Wisconsin @ No. 18 North Dakota
The hat says: UW sweep.
I say: This series is tricky. The Badgers have won four straight at the Engelstad, but they're also missing a few players due to injury including Ben Street. The Sioux may have finally figured out how to win (something UW hasn't done yet). Gotta say split. UW Friday and UND Saturday.
From the same article: After playing one game last year and sitting out because of a knee injury Ryan Stoa is turning some heads. I am sure it won't be long before Sioux fans will see Ryan Stoa standing in front of the Sioux goal.
You had to be impressed by the way Ryan Stoa made his presence felt in last weekend’s series at Wisconsin. The junior captain started the Gophers’ rally from a 2-0 deficit on Friday with a second-period goal, then made a critical defensive play to keep the deficit at one in the third, setting up the late tying goal by freshman defenseman Sam Lofquist.
On Saturday, he scored twice, the first just six seconds after the opening face off.
Sioux caption Ryan Duncan says that there is nothing wrong with putting the puck on net. I guess I have to agree with that philosophy because you are going to miss 100% of the shots you never take.
Ryan Duncan apparently subscribes to the theory that a shot on goal is never a bad play. In North Dakota’s split at Minnesota State earlier this month, Duncan fired 10 shots on goal on Friday and didn’t score in the 5-1 Fighting Sioux loss. One night later he sent 15 shots at Mavericks goaltender Mike Zacharias and got one of them to go in (his first of the season) in North Dakota’s 4-3 come-from-behind win. In their 1-3-0 start, the Sioux have played 240 minutes of hockey and have held the lead for 2:25.
we'll see if the hat holds up this week or the WCHA writer's prediction is right. I hope both are wrong and the Sioux sweep.
ReplyDelete