The Sicatoka

"Icky"? I guess I didn't have you pegged as a 7th grade girl.

My only asks for 2012-13 are: FIRST: - go the the WCHA Final Five as either the #1 or #2 seed (so they have no more than two games in two days) or - focus less on winning the Final Five if it means three games in three days LAST View the NCAAs as the post-season tournament to three-peat from now on.

FAIL. 1963-1980.

The Mario Lamoureux streak ends. They finally lost a game he scored in.

What I'd really like to see changed isn't number of teams but seeding What I'd change: - if they are using pre-determined sites you have to be a #1 or #2 seed to be at home, otherwise you get no guarantee of being at the site your school is hosting - seed using KRACH, not PWR

I picked 7000 because if implemented it'd get negotiated down to 6000 in committee. Even then, teams like Yale and Fairfield would declare DCS Center (where they hosted a regional this time). Tech would declare Resch in Green Bay. The Bawhstan schools would declare The Gawhden or some other venue that holds the requisite number. This year I'm guessing the top four would've looked something like (and using the 6000 minimum number): BC - Conte Forum Michigan - Yost Arena Union - Pepsi Arena in Albany (biggest rink around there, hosts an AHL team) UND - uh ... Engelstad Arena ... (stop here, that's a whole other forum to discuss)

The only two days all season this team left me feeling empty were Sunday afternoons: - a loss at Bemidji to make the record 4-7-1: I had no idea what to expect next at that point. - a loss in the regional finals to end the incredible ride And it was an incredible ride in between. To the team: Thanks for the incredible ride. And please, please, please always remember what hard work brings. Remember it. Teach it. Use it to go where you've been, and further next time.

PS - Why 16 teams? Because over the last handful or so years, the #1 seeds are barely over 0.500 against the #4 seeds (teams 13-16 in the tournament).

I gave my thoughts in a different thread: Why not let the #1 seeds host with the requirement that they must host in an arena that holds at least 7000 people. Before the season every team would have to declare where they'd host if granted a #1 seed. If your home rink holds 7000, host there. If not, a team would have to declare where they'd host.

Why not let the #1 seeds host with the requirement that they must host in an arena that holds at least 7000 people. Before the season every team would have to declare where they'd host if granted a #1 seed. If your home rink holds 7000, host there. If not, a team would have to declare where they'd host.

The question I have to Nelson and Kristo: Were you as dominant this year as Gregoire was last year? Gregoire hasn't stuck with his NHL squad. And MacWilliam and Forbort? MacWilliam needs to work on his offensive game or he'll never see the NHL. Forbort needs to figure out how to play at his highest ability level consistently. (Mattson and Simpson were getting power play time in front of him. That doesn't say "NHL ready".) Dell? He's the wildcard. He could go. He could stay. All I know is that I've seen a lot of very good WCHA goalies leave early and that I've never seen them since.

So on April 5 it's Union and Ferris State and then the night game is Minnesota and BC. Brad Schlossman's Tweet on topic is ... Dead. On.

Attendance at these regionals is embarrassing. There's nobody in GB for Corn/FSU. The eastern rinks are as bad or worse. And the X was not even completely full today. The sport and the teams deserve better.

That was the mask Dell has worn all season.

Wow are the boards terrible at the two eastern rinks. 14 to play in regulation and Cornell and Ferris tied at 1.

If they had done that: - there'd be no 12:30 pm game on Sat, Mar 24, as the NCAA would advance WMU and forfeit UND out of the tournament - UND'd be on a bus back to Grand Forks - UND'd be getting a bill for the expenses incurred by the NCAA to bring them to the West Regional That's exactly what the letter from the NCAA to UND a couple weeks ago said. Worth it? Mario Lamoureux would tell you, "No."

As I watched games yesterday, played by Spartans, and Dutchmen, and a team with a tribe's name on their shirt (Miami), I harkened back to this .... The NCAA's original policy targeted "race, ethnicity, or national origin" based monikers. They're going after the Native American monikers first. And they added words to the Settlement Agreement (same link as above) with UND about removing the "tribal approval" clause. That tells that they'll be coming for more later. How much more? Well, read the original Aug 5, 2005, words ("race, ethnicity, national origin"). The rest of the schools out there should be taking note. I'm pretty sure the like-minded elitists at the NCAA would love it if we all were Harvard (a color, no mascot, a letter mark logo) or Stanford (a color, and a tree, a letter mark logo) or Syracuse (a color, a fruit mascot). If feels like they're targeting UND. But we're the first big rock they have to crack to get to where they really want to be. And given that they make the rules ...

Seeing Michigan get rope-a-doped by Cornell the same way Michigan rope-a-doped UND last year made me smirk. The look on Red's face after the game? Priceless.

Everyone on the other side of the bracket is salivating.

The lead-based paint is only on Amelia Earhart's airplane so it'll be easy to get out of there.

And Union scores on the rush on the powerplay. Union 3-1 (1:18 to play)

Michigan State takes a hook in the offensive zone with 90 seconds to play and down a goal (well, tied, but the refs have one of MSU's goals).

Union fails to convert on a 3-0 breakaway. MSU comes right back to score (iron and in). Union 2-1 with 38.7 left in second.

The settlement ended it. Al Carlson tried to renege on a deal (a legal contract). That's not how North Dakota works. Shame on Al.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Tech_Red_Raiders