tnt

Four goals for Adam Tambellini tonight, including the OT game winner.

College Hockey news shows they tied.

I think Hakstol was one of the coaches pushing for less conference games so they could schedule Minnesota and Wisconsin every year. If that transpires, it would be o.k., but not having Denver at home every year doesn't help in the short term. When you look at how many of the teams in the NCHC have made the NCAA playoffs in the past 5-10 years, it might be nice to schedule a few non-conference foes that might lighten the SOS a little bit.

Agree, why sell yourself short. Remember when people told Ralph that we would probably not have enough fans to fill the Ralph so curtaining off the upper deck may need to be an option? Rather than getting a 15,000 seat arena, it went down to about 12,000 instead. Once they prove that the Xcel would be a disaster fanwise and financially, then make changes, but why take away a great experience from those players before anything is proven.

Knock me over with a feather, Watchmaker (Lomackman) an advocate for bad behavior. Explains a lot.

So in real life if he feels like he should be getting more pay or a promotion and doesn't, he should then find a way to cheat the company somehow and make a big scene and flip off the boss? It's called a life lesson, and he had better learn it early.

Montana State bought out the game they were going to play in Fargo next year. Gene Taylor said "that's not the way you do business". Of course in this case Gene, it is perfectly legal to buy out a game. It's the illegal activity you should focus on Gene!

Wisconsin's got to be upset at the no call on the second half of the double minor when the Minnesota guy stuck his leg out and tripped Ramage. How you miss that when the puck is involved is beyond me.

Was wondering why Wisconsin, would give up a game at home in the Kohl Center, but the more I think about it, the outdoor game could help them if conditions aren't ideal, by taking away some of Minnesota's skill. Hopefully Wisconsin can pull one off this weekend. In retrospect, losing that late lead to Minnesota really hurts now. Instead of being 4 points up on Minnesota, with tiebreakers yet to be determined, basically nullifying their games in hand, the Sioux now have to finish ahead of Minnesota, which makes it much more difficult.

When you say UND lost out on, does that mean they made an offer to him?

Let's just hope the ice conditions don't cause any injuries for either team. You would hate to lose a player for an extended period because of a novelty game.

Is he planning on playing Junior hockey next year to get some more looks? If he proves himself at the next level, I would think that he adds the physical element that isn't a hallmark of the skilled '96 class.

Doesn't it seem strange that Matteau made the Devils and didn't make the World Junior team? Guess he fills a valuable role for the Devils, one that probably wouldn't have been warranted in the World Junior setting. With the emphasis on questionable hits, maybe the World Junior coaches were wise not to take a chance on the type of physical nature that Matteau brings.

Wonder if they are still entertaining hopes of McMaster or Gropp, who I believe are both in the '96 class as well.

Guess I didn't think that through quite enough. Just remember Luke playing for Red River in 8th and Central in 9th and 10th. Forgot this would be his Senior season. Also Jake Marto verballed before he played Juniors, but then played a few years after his Senior season, but I believe there was some competition from Duluth and Minnesota that was in play there. Don't remember if Irmen and Potulny verballed before Junior hockey either. But you are right, many of those guys had more of an elite status at the time. Will be interesting to see how Benson does in Dubuque next season. A lot of people think that John Lizotte has some upside because of his size and skill. We will see how it all plays out.

Just that he was ranked 196 in these midterm ratings. http://www.collegehockeyrecruitexchange.com/

Who is the last Grand Forks player that got a scholarship from the Sioux without playing junior hockey first? I am sure UND showed interest, as they did with LaDouceur, Meland, and Lawdermilt to some extent, but I would guess they did so to keep open communication for when the players progressed in Junior hockey. If they would offer very early, it would probably be very limited scholarship money, because let's face it, there are a lot of great hockey players out there, and UND is one of the elite programs that has a chance at a lot of them. This is in no way to say St. Cloud isn't getting a good player, but if they waited too long and waited for Junior experience, they might not have got him.

We've said it before that if they don't play the grinding, hard to play against game, you might as well put people in the lineup like O'Donnell, Chyzyk, and Gaarder because they have a better offensive upside. The fact that it stood out last night tells me that they haven't been as adept at fulfilling that role as they need to be on a consistent basis. Hopefully this was a precursor for things to come.

Yeah, since Greg Sheppard is so concerned about diving, how 'bout telling your guys to start calling the diving penalties, and that might cause them to think twice before doing it.

I did see that Wisconsin was very upset about a perceived missed call before Parks' goal to make it 3-0. Didn't see a replay, but it sure looked like a penalty at the time. I did see the ref motioning a dive to the Wisconsin player arguing vehemently about the missed call. I think it would be poetic justice if it was actually a penalty that was nullified by Wisconsin's penchant for diving. I guess you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

If UND listened to disgruntled fans and fired Hakstol, you can bet there would be blood in the water on some of those recruits because they are so highly rated, giving coaches a plausible reason to contact them, and the recruits a chance to re-open their recruitment depending on their reasons for their verbal. Hopefully all of them continue to develop and can add to the legacy of the program.

Yeah, do you think there would even be room for Ryan Gropp with the verbal of Gardner? Maybe they are covering themselves in case someone caves to Major Junior pressure.

So are you advocating letting Hakstol go? If that happened, I have no doubt that Minnesota would put a full court press on Shane Gersich to get him to change his commitment because he said he really was excited to play for this coaching staff. And if he changes his mind, could Austin Poganski change his as well? High-end recruits usually are gone early, so replacing them might not be that easy, as we have seen with the loss of Miller and Matteau. It could hurt the program in the short term, and as we have seen in a one and done tournament, success isn't guaranteed for even the best of coaches. Is it worth it to get rid of a winning coach who is missing the big one at the risk of hurting the program for possibly 3-4 years? I assume you think the Minnesota Vikings should have fired Bud Grant.

Yes, and being that it is so close and the Sioux have so many ties and less wins, it becomes critical to be taking some of these series on teams we only play twice this year like Wisconsin, Omaha and Mankato to win any possible tie-breaking circumstances.

Maybe you should realize at some point in your life that money isn't everything, in fact in the scheme of life it isn't anything, and maybe if you learned that you wouldn't be calling for everybody else's job every time you are on this board.