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O-townClown wrote:The WCHA is an excellent place to develop players and NHL teams have an incentive to leave them there as long as possible.

The NHL is seeing it differently than you state. They don't have nearly as much incentive to keep them in college as they did three or four years ago. I don't know how you can possibly fathom they have more incentive to keep guys in college given a salary cap is now in place and these college guys cost less than they used to since entry level deals are much cheaper now than they were with the prior collective bargaining agreement. The departure numbers also back up the fact that NHL teams are signing college players faster than they used to.... and they come from all sorts of teams beyond just UM.

In the last two off-seasons alone, all of these WCHA guys signed a pro deal with at least one year of college eligibility remaining (and I know I am missing a few names):

Geoff Paukovich
Alex Goligoski
Brian Lee
Jonathan Toews
Erik Johnson
Andrew Gordon
Jim O'Brien
Ryan Dingle
Jack Skille
Steve Wagner
Joe Piskula
Matt Niskanen
Mason Raymond
David Backes
Matt Carle
Ryan Potulny
Danny Irmen
Travis Zajac
Matt Smaby
Robbie Earl
Drew Stafford
Jordan Parise
Ryan Carter
Kris Chucko
Brian Salcido
Phil Kessel
Paul Stastny
Joe Pavelski

You'll be seeing plenty this next off-season as well considering guys like Oshie, Finley, Chorney, Wheeler, and others have a good chance to sign.

Zach:

Good luck in your decision. You'd look good in a change of colors. Too much green might make you sick.

As for Okposo, when you lose surronding players like the Gophers do, other teams wil key on the studs, which is what they did. Maybe Okposo coudn't take it being the "go to" guy.

I bet all of you dads would love to have your kids "rot" at the U and have a chance to win the NCAA's almost every year. I believe they have been a #1 seed six years in a row for the NCAA, first team to repeat in 30+ years, etc. etc.

Sincerely,

J. Leopold, P. Martin, A. Gologoski, T. Vanek, E. Johnson, and J. Pohl

Get an actual education and an NCAA championship....put on the M

May he rest in peace, but didn't Herb Brooks provide insight to one of the Parise boys about making a decision between these two schools. No one can argue with what it means to a Minnesota boy having an opportunity to wear the M jersey. But in Grand Forks, if you are on the hockey team - you are treated like a god! Everyone in town knows who you are and is there for your support. I think Mr. Brooks referred to it as committment to the sport. However, at some point $$$ still has to come into play. While we can argue about the merits of one program over or under the other - I do believe that money talks. I don't think either program gives full rides any more, but I bet one does give more money than the other. It costs nearly twice as much to go to the U of M than it does to attend UND. Regardless of questions about relative worth of the education - it is a fact. If he wants to be a Vet - hit the U of M, but if he wants to major in aviation - UND is the answer. Sorry for the dry humor!

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:The real reason to go to UND is, with the success Tim Brewster and the Gopher football are going to have the next few years hockey will be playing second fiddle at the U.

i hope you are saying this with sarcasm. tim brewster is a joke

hockeyfanatic99 wrote:May he rest in peace, but didn't Herb Brooks provide insight to one of the Parise boys about making a decision between these two schools. No one can argue with what it means to a Minnesota boy having an opportunity to wear the M jersey. But in Grand Forks, if you are on the hockey team - you are treated like a god! Everyone in town knows who you are and is there for your support. I think Mr. Brooks referred to it as committment to the sport. However, at some point $$$ still has to come into play. While we can argue about the merits of one program over or under the other - I do believe that money talks. I don't think either program gives full rides any more, but I bet one does give more money than the other. It costs nearly twice as much to go to the U of M than it does to attend UND. Regardless of questions about relative worth of the education - it is a fact. If he wants to be a Vet - hit the U of M, but if he wants to major in aviation - UND is the answer. Sorry for the dry humor!

he goes to edina im sure money is not a big issue

royals0951 wrote:

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:The real reason to go to UND is, with the success Tim Brewster and the Gopher football are going to have the next few years hockey will be playing second fiddle at the U.

i hope you are saying this with sarcasm. tim brewster is a joke

That might be the most sarcastic thing I have ever said in my life.

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:Is this decision getting easier since one program doesn't have NHL GM's saying they can't develop players?

Exhibiting a touch of irony, the Jan 2008 issue of USA Hockey magazine has a page dedicated to Okposo. In it, the author noted that Kyle stayed at the U for the current season to hone his skills. When I looked at the online version of the mag, the story wasn’t there. But, it was in the hard copy version I received at my house last week.

In the end..both schools have a good hockey program...now the better team is obviously the Sioux.....Gophers are choking....

hey elliot, what about travis winter? STUD!

SiouxRecruit wrote:In the end..both schools have a good hockey program...now the better team is obviously the Sioux.....Gophers are choking....

Sioux the better team? Based on what? Come on...they both are average teams this year....very average. And they have split head to head this year. Didn't the Sioux start out as a landslide #1 poll pick? Who has "choked" more?

SiouxRecruit wrote:In the end..both schools have a good hockey program...now the better team is obviously the Sioux.....Gophers are choking....

Are we talking about a Sioux team that had the good fortune of keeping most of their guys from signing a pro deal this past off-season, then were picked to win the league title and were considered the pre-season runaway favorite for the NCAA title this year? All of that and yet they are currently sitting in the middle of the league with a slightly above average record and have yet to sweep one series this year? Umm... you may want to re-consider what "choke" means. The Sioux have far less excuses for where they currently sit.

Heck, the Sioux got outplayed by the Gophers last month in Grand Forks. I wouldn't puff your chest out too much all things considered.

The person who made the comment is from Fargo...how knowledgeable can he be??

Is leaving to go to ND similar to if he had gone to a local Private school for his high school freshman year?

ya-man wrote:Is leaving to go to ND similar to if he had gone to a local Private school for his high school freshman year?

It is exactly like it. Some kids want to win so they venture out in the world and do what they believe is best for themselves. They could stay home and make the locals happy or they can go and get a great education and have a shot at a championship.

Forget about setting it on a tee, all that was left was a gimme.

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:great education and have a shot at a championship.

He can stay home and do both. After all, Minnesota has won many more banners (regular season champs, WCHA playoff champs, and NCAA titles) in the last 5 to 6 years than UND has.

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:

ya-man wrote:Is leaving to go to ND similar to if he had gone to a local Private school for his high school freshman year?

It is exactly like it. Some kids want to win so they venture out in the world and do what they believe is best for themselves. They could stay home and make the locals happy or they can go and get a great education and have a shot at a championship.

Forget about setting it on a tee, all that was left was a gimme.

Your right, that's exactly why Grant, Ryan, and Danny came to Minnesota instead of North Dakota .

Gopher Blog - lets please take a look at strength of schedule before passing judgement on MN and ND's season ytd. Isn't this a more reasonable measure than record at this point?

Further, wouldn't you agree the season is truly just beginning now and the standings will differ greatly in two months?

Gopher Blog wrote:

ACTUALFORMERPLAYER wrote:great education and have a shot at a championship.

He can stay home and do both. After all, Minnesota has won many more banners (regular season champs, WCHA playoff champs, and NCAA titles) in the last 5 to 6 years than UND has.

And went 0-1-1 against two AHA teams on home ice at their own tourney.

UND doesn't loose to teams like R.I.T. leave that to the gophers

mpls hockey guy wrote:Gopher Blog - lets please take a look at strength of schedule before passing judgement on MN and ND's season ytd. Isn't this a more reasonable measure than record at this point?

Further, wouldn't you agree the season is truly just beginning now and the standings will differ greatly in two months?

Tell that to the guy above who was acting like one team was "choking" as if the other one was thriving.

You can use SOS if you want. It still won't wash the fact that a team that was supposed to be a heavy favorite has yet to sweep one team this entire season despite having most of its toughest games on home ice (DU being the one exception).

Not to mention, both CC and DU are pretty much out of reach for the rest of the league. The best anybody else is likely to finish is 3rd. I guarantee you given what they returned that most UND fans would have been very disappointed if they were told prior to the season that they would finish no better than 3rd when they managed to have Oshie (who I see got arrested last weekend! Yikes) and a few others decide not to go pro.

buschleauge wrote:UND doesn't loose to teams like R.I.T. leave that to the gophers

7 banners to 2 banners since 2002. I'll take a couple of bad losses if it means winning more championships along the way.

STC18 wrote:And went 0-1-1 against two AHA teams on home ice at their own tourney.

Let us know when SCSU does something in the post-season. Then get back to me.

royals0951 wrote:

hockeyfanatic99 wrote:May he rest in peace, but didn't Herb Brooks provide insight to one of the Parise boys about making a decision between these two schools. No one can argue with what it means to a Minnesota boy having an opportunity to wear the M jersey. But in Grand Forks, if you are on the hockey team - you are treated like a god! Everyone in town knows who you are and is there for your support. I think Mr. Brooks referred to it as committment to the sport. However, at some point $$$ still has to come into play. While we can argue about the merits of one program over or under the other - I do believe that money talks. I don't think either program gives full rides any more, but I bet one does give more money than the other. It costs nearly twice as much to go to the U of M than it does to attend UND. Regardless of questions about relative worth of the education - it is a fact. If he wants to be a Vet - hit the U of M, but if he wants to major in aviation - UND is the answer. Sorry for the dry humor!

he goes to edina im sure money is not a big issue

Money is always a big issue no matter where you go and how much money you have. I am absolutely positive that his parents would love to put some of the money they saved for his college into a retirement plan.

Money also is a big indicator of how interested a team is in you. if one team offers you 25% and another 75% what do you think the interest level is on both of the schools. He is a very good player, but will still have to compete for playing time at either of those schools and the scholarship amount is a very good indicator of interest level.

Go Gophers!!!!!