Friday @ CC

[Shawn-O]

HAK INTERVIEW (may have missed some due to radio going out at beginning):

really liked the way they came out to play for the 3rd period, can't take a 5 min major, gotta be more responsible, altitude had an effect, definitely had the will, created enough opportunities in the 3rd, martens didn't play well on friday against dartmouth but came around saturday and today, makes a lot of plays and creates opportunities, has more poise and more confidence, takes charge, great hockey sense, needs to be an effective player for us, defense and goaltending did a good job, everyone played pretty well

STARS of the game:

3) Scott McCulloch (only goal)

2) Phil Lamoreaux (lots of saves)

1) Matt Zaba (obviously lol)

Is it me, or does Hakstol sugarcoat things a lot more this season in these post-game interviews? The old sound bites used to be...no excuses...didn't get it done....etc. Not a huge deal, but the tone has changed for some reason.....

[sioux7>5]

I agree!

Let's Fire Hakstol! I mean, he's taken the team to two Frozen Fours while during Blais' tenure, we went every year for his entire tenure! This team can't have a down year because if we had Blais, we'd shoot the puck, score more goals, Finley wouldn't suck, Phil wouldn't give up so many rebounds, and we'd at least have outsho..I mean we would have at least dominated play for most of the....oh wait.

God, that has got to be the most retarded thing I've heard.

This team lost the game because they couldn't beat the goaltender and they didn't get any finishing. Defensively we played well. Apart from Watkins boneheaded move in the 2nd, we played responsibly. We won a good deal of the faceoffs and spent a lot of time in the CC zone.

Please, losing sucks, having a losing season sucks, but again, pointing fingers at a coach is much easier than accepting that this was a tough loss, a bad loss point wise, but not a poorly played game.

Don't have to be happy about it, but you don't have to call for the executioner every time. And please, don't give me that BS about expectations and tradition and all that. Teams work in cycles. They have good years and bad years and, quite frankly, let's wait until the year is over before we call it either way.

But hey, if you want to jump off the cliff, I won't stop you. Just throw yourself off and leave individuals on the team out of it.

Ok while I agree with what you are saying, I disagree with you. There are high expectations on this team. They have more talent then most teams and for some reason can't win. I was being a little sarcastic when I said to bring back Blais, but at some point with this much talent you have to look at the what the coach is doing wrong, or different from previous years.

Hope we have a better saturday night.

[dallassiouxfan]

I agree!

Let's Fire Hakstol! I mean, he's taken the team to two Frozen Fours while during Blais' tenure, we went every year for his entire tenure! This team can't have a down year because if we had Blais, we'd shoot the puck, score more goals, Finley wouldn't suck, Phil wouldn't give up so many rebounds, and we'd at least have outsho..I mean we would have at least dominated play for most of the....oh wait.

God, that has got to be the most retarded thing I've heard.

This team lost the game because they couldn't beat the goaltender and they didn't get any finishing. Defensively we played well. Apart from Watkins boneheaded move in the 2nd, we played responsibly. We won a good deal of the faceoffs and spent a lot of time in the CC zone.

Please, losing sucks, having a losing season sucks, but again, pointing fingers at a coach is much easier than accepting that this was a tough loss, a bad loss point wise, but not a poorly played game.

Don't have to be happy about it, but you don't have to call for the executioner every time. And please, don't give me that BS about expectations and tradition and all that. Teams work in cycles. They have good years and bad years and, quite frankly, let's wait until the year is over before we call it either way.

But hey, if you want to jump off the cliff, I won't stop you. Just throw yourself off and leave individuals on the team out of it.

It's time for the "people to start calling for Hak's head and RW77 to step in and defend him"part of the evening. I guess its time for bed. See you tomorrow.

[PCM]

Unfortunately, the one thing that's been working for the Sioux this season is the power play. Without Toews, Chorney and Lee, the Sioux power play has lost much of its power. It's too bad that we desperately need wins at a time when we're missing three key players.

But all is not lost. If the Sioux can get the win Saturday and sweep UAA next weekend at home, the situation won't look as hopeless as it does right now.

[PCM]

In the post-game interview, it was clear that there were two or three forwards that Hak was unhappy with. It'd be interesting to know who they were.

[WiSioux]

I'm predicting a win tomorrow night. Mainly because I was at the Saturday night game in GF and they won, and tomorrow I'll be able to listen to it on the radio. So I've got my fingers crossed and I'm hoping for the best

[Irish]

I agree!

Let's Fire Hakstol! I mean, he's taken the team to two Frozen Fours while during Blais' tenure, we went every year for his entire tenure! This team can't have a down year because if we had Blais, we'd shoot the puck, score more goals, Finley wouldn't suck, Phil wouldn't give up so many rebounds, and we'd at least have outsho..I mean we would have at least dominated play for most of the....oh wait.

God, that has got to be the most retarded thing I've heard.

This team lost the game because they couldn't beat the goaltender and they didn't get any finishing. Defensively we played well. Apart from Watkins boneheaded move in the 2nd, we played responsibly. We won a good deal of the faceoffs and spent a lot of time in the CC zone.

Please, losing sucks, having a losing season sucks, but again, pointing fingers at a coach is much easier than accepting that this was a tough loss, a bad loss point wise, but not a poorly played game.

Don't have to be happy about it, but you don't have to call for the executioner every time. And please, don't give me that BS about expectations and tradition and all that. Teams work in cycles. They have good years and bad years and, quite frankly, let's wait until the year is over before we call it either way.

But hey, if you want to jump off the cliff, I won't stop you. Just throw yourself off and leave individuals on the team out of it.

I'm not saying fire Hak, but I sure would like to have Blais back. That being said, there are some serious problems with this team - they are underperforming across the board. In addition, I'm not wild about this years recruits - who is making an impact. almost no one has improved from last year including Toews and Oshie. These are all coaching issues - you can't tell me that if a Blais team played like this heads wouldn't roll. I strongly disagree with your comments abour expectations and tradition. They should be alive and well - this is the type of season I haven't seen since Bjorkman.

[7>4]

Just back from the game. A few observations. Lammy played awesome. Some huge saves. Didn't read the thread but all you Lammy bashers better shut your pie holes at least with respect to tonights game. He deserved a W. Sioux moved the puck well but couldn't bury one. No near enough traffic in front of the net. That said, Zaba did make some huge saves. CFB call on Watkins was WEAK. No doubt a penalty but no way was it a major. Could hurt with short bench as the Sioux really looked gassed the last 5 minutes or so. Oshie is fun to watch. The kid deserves some breaks.

Had a great time. Good turn out of Sioux fans. Tomorrow is another day. I smell a W.

[PCM]

I'm not saying fire Hak, but I sure would like to have Blais back.

And I'd like to have Stafford, Zajac, Spirko, Parise and Smaby back, but it ain't gonna happen. So the Sioux better find a way to win with who they have, including the coach.

[AZSIOUX]

I'm not saying fire Hak, but I sure would like to have Blais back. That being said, there are some serious problems with this team - they are underperforming across the board. In addition, I'm not wild about this years recruits - who is making an impact. almost no one has improved from last year including Toews and Oshie. These are all coaching issues - you can't tell me that if a Blais team played like this heads wouldn't roll. I strongly disagree with your comments abour expectations and tradition. They should be alive and well - this is the type of season I haven't seen since Bjorkman.

DEAN IS GONE.............................

01/02 was a very bad season, let me refresh your memory

91 through 96 were tough years as well

http://www.uscho.com/stats/teamYxY.php?team=UND&gender=m

[redwing77]

Ok while I agree with what you are saying, I disagree with you. There are high expectations on this team. They have more talent then most teams and for some reason can't win. I was being a little sarcastic when I said to bring back Blais, but at some point with this much talent you have to look at the what the coach is doing wrong, or different from previous years.

Hope we have a better saturday night.

I'm sure some feel that this team has high expectations. But, though I could name off all (or close thereto) the well worn and well used pontifications as to why this team is underperforming, this team isn't doing as well as we'd all like.

There are a ton of teams in different sports that were supposed to do super good that didn't. Sometimes, we just have to take the good with the bad and, when the season's all done and over with, we can look back and wonder "What went wrong?" and start talking about a bad season.

Let's face it, there isn't a single coach out there that has won all the games he was "supposed to win." No coach has won it all consistently. I wonder if these "high expectations" are not only high, but unrealistically so.

Good night dallassiouxfan. At least I'm consistent.

PCM- I agree. Tommorrow is a must win, UAA is a must sweep. I'd love to take at least one game from Minnesota. We need to sweep BSU (we know they are good, but not infallible. They lost to Wayne State tonight).

This season hasn't gone well, but it is far from over.

[DamStrait]

I had a feeling after not scoring despite dominating the 1st period that we were in for a game like this one turned out.

[AZSIOUX]

pretty damn annoying that we cant score 1 friken goal. a waste of a great performace by phil. 1 goal, thats all. damn this sucks but its on to saturday. if we cant get a goal tomorrow night or simply 1 more than cc we are in a world of hurt especially with our upcoming schedule on the road

damm

[mygarske]

I'm with Redwing77, completely agree. Losing sucks, but for cripes sake lets not pull all the scholarships and burn down the Ralph. We expect them to win. I also expect more from us alumni and fans.

None of us could actually see the game tonight, but from what I heard tonight, things sounded better than they have in past weeks. Over the course of the last three games we have seen some really great improvements. 1. Phil is back on his game. Makes those saves that turn a game and can turn a season. 2. Our defense has pulled it together and is playing solid, blocking shots and not giving up the body on the rushes. 3. Our freshman are starting to come up to the speed of the WCHA game. I still believe the line of Forney/Zajac/Vandavelde has a huge 2nd half in store for us, they're almost there now. 4. Those god awful 2nd periods have been 1,000 times better, think Alaska, Mankato, etc.

And, we bring back Toews who has definitely found the back of the net again, is healthy, has some new stitches for the bitches and is known to have a better 2nd half than 1st. We add to our improved defense with Chorney who had an incredible World Juniors tournament, chipped in some huge goals and helpers. Lee, given his bench time at WJ and the improvement of our d corp - has even more incentive than ever to pull his head out of his ass and pick up his play. Oshie has looked and played healthier than any other time this season. And yes, we DO have a great coach to bring the boys together and finish with a strong second half.

I remember last year when the same angst and "F! em all!" attitudes and comments were being posted on this same board. I get the frustration and being disappointed at a loss by a team with such great promise and talent. What I don't get is some of you completely giving up on a bunch of 18, 19, 20 year old kids if they don't play perfect every night or every weekend. I'm all for playing to your potential and winning traditions, but you guys are throwing in the towel half way into the season. Our guys all have rock solid character and you

[AZSIOUX]

there are MANY fans here not giving up at all. just pissed off as a fan as we should be when our team is not that good right now. bottom line. we are not good as of now. just reality. it really really sucks and thank god there are pissed off fans and we dont settle for mediocre seasons like some other teams. its fighting sioux hockey. we expect to be great every single year when that is down right impossible. is the season over? hell muthafkn no, but we have dug ourselves in a bit of a hole and if we dont get a w saturday we really could be in trouble. hell im a fan that would think we could make the NC$$'s if we lost 1/2 of our remaining games because i will tell you , all we have to do is get into the final 5 and win the damn thing and we are in easy does right?

im glad fans are mad and upset, we give tons of priase when we are winning and its well deserved and we should give critisism when we lose. IT GOES BOTH WAYS......

GO SIOUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Sioux-cia]

I'm in Santa Fe and I25 north is closed. I hope it opens up in time for me to get to Colorado Springs tomorrow to see the boys play again.

Sad to see we lost tonight. I'm confident the boys will pull together and get a win tomorrow night! But then again, I'm the eternal optimist!!

GO SIOOOOOOOOOUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Sicatoka]

I'm not sure what the theory of this offense is supposed to be is, but I do know a few key things:

- you don't score by taking the puck to the corner; you score by taking it to the net

- shooting for the edges only generates wide shots, and doesn't create rebounds

- you miss 100% of the shots you don't take (paraphrasing Brandon Bochenski)

[7>4]

I'm with Redwing77, completely agree. Losing sucks, but for cripes sake lets not pull all the scholarships and burn down the Ralph. We expect them to win. I also expect more from us alumni and fans.

None of us could actually see the game tonight, but from what I heard tonight, things sounded better than they have in past weeks. Over the course of the last three games we have seen some really great improvements. 1. Phil is back on his game. Makes those saves that turn a game and can turn a season. 2. Our defense has pulled it together and is playing solid, blocking shots and not giving up the body on the rushes. 3. Our freshman are starting to come up to the speed of the WCHA game. I still believe the line of Forney/Zajac/Vandavelde has a huge 2nd half in store for us, they're almost there now. 4. Those god awful 2nd periods have been 1,000 times better, think Alaska, Mankato, etc.

And, we bring back Toews who has definitely found the back of the net again, is healthy, has some new stitches for the bitches and is known to have a better 2nd half than 1st. We add to our improved defense with Chorney who had an incredible World Juniors tournament, chipped in some huge goals and helpers. Lee, given his bench time at WJ and the improvement of our d corp - has even more incentive than ever to pull his head out of his ass and pick up his play. Oshie has looked and played healthier than any other time this season. And yes, we DO have a great coach to bring the boys together and finish with a strong second half.

I remember last year when the same angst and "F! em all!" attitudes and comments were being posted on this same board. I get the frustration and being disappointed at a loss by a team with such great promise and talent. What I don't get is some of you completely giving up on a bunch of 18, 19, 20 year old kids if they don't play perfect every night or every weekend. I'm all for playing to your potential and winning traditions, but you guys are throwing in the towel half way into the season. Our guys all have rock solid character and you

[skateshattrick]

In the post-game interview, it was clear that there were two or three forwards that Hak was unhappy with. It'd be interesting to know who they were.

I was wondering the same thing. Did anyone see the game that has some perspective on this?

[redwing77]

mygarske- Thanks. I would add one more thing to your list:

5. Our Penalty Kill actually looked to be existant.

Ok, a little reading in between the lines here: TH talked about how wide the ice is (Olympic sized?) and I've noticed how we rely heavily on lateral passing to produce scoring opportunities. Well, the wider the ice surface, the longer it is going to take to get the puck cross ice to where the shot attempt is to be made. That means two things: 1. The goaltender has more time to get into position and 2. The defense has more time to cover. That being said, we had over 17 shots from between the faceoff circles and closer to the net in the first two periods alone. Zaba made some spectacular saves.

The solution? It's hard to say this when you look at the shot totals, but we have to continuously throw the puck at the net and expect to try to get the rebound. That means crashing the net. We did do that some times, but not enough. That's how CC scored their lone goal last night. Shot--miss (off boards) - CC collects rebound and shoots again right away (Phil makes the save) - McCulloch gathers the rebound and scores. Nothing special about the goal. No finesse, no real skill, no fanciness whatsoever. Just shooting the puck at the net. Hakstol said he was impressed with the third period. I thought we weren't as good as he though offensively. With less than 3 minutes left in the game, I thought the Sioux could have made more than 2 shot attempts. When they didn't get a single shot attempt in the last minute, it was just sad.

Nevertheless, hopefully we play better tonight.

Regarding the two or three forwards speculation: I'm guessing one of the forwards he's not happy with is Matt Watkins. When you are shot on players like the Sioux are, you don't commit that kind of penalty (and whether 7>4 thinks it was weak or not, we'll take his word for it. TH said it was a CFB, but may not have been worthy of a major as apparently it happened away from the boards).

Lastly, Hunt let the boys play, and a great game occurred. Interesting, no?

[WiSioux]

I was wondering the same thing. Did anyone see the game that has some perspective on this?

I'm gonna venture out and guess Watkins, for taking the major penalty... but other than that, I can't comment because I didn't hear the interview.

[7>4]

The three forwards? I would agree with Watkins, major or not, don't put yourself in the position where you can be gone for the game. I'm not sure how a ref makes the distinction. From my simplistic view, it just didn't look that bad. Anybody know what the criteria is. I do know that the refs spent a couple minutes discussing it before the decision was made on the major. I do agree with redwing that the game was officiated very well. No ticky tack calls.

I'm not sure who the other two would be. I thought Oshie's line played well. I thought Porter and Kaip were solid although Porter did not bury a couple of great chances. The Freshman line created some chances. Mertens had a few really nice plays. By process of elimination, that leaves Fabian, Kozek, who am I missing, . Didn't think anyone stuck out as having a poor effort but what the heck do I know.

The problem with being so shorthanded is that the lineup stays pretty much the same tonight. Hopefully the altitude and the short bench won't be a factor.

[Goon]

PCM- I agree. Tommorrow is a must win, UAA is a must sweep. I'd love to take at least one game from Minnesota. We need to sweep BSU (we know they are good, but not infallible. They lost to Wayne State tonight).

This season hasn't gone well, but it is far from over.

Make that the Sioux must Sweep BSU (losing is unacceptable). Must get points from Denver (something Hak's teams have not done) The problem is the Sioux aren't getting it done and frankly this team doesn't have it. Hakstol needs to be held accountable for this season. The Gophers lose just as much talent as the Sioux and they are running away with the division title. Hakstol fails to make the proper adjustments after losing players in the off season. While I am not ready to call for his head yet, its apparent he might not be the right coach for UND.

[skateshattrick]

Make that the Sioux must Sweep BSU (losing is unacceptable). Must get points from Denver (something Hak's teams have not done) The problem is the Sioux aren't getting it done and frankly this team doesn't have it. Hakstol needs to be held accountable for this season. The Gophers lose just as much talent as the Sioux and they are running away with the division title. Hakstol fails to make the proper adjustments after losing players in the off season. While I am not ready to call for his head yet, its apparent he might not be the right coach for UND.

I don't believe that I'm ready to go that far, but I agree that there are some legitimate questions and concerns. Yes, he got to 2 Frozen Fours, but they were players that were brought in for the most part by Blais. I think we need to see how the season plays out.

[Goon]

I don't believe that I'm ready to go that far, but I agree that there are some legitimate questions and concerns. Yes, he got to 2 Frozen Fours, but they were players that were brought in for the most part by Blais. I think we need to see how the season plays out.

I would bet if Blais were coaching one of the last two teams to the NCAA Frozen Four he would have won a title with the talent the Sioux had.

As Sioux fans we know that the patience with Hak will not be very long. If you listen to him in his post game speech he is getting desperate, you can hear it in his voice. I can't believe with Eades as one of the coaches we don't have more intensity? Maybe the school should look at getting Blais back. Dean is going to be out there and you can see him basically saying here I am, I available.