stickboy1956

It also depends how many extra F they want on the roster - counting Miller's slot, they have 3 sitting every game - is that too many? It wouldn't shock me if both Knight and Mattson play Jr. next year, if Forney comes here next year. I've said this before - if we need one more F, I would be shocked if it isn't Mattson v Knight.

Our blueline had a rough game Sat. Joe needs to be our best D and he wasn't by a long shot. Rau's goal was all on Joe (not the goalie - note to the Ralph staff - he was the player of the game). Too many turnovers and too many gambles. With CC's speed, fundamental hockey is a must (pucks to the net, finish checks all over the ice). Trying to be too fancy/ one-on-one won't work against this team. When we forechecked hard and physical, the puck stayed in their end. We need 60 min of that on Sun.

There are other AJHL players there at UMD. Brett Hull was pretty good in the NHL. Niskanen and Raymond aren't bad, either. If you look at the numbers it didn't add up for us - too many D coming in the next 2 years. 2010 projected roster Marto sr Lapoint sr Blood jr Feinhage jr Mc William so Gleason so Mattson fr (Forbert) USHL? I'm sad for the Sioux but am glad for Scott he landed a high-profile recruit - better there than Den/Wisco. Of course UMTC doesn't need him. With a new arena coming, Scott could keep landing good players from W Canada and N Minn.

Remember, many years ago, some would have said the same thing about UND.

Typical hockey player - classy. I'm glad I'm not a fan of this sport. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3934295

Thanks Jim, great work. Safe to say beating higher ranked (RPI) teams the rest of the year give us a chance to get a #1 seed. In some ways, we should be rooting for the higher ranked WCHA teams to be winning the rest of the way (including Denver), except when they play us. For example, it would be better for us to face/beat Denver in the Final5 final than see them upset in the semis by Wisco/CC.

That's what you get when you are a 3 seed. Would be great to run the table and end up #1 at the Mooch.

That is why it is important to finish the reg season strong, 3-1 at least. That would build up our RPI to a point where 2-1/1-1 would still get us in the NCAA. I would like to see what would happen if we run the table - could we crack the top 4 and get a #1 seed? I suppose if one of those wins is against Denver that would help. The Final 5 is going to be huge for the 3-5 seeds. One team at the Final 5 could lose 2 games (I think the 3rd place game can end in a tie) - that could be enough to push them out of the tournament.

Just think of it as dressing 7 D and starting the game with Miller playing F and CF as the #6 D. In crunch time, if needed, you could move Miller back to D and play with 11 F. Hak would probably shorten the bench in this situation anyway if Davidson was in the lineup.

If I recall, doesn't the "committee" have some sort of presser the week before selection Sun (the week of the F5)? I seem to recall USCHO/CHN covering this. If so this question would be an important one to ask.

We move up to 10 with a MSU win (even if -500 teams are not TUC's).

I think some were expecting another Oshie. Others thought otherwise. He is obvously now healthy and will be interesting to see how much he contributes next year.

Using Slack.net "Do your own rankings," a win by Mankato tonight bumps our RPI to .5495 (currently .5486), UNO win drops our RPI to .5476, a tie drops the RPI to .5485. Where we end up in the PWR depends on whether or not UMass is considered a TUC, because their record is below .500. Slack.net default calculation settings do not include teams below .500 and their PWR rankings are different than UCHO/CHN. Without UMass as a TUC we are currently 10 in the PWR (via Slack.net) http://slack.net/~whelan/tbrw/tbrw.cgi?2009 1 Boston Univ 23 .5970 2 Notre Dame 22 .5828 3 Michigan 21 .5706 4 Denver U 19 .5595 5 NorthEastern 18 .5675 6 Vermont 18 .5582 7 Princeton 17 .5546 8 Cornell 15 .5508 9 New Hampshire 15 .5504 10 North Dakota 15 .5486 11 Miami 14 .5477 12 Yale 13 .5476 13 Minn-Duluth 11 .5424 14 Ohio State 9 .5386 15 CO College 8 .5333 16 St Lawrence 8 .5306 With Mass as a TUC we are 11 in the PWR (via USCHO) 1 Boston University 24 .5970* 2t Notre Dame 22 .5828* 2t Michigan 22 .5706 4t Denver 20 .5595 4t Vermont 20 .5582 6 Princeton 18 .5546* 7 Northeastern 17 .5675 8t Cornell 16 .5508 8t New Hampshire 16 .5504 8t Miami 16 .5477 11 North Dakota 15 .5486 12 Yale 14 .5476* 13 Minnesota-Duluth 12 .5424 14 St. Lawrence 11 .5306 15 Ohio State 10 .5386 16 Colorado College 9 .5333 You see how this could be a big deal for teams on the bubble (12-14) and would impact the seedings.

Is it time to consider moving Miller back to F? He could still man the point on the PP. Most of his goals/assists have come on the PP anyway. Trupp is an offensive player, not a grinder. If Toews can't go, does it make sense to throw another grinder (Davidson) in the lineup?

as of 11pm central time we are 12 in Pwr according to CHN http://www.collegehockeynews.com/ratings/ncaapwcr.php In RPI we are .0012 behind Yale and .0013 behind Miami. If we can pass those team's tonight we could move up to 10 (actually tie with Cornell and NH for 8th). Next 2 weeks we can make up some more ground in RPI by playing top 20 teams.

Watching the Habs/Sens on NHL Network. First time I've had chance to see BLee play for the Sens this year. Is it just me or has he gotten a lot bigger in 2 years? What a sick league it would be if guys like Lee Oshie Toews Wheeler Kessel EJohnson (without a golf cart injury) Niskanen, Raymond, Turris etc. were still around.

Also - the system was not designed track movement from week to week, due to factors like strength of schedule, etc. that go into the RPI formula. What matters is the body of work for the entire season.

With Mike Guentzel gone, there is no one on the Gopher staff that wore the "M." Contrast that with UND. The Sioux staff can speak personally to the history and traditions of the program. It's "family" at UND. That's not the case at UMTC - I know several ex-players disappointed that Guentzel is gone, among other things. Both programs get talented players - UMTC maybe more. I don't think there is any question which progam gets the gritty players who will do the dirty work for the stars.

Punchline, anyone?

For UMTC, what's a larger check? The check FSN writes to UMTC for the hockey rights or The increase from the Big10 Network if/when there is a Big10 hockey conf. It's obviously from FSN. Its money they don't have to share with anyone else. I don't know if FSN would carry any hockey games not covered by the Big10 network - I don't recall any Gopher football/basketball being shown on FSN since the Big10 network began. FSN would be looking for programming and regional WCHA hockey would be a nice addition. The Gophers have a great thing going with FSN right now - good money coming in and exclusive coverage over the entire region. Why would they want to change that? There is no upside for them to do so.

Even if Genoway leaves early and we get Olsen, 2010 would be a logjam for D 1 Sr Marto 2 Sr Lapoint 3 Jr Blood 4 Jr Feinhage 5 So Mc Williams 6 So Olsen 7 So Gleason 8 Fr Mattson I don't see Marto or Lapoint leaving early. Forbort is not on this list and he is a cinch to be a top draft pick and it would be hard to make him wait a year. Even if we don't get Olsen, it is still a logjam. The numbers don't add up for Olsen to come here.

Looking ahead - I wonder what the TV/webcast situation will be for the Wisconsin series - the Cup may be on the line. It looks like Charter Wisconsin will be covering those games in Madison, not FSN Wisco. http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/tvsked.php

Here's my prediction for this week's USCHO bracketology Northeast (Manchester) 1 BU v 4 RIT 3 NH (h) v 2 Den Midwest (Grand Rapids) 1 Mich v 4 BSU/Niagara 3 Princeton v 2 Miami East (Bridgeport) 1 Northeastern v 4 UMD 3 UND v 2 Yale (h) West (Mlps) 1 Vermont v 4 UMTC (h) 3 Cornell v 2 Notre Dame re: my previous post about UND going to Mlps - this week's Btogly shows how avoiding 1st round conf match ups can shake up the natural bracket. Cornell had to flip with UND to avoid a 1st round game with Yale. Otherwise we were pegged for Mlps. This is why it will be hard to predict a regional destination for the Sioux.

"Regionalization," or the NCAA's cost-cutting restrictions on placement of teams in the NCAA tournament bracket, has been put on hold for one year, according to Steve Cady, chair of the Men's Division I Ice Hockey Committee and associate athletic director at Miami. http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2009...onalization.php Good news for fans of bracket integrity. It appears that aside from placing host teams in their region and avoiding 1st round conf matchups, the only other reason to "break the bracket" for geography would be moving teams around within a "seeding band." I predicitng we end up in Mlps this year, unless we need to be moved to avoid a 1st round game with UMTC.

Blacks are sweet - the reds are top 5 in all sports uniforms.