sagard

USHCO has the absolute weirdest policies about updating articles. Just post a follow up. Keeping the same dateline and reusing existing web pages is moronic.

Murray gave your team a serious shot of speed. Very few other players could have made that play he did scoring against UW. Starting at the blue line 10 feet in front of the defender, he burst past him and made a passing lane before running out of space. I still think the Sioux can beat anyone in the field, but it does certainly take away a valuable scoring option.

1. It seems like the recruiting process is often a negotiation. A player may pump one team to try and get a better offer from the school he truly wants to attend. I certainly wouldn't blame a recruit in the least, because I'm guessing the coaches are often trying to determine what portion of a scholarship a player will accept. 2. Players who "settle" for a second choice rarely if ever admit to it. Very often it becomes their favorite from the start or the "best fit" for that player.

It's just reflection of the times. The Gophers looked extremely vulnerable this weekend. The more I look at the brackets, the more I wish the Gophers had a healthy roster. While they could lose to anyone, the three teams I would consider them lucky to beat are all in the other half of the bracket. That means in my opinion the Gophs (and Sioux for that matter) will only really have to get lucky in the Final and that certainly is possible. I don't see a talent gap facing either the Gophers or Sioux until possibly the championship game. The teams who play best will emerge to Columbus. Getting players back for the Frozen Four would be a huge boost to either the Gophers or Sioux if they can just get there.

My son will likely start as a mite next winter. I was horrified with the hit. At the time I was somewhat hoping DU would win the game because the only way the Gophers could be sure to lock up number one was to play and beat DU. After Gwozdecky put Paukovich back in for a power play, I don't think I'll root for DU again as long as he's coach. Nobody intends to break someone neck when they hit a player, it is the coaches responsibility to teach that certain actions are not tollerable. This gets forgotten in most situations when the player who was hit skates away, I hope that if I'm ever coaching and have a player hit someone like that I send him to the locker room. Best of luck to a full recovery to Robbie Bina.

Since hockey moved to the regional format in 1992, counting this year the Gophers have hosted three times. One of those three times in '00, they didn't even qualify. Of course the Gophers were lucky to be hosting the Frozen Four in a year they had a great team as well. However BC has now shown twice recently and the Gophers have shown in the past that playing the Frozen Four at home isn't always enough.

I'm a little surprised he went with the spear. His forte this season has been the open ice cross-check from behind.

People can rip whoever they want. They also have to live with their choices. I'm with sikatoca, lets see what Tyler chooses to say about the situation. Whether Tyler's problem is with personal issues or with the coaching staff I feel for him. Almost anyone else would find a way to enjoy their emergence as one of the best players in the WCHA.

Two references on that series. Unlike DU, the Gophers couldn't overcome the waived off goal. DU got stronger, the Gophers folded. Not a compaint over the validity of the call. Secondly, Peltier and Harrington got walked by dangerous offensive players. They can not afford to allow this to happen this weekend. Take the guy down and kill the penalty, or make the save I guess is an option too. These kind of things can't happen this weekend if the Gophers are going to advance.

The third place game did likely did not have any impact on the Sioux's seeding. Using this tool you can change game results and re-calculate PWR: http://slack.net/~whelan/tbrw/2005/rankings.diy.shtml Changing the result of the Gophs/Sioux game changes nothing for either team. Other than the Gophers enter the tourney with a confidence boost and the Sioux enter wondering about their injuries, instead of vice versa.

The answer to the first question is that by the current system, yes the Gophers deserve the last #1 seed. If the question really is whether the Gophers are currently anywhere near the fourth best team in the country, then the answer is no. The Gophers have the horses to get by Maine and Cornell with or without Goligoski or Hirsch. They will have to get the breaks against both teams though. They are not good enough to overcome a couple of post shots or waived off goals. The won't overcome goofy bounces past their goaltender or embarrasing undressing of defensemen in one-on-one battles. Right now I have to think Cornell is the best team in the regional with OSU/UM/UMaine being very similar.

There won't be much of a crowd Sunday if the Gophers aren't playing, but the many of the tickets were sold with the season ticket packages so the NCAA won't care that much. I really don't want to see the scenario for obvious reasons.

I think the team did care about the game. They simply got beat. Lucia simply pointed out that Gophers seeding was dependant on how other games went, not how the Gophers game went. I wouldn't believe it for a second that the guys were not out there trying to win. Lucia didn't put Pohl, Borgen, and Solie into the lineup. He went with the best he had available. He also got his answer to whether or not Briggs would be sharp in returning to action.

Be careful what you wish for. If UND or the Gophers aren't in the regional final next season at the Ralph, there won't be too large of a crowd there either.

Sadly this is likely closest to the truth. I'd even go so far to say they have an easy path to the final game unless UND can make it through the Eastern regional. Of course the same can be said for any team in the east or west regionals.

This is wrong. The Maine/BC playoff game mattered a ton. If BC lost that double OT game, they would have also lost their comparison with Cornell. Allowing Cornell to either pass or tie the Gophers for last number one seed depending on RPI bonus. You can hate Lucia and his comments forever, but you need to put them in the correct context. If Lucia had truly not cared about the UND game, many others who have been banged up the second half may not have dressed. Again if you are looking for Lucia to praise UND after beating the Gophers and to rip his own team, don't hold your breath.

What I should have been more clear about is that the Gophers wins from months ago are what propped their PWR rankings. The most important component of PWR is RPI. This component shows the Gophers in sixth over all and after a 0.003, 0.002, 0.001 quality win adjustment shows the Gophers far closer to #10 UND than #5 Michigan. The Gophers got their ranking due to one of the more famous problems with PWR. There is no strength of opponent in the TUC category. The Gophers racked up a 10-0 record against MSU and SCSU. This inflated their TUC record meant that any team who wanted to win a comparison and didn't have any games with the Gophers had to beat the Gophers in both RPI and common opponents. With Cornell the Gophers had one common oppenent. Michigan State. The Gophers beat them, Cornell didn't. Cornell almost overcame the 10-0 TUC cushion, but couldn't. So the Gophers get the last #1 seed. Although many don't like the results from PWR this year, I wouldn't advise a switch to subjective rankings. Coincidently KRACH got fooled by the Gophers this year as well. Although the margins were exceedingly thin, the Gophers were ranked ahead of Michigan and Cornell there as well.

What the Cornell crew really wanted was to get the number one seed and then have the NCAA place two WCHA teams at Mariucci allowing them to stay east. I suspect they are worked up about nothing, Cornell should be able cruise through the Mariucci regional unless somehow Goligoski and Hagemo get healthy and Hirsch works through his issues by gametime. Even if those three play Saturday, the Maine game won't be a gentle contest.

The Gophers earned the number one seed months ago. It has no reflection on the way they are currently playing, it should not come as that big of a surprise to all who read this board. It was mentioned by Jim Dahl and I think I mentioned it here as well a long time ago that the Gophers would need a collapse of rediculous proportions to lose the top seed. Be happy, they nearly pulled it off. This Gophers team does not handle adversity over the course of a game well at all. It lacks depth and without top flight goaltending it is far more likely to lose a close game than win it. The best teams in the country in my opinion right now are: DU Michigan BC CC Cornell UND BU UM Maine UNH OSU UW Colgate Harvard I'll take the dufus Reusse ripping the Gophers any day of the week. The last time he did it was April 6, 2002. Funny he didn't have much to say on April 7th, 2002. One other clarification. The Gophers/Lucia were not sure they had a number one seed locked up on Saturday. What they knew was that it was out of their control. Basically they needed BC and DU to with the tourneys in order to get the top seed. That was true win or lose against the Sioux. I also don't buy the idea that the Gophers tanked the game or didn't care, they came out strong but the Sioux capatalized on Briggs and took the game over in the third.

"He said he holds no animosity toward Paukovich about the hit, on which Paukovich was originally given a two-minute minor penalty for boarding." Almost too much class. I hope all goes well today for him.

Easy footage. Actually kind of painful.

If the Gophs can get by Maine we could certainly be settling this in Columbus. Maybe the fans could all share a charter?

Lucia can't win with you all. Friday on AM radio he was heeping praise on the Sioux stating that with their physical game and goaltending they are one of the few WCHA teams that had a real chance to win the tourney coming from the play in game. He certainly could have praised the Sioux for their effort, but honestly how often have the Gophers received praise from a Sioux coaching after a victory?