This is a summary of the weekly Fighting Sioux Coaches Show. It is NOT a verbatim transcript of the show. Comments by the show's hosts and the coaches are paraphrased to the best of the author's ability and are NOT direct quotes. This summary contains selected highlights from the show and is NOT a comprehensive account of all topics covered or discussed. This broadcast summary represents the interpretation of the author and is not associated in any manner with SiouxSports com the University of North Dakota or US College Hockey Online.
From the Green Mill. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman are the hosts with Sioux hockey coach Dave Hakstol. TH: The Sioux are coming off a split against Michigan Tech where they lost 3-1 on Friday and won 6-0 on Saturday. UND’s WCHA home-opener is this weekend against Colorado College. Dave. I think I finally convinced you that your team played pretty well on Friday night. DH: After looking at the tape. I felt we played a little bit better than I originally thought. We did have three or four guys who didn’t play that well and we didn’t execute well but you’re right that we did play hard. TH: You knew going into that series that the team had to start fast and start hard. They did everything they needed to do in the first period of the first game except score. DH: Other than the second period where we took too many penalties we came out hard and pushed them back. We weren’t rewarded with some power plays that we deserved but we did play well. After talking about it and hashing it out we felt like Friday night was our best effort of the year. Saturday night with the execution and overall play we took another small step forward. One positive from Friday night is that we gave up a total of only five or six scoring opportunities and we gave up just one scoring opportunity in the third period. TH: For a freshman defenseman. I though Derrick LaPoint’s performance was impressive in both games. He played very well. DH: Very quietly he did have two solid games and he showed a lot of poise with the puck. There were a few times when he tried to do a little too much but overall he played very well. Jake Marto probably deserved to play Saturday but we thought Derrick played well enough to stay in the lineup. TH: It was also good to see Michael Forney have a good game Saturday. DH: We got good solid play out of Forney. Most importantly he was reliable. TH: He seemed a lot more relaxed than he has in the past. DH: Absolutely. The game is slowing down for him. It’s a sign of experience. His legs got a little heavy in the third period because it was his first game in a long time. But I thought he handled it very well. He just tried hard to do his job and he had opportunities to score a couple of goals. He played with a little bit of poise. He’ll play again Friday. He deserves to be in the lineup. TH: When the Sioux were up 6-0 in the third period Saturday at MTU it gave you a chance to try something different. DH: We went to a wedge-type 1-2-2 system for the last five minutes of the game. In certain games at different times of the year we may want to or need to go to that system. Every line got some experience with it. TH: But they didn’t like it did they?DH: We don’t plan to do a lot of it but you need to have some different looks depending on the game situation. In the third period it was nice just to know that we could go out there for 20 minutes relax and compete hard. TH: You said before you went to Houghton that you thought the Huskies had a good shot to get home ice in the playoffs. Have you changed that assessment?DH: No. I still think that. They have a bunch of guys who’ve bought into the system. On the blue line they’re pretty much meat and potatoes. But I think they’re underrated up front. They have very solid goaltending although Rob Nolan didn’t have his greatest game against us on Saturday. SS: It seems that the bottom half of the WCHA is getting better and that the separation between teams is getting smaller. DH: MTU has a lot of juniors and seniors back. They have a Freshman who could be a good power play guy in the second half. As long as they stay healthy they’ll be a good hockey team. TH: Isn’t it strange that about half of Andrew Kozek’s career goals are against Michigan Tech? DH: Regardless of how many goals he’s scored in the past he’s doing really well. His shot is becoming more of a weapon. He’s just getting it off quicker and getting it off from more places on the ice. It’s not just in games. We’re seeing it in practice consistently too. TH: Sometimes it can just take a couple of years for guys to catch on. DH: It depends on so many different things but most it depends on opportunity. Andrew already has four goals on the season and hopefully he keeps up that consistency. TH: Colorado College swept Minnesota and was in both games against New Hampshire. They don’t seem to have as much skill up front as they’ve had in the past. DH: They’ve got a bunch of good players. They have a lot of different weapons from the blue line. They’re a good team. They play good tempo and they’ve been doing very well defensively. In the series against Minnesota they just outworked the Gophers. SS: You were one of the few WCHA coaches to pick them to finish high in the league. DH: I think they’ll be a top three team in the league which is a compliment to them. It means they’ll be one of the best teams in the country. SS: You told us on Monday that it was good to be back home. DH: We’ve put a lot of miles on the last few weeks and it will be nice to get back home. But we have to understand that we’re on our home turf and we need to take advantage of it. TH: Some of the players told me that this team – on and off the ice – has the best cohesion of any team they’ve been on. It’s interesting that they’re already saying that at this time of the year. DH: The players have to drive that from the inside the locker room. It’s part of what leadership is about. Having skill and ability only gets you so far. Teams that play hard together and stick together all the way through are the ones that win. Sometimes it means that players are willing to play certain roles even if they don’t want to. SS: Unlike other sports it seems that in hockey players tend to contribute more equally throughout the course of a game because they all play. DH: I know that if every piece of the puzzle isn’t in place and everyone isn’t doing their part you’re not going to win games. SS: But it’s not like baseball or basket ball where you say a player is a great guy to have on the bench. DH: That’s not completely true. When Rory McMahon was a senior he was the heartbeat of the bench and played a large role for us. But it’s true that you’re not going to have guys on the bench who are just cheerleaders. TH: If there is it’s a backup goalie like Toby Kvalevog or Jake Brandt. DH: You just mentioned two guys who were very important to the success of their teams. TH: Part of the weekend will be about honoring Sioux hockey legends from the past. DH: We talk a lot about the traditions because they’re important to our program. We’re going to honor four legends of Fighting Sioux hockey on Saturday. When you look back at the history of the program they are four guys who have played huge roles in UND hockey. There will be lots of former players from all eras. TH: On that note we have to mention the tragic death this past weekend of former Sioux player Marty Schreiner. DH: He was passionate and loyal. He was a freshman when I was a senior at UND. I got to know Marty better over the last eight or nine years than when we played together. His funeral is tomorrow. He was one of the guys who had planned to come back this weekend. It really brings things into perspective. TH: People around Grand Forks are really excited to have the team back in town. They haven’t seen you play since the Michigan State game. DH: We were only here for one game before we went on the road. We have one series here then head to Wisconsin and then we have a week off.
Completely agree about Forney!! I don't what it is about this kid but I can't help pulling for him and really want to see him make a huge contribution this year. Maybe it's all the injuries and him never really getting a chance to show Sioux fans how good he could play. But I really think this is going to be his breakout year and he's going to drop in 10 - 15 pucks. I had the same feeling last year about Vandevelde (along with many posters here) and although he didn't net as many pucks. I would say he was a major force going into and during the post season. I WILL buy a "Me SOOO Forney!" t-shirt when he hits 5 goals. As for who sits. I'm off the Radke hatin'. Hak won't play him is he's making poor decisions and not scoring. Forney plays like he did last week and it won't even be a contest. As always. THANK YOU PCM! For those of us living "behind the goofer nation" lines it's great to feel like we're back in good old GF and NoDak listening in.
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