Snake

See, even DirecTV is giving up!

I think expecting a blowout win is unrealistic given the level SCSU is playing at. Aside from UND's effort, which everyone agrees was pathetic, SCSU did a lot of things well and will be smelling blood. I will be extremely happy with a hard-fought one goal win. Any loss will be a major disappointment regardless of effort tonight. We can't reward a good effort with a moral victory tonight just because they lowered the bar last night.

You beat me to this one! We're tied up! :-)

So basically you're saying there has only been one instance where we've been burned by a grueling WCHA playoff run, and they needed every one of those exhausting wins to even make it? Since none of the seasons you've shown here actually ended in a National Championship, it would appear that the 6 in 9 reason for failure is no more significant than any other reason, no?

But in many cases, the only game that would've been a "throw away" at the final five would've been the championship. And, since you can't just forfeit to save your legs for the national tourney, you may as well play to win it. This whole playoff argument is ridiculous because other than the 2011 team we have consistently been a bubble team heading into the playoffs.

So you're saying we should've been losing at the F5 in order to be fresher for watching the national tourney on TV? Why do you blame the playoff format? Blame the team for finishing 3rd - 5th those years.

Ridiculous. It seems to me that in two of the last three years we ABSOLUTELY needed to make the Final Five, and win at least one game there in order to make the national tourney.

Phil Housley? IALTO

What's the over/under on the number of times we hear "full 60 minutes" in the post game?

No. I'm saying that if Animal the captain feels like he can't hit then all hope is lost for anyone hoping to see the return of physical UND hockey.

Did any of you watch the press conferences this week? I seem to recall Mac saying that the game of hockey is changing and you can't make the big hit. Well, that says something right there if you ask me. Never thought I'd hear someone like Mac say something like that. If that's how the players feel it could certainly explain the soft, tentative play.

The link is to a mobile website, so if you're on a PC it may not work right...just my guess.

Gothberg in goal, Panz in for Mattson per UNDMHockey on Twitter. Forward combos same as Saturday.

Roe's tweet was from a year ago, so it's not like he hasn't moved on.

You might be thinking about the Shane Joseph/Grant Stephenson MSU-M team around '02 or '03...That's the only time I remember being in Mankato on the wrong end of a sweep.

They aren't sustaining offensive zone pressure and drawing penalties?

I suppose we won't have the luxury of the extra non conference games that you get for taking trips to Alaska, thus the 24 game conference schedule.

Thanks. Kinda sucks because I was looking forward to having all the potential road trips every year.

^ This

Isn't the NCHC playing a full 28 game schedule, each team playing 4 against each other? If so, why the need to designate rivals?

Mariucci is an "open" setup where the concourse is around the top of the rink and open to the ice. All the seats are down from the concourse level. It's a good setup for SRO.

I know in the past the Vikings have required anyone who wants tickets to the Packer game to also purchase tickets to one of their preseason games. Do they still do that? That's another example of taking advantage of a rivalry or important game to boost revenue.

Based on your conversation with the referee it started the first day he pulled on a Sioux sweater.

Finally!!! This is the smack I've been waiting to read in the other thread about the upcoming series! I'm even starting to get a little bit of that nervous anxiety I usually have for these games!

My guess is that SOS is probably a function of the rankings, and since the rankings are calculated differently (RPI vs. KRACH) the resulting SOS will be different. You can't determine the strength of a team's schedule until you determine the rankings of their opponents.