Star Tribune misses major point.

Seems that the Star and Tribune missed the part where Gophers player Brian Schack attacked a player and punched him as he lay on the ice without his helmet on. Now, I am not saying the checking from behind penalty wasn't blatant because it was, however, Boe's actions don't warrant being attacked much like Steve Kampfer was. If Brian Schack wanted to fight Boe, Schack should have challenged him to a fight like the code dictates. I believe that would have been a more appropriate response.

The final period also had a melee in the eighth minute. Six players received penalties and one of them, sophomore defenseman Channing Boe of the Mavericks, was taken off on a stretcher. After the game he was on crutches.

Looking for a positive, Anderson said: "The good thing about getting your butt kicked on Friday is you can come back and try to salvage something [tonight]."

Check out the comments for this article as well. Holy cow! It would appear that not all is well in Minneapolis. Here is a really beauty of a comment, blame the Canadian kids eh? What the hell is that? That we can violence in the WCHA can be blamed on Canadians? Schack is a Minnesotan and just committed one of the most heinous acts I have ever seen in a college hockey game. Schack's act is right up there with Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore.

Huh?
Must have a lot of basketball players that comment about Gopher hockey on here...if you can't handle the physical aspect of ice hockey go watch the elementary girls basketball game at your local school! I say it's about time the Gophers start standing up for themselves with the physical play...many times over the years they have been the team that gets pushed around. As far as Schack goes, if you check a kid in the back you better expect you're gonna get yours...and Boe did!! I don't want anyone getting hurt, but its a part of the game. With influx of Canadian kids in college hockey(not the Gophers mind you) you better be ready for more of that type of play! Fire Lucia...if you are one of the people saying that this is to be blamed on the coach...you really don't know much about sports, especially hockey!

Lastly as Siouxweet said not a word on USCHO.COM or College Hockey New about this ugly incident from last night. Why not? If the Fighting Sioux had been involved in this ugly incident it would have been front page news on all of the College Hockey web pages.

Slug feast in Mankato (Schack goes Bertuzzi)

This incident is warrants a 5 game suspension; minimum! It is time for the WCHA to man up and punish Brian Schack as he went Todd Bertuzzi on MSU-M Maverick Player Channing Boe. We get it Brian the CFB was a bad play but it didn't warrant your actions. You're now on par with Tropp and Conboy of MSU.

Wouldn't you know it Todd Anderson is the ref in this game as well. Maybe that is the common denominator? This incident tonight is equal to this incident in my opinion. The league needs to relieve Todd Anderson of his reffing duties before someone gets killed out there on the ice.

SCSU 3 UND 0

I watched tonight's game on B2, I would recommend using that product again if I get the chance, the picture was really pretty good, however, the game didn't go the way I would have liked. The Sioux have to be frustrated with their play and the results tonight. The Huskies won on the backs of Jase Weslosky who was an impenetrable force. Que the cliche; the Sioux ran into a uber hot goalie tonight. The Sioux threw a statically impressive 38 shots against the Husky goalie and couldn’t score. I take my hat off to Jase Weslosky tonight. What the heck can you do? Unfortunately the Sioux don't have a lot of wiggle room to play with based on their horrible record the first half of the season. Losing tomorrow night's game is unacceptable.

Tonight I thought the Sioux carried the play most of the night, however they got burned by the speed of SCSU’s skilled forwards. The Sioux defenseman got caught up ice against Roe and Lasch and paid the piper for their efforts. You cannot leave a goalie to fend for himself against high end talent like Roe and Lasch, they have to be better tomorrow night. Also, the Fighting Sioux forwards need to move their feet more because tonight they didn’t get enough grade “A” opportunities in close to score goals. On the goaltending front Brad Eidsness has to be better covering his angles and the post. The second goal tonight was a SEGA wrap around goal and that cannot happen.

Box Score
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Period (20:00)
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NDK-1 Evan Trupp (2-Hooking) STC 0x1 1:38
NDK-2 Jake Marto (2-Roughing) STC 0x2 9:20
STC-1 Oliver Lauridsen (2-Holding) NDK 0x1 11:58
STC 1 - 0 6x6 GW LL Ryan Lasch (12) (David Carlisle, Michael Olson) 15:17
STC (+): 19,28,8,22,25,G33 NDK (-): 25,3,10,22,18,G31
NDK-3 Ben Blood (2-Interference) STC 0x3 15:44
STC-2 Travis Novak (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x2 19:00

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

STC-3 Drew LeBlanc (2-Tripping) NDK 0x3 6:30
STC-4 Aaron Marvin (2-IB) NDK 0x4 6:33
NDK-4 Brad Miller (2-Slashing) 6:53
NDK-5 Brad Miller (2-AG) (Served by Andrew Kozek) STC 0x4 6:53
STC-5 Chris Hepp (2-Roughing) 6:53
STC 2 - 0 6x6 Garrett Roe (13) (Travis Novak, Nicholas Rioux) 15:51
STC (+): 9,12,5,11,7,G33 NDK (-): 21,19,3,29,25,G31
STC 3 - 0 6x6 Nicholas Rioux (2) (Aaron Marvin, David Carlisle) 18:21
STC (+): 5,17,13,7,12,G33 NDK (-): 5,2,18,16,17,G31

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

NDK-6 Brad Malone (5-Checking from Behind) (Served by David Toews) STC 0x5 5:36
NDK-7 Brad Malone (10-Game Misconduct) 5:36
STC-6 Oliver Lauridsen (2-Roughing) 5:36
STC-7 Sam Zabkowicz (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x5 12:20
STC-8 Chris Hepp (2-Boarding) NDK 0x6 12:43
NDK-8 Joe Finley (2-Charging) STC 0x6 18:30

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game
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SCSU and UND lines (stats included)

Brad Schlossman has posted the lines for tonight's game. I am kind of surprised that Zach Jones is sitting again tonight, it has been a long time since Jones has missed 2 out of 3 games.

UND's lines

17 Jason Gregoire--(9-9-18)16 Ryan Duncan--(11-11-22) 26 Brett Hextall--(8-8-16)
20 Matt Watkins-- (4-7-11)11 Darcy Zajac--(2-10-12) 8 Ryan Martens--(10-9-19)
19 Evan Trupp--(5-12-17) 29 Chris VandeVelde--(9-12-21) 21 Matt Frattin--(12-7-19)
10 Andrew Kozek--(5-7-12) 22 Brad Malone--(2-8-10) 18 David Toews--(5-6-11)

2 Joe Finley--(2-6-8)5 Chay Genoway--(2-23-25)
3 Derrick LaPoint--(1-3-4)25 Jake Marto--(5-6-11)
24 Ben Blood--14 (0-0-0) Brad Miller-- (4-19-23)

31 Brad Eidsness 15-7-3 GAA 2.5048 SV% .910
30 Aaron Walski

SCSU's lines

13 Jordy Christian--(5-6-11) 17 Aaron Marvin-- (8-14-22) 19 Ryan Lasch--(11-19-30)
11 Jared Festler-- (7-10-17) 9 Garrett Roe--(12-24-36)12 Travis Novak--(5-8-13)
26 John Swanson--(8-15-23) 29 Drew LeBlanc--(5-5-10) 21 Brian Volpei--(2-8-10)
22 Brent Borgen--(3-6-9) 8 Michael Olson--(4-7-11)16 Nick Oslund--(4-2-6)

5 Nicholas Rioux--(1-3-4) 7 Garrett Raboin--(8-16-24)
3 Sam Zabkowicz--(3-8-11) 18 Chris Hepp--(2-5-7)
25 Oliver Lauridsen--(0-1-1) 28 David Carlisle--(1-3-4)

33 Jase Weslosky 11-7-1 GAA 2.8659 SV%.912
41 Dan Dunn 2-4-1 GAA 2.6168 SV% .902
36 Nate Hardy

Goon's World mentioned on Dan Barreiro's show.

Yesterday Goon's World was mentioned on Dan Barreiro show bumper to bumper at about 27:30 of the first hour of the Dan Barreiro's show. They were talking about Conboy's brother when he bit Uber Hack Steve Downie.

More victimology from the DU press

Brad Elliott Schlossman had this gem linked on his blog this morning. You have to wonder if Mike Chambers is being serious? Again we see another theme here, the big bad Sioux with their arena full of rowdy blood thirsty fans. Those awful fans on the internet as well. I guess I am guilty eh?

I think it is kind of funny to see the Denver Pioneers play the victim card. I also think it's funny that the Denver hockey team is refering to taking a point out of last weekend's series as a moral victory. This is the same series where they were destroyed 8-3 the first night. DU is a better team that than that.

North Dakota nightmare lingering for Pioneers
By Mike Chambers
After all, the DU players could be concentrating more on their bizarre one-point series last weekend at North Dakota than on what might unfold tonight and Saturday.

The Pioneers, however, say the baggage they brought home from Grand Forks — the bumps and bruises, the Internet ridicule and ensuing suspension of coach George Gwozdecky, plus the mental exhaustion — will be keepsake items the rest of the season.

If DU's old mascot, Boone, were around, he wouldn't need any help circling the wagons. Thanks to North Dakota and the nasty environment it promotes, the Pioneers seem to be in a good place to begin their final 10-game, regular-season stretch run.

"Absolutely, there is no doubt we're a better team because of all the crazy stuff last weekend," DU junior center Tyler Ruegsegger said.

Said senior captain J.P. Testwuide: "We dealt with a lot of challenges that will help us down the stretch. The crowd and the testiness of those games was a good experience, and absolutely, we feel great about how we came out of it."

INCH chat

This is one of the most uneventful INCH chats that I have seen for some time. I don't know what to make out of that? No Red meat.

Mark: Fargo, ND: Alright Jess! Are you ready to jump on the Sioux bandwagon - this is a very balanced team, runnning Four strong lines. Do you now see the Sioux winning the WCHA?

Jess Myers: Absolutely! I just got my green and white boxers back from the dry cleaners and I'm ready for the stretch run! But seriously, I didn't
see the Sioux making this kind of second half rally, which is a failing on my part, because they do so every year. The rapid growth and adjustment to the college game by their talented freshmen has made the biggest difference in the past month. My head says I should pick the Sioux to win the league title based on the way they're playing right now, but something tells me they'll finish just a bit behind Denver. That of course sets up the inevitable rematch in St. Paul in
March.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex (Fargo): What are the chances North Dakota makes the NCAA tourney?

Jess Myers: Right now they look pretty solid for a top four finish in the WCHA, which would make them a near-lock for the field of 16.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avan (Boston): Can you remember a more talented group of defensemen than the one BU has had the luxury of throwing out there every game this season?

Mike Eidelbes: I can remember, if I go all the way back to ... this season. BU has a nice defensive corps, but the Notre Dame group (Kyle Lawson, Ian Cole, Teddy Ruth, Brett Blatchford) is right there with them as is Wisconsin (Jamie McBain, Brendan Smith, Cody Goloubef, Ryan McDonagh, Jake Gardiner). North Dakota's group from last year (Taylor Chorney, Chay Genoway, Rob Bina, Joe Finley, etc.) was a good crew, too.

George Gwozdecky speaks.

Here is an interesting blog post by every Sioux fan's favorite college hockey beat writer Mike Chambers from the Denver Post.

MC: What’s the thing that upset you the most in that game? Was it VandeVelde’s hit on Ruegessger against the sidewall? Is that what started the emotion on the bench?

George Gwozdecky: No, it started long before that. I think people know me well enough – officials and the people that have watched me coach this team for 15 years – that I’m not going react to one incident, I’m not going to blow my top and get all worked up over one call. It takes more than that, and there are times I won’t even react. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Sometimes you really have to fight and battle and stick up for your team, and I felt that was the time it had to be done.

MC: Do you think it’s time for the WCHA to separate certain officials from certain opponents? (It was obvious I was asking about referee Todd Anderson and the DU-UND rivalry. Three years ago, Anderson ejected Gwozdecky in a Sioux game in Denver, after UND’s Mike Prpich speared Geoff Paukovich in the privates off a center-ice faceoff. No call was made, despite the fact the officials had their eyes trained on the neutral zone and Paukovich went straight to the ice in pain).

George Gwozdecky: Nobody’s perfect, whether you’re a coach, player and official. Everybody wants to do their best, and at times because of whatever reason, it’s difficult to do. That’s a very difficult place to play. It’s loud, they’re energetic, great fans, and if you let it, it can be intimidating – including to the officials. I’m not going to blame anybody for what went on. Obviously, I took the actions I felt needed to be taken.

MC: Let’s talk about your suspension for talking to your staff during the third period via headset from the press box.

George Gwozdecky: I certainly didn’t have a thorough understanding of the rules. Obviously, for me walking around the press box, for everyone to see me, and for me to comment afterwards to the media about where I was at the end of the second period and in the third period, it’s pretty obvious I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It certainly was a violation when I found out about it, and there was no question what I felt needed to be done. I support the administration. It’s a rule; it’s in the book.

All joking aside, when your children lie there are consequences for their actions, come on now George! Seriously folks, it doesn't take a genius to know if your coach has been kicked out of the hockey game and asked to leave the bench you can not have ANY, ANY communication until after the game is over. The fact that he keeps saying this stuff is insulting to hockey fans and is utter bull shit Bravo Sierra.

The Dasher Dancer.

For those that don't read Sioux sports this is funny. BadgerSioux has posted this gem for you viewing pleasure.

University of Alabama-Huntsville looking for a league

The Dominos keep falling in realignment. It will be interesting to see where UAH ends up.

UAH hockey seeks new league
By BUDD McLAUGHLIN
The UAH hockey program is aiming to join the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, a move that would bring Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Notre Dame to the Von Braun Center by the 2010-11 season.

The Chargers today will formally apply to join the CCHA, a jump made necessary by the imminent demise of UAH's current league, College Hockey America. We have the official application letter and fee ready to be sent to the CCHA," University of Alabama-Huntsville athletic director Jim Harris said Wednesday.
--------------(snip)--------------
We have the official application letter and fee ready to be sent to the CCHA," University of Alabama-Huntsville athletic director Jim Harris said Wednesday.

The four-team CHA appears certain to fold after this season, with Niagara and Robert Morris gaining admittance Tuesday into the Atlantic Hockey conference.

That follows Bemidji State's announcement last week that it was seeking to join the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The WCHA is expected to vote on Bemidji State and other expansion candidates in April.

Harris said UAH also will send a "letter of intent" seeking application to the WCHA, though "economically, the CCHA makes sense (regarding) travel costs."

Chorney to the Senators?

While most of the time Ek's rumors don't come true this one involves former Sioux Taylor Chorney.

From a source today...

"The Sens are very interested in Erik Cole and the Oilers feel that Jason Spezza is a great fit with the current speedy young line-up. Of course Cole is a pending UFA and an extension would have to be first worked out. Also, the Sens would like a prospect d-man in the deal as well."

Another source agreed adding, "The Sens have made it known that they love Taylor Chorney."

Chorney is the Redden Replacement that the Sens could use. He is a heck of a prospect who many feel will be as good as Redden if not better. He is another member of that killer University of North Dakota team from the last few years, although this year he has been in the AHL for Springfield.

Fighting Sioux coaches show.

Check out the latest Fighting Sioux coaches show.

Notes from the coaches show.

Tim Hennessy: We discussed it this afternoon DU is one of the best teams the Sioux has played. Coach Hakstol agreed with Tim, maybe because Minnesota didn’t give their best effort when they were in Grand Forks a few weeks back. Hakstol said, “DU is a very good especially their forwards like Rhett Rakhsani who had a great weekend for the Pioneers.”

Tim Hennessy: Denver University Freshman Joel Colborne who was picked to be the preseason ROY in the WCHA was almost invisible this past weekend and that isn’t a knock on him. Coach Hakstol said that they had watched Colborne develop over the years in the AJHL and if Colborne is given time to develop in the WCHA by the team that drafted him, Colborne is going to be a great player in the WCHA. Coach Hakstol said that the WCHA is a tough league even for juniors and seniors. Tim and Coach Hakstol were also wondering who Colborne was drafted by, for the record Joel Colborne was drafted by the Boston Bruins.

Tim and Coach Hakstol discussed Tyler Bozek playing with Salazar and Colborne before the injury. Coach Hakstol said that, “Tyler Bozek is one of the players in the WCHA that could be playing in the NHL this season.”

Tim Hennessy mentioned the Walk: Coach Hakstol believes at a minimum that they should have gotten a 5-3 power play for the walk. The rest of that stuff is the league’s business. Coach Hakstol didn’t really want to make any moral judgments on the incident and he doesn’t have time to. George set out to affect the officiating and to motivate his team probably accomplished that. Coach Hakstol said that basically we should move on, the incident is over and we are playing SCSU this weekend.

Tim Hennessy: How much better is SCSU now then when you played them. Coach Hakstol, “I don’t know.” When SCSU was here in December he thought that the Sioux got the jump on them and they didn’t have a chance to recover. They are a very dangerous team, at all times you have to be very sharp, their forwards are like Denver.

Tim Hennessy: You got a few of their guys frustrated Roe because he didn’t get any (points) and Lasch who didn’t have much either. Coach Hakstol: We didn’t really match anyone with their guys? We had a couple of lines prepared to play to against them and two defenses paring to play them. Coach Hakstol was very complementary of Husky players Roe and Lasch. Hakstol compared Roe to Denver forward Rhett Rakhshani.

Tim Hennessy: your team has played well for some time your play on Saturday was an aberration. Coach Hakstol said they didn’t have it till the third period we got back where we wanted to be then we took three penalties.
Tim Hennessy: How good was Brad Eidsness. Hakstol he was that good as you thought after the game, he was very good throughout the game.

The Standing in the WCHA is close; there is a jam up at the top. Your guys are energized because they are back in it. Hakstol thought the team got back into it at Christmas time. We stumbled a bit when the team had a brutal weekend in Detroit. I honestly think we have fought out way back into this thing and battled back into this thing. There are 6-7 teams looking at the standings and the Sioux just have to play their game and not standings watch.

Tim Hennessy: Why was Matt Jones was not playing on Friday night? Coach Hakstol said that he would discuss it a little bit but not get into a lot of the details. Coach Hakstol said at the beginning of the season he said that he likes the character of this team. Ben Blood has made great strides in his development. Hakstol is not just going to pull a healthy player out of the line up without talking to him. Jones agreed with Hakstol and told him it was the right move. That takes a man to do that. There are a lot of unselfish players on this team, guys like Harrington, Lammy, Davidson. Hakstol thinks there is a lot of glue on this team and he likes their chances. All 25 guys are committed to the goals.

Coach Hakstol said the environment in the REA the last two weekends have been amazing. The environment was maybe a factor where maybe it helped UND get a point.

January's Last games (Sioux 7)

Last weekend we saw UMD sweep MSUM, UND and SCSU each earn 3pts each at the expense of DU and CC respectively, and MTU-UAA tie TWICE, you don't see that too often. So much for predictions of splits last weekend.

WCHA Standings

1 Denver...................11-5-2...24
2 North Dakota.........10-5-3...23
3 Wisconsin...............10-6-2...22
4 Minnesota...............9-4-3...21
4 Colorado College......9-8-3...21
6 Minnesota-Duluth......7-6-5...19
7 St. Cloud State.........8-9-1...17
8 Minnesota State......7-11-2...16
9 Alaska-Anchorage....5-9-4...14
10 Michigan Tech........1-14-5...7

NOTE - MTU and CC have played 20-games, UM 16 games, and everyone else 18 games.


#5 Minnesota at/home Minnesota State
Have the Gophers sprung a leak? They have let in 6, 6, 1, and 6 goals the last 4-games, and all but one of them was let in by Kangas. The Mavericks are 3-4-0 since the start of 2009. If the Purple want to avoid ending up black & blue, they need points every weekend. MSUM needs points if they want to avoid a 8th or 9th place finish, considering after this weekend they will have played 22 out of 28 league games, the most of any team (MSUM is on a bye next weekend). The Gophers on the other hand have played the fewest league games and are in the thick of the race for the WCHA title, so points this weekend keep them in the race and will edge them closer to securing a top 5 finish. SCSU and UND have exposed the Gophers defense and goal tending, now is Mankato's chance to take advantage of it. The home team wins, Mankato Friday, UM Saturday, SPLITSVILLE.


#12 North Dakota at St. Cloud State
The Huskies have been and up and down team to say the least, the just took 3pts from CC last weekend, but got swept by the UM the week before. The early meeting between the Sioux and Huskies resulted in a sweep for the Sioux in Grand Forks. With a quick look at the numbers, is appears that if a team scores 3 goals on the Huskies, they can bet SCSU, less than 3, ahhh. UND has been lighting up the score board recently, in fact, they are the first team in the country to score 100 goals this year. I see the Sioux continuing on with their traditional second half run and taking some points from the Huskies. Sioux 3pts.


#16 Minnesota-Duluth at #15 Wisconsin
This series has all sorts of ramifications, not just in the league, but in the Pairwise rankings as well. A sweep gives the victor a position to get home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and the inside track for an NCAA tourney birth.
The Bulldogs are on a 4-game winning streak, at the expense of Bemidji St and MSUM, so they are looking to keep the barking and biting. The Badgers are coming off a bye week, and back in mid November took 3-pts from the Bulldogs in Duluth. UMD is hoping to return the favor this weekend in Mad-town. UW looks to have the toughest schedule to close out the season, so they need to get wins to stay in the hunt. I hope I can find the games on TV somewhere, cause these could be some barn burners. I'm going the wimpy way out on this series, SPLIT.


Alaska-Anchorage at #7 Denver
The Pioneers need to get over last weekends events at Grand Forks and start focusing on UAA. DU will be without head coach George Gwozdecky for Friday nights game, do to a rules violation from Saturday's game in Grand Forks. Both teams come in riding ties, UAA could get home ice for the play-offs, but they needs points and some help. The wheels would have to come off Boone's wagon for DU to not get home ice. Pioneers players and fans better be ready for UAA on Friday, if not they could suffer a loss. I see Saturday as a DU win. I'm going to call a SPLIT, but a DU sweep is not out of the question.


The #17 Colorado College Tigers and Michigan Tech Huskies are off this weekend.

Ovechkin scare.

I think the Washington Capitals held their collective breath on this play last night. Yikes! When I first saw this play it didn't look good but he came back and played in the third period.

In the second period, Ovechkin hit the boards behind the Bruins goal with his head and right shoulder, then remained motionless on the ice for about 15 seconds before rolling over and rubbing his face with his glove. Although he left the ice a few minutes later, he was doubled over and flexing his right arm.

Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 31 goals, sat on the bench just a few minutes before walking off through the tunnel and slamming his gloves and helmet to the ground.

Team spokesman Paul Rovnak said Ovechkin had a "stinger" that felt better after about 15 minutes. Ovechkin missed the last 5:35 of the second period but came back for the third.

Kessel Cleared to play.

Bruins forward Phil Kessel, has been cleared to play tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils after being on the injured reserve list for mononucleosis. Kessel hadn't played since January 10th and missed 6 games; during that time the Bruins went 4-1-1.

This is very good news for the Boston Bruins who now seen most of their injured players return to the Bruin's line up; Manny Fernandez is still out. In last nights game Andrew Ference (31 games), Patrice Bergeron (15 games) and Milan Lucic(7 games) all returned to the Bruins line up after being out with injuries. The return of these players makes the Bruins that much deadlier.

On to the Huskies.

Well! We have beaten the DU series after math to death and now it’s time to move on to another series against another WCHA school that hates the Fighting Sioux. I actually think it is a badge of honor. Let's take a trip down memory lane. Going back to the year 2006; this is what St Cloud Times beat writer Kevin Allenspach said about the Sioux after a home series druing the 2005-2006 season between the Huskies and the Fighting Sioux at the REA. Just for the record UND was swept by the Huskies in the series.

Despite a dozen rookies, North Dakota has lived up to its long reputation as a rough-and-tumble bunch. The Sioux have been sentenced to more penalty minutes than any team in college hockey this season, and lead the WCHA with an average of more than 28 PIM per game. The Huskies, by comparison, are downright angels on skates. They've never exceeded 29, and average approximately 14. Their self-restraint will be tested this weekend at Engelstad Arena, where they know it will be paramount to maintaining a hot streak that has St. Cloud State surprisingly in sixth place.

"It's just a normal game against North Dakota if there's a lot of stuff going on," said Huskies junior Justin Fletcher, who has a team-best six-game point streak. "You know they're going to take some penalties. Your power play has to be on top of its game and you can't lose your composure. You have to be ready to play them 5-on-5 or 4-on-4."

Seems after that same series in 2006 the SCSU coach wasn't thrilled with the style of play of the Fighting Sioux either.

"We talk about it — I tell (the players) every week that we can't take foolish, selfish penalties," said Motzko, 12-9-3 overall in his first season as head coach. "North Dakota, they're notorious for roughing it up. If you see a fight in our league, chances are they're involved. It's a source of pride for them. They try to get nasty and get in your face. That's the way they like to play, aggressive. We've got to be ready for that."

I actually wrote Kevin Allenspach a letter after that series taking issue with what he said. This is the response that Mr Allenspach sent me. As you can see from the letter, Kevin is pretty solid stand up guy.

Goon:

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. My response time is generally a lot quicker than one week, however I was out of the office for a few days and the rest has been busy getting stories done in advance of this weekend's series with Anchorage.

I appreciate your feedback on last week's preview story. I'll be the first to admit that the disparity in penalty minutes before last weekend's series with North Dakota had pretty much zero impact on the 2-1 SCSU wins. That's a risk you take in choosing a topic for a preview. I could easily have written about UND's offense (at the time, best in WCHA games) and that also would've proved way off base.

I'm glad you still thought it was more impartial than the FSN telecasts. That would've been too much if you didn't. Believe it or not, I consider myself very impartial in my coverage. I could care less whether SCSU wins or loses. I'm just after what makes the best story and serves the readers the most.

You have a good point that I did not see the Mankato infractions. However, I have been covering the WCHA for nearly a decade. And if you think anyone around the league is going to say another team is tougher to play against, from a standpoint of getting hit hard, beat on and intimidated than North Dakota, you're wrong. I've also seen Dean Blais send guys over the boards to take revenge for what he thought was a bad hit. I saw Brian Canady spear Jon Cullen in the groin toward the end of an SCSU victory. Dave Hakstol doesn't shirk the image of a tough team because it serves the Sioux. They are intimidating to play against.

As for the Sioux nickname controversy, I'm only glad I don't have to chronicle that soap opera. The Times won't let me use the word "Fighting," which I disagree with. I don't have a problem with the nickname, but I'm not a Native American, either. The one thing I can say is that I don't see the controversy ever going away unless the name changes. At some point, no matter how much school pride I felt, I'd get tired of fighting that same old battle. And you are correct, though, that SCSU should stay out of it and let the matter rest between UND and the NCAA.

I don't know if you regularly read the Times or just did so because the Huskies were UND's opponent. I appreciate your feedback and am always willing to hear more. You're also welcome to write a letter to the editor (To Sports Mailbag at: sports@stcloudtimes.com).

Hope to hear from you again,

Kevin Allenspach
St. Cloud Times

The Domino's are falling.

Well it's now official. Atlantic Hockey Approves Expansion: Niagara and Robert Morris To Join Affiliate Members Next Season; Full Members in 2010-11. There are now two division one college hockey teams that are without a home, UAH and BSU. It will be interesting to see if both of these two teams end up in the WCHA or will the league poach a team from the CCHA. I would love to see NMU end up in the WCHA then UAH moving to the CCHA. If the WCHA couldn’t get a CCHA team to move I wonder if the WCHA would take both CHA schools.

Jan. 28 — Sources within Atlantic Hockey have confirmed to USCHO.com that Niagara and Robert Morris will join the league as full members beginning with the 2010-2011 season. The schools will be affiliate members of Atlantic Hockey next season, using league officiating crews.

An official announcement from the league detailing the decision will be released within the next few days.

This development will mean the dissolution of College Hockey America, which had been reduced to four teams — Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State, Niagara and Robert Morris — after Wayne State dropped hockey last season. The WCHA last week lifted its moratorium on expansion, paving the way for Bemidji State to apply for membership.

Atlantic Hockey had previously voted to increase its scholarship limit from 11 to 12 starting next season. Robert Morris is below that limit, but Niagara has 18 scholarships, the maximum allowed by the NCAA. Niagara will have to eliminate six scholarships by the 2010-2011 season to comply.

Gwoz caught cheating.

Developing on going saga. Seems that the George "the Dasher Troll" Gwozdecky cheated by communicating with the DU bench after he was kicked out of the game.

DENVER (Jan. 27) — Denver has suspended head hockey coach George Gwozdecky one game for violating an NCAA rule that does not allow an ejected coach to communicate with or contact team personnel in any manner until a game is completed.

The university made the announcement Tuesday evening.

Gwozdecky was ejected at the 9:30 mark of the second period during Denver’s 2-2 overtime tie at North Dakota on Jan. 24. Gwozdecky watched the second period on a television in the media room, but communicated via headset to coaches on the bench during the third period and overtime from the press box.

Also just in. Alanna Rizzo from Rockey Mountain FSN wasn't impressed with the UND fans. Now before you point your fingers at the students she wasn't really talking students. Ms Rizzo was talking about the adults that sit behind the players bench. Stay tuned folks this gets better by the minute.

Rizzo’s angst stems from obnoxious and seemingly uncontrollable Fighting Sioux fans particularly adults.

“It was a little too much for too long,” Rizzo said. “It wasn’t the student section as much as the older crowd, right on top of the DU bench, and I stood in the hallway going into their locker room.

“There were a lot of derogatory comments . . . from men and women, young and old, asking me about Coach Gwozdecky’s behavior, calling him a ‘Little Man,’ asking me ‘Why are you really here?’ and ‘I vote for last night’s outfit.’ It’s one thing to cheer for your own team, I’m all for that, but to constantly berate college athletes that are not being paid to play a sport for the constant length of the game was a little much.”
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“It’s definitely a home-ice advantage, it’s an amazing building, they are very passionate about Sioux hockey, but enough is enough,” she said. “Maybe I’m a little sensitive, but I think the (DU) players responded like champions. It was extremely emotional and there was a lot on the line with the WCHA. I thought Denver played with great professionalism despite all the stuff that was being said to them.”

National Hockey Center to get a face lift.

Props to Amanda Kosior for sending me the pictures for the new improvements to the National Hockey Center. I have to admit that these are some sweet improvements that will add to the fan's hockey experience at SCSU. Hockey fans from around the WCHA affectionately call the National Hockey Center the Concrete Center for it's bland and some what generic appearance, these improvements will really spruce up the place.

Bergeron and Lucic to play tonight.

Here is the Bruins lineup for tonights game.

Forward
Milan Lucic----Marc Savard----Chuck Kobasew
Blake Wheeler----David Krejci---- Patrice Bergeron
P.J. Axelsson----Stephane Yelle----Shawn Thornton
Matt Hunwick----Petteri Nokelainen----Byron Bitz

Defense
Zdeno Chara----Aaron Ward
Andrew Ference----Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart---- Shane Hnidy

Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Notice Bergeron and Lucic return to the line up after missing time with injuries.
Also with the return of Andrew Ference defenseman Matt Hunwick is playing forward.