Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

[jdr1]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Good job DU. You showed tonight what a championship team looks like. The sioux are really reeling without genoway and hextall!! Good luck the rest of the way !!!

[GOPHER FREAK]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Honest question.


How do Sioux fans feel about still be ranked in the top five. I realize UND *could* turn it on and be one of the better teams in the country, But seriously this team is almost as likely as Minnesota to start the playoffs on the road.

[Puck Swami]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

UND has many talented players and they work very hard, but without a puck-moving defenseman q-b like Genoway, their transition game is hampered. Additionally, the Sioux goaltending has been decent, but rarely at the game-stealing level. If Genoway comes back, and if the goaltending can step up, UND can be as good as anyone, but right now, without those two elements, they struggle to be elite.

[bik4u62]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Honest question.

How do Sioux fans feel about still be ranked in the top five.

Somewhere around early Dec. they were ranked #2 (or #3?), and deserved it 100%. There might actually be something to that old wives tale that when you lose your best players, your team has less talent on it.

Congrats to Denver. They're in a good place.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Honest question.


How do Sioux fans feel about still be ranked in the top five. I realize UND *could* turn it on and be one of the better teams in the country, But seriously this team is almost as likely as Minnesota to start the playoffs on the road.

Seeing how well this team has played all year, it's not surprising to be that high (I don't think it should be in the top 5, but still pretty high). If this team could figure out the finishing thing and start scoring the way they look like they can (and we've seen from them at times)...there's no team in the country they can't beat. Eidsness has been inconsistent, especially with his positioning (See the Rhakshani goal tonight), which has played into the "2 goal lead" thing which I think is now in their heads. They have to break that if they hope to salvage this season. Tonight the Sioux controlled the play for the first half of the game. If not for some good defensive plays and great goaltending from Cheverie, they could have put it away early. After the first goal it seemed like they said "Here we go again" and just started going through the motions which Denver was more then happy to take advantage of.

The Genoway loss has hurt a lot, no doubt, for all the reasons Swami mentioned...but, I'm not convinced this team is only the 6th best in the WCHA without him. This season has been very frustrating to be a Sioux fan.

[MagnessMan]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

To add to what's been said already about the Sioux struggles. I think the PP drought is directly related to what PS was saying about missing CG. Their PP is something like 0-30. Not pretty at all. I didn't see Friday's game (heard it on the radio). I did watch last nights on the Sioux Sports feed--I heard that our kill was dominant Friday. Last night I felt like it was more just poor execution by the UNDies. If you can't convert at this point in the year--you've got trouble. As far as rankings go--PWR is all that really matters, There UND is 15th.

[Sloe Gin]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Teams lose players all the time to injuries. By the end of each season, every guy on a hockey team is a little banged up. And yes, you can make the argument that Genoway might be the best player in the WCHA. But I mean, as a team, you need to respond and step up. One player going down should not make or break your entire season. When I watch the Sioux, it's almost like they have thrown in the towel already.

It's safe to say home ice is out of reach, but they still could reach the F5 if they play tough down the rest of the stretch. And the guys need to realize that they aren't getting Chay back, that they are still a deep team, and can make an impact if they play with a little more inspiration.

Hats off to DU, btw. They played a great series. I've watched this team a lot and they are loaded. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Goon]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

To add to what's been said already about the Sioux struggles. I think the PP drought is directly related to what PS was saying about missing CG. Their PP is something like 0-30. Not pretty at all. I didn't see Friday's game (heard it on the radio). I did watch last nights on the Sioux Sports feed--I heard that our kill was dominant Friday. Last night I felt like it was more just poor execution by the UNDies. If you can't convert at this point in the year--you've got trouble. As far as rankings go--PWR is all that really matters, There UND is 15th.

Well that was a fun weekend of hockey. The UND power outage is at 0-32. They just missed getting a powerplay goal on the second goal last night.

[Goon]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Honest question.


How do Sioux fans feel about still be ranked in the top five. I realize UND *could* turn it on and be one of the better teams in the country, But seriously this team is almost as likely as Minnesota to start the playoffs on the road.

There seems to be a lot of Gopher fans concerned about where UND is ranked in the national rankings. It's not the Sioux fans fault that our team is ranked, I blame the hockey writers. Most of us know that these rankings at this point in the season mean nothing. Seriously, the only thing that matters is that UND is a bubble NCAA team, and could go either way. The Gophers not so much.

[SJHovey]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Well that was a fun weekend of hockey. The UND power outage is at 0-32. They just missed getting a powerplay goal on the second goal last night.

I'm sure it's been posted elsewhere, just too lazy to go back and credit it, but Jim Scanlan had maybe the line of the season last night after Pat Sweeney stated, "UND is now zero for their last 30 on the power play." Scanlan: "Those are Nick Punto-like numbers."

[Biddco]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Gwoz's team walked all over the Sioux this weekend eh?

[Puck Swami]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Denver didn't dominate the Sioux this weekend, but they scored some big goals, had the stronger PK and got the good goaltending that they needed to win both games. The Sioux were the better team for about 90% of Friday's game, and 50% of Saturday's game in terms of skating, puck possesion and shots, but Denver was quite surgical in being able to build their leads in those moments when the Sioux were flat.

Colllege hockey is a game of emotions, and being able to strike in the opponents' "lulls" is a hallmark of a good team, especially on the road in a hostile environment.

This Denver team got a full sweep for the first time this year, and this should be the kind of confidence builder that lets them know that they are an elite team with a chance to have success in the post season.

[Busua]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Tough series to watch. But Schlossman made a good point in his blog. UND has the youngest team in the league, with its Senior captian out, and both other seniors have been dinged-up. That's a recipe for, well, what we've seen play out so far this year, and particularly the four games against DU and the UMD series. UND has better days ahead with all its talent and drive. I am interested in how they finish the year and whether they earn an NCAA spot. Any expectations beyond that are unrealistic.

[SJHovey]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

Tough series to watch. But Schlossman made a good point in his blog. UND has the youngest team in the league, with its Senior captian out, and both other seniors have been dinged-up. That's a recipe for, well, what we've seen play out so far this year, and particularly the four games against DU and the UMD series. UND has better days ahead with all its talent and drive. I am interested in how they finish the year and whether they earn an NCAA spot. Any expectations beyond that are unrealistic.

With all due respect to Brad, I don't think it's age or injuries that have lead to these recent struggles. It's the team's play, or more particularily, it's lack of success on the power play that is the cause.

The Sioux are 1-8-1 in games in which they are held scoreless with the man advantage. The one blip was the Cornell game.

On the other hand, they are 12-2-4 in games in which they score on the power play. The two losses were games in which UND ran up against an even more potent pp (the penalty fiasco at DU and the second game against Wisconsin).

Even more significant is the role those pp goals played.

Seven times it was the GWG. In two of the tie games, it was the game tying goal.

Numerous times a pp goal changed a two goal margin to three goals, essentially putting the game out of reach.

Last night UND had a numerous chances to stretch the two goal lead to three, on the pp, but failed. That may have been the difference.

It's a good pp team. Granted, it was better with Hextall in the lineup, and even more dangerous with Genoway. But there are plenty of talented players who should be able to capitalize with a man advantage, no matter their age.

I'm glad the pp slump is occurring now, rather than in March. I have confidence Hak and the staff will get it figured out.

[Puck Swami]

Re: Denver at North Dakota: Big Rivalry, Big Weekend

With all due respect to Brad, I don't think it's age or injuries that have lead to these recent struggles. It's the team's play, or more particularily, it's lack of success on the power play that is the cause.

The Sioux are 1-8-1 in games in which they are held scoreless with the man advantage. The one blip was the Cornell game.

On the other hand, they are 12-2-4 in games in which they score on the power play. The two losses were games in which UND ran up against an even more potent pp (the penalty fiasco at DU and the second game against Wisconsin).

Even more significant is the role those pp goals played.

Seven times it was the GWG. In two of the tie games, it was the game tying goal.

Numerous times a pp goal changed a two goal margin to three goals, essentially putting the game out of reach.

Last night UND had a numerous chances to stretch the two goal lead to three, on the pp, but failed. That may have been the difference.

It's a good pp team. Granted, it was better with Hextall in the lineup, and even more dangerous with Genoway. But there are plenty of talented players who should be able to capitalize with a man advantage, no matter their age.

I'm glad the pp slump is occurring now, rather than in March. I have confidence Hak and the staff will get it figured out.

Good observations. I am convinced that with the huge developmental leaps in goaltending and team defensive systems that have really negated 5 on 5 scoring in recent years, success on special teams IS the differentiating factor in team success. UND may have a sputtering power play without Genoway, but I also think Denver's PK is the best component part of the Pios' overall game, in part to Cheverie and in part to do the quick forwards up top with active sticks and shot blocking. Had UND been up against an average PK, they probably would have had 3 or 4 PPGs this last weekend. UND's puck movement was good, shot selection was good and creativity was fine. What they lacked was a strong crease presence, the play reading ability of Genoway to pick the right option aganst Denver's rotations and overloads and a tendency to over-look for pretty backdoor plays.