rushmore88

Agreed. Go ahead, dislike Irmen, but he works his tail off, plays physical, and can produce points. I'm sure he'll be able to play regularly in the NHL within a couple of years.

And North Dakota's pro teams??

Of course... You guys sure do crack yourselves up!

Yup, it's official. Good luck Ryan! Thanks for the memories.

Kind of like how Johnny Pohl lead the nation in points in 2001-2002 (27-52-79 ) and wasn't even a top 10 finalist. Unfortunately, it happens! Go Matt Carle!

Not sure if that's the fairest assessment, as Potulny really improved in all areas of his game over the course of the season. He played a lot of penalty kill, was a force on the power play (obviously), and played great 5-on-5 hockey. Too bad he's not a finalist, but you can't really argue with the 3 guys up there. Looks like Carle is going to win, which probably would have happened had Potulny been a Hat Trick finalist anyway. I have no problem with that.

That's the problem I have with Ruesse (and Sid for that matter). He is incredibly harsh and biased towards the hockey team. He never has anything positive to say about their program. I also think he is greatly uneducated about hockey in general and should not be allowed to offer his clouded opinion to the public. I don't understand why he's so freakin' angry at the hockey team all the time. Maybe it's because his precious basketball and football programs are so terrible? Oh, and Specifics, will you please quit making an absolute buffoon of yourself? Seriously, the whole "my team is better than your team even though my team lost" argument is childish and make all Gopher fans sound stupid. The Sioux won when it counted the most, and the Gophs collapsed. Sure, the Gophs are a talented team, but they weren't able to get the job done in the big dance... just leave it alone, and hope we can reload next year and make a deeper run into the playoffs.

Dude, seriously? Listen to yourself... you sounds like an absolute buffoon. Yes, cultures modernize, but people still have the right to carry on ancient and/or sacred traditions in whatever way they deem necessary. And they also have the right to implement the modern way of life into how they chose to live...

No way you can go against the Miracle on Ice. Unfortunately, the Gophers ran into a good HC team that played their game very well. It happens. It happened against Alaska-Fairbanks to start the year, and it happened to end the season against HC. Oh well. I love watching Gopher hockey, but I'm over it. I'm more bummed about the fact that I might not get to see Potulny and Irmen dress in the maroon and gold anymore. Also hate to lose hard working, classy guys like Guyer, Sertich, Atherton, and Harrington too. That's a part of college sports though... here's to 2006-2007!

I'm pulling for North Dakota to win it all. Why not? UND has a better hockey program (in my opinion) than Wisco, and I think they are much more deserving of a national championship. I love our conference. We get the pleasure of watching some of the most storied teams in all of hockey (Minnesota, UND, Denver, Mich Tech, Wisco), the best players in college hockey (Potulny, Irmen, Oshie, Carle, Sterling, Sertich, Backes, etc.), and the best fans in college hockey. The more the WCHA wins, the better it is for our conference. Congrats to UND on a fine regional, good luck against BC. Oh, as for the Hobey Baker debate, I'm pulling for Ryan. He had a great finish to the year, was the nation's top goal scorer, meets all of Hobey Baker's sportsmanship qualifications, and is a great overall hockey player. I think Carle is deserving as well too, and in support of my pro-WCHA tendencies, would not mind seeing him win either (nice to see him get his first ever NHL goal at Xcel last night!). I haven't seen Collins play, so I don't know much about him... let's hope either Potulny or Carle can keep Hobey in the conference.

It's just not happening for our boys tonight. Holy Cross scored a lucky goal to tie it up (Briggs TOTALLY quit on it though), and the Gophs haven't capitalized on numerous power play chances. They've played pretty well, but they are tied. Hopefully the can come out in OT and put the game away. As far as I'm concerend, a win is a win in the NCAA tourney. A lot of #1 seeds had trouble against the #4's last year, so as long as the Gophs can get by HC, they have a good shot at winning tomorrow night. The real question is: will they get by HC? At this point, I'm incredibly worried about HC coming out and scoring a lucky goal! Oh, and as for Wally and Glen... Glen is probably the worst homer announcer on the face of the planet. I cannon stand listening to that guy!!!!!

Well, it is a top-notch hockey league... I mean, how can't it be if a guy like me plays in it?!

Briggs really did play great for an extended period of time. He had and his defense had a bad weekend... it happens (Parise in early December? I seem to remember you guys calling for his head!) Unfortunately, it came against NCAA tourney caliber competition the weekend before the playoffs, so eyebrows have been raised. I don't know which Briggs we'll see this weekend, but you have to admit that he played some great hockey in the middle of the season.

Interesting article. That would be a big loss if Zajac, Stafford, and Smaby all left. What does your incoming freshman class look like? Is there a thread I can check out?

Good one! Doesn't seem like a big deal... standard procedure

All very good points. I believe Michigan is very talented, but for various reasons they have not been able to piece everything together and play consistently for the bulk of the season. However, they can score goals and have talent, and are capable of knocking off anyone at any given time. An aggresive Sioux forecheck, sound goaltending, and some physical play should take care of business.

I've never quite understood the SCSU people. They protest your nickname, yet everytime I've been in that arena for a college hockey game I've been quite surprised by the the vulgarity of their cheers... seems a little hypocritical to protest UND while chanting "F.. the [insert name here]' all game long.

Yeah, I was just going to start looking for that. Thanks!

It was mentioned earlier in the thread, and I felt like briefly commenting on the situation. Sorry if it was out of order, but there are a lot of people out there who view the entire nickname situation much differently than you guys. This thread is about the poster, and I guess I shouldn't have brought it up. I don't know much about the situation. Enlighten me: are the Standing Rock Sioux one of many Native American groups that are in favor of the University remaining the Fighting Sioux?

Sure, in the opinon of some. Nice to see the WCHA is trying to make up for the mistake. I hope you guys enjoy your new posters! Hold on to the old ones, they may become collector's items after the Sioux destroy every single team on the face of the planet en route to an NCAA title

Agreed. If Parise is on, UND probably only needs to score 3 goals to ensure a win. That's awfully comforting, especially to me, who just watched his team lose after scoring 7 freaking goals...

Well, at least the Bison nickname isn't disrespectful.... Unfortunate that it happened, but there's not much that can be done about it now. I would like the think Red Baron would apologize to UND and make sure such a stupidly glaring oversight will never happen again.

Well, I stand by my team. We had one bad weekend. It was our first bad weekend since December. The timing of our questionable play worries me, as I would have preferred two strong efforts this weekend to prepare us for the tourney. Nonetheless, I'm still confident in my team. We played like crap Friday and still almost pulled one out, and although I would have preferred to see a little more effort Saturday, I'm just glad we got out of the game without any injuries. We very well may have a difficult time with Holy Cross, but many Sioux faithful are assuming you'll easily handle Michigan on Friday. Michigan has the potential to give your boys a tough time, and if Parise is off his game, the Ugly Helmets may prevail. The Gophers have a lot of depth, as do the Sioux, which will help them in both games. The Gophers have played very well defensively for the bulk of the season; unfortunately, they played their worst defensive series since Wisco in early December this past weekend and they got spanked for it. It happens. It's happened to the Sioux this year, and they've mananged to bounce back. I know the Gophs have the potential to practice hard all week and put last week's disappointments behind them. All in all, I'm very excited for this weekend, and think the Gophers have as good of a chance as any to advance to Milwaukee. I totally agree. As for the Potulny-Irmen Stafford-Zajac argument, I don't know enough about the Sioux players to make a sound case for your side. However, I believe Irmen will make a fine pro, while Potulny will have to work his way up through the minors and may never be a regular in the NHL (his skating has improved a lot this year, as he's been working out tons throughout the course of the season). But, who cares anyway? Lots of great college hockey players struggle to play in the big leagues, and we should enjoy these kids while they play for their respective schools.

I agree, Minnesota's other lines need to step up. Guyer-Chucko-Howe have become our 'checking line', but they haven't scored in about 5 years. Our fourth line hasn't been as good lately as it usually is; Kaufmann, Bostrum, and Sertich need to chip in a goal or two this weekend if the Gophs are to be successful. However, Wheeler-Kessel-Gordon have come on as of late, and I expect them to have a big weekend as well. The Gophers, like the Sioux, are actually a very well-balanced scoring team: Goal scoring leaders Sioux Stafford - 23 Oshie - 23 Towes - 19 Zajac - 15 Dunacn - 14 Spirko - 10 Gophers Potulny - 38 Kessel - 17 Irmen - 16 (in 29 games) Gordon - 12 Howe - 12 Goligoski - 10 Stoa - 10 Good teams have great goal scorers like Potulny, Irmen, Kessel, Oshie, Stafford, and Towes, but they also rely on other players to consitently chip one in every couple of games. As for the UND-Mich game, I think UND will win. Michigan is talented offensively, and will score some goals, but in the end UND is too deep and solid to lose to the Ugly Helmets. A hard forechecking, gritty UND team will win a closer-than-expected 5-3 contest.

I suppose I'd rather be in the Sioux's position, but I think the Gophs aren't in as much trouble as people are saying. In my opinion, the goaltending wasn't THAT bad on Friday. 3 or 4 of Briggs' goals were tipped in, which means we need to work a lot harder in our defensive zone at taking the body and breaking the puck out. If the whole team can do that, the goaltending falls into place. I didn't get a chance to watch all of the championship game, but didn't St. Cloud handily outshoot the Sioux? It looked like St. Cloud was playing very tough, and that Goepfert had his worst weekend of his life, yet the Huskies made a game out of it by the end of the 2nd period. Although I think think the Sioux are a fine team, I'm not ready to say they are the favorite to win it all (same applies to the Gophs, however). This whole tourney is pretty wide open. If Miami gets hot, the might have a shot.. if Wisco stays hot, they have a great chance. And it looks like BU is a real contender from out east. I can't wait for this weekend to come, we should all be treated with some amazing college hockey!!!