SIOUX vs. badgers

[wsdSIOUXfalls]

You could feel it coming tonight, bound to go down one of these weekends and with no video or TV, LOTS of Sioux fans on tonight.

Saw the "active viewers" stats get up to about 227 at one point, then down below 100 - . Tonight it appeared to be over 100 lower than the 338 high recorded last March

[yzerman19]

Noone has supported and loved this team more than me over the last three decades. I am just sick of getting my hopes up and then having them dashed. It hurts. I can't stand to lose.

[SiouxFanatic]

It's really frustrating to see that we have an offense that runs on an off//on switch. One game they are lighting things up and then the other they can't score worth a damn. We've always had problems winning against Wisconsin these past few years and it's really getting annoying. It is imperative that we get this split cause it's the last time we'll see them in the season.

[OETKB]

I don't want to comment too much since I am not there and it is not televised, but why in the world does our team run into "hot goaltenders" on a regular (almost weekly) basis? No other team, either in college or professional hockey, ever has this much of a problem with "hot goaltenders". Michigan Tech was able to score goals last weekend in Madison, why can't we do it? I suspect that the Badgers are playing their usual "collapse in front of the net" style in which the initial shot is on goal but the rebounds are cleared away right away. Or we are shooting it right into the goaltender's chest again. Whatever it is, we had better figure out how to put the puck into the net or this is going to be a disappointing season.

That is a big sore spot for me. "Hot goaltender" came up at least a dozen times a few years back when the Sioux were having a bad season. Now, I absolutely hate that phrase. Sometimes, it is valid. Often, it happens because the other team had the game momentum - plain and simple.

[Siouxfan_inDenver]

Noone has supported and loved this team more than me over the last three decades. I am just sick of getting my hopes up and then having them dashed. It hurts. I can't stand to lose.

Hold on buddy, it's gonna turn around. If not tomorrow the off week will do us some good.

[fightingsioux4life]

Noone has supported and loved this team more than me over the last three decades. I am just sick of getting my hopes up and then having them dashed. It hurts. I can't stand to lose.

I feel your pain, but it is too early in the season to give up. Look at the last three years for proof of that. I gave up on this team last December and look what happened. Yes, I am sick of hearing about "hot goaltenders" and "missing the net", but we can still split this series and I think we will come out smoking on Saturday.

[yzerman19]

Thanks man. I just really, really want it this year.

[SiouxFanatic]

I feel your pain, but it is too early in the season to give up. Look at the last three years for proof of that. I gave up on this team last December and look what happened. Yes, I am sick of hearing about "hot goaltenders" and "missing the net", but we can still split this series and I think we will come out smoking on Saturday.

Hopefully your right. Jekyll showed up today. It's Hyde's turn!!

[neoflex]

Hate the hype over the sioux hockey team...b/c it must makes us look overated. Same old sht year and year out..start out with a high ranking, and then blow chunks in the first 4 weeks of the season...start playing well and hope to make the playoffs. Just not sure why Hak just can't seem to get it together early in the season.

Bye Bye Broadmore!

[mygarske]

We are not as good as the hype. My problem is that I sort of believed it. We are now under .500 in the WCHA. We can not beat defensive teams. We are a mediocre team.

Hey Fighting Sioux: " I wish I knew how to quit you."

I wouldn't sink that far down just yet, this is one hell of a tough schedule and the boys have been on the road a LOT. And after the Junior class "stars" we have a lot of young players and a lot of players that don't have a ton of ice time. Give them some time to settle the lines, get the right guys together and you'll see lightening on ice. The Freshman are going to score a lot of goals for us this year, almost all of them are playing above their WCHA experience level right now and again, it's a hell of a tough schedule. I'd rather have them play these tough games now and struggle. Get the $hit kicked out of them so they know how it feels so when we get to Feb and March, they won't let it happen to them again. We have half tools ready, defense is great and Lammy (even after tonight) is at playoff form in November. We need to work on the PP and our scoring, and that will always take time as well. I seem to remember a Toews kid not exactly burning up the nets the first half of the season, but scoring at will in the second half. Our coaches and players know how to finish at the right time of the season, let's give them a chance to get things figured out and play like the team we know they can be.

[OETKB]

One thing is for sure, UND will not be in the top 5 after this weekend, even if they split. But, maybe that can be turned into a good thing. Perhaps if this team gets its face slapped a few times early in the season, it will get more serious about showing up 100% for every game, and be stronger come the second half.

[OETKB]

I wouldn't sink that far down just yet, this is one hell of a tough schedule and the boys have been on the road a LOT. And after the Junior class "stars" we have a lot of young players and a lot of players that don't have a ton of ice time. Give them some time to settle the lines, get the right guys together and you'll see lightening on ice. The Freshman are going to score a lot of goals for us this year, almost all of them are playing above their WCHA experience level right now and again, it's a hell of a tough schedule. I'd rather have them play these tough games now and struggle. Get the $hit kicked out of them so they know how it feels so when we get to Feb and March, they won't let it happen to them again. We have half tools ready, defense is great and Lammy (even after tonight) is at playoff form in November. We need to work on the PP and our scoring, and that will always take time as well. I seem to remember a Toews kid not exactly burning up the nets the first half of the season, but scoring at will in the second half. Our coaches and players know how to finish at the right time of the season, let's give them a chance to get things figured out and play like the team we know they can be.

Have to disagree about your "young players" comment. UND is one of the veteran teams this year. This year, they have a higer experience ratio than the last two years. Not a young team at all. Don't mean to criticise you personally, just want to squash that thought as an excuse.

[NORGE]

OK guys. Show us what ya got.

[SiouxFanatic]

One thing is for sure, UND will not be in the top 5 after this weekend, even if they split. But, maybe that can be turned into a good thing. Perhaps if this team gets its face slapped a few times early in the season, it will get more serious about showing up 100% for every game, and be stronger come the second half.

I always hated when UND was high in the polls. The Michigan's, Miami's, and Boston College's of the world can have it

One thing for sure is that I'm getting sick of these first-half of the season woes.

[fightingsioux4life]

I wouldn't sink that far down just yet, this is one hell of a tough schedule and the boys have been on the road a LOT. And after the Junior class "stars" we have a lot of young players and a lot of players that don't have a ton of ice time. Give them some time to settle the lines, get the right guys together and you'll see lightening on ice. The Freshman are going to score a lot of goals for us this year, almost all of them are playing above their WCHA experience level right now and again, it's a hell of a tough schedule. I'd rather have them play these tough games now and struggle. Get the $hit kicked out of them so they know how it feels so when we get to Feb and March, they won't let it happen to them again. We have half tools ready, defense is great and Lammy (even after tonight) is at playoff form in November. We need to work on the PP and our scoring, and that will always take time as well. I seem to remember a Toews kid not exactly burning up the nets the first half of the season, but scoring at will in the second half. Our coaches and players know how to finish at the right time of the season, let's give them a chance to get things figured out and play like the team we know they can be.

The schedule is very tough before Christmas: Boston College, Northeastern, Michigan Tech, Colorado College, Wisconsin, Denver, Minnesota, New Hampshire (ouch!). After Christmas, it gets a little easier with Anchorage, Minnesota State and Bemidji State on the schedule. My fear is that we will lose too many games in the first half to make a run at winning the league in the second half. Having a tough schedule only helps if you can win games.

[OETKB]

I always hated when UND was high in the polls. The Michigan's, Miami's, and Boston College's of the world can have it

Problem is, those teams seem to do okay when rated #1. For the last several years, UND has not been able to handle the pressure, and that concerns me greatly.

Hak has stated that some of his players are dinged up (injured). Other than that, this team should have no excuses. They simply are not getting it done right now. Let's hope tomorrow is a different story.

[Siouxtimestwo]

I said it earlier, but I'll say it again, since it's relevant for this game: It's fine if we as fans get caught up in feeling that everything is fine, we'll just turn in on in the second half, as long as the team doesn't start to take on that mentality. In past years it was understandable when we struggled early, but this year should be different. I don't know if the team got caught up in the hype or not, but for whatever, reason, we're not playing well. I think everyone just assumed our top line would be as dominant and other lines would step up, but neither has happened.

I haven't seen every game this year, but in the 3 I've seen Duncan has simply not been the same player as last year. 3 is a very small sample size compared to last year, but I just don't see him making his teammates better. That's never been his strength, but for our top line to be successful, he needs to do more than just sit in his office. I hate to admit this after arguing with people who didn't think he deserved the Hobey, but so far this year, he appears to be playing like his critics predicted he would without the T to complete the DOT.

Either the players on the other lines are going to have to step up to take pressure off the top line to score every shift or else our top line is gonna have to score in droves, just like last year or in the Parise-Bochenski days. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[andrea6977]

I sure hope they can win when i am watching them live on TV!

[ScottM]

Problem is, those teams seem to do okay when rated #1. For the last several years, UND has not been able to handle the pressure, and that concerns me greatly.

I don't really see it as an issue of "pressure" so much the teams have been losing major players year after year, and having to adjust the first half of the following season. We play in a pretty tough conference, but sometimes you really have to wonder if some of these guys don't start playing until the New Year.

[SiouxFanatic]

I can hear the "Seasons Over" chant whispering in my ear.... J/K!!

I'm done licking my wounds over this loss. Onward to tomorrow. Let's right the ship and get the split!

GO SIOUX!!!

[kvinbe]

Here we go again. Same thing year-in and year-out. Generally speaking, I don't have a huge beef with the job that Hak has done, but this is getting old. He has to be responsible to some degree for not pushing some of the buttons that need to be pushed. We're not going to be able to build toward a championship if we're expending all of our energy playing catch-up yet again this year. Something has got to change, and Hak is going to have to be the one to get things figured out a little earlier this year. I've been very patient and positive, but these slow starts are really getting old.

[Reformed Gphr Fan]

I've been very patient and positive, but these slow starts are really getting old.

Amen!!

[Siouxtimestwo]

I'm pissed about these slow starts as well, but I don't know how much blame we can lay on Hak's shoulders. After all, he has righted the ship the last 3 years, so if you're going to blame him for the starts you have to credit him for the finishes. If we come back and win the title this year, we'll all forget about the slow start. No one is stupid enough to think we should be winning the national title every year, and we have been to the Frozen Four each year under Hak.

That said, we don't hang banners in the Ralph for anything other than WCHA or NCAA championships. As I said, no one should expect to win the national title every year, but it would be nice to actually complete for the WCHA crown! Remember, SOS is no longer a factor in determining NCAA tourney births. We're going to have to start competing for league titles one of these years and not just relying on our reputation as a second half team.

[mygarske]

Have to disagree about your "young players" comment. UND is one of the veteran teams this year. This year, they have a higer experience ratio than the last two years. Not a young team at all. Don't mean to criticise you personally, just want to squash that thought as an excuse.

That's fine, really, until Hak starts calling me for game tips, I'm just like most other folks on the board, just a diehard fan giving his 2 cents.

Here's what I was trying to say, look at the lines below, once you get past the 1st line, we don't have a lot of guys that are used to playing 2nd or even 3rd line, and scoring a lot of goals in a season. GENoway doesn't know if he's O or D night to night. Kaip just found his shot, 3 years late. Watkins has always been a role player. 3rd line. Kozek, again, just found his shot, spent a lot of time on grinder lines. Trupp is a freshman, but playing really well. Martens was 4th line or healthy scratch quite a bit last season. 4 line is 2 freshman and a Sophmore with decent, but not great ice time from last season. But that 4th line played GREAT tonight, you could hear it in Hak's comments and TH's. Give those guys time get the feel for the speed of the WCHA and they will score a lot of goals. Same with the othe guys, they are taking on different roles than they are used to and need to mature into those positions. I would agree with you that on paper we have a much older class than in the past, no 15 or 18 Freshman dressing and playing. But they just don't have the same level of experience, yet, but they will and they'll finish with number 8 in '08!

Also, Hak and Blaise have totally different styles of playing the schedule, and I think they both work great! Blaise drove his guys, in practice and games, to get that #1 ranking and hold on like grim death. Hak looks to build chemistry and get the right guys playing together and on the same page before they make the run. They both end up in the same place, the Frozen Four, Hak just hasn't gotten his hardware, YET! Just a farm kid from NoDak opinions after watching Sioux Hockey for 25 or 30 years.

16 Ryan Duncan--29 Chris VandeVelde--7 T.J. Oshie

5 Chay Genoway--17 Rylan Kaip--20 Matt Watkins

10 Andrew Kozek--19 Evan Trupp--8 Ryan Martens

22 Brad Malone--11 Darcy Zajac--21 Matt Frattin

6 Zach Jones--4 Taylor Chorney

2 Joe Finley--28 Robbie Bina

25 Jake Marto--3 Derrick LaPoint

[kvinbe]

Teams don't win championships "on paper." They win championships on the ice and in the win column.