Last Weekend the Sioux swept the MTU Huskies with relative ease winning 6-0 and 4-0 vaulting into fourth place of the WCHA standings where they finished fourth in the final standing ahead of C.C. Tigers and SCSU Huskies. The Fighting Sioux seem to be peaking at the right time again as they ready for another late season playoff surge. Jordan Parise is 3-1 in his last four games and with two shut outs. Jordan is 18-7-1 on the season. Obviously people are going to say big deal Jordan Parise got two shutouts against a crappy opponent like MTU; but as of late MTU had proved to be no pushover and has played all opponents tough. So, its irrelevant if the shutout wins were against Tech. In looking further into the numbers Tech had not been swept in the second half of the season. In fact not counting the great lakes tourney during Christmas break (Tec played Michigan State University and University of Michigan) the Lowly Tech Huskies haven’t been swept bay any opponents counting even the mighty golden rodents during the new year/second half of the season. Oh by the way the Sioux defense held MTU senior Chris Conner pointless the whole series. In fact Conner was relatively invisible. Also, did I mention that Jordan Parise is ranked 10th over all in the NCAA.
Bring on the Dirty Minnesota State Mavericks
The Fighting Sioux’s reward for winning both games and finishing fourth last weekend is a date with the MSU-M Mavericks. Last time the two teams played in Grand Forks, the Fighting Sioux and the Mavericks racked up an obscene amount of penalty minutes. Both teams at that time were 1st and 2nd in the WCHA in penalty minutes. I am not so sure it’s going to be any different this weekend. Mankato is a hardnosed team that plays with an edge. Also, Mankato has proven to be a dirty team in the past. It’s not secret these two team don’t like each other. I also expect to see Mike Prpich right in the middle of it string things up and making the opposing players mad. Last weekend Mike Prpich was thrown to the ice via his facemask by MTU’s resident thug John Scott. Mike Prpich came up smiling.
Back to the penalties North Dakota is averaging a whopping 24.7 penalty minutes a game, while Minnesota State is averaging a ballooning 23.8 minutes a game. However, North Dakota could take advantage of Mankato States untimely penalties by scoring on the Power Play. The Fighting Sioux are ranked 12th nationally on the power play.
This weekends games
Personally I hate watching MSU-M play hockey, its gross and hard to watch. I would rather watch paint dry or watch much better match up between say a UND and the Goofers or a UND and C.C. Tigers than this cheap team. Every year it is the same thing, MSU usually come in and runs a goon show taking liberities up and down the ice on UND’s more skilled players. I also don't want to see UND skilled players get knocked out of the game or hurt for the rest of the year due to a busch league hit. Yearly MSU-M sits near or at the bottom of the league, that is not forgetting the fact that the Mavericks play hard and talk a lot of smack. Their coach the king of smug oozes and condones cheapness and cockiness. I guess I hate them almost as much as dirty Denver Pioneers.
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