The weakest link? It's not Lamoureux

When I interviewed UND goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux for US College Hockey Online near the end of January, I reminded him that before the season started, many "experts" considered goaltending UND's weak link. He responded by saying:

"The confidence that I have in myself and the amount of work that I put in to be successful and be prepared, it’s almost music to my ears. To know that if I’m going to be the only weak link on the team this year, that’s going to be fine with me because I know what my abilities are. I understand the amount of work I have to put in and the type of preparation I need to be mentally and physically ready to play. If I’m going to be the only weak link, then so be it. If I’m the weakest link, we’re going to be all right."

Just look at where UND's "weak link" is today. Lamoureux's 1.68 goals-against average is No. 1 in the nation and his .934 save percentage is tied for first nationally. His .719 winning percentage is fifth nationally. He's a big reason why UND gives up a nation-best 1.79 goals per game and why the Sioux kill 89.3 percent of their penalties, despite being the second most penalized team in the country.

As the regular season winds down, Lamoureux is the one Sioux player with a legitimate shot at the Hobey Baker Award. Given the talented NHL draft choices on the team, who would've predicted that at season's start? Certainly not me. But just as Hobey winner Ryan Duncan was UND's most consistent player last season, Lamoureux has been Mr. Dependable this season.

It wasn't long ago that some Sioux fans were decrying UND's inability to recruit a world-class, shutdown goaltender. Well, now you've got him, and he was right under your noses all along.

Fighting Sioux: Yes, it's already gone

Because of recent news reports, loyal backers of UND's Fighting Sioux nickname are finally waking up to the reality that the days of the name and logo are numbered. I attempted to explain this to Sioux fans three months ago, but few seemed to believe it. In fact, the writing was on the wall after the state of North Dakota settled its lawsuit with the NCAA last October.

The good news - if you want to look at it that way - isn't that the NCAA or the tribes won. No, it's that the state of North Dakota simply gave up. The opportunity to play football against the University of Minnesota was more important to some key UND alumni and athletics supporters than the principle of free expression, the reason many of us waged the battle to retain the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo for so long.

As Abraham Lincoln once observed, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Thus, when UND athletics could no longer present a unified front on the issue, the state's political leaders decided the most practical approach was to strike the best deal possible with the NCAA and put the issue to rest once and for all.

Knowing that the end is near for the once-proud Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, I dedicate this rewritten version of the Eagles 1974 song "Already Gone."

I’m Already Gone

Well, I heard some Sioux fans whinin' just the other day
'Cause they fear someone’s gonna take me off the shelf
So I’ll give to you a clue that will be news to you
Yet I know darn well it's true
It means you'll have to pin the blame upon yourself

Yes I'm already gone
And I'm feelin' wronged
I will sing the loser’s song
Boo, hoo, hoo
Boo, hoo, hoo

The wording that you sold me made me stop and wonder why
But I guess you felt like you had to quit the fight
Just remember this, my fans, when you’re fallin’ for the spin
You can play the game but it doesn’t mean you’ll win (that’s right)

So I'm already gone
And I'm feelin' wronged
I will sing the loser’s song
Boo, hoo, hoo
Boo, hoo, hoo

Well I know just who it was who held me dear
Someone knows it was them who sold me out
So many times it happened that you closed your eyes to shame
Now you act like you don't know what it’s about

But me, I'm already gone
And I'm feelin' wronged
I will sing the losers song
'Cause I'm already gone
Yes, I'm already gone
And I'm feelin' wronged
I will sing the loser’s song
'Cause I'm already gone
Yes, I'm already gone
Already gone

Most penalized compared to what?

Whenever someone tosses out the factoid about the Fighting Sioux being the most penalized team in college hockey and uses it to claim that UND has a team of "goons" and "thugs," it's useful to ask the question: Most penalized compared to what?

Instead of picking on some other team from the current season, I'll make an apples-to-apples comparison with another Dave Hakstol-coached team from the recent past: the 2004-05 Sioux that made it all the way to the national championship game against Denver.

This was the team that ESPN commentator Barry Melrose said had an "NHL-style defense" during the 2005 Frozen Four. Given that four members of the defensive corps (Matt Greene, Matt Jones, Andy Schneider and Matt Smaby) were big, physical NHL draftees, the analogy was appropriate. That team also featured master instigator Mike Prpich and developed a reputation for rough play that resulted in numerous penalties.

Here's a comparison between the two teams.

2004-05 Sioux (36 regular-season games)
Penalties: 370
Penalty minutes: 800

Opponents
Penalties: 348
Penalty minutes: 731

2007-08 Sioux (32 regular-season games to date)
Penalties: 257
Penalty minutes: 663

Opponents
Penalties: 253
Penalty minutes: 630

Now it's possible that the 07-08 Sioux will end the regular season with more penalties and/or penalty minutes than the 04-05 team, but barring a bench-clearing brawl or two in the final four games of the regular season, it's not likely. What's more likely is that this year's Sioux team will end the regular season with far fewer penalties and penalty minutes than the 04-05 team.

To update and expand on the statistics The Sicatoka provided in an earlier blog here, compare the power play numbers and records of the 04-05 Sioux to the 07-08 Sioux.

2004-05 Regular Season Record with:
More power plays 6-5-0
Fewer power plays 6-6-4
Equal power plays 4-2-1

2007-08 Regular Season Record with:
More power plays 10-1-2
Fewer power plays 8-5-0
Equal power plays 3-2-0

When the 04-05 team had the same or more penalties, it was 10-7-1 (.583 winning percentage). When the 07-08 team has the same or more penalties, it's 13-3-2 (.777 winning percentage). This year's Sioux team not only takes fewer penalties, but it also takes better advantage of its power play opporunities and is more likely to win even when it has fewer opportunities with the man advantage.

The 04-05 team developed a reputation for being able to take a lot of penalties because it was so effective at killing them off. But this wasn't really the case until the Sioux hit the playoffs in 2005. Incredibly, during the post-season, that Sioux team was 5-0-0 when the opposition had more power plays, 1-1-0 when UND had more power plays and 1-1-0 when the power plays were equal.

Ironically, the only playoff game the 04-05 Sioux team lost when it had more power plays was the national championship game against the Denver Pioneers. One could argue that the Sioux might have stood a better chance of winning that game if they'd played the style of hockey that got them there.

The Boards Room: Now open for comments

Due to popular demand, we've decided to open our blog to comments from the outside world. However, the comments here will be moderated. If I find myself spending too much time deleting trolls, flames, insults, personal attacks and baseless gossip, we will return to allowing comments from select individuals only.

So if you have something constructive to add to the discussion, please feel free leave a comment here. Thank you for your interest.

The Most Penalized Team In The Country

The most penalized team in the country .... but what does that really mean?

UND has, over 29 games, taken 248 penalties for 645 PIM this year. That's 225 minors, 7 majors, and 16 other penalties (all 10 minute). But why?

UND's head-to-head opponents have taken 223 minors, 3 majors, and 13 other penalties for a summary of 239 penalties for 591 minutes.

So let's put some context around that ....

Penalty Minutes: Games PIM PIM/G
1 North Dakota 29 645 22.2
2 Canisius 31 681 22.0
( North Dakota's Opponents 29 591 20.4)
3 Bowling Green 30 589 19.6
4 RIT 30 574 19.1
5 Western Michigan 32 590 18.4
6 Nebraska-Omaha 32 589 18.4
7 Sacred Heart 30 552 18.4
8 Miami 32 574 17.9
9 Ferris State 30 538 17.9
10 Michigan 32 571 17.8

Now, tell me, are UND's penalties the chicken or the egg? To try to figure that out let's play "Run the Scenario":

Theory 1: UND is a bunch of dirty hacks: Those poor Opponent souls are just doing what they have to to stay alive.

Contradictory Indicators: If UND was a bunch of dirty hacks, how are they leading the WCHA, #2 in the polls, and holder of an NCAA region #1 seed as of today?

Theory 2: Opponents are a bunch of dirty hacks. UND is defending itself.

Contradictory Indicators: UND has more penalties and PIMs. Pure retaliation doesn't fit this notion.

Theory 3: UND comes out playing a "to the edge" physical game. They make some hits, take a couple penalties along the way, but drive the opponent to retaliate questionably.

Contradictory Indicators: In this theory, the opponent should be at par or higher as retaliatory may be more severe penalties. So we may be close.

Theory 3 Amended: UND comes out playing a "to the edge" physical game. They make some hits, take a couple penalties along the way, but drive the opponent to questionably retaliate. UND doesn't stand for the retaliation and deals with it.

Indicator: UND has more minors but otherwise reasonably comparable penalty numbers.

I think we've found our plausible solution. But can we do more to make it fit the numbers and reality of the situation?

Let stop looking at penalty numbers, but games, and see what that can show us. Wouldn't you expect the most heavily penalized team in the country to be playing net short-handed games far more often than they are playing net even or man-advantage games? You would, and you'd be wrong in this case.

In games in which UND has:
- more power plays than its opponents, the Sioux are 8-1-2.
- fewer power plays than its opponents, the Sioux are 8-5-0.
- the same number of power plays, the Sioux are 3-2-0.

Therefore, in the 29 games UND has played, the Sioux have had the the same or more power plays than their opponents 16 times and fewer power plays 13 times.

So there you have it folks, the most penalized team in the country is even or at a total powerplays advantage in more games than not.

A Game Day Observation Points To A Glaring Change In the WCHA

I'm looking at the PDF from UND Sports Information for UAA at UND, page 3, lower left, and I'm struggling to believe my eyes.

The top two career active point scorers in the WCHA are juniors? And there are only 2 guys in the whole league with 100 career points? And there are sophomores, *three* sophomores, in the top 11?

All it takes to be top 11 in active career scoring in the WCHA right now is a mere 73 career points. And 119 points is the active career points leader (UND junior TJ Oshie).

To understand my wonderment, let me put this to you from my perspective:

Tony Hrkac put up 116 points (46-70-116) in a season (1986-1987, 48 games).

If that single season was active today it would put him tied for second (UND junior and fellow Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan) in active career points and almost in the top 11 using only the assists total (70).

Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald has pointed to scoring being down, way down, in the WCHA. Brad is onto something.

Personally, I do not view scoring being down, this far down, as a good thing.

Here come your Fighting Sioux!

Anyone who's followed Fighting Sioux hockey since Dave Hakstol took over as head coach in 2004 knows that a second-half surge is becoming trademark of his teams. In his first three seasons, Hakstol's teams got off to slow starts before ending up in the NCAA Frozen Four. All indications are that this season's surge has begun.

With 2-1 and 5-3 road victories over Minnesota State-Mankato this weekend, the Sioux broke out of another trend for the second straight weekend. Last weekend's home sweep of Michigan Tech ended the trend of splitting at home. This weekend's sweep of the Mavericks ended the trend of splitting on the road.

UND now has a five-game winning streak going. Prior to the sweep of MTU, the Sioux hadn't won more than two games in a row all season. With the lowly Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves visiting Ralph Engelstad Arena next weekend, the Sioux should keep that streak going. In fact, the way Minnesota has been playing, the road series at Minneapolis the following week looks less daunting than it once did.

When the Denver Pioneers visit the Ralph Feb. 15-16, the two teams might very well be playing for control of second place in the WCHA. Currently, while UND's fortunes appear to be on the upswing, DU seems headed in the opposite direction. Still, there's a lot of talent on the Pioneers and nobody should take them for granted.

One trend the Sioux must end if they're going to be serious contenders for their eighth national championship is their inability to come from behind to win in the third period. It's been nearly three years since UND trailed at the start of he third period and rallied for a win. That was Feb. 18, 2005, at Anchorage. Since then, the Sioux are 0-23 when behind after two periods.

This team has the talent to win it all, but it would be a mistake to pencil in the Sioux for a Frozen Four slot just yet. The Sioux are in a good position to control their own destiny, and that's exactly how Hakstol likes it.