sagard

Screw GR. Let UMD go there. I'd much prefer the Gophs in CLSP with the Sioux or sent out east to duke it out with the teams that talk funny.

Yeah, I'm not sure why people were upset with Brandt. The Gophs gently ran him twice, right? He certainly outplayed Briggs and that was the difference of the outcome. I do truly hope Jordan Parise plays tonight. I need to see if he is really that good or if he is benifitting from the great play of the guys in front of him.

I'd have to see a replay. I sit behind Briggs so I couldn't tell at all. From the far side, it just looked like Tallackson shot it, then it trickled it. I do agree that if Brandt touched it intentionally, by say sweeping it under himself and into the net, the play is dead due to the penalty. Mostly, I think I'm just frustrated due to having three goals waved off so far this year, with none going the other way. Oh well, I guess there was clearly going to be some pay back for the Michigan non-goal last year at the Frozen Four.

You guys are hacking on Vanek after last night? He was far better than the GF series. He also provide the only goals of the night with a nice dish to GP and a 5 on 5 goal against the Parise group. His criticism is often just, but not last night.

The make up late PP was so predictable it made me laugh. It happens all the time in the WCHA, the refs felt guilty about the Sioux PP goals, so they try to make it up. I don't think they do it intentionally, but they do it. No other league in the world does the team trailing by a goal get a "last" PP chance to tie it up. Bochenski makes it tough on the refs. He goes down in a heep so frequently (at least he did last night), they don't know when he is diving and when he is not. Parise was the complete opposite, hardly ever went down, despite the attention he receives.

The Sioux PP sure seems to click against the Gophs. That is five this year in three games. Although PP's look like the difference on paper, I think Brandt (or Briggs) was the difference. He single handedly prevented the Gophs from getting a 2 goal lead. Then when the Sioux took the lead, the rest of the team really stepped up and shut down the Gophs. I don't think the Sioux gave the Gophs a good chance to tie the game despite the late PP.

USCHO.

The Woog thread on USCHO was a simple 200+ post thread with probably 2/3's ripping him and Frank. I doubt there was a single post with anything new in it's entirety.

If you are referring to Lucia's comments on KFan, it didn't sound like he was playing the series down to me. He sounded excited to get a chance to see how far the Gophers have truly come along. He did concede that irreguardless of how the weekend goes, the Gophers are not going to catch the Sioux. Adding that the Gophers need points this weekend, and must beat UW in order to catch them. The only comment that was somewhat telling is that he chose not to tear into the team during the series in GF. Apparently Lucia thinks blasting the team is not something for the early season. However, if the Gophers come out flat this weekend, I'm guessing Lucia will blast them.

I'm not sure more posts is something to be proud of this week. 2PM. ~450 Gophs/Sioux posts here. ~220 on POI ~1400 on USCHO counting the "Woog" thread. Must be some big games this weekend, eh?

The Gophers caught a lot of breaks in '02 that is for sure. However, keep in mind that had they had respectable performance by Hauser they may have won the game by in regulation. To Hauser's credit, he did make a lot of saves against Maine, but the 2nd and 3rd Maine goals were weak goaltender errors. The '02 Gophers have to be the only team that won two 1-goal Frozen Four games despite allowing a goal each game from below the goal line. I started watching in '81, at age ten. The '81, '88, '89, '92, '93, and '96 teams were all as clearly as good as the teams who won the tourney, but not once did those teams get the breaks to put them over the top. This does not include Frozen Four teams of '94 and '95 who certainly could have got "lucky." While your guys were racking up NCAA titles, my guys were coming up empty. So whether the '02 Gophers were lucky or not, it doesn't matter to me! If you all had to watch the UW broadcast every weekend and especially during the '99-'00 season, you'd find them every bit as annoying as the Gophs.

I wasn't impressed with CC going into the UM series, as the best teams they had faced were SCSU, DU and UW. Certainly not impressed now. I will be shocked if they make either the Final Five or the NCAAs.

I'd guess the difference is based off when each school started counting the games. The Minnesota release claims the first game was in 1930. I think the UND stats may include only games that were "NCAA" games. Discarding the matchups in the pre-NCAA days. Just a guess though.

Minnesota fans: * repeat, going for threepeat * Blais is classless Far from true. * Sioux's best come from Minnesota This year. Sure wouldn't have minded seeing #11 or #7 wearing the "M". * Sioux give scholarships to felons Had BB accepted a Gopher offer, I'm guessing the "U" would have as well. Plus I'm sure there had to have been some felons on the notorious basketball program at one point. * REA built with German franks Boring. * Zach was a fool Zach will do very well for him self. His college choice has little impact on that fact. * Better dead than red - Wisconsin is the real rival UND and UW are the hockey teams top rivals depending on who is better in a given season. However, it is a fact that there is more general hatred for UW due to their indescretions in other sports. * Virg has his head up Deano's a$$ The Virg is Deano's Minister of Information line was pretty funny. * Mariucci is classic - the band, the murals, etc. It is a nice place. Probably 2nd best in the league. * Sioux fans are insecure Some are. Some aren't. * Grand Forks is a hell hole I've never visited except for in the late spring for baseball. It was nice, but oftly windy.

I think I can find some evidence of improvement. Basically in the 11-1-2 streak, one can discard the wins over MSU, MTU and Princeton. Too easy. Downright, toaster strudel. What is left is 6-1-2 vs. teams with an average Krach ranking of 14.5. To me that IS in fact far superior to their early season performance. The question we all want to know is whether they can compete with the truly elite now. I don't think we will have the full answer until after the Gophers visit UMD. I think UMD is as close to BC and UND as anyone in the country.

You are paying a severe premium this week due to the Sioux coming in as the #1 team in the country. Last year the same thing happened. For hundreds of Sioux fans in the cities, this is their best chance to see their team. All tickets have been sold, so the price goes way up. However, in '02, when the Sioux weren't as strong, both the regular season series and playoff series tickets could be had for face or maybe less outside the arena. When UW came to town in '00 as the #1, tickets were steep then as well. You want to buy an expensive ticket, wait 'til the Gophs and Sioux get together to settle a Final Five championship. Or if they collide in a NCAA quarter final next year or the year after.

Well said.

Despite all the talk about God, shutting Bochenski down is the key to having a chance to beat the Sioux. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucia asks a forward to get intimate with BB, similar to Prpch on Vanek last time. Likely Waibel, but it could be combination of a forward and a d-man who always get the assignment. Then you have to hope you actually contain BB's line, and hope Koalska's line plays a lot better vs. the Parise line. They got torched last time, but they don't usually. The Gophers also need Guyers line and Tallackson to start contributing nightly.

The Gophs/MSU series was called tighter as well. If the refs would start calling games like this in October, things wouldn't get so out of hand. I don't think anything will help Mason though. He thinks he can only blow his whistle five or six times per game.

This just pi$$es me off. I usually go to the Friday night games. I think the Gophers are like 1-3-2 on Fridays at Mariucci since '97-'98. The lone victory being the playoffs in '02.

I really don't want to think about it. If the Sioux sweep the Gophers, they would demonstrate they are still at a completely different level than the Gophs. This Gopher team would then have to face a reality that they haven't had to face in their last two titles runs. That is that the WCHA champ (Sioux) is far superior to what the Gophers can be. It would seriously hurt there NCAA run as well. The last two runs have been launched from getting at top seed and cruising into the Frozen Four. Although they could still pull it off, I really wouldn't like their chances. What I expect and hope is that the Gophers put out great efforts both nights. If they do that, they will likely get the breaks one of the nights and get a win. My biggest fear is the Gophers (and they only way I see a Sioux sweep possible) is if the Gophers continue taking stupid penalties and the Sioux PP gets going. The only time I've seen the Sioux PP was against the Gophs and they popped three in that weekend, so I really don't get why they are struggling. The games at Mariucci always seem to be a let down compared to the games in GF. Often one or both games will be one sided. Should be fun, I'll be at the top of the section 24 Friday in a "02" Champions throwback jersey if anyone wants to put a face with a name.

If the Gophers can take a game soundly from UND, I will be comfortable knowing they have a chance in the NCAAs. I'd like the Gophers to get eight points from the UND/UMD/UW series. Splits likely with UND and UMD. Sweeping Bucky.

The UAA radio feed is good. http://real.uaa.alaska.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/hockey.rm