Well, call me impressed!
We came into this series a defensive, low scoring team and we leave Thanksgiving weekend as a goal scoring not so defensive team. Ok, that's a bit harsh but...
This weekend we saw huge weekends from Danny Kristo, Derek Forbert, Corbin Knight, Brock Nelson, and Nick Mattson on the UND side.
Danny Kristo is something else. Brock Nelson is right behind him. Corbin Knight is pretty much unbeatable in the faceoff circle.
My 3 stars for tonight's game:
3rd Star: Corbin Knight
2nd Star: Danny Kristo
1st Star: Rylan Schwartz
My 3 stars for the weekend:
3rd Star: Brock Nelson
2nd Star: Danny Kristo
1st Star: Rylan Schwartz
May the Schwartz be with CC... until UND faces them again.
Yeah, by the end of the first period tonight, I was hoping that Rylan Schwartz's NHL team would sign him before the second period began... Now I look it up and... He's a free agent! It's JADEN who is the "star." Well.... Jaden did do a stellar job this weekend but Rylan... WOW. I think there's a team about 5 hours drive SE of Grand Forks that could use some more offense.... just sayin'.
To put it bluntly: I don't want any more of Rylan Schwartz.
Here are some more thoughts:
1. Again, the ice was crap tonight. The puck didn't sit well at all, skaters slipping and sliding without being touched, and more whiffs.
2. The officials were meh. UND finally benefitted from the refs. I felt at times, UND did definitely get away with a few. The refs didn't call everything, but I felt that there were times where CC was held by tighter regs than we were. In an unethical way, I'm happy we finally got the benefit of it. In an ethical manner, once again: I'll be happy to be rid of the WCHA officials.
3. O'Donnell was the unsung hero tonight. He SERIOUSLY looked GREAT out there. The only thing missing was a goal. His poise, patience, aggressiveness... I loved it all.
4. I noticed Gaarder but Hennessey had to tell me Pattyn and Panzarella were on the ice. I guess that's a good thing for Panzarella but we are seriously shallow in forward depth (but that's just beating a dead horse).
5. If Rylan Schwartz goes cold, CC is in trouble. This weekend, CC scored 9 goals. All but 3 were scored by Rylan Schwartz. He's fantastic and, if he continues lighting it up like this, will surely be the WCHA MVP. However, if he goes cold, they may be in the same trouble as UND.
6. Defensively, tonight's game was a much better game than last night's game (at least through the first half of the game)
7. Our Powerplay looks A LOT A LOT A LOT Better. I finally saw us moving the puck down low and trying to work the puck in close for the tap in. There were still a lot of perimeter bombs but we were now in the right position to use it and we didn't rely solely upon it.
8. Garbage Goals? THERE YOU ARE!!! Unlike last night, only one of our goals (Kristo's shortie) was of the non-garbage goal variety. Highlight reel goals are highlight reel goes because not every goal is a highlight reel goal. Games are won through garbage goals. We won this game because we owned the front of the CC net.
9. I'm not sure, but... I think we may be better in the faceoff circle now than we were with Vandevelde...and crew.
Hennessey suggests that this series might be the turning point for UND. Maybe it will be, but we won't know until later in the season. Even so, I do hope it is.
Showing posts with label University of North Dakota. College Hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label University of North Dakota. College Hockey. Show all posts
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
JT Miller Bolts for OHL
Image via WikipediaUND Incoming Recruit, or former incoming recruit, apparently will not play for UND in the fall and instead bolt for the OHL Plymouth Whalers. The report was confirmed by Guy Flaming of the Pipeline Show. Here's his article:
The Pipeline Show has now confirmed with the player himself that New York Rangers prospect J. T. Miller is indeed detouring away from his NCAA commitment to North Dakota and will instead play for the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL.
Miller will be a guest on TPS this Saturday to discuss in more detail.
The Ohio product was chosen 15th overall by the New York Rangers last month at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in Minnesota. His first appearance on The Pipeline Show was back in April and he confirmed to us back then that he would officially decide after the draft where he would play next year.
This is obviously a blow to the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota who have lost 6 of their top 7 scorers from last year to graduation or to pro hockey (Jason Gregoire).
I can say that this isn't much of a surprise. I had a feeling he'd end up in Plymouth. What was disappointing was that it comes before his freshman year rather than after it. I felt that he'd bolt before his sophomore season, but would play one season in Grand Forks first.
I'm wondering if this isn't another Trevor Lewis type deal. IIRC, Trevor Lewis committed to the University of Michigan and then signed a pro contract with the LA Kings who assigned him to the Owen Sound Attack (OHL). It gets Miller past his rookie contract quicker, sure, but it will pressure him to develop faster as well. Though this isn't impossible and Miller could very well be up to it (Lewis just completed his first full season with LA this year and did ok), it does put a bit higher pressure on Miller.
Oh well, I guess. Tough blow for UND. Wish Miller the best. I wonder if this news makes the Cichy transfer more painful? Probably not with the fans. I got the feeling that many commentors didn't much care for Cichy.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Large budget commitment driving new league?
Image via WikipediaHere is an interesting blog post from the Colorado Springs Gazette that I found interesting and Mr Paisley hits on the points that is driving this new league. It's no mystery that some college hockey teams are committed to spending more money than others. That's not being elitist that's just stating the facts, I think with the twelve teams currently in the WCHA, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UND, UMD, C.C., UNO and DU are spending more money on their college hockey programs than BSU, MSU-M, MTU, UAA, SCSU.
Joe Paisley; Eye of the Tigers ----The changing voting dynamics in the WCHA membership had the smaller schools — by this I mean the ones with smaller athletic budgets that do not appear to be as financially committed to hockey as its No. 1 sport — numbering five in a 10-team league.
The five leaving the WCHA all have that large budget commitment and/or reputation in common.
That logjam and dissatisfaction with WCHA leaders’ efforts to get a league-wide TV deal were two big reasons.
A “WCHA network” was always brought up at league meetings, but you try to get CBS College Sports to go to Houghton or Anchorage. The Big Ten Network did not have such a concern with its six schools.
And falling behind in the TV world would have hindered a status quo WCHA’s recruiting efforts.
The new league is reportedly courting NBC’s Versus which has a 10-year deal with the NHL and may be looking to expand its hockey programming into the college ranks. North Dakota already has a good regional deal while Denver has Root Sports and CC has a relationship with CBS College Sports.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Fighting Irish 3, Fighting Sioux 6
Wow. We put a shelacking on the Fighting Irish tonight. For a minute there, I thought I was watching Notre Dame playing Auburn or Oregon in football.... Ok, so it wasn't THAT much of a blowout. I also don't think Notre Dame was that embarrassing on the ice tonight.
The Key
The key to tonight's win wasn't what UND Color Analyst Jim Scanlon said. Yes, it was nice that UND got to the rebounds on those 2nd and 3rd chances on goal, but it wasn't the reason why we won. We won because our defense was just overwhelming for most of the game. True, it wasn't the type of dominance that UND fans saw vs. UW, but it was still stifling at times... especially in the first period. The key was we were always in the passing lane. I hate to say this but: We beat Notre Dame the same way that so many of our opponents had beaten us. We got in the passing lanes, we controlled the puck in the neutral zone, we didn't commit too many bad turnovers (just 1 or 2 that resulted in goals... Guentzel's goal being the most egregious), and we were pretty well disciplined. Dell had a decent night as well.
The Offense
Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. But for Cichy, Gregoire, Frattin, Knight, Genoway, and even Kristo, it was pretty good. Kristo was once again denied an entry on the goal scoresheet but he did garner points. Anyone else think that it is amusing to see Sioux fans complain about Kristo's selfishness with the puck yet Kristo only has 1 goal and what... 4 assists? Then again, I'm not all that concerned about his selfishness. I just wish he'd bury the puck more.
Anyways, Gregoire was amazing. Frattin scored a goal tonight... yeah it was waved off as a nod of the head to Jackson. Look folks, there was no direct kicking action. But hey, the rules have changed since former Gopher (turned NHL bust) Kris Chucko made a living kicking in pucks. So, whatever.
Speaking of turnovers, I was confused on the Guentzel goal. Guentzel intercepts a pass from a Sioux player coming off the boards, or so it appears. The pass is credited to LaPoint but LaPoint isn't the player on the boards. Did LaPoint pass the puck to this Sioux player (I assume it was either his defensive partner or the left wing at the time), the puck hit off of the Sioux player's skate or stick and bounce right to Guentzel or what?
I might've not been able to track the puck very well (webcast was blurry on my computer), but I don't think LaPoint's pass went right to Guentzel. Oh well. Hopefully I can find a replay somewhere. And, for the record, I don't like the delayed penalty goal and subsequent powerplay rule. I think it's dumb.
The Defense
LaPoint had an up and down game but otherwise, I think the D did well. Forbort's illness is frustrating but Simpson's not exactly giving anyone cause to be too concerned about it. I guess, I wonder why Bruneteau isn't playing so well in practice such that Gleason is beating him out for the slot. I guess it doesn't matter. Gleason played well tonight too.
ANYWAYS, Marto showed his worth today. He was great with the puck. Genoway was Kristo-esque (to give credence to the Kristo detractors) for half of the game. He got lucky with one shot but man... it seemed like he didn't care to pass the puck for most of the night... WAIT! I don't care. He saw a shooting lane and he took it. There's never anything wrong with that. And besides, if I criticize Genoway too much I might get a nasty comment how I should spend more time throwing LaPoint under the bus and less time trying to torpedo a great, superhuman, all around great guy like Genoway.
Concerns:
Well, if we play tomorrow like we did tonight, we should be OK. However, we've not exactly torn it up recently on Saturdays following Friday games where we've scored 5+ goals. This goes double for those instances where it happens against decent or good teams. Notre Dame seemed to be overwhelmed in the first period and then started to come back with a vengeance in the 2nd. Jeff Jackson is too good for his team to come out on Saturday looking similar.
Here are the givens for tomorrow's game:
1. UND will not win by 3 goals
2. Neither team will score more than 4 goals
3. It will be a much tighter game
Overall, I think the officials did alright. And the ARs knew how to call offsides. That's a step up from Omaha.
And whoever it was, a Sioux player (TH thought it was Blood) who told Notre Dame "You are only allowed 5" when Notre Dame got called for Too Many Men earned a gold star.
Redwing77's 3 stars:
First Star: Jason Gregoire
Second Star: Mike Cichy
Third Star: Chay Genoway
I should say that Ben Blood gets an honorable mention because he played great.
The Key
The key to tonight's win wasn't what UND Color Analyst Jim Scanlon said. Yes, it was nice that UND got to the rebounds on those 2nd and 3rd chances on goal, but it wasn't the reason why we won. We won because our defense was just overwhelming for most of the game. True, it wasn't the type of dominance that UND fans saw vs. UW, but it was still stifling at times... especially in the first period. The key was we were always in the passing lane. I hate to say this but: We beat Notre Dame the same way that so many of our opponents had beaten us. We got in the passing lanes, we controlled the puck in the neutral zone, we didn't commit too many bad turnovers (just 1 or 2 that resulted in goals... Guentzel's goal being the most egregious), and we were pretty well disciplined. Dell had a decent night as well.
The Offense
Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. But for Cichy, Gregoire, Frattin, Knight, Genoway, and even Kristo, it was pretty good. Kristo was once again denied an entry on the goal scoresheet but he did garner points. Anyone else think that it is amusing to see Sioux fans complain about Kristo's selfishness with the puck yet Kristo only has 1 goal and what... 4 assists? Then again, I'm not all that concerned about his selfishness. I just wish he'd bury the puck more.
Anyways, Gregoire was amazing. Frattin scored a goal tonight... yeah it was waved off as a nod of the head to Jackson. Look folks, there was no direct kicking action. But hey, the rules have changed since former Gopher (turned NHL bust) Kris Chucko made a living kicking in pucks. So, whatever.
Speaking of turnovers, I was confused on the Guentzel goal. Guentzel intercepts a pass from a Sioux player coming off the boards, or so it appears. The pass is credited to LaPoint but LaPoint isn't the player on the boards. Did LaPoint pass the puck to this Sioux player (I assume it was either his defensive partner or the left wing at the time), the puck hit off of the Sioux player's skate or stick and bounce right to Guentzel or what?
I might've not been able to track the puck very well (webcast was blurry on my computer), but I don't think LaPoint's pass went right to Guentzel. Oh well. Hopefully I can find a replay somewhere. And, for the record, I don't like the delayed penalty goal and subsequent powerplay rule. I think it's dumb.
The Defense
LaPoint had an up and down game but otherwise, I think the D did well. Forbort's illness is frustrating but Simpson's not exactly giving anyone cause to be too concerned about it. I guess, I wonder why Bruneteau isn't playing so well in practice such that Gleason is beating him out for the slot. I guess it doesn't matter. Gleason played well tonight too.
ANYWAYS, Marto showed his worth today. He was great with the puck. Genoway was Kristo-esque (to give credence to the Kristo detractors) for half of the game. He got lucky with one shot but man... it seemed like he didn't care to pass the puck for most of the night... WAIT! I don't care. He saw a shooting lane and he took it. There's never anything wrong with that. And besides, if I criticize Genoway too much I might get a nasty comment how I should spend more time throwing LaPoint under the bus and less time trying to torpedo a great, superhuman, all around great guy like Genoway.
Concerns:
Well, if we play tomorrow like we did tonight, we should be OK. However, we've not exactly torn it up recently on Saturdays following Friday games where we've scored 5+ goals. This goes double for those instances where it happens against decent or good teams. Notre Dame seemed to be overwhelmed in the first period and then started to come back with a vengeance in the 2nd. Jeff Jackson is too good for his team to come out on Saturday looking similar.
Here are the givens for tomorrow's game:
1. UND will not win by 3 goals
2. Neither team will score more than 4 goals
3. It will be a much tighter game
Overall, I think the officials did alright. And the ARs knew how to call offsides. That's a step up from Omaha.
And whoever it was, a Sioux player (TH thought it was Blood) who told Notre Dame "You are only allowed 5" when Notre Dame got called for Too Many Men earned a gold star.
Redwing77's 3 stars:
First Star: Jason Gregoire
Second Star: Mike Cichy
Third Star: Chay Genoway
I should say that Ben Blood gets an honorable mention because he played great.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Live thoughts: Game 1 vs. UNO
Ok, I went to the Qwest Center for my first live Sioux game since I moved to Omaha and I can say... well... we won....
Goaltending
Goon hit it right on. Eidsness isn't a bad goaltender when he's on... but the man's got a self-confidence problem the size of North America. The first goal happened right in front of me. Genoway "sorta" dives and the puck deflects off of his leg right onto the blade of a UNO player and it goes in. Yes, it was weak, but it would have been avoided had Genoway simply dove traditionally instead of the kind of slide one usually sees baserunners do going into second base. Oops! Sorry. Eidsness' fault. Sorry to pick on a fan favorite who can do no wrong. {/off soapbox}
The goals as I saw it? I already spoke about the first goal. The second and fourth goals were weak on Eidsness' fault. The third goal was simply sniped in. There wasn't much of an angle for Montpetit to shoot at and he threaded the needle (at least from my angle it looked like it did). Doesn't excuse Eidsness but... I was lenient on that one. Eidsness' second goal and Dell's lone goal he gave up have one thing in common though: If you had your stick square to the shooter, neither pucks would have gone in.
Funny thing..... UNO's goaltender started to imitate Eidsness as the game wore on. He played ok in the First Period (though UND only managed 6 shots on goal of which 2 were really genuine scoring chances). Genoway's wraparound was a complete joke. Yeah, it counts, but what Faulkner was doing while Genoway was going around the net was anyone's guess. If I were Blais, I would have called a time out right after that goal and yanked him. Seriously, Genoway had an open net to tuck the puck into.
I'd play Dell tomorrow (obviously going to happen but just in case anyone was wondering) and I'd actually play Faulkner's backup as well.
Defense
Andrej Sustr is big. Like, Joe Finley big.... And had he wore UND green, people would hate him. He wasn't physical.... at all.
In any case, UND's bread and butter was supposed to be their defense. Yeah well.... unless we can count on scoring 6 goals per game, defensive "performances" like this won't win us many games. Though goaltending was rather subpar tonight, UNO scored on rebounds. We didn't protect the front of the net and they beat us to the rebounds. The first period was just embarrassing.
Special Teams
Our powerplay sucked. Sorry guys. I don't recall if we ever scored on the powerplay, but I told my friend I went with that we should go down a man more often to produce more offense rather than up a man.
Our shorty was a great goal but it was a greater lapse by UNO's powerplay that made it possible. They simply looked so put out by our PK unit that, when the rush started, they simply seemed to sit back and watch. Boom. Goal.
Our PK was dominant. Funny how well we play defensively when we were down a man but we couldn't handle 5 on 5 defense... or maybe UNO's powerplay simply sucks.
Offense
We played VERY well offensively.... for the last half of the game. The first half of the game we were so squeamish and worried about UNO that, even if there was a slight possibility of UNO taking possession, UND would fall back. We seemed preoccupied rather than confident. Hiccups offensively happen and defense usually picks up the slack. No defense was there to be had so all that was there to pick up the slack was our goaltender and he had no confidence. I guess that's what went down.
Oh, Frattin is great and I'm SUPER happy Kristo finally gets his goal.
UNO was fast... very fast. I actually thought at times they were faster than we were. The UNO fans that sat behind me stated that UNO is typically a Saturday team and...well... Name a Dean Blais team that didn't seem to be better on Saturday than on Friday.
The Experience
Though I was supposedly on the UND side of the arena, I wasn't around many Sioux fans. However, I did get to see the dark side of UND fandom. I witnessed a very passionate UNO fan sitting one row in front of me get verbally abused (albeit very briefly so) by a UND fan after UNO got called for a penalty that shouldn't have been called (more on this later). He was right. He was angry. But his verbal outcry was against the refs, not UND or its fans. It was embarrassing to me. The UNO fans I was sitting around were very nice to me. It didn't seem warranted. Look, I know we've a right to speak our feelings and defend our team, but do it with class... and know your place. We're in Omaha right now and this isn't our home territory. Remember we are guests in the Qwest Center and, though we're not here to cheer UNO to victory, nor should be we expected to be happy if things don't go our way, we need to act with some level of class and civility in our host's "house."
I'm not lucky enough to be sitting with those nice people (UNO fans they may be) tomorrow, but I can't wait to go again.
By the way, no way there was almost 11,500 people there. No way. And their intermission entertainment was mostly good. The No Frills "Let's Make a Deal" spinoff was lame. The races they had were actually kindof fun. The video before the third period was SPECTACULAR. I wish UND had that instead of the stupid Tostito/Cloverdale Meats/Altru commercials... which, by the way, there were NO ads on the Jumbotron pretty much all game.
Getting out of the Qwest sucked though.
The Officiating
I don't know who these bums were but.... They sucked. BIG TIME. The AR's seemed to be out of shape and sluggish. They seemed to always get in the way. They also factored into some pretty bad officiating calls. First, the penalty that shouldn't have been. Yes, UNO's #12 elbowed a UND player (I didn't catch who). Yes, it was a penalty... or was it? No, it wasn't. Why? Because UND was WAY THE HELL offsides. No Call. UND also got a gift icing called when UNO actually had the inside track on the puck (though he was about a half step behind the UND player). There were some BS calls that actually went UND's way (for once). I couldn't believe it. The officiating had the Mavs fan in front of me almost in the state of cardiac arrest. He looked so darned mad it was amazing. Still can't help but wonder what the WCHA would be like if we had quality officiating.
My Three Stars
First Star: Matt Frattin
Second Star: Brad Malone
Third Star: Alex Hudson
UNO had our number and nearly beat us. Tomorrow's game will come down to adjustments. Whoever makes the better adjustments tomorrow will win the game. At this point, I don't know who will win.
Goaltending
Goon hit it right on. Eidsness isn't a bad goaltender when he's on... but the man's got a self-confidence problem the size of North America. The first goal happened right in front of me. Genoway "sorta" dives and the puck deflects off of his leg right onto the blade of a UNO player and it goes in. Yes, it was weak, but it would have been avoided had Genoway simply dove traditionally instead of the kind of slide one usually sees baserunners do going into second base. Oops! Sorry. Eidsness' fault. Sorry to pick on a fan favorite who can do no wrong. {/off soapbox}
The goals as I saw it? I already spoke about the first goal. The second and fourth goals were weak on Eidsness' fault. The third goal was simply sniped in. There wasn't much of an angle for Montpetit to shoot at and he threaded the needle (at least from my angle it looked like it did). Doesn't excuse Eidsness but... I was lenient on that one. Eidsness' second goal and Dell's lone goal he gave up have one thing in common though: If you had your stick square to the shooter, neither pucks would have gone in.
Funny thing..... UNO's goaltender started to imitate Eidsness as the game wore on. He played ok in the First Period (though UND only managed 6 shots on goal of which 2 were really genuine scoring chances). Genoway's wraparound was a complete joke. Yeah, it counts, but what Faulkner was doing while Genoway was going around the net was anyone's guess. If I were Blais, I would have called a time out right after that goal and yanked him. Seriously, Genoway had an open net to tuck the puck into.
I'd play Dell tomorrow (obviously going to happen but just in case anyone was wondering) and I'd actually play Faulkner's backup as well.
Defense
Andrej Sustr is big. Like, Joe Finley big.... And had he wore UND green, people would hate him. He wasn't physical.... at all.
In any case, UND's bread and butter was supposed to be their defense. Yeah well.... unless we can count on scoring 6 goals per game, defensive "performances" like this won't win us many games. Though goaltending was rather subpar tonight, UNO scored on rebounds. We didn't protect the front of the net and they beat us to the rebounds. The first period was just embarrassing.
Special Teams
Our powerplay sucked. Sorry guys. I don't recall if we ever scored on the powerplay, but I told my friend I went with that we should go down a man more often to produce more offense rather than up a man.
Our shorty was a great goal but it was a greater lapse by UNO's powerplay that made it possible. They simply looked so put out by our PK unit that, when the rush started, they simply seemed to sit back and watch. Boom. Goal.
Our PK was dominant. Funny how well we play defensively when we were down a man but we couldn't handle 5 on 5 defense... or maybe UNO's powerplay simply sucks.
Offense
We played VERY well offensively.... for the last half of the game. The first half of the game we were so squeamish and worried about UNO that, even if there was a slight possibility of UNO taking possession, UND would fall back. We seemed preoccupied rather than confident. Hiccups offensively happen and defense usually picks up the slack. No defense was there to be had so all that was there to pick up the slack was our goaltender and he had no confidence. I guess that's what went down.
Oh, Frattin is great and I'm SUPER happy Kristo finally gets his goal.
UNO was fast... very fast. I actually thought at times they were faster than we were. The UNO fans that sat behind me stated that UNO is typically a Saturday team and...well... Name a Dean Blais team that didn't seem to be better on Saturday than on Friday.
The Experience
Though I was supposedly on the UND side of the arena, I wasn't around many Sioux fans. However, I did get to see the dark side of UND fandom. I witnessed a very passionate UNO fan sitting one row in front of me get verbally abused (albeit very briefly so) by a UND fan after UNO got called for a penalty that shouldn't have been called (more on this later). He was right. He was angry. But his verbal outcry was against the refs, not UND or its fans. It was embarrassing to me. The UNO fans I was sitting around were very nice to me. It didn't seem warranted. Look, I know we've a right to speak our feelings and defend our team, but do it with class... and know your place. We're in Omaha right now and this isn't our home territory. Remember we are guests in the Qwest Center and, though we're not here to cheer UNO to victory, nor should be we expected to be happy if things don't go our way, we need to act with some level of class and civility in our host's "house."
I'm not lucky enough to be sitting with those nice people (UNO fans they may be) tomorrow, but I can't wait to go again.
By the way, no way there was almost 11,500 people there. No way. And their intermission entertainment was mostly good. The No Frills "Let's Make a Deal" spinoff was lame. The races they had were actually kindof fun. The video before the third period was SPECTACULAR. I wish UND had that instead of the stupid Tostito/Cloverdale Meats/Altru commercials... which, by the way, there were NO ads on the Jumbotron pretty much all game.
Getting out of the Qwest sucked though.
The Officiating
I don't know who these bums were but.... They sucked. BIG TIME. The AR's seemed to be out of shape and sluggish. They seemed to always get in the way. They also factored into some pretty bad officiating calls. First, the penalty that shouldn't have been. Yes, UNO's #12 elbowed a UND player (I didn't catch who). Yes, it was a penalty... or was it? No, it wasn't. Why? Because UND was WAY THE HELL offsides. No Call. UND also got a gift icing called when UNO actually had the inside track on the puck (though he was about a half step behind the UND player). There were some BS calls that actually went UND's way (for once). I couldn't believe it. The officiating had the Mavs fan in front of me almost in the state of cardiac arrest. He looked so darned mad it was amazing. Still can't help but wonder what the WCHA would be like if we had quality officiating.
My Three Stars
First Star: Matt Frattin
Second Star: Brad Malone
Third Star: Alex Hudson
UNO had our number and nearly beat us. Tomorrow's game will come down to adjustments. Whoever makes the better adjustments tomorrow will win the game. At this point, I don't know who will win.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Black Bears 4 Sioux 2 - Shooting yourself in the foot with style
It's early in the season no need to panic
I know it’s early and I would never abandon this Fighting Sioux team but what happened this weekend was unacceptable this should not be happening to the Fighting Sioux especially with the personnel that they have on this team. Also, there is no need to start the yearly campaign to fire Dave Hakstol. None the less, there were too many turnover and mental lapses at key times in the game. So with the sweep this weekend he Maine Black Bears have beaten the Fighting Sioux 4 games in a row that is unacceptable as well.
Some need to step it up
Again there is no reason to panic; however, certain players need to play with more disciplined and with a little more heart. I came away this weekend as being unimpressed with the effort of the Fighting Sioux hockey team. Too many players took the weekend off and or failed to show up to play. It was apparent that Chay Genoway and Matt Frattin played their heart out but a few others were caught standing around watching the Maine Black Bears make plays. I do believe that the Sioux will come back next weekend and put out a good effort.
Check out the box scores and look at the links to the stats, it wasn't pretty tonight as well. The UND Fighting Sioux took five straight penalties and a few of them were of the weak variety. The Maine Black Bears were tapping Aaron Dell's glove on every save but the Sioux players couldn't respond for fear of being put in the penalty box. Maine comes back to the Ralph for a series I believe next season or the season after and it will be interesting to see if the shoe was on the other foot how would Maine respond.
Frattin continues hot streak
Matt Frattin continues his torrid pace as he has scored 17 goals in 19 games, that is an impressive streak in my opinion, Frattin just seems so focused and driven and it appears that he is trying to lead by example and take the team on his back. Frattin was one of the few players that played hard all weekend and moved his feet.
[Box Score] and or [Live Stats]
Period 1 - No Scoring
Period 2
NDKM 1 - 0 Ben Blood Matt Frattin / Evan Trupp 13:25 EV
MAINE 1 - 1 Nyquist, Gustav Dee, Robby / Abbott, Spencer 16:04 PP
MAINE 1 - 2 Diamond, Joey Dee, Robby / Van Dyk, Josh 18:17 EV
Period 3
MAINE 1 - 3 Flynn, Brian Dimmen, Jeff 00:54 EV
MAINE 1 - 4 Abbott, Spencer O'Neill, Will / Nyquist, Gustav 06:39 PP
NDKM 2 - 4 Matt Frattin Evan Trupp 08:11 SH
PENALTIES
Period 1
NDKM Brock Nelson 2 DIVING 02:11
MAINE Leidermmark, Klas 2 O-INTERFERENCE 02:11
MAINE Beattie, Kyle 2 BOARDING 07:10
NDKM Brad Malone 2 HITTING FROM BEHIND 15:30
MAINE O'Neill, Will 2 ELBOWING 19:00
NDKM Matt Frattin 2 HOLDING 19:48
Period 2
NDKM Team 2 TOO MANY PLAYERS ON ICE 01:56
NDKM Dillon Simpson 2 INTERFERENCE 08:00
NDKM Brad Malone 2 HOOKING 15:58
NDKM Chay Genoway 2 HITTING AFTER WHISTLE 18:17
MAINE Nemec, Mark 2 HITTING AFTER WHISTLE 18:17
NDKM Andrew MacWilliam 2 HITTING AFTER WHISTLE 18:17
MAINE Diamond, Joey 2 HITTING AFTER WHISTLE 18:17
Period 3
MAINE Abbott, Spencer 2 HOOKING 03:21
NDKM Jason Gregoire 2 HOOKING 04:14
NDKM Ben Blood 2 SLASHING 04:51
NDKM Brad Malone 2 TRIPPING 06:20
NDKM Ben Blood 2 O-INTERFERENCE 11:23
MAINE Dimmen, Jeff 2 O-INTERFERENCE 13:15
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