sagard

Here is the POI thread which quotes the Strib. I couldn't find the article on the web, but the guy posting it has been reliable. http://www.prideonice.com/chat/viewthread....20will%20commit

There was an article in the Strib this weekend that indicated that he would commit to the "U" after the tourney. Weaker than a verbal to be sure. Lee looked very good to me at the tourney, as did RJ Anderson.

Hopefully the Gophers will give you all a few more reasons to hate them before the year is through! If bumping the Sioux to the afternoon game at the X, is the best the Gophs can do to p*** you off, the Sioux will have had a fantastic season!

It is getting very interesting now. If CC wins two games this weekend, they may qualify as the last #4 seed. Then the NCAA will be forced to choose which rule they want to protect the most. 1. Seed the #1s closest to home. or 2. Avoid interconference matchups. My gut says that CC won't qualify unless they win the FF. Which they won't. They are also in a nasty situation where losing to AA, a non-TUC might be the best thing for them. It is getting very sticky for the bottom teams.

It has been stated that 1st round playoff wins against bottom teams that actually lower a teams RPI, will be excluded from the RPI calculation. Losses will count. BC is starting to look like Maine from last year.

Yeah, but it is so hard to tell if the "jinx" was going after the #1 western seed or simply the top seed since they are usually the same team.

Be careful what you wish for. I can remember the last time the number one overall seed won the tourney. Although maybe BC did it in '01, but I think Mich State may have been top seed.

Keep it up. Vanek was mercilessly mocked for getting shut down in his last year of USHL playoffs. Of course, many are still mocking him.

A couple of points I think both you guys and Wooger miss. 1. Offensive production from the blue line is a crucial element of the Gophers offense. It always has been for Lucia's teams. There is certainly more than one way to win a hockey game. 2. Rather than directly comparing the UND defensemen points vs. UM defensemen points, compare to their own teams from the previous seasons. For the Gophs defense it is not trending well. '01-'02 - 160 pts. 3.6 PPG '02-'03 - 136 pts. 3.0 PPG '03-'04 - 87 pts. 2.3 PPG For UND: '01-'02 - 85 pts. 2.3 PPG '02-'03 - 96 pts. 2.2 PPG '03-'04 - 82 pts. 2.3 PPG So UND has dramatically improved without getting dramatically more production from their defense, while the Gophers have fallen a bit corresponding to their decreased production from the blue line. Again this just illustrates to me how important blue line production is for the Gophers, but not nearly as important to the Sioux's success. To me the best indication of a great team is their goal differential. This years Sioux is most definately getting it done in that measurement. Anyways, carry on about INCH.

When I read the comment last week about Blais refusing to let MTU practice at the Ralph, I thought he was being a little rough on MTU. But then I figured he was either kidding, or must have had a reason. Sounds like accomodations were made for Tech and I'm sure they will get their regular end of week practices on the sheet at the Ralph. After the fighting up at Tech, I also wouldn't have blamed Blais for showing no mercy.

Ballard is very good with the puck. There are very few college defensemen who can retrieve the puck in a corner, deke the forchecker, and either carry the puck out or pass ahead to a forward. I would estimate that Ballard is likely in the top three of the WCHA in that respect, maybe tops. However, at times he can get careless and turn the puck over leading to quality chances for the opponents. He gets away with the bad turnovers in college, but he will not see time in an NHL jersey until he rids himself of the habit. I do not doubt that he will fix this part of his game. I suspected Ballard would struggle this year defensively due to it being his first year going against top line players, but he has improved quite a bit. He still will over commit and chase while killing penalties, but I doubt he'd be used much in that role in the future. He does have the NHL mean streak, but he will need to clean up his stick work or he may find himself fighting more frequently than suites his game. I'd guess he will make the NHL, but he is not a lock like P. Martin and Leopold were. He has yet to establish he is as good as either of them defensively.

These six teams have been suggested a few times: 1. UND 2. Maine 3. BC 4. UMD 5. Michigan 6. Minnesota I think the top three have separated themselves, and maybe the Gophers have as well (in the wrong direction). The Gophers could still end up in Boston, but haven't shown the consistancy to win two games against the top teams in the same weekend. I'm still guessing nobody will be thrilled to find them in their regional.

Here is a little bragging about predictions: http://www.prideonice.com/chat/viewthread.php?thread_id=6624 I had the audacity to claim that Martin leaving would hurt more than Vanek leaving, and that the Gophs would have a mere 25-27 wins entering the NCAA's if Martin or Ballard left. I sure took some heat and only a couple of people including MNS agreed. I still don't think some Gophs fans realized what we had in Martin (and DeMarchi). As for my WCHA picks, I had the Sioux on top, but not much else right.

The search engine on this site is fantastic! I had that thread up to check previous champs numbers as well.

UND's goal differencial was VERY good. Here are the past league champions: 1997-98 North Dakota------127-80----+47 1998-99 North Dakota------142-76----+66 1999-00 Wisconsin----------112-70----+42 2000-01 North Dakota------115-80----+35 2001-02 Denver-------------108-63----+45 2002-03 Colorado Co-------125-70----+55 2003-04 North Dakota------122-62----+60 The 62 goals against is the best since the 28 game schedule came in. Better than the world renowned defense and goaltending of the '01-'02 Pioneers. If UND keeps their defensive core together, I will shocked if UND doesn't win at one NCAA title this year or next and that holds true whether or not Parise turns pro.

Scoring! Number 16 His first collegiate goal! RYAN!

One other quick item of the Broadmoors importance. The last two times the Sioux have claimed it, they later claimed the NCAA Title. The recent Sioux teams who failed to win it, failed to win the NCAAs as well. Congrats to all you Sioux fans on the McNaughton!

I agree with your points on the NCAA Championship and the McNaughton. I hate the unbalanced schedule, but more far more often than not the best team wins the league. The Broadmoor is not a joke to me due to it usually having huge NCAA seeding implications. Sometimes it is good for the winner: '97 Sioux, '03 Gophers. Sometimes it is not: '01 SCSU, '02 DU. Plus the Broadmoor usually has the best atmosphere of any tourney, often including the Frozen Four.

You all are making this way too complicated. The Sioux will be either the #1 or #2 seed overall and likely only have to beat one of the weaker conference champs and DU to advance to the Frozen Four. Enjoy the games.

Too early to tell. I'm very interested in the Maine/BC series this weekend to see where these two teams are. Stating the obvious, the Gophs have a lot to prove the next three weeks to make anyone think they have a chance at the Frozen Four. From my perspective, it feels a lot like '00-'01. The team can skate very well and has played very well at times, but has frequent defensive and goaltending breakdowns.

I've been saying this for quite a while. It is a compliment.

Not to mention it has been way too many years since the Gophers beat Michigan at Mariucci. Though I wouldn't trade the regular season tilts for the recent showdowns in St. Paul and Buffalo. With DU on a roll, I think the NCAA will still put the four best western teams in the two western regionals. Gophs getting sent east.

I was hoping the Gophers would have hired Blais when Woog stepped down. My thinking was that it would weaken UND and improve the Gophers. I wasn't disappointed when they hired Lucia by any stretch, and grew more confident when Hammy correctly predicted the Gophers would win a National Championship within four years. I'm guessing both teams will do well for the next several years.