Two former Sioux's NHL season ends.

Two former Fighting Sioux defenseman had their NHL seasons ended last night; the two players were Mike Commodore and Brian Lee, both men play for the Ottawa Senators. In classic fashion the Ottawa Senators were dismantled by the high octane Pittsburgh Penguins in four games. The early exit by the Senators is leaving many in Ottawa to ponder what the hell happened. At the beginning of the Season the Senators were the NHL best team as the Senators got out to an amazing 15-2 start and then stumbled down the stretch.

Former Fighting Sioux Brian Lee played in all 4 playoff games for the Senators; recording no goals no assists and was a minus one. The fact that Brian Lee played in all for of Ottawa Stanley Cup playoffs games is probably a strong statement on how the Senator's organization feels about this young man. This was Brian Lee's first NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.

Former Fighting Sioux Mike Commodore came to the Senators from the Hurricanes at the trade dead line and played in all four playoff games as well recording zero goals and two assists for two points and was a minus one as well. Commodore a veterans of two Stanley finals with Calgary (loss) and Carolina (win) has played in forty nine (49) Stanley cup games scoring two goals and six assists for eight points and is a plus one.

More from game four: Wild and Av's

This clip pretty much sums up the last game between the Wild and Av's a lot of trash talk and after the whistle bull. I like how Av's punk Cody McCloud talks big when he is either hiding in the box or standing behind the refs. Of course he will never do anything but take runs at people and turtle when he is challenged.

That being said; the Wild need to play more disciplined hockey and have a little less after the whistle stuff. The Wild can not continue to take foolish penalties and put the Av's on the power play. Also, the Avalanche have proved that they won't fight and will do enough to goad the Wild into a penalty.

Linkorama: a couple of things

Former team president Bruins Harry Sinden had a few interesting things to say the other day and apparently Harry doesn't see to be a big fan of Marc Savard. Kind of funny since Savard is the top star on the Bruins. Maybe Sinden should concentrate on retirement.

Marc Savard

Marc Savard, who scored the overtime goal in Game 3: "I'm not a fan of his. He's one of these guys who has batting average but no runs batted in. You know what I mean? He gets a lot of points. He's a good player, I'm just not a fan."

Former Gopher and second year player Phil Kessel was a healthy scratch for game three and four and could be in the stands for game five when the Habs and Bruins play tonight.

*Julien also said there has been no determination on whether Phil Kessel will re-enter the lineup. Kessel was one of 15 Bruins to practice this morning.

*Julien also said there has been no determination on whether Phil Kessel will re-enter the lineup. Kessel was one of 15 Bruins to practice this morning.

* Kessel is the other wild card. If you put him in, who do you take out? Glen Murray is struggling, but he is willing to stand in front of the net on the power play, meaning the Canadiens must respect his presence. Julien could put Kessel on the second line and drop P.J. Axelsson down, which would give you a greater offensive threat, but hurt you defensively. The third line has arguably been the best unit, so you don't touch that. Julien could swap out Jeremy Reich for Kessel for better offensive touch, but then he'd be down a penalty-killer. I say Kessel remains out and lineup stays as the following:

Former Sioux Brandon Bochenski with his third team on the season and there seems to be a reoccurring theme; Bochenski was a healthy scratch with the Predators for games 3 and game 4

Check out this post.

I was reading on line the other day when I discovered this post from former student and half hit Jon Hoff on the Dakota Student. If you have lived in Grand Forks since early 2000's you will remember this person is the same Jon Hoff we are speaking about.

I know it is a little late and if I had seen it earlier I would have addressed it sooner. Seems more of the same tireless crap is still showing up on Siouxsports.com yet again. Of course this person added no link or citation to their claims. I highly doubt the statue in front of the REA game from Nazi Germany. The FBI also determined that Ralph Englestad did not harboured any pro-fascist political beliefs, I think I am going to believe the FBI over some half wit.

John Hoff
posted 1/04/08 @ 12:21 AM CST
I actually love the University of North Dakota. But the logo needs to go.

Here's another interesting point of research: who is the artist of that "Native American on horseback" statue in front of Ralph Engelstad Arena? You know, the one that was "disarmed" when they modified the statue to be carrying a staff instead of a spear on the day the arena opened and there was a big protest march?

Supposedly, Ralph Engelstad bought that statue at an auction. But who created the statue in the first place? I mean, you know, back when it had a spear instead of a "dream catcher" on the end of a staff?

For all we know, that statue could have come from an "art exhibit on the races of mankind" in the Third Reich. After all, Ralph Engelstad was NOTORIOUS for collecting Nazi bric-a-brac, and was even fined by the Nevada Gaming Commission for his outrageous Hitler theme party. The guy had a picture of Hitler in his office, for crying out loud. All a matter of record.

But in regard to that mysterious statue in front of the arena...

We just don't know where the statue came from because Engelstad Arena won't say. But it's very suspicious that a statue sits in front of the arena and nobody knows who made it. And nobody from Engelstad Arena is saying who created that statue.

The family of Sitting Bull is on the record: they don't like the statue. It doesn't honor their relative, Sitting Bull. But the big question: who made it? Where did it originate?

It's no mystery where the granite in Engelstad Arena originated, however. India. Where child labor in the stone quarries is rampant. But the statue! Ah, a mystery. Who will solve it and get the glory?

The Hockey Chicks cover free agency and the Frozen Four.

This is a must listen to podcast, it's from the Hockey Chicks that aired on 4-14-2008.

The Hockey Chicks had an interesting guest Lewis Mongelluzzo who is a amateur scout from the Ottawa Senators and Lou did a really good job breaking down the NHL free agency, but also the major junior versus college hockey.

Stephane Veilleux vs Ian Laperriere

It would be an understatement if I told you last nights game was an ugly game. The Minnesota Wild were down 3-0 to the Av's before the first period was over. From that point on the game took a turn for the worse as the Wild started a parade to the penalty box. Not all is lost as the Wild accomplished their goal by splitting in Colorado.

I give Stephane Veilleux a lot of credit for stepping in and fighting Av's thug Ian Laperriere. Face it Laperriere is a hack, he skates all over the ice taking runs at the skilled players of the Wild but he wants nothing to do with the Wild tough guys Derick Boogaard, Aaron Voros or Todd Fedoruk.

That being said the Wild need to beat the Av's on the score board and pick their spots to get their pay back against the Av's, no stupid selfish penalties.

This is pretty accurate photo of Peter Forsberg.

What's up with the Denver Post writers?

I think the Denver Post should be ashamed of themselves, this is blatant gutter sports journalism. What the hell is wrong with this newspaper? First we get this moron's Mark Kiszla's Ugly Betty hockey in Colorado's future, the article was an absolute joke, that the Wild can't win unless they goon it up. That article was so bad that the Star and Tribune covered this skippy's story. Now the another writer says the Wild resorted to Goonery. Just for the recored the Colorado Avalanche's have more fighting majors this season than the Minnesota Wild this season.

Talk about one sided journalism, while I agree the Veilleux hit on Stansy was brutal, it could have been a five minute majors some of the other crap from the Avalanche's did was just as bad. Peter Forberg is an absolute dive queen, and should be given a unsportsman like conduct penatly for his antics. Check out the latest skippy from the Denver Post.

Adrian Dater Denver Post writes:

Frustrated and outplayed all night, the Wild resorted to some goonery after getting down 5-0, including a third-period boarding penalty on Stephane Veilleux where he left his feet to hit Colorado's Paul Stastny. While a suspension is probably unlikely because Stastny was not hurt, the fact he left his feet to deliver a potential dangerous hit from behind could warrant action from the NHL front office, which has cracked down on such infractions this year. Minnesota's Derek Boogaard also drew a 10-minute misconduct for shooting the puck down the ice after a penalty, then throwing an elbow to the head of David Jones.

Patrick Reusse wrote what a lot of Wild fans think of Ian LaPerriere the guy is a hack and loves to go around running the smaller skilled Wild players but wants nothing to do with the Boogey man.

We might as well take a Kiszlaesque shot here and point out what a classy guy the Avalanche has in LaPerriere. There were a couple of fighters on the ice -- normal-sized fellows -- but LaPerriere decided the guy to drop gloves with was Veilleux, the smallest guy on the ice at the time.

After his historic night of piling up penalties, Veilleux said it wasn't a case of the Wild being down big and trying to intimidate.

Bouchard scores in overtime.

It is about time that Pierre-Marc Bouchard earns his pay and scores a goal. The overtime goal sealed the win for the Wild as they took a two games to one lead in the best of seven series against the Av's. This is the third game of this series and all three have gone overtime. If you watch the film you will see that Brian Rolston beat the slow footed Jeff Finger to the puck.

Apparently the Denver Post blogger Mark Kiszla is less that impressed with the Wild. Funny I have never seen the Wild referred to as a bunch of goons. I think the Wild have gotten tougher with Voros Boogaard and Simon but they are far from being a bunch of gutless hacks and goons. But check out this article, talk about sour grapes.

Ugly Betty hockey in Colorado's future
By Mark Kiszla

Let the mugging begin.

It's the only way the Minnesota Wild can win.

To advance in the NHL playoffs, the Avalanche must embrace the darkness. When playing this goon-it- up Wild bunch, hockey is a no-holds- barred battle of attrition, not skill.

The only good thing that can be said about Minnesota's 3-2 overtime victory against Colorado was the game lasted so deep into the night that it ended past the bedtime of most kids who could be frightened by the way the Wild mauls all the beauty from the sport.

In a long playoff series, this is the Wild motto: If you can't beat 'em, break 'em.

"You hope to wear down the opposition," Minnesota mauler Aaron Voros said Monday.

"By Games 4, 5 or 6, those bumps and bruises start

Minnesota, the land of 10,000 dead car batteries, has an inferiority about this hockey team. The Wild's style of play is as ugly and obnoxious as the uniforms, which look as if designed by a toddler who randomly pulled two crayons from the box of 64 and began scribbling.

This hard truth makes the Wild faithful grumpier than they are after waking up to yet another subzero morning. But why deny what makes the team so successful?

Andy Strickland on Oshie

As the silly season continues this is something Sioux fans will have deal with; the loss of their favorite player(s), it has become a yearly right of passage, this year very painful as there could be many defections. I am sure other college hockey fans feel the same way as they hold their breath and hope the NHL doesn't come and take their favorite players. In my opinion T.J. Oshie has been nothing but class since he has been at UND and it will be a sad day for this hockey blogger when Oshie does sign on the dotted line.
Andy Strickland blog article on Oshie

Oshie Will Take His Time Before Making Announcement
Blues super prospect T.J. Oshie has yet to make an official announcement regarding any decision to leave the University of North Dakota and signing an NHL contract.

Word is Oshie could wait until his final exams are completed before he goes public with his decision. UND holds their finals during the first week of May.

Due to NCAA regulations, the Blues are prohibited from directly contacting Oshie.

Oshie will likely start game planning his future with his family advisors sometime next week.

It appears to be pretty much a slam dunk that Oshie will sign with the club who selected him in the first round back in 2005.

Oshie will likely have an opportunity to step right in and be a top six guy for Andy Murray next season. He’s primarily been a centerman his entire life but could be asked to play wing in the NHL.

Oshie arrived at UND a little under the radar with Jonathan Toews, Brian Lee, and Taylor Chorney getting most of the attention.

That will be far from the case when he joins the Blues. Fans know who this kid is and have been patiently waiting for his arrival.

Here is some other stuff that is related to the Fighting Sioux players that might also be leaving.

The Fighting Sioux could also lose Capitals first round pick Joe Finley, Oilers second rounder Taylor Chorney, and last season’s Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan.

Duncan, whose saw his production take a dip from 31 goals a year ago to 18 this season with the absence of Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews, was never drafted. He did participate in the Blues development camp last summer and he and his father have a relationship with St. Louis Head Coach Andy Murray.

With that being said I’m not certain the Blues are sold on signing Duncan.

The Blues will likely ask Oshie to spend several weeks in St. Louis after he signs to familiarize himself with the Blues off-ice program.

Q&A with Joe Finley on Hockey Futures.

He might not be the most popular player around Grand Forks, ND right now but Joe Finley sat down for an interview with hockeyfutures.com before the recently completed Frozen Four.

Q&A with Joe Finley
Written by: DJ Powers on 04/10/2008
Towering junior defenseman Joe Finley is enjoying a career season with North Dakota. Coming into the Frozen Four he has more than doubled his entire point production from last season having posted 15 points (four goals, 11 assists). The Edina, MN native currently leads the Fighting Sioux in plus/minus (plus-27) and penalty minutes (92). One of his most memorable games came back on Jan. 5 when he posted an assist and was a plus-5 in North Dakota’s 6-2 win over St. Cloud State.

Hockey’s Future caught up with Finley after practice on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

The NHL develops the Avery rule

Seems that the National Hockey League felt Rangers tough guy Sean Avery stepped over the line last night.

INTERPRETATION OF RULE 75 – UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT

NEW YORK/TORONTO (April 14, 2008) -- National Hockey League Senior
Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell today issued the following advisory on the interpretation of Rule 75 - Unsportsmanlike Conduct: "An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

Here is the play everyone is talking about.

I saw this last night on Versus and this is one of the oddest things that I have ever saw. It is no doubt that Avery is trying to get in Martin Brodeur's head and it appeared that it worked on this play as Sean Avery scored a goal.

Last night over on CBC Ron McClain (who is a ice hockey official) said that he could give Avery a penalty for poor sportsmanship and according to the rules may and should be penalized. Below is the NHL rule that could cover this conduct.

NHL Rule 41.G
A misconduct penalty shall be imposed on any player who persists in any course of conduct (including threatening or abusive language or gestures or similar actions) designed to incite an opponent into incurring a penalty.

If, after the assessment of a misconduct penalty, a player persists in any course of conduct for which he was previously assessed a misconduct penalty, he shall be assessed a game misconduct penalty.

Future Sioux

There has been a lot of negativity lately around the blog sphere on how the Sioux exited the NCAA tourney. It should be expected since they stunk up the Pepsi Center, for what ever reason they got away from what got them there.

I was telling some friends at lunch on Friday that there is a lot to be positive about, the future looks bright, there are some nice blue chippers coming in next season. This past season UND earned a reputation of being a bunch of hard nosed players that played a tough brand of hockey. Some fans in the WCHA called UND a bunch of goons. I think that was a well deserved badge of honor.

If you think this years club was a bunch of goons you're going to like next years team.

Well let me expound on that here is Brett Hextall pounding Brock Palasty.

Phil's brother Mario Lamoureux can throw them as well and here is another example of Mario holding his own.

Here is a very bad video of future Sioux recruits Mike Cichy and Mario Lamoureux with 6 seconds left in the game scoring to ice the game.

The Silly Season Continues: DU's Chris Butler gone.

The Lets-Go-DU Hockey blog is reporting that Chris Butler is leaving the Denver Pioneer to sign a entry level professional contract with the Buffalo Sabres. The silly season continues and it looks like the 17 departures from a couple of years ago might be broken this summer since the college hockey season has just ended and there are 5 1/2 month till the 2008-2009 season ends.

Official press release on the Bulter signing.

Early departures in the WCHA

Wisconsin (1)
Kyle Turris, freshman

MSU-Mankato (1)
Jon Kalinski, junior

Michigan Tech (1)
Michael-Lee Teslak, junior

Minnesota-Duluth (1)
Jason Garrison, junior

St. Cloud State (1)
Andreas Nodl, sophomore

Minnesota (1)
Jeff Frazee, junior

Denver (1)
Chris Butler, junior

B.C. 4 Notre Dame 1 (ND gets hosed)

First congrats to the Eagles for winning their third national title. The Eagles proved that they are the best team in college hockey this season, and they did it being very creative in the offensive zone.

On their way to the national title, the Boston College Eagles burned the Gophers, RedHawks, Sioux and Irish with their teams speed and got good to great goaltending from Muse. I am sure other teams in college hockey will take note that you CAN win a national title by outscoring your opponents and playing smart defense without just simply piling up at the blue line and a focusing on defense first and offense as an afterthought. As a hockey fan, it makes me long for the days of racehorse hockey under Dean Blais. They just went out and tried to score as many goals as possible and played smart defense.

If you think about it, B.C. Eagles's style of play is a breath of fresh air. The Eagles play racehorse hockey and are actually really exciting to watch. Some teams in the NHL and college hockey should take note. In fact I am hoping that my favorite coach takes a look at the film from this past weekend and changes up his game plan a bit.

WCHA officials shine again

Looking back at the National Championship game, the off ice officials (WHCA head of official Greg Shepherd) got another call wrong on a goal. Leave it to the WCHA officials to screw up a perfectly good game and ruin it. If you go back and watch the film, at the end of the embedded video you will see that the Notre Dame player Kyle Lawson had the puck bounce off his left foot. Lawson tried to kick the puck with his left foot but missed. After a long review by the off ice official the goal was waved off. We saw numerous replays of the Notre Dame goal in question and there is no doubt in my mind that the goal should have counted. Adam Wodon also has a really good explanation:

But was the call wrong?

I think it was.

The longer it went on, you knew there was trouble for Notre Dame. The officials explained it as needing to see if the puck hit a stick. Otherwise, they felt pretty early on that Lawson knocked the puck in with a "distinct kicking motion."

I disagree. I've watched it over and over, and I have no idea how you look at that replay and determine that the player kicked the puck in with a distinct motion. And particularly, how do you look at that and determine it conclusively — which is necessary to overrule the on-ice call.

Lawson took a cross-ice feed and tried to corral the puck with his left skate. Then, as he was trying to get his stick down to tap it into what became a wide-open net, he turned his right skate to again try to control the puck. The puck hit off his skate blade, then went rolling towards the net. Lawson tried to tap at it, but whiffed. He also clearly tried to kick it — but it was also clear, at least to me, that Lawson made no kicking motion until after the puck had already deflected off his skate blade and went rolling away.

You don't expect an on-ice official to see that in a split second, but you do expect that, with the benefit of super slo-mo replay, that the video judges would have.

According to Greg Shepherd After a long delay, "The puck was kicked in by the Notre Dame player's right skate. The skate was moving toward the goal line." Way to go, Greg. You managed to botch another call this season.

Another shining moment for the WCHA officials. The WCHA league office must be proud today that they were able to affect a tourney they weren't even playing in.



Box Score

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1st Period (20:00)
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BC-1 Kyle Kucharski (2-Holding the Stick) NDM 0x1 8:41
BC-2 Matt Greene (2-Cross-Checking) NDM 0x2 14:33
NDM-1 Brock Sheahan (2-Roughing) BC 0x1 17:02
BC-3 Anthony Aiello (2-Tripping) NDM 0x3 18:24

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BC 1 - 0 6x6 LL Nathan Gerbe (34) (Brian Gibbons, Ben Smith) 2:23
BC (+): 9,17,12,6,26,G1 NDM (-): 14,5,9,23,19,G1
BC-4 Andrew Orpik (2-Slashing) NDM 0x4 2:51
NDM-2 Ryan Thang (2-Interference) BC 1x2 4:58
BC 2 - 0 6x5 PP GW Nathan Gerbe (35) (Ben Smith, Dan Bertram) 5:37
BC: 9,12,22,15,21,G1 NDM: 25,14,5,22,G1
NDM-3 Dan VeNard (2-Cross-Checking) BC 2x3 6:29
NDM-4 Dan Kissel (2-Tripping) BC 2x4 7:27
BC-5 Kyle Kucharski (2-Holding) NDM 0x5 7:32
BC 3 - 0 5x4 PP Joe Whitney (11) (Nathan Gerbe, Benn Ferriero) 8:11
BC: 15,9,21,12,G1 NDM: 5,23,14,G1
NDM 1 - 3 5x5 Kevin Deeth (11) (Kyle Lawson, Ian Cole) 9:07
NDM (+): 21,2,28,22,G1 BC (-): 4,5,21,14,G1
NDM-5 Dan VeNard (2-High-Sticking) BC 2x5 16:49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BC-6 Nick Petrecki (2-Elbowing) NDM 0x6 0:08
BC 4 - 1 6x6 Ben Smith (25) (Nathan Gerbe, Brian Gibbons) 5:31
BC (+): 12,9,17,4,26,G1 NDM (-): 14,5,16,25,22,G1
BC-7 Matt Price (2-Obstruction Tripping) NDM 0x7 8:05
BC-8 Matt Greene (2-Hooking) NDM 0x8 9:54
Timeout - Notre Dame 19:12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game

Alex Ovechkin scores his first career playoff goal.

Wow, this has to be one of the nicer goals I have seen this season. Alex Ovechkin picked a great time to score his first ever NHL Stanley Cup Playoff goal. I don't see the Flyers beating the Captials.

The Devils get hosed by the Refs.

picture by Tony Kurdzuk/Star-Ledger


It would appear that the WCHA was officiating the NHL Stanley Cup playoff game between the Devils and the Rangers last night. First off I am not a fan of either team, so I have not interest in the game other than being a hockey fan, however, the officiating has to be better than it was last night.

The two most blatant calls was the checking from behind called that was missed by the ref at the end of the game and the linesman calling icing when the Devils were on the penalty kill and causing the face off to be at center ice. These are blown calls at critical times at the end of the game and this should not happen, not in the NHL. Personally, this has to be one of the worst officiating jobs I have seen in the NHL in some time. At the end of the game last night John Madden was screaming at the ref. i wonder if he will be spoken to by the league office?

Former Fighting Sioux Zach Parise is also going to need some dental work after being hacked in the face.

Check out New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's save on Zach Parise.

The lone Bright spot from the Frozen Four.

This is one of the few bright spots from the Frozen Four for North Dakota. Jake Marto gave us a few glimpses of what we can expect in the future. Jake Marto the 2005 North Dakota Mr Hockey was a game breaker on the blue line when he played at Central high school, we are starting to see that same person in college with the Fighting Sioux.

T.J. Oshie named to the All-American Team.

Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie was named to the West First Team All-American team. It is a nice honor for gutty Sioux forward. There was one freshman and one Sophomore on the West All-American teams the rest were juniors and seniors.

WEST FIRST TEAM
G — Richard Bachman, Fr., Colorado College
D — Tyler Eckford, Jr., Alaska
D — Jack Hillen, Sr., Colroado College
F — Ryan Jones, Sr., Miami
F — T.J. Oshie, Jr., North Dakota
F — Kevin Porter, Sr., Michigan

WEST SECOND TEAM
G — Jeff Lerg, Jr., Michigan State
D — Chris Butler, Jr., Denver
D — Alec Martinez, Jr., Miami
F — Chad Kolarik, Sr., Michigan
F — Ryan Lasch, So., St. Cloud
F — Chad Rau, Jr., Colorado College

Big shock Kevin Porter from Michigan won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Duh, we all knew Kevin Porter would win it back in January. Porter was the best player on one of the best lines in college hockey.

Eagles 6 Sioux 1

Grand Forks Herald Picture

For the third year in a row the Fighting Sioux lost to the Boston College Eagles in the semi finals of the NCAA Frozen Four. For the third year in a row the Fighting Sioux goaltending and defense failed the Fighting Sioux. While I don't like to point fingers the Sioux defense looked like a bunch of pylons as the Speedy Eagles put on offensive exhibition. I must give credit where credit is due; hats off to the B.C. Eagles for beating the Sioux like a rented mule. It happens sometimes, that is life, your not going to win them all. In a one and done tourney anything can happen, ask Jeff Jackson and the Fighting Irish. The Fighting Irish were the last team in the NCAA tourney and they are going to beat the Eagles tomorrow night and win their first NCAA title. Just a hunch.

They say bad things come in threes; 1.) Last night the Minnesota Wild lost in over time. 2.) The Bruins got owned by the Habs. 3.) Finally the Sioux stunk up the Pepsi Center and looked like a western North Dakota high school team. Well something good has to happen, it is the law of averages (as I write this blog post the Fighting Irish win the game in overtime). This makes this loss a lot less painful.

Players last games

Tonight was the last game for seniors Rylan Kaip, Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, Kyle Radke and Robbie Bina Goon's World would like to thank these seniors for the their dedication to the Fighting Sioux program, I have enjoyed watching you guys play for the Sioux. Also you can probably expect T.J. Oshie, Taylor Chorney and Joe Finley to sign professional contract very soon. I would also like to thank these players for taking one more kick at the can, I will never forget T.J. Oshie drive and determination, your truly a warrior. If you three guys want to come back for one more kick at the can because of unfinished business I am sure most of us will take you back with open arms.


I think the Green Team from Sioux Sports sums it up best.

I think

If you had asked my fellow Sioux fans who I wanted to see the Sioux play in the semis, I said Boston College, because of their track record, their excellence, I wanted the opportunity to beat them. I was surprised that was not the case where I watched the game 2 weeks ago. Most wanted Miami of Ohio to be the possible opponent. Despite the result, I'm still glad it was Boston College. One it shows us we need to improve, I honestly think that had we even played better we still would have been beaten by this squad...unfortunately they are better...this year. This Boston College team reminds me a lot of the teams in 97 and 2000 that we had, by quickly turning turnovers into instant scoring chances, they have a great transition game- they are tenacious bunch and it reminds me of those 97 and 2000 teams. We need to get quicker...

I've believed all year that the "Speed Kills" slogan may not apply to this team and to the last few. Boston College to their credit has found a chink in our armour over these last few years and that is to use their speed to get on our defenseman in a hurry, and you know what we haven't responded. A coaching change is not necessary but I will say that our staff has recruited to fit the style of play that continues to be allowed to be called in the WCHA-it's effective against the clutch and grab style of the bottom teams of our league. The players that we recruit to play in the WCHA, and have success here, may not match up well the style of play, skills and abilities that the players from BC have.

Goon sees a silver lining

First off life is full of disappointments, you're are not always going to come out ahead. There are always going to be losses and disappointments, its how you deal with these life lessions that truely makes you a man. There are going to be people that get great pleasure out of the Sioux losing against the Eagles tonight. So what! The UND Fighting Sioux finished ahead of 54 other teams in division 1 hockey again for a fourth year in a row. So when that relative or buddy that is a Gophers fan gets in your face and tells you your team choked again, tell them yep you're right but our team finished ahead of your team for a fourth year in a row.

Box Score

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1st Period (20:00)
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BC 1 - 0 6x6 LL Andrew Orpik (7) (Kyle Kucharski) 7:08
BC (+): 27,18,5,4,2,G1 NDK (-): 11,22,5,26,2,G1
NDK-1 Darcy Zajac (2-Slashing) BC 0x1 7:08
BC-1 Kyle Kucharski (2-Hooking) NDK 0x1 8:45
BC-2 Pat Gannon (2-Tripping) NDK 0x2 12:00
BC 2 - 0 5x6 SH GW Nathan Gerbe (31) (unassisted) 13:14
BC (+): 9,5,17,7,G1 NDK (-): 10,5,14,2,17,G1
BC-3 Dan Bertram (2-Roughing) 14:23
BC-4 Matt Price (2-Roughing) 14:23
NDK-2 Matt Watkins (2-Roughing) 14:23
NDK-3 Joe Finley (2-Roughing) 14:23
BC-5 Mike Brennan (2-Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 14:59
NDK-4 Rylan Kaip (2-Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 14:59
BC 3 - 0 5x5 Nathan Gerbe (32) (Brian Gibbons, Carl Sneep) 15:13
BC (+): 9,7,5,12,G1 NDK (-): 7,4,10,16,G1
BC 4 - 0 6x6 Dan Bertram (10) (Pat Gannon) 19:45.2
BC (+): 22,13,25,7,26,G1 NDK (-): 10,5,2,7,16,G1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BC-6 Nick Petrecki (2-Interference) NDK 0x3 0:24
NDK-5 Robbie Bina (2-Obstruction Hooking) BC 1x2 5:49
BC 5 - 0 6x5 PP HT Nathan Gerbe (33) (Ben Smith, Dan Bertram) 6:37
BC: 9,12,22,15,21,G1 NDK: 7,20,5,6,G1
NDK-6 T.J. Oshie (2-Charging) BC 1x3 7:11
BC-7 Matt Price (2-Roughing) NDK 0x4 9:38
BC 6 - 0 6x6 Ben Smith (24) (Nathan Gerbe, Brian Gibbons) 11:58
BC (+): 12,9,17,5,7,G1 NDK (-): 20,7,5,29,28,G1
BC-8 Andrew Orpik (2-Roughing) 12:26
BC-9 Anthony Aiello (2-Roughing) NDK 0x5 12:26
NDK-7 Kyle Radke (2-Roughing) 12:26
NDK-8 Rylan Kaip (2-Obstruction Holding) BC 1x4 17:55

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3rd Period (20:00)
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NDK-9 Kyle Radke (2-Hooking) BC 1x5 2:25
BC-10 Carl Sneep (2-High-Sticking) NDK 0x6 5:43
BC-11 Nick Petrecki (2-CTH HIGH STICKING) NDK 0x7 13:28
BC-12 Nick Petrecki (2-Boarding) NDK 0x8 13:28
NDK 1 - 6 6x6 Jake Marto (2) (Matt Watkins) 18:44
NDK (+): 25,20,17,28,29,G1 BC (-): 27,6,18,24,7,G1

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End of Game