Yikes Oshie leaves the game tonight.

I found this over on Andy Strickland's blog. That would not be good if Oshie got hurt again, I have only been able to see him play in one game so far this season.

Update- Oshie returned at the beginning of the third period after leaving in the second.

Blues rookie center T.J Oshie limped of the ice during the second period after appearing to have re-injured his ankle. Oshie was taken hard into the boards by Coyotes D-man Kurt Sauer and was unable to leave the ice on his own. This was Oshie's second game back in the lineup after missing several weeks with a high ankle sprain. Obviously I'll know more after the game.

Sioux sweep Harvard 4-3.

The Fighting Sioux finally get their first series sweep of the season against the Harvard Crimson.

First off this game was tough to watch. The two people calling the game for the Harvard broadcast were absolutely horrible. These two Skippy’s need to go to back and take remedial hockey 101 classes. These two guys in question were messing up basic hockey knowledge facts and it takes away from the hockey broadcast. Case in point, just because a player hits someone into the end boards, or side boards, as long as it isn’t result of a player taking more than three steps, or if the opposition player doesn’t chop his opponent face first into the boards, it is not a penalty. End of story. You can’t make up penalties (unless you are Don Adam) just because it was hard check. Now if the opposition player is checking a person that isn’t the puck carrier that is interference.

Second the officials for tonight’s game aren’t even to WCHA standards so they are God awful. To call a player for goalie interference that player would actually have to interfere with the goalie. Standing in front of him without making contact is not interference. That was a brutal call.

Positives from tonight's game

~Jake Marto was a +1 for the night and +2 on the weekend.

~David Toews had three points on the weekend and is now (2-3-5)on the season.

~Ryan Duncan had two points tonight (1-1-2) that makes three points on the weekend and (6-8-14) for the season.

~Senior Ryan Martens was solid all weekend and got another assist tonight to go along with six points last night. That gives Ryan Martens (5-6-11) points on the season eclipsing last season (1-9-10) point total.

~For the Brad Eidsness doubters; Brad Eidsness is now 7-5-1, has a GAA of 2.67 and a SV% of .911. I think we can say without a doubt that Eidsness is the starter. Eidsness is becoming the starter we thought he would be.

~Since losing the first three games of the season the Sioux are 7-5-1.

Box score

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1st Period (20:00)
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NDK-1 Chris VandeVelde (2-Tripping) HAR 1x1 0:33
NDK-2 Brad Malone (2-Hitting from Behind) HAR 1x2 1:50
HAR 1 - 0 6x4 PP Alex Killorn (3) (Michael Biega, Alex Biega) 2:07
HAR: 21,23,27,15,3,G34 NDK: 3,20,5,G31
HAR-1 Doug Rogers (2-Boarding) NDK 1x1 5:08
HAR-2 Pier-Olivier Michaud (2-High-Sticking) NDK 1x2 5:53
NDK 1 - 1 6x4 PP Ryan Duncan (6) (Brad Miller) 6:59
NDK: 16,14,29,26,5,G31 HAR: 9,7,28,G34
HAR-3 Chad Morin (2-Hooking) NDK 2x3 7:37
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP Chay Genoway (2) (Ryan Duncan, Chris VandeVelde) 7:53
NDK: 5,16,26,14,29,G31
NDK-3 Corey Fienhage (2-Hitting from Behind) HAR 1x3 9:21
NDK-4 Brad Malone (2-HITTING AFTER WHISTLE) HAR 1x4 11:38
NDK-5 Chris VandeVelde (10-Game Misconduct) 13:15
NDK-6 Chris VandeVelde (5-Hitting from Behind) (Served by Brent Davidson) HAR 1x5 13:15

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2nd Period (20:00)
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HAR-4 Alex Killorn (2-High-Sticking) NDK 2x4 2:24
HAR 2 - 2 6x6 Michael Del Mauro (2) (Chad Morin, Daniel Moriarty) 9:54
HAR (+): 7,11,27,28,13,G34 NDK (-): 16,26,10,14,6,G31
NDK-7 Brett Hextall (2-Interference) HAR 1x6 16:01
Timeout - Harvard 16:01
NDK-8 Brett Hextall (2-CONTACT TO THE HEAD) HAR 2x7 19:52

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3rd Period (20:00)
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HAR 3 - 2 6x5 PP Daniel Moriarty (2) (Pier-Olivier Michaud, Michael Biega) 0:08
HAR: 11,39,27,15,3,G34 NDK: 5,11,3,20,G31
NDK-9 BENCH (2-TOO MANY PLAYERS ON ICE) (Served by David Toews) HAR 2x8 1:20
HAR-5 Jimmy Fraser (2-Boarding) NDK 3x5 5:44
NDK 3 - 3 6x5 PP David Toews (2) (Ryan Martens, Jake Marto) 6:03
NDK: 18,8,25,20,21,G31 HAR: 28,7,12,39,G34
NDK 4 - 3 6x6 GW LL Matt Frattin (7) (Brad Malone, David Toews) 7:33
NDK (+): 21,25,18,4,22,G31 HAR (-): 7,11,13,27,28,G34

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End of Game

A few things...(ex college hockey players)

[...]Former B.C. Eagle and mighty mouse Nathan Gerbe has been called up to the Sabres. It would be cool to see him skating with Drew Stafford.

[...]Former UMD Bulldog Brent Hull feels responsible that Sean Avery is a member of the Dallas Stars. I would be willing to bet that he is not getting any of Avery's sloppy seconds.

[...]This was the first Boston Bruins game that I ever went to. It was a fight filled game between the Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars.

[...]Gary Betteman said that Sean Avery had been warned last spring about crossing the line. I think the sun glasses that Avery wore to his hearing were God awful. Can we suspend have Gary Betteman him for his sun glasses selection?

[...]Former Gophers Phil Kessel scored his 16th goal of the season for the Boston Bruins. In the same game Joe Finley's favorite dance partner Blake Wheeler has his 9th goal of the season and an assist as well. That gives Blake Wheeler 15 points on the season.

[...]Speaking of big Joe Finley it was announced during Sioux Harvard broadcast by Tim Hennesey that Finley was skating this week and could be back for the GLI or the BSU series. I can't imagine what a shot in the arm it would be if UND was able to have big Joe back for the GLI. I think I cried tears of joy. Mascots especially Goldy and Bucky Badger beware. He, he, he...

[...]Former Sioux player Jonathan Toewsscored his 6th and 7th goals of the season tonight against the hated Redwings. After starting slow the Blackhawks star is really starting to rack up the points. Jonathan Toews now has 20 points in 24 games.

[...]Former Sioux Drew Stafford scored his 4th goal of the season for the Buffalo Sabres and former Gopher Thomas Vanek scored his 19th goal of the season against Matt Smaby's Tampa Bay Lightning, unfortunately for Matt he was on the ice for the Vanek goal.

Lines for tonight's game. 12-06-2008

Brad Elliott Schlossman has posted the lines for tonight's game. No changes from last night's game. I do think Blood is the better of the two freshman defenders. It is also good to see Fienhage in the line up as well because he will be a full time player next season with the Sioux and he can't learn sitting in the stands.

UND's lines

16 Ryan Duncan(5-7-12)--29 Chris VandeVelde(3-6-9)--10 Andrew Kozek--(3-3-6)
20 Matt Watkins(3-3-6)--11 Darcy Zajac(1-4-5)--8 Ryan Martens--(5-5-10)
17 Jason Gregoire(4-5-9)--18 David Toews (1-2-3)--21 Matt Frattin--(6-3-9)
15 Brent Davidson (1-0-1)--22 Brad Malone(2-0-2)--26 Brett Hextall--(5-2-7)

3 Derrick LaPoint(0-1-1)--5 Chay Genoway--(1-14-15)
6 Zach Jones(1-0-1)--14 Brad Miller--(4-10-14)
25 Jake Marto(0-1-1)--4 Corey Fienhage--(0-1-1)

31 Brad Eidsness 6-5-1 GAA 2.65 SV% .910
30 Aaron Walski 0-3-0 GAA 3.99 Sv% .796

Scratches on trip: Mario Lamoureux, Ben Blood

Funny Toews commercial.

I found this over on Puck Daddy, and I always wondered the same things as well how do you get Taves out Toews?

Scores from 12-05-2008. (Linkorama)

Friday, December 5, 2008

Atlantic Hockey
RIT 0 at Air Force 2
Mercyhurst 6 at American Int'l 3
Holy Cross 1 at Bentley 4

Analysis
Yawn! We have addressed the strength of schedule in this cupcake league so we won't beat a dead horse any more. Air Force is the only legit team in this horrible league the rest of the teams are God awful. That being said; all college hockey fans can do is hope that Air Force wins the league championship and the playoff championship so there won't have to be a discussion about two AHA teams getting into the tourney. There is no way this league deserves two NCAA bids.

CCHA
Notre Dame 3 at Ferris State 1
Alaska 0 at Nebraska-Omaha 0 ot UNO Wins Shootout
Michigan State 1 at Michigan 6
Northern Michigan 1 at Lake Superior 1 ot: NMU Wins Shootout

Analysis
NMU finally wins in a shootout. Michigan beats MSU and beats them up as well. It was a great game to watch lots of rough stuff. Notre Dame just keeps winning.

CHA
Niagara 4 at Robert Morris 2
Alabama-Huntsville 1 at Bemidji State 3

Analysis
BSU beats their hated rival Huntsville. Who hates Huntsville? We hate Huntsville.

ECAC
St. Lawrence 5 at Colgate 2
Union 4 at Brown 5
Clarkson 1 at Cornell 4
Rensselaer 3 at Yale 7

Analysis
Clarkson is having a tough go of it right now as they are 0-7-1 in their last 8 games. Surprisingly five ECAC teams actually score four or more goals in last nights games. There will be group therapy for the ECAC fans. Expect a bunch of boring 1-0, 2-1, 2-0 games tonight.

Hockey East
Maine 2 at Northeastern 3 ot
New Hampshire 2 at Mass.-Lowell 0
Boston College 1 at Boston University 1 ot

Analysis
Hockey East reminds me of the WCHA last season, they are kicking snot out of each other a nightly basis. Right now If I had to rank the leagues I would rank them in this order. 1.) HE 2.) WCHA 3.) CCHA 4.) EZAC 5.) CHA 6.) AHA.

WCHA
Denver 6 at Michigan Tech 0
Alaska-Anchorage 2 at Wisconsin 3
St. Cloud State 4 at Minnesota State 2
Minnesota-Duluth 1 at Colorado College 1 ot

Analysis
Denver pastes MTU, there is a suicide watch for MTU fans in Houghton, Michigan. I repeat do not jump off that bridge. The real Huskies have had a tough go of it this season going 2-12-1. What the heck happened to the Mavericks last night, there must be some reason the pretend Huskies beat the purple cows. Wisconsin beat UAA, is this the beginning of the yearly UAA tumble? I watch a good share of the game and the Seawolves actually caried the play when they were killing penalties. C.C. manages not to lose a game on Friday night as they are now have a record of 2-4-3 on Friday night.

Non-Conference
Providence 2 at Quinnipiac 5
North Dakota 10 at Harvard 1
Connecticut 1 at Massachusetts 5

Analysis
North Dakota has scored 17 goals the last two Fridays against the ECAC. UMass keeps rolling on.

Exhibition
US Under-18 Team 4 at Vermont 6

Hockey Show

Here is the link to the latest Hockey Show. If you have iTunes you can (click here).

A few items of interest from the hockey show.
1.) @9.20 left in the broadcast. The Coach of Huntsville talks about the shot count conspiracy in the various rinks they play in. College shots clocks are the dumbest thing in I have seen in hockey. The coach counts shots and he thinks the numbers they put up are ridiculous. The stats should be more serious. The Huntsville coach wouldn't name specific rinks.

2.) @6.00 34 Division one teams that are scoring less than 3 goals per game including Michigan, UND, C.C. and UNH. Yikes that is not good.

Coyotes face potential disaster

I saw this over on the illegal curve and it appears that the Coyotes are broke or in Dire straights. If Phoenix can't make the Coyotes work how about moving them back to Winnipeg? I know there are quite a few of us that would go to game in the Peg. That was my second sadest day after the Stars leaving Minnesota was the Jets leaving Winnipeg. I also cried that day as well.

For the Eidsness haters

Dave Berger brings up a really good stat. If you look at the numbers you will see that B.E. is getting it done in the net for the fighting Sioux. Sure there will be a few people that will call for Walski to start but Brad gives the Sioux the best chance to win.

With the impressive victory, Eidsness saw his season goals-against average drop to 2.65 and his save percentage rise to .910. Since taking over for Aaron Walski midway through the November 14th game versus Alaska-Anchorage, the freshman netminder has posted a record of 3-2-1 with a goals-against average of 1.85 and a save percentage of .936.

Sioux blasts Havard 10-1

The Fighting Sioux have scored 18 goals in three games and appear to be awaking from their offensive slumber as they hang ten on the Crimson tonight. No folks that is not a misprint, that actually happened.

A trio of seniors came up big tonight; Matt Watkins and Ryan Martens both had four point nights (2-2-4) and Andrew Kozek chipped in three points (1-2-3) and the Fighting Sioux sent the home town Harvard fans to the exits early.

Positives from the evening.

~Sioux score 4 goals on the power play.

~Sioux give up one goal on the evening.

~Sioux fans favorite whipping boys Jake Marto +4 and Derrick LaPoint +1 were a combined +5 tonight.

~A defenseman other than Miller or Genoway recorded points on the blue line tonight. Jones scored his first career goal in 142 games and Corey Fienhage recorded an assist tonight.

~Watkins and Kozek doubled their season point totals tonight.

~Brad Eidsness continues to show he is the man between the pipes as he improved his season line to: 6-5-1 GAA 2.65 SV% .910. Yet there will be a few fans that will want Walksi to play.

~Brad Miller has quietly climbed to second in points on the Sioux roster 4-9-13.

Goals Scoring/Penalties Time

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1st Period (20:00)
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HAR-1 Michael Biega (2-Hooking) NDK 0x1 2:28
NDK 1 - 0 6x6 LL Brad Malone (2) (unassisted) 7:15
NDK (+): 25,5,26,22,15,G31 HAR (-): 9,6,7,15,23,G34
NDK 2 - 0 6x6 GW Brad Miller (4) (Matt Watkins, Darcy Zajac) 8:17
NDK (+): 20,11,6,14,8,G31 HAR (-): 21,15,19,2,39,G34
NDK-1 Brad Malone (2-Holding) HAR 0x1 11:46
HAR-2 Nick Coskren (2-Interference) NDK 0x2 18:31

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

NDK 3 - 0 6x6 Matt Watkins (2) (Ryan Martens) 1:21
NDK (+): 20,8,14,25,11,G31 HAR (-): 23,8,3,15,16,G34
NDK 4 - 0 6x6 Andrew Kozek (3) (Brad Miller, Ryan Duncan) 3:23
NDK (+): 10,14,16,29,25,G31 HAR (-): 12,3,16,22,2,G34
HAR 1 - 4 6x6 Chris Huxley (1) (Michael Biega, Michael Del Mauro) 5:05
HAR (+): 28,27,13,2,11,G34 NDK (-): 8,17,21,6,14,G31
NDK-2 Brad Malone (2-Unsportsmanlike Conduct) HAR 0x2 5:35
NDK-3 Corey Fienhage (2-Roughing) HAR 0x3 5:35
NDK 5 - 1 6x6 David Toews (1) (Ryan Martens, Andrew Kozek) 9:39
NDK (+): 18,8,10,25,5,G31 HAR (-): 15,8,3,9,23,G34
HAR-3 Steve Rolecek (2-Interference) NDK 1x3 17:36
NDK 6 - 1 6x5 PP Matt Watkins (3) (Brad Miller, Chay Genoway) 19:33
NDK: 20,14,5,26,29,G31 HAR: 6,13,7,9,G34

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3rd Period (20:00)
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NDK-4 Brad Miller (2-Tripping) HAR 0x4 3:51
NDK 7 - 1 6x6 Ryan Martens (4) (Darcy Zajac) 9:24
NDK (+): 8,11,20,5,3,G31 HAR (-): 8,9,7,15,23,G35
HAR-4 BENCH (2-TOO MANY PLAYERS ON ICE) (Served by Michael Biega) NDK 1x4 10:09
HAR-5 Daniel Moriarty (10-Misconduct) 10:09
HAR-6 Pier-Olivier Michaud (2-Boarding) NDK 2x5 13:15
HAR-7 Chris Huxley (2-Roughing) NDK 3x6 14:06
NDK 8 - 1 6x4 PP Matt Frattin (6) (Andrew Kozek) 14:26
NDK: 25,21,8,18,10,G31 HAR: 7,3,8,G35
HAR-8 Jimmy Fraser (2-Slashing) NDK 4x7 14:53
HAR-9 Chad Morin (2-CTH ELBOWING) NDK 4x8 14:53
NDK 9 - 1 6x4 PP Ryan Martens (5) (Corey Fienhage, Matt Watkins) 15:32
NDK: 8,4,20,16,15,G31 HAR: 12,3,8,G35
NDK 10 - 1 6x4 PP Zach Jones (1) (unassisted) 16:13
NDK: 6,3,18,20,11,G31 HAR: 19,2,28,G1
NDK-5 Corey Fienhage (10-Misconduct) 16:31
NDK-6 Brent Davidson (10-Misconduct) 16:31
NDK-7 Corey Fienhage (2-Roughing) 16:31
NDK-8 Brad Malone (2-Cross-Checking) 16:31
HAR-10 Chad Morin (2-High-Sticking) 16:31
HAR-11 Chad Morin (2-Roughing) 16:31
HAR-12 Chad Morin (10-Misconduct) 16:31
HAR-13 Doug Rogers (10-Misconduct) 16:31
HAR-14 Alex Biega (2-Boarding) NDK 4x9 16:51
NDK-9 Zach Jones (2-Interference) HAR 0x5 19:43

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End of Game

Lines for tonight's game. 12-05-2008 (Rant)

The lines are provided by Brad Elliot Schlossman who incidently is live bloging from his home because of budget constraints and did not make the trip. Come on, that has to be one of the silliest things, I heard, you want to provide a service to your readers but your too cheap to send your hockey beat writer along with the team. Brad does a great job and he should be there covering the game. This is why subscribers to the Grand Forks Herald cancel their subscriptions.

UND's lines

16 Ryan Duncan (5-6-11)--29 Chris VandeVelde (3-6-9)--10 Andrew Kozek (2-1-3)
20 Matt Watkins (1-2-3)--11 Darcy Zajac (1-2-3)--8 Ryan Martens (3-2-5)
17 Jason Gregoire (4-5-9)--18 David Toews (0-2-2)--21 Matt Frattin (5-3-8)
15 Brent Davidson (1-0-1)--22 Brad Malone (1-0-1)--26 Brett Hextall (5-2-7)

3 Derrick LaPoint (0-0-0)--5 Chay Genoway (1-12-13)
6 Zach Jones (0-0-0)--14 Brad Miller (3-7-10)
25 Jake Marto(0-0-0)--4 Corey Fienhage(0-0-0)

31 Brad Eidsness 5-5-1 2.79 .902
30 Aaron Walski 0-3-0 3.99 7.96

Scratches on trip: Mario Lamoureux, Ben Blood

With Evan Trupp out of the line up Brent Davidson is now inserted in the line up. That move give UND some size up front. I am not fond of Hakstol's idea of taking Ben Blood out of the line up since I feel he has been one of the bright spots on this years defensive corp. More of the same for the Sioux Harvard plays a 1-2-2, translation boring hockey.

Links to tonights game.

The Tale of the Tape for tonight's game. Sioux 5-8-1 versus Harvard 4-4-2

Recent matchups since 2002-2003 UND's record against Harvard is 1-1 in 2005.

Official Web page for the ECAC.

The Sioux invade Bright.

For the Harvard men’s hockey team, returning to the Bright Hockey Center this weekend after four straight road games without a win means that there’s no better place than home. Yet, facing off against the Crimson (4-4-2, 4-3-1 ECAC) on both Friday and Saturday nights is none another than North Dakota (5-8-1, 4-5-1 WCHA), a team that is much stronger than its losing record suggest. The Fighting Sioux began the season ranked No. 5 in the nation, garnering a first-place vote.

NOTEBOOK: Power-Play Efforts Can’t Stop Eagles.

Avery gets 6 games for comments.

Here is the latest in the Avery soap opera. The league office has ruled and Avery will be suspended for 4 more games. To take a quote from Barack Obama, words matter". It will be interesting to see if Avery is welcomed back to Dallas Stars or will they eat his big salary and buy him out. I read on line that it would cost the Stars something like 1.33 million each year of his contract if they buy him out.

NEW YORK -- The verdict is in, and Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery will be sitting out a little while longer for the inappropriate comments he made earlier this week.

The National Hockey League announced Friday morning that Avery has been suspended for six games without pay, retroactive to Tuesday's game in Calgary, as a result of the comments he made Tuesday morning after the his team’s morning skate at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Avery also agreed to seek professional anger-management evaluation and, if necessary, structured counseling in light of his pattern of behavior, which the NHL has deemed unacceptable and antisocial.

Avery will not be eligible to play again for the Stars until Dec. 16, when Dallas hosts the Phoenix Coyotes. He already has served two games of the suspension, Tuesday’s game against Calgary and Wednesday’s game against Edmonton.

Habs in Need

Expectations in Montreal always run high.

With the Habs in their centenary year and hosting the All-Star game in late January of 2009, the rabid fans and media, in La Belle Province, think it’s their divine right for a possible return to the Stanley Cup finals, their first since beating the Kings in five in 1993.

With a surprising first place finish in the Eastern Conference last year, the Canadiens felt they were a couple of players away from taking the next step towards their 25th Stanley Cup.

Habs GM Bob Gainey made two key additions in hopes of a parade down Rue St. Catherine. Gainey picked up Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang, via trade, and added them to a team that was second in the league with 257 goals, one behind the Ottawa Senators.

Last year the Habs’ power play was first in the NHL. They clicked at a robust 24.1 per cent with 90 goals in 374 chances. In the play-offs their power play ended up at a dismal 14.6 per cent and that was a key reason they lost to the Flyers in the second round.

In the post season the game becomes a five-on-five battle with mistakes and chances at a minimum. The man advantage separates the winners from the losers.

Signing Tanguay and Lang garnered big headlines in Montreal but the loss of UFA Mark Streit to the Islanders and the loss of Sheldon Souray to the Oilers, the year before, are more damaging than any transactions the Habs have made.

They simply haven’t replaced the points that Souray and Streit provided.

Without Souray and Streit the Habs power play has become a major concern for Les Glorieux. Currently, the Habs are 24th in the league at just under 15 per cent.

Included in that was a less than glorious 1-33 between Nov. 8 and Nov 18 and a woeful 6 for 55 at home so far this year.

Every team goes through ups and downs during a season but the style of the game today places so much emphasis on special teams.

Sometimes you’ve got to give the opposition credit but the Habs simply must do better.

Lately the Habs have been using Lang on the point along with Andrei Markov. Lang and Markov both lack the big shot that Streit and Souray possessed. Without the big shot, from the point, teams have been collapsing down low and taking away the slot and the two-on-one play by the net.

Judging by the nightly chorus of boos at the Bell Centre the results have been evident. Too many passes around the perimeter and a lot of hesitant and individual play by the power play units.

The most ironic thing is that Montreal has six more points than they did last year, at this point, when their power play led the league.

If the Habs want to make a run deep into June then Gainey has to find a way to pick up a mobile defenceman with a big shot. Easier said than done. There aren’t a lot of guys like that and the teams that have them aren’t giving them away for free.

Maybe Gainey will wait until the trade deadline to see which teams have fallen by the wayside.

If not, then the Habs may have to wait for another year and in the pressurized and over anxious atmosphere that is Montreal, another year could feel like a hundred of them.

Bruins on a roll. (Former NCAA players)

As a Bruins fan I haven't been this excited about my favorite hockey team since the early 1990's. I remember some clown/back bencher from the USA Today saying the Bruins would be a mediocre team that would finish out of the playoff race. While the season is far from over, the Bruins keep rolling a long as they beat the hapless Bolts 3-1.

Former Golden Gopher Phil Kessel gets his 14th and 15th goals of the year. Last season Phil had 19 goals so he is 4 goals away from his career high and he has only played 24 games.

Former Gopher Blake Wheeler has points in his last three games added an assist on the on the David Krejci's 8th goal of the year.

Former Michigan Wolverine Matt Hunwick continues his torrid pace as he collected his 6th assist of the year. Hunwick has played in 13 games and has and impressive point total of (3-6-9).

Moose not interested in Sean Avery.

I looks as if former Sioux goalie Karl Goehring doesn't have to worry about Avery being a team mate of his. Sounds like Goehring is doing well and got the shootout win today against the Wild top farm club the Houston Aeros.

Manitoba- The Stars have a partial affiliation with the Manitoba Moose and currently have five Dallas players on their AHL roster; however the Moose have made it clear they are not interested in providing a place for Avery to play.

Moose owner Mark Chipman tells TSN, ''We wouldn't take him under any circumstance.''

Karl Goehring teammate former Boston College Eagle and Sioux killer Cory Schneider is having a pretty good season for the Moose after starting out a little shaky last year.

Adjusting to the game at the professional level could be Schneider’s toughest task if he does get to play during this stint with the Canucks, as was the case when he jumped from the NCAA to the AHL.

After a stellar three-year career at Boston College, Schneider was with the Moose for the 2007-08 season and it took him a few games to find his footing. He was 5-7-0 after 12 starts with a 3.21 GAA and .882 save percentage before discovering his comfort zone in going 16-5-2 over his last 23 appearances.

“That’s kind of how the progression has worked for me, first college then the American League and hopefully now here,” said Schneider.

“It took a little while in the American League, obviously I had a rough start last year, but it’s part of the game and your mental makeup is how well you adjust to adversity so hopefully it won’t take too long until I’m up to speed here.”

Goon's dad likes Air Force.

My father can't get his google account to work but wanted to post this on Air Force.
You would have swore he has been reading LGM's posts.

Goonster: Of course the Air Force Falcons are good as they have two Baudette hockey players on their roster, Brett Nylander and Brent Olson. Brent's brother Derek also played four years for Air Force. I thought Derek was a better hockey player in high school.

They hale from the same high school that Keith Ballard played for, who just signed a big new contract this fall with the Florida Panthers

INCH chat

Here is yet another interesting chat from the boys at INCH. Not anything that I would consider red meat or controversial. I don't think Toews left to early and I agree that Finley would have made some kind of an impact whether he played in the AHL or in the NHL. Same old crap about Air Force everyone thinks they are impressive. blah, blah, blah...

Tom (Dollar Bay, Mich.): With four mediocre teams headed to the Joe, this will be the least-interesting GLI ever!

Joe Gladziszewski: I'll disagree with this opinion. The lack of a proven national power might make it more interesting. Any of the four teams could win, despite the struggles of Michigan State and Michigan Tech, and less than stellar starts from North Dakota and Michigan. The Wolverines will be without forwards Matt Rust and Aaron Palushaj due to World Juniors. Hard to pick a favorite right now for the Great Lakes Invitational.
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Jim (Starkweather, ND): Some people argue that Toews left Grand Forks a year too early. Did Finley and Duncan stay a year too late?

Jess Myers: I would never argue that a player should leave college early. Selfishly, college hockey people like watching them play for four years, and it's fun to see what an upperclassmen-dominated team with skill can do. With that said, his nagging injury notwithstanding, Finley probably could have made an impact in the AHL or even the NHL this season, with his blessings of size and skill. Duncan is a dynamic player and the success of people like Brian Gionta, Martin St. Louis and Nathan Gerbe has shown that smaller college guys can make a living in this game. But not having Toews and Oshie around him may be hurting the perception of Duncan's offensive potential.
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William (Atlanta): Two part question, first off I was able to catch the CC AF game last weekend along with the AF DU game. Were you guys as impressed with the academy as I was and do you see them making a slash in the tourny this year? Part two: The Sioux travel to Harvard this week, do you guys see a strong weekend out of them b/c to me they seem like the Gophers of last year, good overall talent, poor results...

Joe Gladziszewski: Personally, I am impressed with what Air Force has done. They've taken care of business in Atlantic Hockey and got a good win over Colorado College and played Denver tough. It used to be considered a "bye" to the second round when you drew the Atlantic Hockey rep in the NCAA bracket, but I don't think there's a single team in the nation that'll want to match up against the Falcons and that high-scoring offense in this year's NCAAs.

Joe Gladziszewski: ... second part of the question - North Dakota does have some talent. Not so sure about their goaltending, and seemed to get a spark from its offense with seven goals last weekend against Cornell. But then, just one goal the next night. For North Dakota to have success in the standings, they've got to be more consistent.

Weekend Series (Sioux 7)

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving last week. I know I ate my fair share of food, and some teams got a helping of humble pie. Now on to this weeks match-ups.


Minnesota-Duluth (3-4-3) at #5 Colorado College (6-3-1)
The Tigers are looking continue a strong first half of the season. However, CC has cooled off going just 3-3 in their last 6 games, so they would like a sweep to get things headed in the right direction before Christmas. The Bulldogs have one two in row now, could we call them butter, since they be on a roll, lol. Unfortunately Tigers like buttered rolls, so much for the left-overs, the Tiger gobble them up, sweep.


#8 Denver (5-4-1) at Michigan Tech (1-8-1)
The boys from Houghton went the month of November without winning a game. Obviously, they were REALLY in the giving season. If the Huskies want to move out of the doghouse, a sweep at home against the Pioneers would help. DU is currently on a 3 game winning streak, but they were on a 3 game losing skid before that. Being a length trip from Denver to Houghton, I will use that as my excuse for picking a split.


#15 Alaska-Anchorage (4-4-2) at Wisconsin (5-5-2)
The Badgers are 7-1-1 in their last 9 games, if that isn't gobbling up the points, I don't know what is. In that span, they have had shut-out 3 teams and held 2 other teams to only 1 goal, reminds me of the Elliot days, UGH. The Seawolves have to be the biggest happy suprise of the season, being at .500 in December. The UAA fella's have proved that they can play some hockey this year with the "big" teams. I think these teams will still be at .500 after this weekend. SPLIT.


St. Cloud State (3-5-0) away/home #11 Minnesota State (5-3-2)
The Mavericks are on a 4-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) and look to continue their stampede through the league. The Huskies are on a 2 game skid, but won 5 in a row before that. This is another battle for, dare I say, "outstate Minnesota" their I said it. SCSU as you can see has 4 games in hand on MSUM, so if the Huskies sweep they can be in good shape in the league, but if they get swept, they can still come back. I say the home teams win, SPLITSVILLE.


NON-CONFERENCE

North Dakota (4-5-1) at Harvard
The Sioux are playing what some are calling madly inconsistent, which I would agree, they are 2-2-1 in their last 5 games, and so it goes. If they are depending on their past success in the second half, they are playing with fire, one of these years they are going to get burned. The Crimson have a 4-4-2 overall record, but are win-less in their last 4 games (0-2-2). Harvard has not lost at home and have not won on the road this season. I don't know what to think of this series, so I'll save my own bacon and call it a SPLIT.


#3 Minnesota (6-1-3) is off this weekend.

Canada WJC roster.

Team Canada December Camp Roster (Click here)
These are the players with college hockey links (4X)on the roster that will try out to make the Canadian WJC team.
Cody Goloubef 6'1 194 11/30/89 Oakville, ON Wisconsin (WCHA) CBJ
Brendan Smith 6'1 181 02/08/89 Mimico, ON Wisconsin (WCHA) DET
Patrick Wiercioh 6'4 185 09/12/90 Maple Ridge, BC Denver (WCHA) OTT
Riley Nash 6'0 176 05/09/89 Kamloops, BC Cornell (ECAC) EDM

Toews goes duck hunting.

Jonathan Toews scored late goal propels the Blackhawks past the Ducks of Anaheim. Former Fighting Sioux Jonathan Toews had started the season slow but with his two points last night has gotten his season point total up to 5 goals 13 assist for 18 points and is a plus 1 in 23 games.

A couple of things.

Here is an interesting piece that I found in the Bleacher Report. While Avery is an ass people are probably interested in what he is doing.

Avery right about the NHL: Let me make something clear: I would have NO interest in watching the basement-dwelling Stars play against a team located in a desolate place like Calgary. But you better believe that I will check out this matchup the next time it happens, as I want to see Dion Phaneuf beat the daylights out of Avery. Or vice-versa, I don't really care. I want a fight. I want to tell my friends about it the next day at work.

The Sharks have the cup wrapped up, so please give me some other reason to watch this sport! A flat-faced Sean Avery would be delightful, thank you.

I hope that the next time a team owner or NHL official uses the word "integrity" to describe their goals, they think about the cost of that very concept. Integrity is swell. But not at the cost of millions, perhaps billions, in future revenue.

Sean Avery will be famous, and therefore rich, well after his undistinguished career reaches its conclusion.

I can't wait to see what other stunts NHL players pull when they realize this truth.

Brian Burke was asked about the Sean Avery saga.

Suspension is not surprising: "I will say this, as a generic overview, this type of commentary has never been acceptable in our League and I'm not surprised Sean Avery was suspended and I don't think it should be acceptable. I found it personally offensive and since he was immediately suspended doesn't surprise me one bit and I'll be surprised if they don't take this very seriously at the League level and that will be reflected in what happened.

So now we are to believe that Sean Avery is sorry for his objectionable comments. Hey Sean, it is probably a little to late for that. Talk about open mouth insert foot.

Avery: "I would like to sincerely apologize for my off-color remarks to the press yesterday from Calgary," Avery said in a statement before leaving for New York and a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that's scheduled for Thursday.

"I should not have made those comments and I recognize that they were inappropriate. It was a bad attempt to build excitement for the game, but I am now acutely aware of how hurtful my actions were. I caused unnecessary embarrassment to my peers as well as people I have been close with in the past.

"I apologize for offending the great fans of the NHL, the commissioner, my teammates, my coaching staff and the Dallas Stars management and ownership. As many of you know, I like to mix it up on and off the ice from time to time, but understand that this time I took it too far."

Pictures from last Saturday night's game.

Marty's wife Garlynn took some pictures from last Saturday's game when she was sitting in the elite seats. Although its not the stalker-razzi camera they are pretty good.