February 16, 2009

12th in the Pairwise...tied for first...a sweep of Mankato...looking good!

The Sioux proved the doubters wrong yet again by beating Mankato on Saturday night, earning a crucial sweep and moving up from 17th to 12th in the pairwise. As far as I'm concerned, the Sioux are in control of their destiny now. 3 series remain, one at home and two on the road.

Let's just quick review highlights and lowlights of Saturday:

- The Sioux just simply never quit in this game. I was amazed at their hard work throughout the entire game
- Goon alluded to this a little in his blog, so I'll keep it short, but Hak did a great job of keeping the players in control, especially when the game had the chance to get chippy
- Ryan Duncan is a sniper. Plain and simple. He froze Zaccharias on his wrist shot.
- On a somber note, Derrick LaPoint went down in the 1st period with a very ugly leg injury. I won't post the picture, but the thought is he broke his leg in two places. The prognosis is that he will be back next season, however.

There is something I noticed about the Sioux this weekend that I was very proud of, and it fills me with optimism. They were hungry. Focused. They were determined to win at every point of each game last weekend. Even when they were down 3-2 in the 3rd, I had this feeling in my gut that they were going to win the game. And they did.

I also talked to the WCHA Writer yesterday about how every single team in the WCHA that does not play their home games in Houghton needs to treat each game like it's a playoff game. Every win or loss means so much now it's ridiculous. No, UAA will not be able to take 1st in the WCHA, but with a few more wins, they could be looking at an 8th or 7th place finish. CC is fighting for home ice right now, and Wisconsin is looking at the top of the standings and I'm sure as hell wants to be there. The Sioux need to treat UAA like a formidable opponent, and realize that if they neglect their business, they may be looking on the outside.

5 comments:

Eric J. Burton said...

Your admirers are back. I guess these class one losers have nothing better to do but hack on us eh? How pathetic is that?

http://goofsworld.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/oh-sioux-fans/

BrettB in STL said...

good to see you being a lot more optimistic about your Sioux team.:)

Brandon said...

yep, I am definitely optimistic right now. :-)

Brandon said...

and Goon, these two guys are unreal. I'm glad that I provide them with so much entertainment. And I guess a girl that works out and doesn't weigh 100 pounds is "mannish".

Eric J. Burton said...
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