2006-2007 WCHA Predictions

[skateshattrick]

skateshattrick - I agree and disagree. I'm not saying Briggs will be the Gophers' savior this year, but Sioux fans shouldn't be any more confident with Lammy going into 2006-07 than we should be with Briggs. If you look back at those two games the entire team in front of Briggs let down against SCSU and HC as much so, if not more so, than Briggs himself. Yes sure, perhaps if he had stolen another goal or two it would have made a difference, but the SCSU loss isn't why they lost to HC and the OT goal against HC was a fluke. Plus Briggs has had more experience - positive or not - in those types of games.

Good points. I actually have a lot of confidence in Lammy, but I may be underrating Briggs. You raise some very good points. If Lammy falters this year, we are relying on a freshman who is untested and may or may not be good. Briggs has the same situation--Frazee has talent, but has not showed much yet. Defense should be a strength for both teams, although UM will probably get more offensive production from its defense, but will also give up more because they are a little more offensive-minded. It should be a very interesting year.

[THETRIOUXPER]

HC overtime goal a fluke, is that what you are calling it now. Aren't a high percentage of goals in hockey in the "fluke" category ? C'mon slappy you can do better than that can't you ? I mean when are you just going to tell it like it is instead of sugar coating it. Try this, HC had more heart ,desire and just out-played the goophs that night, they simply were not ready to play. Try the truth, it's much easier. Just so people don't think I'm picking on poor slappy, UND's performance against BC at the FF was a disappointment.

[Redneksioux]

HC overtime goal a fluke, is that what you are calling it now. Aren't a high percentage of goals in hockey in the "fluke" category ? C'mon slappy you can do better than that can't you ? I mean when are you just going to tell it like it is instead of sugar coating it. Try this, HC had more heart ,desire and just out-played the goophs that night, they simply were not ready to play. Try the truth, it's much easier. Just so people don't think I'm picking on poor slappy, UND's performance against BC at the FF was a disappointment.

" They deserved better than that "

I love quoting Irmen

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[Slap Shot]

" They deserved better than that "

TRIOUXPER - I have you on ignore but because I can see your reply I will reply this one time.

I never said HC didn't show more heart or desire in that game, I said that Briggs wasn't the reason the Gophers lost. This was said in the context of a discussion about what Gopher fans might be able to expect from Briggs this season. I simply stated the OT goal was a fluke - a crossing pass that goes in off a skate in front as Briggs was sliding to play the probable shot to follow is a flukey goal. I didn't say it was flukey in order to claim I don't think HC deserved to win the game, I said it was flukey in order to explain that I don't think Briggs should be the one to blame for that loss. Perhaps if you responded to the actual content of my posts, I wouldn't feel it necessary to have you on ignore.

[THETRIOUXPER]

I see TRIOUXPER responded to me. Although I have him on ignore, since I can see his post I'll reply.

I never said HC didn't show more heart or desire in that game, I (quite clearly) said that Briggs wasn't the reason the Gophers lost to HC. My comment was in the context of a discussion about what Gopher fans might be able to expect from Briggs this season. I simply stated the OT goal was a fluke - a crossing pass that goes in off a skate in front as Briggs was sliding to play the probable shot to follow. I didn't say it was flukey in order to claim I don't think HC deserved to win the game, I said it was flukey in order to explain that I don't think Briggs should be the one to blame for that loss. Instead of tossing a nutter everytime I post, take a deep breath and read what I actually write.

You had me on ignore, but yet wasted your time responding anayway. Hmmm, I guess you aren't really ignoring now are you ? Bottom line, you still can't admit that the wheels fell off the gooph's bus last year, which most of us witnessed in person. No matter how you try to disect it slappy, we all saw it, but you just won't come to terms with it, the truth will set you free.

[#1Hakfan]

You have to remember that Lammy played most of his games at the begining of the season the last two years and that was when the teams wasn't playing very good. Last year one of the biggest wins of the year was the second night in Minnesota (it was a must win). Lammy stood on his head. I have lots of confidence in him. He is way more athletic than Jordan.

I am still worried about Frazee. I think he could step it up and have a big year. I hope I am wrong. Briggs is good for a bad goal a game vs. good teams.

[Slap Shot]

You have to remember that Lammy played most of his games at the begining of the season the last two years and that was when the teams wasn't playing very good. Last year one of the biggest wins of the year was the second night in Minnesota (it was a must win). Lammy stood on his head. I have lots of confidence in him. He is way more athletic than Jordan.

I am still worried about Frazee. I think he could step it up and have a big year. I hope I am wrong. Briggs is good for a bad goal a game vs. good teams.

I agree with you about Lammy. I don't think Sioux fans should not have confidence in Lammy, rather that I don't think it should be any greater than how a Gopher fan should feel about Briggs. They've had similar numbers, but additionally in his defense Briggs has had an opportunity to play in the NCAAs (with positive and negative results) and he's done well in the WCHA where the competition is as good as it gets. imho they've both proven they can win important games, but can they do it for the long haul?

UND fans also have to like the D unit in front of Lammy next year which never hurts, and the Gophers have the potential for having better defensive play in front of Briggs than they did last year. What I want to see Lucia sell on his forwards though is more grit and determination in the corners, something that cost them against UND in 2004 and against HC in 2005.

As for Frazee, I've posted at gpl that it's too soon to write him off. He didn't do what he did prior to playing for the Gophers because he sucked. I think Frazee came in with a big head and was ill-prepared mentally for the level of competition. Maybe he is overrated and we've already seen what he can do, or he'll get his head on straight and step up his play.

[#1 Sioux Fan]

I agree with you about Lammy. I don't think Sioux fans should not have confidence in Lammy, rather that I don't think it should be any greater than how a Gopher fan should feel about Briggs. They've had similar numbers, but additionally in his defense Briggs has had an opportunity to play in the NCAAs (with positive and negative results) and he's done well in the WCHA where the competition is as good as it gets. imho they've both proven they can win important games, but can they do it for the long haul?

UND fans also have to like the D unit in front of Lammy next year which never hurts, and the Gophers have the potential for having better defensive play in front of Briggs than they did last year. What I want to see Lucia sell on his forwards though is more grit and determination in the corners, something that cost them against UND in 2004 and against HC in 2005.

As for Frazee, I've posted at gpl that it's too soon to write him off. He didn't do what he did prior to playing for the Gophers because he sucked. I think Frazee came in with a big head and was ill-prepared mentally for the level of competition. Maybe he is overrated and we've already seen what he can do, or he'll get his head on straight and step up his play.

Frazee reminds me of UND's Simbida (Spelling). Expectations were high, maybe too high and the roof came down. I don't know if it is too much pressure or what it is but some goalies never really get going until they are upper classman

[AZSIOUX]

Frazee reminds me of UND's Simbida (Spelling). Expectations were high, maybe too high and the roof came down. I don't know if it is too much pressure or what it is but some goalies never really get going until they are upper classman

i bet frazee doesnt make the usa junior team and transfers mid season after he doesnt play as much as he wants for the gophs..kangas will come in next season and start for 4 years..i think he will be great..just a hunch, thats all....i would feel way more confident in briggs than frazee any day of the week....that is of course up to the final 5 and beyond when the lucia pet decides that games dont count (sorry, just to easy not to throw in my post ) will be very interesting to see how phil plays this season, i am confident in him, his numbers were not great but if he does get the chance every night which i hope he does i think he will just grow into a very solid goalie behind our good d core.......

IN PHIL WE TRUST

[MafiaMan]

While the 05-06 Sioux were a very talented and very young team, don't forget that the Sioux needed help from other WCHA teams to capture home ice for the playoffs and that on March 11, they were one game away from their season ending. Until Holy Cross beat Minnesota and UND beat Michigan, I don't recall expectations for UND being that high.

I think that pre-season expectations raised the bar pretty high. Given the success of "host schools" advancing to the Frozen Four, I think the majority of fans would have said "yes, this team has not only the talent but also a great opportunity to advance."

[MafiaMan]

Thanks spell check, I'm sure Hak will use "With the "best college hockey arena in the world" and the fact that UND's most-recent title is now seven years old, I'd say more pressure is on UND to win a title" as motivational tool to get his team going. Look - making the FF is the goal of every team, winning is another. If you consider the past two seasons as failures, better jump ship and change your tattoo to a gopher. " As for last season, with GF hosting a regional, people EXPECTED the Sioux to at least make a second consecutive trip to the Frozen Four" - who? you and the turd in your pants?? Should have put money on the Sioux to advance over the #1 seed of the country.

I quoted my own post here so you could find where I wrote about the past two Sioux seasons being "failures" and point it out for me. Much appreciated.

Again, at the beginning of the season, people were certainly thinking the Sioux had a great shot at getting to the Frozen Four, simply on the basis of it being hosted by REA. If you were so certain Michigan and Minnesota were going to defeat the Sioux, why did you plunk down the $$$$ for your ticket to the games? I drove from Minneapolis/St Paul because I had no doubts I was going to watch some great hockey.

[HEXTALL]

1 WISCONSIN (great goaltender and steady defense) low scoring

2 MINNESOTA (solid defense and good depth at forwards) goaltending is a true weakness

3 NORTH DAKOTA ( plenty of scoring and good goaltending) defense may be question mark

4 DENVER (some scoring and good goaltending) defense may take a hit

5 ST.CLOUD (great goaltending good defense) scoring will be harder this year

6 UMD (scoring will be better and possiblity of good goaltending) defense will be tested

7 COLORADO COLLEGE(scoring will still be good and goaltending)defense will struggle

8 MICHIGAN TECH (some scoring decent defense and decent goaltending) still young

9 MANKATO (to may holes to fill)

10 ALASKA (weak)

[TC_transplant]

2 MINNESOTA (solid defense and good depth at forwards) goaltending is a true weakness

3 NORTH DAKOTA ( plenty of scoring and good goaltending) defense may be question mark

Career Winning Percentage

Lammy: .448

Parise: .713

Brandt: .708

Siembida: .625

Kollar: .725

Minnesota and North Dakota in 06-07: Questions in goal

[Smoggy]

Career Winning Percentage

Lammy: .448

Parise: .713

Brandt: .708

Siembida: .625

Kollar: .725

Minnesota and North Dakota in 06-07: Questions in goal

Big difference there is that the Sioux team doesn't score when Lammy has been in net.

[siouxforeverbaby]

Big difference there is that the Sioux team doesn't score when Lammy has been in net.

they didn't last year,but whose to say that they won't this year? I am not disputing that they haven't before, but now they don't have Parise. I believe that we will be fine this year with Lammy and with the other two. it is just a matter of the team molding with each other.

[AZSIOUX]

Big difference there is that the Sioux team doesn't score when Lammy has been in net.

and that is a great question..with no real possible answer...just was what is was i guess....we will find out soon and lets hope we do give him 4 goals a game

[dagies]

You have to remember that Lammy played most of his games at the begining of the season the last two years and that was when the teams wasn't playing very good. Last year one of the biggest wins of the year was the second night in Minnesota (it was a must win). Lammy stood on his head. I have lots of confidence in him. He is way more athletic than Jordan.

I am still worried about Frazee. I think he could step it up and have a big year. I hope I am wrong. Briggs is good for a bad goal a game vs. good teams.

#1Hakfan, you make some good points on Lammy. It's hard to know for sure what Lammy will provide night in and night out over the course of the season. I do remember that game against MN, however. I attended the Friday night game, but didn't have tickets on Saturday and watched that one in front of my tv instead. Friday night seemed the low point of the season. The team HAD to have a solid performance the following night and that's exactly what Lammy gave them. Basically, a chance to win the game. That came after being shell-shocked the night before and looking like it could be a long season.

Lammy came in and gave the team hope. And while the road was not smooth the rest of the way (see the SCSU series a couple weeks later), I think that MN game was pivotal in how the rest of the season played out.

Lammy has shown he has the ability. Now he will have to show the consistency over time. Let's drop the puck!

[brianvf]

3 NORTH DAKOTA ( plenty of scoring and good goaltending) defense may be question mark

They only lost Smaby from their top 6 dman rotation, and Lee, Chorney, Jones, and Finley are all poised to have good soph seasons. Radke could be the leader for the d-corps.

Plus Bina returns and they add Genoway.

IMO defense will be the strong point of this team.

[dagies]

You know, you can look at paper offense and goaltending history. But it's much harder to quantify a team's defensive capabilities. At least it is for me. So, admitting that I really don't know much more than how to guess at how good a team might be at keeping the other team away from their net:

These grades are relative within the WCHA:

Minnesota For a team that so often lives by the PP, will it be able to replace Thor Potulny? Will again have a dynamic offense. May or may not lack the finisher that they've had. How good will the goaltending be?

Offense A - Probably the deepest offense though lacking the high level returning scorers of UND. Strongest incoming class. Hirsch is a wild card. Will he step back in where he left off? Will he be the same player after a layoff? Will he be the same player without a pure goal scorer like RyPo?

Defense B - May give up a few more chances than the best defensive teams, but the strongest offensive contributors overall helps make up for that. Shouldn't be embarrassing in their own end either, but we can hope.

Goal B- - Briggs can be solid but also inconsistent. Frazee has ability but maybe hasn't figured out the mental aspects of being successful yet. Should be effective, and that may be all that's necessary.

Freshmen A - Best incoming class. After Johnson and Okposo, you can add Barriball and Fischer, and THEN tack on some quality additions. Yikes.

UND Possibly the best top end offensive players in the WCHA. Will they have enough scoring depth and goaltending?

Offense A - Probably the most potent returning offense but not quite as deep as MN.

Defense B - Great mix of offensive and defensive ability. Last year did a pretty good job of limiting chances, but not physically imposing as they have been in the past. Instead this group has more offensive ability.

Goal B- - Lammy has talent and has shown ability. Now will be counted on for consistent play over the course of a season. That's still a question mark and prevents a higher rating. I expect this mark to improve not get worse over time.

Incoming Freshmen C+ - Solid, but not outstanding.

Wisconsin Well coached team that won't give up a lot, but if you don't either you have a chance to win.

Offense C - Not as potent as the better teams, some quality relative to the bottom feeders. Gorowsky is a bit of a wild card. Not much of a freshman year for a guy who was expected to show better. If he does come on, it will be a boon for Eaves.

Defense A - Team gives up few chances. Seems to be their style.

Goal A - Elliot in net is enough said

Freshmen B- - Fairly strong and balanced class with potential contributors on offense and defense. Heavy on USNDP.

SCSU Scrappy, hard working, well coached team.

Offense C+ - Rates middle of the pack, Gordon gives it some pizzazz.

Defense B - Returns some solid blueliners that also contribut offensively.

Goal A - Goepfert can steal games.

Incoming Freshmen C - Some good players previously. Can they step up?

UMD Team is young, deep and talented. Quite young. Stalock may be the goalie they've been looking for.

Offense A- - some very good depth and ability. Sophomores played key roles and scored successfully last year. Could explode this year. Will they?

Defense B- - Some solid defenseman. Niskanen could be an offensive defensive standout.

Goal C+ - Hard to give a better grade until it is seen what Stalock can do for them. This grade could improve significantly.

Incoming Freshmen C - Stalock is probably the headliner of a decent but fairly small class.

Denver Hard working team, well coached. Unpopular style. Lacks the biscuit-ability of the past few teams and will struggle to score.

Offense C - Dingle is the star of this emaciated offense. Not as much depth as with some WCHA teams. Some potential help coming from the D but not a lot. Will need some freshmen to have an impact to get into the top 5. Trotter is a wild card. Am assuming he's coming back and will be the player he looked to be last year. Gwoz will need him. If he does come back, this grade would improve at least 1/2 letter.

Defense B - If the officials allow the Denver Grab defense, they may be ok. They'll need to limit the score to have a good chance this year. With Mannino in net all they have to do is limit the good chances and they'll be fine. I say officiating frustrates the Gwoz and they finish lower half.

Goaltending A - No coach would kick Mannino out of bed.

Incoming Freshmen B - some pretty good players coming in, both offense and defense. Will need to have an impact in order to provide depth.

Mankato A team that was close to being pretty good lost a ton of offense. Gutted offense costs them much of a season.

Offense C - Similar situation as Denver. A star forward without a lot of depth.

Defense C - Vanilla. There.

Goaltending C - Last year was inconsistent. Will Austin Lee bolster the corp?

Incoming Freshmen C - Some good players for the leagues that they came from, but generally came from 2nd tier leagues. Any diamonds in the rough here? They better hope so.

Colorado College Ouch. Has Owens lived off Sertich/Sterling for 4 years? Lucia built the CC program and Owens appeared to be maintaining it. But this year the team is gutted. Other than Rau there is little offense, average defense, decent goaltending, and a sub-par recruiting class for a team that needed to rebuild. My concern is that Owens didn't lose most of his guys early, why doesn't he have a class coming in to replace his losses?

Offense C- - After Rau Owens better hope he has some surprises.

Defense C- - I've never been all that impressed with CC's defense. They seem to be an offensive style defense. They don't have any offense, so they need to stop the puck. Ain't going to happen, and with no offense they can't keep it away from the other team. Zaba might need 2 chest protectors.

Goaltending B+ - Zaba is a bright spot. Better be good.

Incoming freshmen C- - To me it seems Owens 2 noteworthy recruits are D. Offensive D. Oops.

Alaska Anchorage A couple of years ago a sign fell and hit one of their players in warm-ups. It appears the roof caved in over the summer.

Offense F - Has a team ever not had a double digit scorer for a whole year?

Defense C - Ok at best. Some guys who can step into the offense.

Goaltending B - Lawson is pretty good.

Incoming Freshmen C - They have some guys that were ok in their previous leagues. AA will need them to be ok or better this year to stay out of the cellar.

Tech Might have even less returning scoring than AA if you can believe that. When you look at what is coming back it's no surprise Ian Kallay bailed on the pretense of pursuing another career and then applied for the UND opening.

Offense F - cupboard is pretty bare, and the shelves aren't deep.

Defense C - eh, ok.

Goaltending C - shaky, sometimes very good.

Incoming freshmen C - might be better than Alaska's, but will have to be to get out of the cellar.

[#1Hakfan]

They only lost Smaby from their top 6 dman rotation, and Lee, Chorney, Jones, and Finley are all poised to have good soph seasons. Radke could be the leader for the d-corps.

Plus Bina returns and they add Genoway.

IMO defense will be the strong point of this team.

Agreed. I was wondering If I was being overly optimistic about Lee, Chorney, Jones, Finley, Radke, Bina. Should be one of the best D cores in the league. A little of everything. Lots of Skill in Lee, Chorney, Radke, (Bina & Genoway add alot of quickness) (Lee had almost 30 points last year), physical presence Jones and Finley( I think Finley will be an animal this year).

[PCM]

How good is Philippe Lamoureux? In UND career stats, he's currently third (behind Parise and Goehring) in goals against average at 2.36 and third (behind Parise and Goehring) in save percentage at .913. So why doesn't he have more wins? Because the games in which he's played during his career, the Sioux have averaged 2.45 goals per game.

For whatever reason, throughout Lamoureux's first two seasons, the problem hasn't been with him playing poorly or giving up bad goals. It's been with a lack of scoring when he's been in net. If Lamoureux can keep his save percentage and goals against average near where they're at now, he and the team will do well as long as the offense is there.

[sagard]

They only lost Smaby from their top 6 dman rotation, and Lee, Chorney, Jones, and Finley are all poised to have good soph seasons. Radke could be the leader for the d-corps.

Plus Bina returns and they add Genoway.

IMO defense will be the strong point of this team.

I usually agree with you Brian, but I think I'm with Hextall on this. It seemed like Parise erased a lot of problems last year. Finley or Jones may develop into it, but I don't see anyone on the UND blueline who teams are going to hate to play against.

[PCM]

I never said HC didn't show more heart or desire in that game, I said that Briggs wasn't the reason the Gophers lost.

I agree that Briggs wasn't the reason Minnesota lost in overtime. The game-winner was a rather strange goal which became possible because of half-hearted backchecking by the Gopher forwards.

However, you can't absolve completely Briggs of any blame for the loss. He did give up on the Crusaders' third goal that sent the game into overtime.

[sagard]

I agree that Briggs wasn't the reason Minnesota lost in overtime. The game-winner was a rather strange goal which became possible because of half-hearted backchecking by the Gopher forwards.

However, you can't absolve completely Briggs of any blame for the loss. He did give up on the Crusaders' third goal that sent the game into overtime.

There was plenty of blame to go around for the HC game. My primary blame went out to the team for taking 10 stupid penalties. They failed to adjust to the tighter officiating and took needless penalty after needless penalty. After that I give Briggs first helping. He was worthless on the 1st and 3rd goals, and he looked like a lost puppy on the OT goal. Sure it took a tough bounce off Atherton, but Briggs didn't have the concentration needed to keep his eyes on the puck. It was not as tough a bounce as the Armbrust goal in '97.

Briggs has had several stretches of great play during his career so far. I'm just hoping next spring he can settle into one of those grooves.

[siouxguyinstpaul]

There was plenty of blame to go around for the HC game. My primary blame went out to the team for taking 10 stupid penalties. They failed to adjust to the tighter officiating and took needless penalty after needless penalty. After that I give Briggs first helping. He was worthless on the 1st and 3rd goals, and he looked like a lost puppy on the OT goal. Sure it took a tough bounce off Atherton, but Briggs didn't have the concentration needed to keep his eyes on the puck. It was not as tough a bounce as the Armbrust goal in '97.

Briggs has had several stretches of great play during his career so far. I'm just hoping next spring he can settle into one of those grooves.

If your going to find fault here - it lies with the coaching for the mentioned reasons.