The Sioux and the Gophers

The Match Up
7>5

The Clock is Ticking

First off; I wish I were going to be at the game this weekend. Nothing beats some good smack talk between Sioux and Gopher fans at a hockey game, however, I have to work and there will be no trip south this season. Lucky for me I will however be able to see the game on the TV at work. My brother called last night to rub in the fact that he has two tickets to the game on Saturday night at the John. I sure he could probably get top dollar for those tickets too. I would love to see a sweep of the Gophers by the Fighting Sioux, however, I will settle for a split or a couple of ties. The Sioux need to get points to avoid a first round tilt in Madison Wisconsin against the Badgers, a team they do not match up well against because of the style of hockey they play.

No Prediction this Weekend

There will be no bold predictions for this weekend because I really can’t put a finger on this years Fighting Sioux team. I am carefully optimistic that the Sioux can pull one off this weekend. As of late the Sioux have played better but their level of competition hasn’t been that high. The Sioux currently are ranked 14th in the PWR rankings and a win would bolster their playoff chances and probably get them off of the NCAA bubble. The Sioux have 10 WCHA games left for the season and I believe the Fighting Sioux would have to go 7-3 or 6-4 and get to the Final Five to get off the NCAA bubble.



Tough Task Ahead: (per inch)
Inside college hockey breaks down the prospects for the Badgers over taking the Sioux in the standingsINCH Link. This is going to make every Fighting Sioux hockey important because of the poor play in the first half of the season. Each game that the fighting Sioux lose is going to have the ramifcaitions. Its going to make every game have the feel of a game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

If the WCHA playoffs began today, Wisconsin would have to go on the road, but despite their current standing in the lower half of the league standings, there's optimism for a strong finish among many Badger fans. Wisconsin has played two fewer league games than fifth-place North Dakota (which the Badgers currently trail by a point) and four fewer league games than Alaska Anchorage, with which it is tied for sixth place. Eight of Wisconsin's 12 remaining league games are against teams at or below the Badgers in the standings.

The Week In Hockey

Goon’s Ramblings

I was looking at the Bracketology: for Jan. 24, 2007 over on USCHO Bracketologyand I find a few things that crack me up. Jayson Moy seems to be giving the EZAC way too much love and has two teams making the tourney. While I do agree that Clarkson and is decent hockey team Moy is giving SLU way too much credit. Isn’t this the same team UND beat 4-1 earlier last month during the tourney in Hanover, NH. So am I to believe the logic that UND if they keep winning is going to be left out of the tourney, while St. Larry gets in, hardly. Lets just say there are almost a month and a ½ left of the season. I think we should just wait and see how the rest of the season plays out. Let's not punch those tickets for the big dance just yet. There are going to be many twists and turns in the game ahead. I would also predict that there are going to be a few shockers to come with the conference tourneys during the third week in March. Also, a few other team like Miami seem to be sinking to the bubble fast. I also don’t see the CCHA getting 4 teams in the tourney this year.
Last night B.C. lost to Boston University, hence UND moved up to 14th in the power rankings I guess that throws a wrench in the equation.

Over on Western College Hockey

Chris Dilks has the footage of the Minnesota Riots after the NCAA championship.They know how to throw a party in Minneapolis Minnesota That will teach you to park your car downtown after the Gophers win a big game. I wonder if they will riot if Brewster leads the Golden Gophers to a Big Ten championship in college football. Funny thing when UND won the National Championship in college hockey there were no riots in the streets.


Hammy’s perspective on the DU and Minnesota Fight that Almost Happened

An interesting read. Hammy is right the reffing in that game was really poor, the refs missed a lot of calls and let the game get out of control in the first period. Hum, Gopher fans bringing up the short comming of the on ice officials. I am not about to label Gopher fans as being Halo's just yet, but Hammy is just stating what Sioux fans have been saying for some time, the WCHA is a first class league with second rate officials. Hammy's Blog

* The Denver series was certainly entertaining in a number of respects. I don't tend to say much about the quality of the refs on a weekly basis because I find it to be a very tiring excuse that some fans use quite often. But this is an exception. The games were called relatively poorly this weekend. When Ben Gordon (a player hardly known for being a tough guy) gets a fighting major for wrestling around and then getting punched while on his back, you know something is amiss. That may have been the worst reffed series the Gophers have played in this year.

* Gopher forward James O'Brien may have run into the goalie anyway since he was given a push from behind but the added effort he gave in hitting DU's Glenn Fisher was uncalled for. I have to admit that a part of me didn't feel quite as sorry to see it happen given Fisher's bush league act toward Blake Wheeler at the conclusion of Friday's game but it still should not have happened. When it comes to getting back at a goalie for trash talking, there is no better way to do it than to put pucks in the back of his net and tagging the guy with a loss. Scoring five goals on him and hanging him with a loss is revenge enough.

I have to hand it to the Gopher forward if your going to run a goalie you might as well make it count. I wonder if the Gopher forwards will continue running over the goalie this weekend when the Gophers play the Sioux down in the John down in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I would venture to guess that if any Gopher forward runs over one of the Sioux's goalies there is going to be a brawl. The Fighting Sioux will not take that laying down. All I can say is bring it, if that is the type of game the Gophers want to play. Any exchange of players lost to a DQ only helps the Sioux.

Jeff Dubay Loses Job over telling the Truth

Jeff Dubay aka Puffy from KFAN’s morning show PA and Dubay lost his job at FSN for his off air comments that were directed at the WCHA’s on ice officialsLink to the article This one really chaps my ass. Jeff Dubay’s termination from FSN sports borders on being ridiculous or just plain silly. My question is; are the WCHA officials so thin skinned that it can’t take feed back about the performance of its on ice officials? Maybe Greg Sheppard should actually look at what his officials are doing on the ice and quit complaining about how the public views it’s clowns in stripes. I watched the game between the Gophers and the Pioneers twice and the performance of Todd Anderson was pathetic, Anderson made the game about him and ruined a good match up between two good teams. While Dubay might have been out of line I don’t believe he deserved to be fired, I think Jeff should be given an award for his honesty. Have the league officials ever listened to Gopher radio announces or UND’s Tim Hennesy for that matter? Hey Sheppard are you going to ask that they be fire next?

Bruce Ciske Takes on the Issue of Officating

Not to hammer the officials (yeah right) but here is another interesting perspective of the performance of officials in the WCHA and how we could get them to address some of the issues surrounding their performance or lack of performanceThe Ciske Blog I really like what Bruce had to say in this article.

Frankly, I think it's high time that the league either take visible steps to improve the level of its officiating, or allow coaches to speak publicly on the matter. No one is questioning the work ethic of the officials or their supervisor, Greg Shepherd. No one is questioning the integrity of this crew.

But we're spinning our wheels right now. Too often, the officials take center stage, either for a controversial decision or a questionable penalty call (or non-call) or how the review process is handled.

Already this year, we've seen some extremely bizarre calls that had great bearing on how games ended.

(The two calls in the Gopher-UMD Friday game - one of which took away what appeared to be a UMD goal, and the other taking a late faceoff outside the UM zone when it was apparent that the Bulldogs should have received either a power play or a penalty shot - along with the controversial goal at the end of Saturday's game in St. Cloud, just to name a couple. Oh, and I'm still bitter about that goal ruling in the playoff game in Denver last March.)

It's one thing for coaches to criticize the officials. They aren't allowed to publicly, and they shouldn't be. That would lead to anarchy. But when respected writers who have covered this league as long as Virg Foss has feel the need to speak up, you have an issue on your hands. Simply trying to dismiss the comments of a guy like Foss really doesn't help much.

I'm not calling for anyone's head here. Just saying that Foss has a point, and I'd love for the league to acknowledge that they would like to get their officiating to a higher level.

Same Sieve Different Year.

Sieve, Sieve, Sieve...
I thought I might as well get the smack talking going, this one is for Slap Shot. Its been way too civil and I am getting tired of ripping the refs so I will move on to a new subject, ah, lets the do the Gophers goaltending. Incase anyone has forgotten this is the same Sieve that lost to Holy Cross just a different year. Its funny how the media in Minneapolis has tried to paint a picture of how Kellin Briggs is this great goalie. Personally it kind of reminds me of the Grand Forks print and radio media talking about some of our players. You know the same old story on and on about Kellin being a goalie for the ages if not statisically the best goalie of all time. Snicker, not much of an endorsement of Minnesota's goalies is it? I am sorry Stauber was one of the best goalies Minnesota ever had and Briggs isn't worthy of sniffing his jock.


One last point, some are going to come on here and tell me about how poor of a goalie Lammy is. Well it probably is a valid point, until recently he hadn't played well this year. However the numbers don't lie, for his career Philippe Lamoureux 2.36 GAA and a .911 save percentage on the other side of the ice Briggs has a career GAA of 2.43 and a save percentage of .908. Flame away come on here and discuss it with me.

Bruins and Sabres Kessel Gets two.

Bruins and Sabres
I watched this game via NHL Center Ice last week; Former Gopher Phil Kessel gets his sixth and seventh goals of the season. The seventh goal was a thing of beauty. If the Bruins coaching staff keeps putting Savard and Kessel together you will see a few more high light real goals.

NHL Plays of the Week.

Seems like the first time you won't see a former Fighting Sioux hockey player on them. What a week of hockey in the NHL.

A blast from the past Vernon and Roy.

The Whistler tackles the Reffing in the WCHA.

The State of Officiating in the WCHA
The Whistler from Say Anything Blog Link to The Whistlers Article
Takes on the issue of the officiating in the WCHA. I know it is a touchy issue as many WCHA fans have brought it up almost weekly, however, its not just the fans, there has also been a lot of and dissatisfaction with the level of officiating from time to time from the coaches in the WCHA as well, which finally lead to a WCHA coaching confronting the game official after the game and hence getting into a profanity laced altercation with that game official.

Locally Sioux fans that bitch (I am one of them) about the officiating have been called halos by opposing teams fans. Some think its just sour grapes or entitlement hockey but that isn't the issue. The issue is the officiating and the on ice official’s performance that can be dismal at times. I believe the WCHA officials have to be better because I believe the fans deserved better. After watching the game between the Gophers and the Pioneers last night I believe the officials in that game should be suspended and publicly scorned. Todd Anderson totally took the game over and made the game about him. There was no flow to the game and the first period took almost an hour to finish. I would love to see the grade that Greg Sheppard gives Anderson for his weekend performance. Oh by the way third man in is a game misconduct not a two minute minor.

The fans pay hundreds of dollars to watch college hockey only to have to witness the performance of the paid officials hit all time lows. So if the coaches are saying it anonymously then it’s as bad as it looks to the fans as well. In the WCHA I believe the worst of the officials are in no particular order: Don Adam, Todd Anderson, Marko Hunt, Derrick Sheppard. I believe the only way to change the officiating is too clean house and start over, starting at the top with head of officials Greg Sheppard. The fans and administrations of the WCHA schools should demand this.

Mission Accomplished. Sioux Sweep Beavers.

 

The After Bina's Goal

The Sioux Sweep the Beavers

No Seriously, that’s not a typo, the Sioux sweep. The Sioux swept an opponent for the first time since the Sioux swept the Mankato Mavericks during the last week of October down in Mankato. It’s only the second time UND fans have been able to see the stick salute at center ice by the players.

The Streak

Fighting Sioux its current modest streak to 6-1-1 in the last 8 days. During those 8 games the Sioux have only given up three goals twice. The Sioux are getting good defense, decent goaltending and are scoring timely goals. The key to the success is that for the most part the Fighting Sioux are staying out of the penalty box. The Sioux killed off 11-13 power plays this weekend. They also were 5-16 on the power play going 4-10 on Saturday night.

D.O.T. Line on Fire

Finally the D.O.T. line is re-igniting (I can’t think of a better word), should we say that it’s starting to catch fire just at the right time. Breaking down the scoring, T.J. Oshie had a goal and four assists, Jonathon Toews had two goals and two assists, and Duncan chipped in with two assists. Originally Oshie had been given the second goal in Bemidji but after further review Toews was ruled to have scored the second UND goal. That is 10 points on the weekend for the D.O.T. line. Wouldn’t you know it Duncan, Oshie and Toews are sitting on top of the statistics for the Fighting Sioux? These guys are going to have to carry the load if the Sioux are going to be successful this weekend.

Sioux Defense Likes Scoring Too

Robbie “the Rock Star” Bina had a two goal weekend adding more points to his growing season total, however, that's not the only positive from this weekend; Taylor Chorney said, “hey I like scoring too” as he chipped in two goals this weekend as well. Who would have ever thought that Robbie Bina would have the same number of goals for the season as the heralded Jonathon Toews? The Robbie Bina conquest continues as he improves to 8th on the team in scoring; for the season Robbie has six goals and has added 8 assists for 14 points. That figures out to be a point every other game.

Bemidji State Pictures: The Victory

 

John Glas Field House Just before game time

The past two season the Beavers and the Sioux have played in a home and home series. The past two years I was lucky enough to get tickets and go to Bemidji to watch the games in the John Glas Field House. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing. Incidently, Bemidji is tentatively scheduled to get a new arena in the fall of 2009 or 2010. I only hope that Seratore tries to schedule the Sioux to open the new building. It would be a fitting way to open the new building.
Phil Pre-Game
I wouldn't have wanted to be any where else but Bemidji on Friday night. The game in the Glas brought back memories of the old REA. The fans are right on top of the ice in the Glas, and your able to see the action up close and personal. I was also lucky enough to be sitting in the end of the arena where the Fighting Sioux scored all three of their goals. What the John Glas lacks in amenities it gain in crowd atmosphere, if only we could a little of that back in the new REA.
Oshie Stopped in close The Sioux came out buzzing and played with intensity Friday night. I would have to say that it was probably one the best periods of hockey on the year for the Fighting Sioux. In Fridays game the Fighting Sioux played with the same grit that they displayed last Saturday night and had an edge and swagge. This is the type of play that it takes to win close games and to be successful.

Unknown Sioux player checking someone
Bob Woback and another Beaver fan
Beaver?
World Famous Corner Bar

College Hockey Bracketology.

College Hockey Bracketology.

I have been looking through the latest Bracketology article on USCHOThe Link to the article and I think its funny to read how the so called flat belly experts think UND isn’t going to put it together and make the NCAA tourney, lets just say this is a work in progress. Actually if the Fighting Sioux can pull things together and get on a mini run they can still qualify for the NCAA playoffs. The reason being is the teams they face are sitting pretty high in the PWR and RPI rankings the Fighting Sioux sit tied in 14th place after blowing in the first part of the season. The Sioux play next weekend at Minnesota, February 23rd at Denver and March 2nd and 3rd at SCSU at least 3 or 4 wins against those three teams or a least a sweep of one of the three would really set up the Fighting Sioux nicely in getting them closer to the NCAA playoffs. Third or fourth place in the WCHA standings is not out of the question.

In looking at the numbers more closely I don’t think the ECAC (aka the EZAC) warrants two or three teams getting into the playoffs some team have only played nine league games and that is a joke in my opinion. I also don’t think that Hockey East will not put 6 teams in the NCAA tourney, talk about an east coast bias. Anyone want to put odds on UNH folding in the NCAA playoffs?

I think when push comes to shove; the ECAC gets 1 team and the Hockey East is going to get 4 or 5 bids for the NCAA tourney. This the time of year where teams go on runs and teams get hot and others cool off. I am hoping the WCHA proves once again that they are the pride of college hockey. The last five titles have gone to the WCHA and I would like to see it stay that way as long as the Gophers don’t win it. Just kidding, no really.

The Time is now

I don’t like to use a lot of clichés, it’s just not my style, however, I am going to string a few of them together. Lets try these on for style. There is no time like the present. Just win baby. It’s a marathon not a sprint, or at least in this case it’s a middle distance 10 Kilometer race. The Time for Fighting Sioux hockey team to make a move is now.

If the Fighting Sioux finish in the lower half of the WCHA standings fail in the WCHA playoffs and don’t make the NCAA playoffs, Dave Hakstol is going to have some serious questions to answer. I know the Fighting Sioux lost a lot of talented players but so did Minnesota, one could make the argument that Minnesota lost more than the Sioux. I read a post over on Siouxsports.com From Skateshattrick Here are some of the major points of this post that I think hit the mark. This person bring up some legitimate questions that are going to be hanging out there in the off season if this season doesn’t have a happy ending.
Snip----------

4. I'm so tired of hearing how we lost all these great players. Guess what? So did everyone else. UM lost its top 4 scorers in Potulny, Kessel, Irmen and Harrington. Denver lost 3 of its top 4 scorers with Matt Carle (the best player in the country last year), Gabe Gauthier, and Paul Stastny. UW lost its top 5 scorers with Pavelski, Earl, Burish, Gilbert and MacMurchy. CC lost Joey Grubb and its 2 Hobey candidates, Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling. Other than SCSU, UND arguably had the most returning. Yes, UND lost Stafford, Zajac, Spirko and Smaby, but they returned their 3, 4 and 5 scorers in Oshie, Toews and Duncan.

We have almost no contribution from our freshmen class. UM has Barriball (26 points), Okposo (24), E. Johnson (15), Flynn (9), Carman (9), Lucia (8), O'Brien (6) and Schack (6). Denver has Brock Trotter (26), Rakhshani (24), Ruegsegger (22)and Gifford (10). CC has Connelly (14) and Sweatt (12). SCSU's leading scorers are freshmen. What does UND have? Other than Chay Genoway's respectable 13 points, we have Zajac with 4, Forney with 2 and Vande Velde with 1. That is pathetic.

6. If Toews (who cannot score because he gets keyed on and has no help) leaves as expected, and TJ leaves as well, what do we have left?? The sophomore class other than Toews, Oshie, Duncan and Chorney has been a major disappointment, and this freshman class looks weak. We better have a great incoming freshmen class next year, or the Sioux are going to find themselves in the lower half of the league.

7. Let's take the kids gloves off and quit blowing smoke up everyone's collective Asses, shall we? It is unacceptable for the Sioux not to be in the top 1/2 of the WCHA every year, making the NCAA tournament and competing for a national championship. We have the facilities, the tradition and success, and what every recruit wants--a proven track record of winning and of players making it to the next level.

8. So tell me, what excuse is there EVER for losing to AAU and MTU in the same year and getting swept at home by MTU??? The answer is none. We still have more talent than AAU and MTU combined. They would kill to have Jonathan Toews, let alone TJ Oshie, Ryan Duncan and Taylor Chorney. Name a player on either team (with the possible exception of Justin Bourne) who would even skate on the first line?? The answer is none.

9. What is the problem? Well, as politically incorrect and blasphemous as it is to say this, the bucks stops the chief or head coach. They underachieved last year for most of the year with the most talented team in the country, and this year is pathetic. I'm not saying that he needs to be fired, but that situation needs to be closely monitored. There is no way on earth that Duke in BB, Ohio State or USC in football or Michigan or Minnesota in hockey would put up with this garbage. It's bad enough getting swept by UW and Maine at home, but MTU is a new low.

Introducing the Hockey Show

There is a new college hockey blog of note The Hockey Show the blog is run by Scott Williams and Moose Richards of KBUN sports radio 1450 am out of Bemidji Minnesota. Scott Williams is the Television Voice of the BSU Beavers hockey team and Moose Richards is the Sports Director of KBUN.

The Hockey Show, which currently airs every Friday at 5 p.m. Central Time durring the Bemidji State University hockey season (October through early April) on KBUN-AM in Bemidji, Minnesota. The show typically concentrates on BSU hockey (with coaches interviews with Beaver Head Coach Tom Serratore and BSU's opponents Head Coach), but also features discussions about the College Hockey America conference, and Division-I college hockey as a whole.

If your making your way over to Bemidji on Friday you can listen to the Hockey Show on 1450am KBUN. Rumor has it that Hakstol will be interviewed by Scott.

Rock Star Robbie Bina gets Defensive player of the week.

Robbie Bina
This is well deserved

WCHA Link This past week as I left the arena I was wondering if Robbie Bina would finally get the defensive player of the week for his work this past weekend, four points by a defenseman in a weekend series is pretty impressive in the Goon's opinion, the fact that Robbie is playing hockey again is even more impressive. It was a good weekend for Fighting Sioux hockey players as Bina and Duncan were given the Defensive and offensive players of the week respectively in the WCHA.


Bina's write up

MADISON, Wisc. - Robbie Bina, a veteran defenseman at the University of North Dakota who played a key role at both ends of the ice in a WCHA series against Alaska Anchorage last weekend, has been named Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for Jan. 16-22, 2007.

Duncan's write up

MADISON, Wisc. - University of North Dakota left winger Ryan Duncan, who helped his team to three points in a weekend conference series against visiting Alaska Anchorage, has been named Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week for Jan. 16-22, 2007. He also earned the honor on Jan. 2.

This Brings new meaning to word Hockey Groupie

This is a really funny video from MAD TV that I found over on one of the On an NHL fan blog site Waiting for Stanley. There are two parts that are really funny that brings new meaning to the word hockey groupie. The first thing she does is she puts a dirty protective cup under chin. That was funny. It is even more funny when she stands in net as one of the players fires a slap shot through her wickets.

A look at the Series ahead.

BSU vs UND
UND has an all time record of 11-1-1 against Bemidji State.
Bemidji has a 12-7-3 record 6-1-2 home 6-6-1 on the road
Bemidji is 7-2-3 in the CHA

UND is 11-11-2 over all 5-7-2 at home and 6-4 on the road.
UND is 7-9-2 in the WCHA
Stats
UND Numbers g g a pts
16 Ryan Duncan 24 17 10 27
7 T.J. Oshie 24 6 14 20
14 Brad Miller 22 8 9 17
24 Chris Porter 24 5 11 16
9 Jonathan Toews 15 4 11 15
22 Brian Lee 20 1 13 14
5 Chay Genoway 24 4 9 13
4 Taylor Chorney 20 2 11 13

BSU Numbers
8 Travis Winter 22 8 14 22
11 Rob Sirianni 22 8 10 18
22 Blaine Jarvis 22 8 8 16
14 Tyler Scofield 16 3 10 13
21 Luke Erickson 12 10 2 12
20 Joey Moggach 16 1 11 12
13 Matt Pope 22 5 6 11
27 Ryan Miller 18 3 7 10

Goal Tenders
UND W-L GAA SAV
Phil Lamoureux 8-9-1 2.35 .909
Tony Grieco 3-2-1 3.49 .884

BSU
Orlando Alamano 3-2-0 2.69 .912
Matt Climie 9-3-3 2.70 .912
Lane Sedevie 0-2-0 9.19 .787

No Tickets Available

The word from Bemidji is that the arena is sold out for the Friday game. I wonder if they will break any fire codes this season as there was definitely no seats left when the buck dropped last season for the Friday game.

Reason for Optimism

After all of the poor play of the Fighting Sioux (its been documented extensively on this blog) and out right sucking during the first half of the 2006-2007 hockey season the Fighting Sioux now sit tied for 14th in the Pairwise Rankings. In fact the Fighting Sioux are currently tied with Vermont and which by seasons end hopefully will finish above Vermont. The best cure for finishing higher in the RPI and PWR rankings is to keep winning hockey games.

The Kaip Fight.

In case you haven't seen the Fight between Anderson and Kaip its up on YouTube now. Thanks Vegas Sioux. This is why I think fighting has a place in hockey, even college hockey. The game was getting really chippy and after Anderson and Kaip's fight the boys settled down and played hockey.

Check out this NHL Video, Good Memories from the Past

This video pretty much sums up why I think Hockey is one of the coolest games.
Hard hitting, goal scoring and timely saves. Check out the Dominator.


Check out this video also, this shows how crazy Candians get about their team, I wish REA was half this crazy during a game.

No Sister Kissing Tonight

In Bina we Trust

Quietly the Fighting Sioux hockey team has gone on a modest streak; going 4-1-1 in their last four games losing only a one-goal game to the C.C. Tigers last week. The Fighting Sioux allowed no UAA power play goals this weekend going 0-10 on the penalty kill, that in it’s self is a major accomplishment for this young Sioux team trying to find an identity. No seriously that’s not a typo. North Dakota is now ranked 35th over all on the penalty kill after hovering around 54th earlier in the season. With the win tonight and the Gophers beating the Badgers, the Sioux sit in 5th place in the WCHA standings with in striking distance of the C.C. Tigers.

If I had to pick a player this season that I thought was deserving of the come back player of the year I would pick Robbie Bina. Bina sat out last season on a medical red shirt after being injured in the 2005 Final Five from a dirty hit from Jeff Paukovich, we won’t review the hit in question at this time because it’s in the past, we will focus on the positives look to the future. This season Bina has come out and played like a man possessed. Bina has proved to be dependable with the puck in the defensive zone but is also contributing in the offensive zone as well getting 4 goals and 8 assists for 12 points in 24 games. Bina’s goal tonight was a thing of beauty as he shot the puck from the point as the UAA goalie was screened and blew the puck past UAA goalie Nate Lawson. In my opinion Bina is starting to gain rock star status in Grand Forks with each goal and point he gets. Every points seems to be an encore of the last point recorded. Ok, I am convinced, what are you going to do next Robbie.

Off to Bemidji to Play the Beavers

This weekend the Sioux play a home and home with the BSU Beavers. This is a pivotal series and taking 4 points against the Beavers is a must. I am making the trip and hope the boys won’t let me down; my buddies from Bemidji will never let me down if the Sioux lose a game in Bemidji. The Beavers must get on the scoreboard early and often and quite the rabid John Glas Field House fans.

Bemidji Hockey Media

If you have a chance check out the Beavers and Sioux telecast on Friday night in Bemidji its on KBSU TV 17 in Bemidji. Scott Williams is the voice of the BSU Beavers calls the game for all Beavers homes games. Moose Richards and Scott Williams also do the hockey show on KBUN 1450 in the afternoon on Fridays, if you get a chance to hear the show I recommend listening to the boys they do a nice show and they are one of the areas few sports shows that talk ONLY about college hockey.

Linkorama for BSU hockey:
BSU Hockey
Millsy's Beaver Pond

A Tie that feels like a loss.

Kissing your Sister.

They say that a tie is like kissing your ugly sister, I must agree. The fact is that tie no matter how painful to watch; wasn’t a loss, however, it doesn’t feel much better than a loss. I can’t imagine being that locker room after a debacle like that. Bring on the shootout.

One could make the argument that the margin of error is getting smaller as each non-win piles up on the 2006-2007 version of the Fighting Sioux. Last nights game caused me to feel all kinds of emotions. At first I was disappointed that the Sioux gave up yet another first period goal in Englestad Arena; then I was excited as the Fighting Sioux took a 2-1 and 3-1 lead. Then I felt like having an anxiety attack as the 2nd Alaska goal went in, I knew it was a matter of time before the roof was going come down on the Sioux once again.

Disappointing:

When the season is over I believe that the 2006-2007 Fighting Sioux team will go down as a team that didn’t. Let me explain. This years Fighting Sioux team doesn’t protect its goalie, among other things. They don’t score goals but that is for another blog entry. Last night Joe Finley had a chance to knock the crap out of a UAA player that was hacking the shit out of his goalie. What did big Joe do? Just about nothing. Big Joe stood there and gave the guy a love tap, then skated backwards. Joe your 6’-f'n-7” and weigh 250 pounds, please knock the snot out of the guy that’s hacking your goalie. In fact Joe could you please hit someone? Please. I have no idea what the hell Washington saw in this guy but could you sign him when the season is over?

We are talking about basic concepts here; there is no focus from the players on the task at hand. If I were a player I would not have a hard time getting ready for this game. It’s a simple concept about pride and effort. UAA spanked you on their home ice and this is the response you have for the Seawolves. Pathetic is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this game. I am not saying UAA is a bad team because they aren’t; their coach is a whopping 3-1-1 against UND since he took the UAA job. Heck the UAA coach might want to schedule 6 games a year against the listless Sioux.

This season all long we have heard how TJ Oshie and Jonathon Toews are going to the NHL after the season is over; we have been told by the pun dents and bathroom lawyers that there are no way these two guys make it past the snow melt. That might be true but how about finishing the business at hand first boys.

I want to know what happened to the player that played at the WJC, this is the same kid that made Jeff Frazee look sick in the shoot out. I just want to know if the Fighting Sioux can have him for the rest of the season before he signs on the dotted line with the Norfolk Admirals. If you can’t score in college how the hell are you going to score in the NHL? The players are bigger and faster and the goalies are better.

The Probable Playoff Scenario

This is what is probably going to happen to the Fighting Sioux if they don’t start winning some hockey games like right now they are going to end up in 6th place in the WCHA standings; that’s if they are lucky enough to finish that high. That is probably going to give them a date with the Wisconsin Badgers in first round of the WCHA playoffs. I personally do not like that match up at all and don’t see us getting past this series if we don’t start playing hockey the way it’s supposed to be played. I am not kidding around; the Fighting Sioux do not match up well against the Badgers in Madison or Grand Forks. Think about it.

Boogard and Godard 01-09-07

The Boogey Man gets beat by AHLer Derrick Godard. This was Boogards first fight since 11-14-06. The Boogey man didn't return to the game.

Zach Makes the Cut Again this Week.

Check out the plays of the week.
Walski make Manny look sick on the shoot out. Who says Shootouts are boring? Also, check out Zach Parise's goal at about fifty five seconds in, Zach with the spinarama. Later on in the video; Zach and the New Jersey Devils get robbed. Sid the Kid also makes good on a tap in goal.

Linkorama

Links around the Blogsphere:
Lets Go Mavs says that I have been slacking this week. Yep I have, so I decided that I had to do something. Truth be told there is lots of time at night to write but when you in the middle of an 8 over-nights (midnight shift) in a row blogging comes second.

I did find Donalds UAA Fan Blog most recent blog article to be interesting.
Donalds claim is that its the worst blog article ever. UAA Blog

So having started out three times to write something about this series and then deleting all of them I figured I'd just write and whatever comes out is what you're stuck reading. I started a typical UND has "this and that" as I've been doing most of the year at midweek. But it was boring stuff. Here's UND's stats. I was going to write about UAA's lines and how Charlie Kronschnabel's injury has affected them (he'll likely return against UofM). Not that it's necessarily boring but it didn't come out sounding like I wanted it to sound, so I deleted it. I thought about writing about Lawson and Olthuis but if I write about a goaltender and he gets pulled or blown out then how stupid will I feel? I could write about the freshman but we all know they've been playing great and developing just as they should. I could write about the upperclassmen stepping up from last year but how often can you read me saying that same stuff.

Chris Dilks deals with the Referee incident. Wester College Hockey
I would have to say that I agree with Chris on his analysis of the situation. I am sure that a ruling and a suspension is coming soon. I also believe that Campion should have not gotten into a shouting match with a league coach after a game, very unprofessional in my opinion.

Jon Campion should also be disciplined, but I'm not holding my breath. We're supposed to believe that the league's officials are completely impartial. Coaches aren't even allowed to mention officiating without suffering some sort of reprimand because to do so would imply that officials play some factor in the outcome of the game. It's the Great Lie that we'd all like to believe, but see proven false every weekend. And now we're supposed to believe that Jon Campion was completely impartial this past weekend when less than 10 minutes after the game, he was engaged in a heated argument with one of the coaches? It's one thing for Means to yell at him, but for Campion to respond to it, which it sounds like he did, that's completely unprofessional and unacceptable.

Celebrating Mediocrity agrees with me on the shootout as an option for settling games. Celebrating Mediocrity I really like this piece this person writes on the shoot out and I agree.

The problem with Wodon and other hockey purists is that they want the game to grow, but refuse to open their minds to change. They expect the rest of the world to all of a sudden open their eyes and see hockey the way we all see it.

Well I'm sorry purists but its not going to happen. If you want the sport to grow, you will have to except change.

College hockey, like professional hockey, is a business. It is a business that can not survive on the support of the purists alone. Most of us do not even pay to go to college hockey games. We are in the press box, eating free food.