farce poobah

Which reminds me …. I’m relieved to have NCHC officials behind the whistles this weekend. Hockey East refs can kiss my rock hard bubble of an a$&.

That’s right up there with the opening game at Amsoil , where they didn’t get to blast their goal horn until way after the game. https://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20101230/ndk/mnd/

I have Phil Kessel on line 1. He says he was minus 165 in the NHL, and still got to play.

Don’t tell the Gophers, but Augustana is ahead of them in the PWR so far .

The icing on the cake was the ridiculous icing call with 19 seconds left.

A defining characteristic of going to Hockey East teams is they always get 3-4 extra penalty calls. it’s been that way for 40 years now.

Yes, me too. If I didn't know, I'd think its still Mike Hastings behind the bench. Credit to MSU Athletic Director for getting a coach who can use the existing talent. Will be interestin gto see how they evolve as he gets more chance to recruit players.

And they responded, "if we hung all our runners up banners we'd need another level too....."

I’m not a fan of our top line out there in that final minute.

Michigan Tech trailed at St Lawrence, got a penalty shot in the final 2minutes. Chance to tie, but missed! Then got the EAG with 8 seconds left. Great drama in that one. Another game important for league PWR.

UMD at Cornell is on ESPN+, and they look pretty disjointed. Took a couple penalties, gave up a couple goals, and finally getting some pressure late in the first period when Cole Spicer takes an awful, textbook boarding penalty. 2-0 end of first but could be even worse.

Clearly, the Rodents suffered a let down after last weekend's series with their top rival. (Whereas Wisconsin had an extra week to recover after a UND beating.)

I'm really REALLY glad there weren't cell phones recording everything when I went to school ...

Hrkac came in as a highly touted freshman, having scored 106 points in 42 games in junior. (Orillia Travelways is a great trivia question btw.) His first year at UND, he was a young 18. The game was faster and stronger, and his 54 points in 36 games as a freshman was a bit of disappointment. Rumor was that Gino suggested the Canadian National Team for a year, to get stronger and faster. He returned a year later and was definitely stronger and faster. He was ready for the rugged WCHA of the 1980's, and went right from UND into the NHL. Credit to the young man for taking critical advice and changing for the better.

I heard the same official story ... Good news is it worked. Spectacularly.

This year is as close to maximum parity as I've seen. So far, only CC has gone 4 games with a perfect 1.000 Pairwise win percentage (no overtime games, all regulation wins). 3 teams have 2 games at 1.000: Omaha, Maine and Northeastern. Everyone else has blemishes on their record (except the Ivies who haven't started yet). ====================== Very promising NCHC out of conference record so far at 23-7-3; a higher winning pct than Big Ten and Hockey East.

If you wear a yellow helmet with red flashing light, everyone moves over just fine. PS every time we road tripped through Minnesota, we collected a few extra bucks from gullible motorists.

Defense is the hardest position to learn, but down the stretch last night, 3 of our 5 still in the game were freshmen. If this is how well they play in game 4, vs the #1 team in the nation, I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Atlantic Hockey with 3 wins already against Big Ten teams and just 5 losses. Also 2-3 vs Hockey East. Their move a couple years ago to increase scholarships offered to 18 paying dividends, it seems.

Minnesota forechecked hard, bringing two guys in deep and trying to force the turnover. (Which was a strategy that worked last year for many teams against us.) Already this year, we're showing excellent awareness of where teammates are, and making good choices in our own zone. For the most part, and especially in the first period, we cleared our own zone effectively and that speed in transition was a key part of our success last night. A sign of good team chemistry. Count me as very happy to see that.

I agree we are a good team. sometime soon, I think we will be a great team.

Notre Dame 3-1 BU after 1. BU defense looking porous / not yet cohesive.

Denver v Providence is on ESPN+ for those that subscribe. Still Du 1-0 Prov late first.

Matt Wellens' tweet is a little over the top in saying "his junior season is over". Having played just 3 games, he's eligible for a medical redshirt. Of course, still a bad blow that I wouldn't wish on him or UMD by any means.

December 3, 1982. The Best Birthday Present Ever. I've seen over 90 Sioux-Gopher games in person over the last many years, but my favorite? A birthday present. At the creaky old Mariucci, seats in the front of balcony were amazing, for two reasons: the view of ice, obviously, but the swaying and rocking when the locals started jumping and bouncing made it a little scary, like a roller coaster is. The game was also a roller coaster, tied at 4-4 late in the third. An old school brawl breaks out, and somehow the Sioux get called for two extra majors vs two minors to the Rodents. (Still can't figure out why those calls were made, except to note that most of the officials in those days seemed to be former Gophers players. (?)) Anyway, its 3x3 for the final bit of regulation, then the Gophers will get 3 minutes of 5x3 major PP into overtime. Basically, a must-score situation. 3x3 starts and Jon Casey makes an easy save off a long shot, and James Patrick pulls the puck off his pads, then carries the puck all the way down the ice, and fires a wrist shot past the Gopher goaltender for a 5-4 lead. UND survives the 6x3 in the final minute (which prevents the 5x3 major PP in overtime), and wins 5-4. Yeah, we toasted James Patrick and Jon Casey over several rounds at the post game party.