dagies Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 A little later Tim said Liebel was jawing all the way through the hand shaking line, then stood out and taunted the Sioux. Most guys wouldn't shake his hand. Too bad to get swept, for sure. Sure makes you dig a hole but it's not the end of the season. The positives I take from it are the PK, and the hope the team finds a way to grow from this adversity, that makes them stronger down the stretch. Oh, yeah. Let's hope D Hale can come back soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Hard to believe we could only manage one goal in the final 5 periods of the weekend. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OETKB Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Hard to believe we could only manage one goal in the final 5 periods of the weekend. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. Yes, it is. Not an NCAA playoff type performance this weekend. Really, just not up to the standards we had all expected. CC looks like a lock for the MacNaughton, at this point. Perhaps the Sioux can recover to do well in the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprig Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 A little later Tim said Liebel was jawing all the way through the hand shaking line, then stood out and taunted the Sioux. Most guys wouldn't shake his hand. That should provide some incentive should they meet again. THe Sioux do not handle the large ice surface the way CC does. They really spread out and slow the game down, while maintaining possession of the puck for most of the game. A totally different game on that ice surface. I much prefer these two good teams on the small surface, for obvious reasons. It is apparent that the Sioux cannot afford to lose any of the D corps. D Hale may have been a bigger loss than Jones/Greene in the first series, considering that CC had Stuart for this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Yes, it is. Not an NCAA playoff type performance this weekend. Really, just not up to the standards we had all expected. CC looks like a lock for the MacNaughton, at this point. Perhaps the Sioux can recover to do well in the playoffs. Well.. if they dominate other teams like they do UND for the rest of the year they are probably a lock. They are 8 points ahead, but they have 2 games in hand. CC has the tougher schedule so we will see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Would rather see the Sioux somewhere other than Mariucci in the playoffs. I just hope they make the tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I was hoping to hear some post-game comments from Blais, but I imagine that between the officiating, the CC fan doing whatever and Liebel's act at the end, it was probably better that he didn't say anything. There's no question that CC deserved both wins. Although I don't know how much difference it would have made, I wish David Hale could have played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I just hope they make the tournament. I wouldn't jump out of the window just yet, nor would I give away my tickets to Buffalo. Lot of season to go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Jan 14 L 2-3 at Wisc Jan 15 L 5-6 at Wisc Jan 21 W 1-0 MN Jan 22 L 2-5 MN Jan 28 W 5-0 at MTU Jan 29 W 11-1 at MTU Feb 4 L 0-3 at SCSU Feb 5 T 1-1 at SCSU Record in this stretch: 3-4-1 Record after this stretch: 13-1-2 Record in the last six games of the year: 6-0-0 Record for the season: 31-8-5 It was 1999-2000. I'm not saying this team is going to win the national title, but things looked pretty bleak in early February 2000 and it worked out okay. It's a tough league. Teams have their ups and downs. The Sioux just went 3-3 on a tough road trip, and they now enter the stretch run. Other teams have faced serious injuries this year that the Sioux have largely avoided; I think we've learned from the absences of several players a few times this year that the team is thin enough on defense that the margin for error is pretty slim. David Hale has missed three games this year, and the team was out of sync for all of them. Jones and Greene missed four and the team didn't seem the same at all. Four players missed the first SCSU game and the team got waxed. For this weekend, consider that Schneider and Hale are typically on the ice for 50% of the crunch-time minutes. Hale was gone and Schneider wasn't 100%. That's a big change. I heard Marvin and Leinweber out there at times when they would typically have been planted on the bench. As for whether that affected UND only scoring one goal in the last five periods, I think: yes, it did. Transition teams generate offense from defense. When you turn the other team around at the blue line, play goes the other way immediately. If you let them get it in deep, you get into breakouts, and failed breakouts, and then icings or just dumping it in to get a change. To summarize: Unpleasant result this weekend. Not the end of the world. Stay the course. Please don't think this is last year's team because it's not. They're a lot better and will continue to show it. Plus I think they'd love another shot at CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND95 Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I agree that there were positives to this weekend for the Sioux. The obvious one being the PK. I dont' know, maybe I am on crack, but I didn't think Brandt played that awefully bad Friday night. The Sioux put up zero pressure in the last 2 periods and he did make some saves. Season is by far not over yet, the Sioux have to hunker down and get ready to play next weekend and put this in the back of their mind and save it for if they meet CC again. Sioux can still finish a solid second, and you never know what can happen to CC down the stretch. From what I saw this weekend, unlikely they will fold, but hey, it has happened before to teams. Disappointing to get swept and to not have played more solid, but that is hockey and I am sure the Sioux will be back. Does anyone know what was going on behind the Sioux bench? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I totally agree, jk. And, yes, Marvin and Leinweber were both on the ice much longer than they normally would have been. I know they were on during one of the odd-man rushes on which CC scored and I believe during one of the power play goals. I'm not blaming them, but I think they're best as spot players to give the top four guys an occasional breather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I agree that there were positives to this weekend for the Sioux. Here's one: Only one penalty on Greene during the series! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 As I said in an earlier post, I'm not writing off the season. I'm not a bandwagon fan. I'll be in GF next weekend to watch the games and I'll continue to watch/listen to the team as much as always. I was simply making the point that making the tournament is far from a certainty at this point. CC will win the league. We're in a dead heat with Minnesota. Mankato, St. Cloud, and Denver are easily within striking distance. Only 3 or 4 teams from the WCHA will make the tournament. Certainly if the Sioux regroup and play well, there's a good chance they'll make it, but I'm not as confident as I was before this weekend. I agree that the 2000 Sioux had a tough stretch, but if my memory serves me, I personally didn't have the same feeling then as I do now. Then, I felt the Sioux were not playing up to their potential and were simply in a funk. Even after some of the losses, I never felt like any of those teams were "better" than UND (I felt Wisconsin was on par with UND, but not head and shoulders better). This weekend I felt that CC was head and shoulders better than UND. I realize not having D. Hale was a detriment, but I don't think having him play would have changed the results. Hopefully I'll be proved an idiot later in the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 "Crap!" ... since this is a "family board". I had expected to at least bring back two points, and take a bit of pressure off the team going into the home stretch to stay in the top three of the league. For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem like the team played *its game* this weekend, which is not a good thing on the road. One thing that sets this team apart from previous teams that made a run into the NC$$ tourney is the lack of consistent goaltending. (An issue we've discussed ad nauseum the past two seasons.) Regardless of how well the rest of the team does, without a solid netminder we're not much of a threat to anybody of stature IMO. We absolutely have to sweep Tech, and hope the teams ahead of us falter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprig Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Sioux are still in good position for second place, in which case it looks like Wisco will come to the REA for the playoffs. May come down to the final weekend at Wisco, where the Sioux may need to sweep to take second. With four games in hand on Kato, they not only need to sweep the Sioux, but get help to finish second. The McNaughton, however, is a very long shot. Don't see CC giving the Sioux much help by losing, even though they play the better teams for the remainder of the season. Do we have to hope for at least one Gopher win next weekend? Sorry, can't do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommiejo Posted February 2, 2003 Author Share Posted February 2, 2003 The way I see is fairly simple. We got our heads hand to us & that's life in gerenal. We can't win them all lord knows we could have used those wins but then again "LIFE HAPPENS." In a nut shell let's put this weekend behind us & go forward & maybe we can learn from this experiences that can helps this team somewhere down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 One thing that sets this team apart from previous teams that made a run into the NC$$ tourney is the lack of consistent goaltending. Scott, I agree that goaltending remains the Achilles heal of this team, although I don't think that either Jake or Josh played poorly this past weekend. I recall that the 2000-2001 season wasn't Goehring's best, but it was good enough to get the Sioux into the Frozen Four championship game. Hope might be slim at this point, but I sitll think the Sioux are far from out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmidtdoggydog Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 On another note, although Tech has been playing fairly well of late, I for one, wouldn't look forward to playing the Sioux at the REA next weekend. UND needs to put the CC series behind them, bury the Huskies like they should and start building for the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stack Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Gees it's only two games. We all hoped for at least a split be we also knew that we could get swept. So the worse thing that could happen to us did. Let's move on. I want this team to take second so we don't have to play Duluth in the playoffs. So what we need is a sweep of Tech, splits at Denver and Mankato, sweep of Duluth, and at least a split in Wisconsin. We do that and we take second. I've given up on First and will be rooting for CC to kick the Gophers this weekend so we have a better shot at second. PS. I thought our goaltenders played well this weekend. Neither of these games was lost because of their play. When you only score one goal in the last 5 periods of play, you lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soSIOUXme Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Do we have to hope for at least one Gopher win next weekend? Sorry, can't do it I think maybe it is ok to hope as long as there is no actual cheering involved or pleasure derived from it. There is just something inherently wrong with the act of saying Go Gophers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickgraham Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Most of the Sioux players interviewed by TH before Friday night's game said that the weekend will come down to who wants the wins more. Apparently CC wanted them more, very disappointing! Several things came together that really hurt us in this crucial series. The flu bug, the 2 weeks off worked against us-we were not game sharp, youth and something that hasn't been mentioned much, altitude. It really looked like we had no gas, and CC had better goal tending. The good news is that this is the first bad week end of the year. Hopefully it will be the last! DG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skateshattrick Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 I second Stack's comments. Remember that last year St. Cloud looked unbeatable the first half of the season, and Denver looked unstoppable the second half, winning the league title and the WCHA Final 5. The Gophers took 3rd in the league, did not win the Final 5, yet ended up winning with a mediocre goaltender, so do not write off the Sioux just yet. When the Sioux won it all in 2000, Wisconsin had Heatley and Reichprecht, won the league, and was the clear favorite going into the tournament. If the Sioux get a top 3 finish, which seems likely, they are in a good position to make it to the NCAA tournament, perhaps as a #2 seed. CC looks better at this point, but not that much better. Finally, if the Sioux make the NCAA tournament, isn't that a great year considering that most had them picked for 5th? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 We have to remember what our expectations were for this team coming into the season. I had them predicted for 3rd in the conference and was one of the more optimistic at that spot, though there were some who predicted an even higher finish. What I am saying is, it has been easy to get excited with our awesome W-L record and begin to see FF lights. The games are played on the ice and its a long season. We have been fortunate not to suffer many significant injuries. The team is still relatively young and playing well. We have had our first REAL set-back of the year, if you can call it that. So let's see how we rebound from it. The team is having a very good season and it will be fun to watch it play out. And maybe this will shut up the early talk of National Championships. Let's let it play out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 I think maybe it is ok to hope as long as there is no actual cheering involved or pleasure derived from it. There is just something inherently wrong with the act of saying Go Gophers! I say no way that Minnesota takes any points from C.C. this weekend. I just don't see it happening. I won't cheer but if UofM takes some points from them thats fine too. I lost a lot of respect for C.C. when that horses ass started yapping at the Sioux players during the hand shake. I am pretty sure the guys won't forget that... Also, like some have said wining the league doesn't assure much other than a better draw in the NCAA, I think UND can beat C.C. I also think our three players at WJ tourney are better than their two, and yes it would have made a difference... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 So what we need is a sweep of Tech, splits at Denver and Mankato, sweep of Duluth, and at least a split in Wisconsin. We do that and we take second. There is no reason UND shouldn't sweep in Wisconsin, the badgers down right suck, there is no way to sugar coat it, If we lose to them we don't deserve to go to the NCAAs I thing we the fans are selling our selves short right now if we are not thinking that way. I watched Wisconsin and C.C. the weekend before and we should pound UofW. I still think can UND sweep Denver and take 3/4 against Mankato, they just don't impress me at all. You have to score 5 on 5 to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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