Sister kissing in Duluth: Sioux 2 Dogs 2

They say that ties in hockey feel like kissing your sister, I have no idea about that, however, 65 minutes of hockey solved nothing and both teams skated off the ice still tied. While this game ended in a tie, it had to be the better games that I have seen so far this season. End to end action and a lot of hard hitting.

Ties are worth one point and a lot of WCHA fans are cool with this result, however, this game would have been a perfect game to end with a shootout (they are measuring the ropes folks, I wonder if they can find a tree big enough). If this had been a CCHA game, it would have ended in a shootout. Both teams still would have gotten one point with the winner getting an additional point. While the shootout win would counted in the league standings, the shootout loss would have counted as a tie in the RPI/PWR rankings. No harm, no fowl; right?

The stars of the game in my opinion were the two goalies Brad Eidsness and Alex Stalock, both goalies played really well and held their teams in the game. I have said before Alex Stalock is a great goalie that doesn’t get as much love as he should when the end of the season awards are handed out.

For the people that are still hacking on Eidsness and saying he isn't very good, or he isn't as good as Phil Lamoureux; here are some stats for you. Sioux rookie goalie Brad Eidsness is 4-3-1 his goal against 2.83 with save percentage .902. Yet there are still people that want to see Aaron Walski play for the Sioux. When you goalie's save percentage is over .900 you have a good chance of winning. Eidsness is getting it going, have faith.

The Refs in the WCHA suck

While both team played well and should be commended for their play, the refs Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd were God Awful. The refs called a whooping 29 penalties during last nights game. The funny thing is that the refs actually missed quite a few calls as well they made up a few calls as well. In my opinion Derek Shepherd shouldn’t be allowed to ref squirts, peewees or bantam games.

The leadership in this league is trying to apply the new rules (which are the old rules they refused to enforce in years past) to the WCHA play while using the same horrible officials, this is a combination for disaster. Isn't cronyism and nepotism great?

Someone needs send these clowns/moron to hockey officiating school, the refs in the MSHL are better than these guys. Checking someone face first into the boards is checking from behind, it is the same penalty in the first period as it is in the third period or over-time. If charging is a penalty for one team, then it should be a penalty for the other team.

I have read other fans around the league complain about the officiating in this league I am not going to fault you, because you are watching the same crappy officiating that I am watching. THE REFS SUCK IN THE WCHA AND THE FANS AND PLAYERS OF BOTH TEAMS DESERVE BETTER. Enough is enough.

Hextall for Hobey

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but I really like watching Brett Hextall. The fresman forward has points in five straight games (4-2-6) this kid is really a gamer and is quickly becoming a fan favorite. What I like about Brett Hextall is tough and he gets into the places you need to be to score gritty dirty goals. Pound for pound he is one of the toughest players on the ice.

Jason Gregoire impresses

Freshman Jason Gregoire has points in 6 of 8 games (4-2-6) and is starting to give Sioux fans a glimpse on why we should be excited about him being here. I think it is just a matter of time before we see a Gregoire break out.


Goals Scoring/Penalties Time

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1st Period (20:00)
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NDK-1 Brad Miller (2-Slashing) MND 0x1 3:07
MND-1 Michael Gergen (2-Interference) NDK 1x1 4:43
MND-2 Trent Palm (2-Holding) NDK 1x2 4:43
NDK 1 - 0 6x4 PP Matt Frattin (2) (Ryan Duncan, Chay Genoway) 6:39
NDK: 21,16,6,19,25,G31 MND: 24,17,16,G32
MND-3 Andrew Carroll (2-Hooking) NDK 1x3 7:07
NDK-2 Brett Hextall (2-Charging) MND 1x2 9:11
MND 1 - 1 6x5 PP MacGregor Sharp (6) (Justin Fontaine, Josh Meyers) 9:17
MND: 18,37,17,22,4,G32 NDK: 6,20,11,3,G31
MND-4 Jay Cascalenda (2-Hooking) NDK 1x4 10:38
NDK-3 Brad Malone (2-Elbowing) MND 1x3 14:52
NDK-4 Chris VandeVelde (2-Interference) MND 1x4 15:14

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2nd Period (20:00)
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MND-5 Trent Palm (2-Hooking) NDK 1x5 5:50
NDK-5 Andrew Kozek (2-Elbowing) MND 1x5 9:06
MND-6 Chad Huttel (2-Holding) NDK 1x6 14:31

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3rd Period (20:00)
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NDK-6 Ben Blood (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-7 Darcy Zajac (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-8 Andrew Kozek (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-9 Matt Watkins (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-10 Andrew Kozek (2-Hitting after the Whistle) 1:30
MND-7 Trent Palm (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-8 Drew Akins (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-9 Andrew Carroll (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-10 Matt Greer (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-11 Matt Greer (2-Tripping) 1:30
MND-12 Travis Oleksuk (2-Slashing) NDK 2x7 2:53
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP Jason Gregoire (4) (Brett Hextall, Chay Genoway) 4:26
NDK: 17,26,5,16,14,G31 MND: 24,26,19,22,G32
NDK-11 Jake Marto (2-Roughing) 9:46
MND-13 Jack Connolly (5-Checking from Behind) (Served by Travis Oleksuk) NDK 2x8 9:46
MND-14 Jack Connolly (10-Game Misconduct) (Served by Travis Oleksuk) 9:46
NDK-12 Derrick LaPoint (2-Tripping) MND 1x6 10:15
MND-15 Evan Oberg (2-Tripping) NDK 2x9 14:57
NDK-13 Brett Hextall (2-Tripping) MND 1x7 15:49
NDK-14 Chris VandeVelde (2-Tripping) MND 2x8 16:39
Timeout - Minnesota Duluth 17:36
MND 2 - 2 6x5 PP GT Josh Meyers (5) (MacGregor Sharp, Evan Oberg) 18:30
MND: 17,22,18,4,37,G32 NDK: 26,6,3,20,G31

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Overtime (5:00)
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End of Game