farce poobah

I thought the same thing. CC plays so under-control against everybody else, or so it seems, but against DU last night they took some really dumb penalties and got lucky that they didn't get called on a bunch more. DU must really have gotten under their skin.

South Dakota hasn't played against Boston U since 1997, when Boston U won the national championship. I am fine with our bracket. All the #2 and #3 seeds are so close together you could throw a small blanket and cover them all. Same for the top 3 #1 seeds. The reasons I LIKE the bracket: 1) Worcester is a regular ice surface. Not big ice. 2) BU is not playing well lately, and that is as good a first-round matchup as we could expect. (would you rather play MI in GR? New Hampshire? Ohio St? not much difference by my rationale) 3) We got the #2 seed, which is the objective method, not the new subjective process. That means we get last change vs BU, which will make it tougher for them to exploit matchups, and give Hak the flexibility to get matchups we like. 4) We already played BC at BC and we played them tough. No "mystique" for our guys about going out east and playing eastern schools. 5) There's no WCHA teams in our bracket. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like our chances. PS CC got screwed in the first round matchup.

He got less ice time because he made a couple mistakes on the shift that led directly to Minnesota's first goal. If you didn't see it the first time, watch a tape - his stick gets lifted, he gets outmuscled, pass goes over to Irmen and bang! the otherwise-dead Gophers get on the board. He will be fine; he's got good hands, good skating stride and agility, and does a lot of things well. A summer of weight-training and he'll get the extra strength needed to excel in the WCHA.

This year, more than just about any year, I think there's very VERY little to choose between the 14 teams from major conferences. Drawing the CHA or AHA winner is a bona-fide advantage, but any other opponent is about equal ...

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/11176685.htm Tyler Koenig to transfer to UND, according to the GFH. Good news.

Patrick, well said, as usual. I can understand the occasional missed call, even including a high stick here and there. But when it becomes a pattern, it becomes the fault of those who let it happen. The only consolation is the far-too-rare situations where post-game suspensions are handed down.

Get Well Soon.

In the first period, we really laid the body on Wisconsin. They did some too, but I think it slowed them down a bit. One more tip of the cap to BRADY MURRAY for sheer fearlessness. Just like UMD did, WI was bumping checking hitting him every chance they got but he still stuck his nose in and took a bunch of hits ... I cringed everytime it happened, but thankfully he didn't. Murray-Zajac had a number of close miss chances last night. Overall tho, I think we got lucky that Wisconsin couldn't finish. Lot of times where a guy was open in front of the net or had a potential break and the puck bounced over a stick or the pass was off. Better-scoring teams (any of the other 3 left) will more likely make us pay. On the SHG, I kept waiting for Fuher to just haul the Badger dude down, but he didn't. A little surprised he didnt, what with a 2-goal lead, us on a PP, and WI not very effective on the PP. Effort was outstanding, guys really moved their feet well. And the whole lineup played, which should help us with legs today. With the win last night, it may be mathematically impossible for us NOT to make the NCAA's, so I wouldn't mind if the coaches take the opportunity to rest some guys who are dinged ...

A lot of us think of UND as a sudo D-1 team ...

Hard to imagine more than 10-11k at Thursday night's game ... 8-9 more likely.

Friday afternoon, go for the $8 tickets because there will be a few thousand empty seats.

SIOUX CAN STILL GET A #1 SEED!! Can you believe it? I didn't until I ran enough numbers. IF: * everything runs according to form, except, * Sioux win WCHA (duh) * Gophers lose twice * Michigan loses twice * Cornell loses twice A little motivation never hurts ... YATC is a great tool.

I heard those tapes were all accidentally destroyed.

Peter Sejna with the great overtime goal ... puck bouncing across the slot and literally out of nowhere, he whips a wicked boot-high one-time snap shot past Bruckler. Thursday night I think James Massen gets the GWG.

Formerly the Dane County Coliseum ... where the Evil Red Machine played for 30+ years ... They got bumped from the Kohl by the Wisconsin Girls HS Basketball Tournament. Imagine if the Sioux had to play at Old Engelstad ...

Safe to say, the consensus of this board is that allowing the players to be physical is just fine. And with WCHA refs calling games in St Paul, I like our chances against anyone right now. I worry about us getting a billion penalties in the NCAA's tho.

The upper class played tonight with a great deal of passion and urgency, I thought. One fun example, in the 3rd Bina knocks down a Dog at the blue line, causing the play to go offside. As Bina skates away, Canady, Massen and Schneider give him high fives. Ya just don't see that every day. I just love seeing Canady Massen & Fabian on the powerplay. I hope to see it in St Paul next week. Upon watching the Dogs a second game, I think its unfair to say the whole team bagged it. But a bunch of their guys were just awful (#13 Mcknight, #29 Miskovich, #22 Stauffacher ...), where was the Evan Schwabe that is so flashy? When we got goal #2, it was like they lost heart. I may be reading too much into it all. Unbeaten in 6 games now. The Roll continues ....

Sioux looked really tired late ... I think only 6 players got time. Sad that Maffin had to watch. I was surprised we pressed with such a short bench... and I wonder if it cost us late. Yes #3 got a lot of points, but Hausauer did a great job on #24 (pazzini sp?). Lot of missed FT, lot of rebounds that we were slow to, and my best guess is fatigue. Even with it all, we got 3 great looks in the last :30 and none of them dropped. If 1 goes in, its OT. If 2 go in, we win. Congrats to the team on a great season.

Cornell on a regular ice sheet is an opponent to be respected. Cornell on the big ice gets dismantled by any of the WCHA teams that get into the Dance. I actually hope Minnesota gets the #1 seed, because I think it is fairer (competitive equity) but also b/c it increases the odds of 3 WCHA teams at the Frrrrozen Ffffour.

Friday attendance: 9400 UND 5400 BU and BC (combined) 9300 Michigan State and Ohio State (combined) 11200 ECAC, the whole da#@ conference (Cornell, Harvard, Vermont AND Colgate) Not too shabby.

After last night, it becomes increasingly likely that the Sioux make it in. A win in the UMD series would seem to make us a virtual lock. We got some help last night, again, when Maine beat Lowell. And everybody int he WCHA got helped when Michigan State beat Miami ... (Gophers are back to a #1 seed and that puts CC and DU somewhere else ...)

The Jones goal reminded me a bit of the gold-medal winning goal for Team USA at the 2004 World Juniors, goalie clears it off an attacker and bounces in..... IMO, last night was a case of UMD playing poorly even more so than the Sioux playing well. I'd like to wish I was wrong in that regard. Also, I enjoyed seeing Fabian and Massen getting double-shifted on the last Sioux powerplay. Bina and Smaby got some time on it too ... (Who'da thunk it?) Sportsmanlike gesture by Hak. I've seen the Dogs play nearly unbeatable hockey at times this year, and then like they did last night. Question is who shows up tonight.