Let’s look at this a little more closely UMD Bulldogs have a roster that sports 5 NHL draft choices and the UND Fighting Sioux have a roster with 16 NHL draft choices. Are we to believe that those 16 draft choices for the Fighting Sioux are just smoke and mirrors and a bunch of prima donnas. Isn’t this the same team that was picked to finish in the top spot of the WCHA standings in both the media and the coaches’ poll? The way some people had talked about the Sioux you would have thought they were a bunch of worthless, talentless hacks.
How the hell did we get there?
So I must say to my fellow fans, yeah some of you are sandbagging. If you’re a golfer you know what I mean. You have probably played against a golfer that claimed to be a really poor golfer and then they go out on the course and shoot lights out and carded a really good score, then you had to listen to them say, "oh, I played the best game of my life. I have no idea I had this in me."
Fast forward to this weekend's series; the Fighting Sioux have incredible and talented dept throughout their line up and can roll four lines if there isn’t aren’t a lot of penalties called against them. Key word in this sentence is “aren’t” but I digress, the Sioux are known traditionally as having a big mean mobile defense that limits their opposition to low shot totals and punishes the opposition when they come in front to the net, hence the high penalty minutes.
On the flip side of that argument the Bulldogs are known to have quick speedy forwards a decent sized defense, however, the Bulldogs are probably more of a two line team, albeit their top line is as good as many in the country. Am I saying that means that UND can’t lose to the Bulldogs, never said that. I am just saying the Sioux are no slouches either. It’s not like the UND Fighting Sioux are sitting at the bottom of the WCHA standings. In spite of the early goaltending
This blog post isn’t intended to disrespect the Bulldogs I think they are a nice team with incredible speed through the forward lines. This post is intended to give credit to our team.
Better Days ahead
I have to be honest with you I am a little worried like everyone else about our defense and goaltending to date; they haven’t looked as good as billed. There have been positives, Dillon Simpson is much better than I would have believed a 17 year old would be. Aaron Dell is starting to settle into the starting position and is getting better with each start in net. Dell has only played in 11 games during his college career and can only get better, I like Dell's positioning and he seems to be getting up to speed and seeing the play more clearly.
I do think that Derrick LaPoint has had a tough season to date, however, traditionally Derrick has been more of a player that gets hot during the second half of the season. If the Fighting Sioux can get consistent goaltending and the defense can limit shots and scoring opportunities this season could prove to be pretty good one.
While some like to say that past history between two teams doesn’t matter I don’t agree at all, UND is 5-1 against the Bulldogs their last six games. Since the 2004-2005 the Sioux are an amazing 16-5-2 against the Bulldogs, you can’t tell me that the record doesn’t play into the opposition players minds. Just saying; does that mean the Sioux can’t lose tonight? Nope!
Links to the this weekends series
College Hockey: WCHA Picks Nov. 5 [USCHO]
Patchwork lineup comes through for Sioux [USCHO]
Friday night rewind [UND Hockey Blog]
Saturday in the WCHA [Rink and Run]
Final: North Dakota 4, UMD 2 [Rink and Run]
College men's hockey: Bulldogs' unbeaten streak ends [Duluth News Tribune]
MEN'S HOCKEY: Sioux hand Minnesota-Duluth first loss of the season [Grand Forks Herald]
