OETKB Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 So, after blowing yet another Saturday game at home, and settling for yet another split (no sweeps going into Christmas), is the opportunity for a WCHA title gone? Has UND stopped caring about that? Under Blais, UND won the title numerouos times, and we proudly display banners and trophy's from those years. For the last several years, UND has been very mediocre in the league. What has changed? We don't hang "NCAA Participation" banners at UND. Yet, that is all they have to show for the last several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopski Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 So, after blowing yet another Saturday game at home, and settling for yet another split (no sweeps going into Christmas), is the opportunity for a WCHA title gone? Has UND stopped caring about that? Under Blais, UND won the title numerouos times, and we proudly display banners and trophy's from those years. For the last several years, UND has been very mediocre in the league. What has changed? We don't hang "NCAA Participation" banners at UND. Yet, that is all they have to show for the last several years. 94.3% gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siouxforeverbaby Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 So, after blowing yet another Saturday game at home, and settling for yet another split (no sweeps going into Christmas), is the opportunity for a WCHA title gone? Has UND stopped caring about that? Under Blais, UND won the title numerouos times, and we proudly display banners and trophy's from those years. For the last several years, UND has been very mediocre in the league. What has changed? We don't hang "NCAA Participation" banners at UND. Yet, that is all they have to show for the last several years. relax, we are in fourth place and only 8 points behind first place as far as I can tell. it is only December, we will be fine. I have faith that they can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siouxkid12 Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 being we are one of the TOP hockey programs in the country we expect championship banners all over the place but times have changed and other programs are getting better and better. Does that mean we are getting worse as a program? NO, but being in the Frozen Four the past couple years is an acomplishment in itself! We can't be greedy every year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxTupa Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Honestly, with the way the tournaments are setup, I think teams are putting more emphasis on the NCAA tourney than the conference regular season title. The regular season winner gets no autobid. Plus, if you look at the teams that have won the MacNaughten, how many have gone on to win the NCAA title in the same year recently. Denver comes to mind...maybe Wisconsin, but I think UofM took that one. It's rare to see a team start hot and continue through the year. So many teams are buying into the "peak at the right time" mentality. Last year I don't believe they had any first half sweeps (at home anyway) either. Plus, they were swept by crap teams on more than one occasion. The thing that encourages me about this UND team is the way they look when they ARE on. This team has looked extremely dynamic and poised. The big thing to work on is playing with a deficit. At this point that giant goose egg when trailing after 2 is needing to go away. The Sioux flat out play at another level when leading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fighting Sioux Fan Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Why not try and win the league and NCAA titles? The season is about gaining momentum for the NCAA tournament. Why not play strong all year instead of having to win out so many games to get into the NCAA tourney? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxMeNow Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 another Hak year...another disapointing start...what's the SUPRISE? We've gone to the frozen four the last 3 years?? why would you think THIS year would be any different??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siouxweet Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 best we can hope for is third I think as denver and cc are out of our reach unless somthing really bizzare happens. it's really sad to say that for a program with some much rich tradition that we have to set our sights on a third place finish. and unless they start to come out ready to play every gasme even that might be a stretch. it's just so mind boggling that with our biggest rival in town we come out flat for both games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sodbuster Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 That is the mystery to me, too. I kept expecting the Sioux to be "balls to the walls" each game, and it never happened till the last half of each third period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Why not try and win the league and NCAA titles? The season is about gaining momentum for the NCAA tournament. Why not play strong all year instead of having to win out so many games to get into the NCAA tourney? That's what I've been saying the past few weeks, but some fans seem content to watch the team stumble into the last part of the season where there's no margin for error or losses. And be careful if you critique the team too harshly, otherwise you're not a good fan, etc. I miss the dominating Sioux teams of the past where they started strong and finished strong, and REA was not somebody else's house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 That is the mystery to me, too. I kept expecting the Sioux to be "balls to the walls" each game, and it never happened till the last half of each third period. The Sioux looked uninterested in playing Hockey this past weekend. The Sioux looked more interested in playing against the Badgers. I think the Sioux played 26 1/2 minutes of Fighting Sioux Hockey in a 120 minutes of hockey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 That's what I've been saying the past few weeks, but some fans seem content to watch the team stumble into the last part of the season where there's no margin for error or losses. And be careful if you critique the team too harshly, otherwise you're not a good fan, etc. I miss the dominating Sioux teams of the past where they started strong and finished strong, and REA was not somebody else's house. There isn't a lot of margin for error now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luapsided Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Finishing near the top is always good in the WCHA, meaning that you'll play one of the weaker WCHA teams come playoffs(thinking of the final five at this point). Fifth and even fourth place is scarey to me and the most of us since usually the stop 6 to even 7 teams in the WCHA are capable of eliminating any of the top teams in the leauge. But again, this is WCHA so even the last place team can do damage. As what others have posted already, winning the WCHA is sweet, but once you get in a situation where the Sioux are at now and have been the past few years, you just dont think about the WCHA banner, but progressing and being good enough to contend in the NCAA tournament/s. I am ok with the split this weekend, since it ended the way it did. 4-1 not cool, but 4-3 with a very close ending and a loud crowd made the situation better going into the break. Lets get all the players back to 100%, and come back and destroy NH and let the team(Sioux) show us, the fans, what they plan on doing to teams for the rest of the year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USA Hockey Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 What matters is the green banner and as long as they finish in the top three in the conference they position themselves in a good spot for the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxTupa Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 I completely agree with starting strong and finishing strong. But, would you trade Blais' last few years (starting in 2002) for Hak's first few? I wouldn't. I remember 2002-2003, the team came out like gang-busters, something like 14-0-1 overall. But that team stumbled hardcore in the 2nd half and playoffs due to streaky (read: crappy) goaltending and scoring. Then came Ferris Wheel St. and Chris Kunitz. I'm sure we all remember. I definitely don't think it's over. Last year's team got 3rd place, and there was less than or about the same amount of parity in the league. CC is riding a hot *Freshman* goalie. It can be done, but who knows how the 2nd half will shake out. UND still has not played the two worst teams in the league (AA and MSU). We'll see what happens. Just start turning the "should have wons" into the "did wins" and we'll be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siouxtimestwo Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 Just because the season isn't over, doesn't mean we, as fans, can't be disappointed in this team thus far. We returned more talent than we have in past years, when those slow starts were understandable and somewhat expected. The never ending splits are getting a little sickening, but the constant splits at home are downright disgusting, especially Saturday nights. Next time UND wants to run a promotional weekend, they should have a "Take a Giant Dump on the Ice Saturday Night" so at least fans won't get their hopes up. It's also getting a little old being told what terrible fans we are for wondering why this team can't sweep a series at home anymore. With every inevitable split, no matter how terrible we played, anyone who says anything negative is always told to relax, we'll sweep (insert next opponent) and be fine. I'm still waiting for that to happen. I'm sure people are getting sick of hearing this from me, but I'll continue to say it again until we do put it together. It's fine if we as fans just automatically assume that the team will turn on the jets late in the season, but just because it's happened the past several years, doesn't mean it will happen this year. If players on the team are starting to think that, then I really believe we are in trouble, and to be honest with you, I'm starting to wonder if that isn't the attitude this team has. How else do you explain the fact we can play like gangbusters when absolutely pressed to do so, yet we seem to sleepwalk through 96 out of 120 minutes in our first home series in 2 years against our fiercest rival? What happened last year has no bearing on what will happen this year. Besides, if some people's logic holds ture, and we're supposed to use recent history and automatically apply it to this year's Sioux team, then we will indeed rebound and go on a run that will lead to yet another Frozen Four, where we'll lose! For all the fawning over Sioux teams the past couple years, you'd think we'd have hung some banners from the rafters. I have confidence in Hak. If anything, I think it's a testament to him and his coaching that past teams have rebounded and found a way to gel and get comfortable. As far as players are concerned, I'm starting to wonder how many truly understand what it takes to play Fighting Sioux hockey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A HG Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I think that the team is making the same mistakes as we were last year in the beginning. Our passing, and pass receiving is less than par. Last year it was the same way. In the second half, each pass seemed to hit everyone's stick in stride AND they kept control of it. Also, each player holds the puck too long allowing the team to adjust. They need more shorter, quicker passes to help move the puck and keep the defense off guard. It seems as if everyone is trying to make a play by themselves. The one difference is our defense. Last year we seemed to let a lot of easy goals in while this year we have had strong goaltending with pretty good defense most of the time. Not sure if this is scary knowing that we've had a lot of great goaltending in games we lost going into the second half. We need to step it up for the nights when Lammy is on. The Friday night DU game is the most recent in which he should have gotten a victory out of. We should rarely score less than 3 goals a game...that's one goal a period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 Last home sweep (two wins, four points) versus a WCHA team in regular season play: March 3 and 4, 2006 vs. Michigan Tech. Folks, that's the 2005-2006 season. Record in the last 24 games when trailing after 2 periods: 0-24-0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 ... we seem to sleepwalk through 96 out of 120 minutes in our first home series in 2 years against our fiercest rival? I had it as more like 106 of 120. (They were good for about the middle 10 minutes of the third Friday, and the last four on Saturday.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siouxman Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 This break is coming at a good time folks. This team is in significant injury mode at this time. Yes, all the key played this past weekend, but several are really on the barely walking wounded list. Now there will be some time for healing. I was extremely disappointed in how the team played this weekend, but they did win one of the two games. Take a look at the schedule. Thus far the Sioux have played Michigan State, BC, Northeastern, CC, MTU, Wisconsin, Denver, UMD, and UM. All ranked teams. The teams that UND has played so far are 74-47-21 at this point. The teams left on the schedule are 73-60-24. We have 4 games against St. Cloud, 2 against Mankato, 2 against Alaska, etc. There are no easy teams in the WCHA, but the teams that UND has left are clearly not doing as well as the teams that they have played. It doesn't mean they will win the WCHA, but they will finally be playing some teams not ranked in the top 20. The team was clearly in a funk this weekend and UM was not. Based on the injuries and the ability to practice this last week, it is amazing a couple of the guys even played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn-O Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 What matters is the green banner and as long as they finish in the top three in the conference they position themselves in a good spot for the playoffs. I love green banners as much as anyone, but at what point in this program did the points championship stop mattering? Maybe you got the memo....I didn't. The McNaughton is gone, before Christmas, again...and I'm sick of it. Plenty of season to go, but the last three series I've seen (Madison, UMD, and now UM), this team has digressed a bit in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND85 Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 As a HS coach of 25 years I use to put little emphasis on the Conference title but rather had my teams peak for the Regional which would get us to State. In 14 years of coaching CC I had 11 teams peak at Regions and ended up at the Big Show in Nov. I always used the thought of "whatever goes must come down." I didn't want us to be playing our best early and I wanted my teams playing their best at the end of the season. I believe that Hak is using the early part of the season once again to develope the troops and also making sure all of them will be ready in March when it really counts. I remember well last year the fun and excitement of the "March to the Arch" and believe that we'll see the guys in Denver in 08 ready to get the banner that really stands out in the rafters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagard Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I love green banners as much as anyone, but at what point in this program did the points championship stop mattering? Maybe you got the memo....I didn't. The McNaughton is gone, before Christmas, again...and I'm sick of it. The McNaughton doesn't mean anything. Any gutless/heartless team can grind it out from October to March and outpoint three or four other top ten teams in the country. It's those third place games and the X that really matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 There isn't a lot of margin for error now. Not a good weekend...we were lucky to get 2 points. We need more guys to become threats to score goals. I know there is a lot of hockey to be played but we played less than 2 periods of hockey this weekend. Red River could have held their own against us this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I had it as more like 106 of 120. (They were good for about the middle 10 minutes of the third Friday, and the last four on Saturday.) I figured that it was 26 1/2 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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