farce poobah

I had the same reaction you did. We weren't alone, however. I've been to at least 200 Sioux games in GF and have never before heard more applause, or ever so few boos for an opponent. I definitely have to go back thru the class on being hostile and abusive ... I'm losing my touch.

Been to a dozen Frozen Fours and the ticket situation is highly predictable: If Wisconsin loses today, there will be tickets outside by the hundreds. I would have absolutely no qualms about travelling the 600 miles and getting them outside the arena day-of-games. If Wisconsin wins, tickets for the Thursday afternoon semi the non-Badger semi (which is probably us) will be a little harder but still you can expect to be able to get in. If the title is Sioux-Badgers, scalping will be $$$$$. Your best chance will be after Thursday's games to catch fans of losing teams.

Been to a dozen Frozen Fours and the ticket situation is highly predictable: If Wisconsin loses today, there will be tickets outside by the hundreds. I would have absolutely no qualms about travelling the 600 miles and getting them outside the arena day-of-games. If Wisconsin wins, tickets for the Thursday afternoon semi the non-Badger semi (which is probably us) will be a little harder but still you can expect to be able to get in. If the title is Sioux-Badgers, scalping will be $$$$$. Your best chance will be after Thursday's games to catch fans of losing teams.

Impressions: 1) I am still shocked at the size of the crowd for game 1 Friday, at the opening drop of the puck there were easily 9000 and maybe 10000 butts in seats. After seeing Green Bay's arena empty out for game 2 yesterday, and all the empty seats out east, its arguably true that Grand Forks has the best fans in all of college hockey. 2) Maybe instead of having a student section we should do like this weekend and spread them out; their enthusiasm was contagious. And maybe instead of beer we should encourage consumption of caffeinated, sugared beverages. 3) Seriously, this was an electric atmosphere all weekend long. Remarkable. I'm trying to compare it to anything I've experienced, and really I'd go back to 1980 Sioux hockey games, again the night the Sioux clinched the WCHA vs Michigan State. Otherwise, for sustained noise, the closest is the 1987 World Series. 4) As to the play ON the ice, we DID hit the body last night, especially in the first period and the first 10 minutes of the 3rd. SMABY! ROCKS! He delivered several crunching hits. Kozek a couple times, Prpich, even Duncan. Holy Cross hung in there, but the couple times they tried to check Finley were just funny... guys bouncing off him landing on the ice while he looks down as if to say "don't hurt yourself little buddy". Anyway, playing physical was important to the outcome. 5) Toews-Duncan-Stafford were just terrific. Duncan is such a perfect complement to those two; I've said it before but he reminds me of David Hoogsteen with the great hands, terrific quickness, and vision of the ice. Toews is getting better all the time, and right now he's playing like its next month. 6) Oshie-Zajac-Spirko were also, and I'm with PCM in appreciating Zajac's work on PK this weekend - for all his time on the PK, he wasn't on the ice for ANY opponent goals this weekend. I like how Zajac saves his best faceoff moves for in-zone draws ... would like to see his record on defensive circle, where its gotta be up near 75%; he is just plain amazing. Oshie fights through checks with such incredible tenacity it is just a joy to watch; seems like every game someone tries to hit him open ice and gets flattened, last night it happened at least twice. 7) All the TV timeouts during playoff season really do affect the flow of the game and give coaches the choice of playing a much shorter bench. In St Paul, I think that worked to UND's favor; last night I think it helped HC. At this point, I'll take our top 3 forward lines and top 4 D against anyone in the nation. 8) The weakest part of UND's game at this point is what we all knew it would be - inexperience on D. The guys have come a long LONG way since November, and for the most part play really well most of the time. Michigan's speed and skill were a true test, and except for a couple misplays we were really solid. Early in the year, the first pass was often to an opponent, these last couple weekends, its almost always the right play. 9) JPar was outstanding again and could have been the MOP this weekend too. Pretty rare that he's had to make two or three saves in one sequence; also rare that an opponent can make the cross-ice pass that forces the big lateral move. He's on the verge of getting the first NCAA title ring in the Parise household, and I'm sure little brother will hear about it if it happens. I liked his comment in the Herald today about how "early in the season we were getting along well off-ice but weren't getting it done on-ice"; the chemistry seems right on this team. 10) After everyone else had left the ice last night, Prpich saluted the crowd and got one last loud roar. He's played with an edge and is definitely getting inside opponent's heads (Robbie Earl as much as said it after last Friday's WCHA game) while not taking the bad penalty. Just terrific. It's been a grueling stretch for this young team, and getting 10 days to prepare is, I think, a help for UND more than teams like Wisconsin or other veteran-heavy teams. 7 games in 16 days is a bunch of hockey. I think the playoff sequence needs to be tweaked but that's topic for the offseason. Last, and least, I get to go back to work in the Twin Cities Monday and talk trash to all my brown-and-yellow colleagues. Can't wait. It doesn't get more fun that this.

CC looks to have really good jump. Nothing like fresh legs ...

Cory Schneider is scary good as BC's goalie. If the SIoux get that far, I think I'd rather play the BU juggernaut than the brick wall goalie.

CC up 2-0 late in the first, another powerplay goal. Cornell hurting themselves with careless penalties.

Minnesota didn't hit anybody all game long. I look for UND to do some early hitting - keep it clean boys! - and intimidate HC physically. Sioux need to keep doing what they've been doing. One win to extend the season. One shift at at time. They were born to be hockey players. This is our time.

CC with the early lead on Cornell. Watching it on Fox Sports North MN. Anyone interested in watching webcast of BC BU, check the webcast link earlier in the thread.

I hate the Minnesota Gophers hockey team with a passion, but I gotta give big ups to Ryan P for coming on camera after a devastating loss and showing a lot of character in doing so.

Well ... we can work on conditioning so he doesn't have to dog it the other 90 seconds.

Totally Agree. I actually said something like that before the game last night... its one thing to put yourself in position of great opportunity, and its another thing entirely to take advantage of it. Also, a tip of the cap to the 11,000 LOUD, RAUCOUS fans at the game last night. When you talk about playoff atmosphere, THAT was as good as it gets. Just outstanding.

94 East to the Wisconsin border, until I realize that I'm 11 days early ... Face off! Face off! Rip his face off!

I think Miller's all-around solid play EARNED him a spot in the lineup.

Holy Parise! He looks just like Jordan!

Talk about Solidarity on the logo thing ... Otherwise its kinda funny that they don't agree on anything. Just one thing. Thanks guys.

I have a couple that I can email to you. (Couldn't figure out how to insert the image into a post.) Drop me a PM with your email and I'll send on.

Losing to the University of North Dakota is bad enough, but losing to the North Dakota State University hockey team?

Bob Norton on ESPN2 did also.

If the NCAA wants attendance, send Minnesota out east. The Ralph is dang near sold out, and if anyone could bring out the Cornell fans it would be Minnesota. I would love to have Bemidji in the West Regional. They wear green, and I always cheer for sweaty beavers.

Well, that was fun. Its good to win, and its good to feel like we're playing well, but I think this team's best hockey is in front of them. I was really proud of the effort, and want to note that UND played 5 games in 9 days with a shortened bench. Getting Stafford back, if that's how it plays out, would be a huge boost. I thought the all tournament team could just as well have picked Duncan and Toews. RYAN DUNCAN: is playing some just great hockey right now. The best compliment I can think of is to say that he reminds me of David Hoogsteen at times... great hands, makes plays look easy. JONATHAN TOEWS: skated thru the whole da#$ team at least twice, made a bunch of just sick plays, ending up with a goal and 2 assists in the title game. Smart in his own zone.

Great pics, just great. Thanks!

Last night's 8 goal outburst for St Cloud was a combination of factors. One was mystifying passes by Gopher D (Goligoski flings it right at (?) Hooten in the slot for goal #6 ... Harrington with a great centering pass earlier. Another was Vanelli pinching and getting caught (but the situation called for gambling). And the goaltending by both Briggs and Freezy was as soft as you'll ever see at this level. If the Sioux fling the puck around like that tonight, we can expect to give up a bunch of goals. I don't see it happening at this point. We were terrific yesterday with the first pass, especially our top D. If we play as well tonight as yesterday, and don't take penalties, SCSU will be hard pressed to get even 2 goals. On the other hand, we didn't get sustained offensive pressure much yesterday. I thought we got a couple quirky bounces on 3 goals. And UW got a couple bounces too ... Could just as well have been a 1-1 game. KEYS for the SIOUX: 1) Hit Hit Hit. SCSU is gassed. They stopped moving their feet the last 30: of last night. Getting hit repeatedly takes some of the energy level down. 2) Use speed, move the feet. We're quicker PLUS fresher. 3) Use the whole bench. I think UND's 4th line is better than SCSU's 4th line ... meaning we can have top guys fresher for PK and PP. 4) Poise in our own zone. Time to claim the autobid. ... and if so, it just might be the case that #1 overall Minnesota gets sent out east as the fairer outcome than sending them into GF and the tougher road to the Frozen Four.

Minnesota DRAWS a lot of penalties with speedy skilled forwards. I thought Campion was pretty balanced last night. St Cloud took some dumb penalties that gave the Gophers momentum ... Actually, a Minnesota win today helps the Sioux slightly in the pairings ...

According to my pairwise predictor (courtesy USCHO) UW could pass MN with a win today. In that case, it might bring Holy Crap Cross to Grand Forks and send Bemidji to Green Bay. Other than that, and Pride, there's nothing at stake. But don't underestimate what Pride counts for in a Badger-Gopher game....