keikla

Just purchased my flight from Portland to Chicago...would have been nice to just drive down to Providence, though. Hopefully the boys can beat Chubak early and often. 2 Hobey finalists > 1 Hobey finalist

That's brutal...I'm pretty sure Quinnipiac is the only #1 seed sitting comfy at this point.

With 6 teams from the WCHA, I'm not sure how much effort they'll put into avoiding intra-conference match-ups. At least they're broken up fairly evenly, so it's not like there's 3 2-seeds and 3 3-seeds from the same conference. I'm still rooting for the Sioux getting sent to Providence. Not only does that mean that I can drive to the regional, but it also means that BC is getting sent west...which they historically have not survived.

I'm not entirely sure why everyone keeps ragging on OD and Mitch. Each player routinely on the 4th line (Pattyn, St Clair, Jim, Rodwell) have a point per game production of <0.2. Since scoring isn't their primary role, this makes sense. Kristo, Knight, Grimaldi, Mark MacMillan, and Rowney all have PTS/G of 0.65 or above. We expect them to score more often than not, and they're guaranteed line-up spots. So it's the remaining 4 forward spots that are debatable. Chyzyk is the outlier of the group on the low end (0.25). The rest (Mitch, Caggiula, Gaarder, Parks, and OD) all have PTS/G between 0.32-0.4. That's not that big of a difference. Now, I realize that there is a lot more to contributing than just points on the scoresheet. I just don't think it makes a ton of sense to sit one player for 'not doing anything out there' when the replacement option hasn't done anything more. At that point, I would think it becomes more of an issue of chemistry and how they've looked in practice that week.

I liked what I saw from Caggiula on Sunday but, to be fair, he had fresh legs. It'd be cause for concern if he didn't look faster than most of the guys out there.

Any chance you guys mind moving the name calling, etc to a private message conversation so the rest of us don't have to read it? Back on topic: I wonder if having 2 players make the rookie team indicates slightly better days ahead for UMD.

I wonder how many times the number of people on the live chat for away games exceeds the number of people in the actual arena. Any chance one of your intern minions has time to figure it out?

Agreed. The top 6 forwards could be rearranged just about any way you like.

The replay looked like the defensemen got a little wood on it, so that one wasn't really Grimaldi's fault. Though goodness knows there'd be no debate for ROY if even half of his oh-so-close opportunities went in!

Even with the changes this weekend, Hak keeps the line combos fluid. Grimaldi was seeing quite a bit of time on the 1st and 2nd lines during the third on Saturday.

I liked Mark with Kristo and Knight, but that was before that third line started clicking as well as it has been. They haven't produced a ton of points, but they've been pretty reliable with cycling the puck and generating chances. I don't think you split that up now. My guess is the bottom two lines are fairly set. And I'd consider the Kristo-Knight and Rowney-Parks combos to be set. So, the only things left in the air are 1) which line does Rocco play on, and 2) which winger do you throw on the opposite line. Obviously, there's a big difference between seeing a game and hearing the game called, but I sure heard O'Donnell's name a ton listening to TH on Saturday night. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets another shot on that top line.

While that provides a lot of rest, that also provides a much more difficult road in the regional.

Yes! And the girls are in! Here comes the rematch.

I'm guessing the tech players remember those scores and are hoping for a little revenge.

The selection show can be watched live at ncaa.com

OD from Kristo and Simpson

Ha! That was my very first thought when I saw that they had won last night!

Pretty surprised by the line-up change. I'm not so surprised about Caggiula sitting, cause even though I like him, I'm pretty sure he hasn't had a goal since his OT goal out at CC. But I'm surprised about putting OD on the top line. I'm not convinced he doesn't have something to offer (maybe he can create more space for the other two), but because it seems strange to go from the bench to top line winger. But I guess when you finally get production from your other 3 lines, I can see Hak's hesitancy to break those lines up the very next night.

Toews with an impressive shorty tonight...

Does that mean you kids got tickets for Saturday too? Or just decide against doing there and back all on Friday?

Ha I don't have a TV, yet alone a DVR! But I'll probably just plan on radio unless someone in the live chat notes how amazing the webcast is.

I think you're missing my point. Miller doesn't apply, because he never actually came here. The complaint was that the team has to start over every year and adjust to no longer having players who left early. The team never adjusted to having Miller in the lineup, so they certainly didn't have to 'start over' because he wasn't. They brought in different, 4 year players (which is what you prefer). And Jones certainly doesn't apply, because he never 'bailed' on UND. He never committed here in the first place...he was very upfront about deciding between UND and the CHL. You said you wanted a team full of players who stay for 3 or 4 years so that the team doesn't have to 'restart' every year. And I'm saying that, apart from one player, you got your wish. This is a team full of 3 or 4 year players, but it's clearly not meeting the expectations that you think that will bring. I should probably note that I don't expect Grimaldi (or possibly Schmaltz) to stay for 4 years, but that doesn't affect the team's chances of winning the title this year. It most likely affects the teams chances of winning the title in 2015 or 2016.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Brock Nelson is the only person who would be on this team and isn't. Aaron Dell left after 3, which you noted is acceptable. Anyone else who has left the team early (that affects this year's team - I'm not talking about Toews, Oshie, etc) has done so because they weren't consistently cracking the line-up, not because they were loved by the NHL scouts. So, we have 3 or 4 year players playing right now, and they are being lambasted for not being good or consistent enough.

Can anyone comment on the quality of AmericaOne webcasts from previous uses? I'd like to have an idea of it's worth before I decide if I'm going to spend the money.

So it's BMT, not TTD, but I figured I'd post the link here since it's about the seniors.