Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

First I want to start off by wishing Jesse Martin (and his family) a quick and full recovery from his broken vertebrae.

There has already been lots of speculating on this incident from fans around the league, and I’ll leave it at that. However, I want to talk briefly about hockey hits in general. I believe that Don Cherry (Hockey Night in Canada announcer, ex-coach), had the answer to all these injuries, years ago. Get rid of the hard plastic arm pads that players wear, and replace them with some of the new cotton/foam padding. Let’s face the physics of the matter, plastic, it doesn’t give much when you hit it, cotton/foam padding on the other hand does.

Now, back to this week, yet again we have five league series this weekend. The standings are starting shake out, but it is still too early to say who really is the best team in the league is right now.

WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. Minnesota-Duluth....3-0-1…7
2. North Dakota………3-1-0…6
2. Minnesota…………..3-3-0…6
2. Minnesota State…...2-2-2…6
5. Denver……………...2-1-1…5
5. Wisconsin…………..2-1-1…5
7. Nebraska-Omaha…2-0-0…4
8. Michigan Tech……..1-2-1…3
9. Colorado College…..1-3-0…2
10. St. Cloud State….....1-1-0…2
11. Alaska-Anchorage...0-3-1…1
11. Bemidji State……….0-3-1…1

WCHA

Colorado College vs #13 Denver
Last weekend the Tigers where swept by the Gophers in Colorado Spring and the Pioneers split their series with the Sioux in Grand Forks.

After getting swept last weekend the Tigers need to get back in the win column. Like the saying goes, “you can’t win the league title in first part of the season, but you can lose it.” This is start of this year’s Gold Pan games, and from what I read/know the Pioneers are the Tigers most disliked rival. It seems that most DU fans consider UND to be their arch-rivals the past few years, replacing the Tigers. Any way you slice it, it is still an in-state rival (too bad Air Force is not in the WCHA too). The Tiger need some points this weekend, if they want to stay in contention for a league title come March, or just home ice. For the Pioneers, it will be focusing on this weekend, and trying to put last weekend’s unfortunate incident in the past. After this weekend series, DU will have finished up what looks to be the hardest stretch of their season schedule. I’m going with the home team to win in their home building, SPLIT.

Bemidji State @ #20 St. Cloud State
Last weekend the Beavers lost and tied the Bulldogs in Bemidji and the Huskies split with Quinnipiac in St. Cloud.

The Beavers are still trying to get their first WCHA conference win, with this weekend being their first WCHA road games. BSU came close last weekend with a pair of overtime games. The Huskies have been sporadic to start the year, win here a lose there, repeat. SCSU had/has high hopes for the season, and the league coaches thought the Huskies were/are going to be one of the top teams in the league. This early in the year, you have to look past the standing some, SCSU sits in 10, but they have only played 2 games, where most played four or six games. BSU is winless in four games and sitting in the basement. The Beavers might have too big of a hole to dig out of, if they don’t get some points, and soon. SPLIT

#15 Wisconsin @ #17 Minnesota
Last weekend the Badgers swept the MTU Huskies in Madison and the Gophers swept the Tigers in Colorado Springs.

It looks like the Gophers found their offense last week, who knew it was hiding in Colorado, huh. The Gophers put up 13 goals on the weekend, posting 4 on Friday night and 9 on Saturday. Wisconsin put some goals up the board last weekend too, 5 and 4 respectively. If both those offensives show up in Minneapolis this weekend, we might have ourselves some old fashioned barn burners. Of course, now that I speculate shoot outs, the games will end up more like 1-0. This is the other big rivalry series this weekend, CC vs DU is the other rivals game. I’m going to go with a safe conservative pick here, SPLIT.

#2 Minnesota-Duluth @ #9 North Dakota
Last weekend the Bulldogs took three points from the Beavers in Bemidji and the Sioux split with the Pioneers in Grand Forks.

The Sioux outshot the Pioneers in both games last weekend, 30-17 Friday and 33-17 Saturday. UND has scored 14 goals in conference play and UMD has scored 13 goals, both teams have played 4 games. If you look at BSU being a common denominator between UND, UMD you would have to go with the Sioux in this series. They beat BSU by a pair of 5-2 scores, and UMD beat them 3-2 OT and tied 1-1. I’m going to stick with the home team this weekend, SIOUX SWEEP.

Minnesota State @ #8 Nebraska-Omaha
Last weekend the MSUM Mavericks took three points from the Seawolves in Anchorage and the UNO Mavericks enjoyed a weekend off.

This will be the first time these teams play each other as members of the same league. The last few years these teams have played one another, as non-conference games. That should make for a good background between these pair of Mavericks. Like the cliché goes, “familiarity breeds contempt” and these teams should be familiar with each other. I saw the UNO v UM games a few weeks ago, and the Red Mavericks looked pretty good (of course, the Gophers looked bad then too). I haven’t seen the Purple Pucksters in action this year, so its hard to predict these games. MAVERICKS Win and the other MAVERICKS Win too :)

BYE WEEK
University of Alaska Anchorage – Seawolves
Michigan Technological University – Huskies

I’m Sioux 7 and I approve of this message.
(Man, I’m glad I don’t have to hear that fraise for a couple of years.)

Hockey culture doesn't sit well with dad

Here is an article from Slam Sports/Canoe.CA, Terry Martin is in favor of changing the culture of hockey as soon as possible.

EDMONTON - The father of a young hockey player who is still recovering in a Minneapolis hospital from a broken neck after a devastating hit says the entire sport is due for a fundamental fix when it comes to bodychecking.

Terry Martin's son, 22-year-old Jesse Martin -- a centreman with the University of Denver -- was taken off on a stretcher Sunday night following the hit by Brad Malone, a player with the University of North Dakota during a match Sunday in Grand Forks.

The former player for the Spruce Grove Saints and a product of the Atlanta Thrashers was rushed to hospital after suffering three fractures to his C-2 vertebrae to his neck.

"I am absolutely in favour of the discussion going on right now about changing the culture of hockey," Terry Martin said in an interview.

Former Duluth Sieve Brady Hjelle Commits to Ohio State University

I just saw this on line over at the Cedar Rapids Roughriders team web page.

Cedar Rapids, IA- RoughRider goaltender, Brady Hjelle, has committed to play the remainder of his college hockey career at Ohio State University.

"We congratulate Brady and are very happy for him and his family. Brady will fit in very nicely with the culture Coach Osiecki and his staff are building at OSU," said Head Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson.

Flyers Danny Briere suspended three games for cross-check

If you haven't seen this Danny Briere was suspended by the NHL for three games for this hit on Islanders center Frans Nielsen. Apparently Briere didn't agree with the Suspension. This is what Briere had to say on the manner.

ESPN.COM --- "I'm shocked," he said before Philadelphia hosted the Hurricanes on Monday night. "Surprised is not strong enough. After all the suspensions that have been handed out the last couple of years and this year, I didn't think I was going to get a game. Then I thought, 'OK yes, I am a repeat offender, they'll probably give me a game because of it.' I'm shocked that it was more than a game."

Come on Danny, you did cross check him in the head and you're a repeat offender, how did you think the league was going to respond? Three games is about right for this hit. I am beginning to wonder who is a bigger POS, Matt Cooke or Daniel Carcillo.

Edmonton product suffers broken neck

Here is a story from the Edmonton Journal that I found on line about Denver forward Jesse Martin, lets not forget this young man as he makes his recovery.

EDMONTON — The father of a city-born hockey player whose neck was broken in a hockey game in North Dakota on Saturday says the prognosis looks good, but it's way too early to know if his son can continue to pursue his dream to play in the NHL.

Terry Martin says his 22-year-old son Jesse has feeling in his extremities, but will likely require surgery within the next couple of days to align the multiple fractures in his second cervical vertebrae.

"The good news is he has got a good range of motion in his arms and legs," Terry Martin said Monday from bedside at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

"It is traumatic, but there has been progress, and that's been positive.

"We have guarded optimism, knowing that it is really serious, but he is in very good hands."

His son suffered multiple fractures to his C2 vertebrae after he was hit with a crushing bodycheck midway through a contest between his University of Denver Pioneers and the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

The six-foot, 180-pound forward was skating with the puck out of his team's end of the ice when he was hit with a thundering check from Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone. He appeared to be planning to make a pass, but was glancing down when the six-foot-two, 212-pound Malone caught him with his shoulder.

College hockey coaches to meet with NHL officials over player raids

It will be interesting to see how this story shakes out. I think this is a work in progress. Division I college hockey took a pounding this summer as a lot of great players fled for the CHL and or NHL.

Twincities.com --- Don Lucia didn't garner a ton of sympathy when he started losing his best players to the NHL. The Gophers men's hockey coach already had won two NCAA titles, and seemed to have his pick of talent, anyway.

But now it's not just the Gophers' cupboard being raided of underclassmen, and college hockey hopes to do something about it.

Lucia and a handful of other Division I coaches, including Wisconsin's Mike Eaves, Boston University's Jack Parker and Harvard's Ted Donato, will meet with NHL representatives next month in Toronto to exchange ideas on the subject.

Among the NHL representatives will be Commissioner Gary Bettman.

"There are things we want to talk about that hopefully we can do with a new (collective bargaining agreement) that can help college hockey," said Lucia, who lost Nick Leddy (to Chicago) and Jordan Schroeder (Vancouver) last spring before either had turned 20.

Before that it was Kyle Okposo, who left in the middle of his sophomore season to join the New York Islanders, and Phil Kessel (Boston) and Erik Johnson (St. Louis), each of whom played one season for the Gophers.

"College hockey has been under assault," said Paul Kelly, executive director of College Hockey Inc., a newly created organization charged with promoting college hockey. "It used to be hard to keep your highly skilled players for three years; now it's two years, and sometimes one. You're constantly recruiting; you have to re-create your team."

When I read this article; my first question is; when is reality is also going to set in. What are the division one hockey coaches going to use as bargaining chips to convince the NHL to stop talking their top players after being college hockey for only a year or two? Seriously! While this is an interesting story, these coaches don't anything to bargain with. I am not sure what they think they can do to stop GM’s and NHL hockey teams from raiding division one hockey teams. That is one of the negatives about recruiting blue chip hockey players to play for their teams, if they are successful their NHL teams are going to want them to play for them. Phil Kessel and Erik Johnson were ready to play in the NHL after only one season in college.

Zach Budish injured; out for the season?

Goal Gophers is reporting that Sophmore winger Zach Budish could be out for the season because of a knee injury. This is bad news for the Gophers if true. According to the Star Tribune Budish was injuried in a moped accident.

Goal Gophers --- Zach Budish, a sophomore right winger for the Gophers, was injured Monday in a moped accident, a team spokesman said. The severity of Budish’s injuries are being determined.

According to at least one report, Budish appears to have a torn anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees and could be out for the rest of the season. That’s what Kevin Gorg, FSN’s analyst for the Gophers-Colorado College series this past weekend, said on KFAN radio on Tuesday morning.

Gophers coach Don Lucia will provide an update on Budish on Wednesday, the day regularly scheduled for media interviews, said Paul Rovnak, the assistant director in athletic communications for men’s hockey.

DU player with broken neck talks to North Dakota opponent who injured him

The Denver Post is reporting this story. Wow! The kid is lying in bed hurt and worried about the kid that checked him. This stuff really thugs at your heart strings. Classy move by Martin, lets hope he makes a speedy return.

The Denver Post --- While recovering from three fractures to his C2 vertebrae today in a Minneapolis hospital, University of Denver center Jesse Martin reached out to the player who inadvertently ended his season and possibly his career.

According to Martin's father, Terry Martin, Jesse called North Dakota senior Brad Malone to ease Malone's mental anguish over his check that caused the injury midway through DU's 3-0 victory on Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D.

"Jesse had heard Brad was having a tough time and he wanted Brad to know he had no hard feelings," Terry Martin said. "Jesse doesn't think it was an illegal hit and he wanted Brad to know that."

Poll Monday - Sioux drop to 9th

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[November 1, 2010]
1 Miami (33) 5-1-2 977 1
2 Minnesota-Duluth ( 8) 6-0-2 926 3
3 Boston University ( 7) 6-0-1 836 6
4 Boston College ( 1) 4-2-0 835 2
5 Yale ( 1) 2-0-0 790 5
6 Michigan 4-1-3 762 4
7 Maine 4-1-2 707 7
8 Nebraska-Omaha 5-1-0 597 9
9 North Dakota 4-3-1 565 8
10 New Hampshire 2-1-2 555 10
11 Notre Dame 5-1-1 488 13
12 Michigan State 3-0-3 481 11
13 Denver 3-3-2 389 12
14 Alaska 5-2-1 358 15
15 Union 5-1-2 286 16
15 Wisconsin 5-2-1 286 18
17 Minnesota 5-3-0 191 20
18 Rensselaer 3-1-3 104 20
19 Cornell 0-2-0 91 14
20 St. Cloud State 3-4-1 88 17
Others Receiving Votes: Merrimack 44, Quinnipiac 38, Robert Morris 34, Colorado College 18, Michigan Tech 13, Ferris State 12, Western Michigan 12, Clarkson 7, Rochester Institute of Technology 6, Bemidji State 2, Canisius 1, Vermont 1


USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[November 1, 2010]
1Miami University, 494 (23)15-1-25
2University of Minnesota Duluth, 469 (7)36-0-25
3Boston University, 407 (4)56-0-15
4Boston College, 40324-2-05
5University of Michigan, 36144-1-35
6Yale University, 35972-0-05
7University of Maine, 322 64-1-25
8University of Nebraska Omaha, 23595-1-03
9University of North Dakota, 208 84-3-15
10University of New Hampshire, 200102-1-25
11University of Notre Dame, 163115-1-12
12Michigan State University, 152143-0-32
13University of Denver, 94123-3-25
14Union College, 88135-1-22
15University of Alaska, 70NR5-2-14

Get Well Jessie Martin

Vizoroo quote from USCHO: For those of us who "live and die" for our favorite college hockey team, there comes a time when that is secondary. And that time came to Pioneer fans this weekend.

First off; I don’t think there are truer words. That being said; I don’t think anyone in the Fighting Sioux fan base is happy that an opposition player was carted off of the ice during Saturday’s game, if they are they need to have their heads examined because they aren’t wired right. Personally, I have also been on the sideline and in the stands for football players that were carted off of the playing surface for a catastrophic injury, it ruins the whole game and puts a dark cloud over the event, this kid may never play hockey again. I have also been to auto races that ended with a driver being taken to the hospital for a bad crash; again the race/event becomes secondary. In the end we are all just human being.

This game puts another dark cloud over a great rivalry between two great programs, whether you like the DU hockey or their head coach, the Denver University Pioneers are a class organization; evidence of this was when their players stood still and slapped their sticks on the ice for the Ed Belfour presentation on Friday night. The last thing we need is more ugliness between the two programs and their great fans.

Personally, while I enjoy the back and forth between the two programs, now is not the time for that, let’s have some empathy for the DU fans as they go through this trying time. I would imagine that Sioux forward Brad Malone also feels bad as well, the big screen caught a glimpse of Malone after the incident and the expression on his face was one of concern. Rember to keep Jesse Martin in thoughts and prayers as he goes through medical treatments.



Denver Post photo.

INCH Power Rankings - Sioux 8th

INCH Power Rankings

1 Miami of Ohio
2 Minn. Duluth
3 Boston University
4 Boston College
5 Michigan
6 Maine
7 Yale
8 North Dakota - The Fighting Sioux outshot Denver by a 63-34 margin last weekend, but the Pioneers outscored NoDak by a 6-4 margin. Feel free to jump to your own conclusion here. 4-3-1 (3-1-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Denver, 4-3; L vs. Denver, 3-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota Duluth, vs. Minnesota Duluth.
9 Union
10 Michigan State
11 New Hampshire
12 Notre Dame
13 Denver
14 Nebraska-Omaha
15 Alaska Fairbanks
16 Wisconsin
17 Rensselaer
18 Merrimack
19 Robert Morris
20 Quinnipiac

I must say that I am surprised that UND is still in 8th I was expecting to be dropped to 10th in the power rankings.

Big Ten Conference hockey? It's a strong possibility

I found this little news nugget in today’s Saint Cloud Times. First off; I can’t be the only one that is uninspired by McLeod’s leadership in moving the WCHA forward with the Big Ten Hockey Conference looming in the future. I am actually more worried now after reading these comments from McLeod; combine these comments in this news article with his interview with Scott Williams Lakeland Public Television during the UND and BSU series a few weeks back I am even more concerned. I am still trying to download the interview between Scott Williams and Bruce McLeod and will do so as soon as I can figure out how to rip the DVD to my hard drive.

Times news services --- Though Penn State officially is committed to playing NCAA Division I hockey, Big Ten Conference representatives won’t speculate about the possibility of an official Big Ten hockey conference.

The Nittany Lions, they point out, haven’t even hired an architect to design their arena. And, they add, such a monumental decision would require a significant amount of discussion at the elite levels of college athletics.

Bruce McLeod doesn’t buy it.

“The way I see it, there’s not much to speculate about,” the Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner said. “They were already looking at it, and now they have six teams. They will have it.”

Last summer, the Big Ten reached out to McLeod and other college hockey leaders about the possibility of starting a hockey conference. Despite only having five schools that play Division I men’s hockey — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State — the Big Ten thought a conference could be created through affiliate memberships with schools such as Notre Dame.

“I and some other people fought very, very hard for several months to avoid that,” McLeod said Monday. “We made a pretty good case, and it didn’t happen.”

Minnesota was among those opposed, though with the addition of a sixth conference team — the number the NCAA requires for a conference championship — arguments against a Big Ten men’s hockey conference might have dried up

Martin in stable condition...

This is a press release from Denver University, it would appear to be good news. Martin is in good hands at HCMC, as it is one of the best level one trauma center in the upper Midwest. I know I can speak for all of us at Goon's World that we hope that he makes a speedy return.

DENVER - University of Denver senior center Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) is in stable condition at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn., tonight after suffering a season-ending injury in last night's 3-0 win over the University of North Dakota.

Martin suffered the injury at the 11:06 mark of the second period after an on-ice collision with North Dakota's Brad Malone, who was assessed a five-minute major penalty for charging and 10-minute game misconduct on the play.

Martin was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was immediately taken to nearby Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, N.D., for observation. After tests were conducted at the hospital, it was determined that Martin needed to be air-lifted to Hennepin County Medical Center for further testing and possible surgery.

According to University of Denver Associate Director of Sports Medicine Aaron Leu, Martin suffered three fractures to his C-2 vertebrae in his neck and is in stable condition. Martin has feeling in his all of his extremities and will undergo further testing during the next 24 hours to determine if surgery is required.

How good is Tim Thomas? How do you like him now?

According to ESPN Tim Thomas' numbers are very impressive and hard to top. Consider last season Bruins fans were ready to throw him under the bus and anoint Tuukka Rask the starter and run Thomas out of Boston on a rail.

ESPN --- With his third shutout of the season Saturday night, Tim Thomas becomes only the second goalie in the expansion era (since 1967-68) with at least 3 shutouts in his first 6 games of a season was Pascal Leclaire in 2007-08 who had 4.

Thomas is now 6-0-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average in his first 6 games of the season. That's also the lowest goals-against average for a goalie who won his first 6 games of a season in the expansion era.

Cooke vs Richards

I don't get to watch a lot of NHL hockey on the weekend when UND is playing and I wanted to post this so you could take a look. I have to say that Mike Richards from the Flyers just went up in my estimation and I hold Matt Cooke in the same regard as I do Ulfie Samuelson lower than pond scum.

Zenon Konopka vs. Daniel Carcillo

Everyone's favorite Punk Daniel Carcillo. I am actually surprised he fought someone that was considered a heavy weight. Konopka got some nice shots in the Flyer's hack.

The Zucker Spear on Genoway - Update on Martin

Here is another illustration of why I think the officiating in the WCHA is so poor; this was at the end of the first period as Denver Pioneer and Wild draftee forward Jason Zucker blatantly spears Chay Genoway in the midsection. I mean seriously, I don’t have a problem with the refs calling major penalties that’s fine but then when the other team commits an obvious major penalty in front of the referees the same standard needs to apply to the other teams as well.

Also, according to a Denver Post article Denver Pioneers forward Jesse Martin, is going to Minneapolis to have surgery on his fractured neck. Remember to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Grand Forks, N.D. — Most members of the DU hockey team flew to Denver out of Fargo this morning, but a handful of them went to Minneapolis with senior center Jesse Martin.

Martin sustained three neck fractures in Saturday night’s hockey game at North Dakota and was scheduled to have emergency surgery today in Minneapolis to relieve swelling of the spinal cord. He was taken off the ice Saturday in a stretcher midway through the second period after being checked by Fighting Sioux senior forward Brad Malone.

Malone, an Avalanche draft pick, crushed Martin parallel to the boards, as Martin was trying to skate the puck up ice, out of the defensive zone. He had his head down.

No penalty was immediately called, but while medical crews prepped Martin for the stretcher, officials gave Malone a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.

A few ponderings thus far and the DU series (RW77)

Whew...

Life's not been as good to me as of late in terms of being able to catch UND games live. However, I have watched a few games over the webcast and NHL Network re-airings and I have a few comments and wish to bring to the blog the argument Goon and I have over what wins more games: Shut down goaltending and an at least responsible team defense or Shut down Team D and a goaltender that makes all the saves he should.

First off, though, the hit. Brad Malone's hit on Jesse Martin is subject to debate. Yes, I see both sides of the argument. However, if they were going to make a call, Charging was the correct one to make. Unlike other buffoons wearing the stripes, this call actually is somewhat close to what actually occurred. I've seen major penalties called for elbowing or contact to the head-roughing when they weren't even remotely true, but in this case, I can see the case for the call. This hit reminded me a LOT of the hit last year on Toews by Vancouver's Willie Mitchell. However, after watching the replay, Malone only makes a passing attempt to play the puck. I think that is what got him the call. When the hit is made, it is basically Malone hitting Martin half-way between his belly button and his side (sorry my descriptions aren't so good). Malone was in the process of changing directions due to an anticipated change in the direction of the puck or a reaction to it having already occurred. If it is the latter, then it was absolutely a penalty because Martin no longer had the puck.

The biggest problem is that this hit took place so fast. It is a problem being faced in pretty much every popular sport at every level. I'm not sure this hit would be this severe 10-15 years ago. I just don't think the players back then were as fast, big, and hard hitting back then. Usually, players back then were one of those three, or even two of the three. But you rarely, in my opinion, saw a fast, big winger. Nowadays, they're all over the place (so yeah, put Brad Malone at this age in the early 90s and I think he would have been a higher draft pick).

I expect that Malone will get a 1 game suspension because of this hit. Then again, he is a feisty winger that has a history with getting under the officials' skins. Unlike professional officials, they do hold grudges from year to year (see Greene, Matt and Commodore, Mike) so it would not surprise me if Head Idiot Greg Shepherd gives Malone a weekend off.

------------

Anyways, to the debate. Eidsness has had a rather rough start. I'm not going to make excuses for his poor play. However, I'm not going to throw him under the bus just yet either.

Goon (who can correct this if I misunderstood him) feels that, in order for the Sioux to win #8, we need a shut down goaltender. He maintains that he Sioux doesn't have one of those. Just a sloppy, but drafted goaltender and a backup who turned down fierce and feisty competition from Quinnipiac to join UND (Dell). If I understand him correctly, the debacles vs. Maine and vs. UAA were mostly on Eidsness.

I disagreed with him. I believe that the game is won or lost by the play of the entire team. This means, a good and consistent offense mixed in with a great team defense can cover up and fully compensate for the fact that the goaltender isn't the second coming of Eddie Belfour. Here's my reasoning: Assuming we bury the chances we get most of the time, a solid Team Defense will eliminate most of the high-success-rate scoring chances the opposition gets and eliminate a lot of shots being sent towards the net through back checking, puck possession, and shot blocking. Therefore, the goaltender need only make saves on whatever manages to get through. This would explain why so many goaltenders have won it all or have gotten close. For example, Gudbranson of UW isn't that great of a goaltender yet UW went all the way to the NC game. Fleury was very inconsistent as a goaltender yet Pittsburgh won the Cup a few years back. Osgood isn't that great of a goaltender (I don't give a damn what the stats say) yet he has 3 Stanley Cup rings. What won it all was a consistent offense and a dominating team defense.

Unashamedly, I do like Eidsness, but I'm a solid believer that it is the team that wins or loses games, not an individual player, even if that player contributes to what would undoubtedly be the game winning event for the opposition.

What do you all think?

-------

In any case, a Split with DU was where I thought we'd be after this weekend was over. Brittain will grow into a thorn in UND (and the rest of the WCHA) hide.

And I do sincerely hope that Jesse Martin is ok.

Pioneers 3 - Sioux 0 - No Dasher Dancing tonight.

I re-watched the game from the Malone hit on and UND out played DU all weekend long and the Pioneers freshman goaltender stole the show for the Pioneers tonight. While UND played good this weekend the Fighting Sioux have a lot of hard work to do to get better and make a run towards the title this season. Say what you want about George Gwozdeky while he might come across to Sioux fans as an arrogant and pompous prick that has the WCHA officials in his back pocket, George is a hell of a coach and he has out coach UND Fighting Sioux head hockey coach Dave Hakstol once again. While the Goaltending was OK tonight, the defense made mistakes a key times that cost the Fighting Sioux.

Good hockey teams and coaches make adjustments and move on and in this case the Sioux made adjustments, however, so did the opposition. Denver reminds me of Cornell University and when they get the lead they clamp it down and play the trap. Denver did the same thing tonight, they lined up on the blue line and made it difficult to get across into the offensive zone.

Buffoon’s in stripes

Edit: Thanks to Whistler for correcting me on the officials for last night's game. None the less, I really had it with the refs in this league, they really are the worst of the worst, a perpetual gong show or a buffoonery in action. Last night Brian Thul, Tom Sterns had a bad night and should sit for their effort this weekend. This crew is almost as bad as the clown Zelkin that was on the ice for the screw job in the mile high city last November. Here is your text book definition of a buffoon.

A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
2. A person given to clowning and joking.
3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.

The refs in this league have to be more accountable and do a better job, the fans and the member schools must demand better before the refs will get better. At the tail end of the game there were many obvious infractions that should have been called penalties that would have given the Sioux the power play. The blatant missed penalty/call on Zucker at the end of the first period was a blatant spear on the Fighting Sioux defenseman Chay Genoway and should have given the Fighting Sioux a 5 minute major power play. Obviously the first two minutes would have been negated by Hextall’s moment of stupidity where he took an ill advised roughing penalty on Pioneer defenseman/hack John Lee.

More on the hit

Here is what resident Sioux hater Denver Post beat writer Mike Chambers had to say about the Malone hit, notice that there is no indication from Chambers that he thought the hit was malicious or dirty, trust me he would have said so if thought the hit was dirty. [click to watch the video]

Denver Post --- DU senior center Jesse Martin has just been wheeled off the ice in a stretcher after being hit by North Dakota senior Brad Malone, an Avalanche draft pick.

Malone crushed Martin parallel to the boards, as Martin was trying to skate the puck up ice, out of the defensive zone. He had his head down. No penalty was immediately called, but while emergency crews prepped Martin for the stretcher, officials gave Malone a 5-major for charging and game misconduct.

UPDATE: Martin was unconscious and did not have use of his extremities while on the ice, but regained feeling in his arms and legs while on the stretcher and en route to Altru Heath Systems in Grand Forks and was admitted for precautionary reasons.

Just for the record I am glad that Martin will be OK and that his is not seriously hurt, no one wants to see the opposition get hurt in a hockey game. The fact remains that just because someone gets hurt on a legal check doesn't mean that officials have to call a penalty. The refs in my opinion made the wrong call.

Brad Malone checks Jesse Martin

After looking at the hit numerous times I don’t know? I still think it looks like a shoulder to shoulder check, but the video isn’t that good to tell definitely and FSSN isn’t in HD either. There is no question that it was a violent check, but hockey is a contact sport, and there are legal and illegal violent checks in the game of hockey and in football. I am sure the league will review this hit and determine if further punishment in the way of game(s) are warranted. I also want to stress that the injury put a negative spin on the game; nobody wants to see anyone get hurt. I hope that Jesse Martin makes a full recovery and can resume playing hockey again.