sagard

Same with the Sioux. The problem isn't with PWR, or deviating from PWR standings. The problem is with the goals of the committee. Avoiding 1st round conference matchups, and avoiding likely 2nd round conference matchups should be the goals. Placing the top seeded team nearest to home is great, if the arena is close. Otherwise send the out east. I'd love for the Gophs to be out with UNH.

It is stupid to have the top two seeds in region from the same conference. Yale and Niagara need to get pounded.

Fantastic tourney with great times. Some great moments of course are the Wheeler in OT, Grant P with a late game tourney winner. But selfishly my favorite was the 2003 Gophers/MSU semi final. I'm for some reason holding $500 worth of tickets to the championship game which if the Gophers lost to MSU, the final would be MSU and CC. Trailing into the third period, Grant P ties it up. Then watching twenty minutes of scoreless hockey until Vanek bails me out in OT. The last few years with my son playing a lot of hockey has reduced my passion for college hockey, but it sucks that when I'm ready watch it closely again the Final Five won't be happening. Congrats to champions UM, UND, UMD, DU, SCSU, Northern Michigan and of course nasty UW!

The way our teams are playing we'd be lucky to get a second round matchup in GR.

Every time Big Ten is shown on screen at Mariucci, it gets booed.

Badger takes down CC player at 26, no call. CC takes down Badger at 9, tripping UW wins.

Gophs/Mich and Sioux/Niagara in Grand Rapids. Only thing stopping it would be Mich failing.

Unless your team is BC. There are too many variables in winning the NC now, you just have to play the games and see what happens.

Those dirty skunks will be ripe for a 1st round whipping at the hands of Goldy if they should survive their playoffs. No matter who it ends up being, I don't see it being an easy game.

You honestly think with the same refs and a long time WCHA ref Adam your going to get different results? There are tons of good reasons to make a league of your own, I just don't see refs as one of them. Considering right from the start the most likely referee candidates were guys working in that geographic area. Funny night. All the home ice teams win, I suspect someone will be playing hockey Sunday.

I think BSU would be much preferable to Tech, but clearly not as important as getting the #2 seed and/or a share of the McNaughton. For as hard as BSU plays, they lack finishing ability and their goalie is questionable. I could certainly see BSU winning a playoff game, but no way to I see them winning two.

Easily could have been, but it was pretty weird. Had a roughing minor been called nobody would have complained. That said things were happening quickly, if the puck had squirted away like Mafia says then I could easily see the refs following the play and not seeing it. If I remember right they had a long talk with the linesman, and decided to let it go. The call was pretty trivial in comparison to both reviewed goals going the Gophers way. From my view the DU goal happened so fast I'm guessing they must have got it right. The Gopher goal was called good on the ice and I'm guessing that is why it stood. Budish dragged it towards the net with his skate. Then he swatted at it with his stick. Assuming he didn't touch it. The puck then re-directed off what appeared to be another Gopher laying in the crease. Then as the puck is either across or crossing the line, a DU player tries to grab it, but only manages to knock it further into the net. Not exactly sure what the rule is here. I believe the puck after deflecting off the second Gopher is now legal. However if they determined that Budish never touched it with his stick, and the next touches were DU players fumbling around and not a second Gopher then it should have been waived off. Pretty fun game.

That was somewhat implied with the "barreled through" part. Gophers in some parts are often considered soft. This was in no means a soft play. Parenteau looked pissed about the weak shot, then decided to destroy the DU kid. It happens, I'm sure you guys can relate.

The shot was weak and kind of stuck near/to the DU player who was crouched down. Then the Gopher player who shot the puck followed the shot and barreled right through the DU player potentially dislodge the puck, but more likely just to intimidate/hammer the DU player. At least that's how I remember it.

Nobody with any money cares about the terrorists and drug dealers. People care when you steal their TV streams.

You guys above anyone should know better than to discount no-name eastern schools. Whether is cheer on HC or getting beaten by Yale.

Now you guys see why a few years ago I truly hoped the badgers would leave the WCHA for their football rivals in the CCHA. That game was as exciting as any game with the badgers can be. Unfortunately we now will get the Big Ten and whatever your new league will be. I expect Sunday to be brutal, with one team winning 1-0. Maybe 2-0.

Pretty good stuff! Don't worry I'm sure the dog gets even in the handshake line!

Yeah I've seen the same thing for the last year and now this. The teams have somewhat reversed roles. UND now has the flash with Kristo and Grimaldi. But the Gophers have actually been far better along the walls and in their own zone, with the notable exceptions being the 3rd at the X last year, and the 2nd period last night. In the head to head matchups, the Gophers goalie has been slightly better. But the teams are so even anything can happen when they play again. Since team defense is little easier to improve on than team offense, I don't think the Sioux have much to worry about this season. They will be in the NCAA quarters with a good shot at making the Frozen Four. I expect the same from the Gophers.

The Gophers used head out east for a weekend in return for getting a big time eastern team into the classic. As money got tight, the Gophers quit playing road games and the quality of opponent at the classic dropped. Not coincidently this happenned at the roughly the same time PWR devalued Strength of Schedule. UND's slightly tougher schedule might have got them the number one seed at the X last year.

I don't usually stick up for the Wild, but if donkeys like Carolina, Boston, LA, modern Edmonton, can get enough talent to make the playoffs and then proceed to finals so can the Wild.

Strength of schedule was majorly devalued several years ago. The most important thing is now to have a great record. Strength of schedule still plays a role but much less. Current RPI Format 25/21/54 1 Boston Coll (HE) 2 Michigan (CC) 3 Union (EC) 4 North Dakota (WC) 5 Miami (CC) 6 Ferris State (CC) 7 Minn-Duluth (WC) 8 Minnesota (WC) 9 Boston Univ (HE) 10 Maine (HE) 11 Denver U (WC) 12 Mass-Lowell (HE) 13 Cornell (EC) 14 Western Mich (CC) 15 Mich State (CC) Old RPI format 25/50/25 1 Boston Coll (HE) 2 Michigan (CC) 3 North Dakota (WC) 4 Union (EC) 5 Boston Univ (HE) 6 Miami (CC) 7 Maine (HE) 8 Mass-Lowell (HE) 9 Western Mich (CC) 10 Denver U (WC) 11 Minn-Duluth (WC) 12 Ferris State (CC) 13 Mich State (CC) 14 Minnesota (WC) 15 Cornell (EC) The teams would have stayed the same, but the brackets would have been MUCH different.

I think BC being the only game in town out east is really paying off for them. York pretty much seems to pick his team, then the rest make do with the scraps.

I thought the WCHA was a bit down because the Gophers really stunk in non-conference play, but still managed to win the league. At the end though, I'm pretty sure the Gophers, UND, and UMD were as good as any non-BC team in the country. The Gophers actually played pretty well for 35 minutes last night, but the guys couldn't snipe when they had their looks. Lots of glorious chances on the sticks of guys who aren't finishers.

Don't worry about it. Your gut will tell you what to do. I thought I'd like BC to beat you guys in 2008, but as the game got going was pulling for UND. Then that little freak started schooling everyone. At least Michigan blew it that night.