sagard

The Gophers won two of the playoff championships at the Bradley Center. UW always seemed to have success at the old Civic Center.

It happened in both '99 and '00. The Gophers beat SCSU and MSU. In '99 the Sioux barely sneaked past the well rested Gophers in the semi's and DU proved to be too much for them in the Finals. In '00 the filthy Badgers lit up the very ill Adam Hauser, (who actually was incredible the night before) but the rested Gophers took too much of a toll on Bucky and the Sioux smoked them. This year the Sioux overcome the short rest and defeat UW and DU. They put up a great fight against the Gophs in the Final, but in the third fatigue sets in and the Gophers claim their third straight WCHA playoff title. I fear DU will get the last laugh again this year in Columbus.

UW's season is on the line. I don't think they will make the NCAA's without winning two at the X.

They do it all the time! Good luck next weekend to the Sioux, may we have another WCHA playoff championship decide by our teams.

Holy cow. Somebody ate their Wheaties this morning.

Yeah then one of their 20 fans might show up here and do a 7 > 7 routine. Or rub B2B titles in our faces incessantly.

Don't forget to sell all the center ice seats to the Gophers opponent and allow the opponents band/cheerleaders/etc... MSU tried it this winter and I recommend all WCHA teams do it. Heck MSU even had them paint a big purple bull on center ice at the X. The bottom line is that they should scrap the bottom two teams from the playoffs and have a WCHA Final Four.

I didn't like to drink the night (though I admit on occasion I was forced to) before my games as a lowly NAIA/NSIC baseball player. His willingness to go out drinking and blow off a commitment shows alot about Thelan's commitment to the Spartan program. There are other ways to express dissatisfaction with the head coach than blatantly disreguarding team rules/warnings and getting kicked off the team. The defense that others were drinking as well has NEVER worked. Thelan is still young enough to get his act together, I believe he had accelerated his high school and maybe that was not the best decision. Grades are not his problem, maturity and respect for authority seem to be.

I think the biggest problem with the NCAA's handbook is the fact they don't even try to avoid having the #1 and #2 teams in a given region from the same conference. I feel like you that the WCHA loses out when this occurs. I tried the reverse arguement (it's not fair because the NCAA is basically handing a FF spot to the WCHA), but none of the Cornell guys would bite.

Parise had the stats to warrant a scholarship his last season in the USHL. He strikes me as the type of goalie who is unlikely to "blow" a game for a team.

This brings up one of my pet peaves. Let's say he is a carbon copy of Bochenski. Wouldn't it be better bringing him in next year knowing he may not contribute that much until Feb/March vs. only having him for three years?

True enough. However they still control their destiny as far as NCAA seeding goes. A pair of wins at the X or even win/lose would likely put them back as a number one. First step is MSU.

Then you have to thank WBL for choking away the quarter final. The Moorhead goaltending always blinks when it matters most. Even in one of the games against the power house Jefferson teams, they really had a shot and even out played them but were done in by superior tending. Great weekend, I just wish the refs would have had a little less of a role in both finals. I really didn't think I could hate HA any more, but they took it to a new level.

As with almost all MSHSL players a year of juniors wouldn't hurt him. He is clearly one of the top players in either state tourney this year, but there were several plays against Totino that he couldn't quite get as strong of a shot as he wanted. The stupid f'n referee wrecked the AA final. NOT COOL.

That single A game was the best game I've seen in a long time. I agree with jk on the fact that TG was outshooting them, but not by any means out chancing them. Warroad looked to me to have far and away the three best players on either team with Oshie, Hardwick and Olimb. Totino had far superior depth. Seeing those teams and even the Duluth Marshall / Totino game makes me long for the days with one class. It used to be such an accomplishment to make it to your region's semi-finals, let alone the state semi-finals.

That pretty much corresponds with my impression. Against Century none of the Moorhead forwards distinguished themselves from each other, last night VandeVelde was all over the ice.

You could try www.kfan.com and use their stream for radio. I know they have the game on 1130 AM.

Warroad looks far better defensively than they did last year. No odd man rushes, crushing body checks on the St. Thomas forwards before they gain the zone. Great effort by both teams so far, but clearly Warroad is superior by a large margin.

I'm big fans of all those Moorhead/Warroad players until they are up against the Gophs.

Lee did look great. He can hold the puck longer and make better passes than anyone else on the ice. Number 28 for Duluth East looked very good to me as well as he consistantly lugged the puck out of the zone despite being under siege the first two periods by WBL forwards. Moorhead and Holy Angels should be a very good matchup in the final. Likely decided by goaltending. I truly hope this year Moorhead can breakthrough in the Final, they have had too many great teams to not own a state title. GE was watching WBL like a bad movie that you knew the ending to the whole time? I was pulling for them, but when DE tied it up I knew they were cooked.

So hopefully he'll fit in with the rest of the guys I root for right?

From something I think Rick posted long ago, Tyler (Gopher's currently leading scorer) did want to play for UND with Parise. It was simply that the Gophers had a scholarship available and UND did not.