Eric Burton wrote:
>        Also this cross checking people (denver's #19) in the back of the Head
>after a playerscores a goal needs to be looked at by the officals.
>Maybe Sheppard should have been in MPLS instead of call an hs game in
>Grand Forks,  there is no excuse for that one of the gophers could have
>been hurt.....
 
The whole Gophers-Pioneers game on Sunday was kind of ugly.  We (Minnesota)
seem to have gone back to our old habit of liking to knock opposing goalies
over at the end of a play; they don't take serious runs at people, just
very consistently give them a little bump after the puck is frozen.  I
really wish they would stop that.  I'm not refering to the play where
Wallinheimo got hurt; that looked more like he hit his head on the ice as a
result of his attempt to draw a penalty.
  On other notes: this still does not look like a team that was touting its
defense as a real strength.  On Saturday, it was awful, but the whole
performance had long stretches of very disappointing intensity.  Dan Trebil
still gives the puck up at the blueline too often, creating opposing
breakaways.
  On Sunday, they didn't get sloppy until they were in the middle of
creating a big lead.  I guess my preference is that you take those big
leads and really clamp down on D, but perhaps I'm being picky.  DeBus
looked good, except for quickly jumping on loose pucks around the crease.
There were a lot of extra DU scoring chances, including their first goal,
created by the puck slithering around in front.  He needs to get quicker
and better about jumping on those.
  Big series in Duluth this weekend.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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