Kovalchuk trade bait?
Is Ilya Kovalchuk, who has 323 goals but is minus-86 in his Atlanta career, a better trade rental than Marian Hossa was in 2008 when Pittsburgh got him and got to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final? I don't think so. I may be in the minority, but I think Hossa is a better player (he actually can check) and, in his prime all he fetched was centre Erik Christensen, winger Colby Armstrong, suspect draft pick Angelo Esposito and a 2008 first-round draft pick -stocking stuffers really, although Hossa was 29, and Kovalchuk is only 26, so maybe he'd be worth more.
I still think the Boston Bruins are the short-term destination, although they don't have long-term cap room, because Marc Savard and Kovalchuk have a history from Atlanta, and the Bruins can give up Blake Wheeler, their first-round pick (not the one they got from Toronto for Phil Kessel) and, say, centre Joe Colborne, who is a sophomore at University of Denver.
----I must admit that I am frustrated with the Fighting Sioux play as well. After last night's game I was looking at the schedule and since Genoway injury UND has gotten two points from our top rivals, Minnesota 0-1-1 (1 point) DU 0-2 (0 points) Wisconsin 0-1-1 (1 point). That is a record of 0-4-2 that is unimpressive and unacceptable. You can't win a title with results like that.
Schlossman: Man, some people sure jump off the bus fast. UND has a 5 game unbeaten streak end, it's probably not the end of the world. Their last loss here was 6-1 and that team went to the Frozen Four
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Jayson, UND SID: One bad loss does not mean a season is over. In 2004 when DU when the NCAA title, it lost three games to the Sioux by a combined score of 20-5.
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Jayson, UND SID: Of course fans have a right to be frustrated. I'm frustrated too. But it's important to remember that one bad road loss does not mean the season is a write-off.
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Jayson, UND SID: Perhaps this loss ends up being a turning point for the Sioux, in a positive way. Sports can be funny that way.
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[UND Hockey Blog]
Then it got ugly. Unaccustomed to trailing 4-0, the Sioux retaliated seconds later. Andrew MacWilliam, a 6-2, 213-pound defenseman, hit Cepis, and the 5-8 junior fell backward. His head hit the ice. [Star and Tribune]
Campbell's comments on NHL Live! -- a weekday radio show on XM Radio and NHL Network -- can be dissected like a frog.What kind of logic is this Cal Clutterbuck is the NHL hits leader and has a grand total of 20 penalty minutes in 42 games, so it’s not like he is a dirty player, but since he is the hits leader he has to expect being run once in a while? That is what I deduced from Campbell’s ridiculous statement, Cal Clutterbuck had it coming.
"There's got to be a little bit of passion in the game," Campbell said. "Cal Clutterbuck leads the league, or is close to leading the league, in hits. He hit Gonchar very hard into the boards prior to that -- real hard. It could have been boarding. It could have been charging. It wasn't. So Gonchar, who's been hurt before, knocked out before and suffered a concussion -- he's on the receiving end more than he's on the giving end ... -- he went in and it was a five-minute interference penalty and he hit him with his shoulder."
Campbell proves that the NHL isn't serious about getting rid of head shots.
[Star Tribune]
MINNEAPOLIS--Minnesota scored three goals in the final 5:09 of the second period, including a pair of goals seven seconds apart, en route to a 5-1 win over the fourth-ranked Fighting Sioux tonight in front of the second-largest crowd in Mariucci Arena history.The Sioux ran into the "hot goalie" tonight, seems like the Fighting Sioux run into a hot goalie each and every weekend. The Sioux really didn’t play all that bad they put 35 shots on the Gophers net tonight and could only sneak a meaningless goal by in the third period. The Sioux killed themselves with stupid penalties at inopportune times. Players have to stop taking knuckle headed penalties in key points of the game.
* The Big Ten Network televised the game and used Don Lucia's daughter, Ali, as an interviewer. I didn't watch the telecast but did see her asking assistant coach John Hill questions between periods. Wonder how many Sioux fans will complain about her?
North Dakota @ MinnesotaTravis Zajac Hot
Realistically, this series should be a split. However, even though Minnesota seems to be finding the right track, I'm going to go with the theory that UND rocks in the second half. UND sweep. [Read the rest of the article]
Travis Zajac has scored four goals and seven points in his last five games. Zajac broke out last season with 20 goals and 62 points and it looks like those are the kind of numbers you can expect from him going forward
My mind would like to say that this series is going to be a split, but I'm going to have to say the Gophers get 3 points with a tie tonight and a big win tomorrow. 3-3 Friday, 4-2 (ENG) Saturday.My Brother-in-law's brother Steve Brink said:
The homer in me is going to have to say 2 Gopher wins by 2+ goals as we get back on track.
5-1 Gophers with an empty net goal
After Backes fought Toews, Toews threw up twice in the penalty box.Here is what Jacob Cepis said about playing the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Honestly, I am not sure how he would know since he has never played against the Sioux in his college hockey career, and Cepis is a transfer from Bowling Green. I hope the Sioux give him a crash course on the rivalry.
I mentioned that to Blues enforcer Cam Janssen today and he said, “No way, did he really?”
Derek Armstrong jumped in the conversation and said: “Oh yeah, if you’re not used to it, you’ll throw up. Cam, it would be like you playing 20 minutes in a game . . . you would puke!”
“You had go there, eh?” Janssen said, laughing.
[www.stltoday.com]
"[The Sioux] are going to want to stick it to you right away," Cepis said, "and they are going to want to bully you around. We got to be ready to battle back."There was some discussion about the RMU Colonials beating the Miami RedHawks this past weekend and how it was a fluke; however, RMU has played some top teams tough.
[Star Tribune]
Close-but-no-cigar decisions against NCAA heavyweights Ferris State (5-4 in OT), Bemidji State (2-0 including an empty-net goal) and Colorado College (4-3), all of which are ranked in this week’s Top 11 according to USCHO.com, tested that belief but didn’t shake it.
“It does frustrate you,” senior defenseman and RMU captain Dave Cowan said. “Nobody likes to lose, especially the guys on our team as close as we are and as competitive as we are.
“Losing games like that pushes you harder in practice to get better and put you over that hump and eventually win those games. We believe we’re capable of great things and that showed this past weekend.”
The two wins over Miami upped Robert Morris’ record when facing off against ranked teams to 3-6 (the Colonials are 3-7 against teams ranked in this week’s Top 20). [www.rmucolonials.com]
So, while it’s nice that the Gophers have been able to string some wins together and get back above .500 for the first time all season, it should not be lost on fans that they still haven’t shown the ability to consistently beat average to above average teams, and that is all they play the rest of the way, starting with North Dakota this weekend at Mariucci.
So far this season, the Gophers have been awful against good teams, which is why they are facing a big up-hill battle to get home-ice for the WCHA playoffs and making the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is 3-9-1 vs. teams with a winning record, and only 1-5-0 at home in those games. The atmosphere at Mariucci Arena this season has been pretty marginal, due to the team playing at a lower level than they have in years past, but also due to the fact they have played a pretty soft home schedule and, when they’ve played good teams, they’ve been handled by the Denver and Minnesota Duluth’s of the world.
The Sioux came into this season with high expectations despite having 10 freshman on their roster, and got off to a hot start, going 7-1-1, including taking three of four points against the Gophers to start the season in Grand Forks. However, in a 4-2 series-opening victory over St. Cloud State on Nov. 13, SCSU’s Aaron Marvin hit UND defenseman Chay Genoway from behind, with the 6-3, 205 lb. Marvin essentially cross-checking the 5-9, 174 lb. Genoway’s head into the glass. Genoway, who had 10 points in nine games at that point and was likely on pace for a first-team All-American selection, suffered a concussion and hasn’t played since, and his prognosis for the rest of the season is still up in the air.
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From a Minnesota perspective, the Gophers are going to have to hope their improved play of late translates as the speed limit goes (way) up this weekend, as Head Coach Don Lucia likes to say. Between Minnesota’s offensive issues and North Dakota’s defensive prowess, the Gophers hopes to winning this weekend could fall on the shoulders of junior goalie Alex Kangas, who will for sure get the start on Friday, and likely against on Saturday unless the wheels really come off in game one of the series. Kangas has shown the ability in the past to steal games, and he may have to do that more than once during the next few months if this team is going to ascend in the WCHA standings. The Sioux have had Kangas’ number, as he’s just 1-4-1 all-time against the Sioux, and has a save percentage of .854 save percentage in his last three starts against the Sioux, all Gopher losses. Now, four of his five starts have been at Ralph Engelstad Arena, which is a hostile building for any goalie to have to play in.
According to Boogaard, before the faceoff, Hordichuk told him that "The coach is making US fight you guys.” [Russo's Rants]It wasn't much of a fight because Hordichuck just basically went after him and didn't let Boogey get a set so he could hit him. Notice when the jersey came over Hordichuck's head Derek stopped fighting him.
Who's us? Alexandre Bolduc is us. Moments after the fight, Bolduc came up to John Scott and begged Scott to fight him. Huge mistake. Scott beat the living daylights out of him. Honestly, it was scary. The crowd was going nuts. I was scared I'd be covering the making of a vegetable. I don't know what you prove down 5-2, but if it's true Vigneault sent these guys out to fight two of the biggest heavyweights in the NHL, I hope Vigneault feels a tad guilty because he had a front-row seat to the Scott fight.
When it was over, Bolduc had at least a shoulder injury, according to the Canucks writers, and looked like he didn't know if he was on Earth or Mars. Later, Shane Hnidy fought Tanner Glass. [Russo's Rants]
