tnt

... and 1000 people that didn't show up are still mad that they couldn't get tickets for the game in Vegas. Probably only 8500 butts in the seats tonight.

Well WDAY started their sportscast with Moorhead losing the State Championship game. I get they are local, but if the Bison made the Dance again they would have spent 15 minutes at the beginning of the whole newscast. Doesn't feel like the good for the state sentiment, which is fine, but at least recognize the importance of a first time event versus Moorhead losing in the title game for the 8th time.

It seems like most years there are plenty of empty upper bowl seats. We usually go from one end of ice to the other based on which end the Sioux are shooting at. Also, Grand Forks has always been known as a walk up town.

He'll fit in fine with the gophers!

Really like Sam Huff for Maple Grove. Crafty player along the lines of Matt Read. Would imagine he'll play college somewhere after some Junior hockey.

Would think beating Denver would help because it would even the season series.

Totally agree. That is what these guys live for. I am hoping that Borgen could possibly be done playing at St. Cloud, and that he has a choice to make after this weekend. I am sure St. Cloud is going to do everything it can to help out their comrade and prevent that.

What it does is set a precedent going forward. If a fairly light push gets you 2 games, then anything worse could garner the 5 games or so. I was actually thinking he would only get one game.

No it doesn't hurt them as long as they bring it all weekend. It seems like some of our best games this year have come when we have key guys out of the lineup. I am sure St. Cloud will use it as a motivational tool as well, so hopefully UND will have the right mindset and can take advantage of a top player out of St. Cloud's lineup. I'm sure St. Cloud would be more than happy to be playing a game on Sunday in which they would get a star player back and a mental edge in the process.

So now you do think UND can win two in a row?

Huh?

So if Providence swept Notre Dame, Notre Dame most likely would have no opportunity to finish ahead of us. Isn't it possible Providence could lose 2 out of three and they both could be ahead of us if our series went to 3 games, since we are playing a lower ranked team in the pairwise? Don't know all the ramifications on season series and such, but like I said, we just need to worry about taking care of our business. Guess those scenarios are questions for Jim.

Yeah, would think you would want someone that has knowledge and ties to the recruiting circles in women's hockey. Need someone who can exhibit some passion for getting the program to the next level.

Isn't it still possible Providence could play Notre Dame. In that scenario, I would think Providence winning might be better for us. If we've learned one thing, it's just take care of yourself, because if you don't you'll find yourself on the outside looking in.

Nobody wants to go into the playoffs on a sour note, but yeah, incentive a little higher for UND at his point, but then again I thought that last Saturday before the clunker against Omaha.

Any idea when the Chik-Fil-a is supposed to be built? I assume the road access has been approved by the city already.

If people don't see 1st round draft status behind a recruit, they don't get excited as much. Then they rip the top draft picks when they don't live up to expectations. Forbort, Jordan Schmaltz, Finley, Lee were not considered very good at times compared to other defensemen on the team, but many of the guys coming in without as high of expectations like Stecher, Poolman, LaDue etc, ended up being fan favorites. That's why I don't understand how fans are questioning the talent coming in when they have seen the Caggiula's produce beyond expectation, while some of the big names struggle at times.

It isn't necessarily the high end talent that is going to make you a great team, but if you don't have those guys you better have chemistry. Don't know if Minnesota has any player that is better than Jost, Boeser, or Poolman, but they have way better chemistry than we do right now. Usually if you have players coming in that are close to leading their league in scoring you would think they would have good talent. It doesn't always turn out that way. Guys like Camarrata and Wilkie didn't transition well, although hoping that Wilkie can still find his way.

So you're saying that they didn't want the National Championship game to be for unlucky 13 in a row? I read ya!

I would bet he had somewhere around 10 wrap around goals in his career, which is quite a few. When you think of the average shooting percentage for a player, why not utilize something that has worked for you. Some people need to pull the trigger more and just try get the puck to the net.

What about BC vs. Lowell series? BC isn't far behind in pairwise, but if they beat a higher ranked team it helps our ranking. Kind of torn.

You're right, St. Cloud lost a good chunk of their scoring from last year, but basically had a great defense in place coming into this year so it was basically a wash. I figured if we were going to make up the lost scoring, a few guys would have to jump up, and Boeser and Jost would have to be great on the powerplay together. Not too much time being able to see that with injuries and such. One more guy like Luke Johnson or Keaton Thompson helps out our depth on those units so when injuries showed up, we wouldn't have suffered quite as much. Perhaps the coaching staff will have to assume they can get character guys like Gornall, Gaarder, Pattyn, Sanderson at the last minute if needed and keep better stocked with the higher end guys, because I don't know how you anticipate losing that much, even with winning it all.

Yeah, but St. Cloud doesn't have a formula about how to comprise a team that wins them anything. When you lose all the guys that you did, along with many that you didn't expect to lose, how do you keep that formula intact. The coaches don't just recruit the best players every year like the gophers used to. No matter what you say, you don't just pull Troy Stecher's and Paul LaDue's out of the woodwork and boom they are instant impact players. Heck, people on here were saying how out of place Paul LaDue looked, and he was an older player coming in. Losing 1 player early is one thing, losing 5 is quite another on top of your senior class.

So you expect multiple first round picks every year? Even first round picks don't necessarily produce their first year in college. Bottom line is you don't replace that much NHL talent with rookies and expect to be close to the same, especially at defense. Of course it would have been nice to have guys like Keaton Thompson and Luke Johnson, but I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted them around either. You complain all the time about not winning a National Championship and then we get the mass exodus that sometimes accompanies a championship you wonder where all the talent is.