November 20, 2010

Coming from behind and winning

Sorry I haven't been blogging this week; I was in Tucson getting some R&R. I'm back though and raring to talk about last night's game and looking forward to tonight's game.

The Sioux won their third game in a row last night, beating the (Red) Mavericks 6-5 in Omaha. Facing a 2-0 deficit to start the 2nd, the Sioux tied it up with goals from Frattin and Marto. From there, it was a back-and-forth contest, with the teams swiping the lead from each other time and time again. Some big things happened last night though.

Kristo netted his first. It's been a long time coming for the sophomore, who is still a ridiculous talent and is always buzzing all over the ice. A lot of Sioux fans have predicted that once he gets his first, they will come in waves. I'm one of them.

Chay Genoway got his 100th point last night, and is now at 101 points for his UND career. He's just a freaking catalyst out there and a very classy hockey player. I'm just waiting to see one of his end-to-end rushes this year. Chay has the potential to finish his career with 120+ points.

The thing that is impressing me the most is the Sioux are winning right now on the road. They swept Wisconsin in the Kohl Center last weekend and last night beat UNO on the road. Both arenas are hostile environments that ridiculously favor the home team. You have to be impressed that this Sioux team is able to get league wins on the road. The old montage of "win both at home, split on the road" might not apply to this team if they can continue to get sweeps on the road.

Matty Frattin is leading the NCAA's with 12 goals. Dean Blais mentioned he's worthy of the Hobey Baker. Unfortunately, I think his character issues will prevent that, much like TJ Oshie's character issues prevented him from winning the award.

The fact that we're hearing Cichy's name more and more this year is great. He definitely was an up-and-down player last year, not playing in every game. If he continues the way he is playing now, he should be a mainstay for this Sioux team this year.

The one frustrating thing right now is the goaltending situation. By giving the start to Eidsness last night, Hakstol, in my opinion, was telling him that Dell has not won the job and that it was still up for grabs, if Eids wanted it. Eidsness continues to struggle and was replaced by Dell to start the 3rd period, who only surrendered one late 3rd period goal. When you're fighting for your roster spot, you do everything in your damn power to make sure you don't give it up. Eids had a chance to get a convincing road win last night and failed to do so. Give him his next start at home, and if he fails to perform again, I think Dell is the goalie to go with. Eidsness is good, not great, but a 2 goalie rotation would not hurt this team.

MacWilliam was back in the lineup after missing a few games with mono. The Sioux are generally healthy right now, which is good.

In the WCHA, scores from last night. Minnesota beat a scrappy Tech team 6-4. Minnesota-Duluth handed the Badgers another loss, 6-5 in OT. Denver upended Bemidji 3-1, and UAA beat St. Cloud 3-2. Let the overrated chant on St. Cloud begin.

In some other NCAA action, Army destroyed AIC 9-3, Air Force and Canisius tied 1-1, Miami beat Bowling Green 4-3, Sparty lost to Notre Dame in a 6-2 game, Northern Michigan and Alaska tied 1-1, Michigan won 7-2 over LSSU. BC blanked Maine 4-0, BU fell to UHN 5-2. Yale beat Cornell 4-2.

The Sioux look to sweep tonight. Let's see it happen.

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