Snake

Yes. I was wearing Boston AND Sioux gear during their game against the Bruins just prior to the Frozen Four. I was getting chirped constantly - almost completley for my Sioux hat. I like the Wild, but since I bleed kelly green first, the media and some of the fans really make it hard to buy in. The fact that there is a lot of coverage overlap on FSN for both the Gophers and the Wild makes it hard for me as a Sioux fan to listen to blind Gopher homerism one night, and then try to agree with their takes on the Wild the next. Maybe I just need to be better about separating the two? Go Bruins!

I liked the Thursday start of the Final Five also. In fact, we scheduled the extra night in Minneapolis this year just for fun! The NCHC could give the top 2 teams first-round byes, have the bottom six play best-of-three series, and then have a tourney format like the old Final Five with a single Thursday night play-in game.

Never meanin' no harm.

Yet this whole back-and-forth is about your "Spanglish?"

I think we witnessed steps in the right direction from this past season. Solid goaltending & mobile puck-moving D-men were the overriding theme this year. The work ethic was there. Everyone knows we were short on high-end forward talent, and I think the PP suffered because of it; but with a talented group of freshmen and a good group of senior forwards next year could be pretty good.

I agree...the Penguins don't have many options in goal. In addition to the poor decision to go out and play the puck on the tying goal, the OT winner was a softie. Columbus had the right game plan for a rattled goalie in OT - throw everything at the net.

Cooke gets 7 per NHL Player Safety on Twitter

No, they wouldn't have made it had OSU won...that's not what I was getting at. I'm more or less alluding to the point jdub27 also made. Had the results been the same, if the games had been played at different times we may not have perceived this team as "backing into" the playoffs. The PWR shook out as it did due to the entire body of work throughout the season. It didn't *only* come down to UW beating OSU for UND to make the tournament.

So it was only the result of the OSU/Wisco game that got them there and not the body of work over the entire regular season? If the Big 10 championship game had been played in the afternoon and the 3rd place game against WMU had been played at night, would we then say they "won their way in?"

Well, Lou also said that he thought Cooke would only get about 3 games...even though he has an in-person hearing which indicates more than 5. Lou isn't exactly the most informed source, nor the most "unbiased." Even Barreiro tried to call him out on the dirtiness of the Cooke hit. I wouldn't call Barreiro "informed," but I'd give him more credit in the "unbiased" category.

Hasn't every game that series been a blown two-goal lead by the loser?

I'm still trying to find the clause in the NCAA rule book that explains which teams are forced to recruit 18-year-old, highly talented freshmen instead of 20-year-old, experienced freshmen.

I'm a tiny little hockey puck that happens to cross the goal line with 0.6 seconds left, defeating your biggest rival and catapulting your favorite hockey team into the championship game. Unfortunately for you, you thought it would be a good idea to watch the game in Dinkytown and park your car on the street. If you have cut-rate car insurance, you might not be protected against a street sign being thrown through your car windows. Protect yourself from MayheM like me.

IIRC, I think it was Parks who did a rather aggressive stick lift on a gopher player who was holding his stick a bit too loosely with one hand.

Basically I'm saying that because time was about to expire they had virtually no risk in pushing the puck up the ice and having Holl join the rush to make it an even 3-on-3.

Again, the fact that there were only 9 seconds on the clock meant the Gophers had a chance at a free rush without the risk of a turnover costing them before time expired.

I think the amount of time left in the game had a lot to do with it as well. If there was a minute left, MN probably doesn't gamble with a shorthanded rush. Instead, with only 9 seconds on the clock, a clean faceoff win, and the ND forwards deep, there is no risk of a failed rush turning into a scoring chance the other way.

That looked like the BC guy turtled to draw a major. Dumb penalty though.

The Bruins are stacked between the pipes with Rask on a long-term deal and Subban and Svedberg in the system. I'd be very surprised if Zane isn't at UND next year.

Check the 1:58 mark of this most excellent video!

The Wild played well last night, no doubt, Pittsburgh looked quite disinterested. I'll be at Tuesday's game and I hope the Bruins put forth a good showing. Despite clinching the East, the guys really seem to be intent on not letting complacency set in. I'm a little bit worried about the Bruins' consistency in the D zone against speedy teams heading into the postseason. I think Tuesday's game against the Wild will be a good test.

In your expert opinion on having pride for your own team first, where does trolling a rival message board rank? One more thing...the REA was quite loud for two other games not involving the Sioux that I can recall - WJC Christmas Day USA/Russia and the gold medal game full of crazy Canadians.

Anybody see a pattern here? Again....take your own advice:

In college fighting is not allowed. It is policed out of the game with DQ penalties. You fight, you are out of the game...and the next one...and possibly the next three...and then possibly the season. In the NHL, just as with other penalties, you serve your time and you continue in the game. I guess that is what I consider "allowed" or part of the game. You tell others to "get a clue," or "grow a pair and accept the game for what it is" when it comes to questionable checks and dirty cheap shots "within the context of the game," yet you can't stand the idea of a fight breaking out - even though there are no rules in place to completely police it from the game. Take your own advice, grow a pair, and accept the NHL for what it is. As for play between the whistles...I wonder what percent of actions levied by the department of player safety is for incidents that have happened within the context of the game vs. fighting? Apparently the league is "trying" (term used loosely) to police some of the garbage out of the game the rest of us just need to accept for what it is.

For what reason? If you're thinking speed, why wouldn't they put him in the lineup against MN who is arguably as fast as BC?