November 21, 2010

.3 seconds

Twice now in the past 3 seasons, we've seen the Sioux burned by a last second (literal) goal. UNH tied the Sioux with .1 on the clock of the Regional game in the 2008-2009 season and last night, the Mavericks won the game with the only goal of the night, scoring with .3 seconds left. From the radio call, it sounded like the Mavericks were blatantly offsides, but you take a look at a youtube video clip of it and I'm not so sure. I think they were, but it's very hard to tell. Regardless, the Sioux had plenty of opportunities to seal the deal last night and were unable to do so.

Aaron Dell continues to establish himself as the go-to goaltender for the Sioux. It sounds like he is making the saves he needs to, and let's face it; over this roadtrip, he was solid. He shut out the Badgers one night, kept the Sioux in the 2nd game, replaced Eidsness on Friday night in Omaha and did a stand-up job there and played 59:59.7 minutes of shutout hockey on Saturday. You can't ask for much better then that! It really just sucks that the team was unable to come away with a victory last night.

You do have to give UNO credit though. They are a tough, well-coached team and certainly can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league. I can't help but wonder if the grind of the WCHA will wear them down as the season goes on, but for right now, I give their program a lot of credit. It starts with coaching for sure. Dean is a classy guy; we all have a lot of good memories of him at North Dakota and you can't take that away for sure. UNO will have some great success with him at the helm.

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