jk

I could live with CC winning just for what it would mean to the Denver fan. Also for Godsmack's wife.

It feels a little like when the vikes played Detroit at the end of the Darnold year. Winner won the division and got the first overall seed in the conference, along with the bye. Loser went on the road as the five seed. With two points, UND can lock up favorable conditions for the next few weeks. Hoping the hard charging version makes the trip.

It's quite easy to see UND finishing third in the league, with DU likely harvesting six points from ASU and UND playing at WMU. I might not care quite so much if the playoff structure hadn't changed, but that would be a devastating result now, with home ice at stake. They just need to play better defensively. Tight checking wins big games.

Going into tonight, any of the top five teams could still finish first in the league.

This one I know. Hrkac was 2-5-7 on Friday and 3-5-8 on Saturday. Gino said: 15 points, that's a career for some guys. I don't recall which of those nights Joyce scored all his goals. Edit: it was Fri, Jan 23.

We've seen plenty of teams peak in February. Will this be one? Time will tell. They could just have needed a wake up call. All the talking in the world can't teach you the lesson you'll learn getting worked over on the rink.

McKenna finished 1-7-8. That's some Hrkac sh*t.

McKenna 1-5-6 through two periods.

I thought this the first time I saw him, in college, but it's still true. Quinn Hughes' skating reminds me of Hrkac's. Similar posture.

Prime memory from the 1987 trip. The concourse during the first intermission was packed but quiet. Sparty was in shock.

Your list is basically the US Olympic team plus two Norris winners. Good company.

It's popular now to disparage everything to do with BB, but the facts don't always agree. I was ready for a change, and for me it was getting dominated by CC and Omaha that did it. But the NCHC titles didn't happen by accident. Good players had to be coached well and play hard to win the league. I haven't looked, but I'm guessing nearly all teams had a worse season than UND's worst season during his tenure. Again, I was ready for the change, but I wish people were kinder to someone who gave a lot to the program.

Curious lack of goals in Mankato this weekend, with Mankato winning 1-0 Friday and BSU winning 1-0 in OT Saturday. MSU scored one goal and got four points. The beavs were shut out for six periods and got two points.

Denver had fallen to the bubble with a six-game winless streak after their Friday loss in GF. After winning that Saturday, they lost their next game to SC, and haven't lost since. Back to NPI 8, and given their coach and recent history, they've gotta be considered a serious threat in the conference and nationally. Unfortunately.

I know the thing about the scoreboard, but outshooting the #22 npi team 42-12 is pretty wild.

St Cloud and Miami have both been good down the stretch. The league is tough.

Still a lot we don't know, but I'm guessing winning a bar fight is a plus to most NHL execs.

Attended the Mankato augustana game tonight. Mankato won 4-1 and that's about how it played. Thought Augie would be better based on their season so far.

The shots in this game, 36-18, brought back a memory of Hrkac's freshman year stat line, a favorite of math fans everywhere: 18-36-54 in 36 games.

Big and can skate is a good place to start in getting drafted. Klee is a good example. I could see him working his way into an NHL lineup some day.

UND hasn't had to deal with the revolving door of high-draft pick two-year players that some other big names have, since that was largely the usndt pipeline that didn't lead here. Now that a similar CHL pipeline may lead to GF, it'll be a new challenge. We know most of those programs have not won the national title despite being loaded with future NHLers.

Clarkson up to npi 28.

Gotta score before the makeup call.

Hopefully I don't regret this, and it usually bothers me when fans don't respect the opponents, but there's still a lot of talent in town and I'm expecting two convincing wins. Even with guys missing, the pressure game UND has been playing should be intact, and hard to handle.

Re Michigan, it's hard to say yet. The only upper echelon team we've played is Duluth, and we didn't seem out of our element against them. We'll have a better idea after the Denver weekend. I have a hard time seeing this team look outmatched against anyone.