sagard

I don't think so. Root for who you like. Personally I like the way the Sioux play hockey so they are easy to pull for once the Gophs are beaten. UW on the other hand plays a game that I find hard to watch and the more success they have will lead to teams copying their style.

I'm with Reusse. Three Frozen Fours, two NCAA Titles, two Broadmoor, a McNaughton in five years is really a bunch of crap when you look at all the accomplishments of the other local teams.

It sucks to have your team sent to another teams home regional. All year long I figured the Gophs would probably not make it out of Grand Forks if sent there. Of course I didn't expect Holy Cross to be the ones to take us down, but oh well. As a fan of the home team it rocks. You get an arena full of real fans and the atmosphere is the best you can possibly have. Heck even Mariucci was rocking during the regionals. Combine that with the fact that your team will usually win, it's awesome. Fans are always going to complain about being the road team during a regional, whether it's a Gophs fan, Cornell fan or even a UND fan. Complaints will happen, but I don't think the solution it oversized semi-neutral venues.

Are you seriously going to talk up the Gophers while this years playoffs are still going on? There are plenty of reasons to be hopeful for next year, but now is not the time to chirp. We have some serious games left and it really is a battle between UND who plays hockey vs. UW who plays a brutally effective systematic game. Yes there are some eastern interlopers who could be problematic, but I think we will be having another collision of WCHA teams in the final. We need UND to win. I don't want to see UW style copied by others. It's a pain to watch and it's very tough to beat.

I'm glad you all had the time of your lives! There is something truly special about home regionals and I don't think the NCAA eliminate them out west. Don't get too haughty about our plight though, there wasn't a whole lot of Sioux colors shown in the '03 regional final. Congrats again to all you Sioux fans and good luck in Milwaukee!

Could you expand? It seems like the Gophers got beat in a pretty straight up fashion. Sometimes it's hard for the coach to prevent the players from taking stupid penalties and how the coach is responsible for the PP going oh-for-seven I'm not sure about either. Lucia in my opinion deserves some heat for some things, he certainly got credit during the championship runs. However, to blame him for the Gophers loss takes away from the effort the Holy Cross guys put out. Of course if Lucia could have reminded the guys before the third period to skate hard until they hear a whistle. As it turns out, that would have been clutch.

If Cornell wins there will be plenty. Check GPL tickets section.

Nah. We're busy getting ready for golf. Congrats to the Sioux. Please take care of the rest of the vile programs to the east!

Winning a home regional is one of the most fun parts of being a fan. Good luck tonight! If UND plays at the tempo they have played the last month they won't have any trouble.

Be very careful or I'll get on the Sioux bandwagon! As much as I'd like Irmen and Potulny to return, if either of them gets a shot this year due to the early exit I wish them the best.

They liked the results last year, so Jup went with it again.

It will be a pain hearing the "Golden Chokers" and seeing the highlights year after year, but last year actually hurt a lot more. This years team had a nice run, but in the end their goaltending and defense were exposed. You simply have to be able to clamp down after taking a 3-2 lead in a game like that, and this team simply wasn't able to play that way. My first Gopher memories were from the '81 season, so I've seen plenty of tough losses. We'll be OK.

I think they should have celebrated a little with the McNaughton. The Gophers didn't adjust to the way the game was being called. Too much energy wasted killing penalties. Good for Holy Cross they deserved the win. It hurts, but if your going to win some famous games, your probably going to lose some as well.

I have to think that whenever anyone in the national sports media thinks of either UND or NDSU atheletics, Fighting Sioux hockey is the first thing that comes to mind. A couple of nice wins vs. Big Ten schools in football or basketball might change that for the short term. But I just don't see how anything short of a couple of Gonzaga type NCAA hoops runs would garner NDSU sports anywhere near the national recognition as Sioux hockey. I do hope NDSU succeeds though, anything that would continue to shed light on the incompetence of the Gophers hoops and football programs would be a good thing in my book.

Barry Tallackson has played ten games for the Devils this year. I have to assume they are not very deep up front in either New Jersey or Albany, but I don't really follow it closely. As much as I like Barry, Zajac is probably the better player as we speak.

You have to admit beating the Gophs consistantly has made UND extremely popular. Why wouldn't the same be true for NDSU football?

Toews, Oshie and Duncan have taken the Sioux from a nice team that is dangerous to a team that is a serious threat to win #8 in the last six weeks. They have given the Sioux great scoring depth that they didn't have last year for much of the season.

It was just like that game. Siouxsports held a 6-5 lead through most of the third, fighting constant pressure. Then with a couple minutes left they score for a 7-5 lead, but POI bounced right back for 7-6. The last minute and half were taking faceoffs and throwing the kitchen sink at stuckinfargo, but no dice. I bet if we'd had RP we'd of tied it up.

3) Get good contracts with nice bonus money after their Junior years, despite lower draft positions.

Did Bochenski get VERY good money for a 7th round pick? I would expect RP to get a VERY good offer this year. If he doesn't get signed and plays out his days at the "U" would RP not be eligible for free agency the summer after graduation?

Those two were definately keys to the victory. You all should try to identify screen names with the photos. I'll do the same next year if my teams holding the trophy.

RP has 38 goals, 17 power play goals, probably a couple of empty netters. He is very adept at catching tough passes and getting the shot off very quickly and I think that will translate to a NHL career. The funniest part about RP was the amount of fans who thought he should not return at the end of his freshmen season and take the redshirt. I personally found that to be humorous because he as already a year out of high school and the Gophers would be lucky to have him four years, let alone five. Guys like Vanek/Kessel/Potulny/Bochenski will make it in the NHL as long as they are producing goals. None of them will ever be known as 2-way players, though they may develop that part of the game as they get older. Others like Parise/Irmen/Oshie/Stafford will bring other parts of the game with them in addition to being capable scorers and that will get them in lineups even if they are not top six NHL forwards immediately. There are places in the league for all these players in my opinion.

Some media may be fooled. Some opposing fans may be fooled. I just don't think any college hockey program would ever take the Sioux lightly. I didn't think BU or BC took the Sioux lightly, they just weren't good enough. Same with the Gophs. I'd rather have high expectations and be disappointed than have low expectations.

Wow. A chartering company is trying to get a fan base prepared for a possible Frozen Four trip. Go put it on the board!

I doubt the Gophs are looking past Holy Cross based of Lucia's comments Monday. Myself, I have no problem looking past them due to not having to dress against them. If the Gophs lose to HC they probably weren't going to get past the Michigan/UND winner either. Right now it's just more fun assuming the Gophs and UND will win.