Greetings from "The Ralph" ...
Here are tonight's lines:
MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Bruess-Mouillierat
Berge-Galiardi-Louwerse
Gaulrapp-Harrison-Stewart
Thompson-Sackrison-Wiley
Davis-Kilburg
Cooper-Youds
Friesen-Canzanello
Zacharias
Tormey
Extra players: Dieter, Jokinen
NORTH DAKOTA
Gregoire-Duncan-Hextall
Trupp-VandeVelde-Frattin
Watkins-Zajac-Martens
Lamoureux-Malone-Kozek
Finley-Genoway
LaPoint-Marto
Blood-Miller
Eidsness
Walski
More to come ...
Friday, February 13, 2009
Poll results
Where will the Mavericks finish in the WCHA standings?
Fifth 31%
Sixth 20%
Seventh 16%
Eighth 13%
Fifth 6%
First 5%
Tenth 4%
Ninth 0%
Second 0%
Third 0%
Fifth 31%
Sixth 20%
Seventh 16%
Eighth 13%
Fifth 6%
First 5%
Tenth 4%
Ninth 0%
Second 0%
Third 0%
Friday-morning reading
It's Friday, the 13th. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. The Mavericks and the Sioux. Sounds anything but boring ...
Minnesota State battles North Dakota this weekend and his hoping to shake up the WCHA standings. The Mavericks get Jason Wiley back from injury and will start Mike Zacharias in goal. With just seven games remaining in the regular season, the team is hoping that it has found its groove. Sophomore forward Rylan Galiardi says its easy to talk the talk but MSU has to walk the walk in order to win.
As for the Sioux, they are expecting "an honest effort" from both teams this weekend. Both teams will play a hard-nosed, aggressive style that the Gophers ust don't seem to appreciate (apparently WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd will attend both games this weekend). Also in the Grand Forks Herald, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod talks about rough play and suspensions and some guy named Frederick answers a few questions about the Mavs.
Both teams are led in scoring by defensemen -- MSU's Kurt Davis and UND's Chay Genoway, the latter of whom was featured in the Herald on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the WCHA, Denver defenseman Patrick Mullen received a one-game suspension for slashing Minnesota Duluth's Mike Connolly at the end of last Saturday's game. He will miss tonight's rivalry game against Colorado College. Other matchups include Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota and Michigan Tech at St. Cloud State.
Here are previews by USCHO, INCH (which declares the Mavs-Sioux series this week's "Great Getaway") and This is the WCHA.
PucKato is getting ready to make the trek to Grand Forks, so that's all for now. Check back later today for a new poll, a pregame post and semi-live blogging during tonight's game.
Minnesota State battles North Dakota this weekend and his hoping to shake up the WCHA standings. The Mavericks get Jason Wiley back from injury and will start Mike Zacharias in goal. With just seven games remaining in the regular season, the team is hoping that it has found its groove. Sophomore forward Rylan Galiardi says its easy to talk the talk but MSU has to walk the walk in order to win.
As for the Sioux, they are expecting "an honest effort" from both teams this weekend. Both teams will play a hard-nosed, aggressive style that the Gophers ust don't seem to appreciate (apparently WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd will attend both games this weekend). Also in the Grand Forks Herald, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod talks about rough play and suspensions and some guy named Frederick answers a few questions about the Mavs.
Both teams are led in scoring by defensemen -- MSU's Kurt Davis and UND's Chay Genoway, the latter of whom was featured in the Herald on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the WCHA, Denver defenseman Patrick Mullen received a one-game suspension for slashing Minnesota Duluth's Mike Connolly at the end of last Saturday's game. He will miss tonight's rivalry game against Colorado College. Other matchups include Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota and Michigan Tech at St. Cloud State.
Here are previews by USCHO, INCH (which declares the Mavs-Sioux series this week's "Great Getaway") and This is the WCHA.
PucKato is getting ready to make the trek to Grand Forks, so that's all for now. Check back later today for a new poll, a pregame post and semi-live blogging during tonight's game.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
MSU recruits among Mr. Hockey finalists
The 10 finalists for Minnesota's Mr. Hockey Award were announced Wednesday and two of them are future Mavericks: Centennial forward Tyler Pitlick and South St. Paul defenseman Zach Palmquist. Pitlick will come to Mankato next year, while Palmquist will come in 2010 or 2011 according to various reports.
Here is the list with the players' college committments.
Dan DeLisle, Totino Grace (Minnesota Duluth)
Marshall Everson, Edina (Harvard)
Ben Hanowski, Little Falls (St. Cloud State)
Tyler Lapic, New Prague (Wisconsin)
Nick Leddy, Eden Prairie (Minnesota)
Anders Lee, Edina (Notre Dame)
Danny Matson, Holy Angels (North Dakota)
Zach Palmquist, South St. Paul (Minnesota State)
Tyler Pilick, Centennial (Minnesota State)
Max Tardy, Duluth East (Minnesota Duluth)
Here is the list with the players' college committments.
Dan DeLisle, Totino Grace (Minnesota Duluth)
Marshall Everson, Edina (Harvard)
Ben Hanowski, Little Falls (St. Cloud State)
Tyler Lapic, New Prague (Wisconsin)
Nick Leddy, Eden Prairie (Minnesota)
Anders Lee, Edina (Notre Dame)
Danny Matson, Holy Angels (North Dakota)
Zach Palmquist, South St. Paul (Minnesota State)
Tyler Pilick, Centennial (Minnesota State)
Max Tardy, Duluth East (Minnesota Duluth)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Poll results
Perhaps the deck was stacked a bit with the Gophers in Mankato last week and what transpired during and after the games, but here are the results of this week's PucKato poll:
Who is Minnesota State's biggest rival?
Thanks for playing. Check out the new poll at left.
Who is Minnesota State's biggest rival?
Minnesota | 68 (61%) |
North Dakota | 16 (14%) |
St. Cloud | 14 (12%) |
Wisconsin | 1 (0%) |
Minnesota Duluth | 1 (0%) |
Nebraska-Omaha | 3 (2%) |
Alaska-Anchorage | 3 (2%) |
Bemidji State | 4 (3%) |
Thanks for playing. Check out the new poll at left.
Friday-morning reading
The Mavericks are off this weekend, but you might want to take in some scoreboard watching and see where they end up in the WCHA standings come late Saturday night. Minnesota State is in seventh place with 20 points, one point behind Minnesota, Colorado College and Duluth, two points ahead of St. Cloud and four ahead of Alaska-Anchorage.
St. Cloud is at Anchorage this weekend, Minnesota hosts Wisconsin, Colorado College is at Michigan Tech and Denver is at Duluth.
Here's what's being said about those other series:
In Anchorage, all eyes are on the possible eruption of volcano Mount Redoubt, perhaps the only thing that can slow down St. Cloud's Ryan Lasch right now. Meanwhile, the Seawolves are getting good production from their defensemen, however, Anchorage hasn't beaten the Huskies in their last eight meetings.
In one of the tightest WCHA races in recent history, Minnesota Duluth will try to move within one point of first-place Denver when it hosts the Pioneers this weekend. With a team-leading 33 points, Denver forward Anthony Maiani has experienced everything but a sophomore slump.
Colorado College is this season's opponent for Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival games and had to make a long trip for the celebration. The Huskies, meanwhile, have healed up a bit after having last weekend off.
Finally, the Gophers will play their biggest rival, the Badgers. Coach Don Lucia didn't take any more veiled shots at MSU but did refer to playing more physical after last week's losses to the Mavericks, telling the Pioneer Press, "The thing we talk about all the time is when you get punched in the nose, you've got to punch 'em back. Standing up to 'em, basically." Lucia was more diplomatic with The Capital Times of Madison, saying that there is "not enough respect between players in how the play the game," and would like to see a return to the way the game was refereed early in the season and, perhaps, extra punishment to players who have multiple major penalties. He added that his players "did some stupid stuff, too, and that's going to be addressed." Another issue for Minnesota is that it has given up six goals in four of its last six games. As for Wisconsin, it is getting solid play from junior Andy Bohmbach.
Here are previews from INCH and USCHO and a column from This is the WCHA.
St. Cloud is at Anchorage this weekend, Minnesota hosts Wisconsin, Colorado College is at Michigan Tech and Denver is at Duluth.
Here's what's being said about those other series:
In Anchorage, all eyes are on the possible eruption of volcano Mount Redoubt, perhaps the only thing that can slow down St. Cloud's Ryan Lasch right now. Meanwhile, the Seawolves are getting good production from their defensemen, however, Anchorage hasn't beaten the Huskies in their last eight meetings.
In one of the tightest WCHA races in recent history, Minnesota Duluth will try to move within one point of first-place Denver when it hosts the Pioneers this weekend. With a team-leading 33 points, Denver forward Anthony Maiani has experienced everything but a sophomore slump.
Colorado College is this season's opponent for Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival games and had to make a long trip for the celebration. The Huskies, meanwhile, have healed up a bit after having last weekend off.
Finally, the Gophers will play their biggest rival, the Badgers. Coach Don Lucia didn't take any more veiled shots at MSU but did refer to playing more physical after last week's losses to the Mavericks, telling the Pioneer Press, "The thing we talk about all the time is when you get punched in the nose, you've got to punch 'em back. Standing up to 'em, basically." Lucia was more diplomatic with The Capital Times of Madison, saying that there is "not enough respect between players in how the play the game," and would like to see a return to the way the game was refereed early in the season and, perhaps, extra punishment to players who have multiple major penalties. He added that his players "did some stupid stuff, too, and that's going to be addressed." Another issue for Minnesota is that it has given up six goals in four of its last six games. As for Wisconsin, it is getting solid play from junior Andy Bohmbach.
Here are previews from INCH and USCHO and a column from This is the WCHA.
The WCHA's drinking problem
Here are Minnesota coach Don Lucia's comments this week about his team's various rivalries, specifically those teams that play in arenas that serve alcohol. I'm what, if anything, happened last weekend in Mankato, but it is interesting that he said he talked to the WCHA about the issue on Monday. Thanks to Roman Augustoviz's blog for the quotes.
So what do you think of this? Is alcohol a problem at the Alltel Center? Is it a problem in the WCHA and college hockey? Are visiting teams and their coaches more vulnerable to taunting or worse behavior at a place like Mankato, where they serve drinks, than, say, St. Cloud, where they don't? What would the Alltel Center be like if alcohol wasn't available during MSU games? What say you?
“Some of the others ones, and I won’t mention names or anything like that, are a little bit more ugly as far as fan treatment and everything else,” Lucia said. “I never felt that way with Wisconsin. Our games have been much more disciplined over the years than maybe years ago.Minnesota plays Wisconsin this weekend.“I never felt when I go to Kohl Center – I think the fans react in a real positive manner. Ya, once in a while, when you come off the ice, you get a little [grief] from a student. But that’s OK. That’s all fun. But I never felt when I go there, it is over the top and that’s me as a college coach. I have no issue with fans cheering their team and getting involved. I don’t particularly like the vulgarity. ‘F the Gopher’ chant that we hear.
“And I think, to be honest, and I spoke [Monday] about it [to WCHA officials]. I’m probably being more candid, maybe it is the steroids I took this morning than normal. I think as a league – my own personal opinion is, I am not sure if alcohol is served at some of the venues is a real positive in our league.
(Lucia is taking weekly IV steriod treatments for a nerve problem which causes numbness on the left side of his face.)
“I am a purist,” Lucia said. “I don’t have an issue if it is served in club rooms or in suites or in a beer garden. But I have an issue and, I think it lends to problems, when you got guys sitting with beer after beer sitting right behind the visitors’ bench. Nothing good can happen.
“And we have venues that you can literally sit and have cocktails all game long whether it’s hard booze, wine or beer. I think that is where some of the ugliness gets. As a league, I think we have to take a look at that.”
So what do you think of this? Is alcohol a problem at the Alltel Center? Is it a problem in the WCHA and college hockey? Are visiting teams and their coaches more vulnerable to taunting or worse behavior at a place like Mankato, where they serve drinks, than, say, St. Cloud, where they don't? What would the Alltel Center be like if alcohol wasn't available during MSU games? What say you?
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