farce poobah

Mathematically speaking, this one is easy: Sioux 4/6/06 = Sioux 1/15/06 + 1.5*(Sioux 4/7/05 - Sioux 1/15/05)

I think a big factor was UMD getting whipped and falling out of the ranks of TUC's. Since MN lost to UMD and UND swept UMD, that moved our numbers pretty significantly. Also, Bemidji fell off the TUC list. IOW, its what happened elsewhere in this case. I think.

Ya, last year it wasn't a big shocker to come out of that East Regional. Maybe by the time March rolls around it won't be a surprise for UND to win the West either. Unless of course Minnesota is in the West. If it were to work out that Minnesota gets BU and probably Michigan, that would be a pretty good draw for them. (Maybe better than playing at the Ralph?)

Oops. Will fix that.

Based on the reliable PWR calculator at SiouxSports.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/pwr_rpibonus.php, and assuming a 3-2-1 bonus, here's how the field would look today: 1 Wisconsin 2 Miami 3 Colorado College 4 Minnesota 5 Michigan 6 St. Lawrence 7 Boston College 8 Ohio State 9 Harvard 10 North Dakota 11 Vermont 12 Michigan State 13 Boston University 14 Nebraska-Omaha 15 CHA lets say Bemidji for fun 16 AHA, say Mercyhurst (Note - 5 CCHA teams (!), 4 WCHA, 3 Hockey East, 2 ECACHL, 1 CHA, 1 AHA. And that Denver doesn't get in... they are around #25 right now. Also, no Maine, and no New Hampshire.) Let's place the #1 seeds, in order, closest to their home (none are hosting): Wisconsin goes to Green Bay Miami goes to Albany (which is, I think, closer than Grand Forks) CC goes to the Ralph Minnesota to Worcester Then dropping the rest of the field straight into a 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc (it will need adjustment in a minute): Midwest Wisconsin vs Mercyhurst Ohio State vs Harvard East Miami vs Bemidji BC vs UND (gotta fix that) West CC vs UNO St Lawrence vs Vermont Northeast Minnesota vs Boston U (the host) Michigan vs Michigan State Final Field: We have to move UND to Grand Forks, so let's just swap UND and Vermont. (Alternative would be to bring BC to Grand Forks, but I think they would keep BC out east to sell tickets.) Don't like the Michigan - Michigan State first round game, but there's a CCHA team in each region already. Midwest (1) Wisconsin vs Mercyhurst (8) Ohio State vs Harvard East (2) Miami vs Bemidji (7) BC vs Vermont West (3) CC vs UNO (6) St Lawrence vs UND Northeast (4) Minnesota vs Boston U (the host) (5) Michigan vs Michigan State ============================== Of course, this will probably be nothing like the actual, but it leads to some pretty intriguing matchups: Wisconsin vs Ohio State ... INDOORS this time in Green Bay, just 5 weeks after their game at Lambeau. Minnesota-BU, Michigan-Michigan State ... no problem getting attendance in Worcester this year. Putting UND and CC in the same region guarantees no all-WCHA frozen four. If the top seeds win, you get Minnesota vs Wisconsin in the national semis. (And if UND can spring a couple upsets, Miami vs UND in the other, afternoon semifinal. but enough dreaming for now)

Tonight was much better. And yes, we got some puck luck. But MOST IMPORTANT, we battled. We competed. We showed maturity. This is a good sign. A win to build some momentum on. The 4 WJC guys looked really leg weary. For the USA guys, this is 13 games in 29 days! For Toews, 12 games. Time for some rest. Also, its time to Take Care of Business at home. 4 big home games coming up.

The other thing that hurts our PWR is that UMD fell out of the ranks of TUC's, and without that sweep our record against TUC's is pretty weak. Too early to worry a lot about the volatility, but not too early to be concerned that we will be a bubble team unless we win enough games the rest of the way.

I'm good for a few bucks.

No, watched on TV. Agree with your comments. Just gotta hope for better play tomorrow.

That was awful. The hardest part to watch is that we are not yet playing as a team. We make individual plays, but we're not yet seeing everyone on the ice. Top it all off, the lines were awful, the reffing was awful, and my popcorn was soggy. The only positive is we did compete in the 3rd. Tomorrow will be better. Hopefully.

Oh, kinda like Bill Murray in Stripes?

I still can't believe: ... that UND hired Gino Gasparini, what with Ned Harkness available and all. ... that "one if by land and two if by sea" actually worked. ... that the Persians fell for that Trojan horse thing. ... that people still wonder about Hakstol's ability to coach a winning team.

Norway > Niagara

I hope Toews wins gold; he's the kind of player that makes me proud to be a fan of UND hockey. And ON the ice, Canada has been classy. Go Canada Go.

Team USA plus-minus for defensemen, going into the Bronze Medal Game: Chorney +2 Lee +2 E Johnson +2 Niskanen 0 Mitera 0 J Johnson -2 (Butler, who rung it up against the cupcakes, was +4)

http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_06/o...226_74_1_0.html Russia's second goal was a PPG, and the final goal occurred because JJ lost track of his guy. I thought Chorney and Lee played outstanding D against the best forward lineup top to bottom in the tournament. JJ, on the other hand was brutal. 11-20-21 Porter-Gerbe-Skille for the USA were also -2 each on the night. Bad own-zone coverage. Oshie was terrific, just terrific. ================================ I don't care about Canada's fans. I want Toews to come back to GF with a Gold Medal. GO Give Em He-double-hockey-sticks Jonathan!

Last week, Russia 7, Czech 2. They cleaned 'em out, USA struggled to win. This is going to be difficult, even for the anointed pre-tournament favorites. At this point, rational says Russia, emotion says ....

nearing the halfway mark of the 3rd, 2-2

We may be treated to the spectacle of a team pulling their goalie in a tie game. USA needs the win, but Canada will be 'happy' with a tie.

2-2 "on the road" after 2 is a decent outcome, especially after starting 0-2. I have this gut feeling that one of the Sioux guys will be a hero tonight.

Funny to hear all the Vancouverites heckling their future goalie.

Friday 12/30: 4 wins for the WCHA, all important to NCAA possibilities: Most importantly for UND, a win over Harvard ... might ultimately become a "quality win" if H. finishes in the top 15. WI beats a CCHA team, Western Michigan, CC beats a CCHA team, Mich. State MN beats UM_Lowell of Hockey East Three losses: One bad, bad loss - the worst of the weekend - DU loses to Princeton. One expected loss - Tech nearly beats Michigan but loses in the end. And UAA loses to UAF. Also, Bemidji ties Clarkson, solidifying their status as a TUC. (And UND's 2-0 record vs. Bemidji becomes valuable as long as Bemidji stays RPI>.500.) All in all a decent night for the WCHA, 4-3, but not enough to really move the dial. Going to the RPI calculator here at siouxsports.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/rpi.php a few things stand out immediately: * 9 CCHA teams are TUCs right now, 1 Miami, 3 Michigan, 6 Ohio State, 10 LSSU, 11 UNO, 16 Ferris State, 18 UAF, 20 Michigan State, 28 Northern Michigan. And Bowling Green is just below .500. If this persists, it means generally that CCHA teams will have better PWR than their RPI's... helping all their comparisons. * Meanwhile, the WCHA has only 5 TUC's. 4 of the top 8, but only DU is also a TUC. HOWEVER, UMD is at .4995, and if they become a TUC, it really helps the Sioux (and hurts Minnesota!) due to the results so far. And St Cloud is close at .4963. * If the NCAA field were drawn today, based on PWR from siouxsports.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/pwr.php it would be: 5 CCHA - including 3 of the 4 #1 seeds - Miami, Michigan, and Ohio State 4 WCHA (WI, MN, CC, UND) 3 ECACHL (Harvard! Cornell and St Lawrence, with Colgate close at hand) 2 Hockey East (Vermont and BC - but no UNH, no Maine, no BU - Providence is close) 1 Atlantic 1 CHA Will be nice to see the "official" rankings come out soon. Expect all the polls to pick up on the power shift toward the CCHA soon...

i would say i saw that coming too but im listening on the internet (radio)

urg. 3-2

Ends in a tie ... Gotta beat Canada to get the coveted bye into the semifinals....