tnt

Testing protocols would be what they have always been, but it sounds like they have a good standard in place as to how many players you can be missing before you have to reschedule.

Yes, I would have thought in order to find a deserving Penrose winner you could play a crossover series late. Don't know how many Omaha players are out, but the powers that be had no problem with us playing a third of the season without two of our top defensemen. They knew that the World Juniors would play a huge factor. That said, this is an unusual year and they did their best, it just seems they could have left some wiggle room at the end of the season to mitigate the uneven schedules.

That is the huge positive about this. Hopefully when we play them, we will have Kleven and Sanderson back.

Agree, the focus in the POD should have been playing only teams you don’t play in the second half.

I think Keane plays the way Berry likes, and I agree he will be in the mix. Although it may not be every game, I think he will get a chance here and there, if for no other reason than to hold other guys accountable who don't play with passion. I would guess that he might be here next year as well, as they will be replacing some guys.

You don’t think Keane will be playing?

Denver's? I wouldn't be so quick to count them out. Bobby Brink is like our Shane Pinto, and they had a little more transition to do from last year on the back end. Let's just hope they don't get back in it at our expense.

Thankfully, there are only five DU fans that had to put up with the ads!

Portz scores his first two goals of the season and is first star in a 2-1 win.

Which makes you wonder if Kleven can adjust to the need to back off hits simply because officials can’t distinguish on borderline plays and always error on the side of a penalty.

Would be a huge fail. Then it would be all about politics of the advertisers and whether they are politically correct or not. Then they would cancel out the “wrong” advertisers.

There were a couple times when that line had St. Cloud hemmed up in their own zone for a while. Ness made a bad play not chipping it up the boards on one of their goals, but I think he hasn't been too bad.

We get it, you have a vendetta against Wentz.

Should be asterisks with the 3 on 3. Liked it much better when an overtime win meant more. Hopefully Duluth and St. Cloud go to overtime every time they play the second half.

Lot’s of borderline calls. Thought it was odd they didn’t check for a major when Kiersted was rocked in the second. Of course that was only too many men.

I certainly don’t think it’s been a lack of effort just dumb plays like being caught from behind and not getting the puck out.

Chipping it off the glass should be a no brainer late in the period with a 2 goal lead. If it was one of the tired guys that cheated on that play, it makes even less sense. Hockey 101. Too bad they don’t have the luxury to do a bag skate for a play like that. That could very well come back to haunt them.

You haven’t been able to get the puck out of your zone in the final minutes of the period, and you cheat on the offensive side at the blue line. Really?

Maybe if Boardwalk would have just disguised it as a protest, Minnesota would have taken the hands off approach of "nothing to see here".

I expect I won’t hear anyone get all worked up if UND loses to a team with 5 regulars out of the lineup.

Can’t tell if they lost some of their swagger from last year, or if they think things are going to come easy. When things didn’t go their way last year, Cole Smith would step up physically or with a big play. Need someone to take over in those situations, that’s what leaders do. Hopefully Kawaguchi starts to bury his chances. Shouldn’t have to wait for a couple of freshmen to come back to get to the next level, no matter how talented they are.

It seems like every championship team goes through some adversity that hardens them, and allows them to recall lessons from it. Let’s hope they show some resolve and come out on the other side as a better team as a result. The 2016 team got swept by Denver late in the year and then didn’t do much at the Frozen Faceoff before running the table.

But I don't think a tie against Duluth is going to create a lot of doubt in the people picking the field.

That's my point. Duluth has shown you can barely make it into the tournament, so why do people go nuts when it is basically meaningless unless you are on the bubble of not getting into the tournament.

So let me get this straight, two years ago people thought we were terrible and didn't have any talent, and even with two talented freshmen gone to the World Juniors, now people think that games against top 5 teams in the country shouldn't come down to the wire and a bounce here or there?