tnt

I will save the overrated tag on teams outside our league. Denver’s losses have largely been against us and Duluth, so that doesn’t scream overrated to me.

You never know what goes on behind the scenes. Someone could say, “you should open up your recruitment again” wink wink. Even if opening up his recruitment was a farce, he still would have been complicit in it.

Oh, I'm talking about his decommitment from ASU. The insinuation was that we got him to decommit from ASU, and at the time it was made to seem he reopened his commitment and was going to explore a few options including UND and St. Cloud, among others.

I thought Randklev just decommitted on his own and reopened his recruitment. I recall him being down between UND and St. Cloud. It may have been a foregone conclusion, but they didn't make it seem like it was.

The stats do show eighth in save percentage, but that can go both ways depending on whether Central plays an offensive brand of hockey that leaves him out to dry on occasion or if they are structurally sound defensively. I can imagine it would be hard to focus all the time if the puck is in the other end most of the game.

Gotta tell you, you really are helping St. Cloud live up to the title of this thread. Don’t understand why you would want to come on here after you win, other than you need approval.

The sad thing is that they probably wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think it was effective.

I’m guessing it will be just hockey for you next weekend against Denver. I’m guessing you won’t be getting the benefit of the calls with Denver home ice on the line.

That is the problem with the whole review process. There have been numerous times when a review has been warranted and there was no review. How does Grant Mismash feel when they give Caulfield a five minute major for interference, and they wouldn’t review a hit by Schuldt where he clipped Mismash last year that put him out for over a month. Absolutely ridiculous how they arbitrarily pick and choose what they review.

I would include Jim Rich in that mix as well. The way he immediately jumped to the conclusion UND didn’t want to shake hands really shows his complete bias.

Yeah, St. Cloud may need to beat UND again to make the tournament. After what happened at the end, I am sure UND would like nothing more than to end their season.

Agree. Those people that thought this series was going to be a piece of cake are unrealistic. To me this is the perfect opportunity for the coaches to show the players what will happen in the tournament in playoff type hockey. Take a five minute major and lose one of your top players it will cost you. Run into a hot goaltender it will cost you. Don’t move the puck as fast and well and go 0fer on the power play it will cost you. Use this information and don’t repeat some of the issues and you can win a championship, don’t correct them before the tournament, and your season could end prematurely. Not a horrible performance with the missing guys, but I would imagine they will not be happy with some things.

There is a point when you are committed to a hit, it isn’t as easy to reverse tracks as you seem to think, thus putting your safety in peril.

Don’t think there was embellishment but turning your back to someone late when someone is bearing down on you shouldn’t be rewarded. At some point players have to be responsible to keep themselves safe, and that type of thing could get you some life long regret if someone is going faster and a little further from the boards. Foolish to compromise your own safety like that.

Watching Duluth last night, we saw more of the same. When all of this embellishment is visible on national television, it baffles me how Don Adams isn’t instructing his officials to watch out for the inevitable peeking up through your arms to see if the officials bought it. That type of thing would make me angry as an official, and once the reputation is there, officials should be on the lookout for those things. Right now teams are getting rewarded for disrespecting the game. They should actually be reprimanded for putting actual safety at risk. You would think if you cry wolf too many times, there would be some consequence. If it continues to go down this road, other teams will have to follow suit to maintain a competitive balance. 5 minute majors can really level the playing field for a team that has less talent, not only for the power play time, but for tiring out key guys on the penalty kill, and not being able to roll your depth lines. Imagine what it does for a more talented team like Duluth. You either have to follow suit or be left in the dust because officials can’t recognize this is going on, and it seems to be getting worse, not better. As Barney Fife would say, “Nip it in the bud”!

Would have been nice to get that extra point, as I assume if Duluth somehow made up the 9 points, they would have more wins, which I assume would be the next tie break after head to head. Maybe, since we didn’t play them four times there are other tie breaks. We would really need to crumble for those scenarios to unfold, so not too concerned, but each point puts us closer.

Listening to Micheletti and his oohs and ahhs and stuttering when he gets excited is brutal. Don’t quit your day job Pat.

With St. Cloud still in the running for home ice, I would be shocked if both games were that lopsided. They have won their last four at home, including a sweep of Duluth, so for us to blow them out would truly be impressive.

He's up for Rookie of the Year in the AJHL as a 16 year old. Lot of upside, so hopefully he keeps developing.

Portz is another one who may throw a wrench in things at forward. He has also been consistent down the stretch. If we could get guys like Halliday and Bowen to play another year of juniors, it would make it more likely they could make an impact earlier in their careers. Adams stayed another year in juniors, and it still has taken him a few years to make an impact -- but boy has he been an impact player this year. Some guys are just in a rush to start their careers, see Ryder Donovan.

Riese Gaber and Griffin Ness have been playing really well lately as well. Gaber is four goals clear of the next highest goal scorer. Ethan Bowen and Brendan Budy seem to have tailed off points wise in the BCHL, so you wonder what next years class will look like.

Agree, taking unnecessary penalties is what is going to cost you come tournament time.

Duluth always concerns me because they just find a way to win the one goal games. It has been uncanny how they have been able to avoid the bad bounce or freaky goal that just happens sometimes. We have found a way to win those games this season, but they have a long string going in postseason. Hopefully, the odds catch up with them.

The announcers thought it was lame, but to each his own. Guess when one arena does something, all of them do. I thought the Ralph was a little more original than that, but I am there for the game, so it isn't going to prevent me from having a good time one way or another.

I know, which is why it is odd they continue to do it, because it wasn't well received at the World Juniors from the comments from the announcers and such I heard.