farce poobah

The explanation that makes the most sense is that Gopher Athletic Department told FSN to make the switch. That implies Lucia but couldn't have happened without Maturi going to bat for it. Woog, absolutely love what he brings to the game in terms of knowledge. He has slowed down, but would be a great 3rd man in the booth or with postgame when he's had a chance to gather his thoughts. But his powers of observation are second to none, and I've listened to a lot of hockey color guys to make that assessment. The guy has spent most of his adult life on a sport that I love, so I can't help but respect and admire (and hey maybe I'm a bit envious...). Mazzocco was fine, most of the time. In the last few years he's gotten increasingly opinionated, both positive to the Gophers and negative. He was brutally honest about the Gophers at times this season, and I can see where that drove this decision. I also give him credit for learning the opponent's roster.

If we win this weekend, it will REALLY help our PWR.

Most definitely. This is a coach with a compass.

Your definition of a "tune-up" is a bit more stringent than most people.

Memory is a bit "fuzzy" - my best guess is late in the first period, at about the 5:00 left in the period.

I'm much happier playing Yale in round 1 instead of Michigan. Michigan is playoff tested, Berenson is a jedi master at getting his troops to play their best. Yale has had about zero success in the NCAA's for years and years. As to the second round, will worry about it when we get there. Just admit there's no easy games at that stage. (And we may not even play BC; Alaska is no slouches.)

St Cloud 2, Wisconsin 0. yesterday. Otherwise, I loved the reaction in 2008 when Michigan got excited to find out "we don't have to play effing North Dakota again". Personally, I'd like another shot at New Hampshire.

Yup, we had them right where we wanted them, 55 seconds in.

Excellent call. Deserves a call out. Just got back. That was a heckuva crowd there tonight. Loud, loud, loud. Boys really stepped up and survived the gut check. The first 30 minutes are Sioux hockey at its finest; the last 30 are all heart. Well done. Congratulations. Guys.

I agree about the boring part. But BOTH teams have a lot at stake. For DU, a win gives them Alabama-Huntsville in the first round. Not quite a bye, but in a tournament where the rest of the games are almost a coin flip, that's a significant advantage. For UW, a win gives them a #1 seed and almost certainly a trip back to St Paul. Lose and go somewhere else.

So, "Final Five Thoughts". Kinda hard to trim it to just five. 1. I am REALLY glad we get last change tonight vs UMD. With a short-manned D corps, guys like Davidson and Fienhage will be logging a lot of minutes. Blood/MacWilliam and Marto/Lapointer to draw the assignment vs UMD's top line. 2. Also REALLY hope we get an early lead and can play the whole roster. Come Saturday night (double wink) we'll need fresh legs. 3. Interesting to see how VV and Malone fare with Frattin in the pressbox. Kinda hate to see all the lines get juggled - maybe Knight on that line? 4. Who wants it more: UMD's season is "almost certainly" over with a loss tonight. UND is playing for a #1 seed and a chance to come back to the X next weekend and play in front of several thousand Sioux fans. 5. Style of play. UND likes to play uptempo pressure. UMD's top guys have great wheels. This could be some fun hockey to watch. GO SIOUX!

Fresh legs ... are a reason to put Cichy and Bruno. Of course, that logic would be a reason to put Fienhage in as well, even if Davidson has been good.

Gophers had nothing last night and won't have anything tonight. The Gopher goals were flukes and dives. Sioux carried the play, controlled long stretches of play, were and are the better team, and just need to keep playing strong. That said, "hockey is a strange game" and winning is not assured. Be loud and be proud.

I would enjoy a synchronized skating exhibition between periods. (Not that tDon would.)

NHL center ice with free previews tonight (tomorrow too?) .... getting a look at Oshie tonight.

THIS is the fastest next-week thread I've ever seen. Probably the most-intense first-round series we've had since DU came to town a while back.

UND could still get as high as a #3 seed overall - nudging out Wisconsin is still possible. Here's what it takes: * UND has to basically win out, and beat WI somewhere along the way. * UW has to lose to another TUC (Gophers on Sunday, or someone at the final five, or if they were to lose to Mankato in round 1). I haven't constructed a scenario where UND gets to #1 overall or #2, but it would need to include 3 of our opponents all becoming TUC's: * Merrimack (Sioux are 2-0) is at #27 this morning, .006 out of #25. * Ohio State (Sioux are 1-0) is at #28, and * MSU-Mankato (Sioux are 2-0 so far) is at #30, but only .008 out of the #25 spot. If all three of those become TUC's (a real long shot, I admit), that adds 5-0 to the Sioux ledger and, combined with a scenario where we win out. But if even one becomes a TUC, it might be enough to nudge the Sioux up to a top-4 overall seed. My dream scenario is the Sioux at the Xcel for the NCAA's. I think people would be surprised at how big the turnout would be - hear that NC$$? Lots of bucks, all you have to do is put the Sioux in St Paul ... Sioux fans travel better than anyone else ...

Zach nets two tonight for the Devils, becoming the first player in franchise history to get 30 goals 4 seasons in a row.

I agree with most of what you say here, but I disagree on the margin .... Adams accepted the responsibilities as CFO. Being CFO means putting your responsibilities to defending the integrity of the finances above what your boss wants. This is the nature of any CFO position, at a university or at a business. You're accountable, and if there are signs of activity that should not happen, you're accountable to escalate that issue to the board of directors, the legislature, or in this case to the SBoHE. Most CEO's (or Chapman in this case) never put their CFO in a position where they are forced to choose between integrity and their job. Clearly Chapman did that to Adams, and, sadly for the citizens of North Dakota, Adams failed. He backed off, and there's no sign he escalated. It IS a difficult line to draw at times ... and he's not the only CFO to cave under pressure. Equally sadly, I agree that we are in for a mad race between the SBoHE and the Legislature to prove who can do the better job of micromanaging - after a decade of under-overseeing (is that a word?) we're in for a long stretch of over-overseeing. That's going to be to the detriment of the whole system. The key mistake was made back when Potts got undermined; if the right decision gets made back then, most of Chapman's later damage never occurs.

This is simply huge. The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Next season becomes a blockbuster, in many ways. Next 3 seasons will be transformational for women's hockey at UND.

One alternative is to change your settings to ignore signatures.

I agree with your criticism of league officials. But I disagree about the length of suspension issue. The league standard is increasing punishment for repeat offenders (see: Bruess last year). 1 game for the first offense and 3 for the second (and 5 or a whole season for the third offense) is progressive and increasing. Look, these are the brains and the future livelihood of young men at stake here. Concussions have been taken lightly for too long. Three games seems like the minimum acceptable, in my opinion. As long as its accompanied by a "next one and you lose a full season" message.

Dogs 3, Gophers 0, 2 minutes left. Last regular season game at the DECC. I have a few fond memories, and some painful ones of that place.

For Tears, we need Tonya Lucia.

1) He's leading the tournament in plus-minus 2) He's leading Canada in points. 3) He's almost 65% on faceoffs.