sagard

The Sioux have done VERY well against the Gophers the last few years. If they'd play that hard vs. the rest of the WCHA the Gophers probably wouldn't have hung any banners the last couple of years. Granted they were those meaningless McNaughton Cups so I can understand why JT and the boys weren't that interested. On topic Frazee is simply a bad Kangas night from getting back into the lineup. Kangas has had some brutal games so far so I don't think we've seen the last of Jeff good or bad.

Don't count on it. The Sioux will have plenty of talent to finish top five WCHA and make the tourney. Just like the Gophers have right now even without Okposo. Our boys just need to compete harder, no excuses granted.

True enough. But anytime you can stay ahead of Ferris State for half a season in penalty minutes per game, you've accomplished something.

I'll keep saying it. Strength of schedule just isn't that important anymore with the changes in the RPI formula. The most direct measure of your schedule strength is Opponents Winning Percentage. That was de-emphasized from 50% of your RPI to 21% of your RPI. The tweak was put in place to limit the negative impact of some wins on teams RPI when they played an oppponent with a bad record. The unintended consequence was a complete dilution of the SOS. Now winning percentage matters most because that is where there is the biggest separation between teams. It was stupid from the start and the WCHA coaches were fools to give their advantage away.

That just isn't true in the NCAA tourney. MSU had a very easy run to the Finals. The Gophers in their runs missed out on the WCHA champs both years. To win the NCAAs you often need to get breaks in the draw. Something like avoiding a semi with BC would help you guys.

Hope you guys get just as easy of a draw this year!

Strength of schedule was diluted starting last year. It cost UW a NCAA entry. It will cost additional WCHA teams entries until it is changed back. The WCHA coaches were asleep at the switch allowing that RPI change to occur.

It must have been our impressive 2-1-1 hockey over the break right?

It's easy to yap at guys on the bench. Bickel would have been glad to deal with Finley. His 215 minutes in penalties last year in the USHL would have given him a fair shake vs. Finley who could only manage 180 minutes in his USHL season.

I happen to be far more Swedish than Canadian so I won't have that problem this year. I too think Canada has it figured out now and will smother Sweden in a 3-0 type of game.

I don't think it is quite as simple as that. The US talent pool maybe thirty deep for the age group. They don't have the flexibility to pass on players who may be good enough, but don't necessarily have a great team "makeup". They were as close as possible to beating Canada last year. Goaltending and overall team defense seems to me what separates the US and Canada right now. Canada just doesn't seem to give up second shots.

It is now known widely as the best eastern hockey. Witness the Gophers since '04-'05. Undefeated vs. HE and ECAC. Lowly 1-2-1 vs. the mighty Atlantic.

Sure would have been nice to get an off day after the quarters last year. Or the year before. Oh well it will be easier to skip work on Friday.

Let's not get too dramatic. The loss/tie hurts the Gophs, it doesn't erase the WCHA's impressive non-conference performance over the whole year. As for the Gophers chances. They are looking to be the 4th or 5th WCHA team in the tourney. They will need to bump either UND, UMD or UW. It won't happen unless they start playing a lot better. They are in a similar situation as UND was the last couple of years. On the bubble, but will safely make the field if they start winning two out three from here out. Not a easy task given the way they have played, but not impossible.

At least you guys didn't get outplayed and beaten by RIT.

Canada ties it on 5 on 3. Minute and a half of PP time left. I'm a little torn. I don't want to see Canada unless it's for gold, but a Canada/Russia quarter final would be amusing as well.

Considering the U20 team is the pinnacle of all our USA Hockey fees they extract from us coaches, players, and kids the bare bones approach would be nice. I guess I'll just be glad they are playing decent to start this year.

Guys leaving for MJ mid-season is nothing new, but this should raise eyebrows because of the Gophers and Okposo's high draft status. Quick list I posted in the GPL thread: Jason Bailey - Mich Ryan Bellows - Dartmouth Matt Smith - Clarkson Kevin Montgomery - OSU Nigel Williams - UW Matt Auffrey - UW AJ Thelen - MSU TJ Fast - Denver These guys were just the last couple of seasons. Hopefully Okposo is leaving for something a little better than a WHL team.

So has Lucia just now lost his ability to develop players and teams or has it been a longer term problem? Don't worry about the Gophers, they will be OK. Assuming Carmen comes back I'm guessing he will be able to contribute about the same amount of scoring that Okposo was contributing. However the team needs to improve if they want to make the tourney. Fischer, Hoeffel, White, Wheeler, Bariball, and Fairchild need to step up the second half.

The next big development stage for TJ will take place when he gets to the NHL. If he can take another big step he will be a top line forward. If he doesn't take the big step he'll have a nice career anyways. In my opinion he came back to UND because he loves playing there, not because he needed more development. Although with the physical all out effort game he plays, it certainly wasn't bad advice to let his body mature another season before tangling with the NHL.

Snow went from NHL goalie to GM overnight. Eventually if he stays on long enough (no sure thing with the Isles even if they win) he'll realize it's not always the best thing to say whats on your mind.

It's kind of a silly arguement. Okposo for the good of the team was likely being played out of position. If Lucia doesn't do what he feels is best for the team to make a player happy, he'd rightfully get torn a new one by everyone. Many guys would just embrace being asked to play center and get on with their last season with their friends. Others decide they have had enough of it and take off because they have that opportunity. Okposo wanted out. Lucia shouldn't be blaming the Isles, it does no good to hold a player hostage. Likewise I'm sure Lucia was developing Okposo just fine when he was scoring 1.5 ppg with Tyler Hirsch on his line. Okposo is a nice well spoken kid. He is an easy guy to root for. I'm just most disappointed that after the WJC I won't likely see him play anymore. As for the Gophers having long term problems because of this? They'll be OK.

Phil looked a lot better this year than last in games I've seen. He seems to have taken the path Parise did. Effective until his last year, then freaking awesome. Frazee may still develop, but who knows. Don't forget Lammy almost blew the Gophers regional game last year with his flopping, but got the call on Wheeler before Vanelli shot it into the open net. He didn't need to be anywhere Wheeler and got taken out. Sometimes you don't get those calls. Reguarding the Gophers you have the same thoughts many intelligent (save the jokes) Gophers fans had about the Sioux last year. It really comes down to whether they can put out the effort they had in GF over the second half of the year. If they can put out that effort they will win enough games to make the NCAAs.

If it ended today you all would have NE again with DU waiting in the wings. Unless the NCAA decided to get creative and shove UND, UM, and UMich in another regional.

It was reported he challenged Andrew Conboy and then got knocked out cold.