Where it sounds like a lame excuse, I do think it's valid. Very few teams have played the kind of hockey that Minnesota was playing before the Xmas break, throughout the entire season. Last team to do that which comes to mind is Michigan in '96-'97. The WJ's can wear down players for a fair amount of time after the tournament is over. I think it helps that some of the Gopher players weren't playing in their first WJ's, but freshman who have never played the tournament, can have a difficult time with their game following the tournament. Doesn't happen to every player, but it does clearly effect some. I think it affected Parise in his freshman year for a while. And Hirsch being gone from the team has to hurt the offense somewhat. He was no slouch by any means when he was playing to his fullest potential. A lot of things come into play over the course of the season, and I actually think Minnesota has responded well over the past 2 weeks with everything coming into play. They definitely weren't playing soft teams. Wisconsin's not as strong as past year, but it's a huge rival for both team, so that comes into play too.
As for this weekend, I'm just hoping the Sioux take 2 points out of Mariucci. Where they are playing stronger as of late, I still don't like how quickly Lammy goes down in net. The goofs would be wise to shoot high on him all night long both nights, and I won't be surprised if they do. Sioux defense is going to have to play stellar hockey this weekend, and the forwards are going to play hard both ways as well. Go Sioux!!!