tnt

Maybe Harbaugh will use this strategy so he won’t have to try beat Ohio State back to back years.

You have to wonder if Tech players feel Michigan is sidestepping Western Michigan, and if so, you would think that would fire them up, as I would guess they would feel they are decent themselves. The funny thing is you are coming off of the longest layoff of the season, I would think energy of the remaining players would be high after time to heal bumps and bruises. Of course Michigan has shown they don’t like playing certain teams on the road, and until road wins became a bigger part of pairwise they pretty much wouldn’t stray far from Yost unless they saw odds in their favor.

Who isn’t following the protocols?

If they can cut the quarantine days in half to help with the airline industry problems, why not change the rules on testing asymptomatic people?

Will be interesting to see Schlossman or someone run scenarios at tournament time to see if some teams would be in or out with certain results if that game had been played. Wouldn't surprise me if #1 seeds for the tournament are affected by this game not being played.

Yeah, one has to wonder if he kept the Michigan Tech game because he used to coach there and felt he owed them the game.

If you are going to recruit multiple top end draft prospects, I think I would change my scheduling during World Junior time. Minnesota has done that, and I suspect UND has taken that into consideration more as well. With how tight the pairwise is year in and year out, you would be foolish to continue to schedule games against top opponents during the World Junior time period. That said, if you have already scheduled those games, man up and use it as an opportunity to fight through adversity.

If it isn’t Covid related, then at what point can a team that is in the tourney, but on the bubble cancel a game under the guise of wear and tear, looking to maintain their spot in the pairwise? The NCAA really needs to step in before a bad precedent is set.

To not have Sanderson in the top 5 tells me more about Wodon than it does about anything regarding the Hobey race. Seriously doubt there will be many voters that have some of those guys ahead of Sanderson, unless it is a Monique and Jocelyn Lamoureaux type situation where teams didn't vote for them because of jealousies or pettiness, which is kind of what I get from Wodon.

I agree it is complete insanity. China is operating business as usual while Americans are being punished and lambasted for decisions they make reacting to China's transgressions creating this pandemic.

For Hobey? I would think putting up numbers better than Cale Makar at this point is unavoidable to notice. Yes, Makar was in the East, but all the coaches talk about how Sanderson shouldn't even be at this level, so I would guess the word is out everywhere. Whether they would still be provincial is another question, but make no mistake everyone that knows about hockey knows Sanderson is legit.

The Olympics are the Olympics, but I have a feeling the hockey world will have an asterisk by the winner of this Olympics because of the last minute circumstances. That still could probably outweigh winning a Hobey Baker for Sanderson, which I believe he is the front runner for right now. Would guess missing most of the second half would change that status. Would also guess Ottawa would want him right after the Olympics.

What were you told.

Because it has worked so well for the Big Ten teams to get out of the WCHA to be in the same league in every sport.

Yeah, winning culture begets winning culture passed on from one coach to their successor. Gasparini>Blais>Hakstol>Berry. And throw in guys like Rick Wilson, Cary Eades, Scott Sandelin who weren’t successors at UND, but had a good deal of success elsewhere. I would venture to say that guys like Dave Tippett learned a lot through that culture as well.

So you’re saying Blue Chippas bad because they don’t focus on Nattys?

...and then you have coaches like Scott Sandelin, who has never won a league title, and it took him ten years before he won his first national title. Now he is considered among the elite coaches in college hockey.

I would think it would have been with Ottawa.

It amazes me the people who are in lockstep with Gfhockey, as he has proven himself time an again as an internet troll, and we all know what studies reveal about people with that proclivity.

Did anyone watch the end of the Northern Illinois game against Coastal Carolina? NIU was at approximately the 12 yard line with 17 seconds left with a chance to win. Not once did they throw to the end zone. Talk about poor game management. Yes, Bubba’s 4th down screw up will be infamous, but it is not like you can’t pick out something in every game where a coach makes a poor decision.

So does the signing of McGlaughlin mean we can let someone like Spicer get another year of juniors and potentially come in with his buddies Panzer and Ausmus another year down the road should we keep guys like Calder and Caulfield. Potential lines next year could be: Gaber - Schmaltz - Caulfield Calder - McGlaughlin - Costantini Blake - Kunz - Budy Ness - Jamernik - Portz Montgomery - Strinden - Albrecht Of course I am only taking Schlossman’s top six comment for McGlaughlin being where he is at, but Blake, Kunz could very well be there. We probably still bring in another forward, especially if someone leaves for the transfer portal, but it would be nice to get Spicer and James another year of juniors so they can have a bigger impact coming in.

Matt Kiersted with his first NHL goal against the Kings.

Not really, if he is a top six center for us, he won’t see ice time! That’s how I originally read that.

Despite where we sit right now, the NCAA tourney isn't necessarily a given, especially if they drop the ball against Cornell. I would expect if they can play they will at least be in the lineup and let the game dictate ice time depending on how grueling the World Juniors are. Those games are too important for pairwise to try and take a chance at getting by without two of your best defensemen.

In our league it barely gives you a leg up to secure home ice for the playoffs. With our start, sweeps in the second half will go a long way in doing that, since all the other teams will be beating up each other. We just need to find a way not to lose our mojo during the break like we did years ago when Scheel was playing lights out then lost his confidence.