Sioux 2 Colonials 1

First off much different game tonight, it was a tight checking playoff style hockey game. I also thought I detected the Fighting Sioux playing the 1-2-2 at times this weekend. This is the type of game that UND is going to get in the WCHA and NCAA playoffs. The WCHA officials in this game tonight were downright brutal; especially Don Adam, the Sioux appeared to have scored a goal in the third period but the goal was waved off by Don Adam. There was no reason what so ever that goal should have been waved off. None… But I digress, also tonight, Matt Frattin was breaking in on the RMU goalie and the Colonials player yanked down no call by the officials. While we are on the subject of Matt Frattin, he scored his nation leading 20th goal of the season; it was a big time goal by a big time money player.

I would also like to know why the officials let the RMU Colonials hook and hold the Sioux up and down the ice, it was brutal, I would like to know what the WCHA officials consider obstruction? Also, the refs need to stop yapping at the players, either call them for a penalty or leave them alone… Again bad night for the video review and the guys in stripes.

Dell should be defensive player of the week

I thought the Fighting Sioux looked a step off tonight as well, it appeared that they just were at the top of their game and their goaltender Aaron Dell really bailed them out, there is no reason Dell shouldn’t be the defensive player of the week, he was nothing short of brilliant this weekend. Dell was impressive on the weekend as he stopped 61/62 shots this weekend and lowered his GAA to 1.92 and improved his save percentage to .922, that’s pretty respectable… Those are pretty good numbers for the sophomore goalie who had gone 224 minutes without giving up a goal. It’s also a testament of the defense whose letting Dell see the puck and clearing rebounds… The defense is also cutting down on turnovers.

[Box Score]

Goon's three stars of the game

1.) Aaron Dell - 1 goal against
2.) Matt Frattin
3.) Eric Levine

Sioux Smoke RMU 8-0

After the game last night I said that my blog post should read one sentence, “Robert Morris in not a good hockey team.” Today in reviewing the game film from last night’s game, it wasn’t so much that Robert Morris isn’t a very good hockey team, by WCHA standards they aren’t very good, however, it was a matter of the Fighting Sioux playing a flawless game plan and the Sioux just blew the Colonials off of the ice, you can use other clichés if you would like to explain last night blowout win for the Fighting Sioux… With the win, the Fighting Sioux improve their record to 15–5–2 overall, in nonconference play Sioux have a record of 4-2-2.

Sioux get some puck luck

Last night’s game was one of those contests where everything went right for the Sioux and the RMU Colonials not so much. I think it would be an accurate statement if I said the Fighting Sioux got a lot of puck luck as well. Everything went the Sioux’s way last night. The first Fighting Sioux goal was shot by Corbin Knight and that went in off the RMU defenseman in front of the net, the second goal was by Fighting Sioux forward Brock Nelson who going hard to net while being tied up by a RMU defenseman and the puck went off Brock Nelson’s foot, there was no distinct kicking motion and the rout was on…

Dude we got a Dell

There have been a lot of positives that Sioux can take out of last night’s game. The Sioux goaltender Aaron Dell got his second straight shutout of the season and has played 164.51 minutes of shutout hockey, the shutout last night was his third of the season and the fourth of his short Fighting Sioux hockey career. The line on Aaron Dell is 14-4-1 1.97 and a save percentage of 9.18 and is 7-0-1 in his last 8 games.

Goon’s Three Stars of the game
1)Aaron Dell, UND no goals against
2)Corban Knight, UND ( 2g-1a-3pts)
3)Jake Marto, UND ( 1g-2a-3pts)

RWD's favorite beat writer Brad Schlossman [UND Hockey Blog]

Pseudo USCHO reporter and writer; Nelson tallies two goals for Fighting Sioux

Timothy Boger; Nelson, Forbort keep rolling as UND rolls RMU

Division 1 College Hockey Stats
Matt Frattin leading the nation in goals with 19
Chay Genoway is 5th in the nation for points by defenseman (4g-16a-20pts)
Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell is 8th in the nation in GAA 1.97
UND is ranked 5th in the nation for goal scoring 82 goals 3.73
UND is ranked 13th in the nation defensively 53 goals against 2.41

KRACH, PWR

[Box Score]

Scores from 01/07/2010

Atlantic Hockey
Niagara 5 at Holy Cross 2
Air Force 5 at Sacred Heart 5 OT
Mercyhurst 1 at Connecticut 3
RIT 1 at Army 1 OT

CCHA
Ferris State 4 at Bowling Green 1
Western Michigan 2 at Alaska 2 OT
Miami 0 at Ohio State 1
Michigan 3 at Michigan State 4 OT
Notre Dame 8 at Northern Michigan 1

ECAC
Brown 4 at Harvard 3
Colgate 1 at Quinnipiac 3
Clarkson 3 at Rensselaer 2 OT
Yale 2 at Dartmouth 1
Cornell 2 at Princeton 1

Hockey East
Northeastern 5 at Massachusetts 3
UMass Lowell 2 at New Hampshire 5
Providence 1 at Boston College 4

WCHA
Michigan Tech 0 at St. Cloud State 3

NON-Conference
Bemidji State 3 at Alab-Huntsville 1
Canisius 0 at Wisconsin 3
American Int'l 0 at Minnesota State 1
Robert Morris 0 at North Dakota 8

Exhibtion
USA Under-18 Team 0 at Minnesota 9

Benoit Pouliot dipsy doodle shootout goal

I know there are a lot of hockey fans that don't like the shootout and think it's a shame or even a sham that the NHL uses a skills competition to decide the fate of a hockey game but check out this sick "dipsy doodle" by former Wild forward Benoit Pouliot as he fakes the Penguins goalie Brent Johnson out of his jock.

Victor Hedman hit on Sidney Crosby

The face of the Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby was injured on Wednesday January 5th by this hit from behind by Lightning defenseman/tree trunk Victor Hedman, while it's not a "dirty hit" it was definitely a boarding penalty. Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion and could miss a week.

A couple of things

This is the shot that everyone is talking about; Sioux Falls Stampede defenseman Andrew Prochnoas shots the puck "so hard" and it breaks when it hits the pipe... I like the question so if half of the puck went into the net does it count? I have never seen something like that before.

The Saint Cloud Times has "finally" released a story telling us saying that Tony Mosey has been kicked off the SCSU Huskies... Really? You're kidding right? Never saw that one coming. Say it isn't so? As one SCSU fan said in the article comments section, "How come I find out more about SCSU hockey from competitors blog than the beat writer???" I have to agree, that was something I said this week as well, what is the SCSU hockey team hiding? There's not a lot of transparency there... Not sure what the SCSU Husky hockey is trying to hide? I think the SCSU hockey team looks worse for trying to keep all of this quite instead just coming out and saying, 'hey our players screwed up.' I just think it makes the SCSU hockey team looks worse by trying to be all mum on it.

ScTimes.com ---- St. Cloud State men’s hockey player Tony Mosey has been dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules, Huskies head coach Bob Motzko. said.

Mosey, a senior forward from Prior Lake, played his last game for the Huskies on Dec. 29 against Cornell at the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla. He was not in the lineup on Dec. 30 when the team played Miami (Ohio) in the tournament.

“Any time that you’re in a situation where you’re going to lose one of your players and teammates, it’s very difficult,” Motzko said. “We’ve crossed the midway point of our season, and we want to build on what we accomplished in Florida.

“We wish Tony the best. We’re going to help him in any way we can toward graduation.”

Motzko declined to state what rule was violated.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Welcome to 2011 and the second half of the WCHA. We are easing into the New Year, with only one conference match-up and four teams with the weekend off. I hope all of the Goon’s World readers had a nice holiday season, I did. Well, except for the two blizzards over the New Year’s weekend, we now have plenty of snow in the Fargo area. Well let’s get down to hockey again.


WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. North Dakota………11-3-0…22
2. Denver……………...9-3-2…20
2. Minnesota-Duluth....9-3-2…20
4. Nebraska-Omaha….9-4-1…19
5. Colorado College…..8-6-0…16
6. Minnesota…………..6-6-2…14
6. Wisconsin…………..6-6-2…14
8. Alaska-Anchorage...4-8-2…10
8. Minnesota State…...4-8-2…10
10. Bemidji State……….4-9-1…9
11. St. Cloud State….....3-8-1…7
12. Michigan Tech……..1-10-1…3


WCHA

Michigan Tech @ St. Cloud St.
During the Holiday break the MTU Huskies lost to Michigan and Michigan State at the Great Lakes Invitational and the SCSU Huskies beat Cornell and Miami (OH) at the Florida College Classic.

This is a big series, especially for SCSU. They can leap into the middle of the pack with a sweep and back into contention for home ice in the playoffs. For MTU, they could spoil SCSU’s second half start by taking some points on the road. SCSU might have turned the corner over Christmas break, with getting a pair of wins in Florida. Of course, in the win over Miami, SCSU was outshot 31-11, and they won the game 4-3. The MTU Huskies have now dropped 13 games in a row, not a good streak to have. But, like all streaks they do come to an end, some time. MTU would like that streak to end this weekend and start a winning streak. I’m going to say both Huskies get some points this weekend. (PS - SCSU lost some players over semester break) SPLIT

NON-CONFERENCE

American Int’l (4-9-0 overall) @ Minnesota State
Over the Holidays the Mavericks beat Notre Dame and Brown at the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago.

I don’t know what to say about this non-conference match up other than, who is American International? Here is a little background on them, they are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, nick-named the Yellow Jackets, have an enrollment of 1,200 students. SPLIT.

Bemidji State @ Alabama-Huntsville (2-18-2)
During the Holiday break the Beavers beat Ferris State and Union at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

These two teams will re-new their old CHA rivalry this weekend with a pair of games. The Beavers look to be headed in the right direction after a lack luster two months of the season. BSU has been beating ranked teams (UNO, FSU, U) in the last month. UAH is now an independent this year, hopefully they will get into a conference (CCHA or AHA) for the 2011-12 season. The Chargers will start out 2011 with a heavy dose of WCHA opponents. So don’t expect their win total to sky-rocket anytime soon. I have to go with our newest WCHA brother in these contests. BEAVERS SWEEP

Robert Morris (12-5-2 overall) @ #2 North Dakota
During the Christmas break the Sioux beat the UMD Bulldogs in Duluth to spoil the opening of the new AMSOIL arena.

This will be the last season that the Sioux will be the Sioux, so lets hope they do us proud these last few months. Now on to the Colonials from Robert Morris, if you are wondering about them, here is some background on them. They are located in Moon Township, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have an enrollment of 5,100 students and play their home games at Island Sports Center. RMU is in the Atlantic Hockey division (they use to be in the CHA) where they are currently in second place (behind RIT). They have been coached by Derek Schooley since they started their program in 2004-05. I don’t think the Sioux will have much trouble with the colonials this weekend as long as they don’t overlook them. SIOUX SWEEP

Canisius (6-8-4 overall) @ #13 Wisconsin
During the Christmas break the Badgers beat UMass twice in Madison.

I’m guessing most of the Badger faithful are still reeling from their Rose Bowl loss to TCU. But don’t fear, the football crowd can now spend more time enjoying the hockey games. A couple more non-conference wins could help the Badgers in the pairwise rankings later this year. UW controls their own fate in the WCHA but need to pick up some more momentum heading into the second half. And I think they will keep the puck-a-sliding this weekend. BADGERS SWEEP


USA-U18 @ Minnesota (Friday)
During the Holiday break the Gophers lost to Union and tied the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

Since this is an exhibition it doesn’t show up on the record books or poll computers. But for the Gophers this is a very important game. They need to work out some kinks in their game before they start the WCHA games next weekend. A win and the Gophers get some positive re-enforcement, a loss and uh-oh there is trouble in Mariucci-land.


USA-U18 @ #5 Minnesota-Duluth (Saturday)
During the Holiday breaks the Bulldogs lost to the Sioux in the opening of their new arena in Duluth. They also played Claskson on January 3-4 and swept them.

This game is also an exhibition game, so nothing counts. UMD has lost Dylan Olson, academics weren’t going so well, and well he left for the AHL (at least that's the story I heard).

BYE Week
#18 Colorado College
#12 Nebraska-Omaha
#6 Denver
Alaska Anchorage

The Russian Bear has awaken...

Wow what a game for the World Junior Championship gold! I think a lot of people assumed, including me; hey I admit that I am guilty, that we would be hearing Oh Canada at the end of the game… I guess this is why we play the games right?

I think in the days going forward that there are going to be a lot of hockey minds that are going to over analyze this game, it was a great game to watch that ended up being historic for one team and painful for the nation to our north… I think the reasons the Canadians lost this game in the end was that the Canadians stopped doing the things that made them successful in the first two periods, in the 16 minutes that will come to be known as the historic collapse the Canadians failed to eliminate turnovers, get the pucks deep, answer the Russians counter attack and be smart defensively in their own zone. The Canadians lost because the got away from doing the basics.

Seriously folks! When it’s all said and done and the hockey minds have analyzed this game and picked it apart ad nauseam the real reasons the Canadians lost this game in the third period is that the Canadians got away from doing the hockey basics, it’s that simple. The Canadians rested on their laurels and it came back to bite them in the ass...

I think at times as a sports fan you’ve just got to take it all in and enjoy the moment but I don’t know if I could ever relish a Russian win in anything. I was a soldier during the cold war and the Russian were our sworn enemy and to this day I still don’t like them. I will cheer for the Swedes if they are playing the Russians. I was also wondering if I was the only ones that thought the Russian celebration at the end of the game was grating or over the top?

I also enjoy the fact that since the inception of the KHL there are a lot less Russians playing in the NHL. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Ovechkin is a great hockey player; one of the best in the world and I would have him on my team any day but I would rather see the North American hockey players playing in the NHL… I know there are lots of other fans like me that feel the same way as well. Maybe it’s good to have a villain in the black hat and I think this year it’s team Russia.

In conclusion; the much maligned American from New Jersey and former Division I college hockey coach and TSN analyst Pierre McGuire called Team Canada loss the greatest collapse in international hockey… While some might enjoy the Canadian collapse in the third period, because some perceived the Canadian fans and their players to be cocky and arrogant, I would much rather see the Canadians win the WJC than the Russians. See you next year…

Boston Bruins practice at Havard...

I thought this was funny when I read it and I tried to put it up last night but blogger was down...

Russo's Rants --- The Wild attended Hahvahd for an afternoon practice at Bright Hockey Center, home of Alexander Fallstrom, the Swedish-born, former Shattuck-St Mary's forward drafted by the Wild and eventually traded to the Bruins for Chuck Kobasew.

Kobasew, who played one year at Boston College, where he won the Beanpot and some other somewhat major tournament by beating North Dakota, will play in Boston on Thursday for the first time since being traded to Minnesota in October 2009.

Russian team to drunk and obnoxious to fly...

You might be a Russian if you're too drunk to fly... You can't make this stuff up. Wow! This is one of those stories that are made for a reality television show...

Buffalo New --- Oh, what a party it must have been for the Russian hockey team after their big win over Canada on Wednesday.

But it apparently caught up with the World Junior Hockey champions. They were kicked off a flight from Buffalo Niagara International Airport early this morning after sources said disruptive behavior after a night of celebration posed a safety threat.

"The crew of a flight from Buffalo to Atlanta denied boarding to 30 passengers as a result of unruly behavior," said Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott. "This was an effort to ensure safe operation of the flight. They will be rebooked on a future flight."

Elliott would not confirm that the 30 passengers were members of the Russian team, but airport sources said it appeared the tournament champions were still celebrating when the incident occurred around 6 a.m. today.

Steven Stamkos falls down on the penalty shot...

Can we classify this in the #epicfail department... Holy Cow, I have never seen anything like that before.

USA World Junior Team Wins Bronze

I was stuck at work and couldn't watch the game. But the US followed up their great Gold Medal year with a respectable 3rd place finish.

The US only lost one game in the tournament which is as good as anyone can do.

I'm not disappointed at all and I hope that we can all be proud what the team accomplished this year on the international stage.

The United States will not be going home empty handed as they have capture the bronze by beating Sweden 4-2 at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

It is the first time ever that the Americans have won medals in consecutive tournaments after defeating Canada for the gold last year in Saskatoon and Regina.

Chris Kreider scored twice while Jack Campbell made 34 saves to clinch the victory for the States.

The teams one loss was to Canada, who just plain was a better team Monday night.

Former Fighting Sioux Defenseman Commodore Requests Trade

The other night when I watched the Wild and Blue Jackets the TV announcers said that Mike Commodore had been a healthy scratch quite a bit as of late. According to the Columbus Blue Jackets beat writer Mike Commodore has sat out seven of the last eight games. Based on the kind of money big Mike makes it's going to be hard to trade him...

Here's what Commodore said:

"(Arniel) doesn't want to play me. Obviously, he doesn't want to play me. After wins, losses ... it doesn't matter. Obviously, I'm the seventh guy in his mind. So, I'm going to take care of myself, be a good teammate, work hard, practice hard and keep myself ready for whatever comes in the future."

Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel reiterated his stance yesterday.

"I don't have him in our top six," Arniel said. "He feels he should be, which is why he asked for the trade. I understand that.

"This isn't personal. This has to do with hockey skills. How you play the game, how you are with your teammates, how you work off the ice. It's not personal. He's just not in our top six."

Howson would not comment publicly on the trade demand, but both he and Arniel said Commodore has not been a poor teammate and has not been a distraction in the dressing room.

This is the latest detour in what has been a winding road since Commodore signed a five-year, $18.75 million contract on July 1, 2008. A no-trade clause covered the first two years of the deal, but lifted last July 1.

Wednesday Linkorama - Break over time to get to work

On Wednesday there is a lot of news worthy stuff going in the college hockey world.

Elliot Olshansky has a really really nice article at NCAA.COM that talks about the Fighting Sioux's first half success during the month of December... [NCAA.COM]

Let's Go DU Hockey Blog has a funny blog post; SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team [Let's Go DU]

The writers at INCH have an interesting quip about the ratings...

We accept that many people will dissent against Yale’s standing atop the INCH Power Rankings and both voter-driven polls as they are currently published, but there’s something else that should be considered. Many of those same dissenting voices have traditionally pointed to polls “that matter” or are derived from mathematical calculations based on results and opponents. Well, looky here—Yale happens to be ranked first in both the PairWise and KRACH. Citing those as the most reliable measures when they show WCHA or Hockey East dominance and ignoring it in favor of blaming voters when Yale reigns doesn’t align.

Here is the SCSU beat writer's sanitized version of Chris Hepp leaving the Huskies, er, dismissal from the Husky team and signing a professional ECHL contract. I find it laughable that Garrett Roe said, "said he was surprised by Hepp’s decision." Sure Garrett, take another dive... Nothing on the Tony Mosey dismissal yet... [Click to read article]

If you look at the official SCSU Hockey Roster you will see it's devoid of the Mosey, Johnson and Hepp names... [SCSU Hockey Roster]

KVSC has the Less sanitized version of the SCSU dismissals of the two SCSU bad boyz... [Click to read article]

Amid this news, rumors are flowing on internet message boards about a possible off-ice incident while in Florida that lead to Hepp's or Mosey’s dismissal and potential repercussions for more players. This has not been confirmed by KVSC, and SCSU Athletic Media Relations has no news or information at this time regarding those rumors.

According to Don Lucia Union is a good old team, or at least they are recruiting older players... [Goal Gophers]

Clayton Stoner first NHL goal...

If you didn't watch the Wild game on Versus last night; check out Clayton Stoner's first NHL goal, you just don't see goals like this very often. Chalk up a game winning goal for Clayton Stoner as well...

SCSU Huskies having a hell of a week...

The Twitter world has been ripe with news that the SCSU Huskies have had a great week; after winning the Florida College Hockey Classic by beating Miami and Cornell, it appears that some of the Husky players made some bad decision on their Florida trip and were kicked off the SCSU Husky hockey team. SCSU Huskies seniors Defenseman Chris Hepp and Forward Tony Mosey being kicked off the team… Chris Hepp has already signed a professional contract and is going to be playing with former SCSU goalie Jase Weselosky.

The 23-year-old Hepp joins Idaho from the college ranks at St. Cloud State, the same school that produced Steelhead forward John Swanson and goaltender Jase Weselosky. Hepp was an alternate captain, appearing in 20 games for the Huskies this season before turning professional. He also played junior hockey for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, where he was a teammate of Mark Olver, the son of former Steelheads head coach John Olver.

Hepp will be in uniform Tuesday night when the team takes on the Utah Grizzlies, wearing number 3.

Over the past summer it was revealed on the internet that Tony Mosey had been charged with a felon charge for running over a parked cars and damaging them. On twitter todayChuck Swartz had in one of his tweets that Chris Hepp was charged with possession of marijuana last September… You would think that since these two players were not kicked off the team for past incidents they might have cleaned up their act, but they didn’t.

USA gets it handed to them by team CANADA...

Canada came to play while the USA team looked like deer in the headlight. I think the writer from TSN.CA sums it up best with this...

It was a satisfying evening on Monday for Canada, which saw goals from Curtis Hamilton, Quinton Howden, Ryan Johansen and Zack Kassian. Chris Brown had the lone tally for the Americans, in what must have felt like an "away" game for them with all those red and white jerseys in the stands at HSBC Arena.

"We got great support. People were coming over the border," said Canadian forward Brayden Schenn after the game. "Hopefully it will be the same in the final."

The Canada-U.S. matchup was less of a contest than many had predicted, sending the Canadians to their 10th consecutive appearance in the finals at the WJC. The Americans - with eight returning players from 2010's championship team - were the favourite to win the tournament, but they didn't appear up to the challenge on this night.

"We were a little lackadaisical and a little big-headed," said American forward Emerson Etem.

U.S. captain John Ramage seconded that notion.

Last night’s effort by the USA squad was pathetic, I had a hard time watching this game, I was ready to throw my television out the front window. The Canadian WJC team had all of the answers for the USA squad that looked like a team that had forgotten that when you wear your countries uniform the logo the front means more than that name on the back back of the uniform, I know it sounds cliché but it’s true. Too many players on team USA last night were playing like individuals and could take a page from the Canadian's play book, defend your countries honor… Play like there is no tomorrow, no excuses. Last years team had it, this years team played like a bunch of spoiled "prima donnas" that couldn't deal with adversity.

While some want to blame the coach for the loss I don’t think that is the right approach, it's counter productive and I also don’t think it would have mattered if the coach had been a WCHA, coach or a coach from the OHL. The loss is squarely with the players that fail to compete and make plays when the game was on the line. The goaltender Jack Campbell should sue his team mates for nonsupport.

TEAM Canada 4, Some American guys 1 (REDWING77)

Yeah, I said it.

The American team came out and played like crap. It really looked a lot like UND playing Holy Cross a few years back. USA looked, not totally outclassed, UNBELIEVABLY outclassed.

Jack Campbell... wow. Thanks, guy. Thank you for showing up. Too bad everyone else was too busy planning what they were going to do when the game was over to worry about playing the game.

The US played heartless. They played like they were scared of the Canadians. They had opportunities to shoot the puck and they decided to try to get closer to the net. This made the outstanding Canadian D say to themselves "Happy Boxing Day! This is too easy!"

Canadian Goaltender Visentin wasn't tested. I don't know how good he is. Team USA didn't make him do much. He probably could have shored up his CIS degree while awaiting the American team do ANYTHING worth his attention.

The First Period ended with the Americans being outshot 10-4. The second period wasn't much better.

The third? Meh. Too little too late.

The officiating was decent. A missed call on Team Canada when a Team Canada player left his feet to make sure Brock Nelson went into the Team Canada bench. The officials got a quick make up call soon thereafter and the Americans were meh.

We were the experienced team here. We were actually FAVORITES!!!! We had an opportunity to prove that we belonged in front of some of our own fans in our own country. We blew it.

After the game, Chris Kreider talked about how the upcoming bronze medal game vs. Sweden was a game about pride. REALLY? Where was the PRIDE in this game?

This was THE game! THE BLEEPING GAME!

I am not too impressed with Allain. I don't know if I'd ask him back again as a head coach. I would have tried again to get Blais to come back. Heck, he won it all. Let him do it again.

Or perhaps bring in an American coach that has won it all lately... like Jerry York or Mike Eaves or Enrico Blaisi, or perhaps there's an American coach somewhere in the WHL.

The other think I think of is the schedules. Everyone talks about how the Canadians had the path of death or whatever. Well, they built their team to win by playing in it and, although they didn't play well at times, they did enough to not only stay competitive, but to win when it mattered.

It would not be surprising to me if Sweden won. Heck, if the US came out as well prepared (sarcastically speaking) on Wednesday as they did tonight, I suspect Sweden runs all over the Americans.

Optimistically speaking, I'm hoping for a Bronze Medal for Forbort and Nelson. Realistically speaking, I don't know who will win.

As for Gold, we're stuck with the Arrogance to the North vs. the Divers from Asia/Eastern Europe.

Well... I despise Canadian hockey fans for their arrogance and condescending attitude, but they play clean. So, despite their fanbase, I'm going to root for Canada vs. the Diving team from Russia.

I hope Forbort and Nelson do what's best and bring all of their luggage to the arena or check what they can ahead of time. Then have their Airport Shuttle waiting outside so they can get out of Buffalo AHEAD of the exiting fans! I'd want to put this entire embarrassment behind me as fast as possible.

7 on 5 hockey...

Check this video out and count the number of players on the ice. #epicfail by the on ice NHL hockey officials. I thought the WCHA officials were bad but this is unacceptable, the NHL officials are paid to do a job and this officiating crew should be punished for this blunder. Can you imagine if the Colorado Avalanche had scored?

Huskies finally break the Miami Curse...

s/t to Husky Hockey time... The SCSU Huskies got off of the snide by finally beating the Miami University RedHawks who had owned them as of late, as the Huskies had gone 0-4-1 since December of 2007. This time the RedHawks luck had run out and the Huskies finally got the win and have evened the season series with the RedHawks 1-1-1.

The Huskies ended up winning their Holiday Tourney by beating Cornell and Miami, in both games SCSU was behind in both games before coming back in the third period of each game to win by a score of 4-3. It was also the Huskies first wins in the month of December as they went a not so impressive 2-4-0. [Cornell game box score] and [Miami box score]

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 09, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.
October 10, 2009 Miami 2 SCSU 0
November 28, 2009 UND 5 Miami 5 O.T.
October 15, 2010 Miami 6 SCSU 3
October 16, 2010 Miami 1 SCSU 1 O.T.
December 30, 2010 SCSU 4 Miami 3
[Goon's World]

Poll Monday - Sioux second in both polls

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[January 3, 2011]
1. Yale (45) 12-1-0
2 North Dakota ( 2) 14-5-2
3 Boston College (3) 13-5-0
4 New Hampshire 10-3-4
5 Minnesota-Duluth 12-4-3
6 Denver 13-5-4
7 Miami 11-6-3
8 Michigan 12-5-4
9 Maine 9-5-4
10 Rensselaer 11-4-3
11 Notre Dame 12-7-3
12 Nebraska-Omaha 12-7-1
13 Wisconsin 12-7-3
14 Boston University 8-5-6
15 Union 11-6-3
16 Alaska 9-6-3
17 Merrimack 9-4-4
18 Colorado College 12-9-1
19 Princeton 10-5-0
20 Ferris State 9-8-4
Others Receiving Votes: Western Michigan 45, Clarkson 40, Dartmouth 26, Minnesota 26, Robert Morris 23, Minnesota State 15, Bemidji State 4, Ohio State 2, Quinnipiac 2, St. Lawrence 2, Niagara 1, Providence
---------------------
USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[January 3, 2011]
1. Yale (34) 12-1-0
2. North Dakota 14-5-2
3. Boston College 13-5-0
4. Hampshire 10-3-4
5. Minnesota Duluth 12-4-3
6. Denver 13-5-4
7. Michigan 12-5-4
8. Miami (Ohio) 11-6-3
9. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 11-4-3
10 Nebraska-Omaha 12-7-1
11. Maine 9-5-4
12. Notre Dame 12-7-3
13. Wisconsin 12-7-3
14. Union 11-6-3
15. Boston University 8-5-6
Others receiving votes: University of Alaska, 36; Colorado College, 27; Merrimack College, 23; Ferris State University, 1; Princeton University, 1; Robert Morris University, 1; Western Michigan University, 1.

I am going to pose a question; I am not trying to start a flame feast, however, do you think the "pollsters" think that Yale's 10-3 shredding of a lesser opponent/cupcake Holy Cross is a more impressive than UND's 5-0 win against UMD who is in the top five of the national standings?

Again, I would like to know how many of the “pollsters” actually saw the games this weekend or during the holiday break? I think it’s safe to say that beating Holy Cross is not equal to beating UMD. Again, I would love to see how some of the ECAC and AHA teams would do if they were in the WCHA and had to play the schedules of UMD, UND, DU and Wisconsin... Pretty sure we wouldn't be having this argument if these teams had played that kind of a schedule.

Also, we have teams in the bottom of the WCHA standings (MSU-M, BSU, SCSU) winning holiday tourneys by beating teams that are in the upper half of the other conferences (ECAC team UNION, CCHA teams Notre Dame, Miami) yet these teams are still sitting in the top 15 of the national rankings. So a couple of weeks ago when I was told that the Strength of schedule doesn't matter I think last weekend's holiday tourney results shoot that theory all to hell...

This ranking system is out of whack, and it’s getting to be as silly as the Boise State football being near BCS rankings until late in the season; these teams aren’t playing anyone really that tough and they can rack up wins against lesser opponents (mid majors) and will take a tumble in the pairwise and the polls the minute they lose a couple of games to the teams from their schedule.

They said what?

This was in yesterday's Fargo Fish wrapper...

Witlessness continues to afflict North Dakota bureaucracies and the chattering class, especially on the now-verboten University of North Dakota “Fighting Sioux” nickname. They have forced the change because of the nickname’s offensiveness to North Dakota’s Sioux, yet the Spirit Lake tribe voted in favor of UND keeping the logo and is still fighting in court to force UND to keep the name. The leaders of the Standing Rock tribe won’t allow the issue to come to a vote, most likely because they know the outcome would echo Spirit Lake’s vote.

So we have gutless, white- bread folks forcing a change the North Dakota Sioux don’t want in order to protect those same Sioux. Does this make any sense to you? Paging Michael Moore’s “Stupid White Men.”

INCH Power Rankings

As always I include the INCH Power Rankings, because they are worth a look... Of course Yale on top of the rankings again after ripping through weak sisters of the poor from the Holy Cross... Seriously! The only poll that really matters is the one that is going to be looked at on March 19th 2011.

INCH Power Rankings
[January 2, 2011]
1. Yale
2. North Dakota - As if the Sioux needed any more offensive weaponry, previously slumbering sophomore forward Danny Kristo has a goal and six assists in his last four games. 14-5-2 (11-3-0 WCHA) RECENT SCORES: W at Minnesota Duluth, 5-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Robert Morris, vs. Robert Morris
3. New Hampshire
4. Boston College
5. Minnesota Duluth
6. Michigan
7. Denver
8. Rensselaer
9. Miami
10. Maine
11. Nebraska-Omaha
12. Union
13. Wisconsin
14. Notre Dame
15. Merrimack
16. Boston University
17. Alaska
18. Robert Morris
19. Colorado College
20. Clarkson
Dropped out: Ferris State
Bubble-licious: Dartmouth, Ferris State, Niagara, Princeton, Western Michigan

Colton Orr and Chris Neil

Wow what a great heavy weight fight. Colton Orr is a one dimensional player that brings nothing to the ice surface except fighting majors and penalty minutes, but I have to admit that I like to watch a good fight as much as the next guy… While I am not a fan of Chris Neil he does at least score goals once in a while and has (2g-10a-12pts) in 40 games this season.

Drew Stafford burys the Bruins again...

Drew Stafford has scored 13 goals this season 6 of them have come against the Boston Bruins, that is 6 goals in three games for the Former Fighting Sioux winger. Stafford has 4 career hat tricks and two have come this season against the Boston Bruins. You would think going forward that the Boston Bruins might want to check Stafford a little more closely.

David Steckel’s blind side headshot on Sidney Crosby

I don't know what to make out of this hit, it doesn't appear to be intentional at all, I would say that it's a freak accident. I see any reason for the league to review this hit because, there was no penalty on the call and it doesn't appear to be anything but an accidental collision. Crosby did return for the third period.

Daniel Carcillo vs Kyle Chipchura

Every time I see my favorite hack Daniel Carcilo drop the gloves I always cheer for his opponent, there is something about that guy that I detest... Chipchura lands some nice punches on Carcillos face... It doesn't help that Carcillo plays for the hated filthy Flyers. Carcillo is one of those players you don't want play against him and you don't want him on your favorite team either.

UMD's Olsen leaves UMD for the AHL...

When this story broke yesterday afternoon the first thing that came to mind was ineligible for the academically for second half of the season. Dylan Olsen is a first round draft choice so realistically he isn’t going to sit around at UMD not playing hockey; studying, trying to get eligible academically for the fall semester. Not going to happen folks.

If my memory serves me right Dylan Olsen was recruited by UND but wasn’t able to get into UND so he ended up choosing UMD. The academically ineligible spin was the buzz around this story on the blogsphere and Twitter and it's not surprising what so ever.

Rink and RUN ---- Former NHL first-round draft pick Dylan Olsen, a Minnesota Duluth sophomore defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, signed a three-year, two-way contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and will join the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford, Ill., following the World Junior Championships.

Olsen, 19, leaves UMD with two goals and 22 assists for 24 points in 53 career games. This season, he had a goal and 12 assists for 13 points in 17 games before leaving to join Canada for the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. Canada finished the preliminary round 3-1 following a shootout loss to Sweden on Friday. The tournament runs through Jan. 5.

“Dylan was having a good year and we were expecting a better, more confident player to return to us after the experience of the junior tournament,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We knew how much making Canada’s team meant to him and that it could only help his play. We’re just disappointed he chose to make a change at midseason.”

Sandelin did note that recent academic developments would likely have left Olsen ineligible for the second semester.

If you can’t stay eligible academically to play for your college hockey team I believe it’s a character flaw a lack of commitment on the part of the athlete because they are not living up to their end of the scholarship deal, Dylan Olson let his teammates down and he let himself down. This one also falls on the coach because they should be evaluating his players academic progress throughout the semester.

Being a former college athlete, I have seen a few people flunk out of college and lose their eligibility to compete in athletics and I don't understand how they can let this happen? Most places all you need to get is a 2.0 or a 2.5 and you can almost do that by just attending class and reading the materials from the lectures. Again, going to the state schools in the WCHA isn't all that difficult, (BSU, UMD, SCSU, UND, MSU-M) isn't like attending the MTU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, AFA and or Yale and Harvard. My advice to young athletes is go to class, study and complete your assignments, ask for help if you need it, get a tutor.

Happy New Year – Moving Forward…

Another year has come and gone at Goon’s World. This year was the most successful date as we had 456,000+ visitors. I personally would like to thank everyone that stopped by to read our blog … At the bottom of the blog I added the Popular Posts widget and the most popular blog post of the year was Halak scores on himself, which incidentally or maybe it was accidentally made Fox Sports, there was 10,000+ hits on that article for one day… I woke up the morning after I submitted that blog post and looked at the stats and said, "what's going on here?" Blogging is a lot like life, you really never know what article is going to be popular or which one is going to be a dud, you just kind have to go with the flow. I also, have thank YardBarker has been very good to Goon’s World.

The second most popular article was Andrew Ladd with the Stanley Cup, thanks to Puck Daddy… Occasional Goon’s World contributor Amy aka Lets Go Mavs made the top ten posts of the year with her post MN's "Pride on Ice" is officially the "Pathetic on Ice" (by LGM) . While I have gotten some flak from Sioux fans for letting her post on Goon’s World, I do think she brings an interesting perspective to the table and this blog is about heated discussions. I don’t see anything wrong with taking an occasional dig at the Gophers fan base… They aren't as much fun when their team is losing though.

I appreciate everyone that writes for Goon’s World; Sioux7, Redwing77, the Whistler, LGM, Kevin Wiley… Thanks a lot for your efforts… Seriously, it’s harder than it looks… Retired and former Goon’s World Contributor Gordon Anderson is now writing for the Ottawa Sun...

I would also like to thank the Bemidji State University SID Brad Folkestad for credentialing me for the historic first WCHA series between the BSU Beavers and the UND Fighting Sioux. While for some reason I haven’t been able to get a press pass just to attend the Wednesday press briefings and post game press conferences for UND hockey, Brad was kind enough to save me a spot for me in the BREC center press box when there were many requests for press passes… Brad Folkestad and the BSU SID office run a first class organization...

I learned a lot of interesting things that weekend about being in press row, first if you going to report the game in time via Twitter, Face Book, it’s harder than it looks. You also have to be really good at typing, but also an awesome multitasker. Lastly, you also have to pace yourself with the Diet Coke or you end up missing a goal or key play…

Sioux 5 Dogs 0

Grand Forks Herald Photo

As I posted on twitter the UND Fighting Sioux ruins the Bulldogs building opener. UND is now 3-0 and has scored 15 goals and given up only 4 goals in inaugural games/weekends.

To take a quote from the Viking’s quarterback Brent Favre, “the pieces are in place.” I do think this year’s Fighting Sioux hockey team is one of the better teams that Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol has had here at UND, that's including the teams that had Stafford, Oshie and Toews, this year’s version of Sioux has the UND Fighting incredible depth and are getting great play from all four of the forward lines. Defensively, the Fighting Sioux are getting to be very difficult to play against and held the FCC line pointless in tonight's game. The Sioux didn’t look like a team that had been off for a week and a half.

B2tv.com why bother?

Personally, I was impressed with what I saw tonight or at least with what I could see. I watched tonight's game on the B2tv.com and I am not impressed with the quality of broadcast that they put out, they are ripping people off. I am not sure it was worth the seven bucks that I spent to watch the game. It’s a low quality broadcast and just short of being horrible, the announcers were fine, I thought they did a good job, if you like the Bulldog perspective. Kind of makes a guy long for the student broadcast of KBSU or SCSU.

Both teams not at full stength

At the end of the game there was a mention of the Bulldogs not having all of their players. I am not sure we can use that as a reason why one team won or lost. Both teams were missing key players for this game, the Bulldogs were without Justin Faulk (6g-9a-15pts) and Dylan Olsen (1g-12a-13pts), both players are playing in the World Junior Championships. Senior forward Kyle Schmidt (7g-5a-12pts)was injured in at practice on Wednesday and he was out of the line up as well.

On the other side of the ice the Fighting Sioux were without Brock Nelson (2g-4a-6pts) and Derek Forbort (0g-9a-9pts), who were at the WJC. The Sioux were also missing forwards Jason Gregoire (6g-7a-13pts) and Brett Hextall (2g-4a-6) because of undisclosed upper body injuries. While Falk and Olson might be the Bulldogs best defenders, Hextall and Gregoire are 2/3 of one of the Fighting Sioux’s top two forward lines. Jason Gregoire is one of the best two-way forwards in the WCHA so, if anything, the missing players are a wash. It does appear that UND, who ends the month of December with a record 5-0-0, is heading in a different direction than the UMD Bulldogs who end the month of December at 1-3-1.

Goon's three stars of the game

1.) Aaron Dell 35 saves and records 2 shutout of the season
2.) Danny Kristo (1g-2a-3pts)
3.) Brad Malone (2g-0-2)

[Box Score]

Zach Kassian hit on Czech defenceman Petr Senkerik.

Here is the hit that Zach Kassian put on Czech defenceman Petr Senkerik. For the hit Kassian was given a 5 minute major and a match penalty which carries an automatic game suspension. Kassian was given an extra game suspension by the IIHF and will have to sit out another game for team Canada when they play the Sweds.

Jody Shelley gets two games

Last month when Shelly was given a two game suspension for a hit from behind on Adam McQuaid I was told on my twitter page that Jody Shelly wasn't that type of a player. Huh! Now he is a repeat offender. Because funny thing, that is Jody Shelly's second suspension of the 2010-2011 season.

csnphilly.com --- On Wednesday, the NHL suspended Shelley for two games. He will miss Thursday’s game in Los Angeles and the New Year’s Eve contest in Anaheim.

This has been a “December to Remember” for the 35-year-old native of Thompson, Manitoba, as he served a two-game suspension earlier in the month for a hit from behind to Adam McQuaid in Boston.

Given Shelley is a repeat offender, this could have been four games instead of two.

“Exactly right,” Shelley said. “Right now, my gut reaction is that I’m disappointed. And I said this last time. That’s why they do it. They want you to feel sick, shame, embarrassment ... It’s been a tough December.”

Lightning upset with this penalty call...

This was the penalty that led to the Boston Bruins power play that Boston Bruins forward Mark Recchi scored on. The Tampa Bay Lightning took issue with this call that cost them the game.

TBO.COM ---Don VanMassenhoven, the referee at the trailing end of the play, put his arm up and called boarding on Stamkos, giving Boston a man advantage with under two minutes to play.

"Not a penalty, a shoulder on shoulder hit,'' Boucher said. "I've watched it 10, 12 times and I still can't get myself to see what others saw. … This is a game I firmly believe should have went to overtime. It's just very, very difficult to swallow for everybody, everybody. I'm not going to point my finger at my players for this one. They battled hard enough to win this game. It was not decided on something I could control.''

To make matters a bit worse, Adam Hall got picked at the Tampa Bay blue line by Michael Ryder as the Bruins entered the zone, preventing Hall from getting to Dennis Seidenberg and putting pressure on the puck at the right point. One pass later, Recchi found open space at the top of the slot for the winning goal.

I guess I can see why the on ice official called a penalty on the play; we have seen players in college hockey get thrown out of the game for the same hit. As a player you really have to be careful when you hit someone into the end boards, especially with the number of injuries that have happened recently. You run the risk of getting thrown out of the game or have a penalty called on you if a player has his back turned. In this case I think it's a grey area, it was close to being a shoulder to shoulder hit. The Bruins players thought it was a questionable hit...

The IIHF throws the book at Slovakia hack’s Martin Marincin and Peter Hrasko

I applaud the IIHF for throwing the book at the two Slovaks and giving Martin Marincin three additional games and Peter Hrasko two additional games for their bush league hits during their game with team USA…

BUFFALO – Dan Marouelli, the IIHF`s appointed Disciplinary Single Judge, handed out suspensions totalling six additional games to three players for flagrant violations in games played yesterday.

The Slovakia-United States game produced five of those games to two Slovaks, the heaviest suspension going to Martin Marincin (three games). Peter Hrasko received two additional games while Canada's Zack Kassian got one extra game.

The IIHF has very specific rules regarding dangerous hits. These are not limited just to the head but to the neck area as well, which is defined by that part of the body above the collarbone and shoulder pads (i.e., unprotected areas).

All players were automatically given one-game suspensions for their match penalties for a hit to the head and neck area. Here are the details for each violation.

Slovakia’s Martin Marincin was assessed a further three-game suspension (four games in total) by the IIHF for his hit to the head and neck area on American forward Jason Zucker with 7:51 left in the third period of the United States-Slovakia game on December 28.

In making his assessment, Marouelli analyzed the play on DVD. As well, he received a verbal report from the IIHF’s medical staff and discussed the play with the referee supervisor and the chairman of the championship.

Some of the criteria used to make this decision included the distance travelled by Marincin to deliver the hit. In Marouelli’s opinion, this was a premeditated act as the puck had long left the vicinity of the play. Marincin took advantage of a defenceless and unsuspecting opponent and deliberately targeted the head and neck area, resulting in an injury to Zucker.

Slovakia’s Peter Hrasko was assessed a further two-game suspension (three games in total) by the IIHF for his hit to the head and neck area on American forward Jerry D’Amigo.

In making his assessment, Marouelli analyzed the play on DVD. As well, he received a verbal report from the IIHF’s medical staff and discussed the play with the referee supervisor and the chairman of the championship.

Hrasko deliberately targeted the head of the American player, using his elbow and upper arm to deliver the blow and causing D’Amigo to be thrown violently into the boards. As a result, D’Amigo struck his head against the glass, sustaining an injury... [Read the Rest of the article]

In reviewing the video its safe to conclude that Dan Marouelli, of the IIHF`s made the right decision in severely punishing the offending Slovak players. From the drop of the puck you could tell that the Slovaks were going to play a dirty game and were out to get their pound of flesh.

Can SCSU finally beat Miami?

Tomorrow the Miami Redhawks will play the SCSU Huskies again for a third time this season tomorrow in the Championship game of the Florida College Classic. Miami has had SCSU's number as of late going 0-4-1 against them since 2007. Actually, Miami has been dominant against the WCHA since 2005 and the only team to have a winning record against Miami from the WCHA is the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux which is 1-0-1, DU is 0-2, SCSU is 0-4-1 and UMD is 0-1-0 that is a combined 7-1-1 against the WCHA. I would say that this is a statement game for the Huskies tomorrow night...

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 09, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.
October 10, 2009 Miami 2 SCSU 0
November 28, 2009 UND 5 Miami 5 O.T.
October 15, 2010 Miami 6 SCSU 3
October 16, 2010 Miami 1 SCSU 1 O.T.
[Goon's World]

Another example of Slovakian Thuggery.

s/t to Bruce Ciskie here is the hit of Slovakia player Peter Hrasko as he smoked Jerry D'Amigo of team USA with a dirty elbow, notice taht Hrasko leaves his feet to hit D'Amingo in the head... Maybe this guy should get an extra game as well.

Were the Slovaks looking for revenge?

In reading the awesome WJC blog United States of Hockey, Chris Peters speculates that maybe the Slovaks were seeking revenge on USA Forward Jason Zucker for his hit on Martin Stajnoch during the 2010 WJC... In looking at the video of Zucker hit on Stajnoch it appears to be a legal shoulder to shoulder hit, so maybe the Slovaks need to learn how to take a hit and play with in the confines of the rules.

The United States of Hockey --- As a side note, you may recall this hit delivered by Zucker at last year’s World Junior Championship. The U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team played Slovakia’s under-18 squad in an exhibition prior to last year’s IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Belarus. During that game, it was noticeable that the Slovakian players were out to get Zucker. One of my fellow Team USA staffers quipped, at the time, that the extra attention was perhaps retaliation for the hit at the WJC. Maybe it was, I can’t be certain. However, Martin Marincin delivered a deliberate knee-on-knee hit to Zucker that earned Marincin a major penalty and game misconduct (Here’s that game’s box score). So yeah, there’s a history.

There is one thing about hockey if the score is out of hand you can expect the game to get rough, even in international play. I guess if you can't beat the opposition on the score board you start taking liberties against the opposition, last night the USA outshot the Slovaks 22-1 in the first period, so maybe the Slovaks should concentrate on getting pucks on net and playing instead of trying to injury other players. What a bunch of classless hack and they are a disgrace to the game of hockey…

Slovak Hack Martin Marincin's dirty hit on Team USA's Jason Zucker

I dare someone to defend the play of Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin... There is no excuse for this kind of play in the WJC or in level of hockey. Personally, I thought that the Slovak WJC team played very dirty hockey from the drop of the first puck till the end of the game the Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin should be suspended for the rest of the tourney for this bush league hit. The Slovak hockey team is lucky that fighting isn't allowed in the WJC.

Potential vs. Current Development, a RW77 Rant

Ok, I am feeling rantish today and I'm in need of some enlightenment from the reader base.

On and on throughout my online fandom, I've read post after post about fans expectations of collegiate players based upon draft status and position. I find this extremely laughable.

Here's my rant:

Draft position, or even the fact they were drafted, is only marginally relevant to the college game. It's not even all that relevant towards junior player-rostered international competition. Why?

The NHL is always trying to draft for "now" talent, but it's not all that often that there are those sitting around beyond, say, the top 5 picks overall, and that's not always the case even so. Those who are good enough for the NHL when they are drafted are usually signed by the NHL right away. There are exceptions, sure, but for the most part, they are drafted based upon potential... or what they're predicted to develop into.

With this in mind, it's amazing on how people can base whether or not a player has done well or is living up to expectations based upon when they were drafted. If they weren't drafted at all, then there is no such expectation. Talk about hypocrisy.

The most recent example is the fact that Finland hung in there with the US WJC team despite the US having more draft picks on the team. What does that have to do with anything?

Sure, the American players have a higher potential towards professional play according to NHL Scouts, but that's hardly what's being graded at the WJC. Remember, Herb Brooks had the option to put even "better" players on his 1980 Olympic team than he did, but he did not. Craig, the goaltender, IIRC, wasn't the best goaltender available to Brooks at the time. BTW, Craig didn't have an altogether stellar pro career either.

Why is draft stock held in so much higher regard towards expectation than the players' current level of development?

I'm reminded of the former Wild GM Risebrough (sp?) who talked about the potential of his team being the key to his system. Yet, year after year, the Wild sucked. Why? Because potential relates directly to the future... a future that isn't guaranteed, just predicted. Teams that want to win NOW sign players who are able to produce NOW. Much like why the Red Wings are so successful as of late. Yeah, they are older than the sky but their potential has been realized and Babcock can better assigned them into roles within the team that should bring the most success.

College Hockey deals almost exclusively in players who have not yet reached their potential. In fact, if they did before they reached DI, they're typically on the watch for being busts... (See Mike Fink, Sioux fans). Yet, if an NCAA player is drafted, especially if it is in the first round, they are expected to be absolute monsters right away. If they're not, or play differently than the expectations the fans build on them, they're usually criticized, more often or not, unfairly so.

It's one of the main challenges of being college fans. We want our players to play fantastic, win it all, etc. We bang our heads against the wall when the NHL takes notice and signs them early. But if the player takes a normal developmental curve, they're open for criticism for not being as good as a player who bolted early.

So what is it? Allow the players to play their game at the current developmental rate and criticize them according to their play or let draft status cloud our judgment and grade them according to what they should be X years down the road today?

It seems rather harsh to me.

T.J. Oshie to return in late January?

The St Louis Blues got some encouraging news, it appears that former Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie might be eying a possible return at the end of January, that would be good news for the Blues. T.J. Oshie was hurt November 10th during a scrum in the third period of a game where the Blues were down 8-1 in the game, Oshie lost his balance and fell backwards with his ankle pinned under his weight breaking his ankle.

NHL Hockey --- Blues forward T.J. Oshie could return to the lineup as early as late January, according to Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong.

Armstrong made the announcement to members of the media on Tuesday after the team's gameday skate.

"Oshie is doing very well. He's been out skating the last week or so I'd say and he's progressing very well," Armstrong said. "With his work ethic and his healing and the way he's been, we're comfortable that (his return) somewhere around the All-Star break is a realistic goal for us."

Oshie was injured in the Nov. 10 game vs. Columbus and was originally projected to be out of the lineup until at least mid-February with a broken ankle. But Armstrong said an early return is possible thanks to Oshie's positive attitude off the ice.

Is Chris Osgood worthy of the Hall of Fame?

I think the table has been set for the discussion that is about to follow. Chris Osgood is 10th all time in wins, most of the people above him on the list are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lets break it down further - (3) Thee Stanley Cups 1997, 1998, 2008, (400) four hundred wins, Osgood has played in 742 NHL game has a .905 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average, in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Osgood has played in 129 games .916 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.09. Just for comparison sake Grant Fuhr played in 868 games had a not so impressive 3.38 goals against average and .887 save percentage and he was inducted into the hall of game in 2003. In my opinion it kind of sounds like Osgood had a NHL Hall of Fame career to me...

1 MARTIN BRODEUR 607
2 Patrick Roy 551
3 Ed Belfour 484
4 Curtis Joseph 454
5 Terry Sawchuk 447
6 Jacques Plante 437
7 Tony Esposito 423
8 Glenn Hall 407
9 Grant Fuhr 403
10 CHRIS OSGOOD 400
[ESPN]