Sorry, this got a little long.  But I've seen worse. :)  I don't think
there's anything in here that will warrant heated responses, I just
tried to throw some opinions and comments in.
 
On Tue, 4 Feb 1997, Chad Doughty wrote:
> #3  I was impressed with the quickness and speed of the Sioux and in
> particular
> with Jason Blake. He played with a special drive and I have a hunch he
> harbors some ill feelings towards Minnesota and Woog for ignoring him
> when he came out of Moorhead. Yet another great player who is somehow
> overlooked by the Gopher's.(See Matt Cullen, etc.)
 
In the Grand Forks Herald, columnist Ryan Bakken (he writes with kind of
a Dark Starr type of outlook, but pro-Sioux) pointed out, "UND 6,
Minnesota 2 was one score.  Another was UND's Minnesotans 5, Minnesota's
Minnesotans 2."  UND's Minnesotans scored five of the goals on Saturday.
They included Jason Blake of Moorhead, Peter Armbrust of Edina, and Matt
Henderson of White Bear Lake.  The article goes on to point out that
while some coaches have conceded the territory, Sioux coach Blais
actively recruits in Minnesota, and apparently his efforts are paying
off.
 
One other cute quote, from Blais, "Midwest Sports Channel is Minnesota's
biggest recruiting tool, but when we beat them on MSC, it turns into
our biggest recruiting tool."
 
You can find the article at
http://www.gfherald.com/sports/hockey/202ryan.htm, if you're interested.
 
>
> #4  The Sioux should win the WCHA title fairly easily now barring a complete > breakdown. The only thing that could derail them down the road is
> goaltending.
> I thought Schweitzer didn't look too sharp either night and if the
> Gopher's could have mustered any kind of consistent offensive attack they
> could have made the games interesting. What has happened to Kvalevog(sp?)?
 
My friends have said that the only thing missing all year has been a hot
goaltender.
 
It is the opinion of everybody I've been talking to that right now,
Schweitzer is playing better than Kvalevog has been.  Among other wins
against big teams (as mentioned in this list a few times), Schweitzer
had a win against BU during Break and a shutout @CC Jan 25.  Right now
(especially relatively speaking), Schweitzer is hot.  I agree that DeBus
had great games, but if you allow 51 and 36 shots, and only take 28 and
25, even DeBus can't always pull you through.
 
I'm not foolish enough to say on this list that the freshman Schweitzer
is better, and I don't agree (yet :) but please note that this weekend:
 
Schweitzer had 45 saves on 51 shots = 0.8824
DeBus      had 75 saves on 87 shots = 0.8621
 
Granted, a man gets tired after 30-40 shots a night, and you can give
him that, and his defense gave up on him after it was 4-2 on Saturday.
DeBus had a better overall performance, but don't look over Schweitzer.
 
0.8824 may not sound spectacular, but it is probably one of the best
series save percentages for the Sioux, especially against a great team
such as Minnesota.  Throughout the year, UND seems to allow very few
shots, but those that are allowed are very good shots.  With this
happening, we are winning games, but it's my opinion that the goalies'
stats look worse than their skills should show (although I don't believe
that we have the solid goaltending we'd like, either).
 
On the flip-side, the Sioux often shoot a very high number of shots, but
many of them are not hard to save.  For example, often we will lob
wrist-shots from the top of the circle, making an easy save, but it
counts as a shot on goal.
 
But I digress...
 
ANYWAY, I wanted to defend against these posts about Schweitzer.  I'd
have to say allowing only 6 goals over the series against the then #3
ranked team is pretty darn good.  The Sioux defense did a lot, but I
needed to point out that Schweitzer showed some good talent, too, and we
hope to see him much more in the future.
 
Kirk
 
PS, some have been saying the series was chippy, while I think there was
more cheap than chippy play.  (and UM was cheaper IMHO, but that's
another story :) There was lots of pushing, holding, and interference,
but I don't think I saw much hacking.  Maybe I'm the only one who makes
the distinction...
 
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