sagard

"Parise on Ice" in these parts.

When you are off to as good as start as the Sioux are, it is a good idea to play Brandt once a weekend until late February. Then I'd play him the rest of the games. He looks a lot better than Parise in my limited viewing.

Not to mention that after Jan 1 of '02 and Jan 1 of '03 DeMarchi played very, very well at both ends of the ice. Gophs fans as a rule way underestimated PMartins defensive play. He was brilliant on the PK. I thought the Gophers would struggle at the start, but 2-6 is way beyond my worst case scenarios. Ballard may help the Gophers transition game, but I'm not convinced he will help reducing the critical turnovers. Harrington will help, primarily by never letting JMartin see an opponents top line again!

What a recap! It almost seems Blais is show more subtle respect for the Gophs than in the past. No jabs?

The Gophers clearly have no weaknesses. Therefore the optimistic Gopher fan picks Gophers taking three, though I may have to live with a point. Four goals will be required to win or tie both nights.

You celebrate the Gophs five NCAA titles in your sig line! I don't even do that.

If the Gophers somehow manage to quit taking stupid penalties and making unbelievable turnovers, they will gain a split. If they play like they have so far this year, Gophs are lucky to get a point.

PWR can be very volitale up until the end of the conference tourneys, but a team has to have their RPI component high enough to be in the thick of things. It was due to a weak RPI (schedule) that UMD was basically stuck last year and it is also the reason as the year goes by you will see the Gophers PWR higher than their position in the polls. This is assuming the Gophers do get back to at least a few games better than .500. Think SCSU of last year.

From a PWR perspective it used to be the teams record in last 16 games were worth a comparison, so they did actually have a little more importance. As it is, the Gophers have dug themselves a quite a hole if they are interested in being a top seed in the NCAA tourney. To earn a top seed you may only lose 3 comparisons (4 if your are lucky and win a tie-breaker). The Gophers getting swept by UMD are now unlikely to win the UMD comparison without sweeping them at Duluth, which they haven't done in either of the last two years. Another component of PWR is the teams record against Teams Under Consideration, the Gophers have started 0-3 in this category. The next component is Common Opponents, for the Gophers/BC comparison the Gophers have started 0-3 and BC has started 1-1-1 in the common opponent category. The thing that will save the Gophers this year is their RPI. The Gophers strength of schedule this year will rival the SCSU schedule from last year. A few easier games this year would have been helpful to instill confidence in their goalies and young d-man. The people who say the early-season losses are unimportant are wrong, it gives the losing team a lot less margin for error later in the season when vieing for a top NCAA seed. That said, the Gophers have a lot of games left to right the ship, but they need to improve in all three aspects of the game.

The regular season and conference playoffs matter ALOT. It is how seeding is created for the NCAA tourney and unfortunately the NCAA draw often plays a huge role in who the eventual champ will be. The last two seasons the Gophers weren't great (not bad) during the regular season, but they did finish strong enough to garner a regional #1 seed both years. Last year was very close. If UMD had beaten CC at the X, the Gophers would not have been a top seed. That would have meant facing CC in the regional instead of Ferris/UND whom the Gophers were obvious favorites to advance to Buffalo over. When Martin signed, I reserved myself to rooting for the same things as the last two seasons. 1. Top three WCHA finish. 2. Conference Tourney Champ. 3. Avoid Michigan until the Frozen Four. While losing two to UMD is hard to swallow, there is time to recover. If they manage splits with DU and UND take three of four with Tech and UW, the Gophers will be back to .500. The Gophers will improve in all offensively and defensively as the season goes on, I am very confident in that. This core has done that the last two seasons. The biggest question remains in net.

That was a weird game. UMD did get the bad goaltending they needed from JJ, although he made some good saves in the 2nd period, he just couldn't make the big save to either win the game or keep it tied. The ref didn't call the clutch/grab (UMD at times) or the roughing/interference from both teams. He did call the stickwork tight and the Gophers took some STUPID penalties that killed momentum. The Gophers will need to score 4 goals in the games they intend to win until February when hopefully the defense and goalies will get it figured out.

How can you have Maine ahead of the Gophers? What a bogus poll!

The Gophers sell out every game. It is getting everyone to show up consistantly that is the problem. It is to the point where they sell extra "rush" tickets where you can sit in any open seat after the 10 minute mark of the 1st. The same stuff will eventually happen, if it is not already happening at the Ralph.

Gophers "fans" are constantly ripped for being no shows, just apparently not by INCH. It is one of the things that happens when you have a large enough arena to satisfy demand.

The last couple of years the only reason HE has had teams in the Final is due to having no quality western teams sent out east. I wish they reseeded the Frozen-Four to East-West matchup in the semis when possible.

The Bulldogs will need some bad goaltending play in order to get any points (certainly possible). I think they have had one win in Mariucci since it opened. However UMD has been tested more than the Gophers. UMD probably gets a point.

Have your team win the next 15-20 games and he/she/it will be back.

You do realize that is a former Gopher's chin, right? The funny thing was that the ESPN online article said Martin was the fighter, I couldn't believe it, so I check the box score and sure enough it was Hale. Goals are cool.

1. It won't drop UND out of the top five. If it did, who cares at this point. 2. The BC games will eventually help UND's PWR rankings in two ways. The first is that UND's RPI (most important component of PWR) will not drop as dramatically as last year when UND loses some games in the second half this season. Having two games with BC on the schedule will help UND's SOS. Secondly, going 1-1 with BC will help the Common Opponent component of PWR with anyone who does not play BC to a .500 clip. As BC will win most of the season series with eastern teams, this will help. PWR is fairly volitile until the last few weeks of conference playoffs, don't get worked up about it now. At least wait until January.

From the South East, Maine did look very good both nights. I expected them to let down against UW and have a close game. They didn't and buried them. That is a sign of a good team. It is very early, I have no problem ranking Maine highly now. They earned it. They were big, physical, oppurtunistic and have two goalies that would likely be a #1 at UM or UND. As for the Gophers, thirty wins before NCAA play is unrealistic. Look for a top three finish in WCHA, at least a WCHA tourney finalist and hopefully another run to and through the Frozen Four. The Sioux fans should expect the same from there team.

If UND ever gets invited to the Stampede, you should do your best to make the trip. Lots of good seats available, TVs showing baseball and football for between periods/games, at least 20 bars within walking distance of the arena. As for the importance of the Maine game, all non-conference games are very important. I take solace that the Gophers still play BU twice and probably UNH and winning those games or even just two will give them a decent record against Hockey Least. These games are very important for the common opponent part of PWR, with many eastern teams, there just aren't many common opponent games played. Good luck next weekend, I hope the BC boys really get spanked.

Thanks so much. This thread is what got me following this board.

I think Woog is still actually an employee of the U. At least he was initially after Lucia started, some fund raising function was his role.

Why is the game not available now? I was really hoping to see the highlights.