The Enforcer

Great season guys....tough break. I was really looking forward to a rematch.

Weber was inexperienced in tourney play last year. I suppose that will prevent us from winning last year's championship.

They would have still been in Grand Rapids, but I don't think that means that West has to play Midwest. I believe placing a team in a specific region is based on geography among other factors, and what region plays another region is not predetermined until the #1s are assigned to their specific region.

Because UND is #1 and UMN is #4. It's that simple. No conspiracy.

I think BC is going to have their hands full in UNH beats Michigan. Playing UNH on their home rink levels the playing field a bit. They split the series they had a couple weeks back.

Agreed.

They interviewed the Coyote GM tonight between periods and asked about Ballard. He said that both Ballard and Jones are in great programs right now, and does not see any need to rush them because their development is going fine. He says he looks forward to seeing them at the blue line for the Coyotes in the future.

You are absolutely right. In fact, most Gopher fans like me who watched last Saturday's game would have very little reason to say he is anything but the best player in college hockey and deserves the Hobey. If he doesn't win it, it's a joke in my mind. However, to label Vanek as having no talent (like some have) is false. He may be weak defensively, selfish at times, a cherry picker, and lacks the Waibel work ethic.....but the kid is flat out talented. He makes moves offensively that others only dream of. To say he is the product of good players around him is stupid. If Koalska and even Riddle had a better scoring touch, Vanek would probably have at least 10 more assists right now. Watching last Saturday's game is not equivalent to seeing every game the entire year.

I completely agree that Vanek was out of line...the hit on Parise is embarassing! I also agree the Gophers sticks were definitely up on Saturday. Vanek a no talent hack though? 4 fewer points than Parise over 2 years, no one is going to argue Parise has no talent. Vanek just plays a different game.

Definitely......after tonight's game I am 100% convinced the kid deserves the Hobey.

While UMD has the Head to Head advantage 4-1, the gophers win the comparisons in teams under consideration, common opponents, and RPI. That ties the comparison 4-4, and since RPI is the first tiebreaker, the Gophers win the comparison putting them at #4 in the Pairwise and UMD at #5.

Keep in mind that Ballard and Harrington have missed a combined 10 games, which is quite a few points considering Ballard averages 1 a game and Harrington puts up more per game than anybody from UND. UND is also A LOT deeper on the blue line. Not saying it's not a telling stat, just something to think about. I agree that UND has very solid Dmen, but these awards/lists are ALWAYS biased towards Dmen that put up big offensive numbers.

Ballard and Geisler are easily the top offensive defensemen in the WCHA. Stuart and Caldwell are the only other WCHAers on the list, so it's not like they listed the whole WCHA on there with the sole intention of leaving any Sioux off there. Let's face it, when outsiders think of the Sioux they think Bochenski and Parise, not Greene and Jones.

Ballard's greatest asset on D is his lateral movement and overall skating. He needs to cut down on some mistakes, but if Hale and Paul Martin can step right in in New Jersey like they have, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Ballard up in Phoenix.