farce poobah

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....

Maybe the Sioux fans at the Ralph should start cheering for the opponent and heckling the home team.

Sauer: "Marc Chorney with a great pass" (!) Time warp here ...

i think that would qualify as hostile and abusive

Toews #3 star of last night's Canada-Norway game: http://edmontonsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2005/...373077-sun.html

Hope you're right. If someone told me right now that UND would get the last seed in, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

Thursday 12/29: On the good side (for WCHA rankings), CC beat Michigan 6-1. MN beat Union. On the bad side, Sioux lost to Harvard (the top of the ECACHL) Mankato only manages a tie against Yale, the bottom of the ECACHL. Tech loses to Michigan State (as expected) Net net, not a good night for the WCHA. Being #5 in the WCHA might not be good enough to make it into the NCAA this year...

suddenly, playing cupcakes over New Years (instead of a team the quality of Harvard) is sounding pretty good.

Is it too late to pretend its a road game?

game starts 737, pregame in a sec

I only had to drive to the Twin Cities, but then I had to hear about it all week at work ...

ARRRGGGHHHH!! I HAD successfully represssed that vile memory. But NOOOOOO, I have to go back to therapy. It was 1999.

I'm never sure if I'm happy to hear the voice of Jim Rich or not. Broadcast on!

UMD with a 1-1 tie against Cornell. Another strong outcome for UMD against a ranked opponent, and a decent outcome for the WCHA. Also, since UND has 2 wins aginst the 'Dogs, if UMD becomes a TUC, that helps all UND's comparisons with other teams. (And it would hurt MN, since they lost and tied). Don't bet against Sandelin having that young UMD squad in form come March.

I agree with those 3 names, in part because UND has faced each in key NCAA playoff games within the last decade: BU 1997 national final, 2005 east regional BC 2000 national final, 2001 national final, 2005 east regional Maine 2000 national semifinal

Toews no points, but it was cool to hear his name called with 1: left in a one-goal game. Reinforces the widely shared opinion that his two-way play is what makes him so special.

Put a big W on the board for the WCHA: UMD, #37 in the RPI here at SS.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/rpi.php wins 4-1 over Maine, #9. This is a big win in terms of the pairwise for all the WCHA schools with NCAA hopes... UMD gets a second shot tomorrow at Cornell. Go Sandy! Go Dogs.