Wilbur

It never surprises me that there are ship jumpers early in the season. Last year was really one of the only Hakstol years that everyone was on board from beginning until the end. I think Hakstol is a great coach that lets a team find its identity early in the season, and once they've got it figured out starts building them into the type of team that will make a run in the second half. With the injuries that this team has had there is way we should be talking about a top five WCHA finish, and pairwise rankings, etc. But one thing I've learned from the Hakstol era is never for one minute think his teams are out of the hunt.....Yeah, no NCAA Championships, but the last 8 years have been pretty sweet.

Bakala was great for the Beavers last season in the playoffs, but the Sioux for the most part have had success against the guy. Very capable of stealing some games though....very capable. Just did a bit of research....the beavers had the second lowest goal total in the entire WCHA, and had the third most goals against. In contrast, they lead the league in PK percentage at a near 85% clip (UND finished second at 82%), and were in the top four in the WCHA in powerplay percentage, converting at a 22% clip. Specialty teams obviously huge in the playoffs. Can't take dumb penalties to create offense for BSU. PS: Minnesota had more penalty minutes than North Dakota.....goons.....

Montreal isn't stupid, no way they'll not try and make a run at a player of Kristo's caliber. At the same time, maybe Danny doesn't want to end up north of the border, and playing another year gives him his free agency.

BU just punched their ticket. I wonder if that means that Northeastern gets bumped down a bit for their loss to Providence..... An hour away...

Did the team continue to warm up then with the glass broken? I mean its extremely dangerous to be sitting behind a hockey net without any glass, and you would think that if they continued to warm up they would at least clear out the section of fans.

Agreed. I think you meant NCAA tourney, which is completely true. If you can't beat the Beavers in your own building (coming off a trip to Alaska) in two out of three games then you don't deserve to make the NCAA tournament. I think any player or coach would agree with you here as well.

Very glad the Sioux avoided Bucky in the first round regardless of the fact that the Sioux swept them the last time the teams got together. The Beavers won't lay down and they'll push the Sioux all weekend long, but Bucky is playing their best hockey of the season and it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if they went into Denver and won that series. A sweep over Bucky would mean more in the pairwise, but I think getting to the final five is a bigger concern (at this moment) than pairwise for the team and the coaching staff.

Whoops...miscalculated that....they do time elapsed on the website I'm on.....lots of time left....

Under three to go......Still 5-4 Beavers.

The Beavers just took a 5-4 lead on UAA in the third period. I don't want to see Wisconsin in GF next weekend with they way they and their goaltender are playing.

My ohh my.....Incredible play by Corban Knight.....what a pass.

Puck seems to be bouncing all over the place tonight. Wonder what the issue is with the ice. Mankato deserves better in this one than a loss. Dell has made some fantastic saves to keep the Sioux ahead in this one.

Got my playoff tickets today, can't wait for the Sioux vs.......Bemidji/SCSU/Bucky.....

UND finding BC anywhere wouldn't be good. They proved earlier this year how much of a horrible matchup they are for the Sioux. Especially a Sioux team with only three lines. So playing them....in their backyard....1,500 miles from Grand Forks.....check please.

I'm hoping that Goldy sweeps Wisconsin and that Bemidji gets a win at Anchorage. Wisconsin is a better team than Bemidji, and they played two tough games with UND in Grand Forks. UND could move up to third with a UNO sweep over Denver, and a UND Sweep, but I don't think thats going to happen. UND does matchup better with Duluth than Goldy, but at this point in the season, just making the F5 would be ideal.

Here is where I see the WCHA finishing after next weekends games. 1. UM 2. UMD 3. Denver 4. UND 5. CC 6. UNO 7. SCSU 8. Tech 9. BSU 10. Wisconsin 11. Mankato 12. AA That sets up: AA @ Minnesota........Minnesota wins that one Mankato @ Duluth.....Duluth in two. Wisconsin @ Denver....makes for interesting hockey....but Denver BSU @ UND....UND matches up well with BSU....got to go with UND Tech @ CC....These teams could possibly be playing two weekends in a row.....I'll give the edge to CC over a much improved Tech SCSU @ UNO....Toss up. Mike Lee would be the key player in the series. So the Final Five would be: UND vs. CC, winner to face Minnesota. Denver vs. UNO/SCSU, winner to face Duluth.

Someone said it best earlier....there can't be upsets in the conference tournaments. It doesn't matter who wins the Atlantic conference, they are bumping a team. BC/BU/Maine needs to win hockey east. One of the top four WCHA schools needs to win the F5. Right now CC is way down the ladder, they can't win the F5. The CCHA should be okay as Ferris, MSU, Michigan, and Miami are all in the top 16 of the pairwise. Western Michigan can't win the tournament or they'd bump a team out. The ECAC is the scary one because Union needs to win that tournament or someone gets bumped. Cornell is sitting at 16, but that can change, and if they were to drop and win the tournament, then another team gets bumped. Basically I've compiled a list of not favorite teams at the moment. They include: Cornell, Western Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, CC and Harvard. I'd throw Colgate in there, but they shouldn't win the ECAC. Or at least I hope they don't. Outside of the teams I listed that really need to win their conference tournaments it wouldn't hurt for the Sioux to get good performance out of Air Force down the stretch. Hopefully the Falcons make the NCAA's.

Good post. This team won't make an NCAA run with Eidsness. I think he's played well for the team in certain spots, but he hasn't stole a game for them, and if they go anywhere it will be with Dell in the net. Dell needs to step up next weekend at home and retain his starter role. I don't think you can be juggling goaltenders in March, one guy needs to be the guy, and then ride him the rest of the way. Lamoureax and Blood need to play more composed. You can't have a short lineup and have a parade to the penalty box. Blood was lucky he didn't get the boot last night. There is a fine line between playing hard nosed and laying everything out on the line for your team, and playing stupid. I think we may be seeing a little bit of the latter with some of the guys that can't afford to be doing so. I think you said it best sir....lets look at the penalty minutes leaders.... 1. MacWilliam 2. Blood 3. Lamoureax And the next closest guy is Kristo with 23 less minutes than Lamoureax. Can't happen....just can't.

It is going to be extremely tight the rest of the way. Probably 50/50 right now. ~Need to sweep the mavs to assure home ice. ~Sweep Bucky, Bemidji, or SCSU when you have your home ice in the playoffs. ~Win at least one game at the final five, if not two of them. You just want this team to succeed with all the setbacks they've had this season, but at the same time this program is all about making the NCAA's every year when in all reality that is extremely difficult to do every year. This team has every excuse to not make the NCAA tournament, but I have the feeling that there would be utter devastation if they didn't get in.

I can't imagine any player would be stupid enough to fight with the given situation......just....no way.....you couldn't be that stupid....

Got the split they needed on the road, but its a bit unsettling to think of what could have been. I'm thinking the penalty issues will be addressed in practice this week.

Never seen him play, but looked over some game summaries and it seems like he gives his team a chance every night. I guess he is a bigger goaltender, which never hurts.

Seems like the one inconsistency all season has unfortunately been the goaltending. With the cards this team has, they have to have great goaltending.

Get the game to OT, and Rowney will win it.

This game is so similar to the Duluth game its scary.......Down by two goals going into the third period with the starter playing less than stellar. I thought if able Dell would for sure be in the net. I wonder if he's hurting more than we all know.