sagard

Glad to see all you long timers are still going strong. I think you guys are over thinking it all. Get amazing goaltending and you have a chance. Anything less and you don't. That is what makes the Gophers last two losses in the finals and this year so painful. Goalies had been great right up until they weren't. Every team is going to be put in a bad spot during their tourney run and their goalie has to buy time for the rest of the team to recover. Doesn't matter if it's not fair, do the job. DU should have been bounced by UMass. But they weren't and look at them now. Denver does the best job in the country in the respect that when they have a great team they seem to win it all at a much higher frequency then say when the Gophers have a great team. UMD similar. UND Similar before Hak. Then you guys just became great every year. This is my second 20 year drought between Gophers titles, so it's pretty comical to hear you all complain about 2016. Any least you all didn't lose to QU.

Damn sorry to hear this guys. Condolences to his friends and family.

Congrats to all of you! I'm happy for all you long timers, with so many close calls over the years I have no resentment with your team winning!

If you need to be broken of your love of college hockey join the Big Ten! Good luck in a couple weeks.

Great draw for you guys. BU should be close, but I don't see them getting away with playing only one period against the Sioux. The crowd might help them a little, but it won't be enough unless they really improve their play from the regional.

Big role reversal this year. The Gophers are middling at best and the Sioux are cruising. Looks like a Fargo match up to me!

With four teams per group making the playoffs it doesn't matter nearly as much compared to when only three got through. Russia will suck during group play and mess up the brackets as usual.

It was definitely more intimate. But that didn't stop you guys from teasing 5>3.

JS was pretty helpful as freshmen, certainly aided Stoa getting a contract. Second year exposed him lacking finishing ability. Statistically Grimaldi looks a bit better especially if he didn't see top line icetime. But yeah preseason expectations of JS were pretty high.

Ferris. They will make the tourney more often than not in this current format.

Grimaldi reminds me of Jordan Schroeder. Both stood out on the WJC stage and for what ever reason underwhelmed in college. Both left early and will end up spending a lot of time in the A.

I'm pretty sure you final analysis nailed it. I'd listen arguments why each of the big four could be #1 and none would be wrong. They are certainly close enough that whoever wins the next tourney could move to the head of the class. In no order: BC - Great history. Dominance unequaled in the York era. 8 Title games since 1998. UND - Incredible new comer. Seven titles and may have the highest wins per season. UM - Unrivaled history. Paved way for many midwestern programs. UMich - 9 titles are hard to get no matter when they were played.

If the Big Ten and the NCHC could work something out and hold their tourneys at a single site and share revenue these leagues would have a lot better chance at a successful tourney. As it is now good luck if the Sioux and Gophers aren't playing.

Well said. I've felt the same way but for the gophers many times. The '97 Final Five and the '07 OT Regional Final being my most painful. The '05 semi and the '12 regional finals weren't nearly as emotional. The better team won those games decisively, despite being lower seeded.

Rau is great but replaceable. Despite his rough effort vs. Union I haven't seen a goalie like Wilcox wearing the Gophers M. Goalies clearly need more development so Wilcox will hopefully be on campus another couple of years.

The Gophers did a great job reloading this year. Many would argue that the task was made a lot easier with Wilcox. If he comes back you can expect the Gophers to be a tough beat again next year. If the freshmen turn from nice players into dominant players, the Gophers will have a great shot at getting back to the Frozen Four.

Any "advisor" that tells a young undersized guy to sign early is not typically giving out great advice. You don't get highly paid anymore unless you are in the NHL. Signing without a 10 game NHL commitment is a horrible move in my opinion. You can get tucked into your teams farm system and only ever get NHL playing time if none of the NHL teams other options fail to work out. Better to play out your eligibility, examine free agency options and sign with the team they you honestly have a chance to play NHL hockey with.

All depends on your context. Pretty straight forward way of looking at 7>5 and it's completely fair. Cut and dry UND. Others might like at overall records since '58-'59. Or head to head. Very slight edges to UMN. The biggest thing that I wouldn't trade for a NCAA title or two is the Gopher History before the NCAA acknowledged the sport. Having a stable program around to play allowed UND, DU, UW, UMD to establish top elite programs of their own. Sure they had their disputes in the early days, but even those disputes helped the game grow in Minnesota. Having at least 100 more wins than the next guy is also pretty cool. UW doesn't make my top five. Probably just because I despise everything about them.

I'm guessing we'll have Harvard, CC, RPI, Cornell, and either Lake St./MSU/MTU in the next group. I'd have no problem moving Harvard into the top ten if the context was "all-time", but I think we must just be examining the NCAA era. Good list and always a fun question.

And for a year more talent too! Not exactly enjoying the reemergence of eastern hockey.

I had concerns that the Gophers were barely at UND's level in the semi and that Union was going to clearly be the better team. With the brief amount of hockey I watched UND play this year I didn't think they had the finishing ability of most UND teams and that is what cost them vs. the Gophers. It very likely would have cost them against Union as well.

Can't say they over achieved when they were number one basically all season. They were a different group than typical "great" Gopher teams. This team did not dominate play ever and never really shelled top level opponents. Wilcox really was the difference between the Gophers and a dozen teams. The team showed serious cracks the weekend in Madison, giving up soft goals, getting outplayed for most of the weekend. To their credit they bounced back and Wilcox won the league title with a great showing in Yost. OSU was way better than them in the playoffs. In the NCAAS they had a great draw. SCSU and UND took out arguably tougher teams and again to the Gophs credit they played well. The last game they played a team they could have beaten, but I don't think they could claim to have the better team in any way. Great team and Union is a worthy champ.

Yep. They made it look easy. A case where the polls were actually more accurate than PWR. Congrats to them.

Nope and the other night he'd have stopped it with no rebound.

Union just too good. Extreme skill play.