needs to take back both TUC and CO. This is a 50/50. SLU - UND needs to pass them in RPI. Tossup. Wisconsin - Lost. Root against Fairbanks, Ferris, SLU, SCSU, CC, DU, BU, Michigan. Root for Bemidji in the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Despite how hard so many try, there is just no way to sugar-coat what is going on. A team loaded with alleged talent, 6 1st round draft picks, is in 6th place in the league and currently out of the NCAA field. If this is acceptable because of "youth", then obviously the expectations for UND hockey have been lowered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Despite how hard so many try, there is just no way to sugar-coat what is going on. A team loaded with alleged talent, 6 1st round draft picks, is in 6th place in the league and currently out of the NCAA field. If this is acceptable because of "youth", then obviously the expectations for UND hockey have been lowered. I couldn't have said it better myself. The thing that grates on me is that many will say that I'm not a "good fan" because I see how they are playing and I don't like it and I say it so they say I have a dim attitude or that I can't lose hope or it's important to keep the faith, blah, blah, blah. But if you are a long time Sioux fan you EXPECT more than this. You EXPECT SIOUX HOCKEY TO BE GREAT NOT MEDIOCRE!!!!! PERIOD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 There is no doubt this weekend makes things very tough the rest of the way. However, if they came to play, I can't get down on them too much. Hockey is a funny game, and sometimes you just have to wait for the effort to pay off. There are two very tough road weekends left, and two of the "easier" home series left. I know no weekend is easy in the WCHA, but Goepfert doesn't play for either of the remaining visitors. This zero point weekend means the Sioux cannot get swept on either road trip - a tough requirement, but a possibility. 6-2 is not an outlandish expectation for the remainder of the regular season, although 5-3 might be more realistic. That will bring them up from their current #18 PWR spot to an optimistic bubble position, and then the WCHA first-round will be a win-or-go-home proposition. It's not fun to watch during the learning curve, but it is pretty much unavoidable. No matter the caliber of recruits, they still need to learn from their mistakes and mature physically, mentally and emotionally. (Heck, some posters still need to mature, at least mentally and emotionally.) It's not time to give up yet. The effort that's currenly paying off is the poor showings this team gave earlier in the season. If they had stepped up and won a couple of the games where we were critical of their effort we likely wouldn't be so concerned right now. Unfortunately the "learning curve" is teaching them the hard lesson that you can't just turn on the switch and make a run. They'll be better for it next year. As for this season, all of what you list is possible, but from what I've seen improbable. I hope they can get it done, but the evidence points to the contrary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 The Sioux freshman have been playing pretty well, however, their roles are not typical freshman roles. I would expect the freshman to be the 3rd line guys going out and chipping in when they can. This weekend the Duncan-Watkins-Kozek line did just that. They didn't produce, but they looked pretty good and had some chances. The problem is the Sioux have freshman like Oshie, Towes, and most of the D who are tossed into big roles. Oshie has been great, Towes is starting to show what he is capable of, but is still not the go to guy the Sioux are looking for. Stafford, Spirko and Zajac are the guys the Sioux need to look to. They were shutout this weekend, but I thought they played pretty well. Sometimes you run into a hot goalie. The Sioux outplayed St. Cloud last night, at least in the offensive zone, but Geopart was on his game. If the Sioux are looking to blame someone for last nights loss, they should blame Providence College. Had they not been so strict with cheating policies, the Sioux would have scored 5 goals last night. If the Sioux want to play at the end of March they need more production from the upper classmen. It seems like Parise has more points than a lot of this team I think most of the freshman have had a good year. The only two I thought would produce more are Watkins and Towes. Towes is more of a complete player than I was expecting, I think if he stays for a couple of years, he will put up big numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fargosioux Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Three times we've been swept at home this season. Does anybody have any idea how long it's been since that happened? I would assume it's been a while. (The 2001-02 team was swept twice at home.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Sometimes you run into a hot goalie. Where have I heard this before? While it's obviously a true statement, I think it gets thrown around too much by the Sioux faithful because we think our team is better than we sometimes are. We need a rationalization to go on thinking our team was better even though we lost. The underlying problem, I think, is that this team is truly average. Sure, they appear to NHL scouts to have great talent, but prospective NHL talent alone does not make a good college hockey team. It's becoming painfully apparent that this truly is a middle-of-the-road wcha team. Unfortunately, unless everything goes UND's way, that's not going to be good enough for the NCAA's. For me, it's especially painful given it's the first and last regional Grand Forks will have. After all of the trips to Mariucci and Yost, it would have been nice for the program, fans, city, state, etc. to JUST ONCE get to play at home. But Murphy's Law is doing its best to interject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Three times we've been swept at home this season. Does anybody have any idea how long it's been since that happened? I would assume it's been a while. (The 2001-02 team was swept twice at home.) Another question is when was the last time UND got swept at home by St Cloud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvf Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Another question is when was the last time UND got swept at home by St Cloud? They've never been swept at home by SCSU. This team is where I expected them to be in the WCHA standings (4th-6th), but NOT where I expected them to be for as far as PWR rankings. The Sioux are really going to have to string together some good efforts against the teams that they have remaining, and get some help from other teams, if they want the chance to make it into their own regional. Right now I don't think that this is an impossible task, but it certainly will not be an easy one. I think that all the freshmen in the lineup are doing what is asked of them, now we just need players like Stafford, Porter, Zajac, and Spirko to really lead this team by example the last few weeks of the season. They have a huge weekend coming up with the roadtrip to CC. And to be honest, I have no clue what to expect for an outcome for that series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvf Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Three times we've been swept at home this season. Does anybody have any idea how long it's been since that happened? I would assume it's been a while. (The 2001-02 team was swept twice at home.) From the GF Herald article: The Sioux were swept at home for the third time this season - something that hasn't happened since the 1982-83 season. Also from that article: "We need to approach these games as playoff hockey," junior forward Chris Porter said. "If we don't, we're not going to be here (at the West Regional). We don't want people dressing in our locker room. We want to be the ones here. So, that's in the back of our mind." Let's hope that they play the rest of the season with some intensity and desperation.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Absolutely disgraceful. I think that about sums it up. UNEXCEPTABLE is another word that comes to my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringDeanBack Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 I think that about sums it up. UNEXCEPTABLE is another word that comes to my mind. Unacceptable is the word that comes to my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Since someone mentioned they like to bring up old posts, I thought this one, from the darkest days of January after the sweep by St. Cloud, might be interesting. Lots of angst back then. Much brighter days in March. And April looks even brighter! GO SIOUX! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keikla Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I think it's interesting how a sweep can have such an effect for two teams. IIRC, that sweep started the SCSU craze when they were beating anybody and everybody. But getting swept also kicked the Sioux in gear, and even Dave Hakstol has credited that weekend as the supposed beginning of the momentum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choyt3 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Cowboy up! The boys will be ready for March. You lucky SOBs in GF will get to watch the Sioux run the board like Denver did two years ago. Losing to JBSU sucks, but they are playing good hockey and a little luck can go a long way in hockey. We will never give up on the Sioux!!! Go Sioux! Considering the timing, this was one heck of a post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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