tnt

So just to nail it down for us, your realism says we have dark years ahead too, including the rest of this year? Of course "dark years" to some is not winning a national championship every year. Now tell me who is a realist.

Wow, who would think that Irish would be pessimistic?

As frustrating as it is, they aren't giving up much defensively, so if Jost could help them get up early and get to 3 goals, I think they can win more consistently.

You see what kind of character you have when you go through adversity. So far, when they go down by 2 goals, it looks like they believe they are done. I can't remember the last year in which we were really regressing this late in the year. They seem like they are trying to do it alone, not many tic tac toe passing plays, even just to get a shot on net. Need some line rushes with a defenseman following the play in the slot. A big win tomorrow would do wonders for confidence with a week off coming. I don't know what happens if they get swept at home again. Never thought I would see a stretch like this at home. With the apathy that seems to be appearing for athletics on campuses all over, you need to keep attracting new fans. Don't know if the atmosphere this year is attracting new fans.

Funny to see the GPL crowd talking trash about what the attendance will be at Fargo if UND doesn't make it. I guess the attendance would look similar to a Minnesota home game!

Maybe the USHL page just hasn't been updated then.

Anyone know the story on Colin Thiesen being uncommitted, despite being tied for the USHL goal scoring lead? Academics?

Just get in and let the cards fall where they may. At the very least it would be great to get some experience for the young guys so they don't have that learning curve in the future.

...and that's saying something!

...and all of them shorthanded!

Agree, I think NDSU has shown they can be competitive with most FBS teams. What some people fail to realize is it is a lot different being competitive early in the year when injuries haven't taken their toll, than it would be late in the year, or over a full season in those leagues. I think you are only talking about a one game shot, in which the Bison have certainly been impressive.

First it was the nickname excuse for not playing UND, then it was the need to be playing all the other teams in the state, according to Lucia. Now that they realize that playing UND is huge for keeping their pockets stuffed and fan base from being apathetic, they don't seem to care about keeping all the Minnesota teams in the loop every year or every other year. Am I wrong, or do they still plan on playing them outside of the tournament?

Agree, Duluth should be ashamed that they let both games at home come down to that against CC!

They must be out, because I put in for 2 tickets and there doesn't appear to be any more.

Exactly, this is GPL type meltdown.

So is there another formula for neutral game sites like those at the "X"? I know teams get more points for winning on the road, but how do neutral games change the equation? Jim, any input on that?

Yeah, it happened last week here. They don't review a goal for offside, so since CC had a timeout they were able to challenge for offsides. That is part of the reason it's a crapshoot when you use your timeout when your players are tired on an icing call. There are a lot of close plays at the line resulting in goals. I would like to have that timeout in the bag for those circumstances, but you could also give up a goal if your players are extremely tired.

But the point was that you still can grow a lot after your sophomore year. In fact there used to be quite the media attention placed on the "sophomore jinx". Don't hear that anymore, but guys taking off in their junior and senior season isn't unheard of. Steve Johnson's first 2 years were 2 goals and 8 goals then 26 and finally 34 which made him a Hobey Baker Finalist. Not saying that is Wilkie, but plenty of examples of guys becoming impact players after their sophomore year. In fact if you don't see those improvements on a gradual basis, I would question the development model.

Isn't Murphy the second leading scorer on Arizona State?

Yeah, because Duluth wouldn't want to win the Penrose Cup for the first time! I know winning the Big Ten doesn't hold any prestige, but believe me winning the NCHC regular season title is quite an accomplishment.

Think it was the NDSU football game against James Madison that day.

... and yet they are above both Michigan and Michigan State in pairwise. I hear ya, a third of the Big Ten is really awful.

This weekend is scary with CC being winless at home and the tough outs they gave us in past NCHC playoffs with some great teams we had. I'm sure their confidence is boosted by the fact they beat and tied at Duluth, while we were swept both here and there by Duluth. Doesn't help we'll probably be without Jost. Guess we'll really see what we're made of this weekend.

... and it doesn't help when they did turn it over, a team like Duluth made them pay for it. Can't give up bad goals to a team like that and expect to win.

Well said. I think many of the breakdowns last weekend didn't involve Casey Johnson or Peski, two of our greenest defensemen. I think all of us would probably do better if we didn't get too high after great weekends, (St. Cloud, Boston College, Omaha) or too low after poor weekends (Michigan State, Duluth). We're probably somewhere in between, which relates to where we are in the standings.