Going forward

The Fighting Sioux were swept at home for the first time since December 15th and 16th 2006 against the MTU Huskies. That’s a little over four years ago, breaking it down further, the Sioux were also swept the weekend before by the Wisconsin Badgers on the 8th and 9th of December 2006. In reading Mike Chambers blog he said that this was the first time UND was swept by anybody in three years. That is an impressive streak that was ended the Denver Pioneers. Time to start a new streak.

Not all is lost

This isn’t the first time a Sioux team has been swept by Denver only to have them go on and have a successful post season run; in 1997 the Sioux were swept in Denver the last series of the 1996-1997 season. Obviously the Sioux went on to win the NCAA title. I am not saying this will happen and the chances of this happening this season aren’t that great unless something drastically changes in a hurry. Not all is lost either, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility. There is a lot of balance and talent on this team, 11 players have 10 or more points. The Goaltending has to be better and the power play must start scoring again.

I think UND has hit a low spot in their season and I expect them to rebound in the coming weeks, they have a week off to get back to basics and right the ship. Last night I was watching the Sioux Sports Extra on WDAZ and Coach Hakstol was interview about what UND had to do going forward. Let me tell you that Coach Hakstol didn’t looked happy. The word pissed comes to mind.

Coach Hakstol talked about making some personnel changes on the power play and that there is a 50/50 chance that Brett Hextall will be back for the SCSU series. The return of Hextall would boost the Fighting Sioux in the right direction. I would also be willing to bet that this week in practice isn’t going to be all fun and games. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sioux have a very hard week of practice and I wouldn’t be surprised if the team was gassed a few times. I would be disappointed if they weren’t.

I also think that a hard paced intense two weeks of practice is what the Sioux need to get refocused and retool for the stretch run. I would be willing to bet that the Sioux coaching staff will put the guys through a grueling week and a half of practice working on the fundamentals and working on specials teams. The penalty kill is fine and ranked 8th nationally, but the power play lacks well: goals. I don’t think there will be much fooling around leading up the SCSU series.

Come off the ledge

I like many Sioux fans are concerned the way this season has gone. The Sioux were an unimpressive 4-4-2 in January and that isn’t going to win the Sioux any league championships. They are fighting just to get home ice and will have to probably go 6-2 or 5-3 get home ice.

If the playoffs started today the Sioux would probably travel to Colorado Springs to play the C.C. Tigers. Wouldn’t that be irony? UMD traveled to the Springs last season and then went on a roll and marched to the NCAA playoffs by beating C.C. in Colorado springs. The following weekend they went on to win the Final Five from the Thursday play in game. Again I am not suggesting that the Sioux would do this but the Sioux very well could win a playoff series on the road, C.C. has stumbled as of late winning only 3 games in the last 9 games and has a record of 3-6-0 during that time period.

Give DU credit

While this is a blog focused on the UND Fighting Sioux and I am not going to spend time pumping up other teams tires, you can check out the various team blogs from my links section and I will leave the tire pumping to the specific team fan blogs. If you want to read a blog that pumps DU tires you would want to read DG’s Let Go DU hockey blog. This isn't the site for the half eaten jelly donut.

I will give some credit to the DU Pioneers they are good hockey team with an All-American goalie that is red hot right now (not to be confused with hot or not). It’s not a given Marc Cheverie will keep playing like he has. Lets not be confused he is good, the kid has something like 6 shuts outs on the season and he is seeing the puck right now.

There could be a time where that puck gets smaller and starts going in. Sometimes the puck goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. Things are going to change for DU next season when they lose some major players like Rhett Rakhshani (17g-16a-33pt) graduation, Tyler Ruegsegger (13g-16a-29pts) graduation and possibly Joel Colborne (11g-15a-26pts) Boston Bruins.

If you look at DU’s stats that is about 50 percent of their goal scoring 41/81 and the Pioneers drop off pretty fast after their first line. Their first line spent a lot of time on the ice during the weekend series. Just saying that their time is right now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marc Cheverie sign a professional contract after this season, because his stock couldn’t be higher after this season.

Lastly the DU Pioneers never had to face a healthy Fighting Sioux line up. Chay Genoway who may not come back this season because of his concussion issues, never got to play against DU. Taking Chay Genoway out of the lineup is like taking Rhett Rakhshani out of the Denver line up. In the second series the Sioux were without Genoway and Hextall. That had an effect on the four games of this series. Also, the Denver Debacle probably cost the Sioux points, it also cost the refs a paycheck with a suspension. I have been told from multiple and credible sources that those officials were in fact suspended. The league will never probably acknowledge this or issue a statement but I have been told by multiple sources that it did happen.

All in and on board

Lastly, the season is not over by any means and I think we should hold off with the lynch mob till after the season. Things could be worse. I am in and I am not going anywhere. I will be there for the Saturday game in Saint Cloud for the second game of the Sioux and Huskies game.

Programing note: As some have noticed I have added another member to the team Redwing77 from Sioux sports will now be posting blog articles from time to time. This summer I had the pleasure of meeting him in person and played some golf with him. While might not always see eye to eye, he is a Redwings fan and I am a Bruins and Wild fan he will add an interesting perspective to this blog.