Cardinal

Agreed. Hopefully Hastings sticks around for a few years, which is my only concern, especially when you consider the rumors that Hill wants to move to a front office position in some capacity.

The biggest of the numerous differences is that Lucia, unlike McHale, as won the big one twice and the smaller ones several times over.

Those are all big unknowns at this point, and I think that a majority of those questions can only be answered on the ice over the coming years. If the team flops the next few years, then they'll likely be changes. If last year's down season was a blip on the radar and they come back strong in the coming years, then I think Lucia and/or Hill will be vindicated. Time will tell...

I agree that there's a touch of that; to what degree I'm not sure, and in the end, the results on the ice are what matters. I know people on this board don't think so, but the Gophers have had a pretty good run over the last few years. Yes, some bad games / stretches have come along the way, but that happens. The fact is they've had as much success as anyone in college hockey during Lucia's tenure, no matter how you want to define "success." They've captured every type of banner available (DQ Cup too!), had a Hobey Baker winner, first team All-Americans, guys going to the NHL and being factors, etc. You guys might not like Lucia (though I'm not sure Sioux fans would like anybody who coached the Gophers), but to ignore the success to to try to paint him in a bad light at this point is foolish. The same can be said for Gopher fans who unleash unprovoked attacks on Hakstol. Most of the Hak-bashing done by Gopher fans comes on the heels of Lucia ripping by UND fans, IMO.

The logic is that you don't want to go balls to the wall for a game that, in most cases, doesn't mean a whole lot, especially with the NCAA tournament on the horizon. Obvioulsy things like PairWise rankings could make the game VERY meaningful, but that's on a case-by-case basis. Everyone points to the Holy Cross year as a reason why you take the third place game seriously, but there are plenty of examples where a team has sputtered late in the season or lost their last non-NCAA game but still done very well in the NCAAs, so I feel that logic is slightly flawed. And during the Final Five prior to the HC game, the Gophers played a dramatic, OT game on Friday night with SCSU and had to turn around and play a very good UW team the next afternoon. They were SOL from the second they stepped on the ice, IMO, and I think most teams would have faced a similar fate given that predicament. I don't think the Gophers threw the game or anything, and I certainly don't believe that's what Lucia means when his words tend to "devalue" the game. There's a reason that the other conferences have got rid of the third place game: it's not worth having. The only reason the WCHA keeps it around is because of the money they can generate off of it that other conference's can't because of the location of the Xcel Energy Center, the great fan bases that travel, etc.

First place in a conference tourney is a lot different than winning an NCAA title. I don't agree with Lucia's theory about how third place games aren't worth going for, but I can understand where he's coming from and can respect his thinking on it.

Tony Lucia has certainly proved his worth over time; add to that the fact that he had offers from the likes of New Hampshire, Michigan, and Notre Dame, and he's not on the roster just because his old man is the coach. In addition, Wehrs was just fine last year as a freshman who will be a four-year guy, and he also had offers from good D-I schools, including UMD and (I believe) BU. North Dakota also recruited Joey Miller, so he's got to have some talent, no? Applying that same logic, I'm sure Guentzel's son could have played for Minnesota and done well; why he didn't end up here I don't know. But, don't use the "Wayzata East" logic because all those Wayzata kids have either proved their worth and/or were recruited by other top programs -- including UND.

Because, unlike Wisconsin, they don't have three-quarters of their roster taken up by third / fourth liners.

I acknowledged they were good / great players, but look at Lucia's recruits on that team: Taffe, Riddle, Paul Martin, Ballard, Potulny, Koalska, etc. I know according to most people on this board they were hacks, they sucked, etc., but most fans would clearly see how good those players were. Two great players doesn't make or break a team in a sport like hockey.

Do you honestly think he left because he was unhappy? If that was the case he could have left the prior two summers. He did this because of a loophole in the CBA that's going to -- in his eyes / mind -- give him a better chance to get a big contract. He'll have a contract sooner that later.

1) One could argue that anyone could win a national title with teams Hakstol has had the last few years, but obviously that didn't happen. There are teams every year that have rosters that would indicate they could / should win a title, such as UND's the last few years. 2) "Implosions?" So, let's see: two regular season titles, one WCHA playoff title, All-Americans, etc. Yeah, the Holy Cross loss is terrible, and last season wasn't great (though they still made the most of things at the end when most people -- including myself -- thought they would go down without a fight). And don't give me this BS that Sioux fans like to spit out about how the NCAA title is all that matters. Convenient excuse considering the lack of banners under Hakstol and the many that have been hung by the Gophers and other teams over that same time period. 3) Three of the four classes on the 2002 team were Lucia recruits. Obviously guys like Leopold and Pohl were big contributors and they were of course Woog recruits, but guys like Ballard, Taffe, Koalska, Riddle, Martin, etc. were Lucia recruits that made a huge difference on that team. And, by the way, 100 percent of the players on the 2003 title team were Lucia recruits, so explain that one. Must have been the influence of Woog's recruits from the previous year that put them over the top, right?

Hopefully Finley takes some skating lessons between now and whenever he decides to go pro ... going to be tough sledding in the NHL, where things are called much more tightly, if you hook / slash everyone that blows by you as he does now.

To provide a little logic / background, Patterson developed a sports hernia late last summer that carried into the season. During the 2006-07 season, he was the USHL all-rookie team's goalie. So, while taking nothing away from Hjelle, but Patterson is very talented and proved that -- when healthy -- he's the real deal. Hopefully he can stay healthy moving forward...

I think these days most people in the upper midwest know about Charley Walters' BS, and I'm not saying this isn't true, but this report came from a note in his column today.

Minnesota also played Denver in the HOF game a few years ago. Also, Minnesota is in Grand Forks on January 9-10.

That's what I took it to mean, yes. Hak is tough to read at times, but I'm sure at least a part of him saying that was a low point referred to that incident.

You could hear Dubay hold back his short laugh after Hakstol mentioned that the Saturday UNH game was a bit of a low-point ...

I admire the hell out of him for sticking it out, but in all honesty, he should have left after last season. Not trying to flame here, but Toews is obviously a very special player and most importantly in this situation a great setup man, and that's obviously what Duncan didn't have this year. Oshie is very good, but playmaking isn't going to be his forte at the next level where as Toews is going to be an elite center for the next 15+ years.

The Gophers are such a soft team, that's why they didn't do anything back. Plus, I'm sure the Gophers did something on the ice that caused them to run into Kangas a handful of times, so it was justified.

It's been confirmed on GPL that Lee has NOT committed to Harvard, though he will be visiting there this summer. Everson verballed a long time ago, so his commitment is solid / true.

Just as he would do to other WCHA schools ... kind of the nature of a rule like that, no?

Regardless of the logic, you still didn't address his second point regarding some (most?) Sioux fans being hypocrites; Woog's teams were endlessly ripped for not winning the big one but generally coming close. Now the Sioux, who were the clear-cut No. 1 team in the nation back in October and are obviously red-hot right now, have recently done very well during the regular season and league playoffs (though they haven

I think it's played on Sunday since Friday and Saturday mornings would be pretty packed if you had to possibly get into town, play a game, and then get over to the X; would cut into bar time as well. It's always seemed to work best on Sundays, but if we wanted to mix it up next year, I'm not opposed.

From an opposing fan's perspective, I fear Genoway as much as any player on the Sioux from an offensive perspective, FWIW...