Godsmack

I just hope it’s the usual local CC tv crew and not Ken Landau. He’s the biggest homer jock sniffer in all of NCHC.

There’s a new article from Schloss out on the Herald about CC. Citing advanced analytics which show their record should be better than it is. Expected goals for/against and such. I’m not much of a numbers guy but just using the eye test, I have seen how well the Tigers can play when they’re on their game. Consistency, however, has been their biggest concern and challenge.

I was thinking something similar along those lines with regards to our league play coming up. Definitely gets more challenging in the second half.

People always get indignant and ask how I could possibly root against my alma mater and in particular, cheer for North Dakota of all programs. I simply tell them that if they have to ask, there’s no amount of explaining that will make them understand.

It became a dead arena during the Haviland era though. It’s a big ask having college kids drive twenty minutes from campus for a two game series and an even bigger ask when the product on the ice is terrible. The low point for my wife and I as season ticket holders and fans was the night oh, around 2019 or so, when the CC mascot (Prowler) came out on the ice to start the DU/CC game and forgot to take off his skate guards. Embarrassing. It made the Pios fans’ night watching that calamity and was a precursor for what was to come once the puck dropped.

Oh yah, we’ve seen games where they look like they can definitely hang with the big boys. Games against legit teams like UConn, Denver, and Duluth. But they seem so dang inconsistent from one night to the next.

There’s been chatter about trying to bring in a minor league hockey team or even a junior hockey team but nothing has ever materialized. I heard that NAHL team they got someplace up in northern Colorado a year or two ago has already folded. I’d like to think a city the size of the Springs could support another hockey team of some sort. World Arena is definitely showing its age both inside and out.

If anyone’s going to be at the series this weekend, ping me. I’ll be there decked out in UND green (wife will be in gold and black; can’t convince her to cheer for the good guys!). I’ll be the guy in a sling (dislocated my elbow in a beer league game three weeks ago; coincidentally on the ice at Robson Arena).

The steps are downright treacherous and a lawsuit waiting to happen. I’ve been told that they ran into many cost overruns and started cutting corners on some things. They missed an opportunity to put in an escalator in the main lobby area where the stairs go up to the arena. Overall, I love the design with the open air concourse and the size is perfect for a student body of that size. No GA seats however making it difficult to try and get local townie support (only way to get tickets if you’re not a student or season ticket holder is via the secondary market on Ticketmaster).

If I recall, just prior to that road series two years ago, UND was coming off what might have been their best weekend of hockey at home against Denver. It felt like DU and UND were in a track meet that weekend, which worked to our favor but then CC employed quite a different strategy that we just couldn’t seem to adjust to. Does that sound about accurate to others here?

CC has some really good pieces too. They just haven’t found any continuity or consistency.

I am by no means an insider or wired in with the CC hockey program but at the season ticket holder fan fest back in September, I visited with coach Mayotte and asked him about their success against UND two seasons ago, particularly the series at Robson. He talked about how they had success zeroing in on Blake. Fast forward to this season and we’re talking largely different personnel for both teams so can’t really compare the two series other than I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayotte tries to employ a similar strategy that the Mercyhurst coach used last weekend. But moreso, try bottling UND up in the neutral zone and creating turnovers and then rushes off those turnovers. He had success doing that against UND in the series at Robson two seasons ago.

Even more than Taylor Swift???

Sure glad NCAA tournament games aren’t settled like this.

Did they at least do a dry scrape of the ice before the 3x3 overtime?