farce poobah

On the BRIGHT Side: 4 games with Wisconsin. Revengex4. 4 games with CC. Love playing them. 4 games with Hockey East. Woofing rights x 4.

Seems very likely that Sandelin and Co will be conservative with bringing back players who are dinged up ... ... other than bragging rights, the real stakes for the UMD-UM game are last change for their quarterfinal game at either Grand Rapids or Colorado Springs. (Hard to concoct a scenario where they aren't seeded #4 and #5 overall, with the winner getting the #4 overall seed, and a #1 regional seed.) Hate to say it, but if I'm Sandelin, I'd trade a loss Friday for a full roster in 10 days. But then I'm just a backseat quarterback.

[Doing my best Doug Woog imitation] "The only reason the NoDak goalies have such good records is that they don't have to stop shots by Parise, Bochenski, Murray, Stafford, and company. Of course those forwards aren't as good as Minnesota's." [/Woog off]

Nice. Beating Tech makes it a one dog night. Beating St Cloud and Tech makes it two dog nights. Beating Duluth St Cloud and Tech makes it Three Dog Nights. Some of us remember ... ======================================= If you can set a USCHO Recap to rhyme next year, I'll ... I'll ... I'll do something really great if I can just find my Parkwood Bus schedule. (Does it go by the Xcel Center?)

Donde esta de vomitorium?!?

At this point, the only way UND falls to #3 is for the secret bonuses to be absolutely huge. Even with a worst case, we lose to UAA and then UMD, we still win the comparison with BC (unless the bonuses are large). What worries me more is the seeding. If CC makes it in, it would probably be as a #4 seed. So, either we play CC in the first round (some reward for being #1 or #2 overall!) or we head to Michigan. Neither is that appetizing. Hate to say it, but "go UAA".

Probably not, its just a division 2 game.

Lots of laughter in my section when that one was up on the big screen. Well done.

This year, I think its GREAT, and I hope we get 3 or 4 OT's on Thursday night. Besides, as the #1 seed, I think we deserve to get the extra rest before Saturday night.

Final was 4-1. Congrats UAA.

Notre Dame wins, not helping CC.

Badgers get one. 4-1. 6 minutes left

Bemidji gets 1, they are down 1 after 2 Talk about pressure; most of the WCHA favorites are playing for seeding. Bemidji is playing for a spot at the table.

end of 2, intermission

Western Michigan and Notre Dame going to OT .... a Notre Dame loss would seem to help CC, the WCHA's bubble team....

WOW! Glencross with the 4th UAA goal.... We know the Evil Red Empire can come back from 3 down (grrr) but can they do 4?

Fournier again! 2-0

UNO 2 Michigan 1 after 2

In the CCHA, 1-1 UNO and Michigan. Midway thru the 2nd. (according to USCHO message board). That would be the weekend's biggest upset....

The lap runners got out of shape sittting on their butts against the Sioux.

Fournier scores, 1-0 UAA

I'm listening to the UAA broadcast ... 0-0 3 minutes in. King in the net for UAA, so they have a fighting chance tonight. Bruckler again, of course for UW.

If you go to the individual comparisons page of USCHO's Pairwise Rankings, you'll see UND currently loses the comparison to Maine. UND has better RPI, but Maine has better record vs TUC and better record vs common opponents. And there's no head-to-head points since we didn't play them. IF UND wins the Final Five, and if Maine loses 1 game at the HE tournament, the Sioux record vs TUC would be better than Maine's, and we'd win that comparison. In turn, that would give UND sole #1 in the PWR. Since RPI is the tiebreaker, I think UND is in very good shape for a #1 overall seed. I haven't done the math, but the only scenario where we "might possibly" fall to a #2 would be if we lose twice at the X. Even that may not be enough, tho. The question is really whether we go to Colorado Springs or Michigan. As the #1 overall, I'd hope we go to Colorado. But if CC squeaks in as a #4 seed, then the Selection Committee may decide its more fair for UND to play Bemidji / HC in Grand Rapids.... A key for UND is to stay in the top 2 and get a "cupcake" first round opponent.... As the saying goes, just win baby.

I definitely agree that when this Sioux team brings Pressure, it comes with a capital P. What looks like "flipping the switch" seems to be two things. First, a decision to play more aggressively, especially in the offensive zone. Things like holding the point on D, pinching D, bringing all 3 forwards deep in the zone, Nick Fuher and Andy Schneider carrying the puck deep. I can understand why we don't do it all the time, but it is dang fun to watch as a fan. I would rather not be down 2 goals late in the game for us to have to bring it, tho. Second, the other thing that happens to turn up the Sioux game 2 or 3 notches is when Blais goes to 3 lines. That means a lot more Parise line, and a lot more Lundbohm line, and that's where the bulk of this team's offense comes from. Interesting line combo's late. Parise-Murray-Bochenski. Lundbohm-Stafford-Porter. McMahon-Hale-Fylling.

jk, thanks for the info. I'm not really worried about whether we'll show up next Friday with all cylinders firing ... in fact I expect us to come out aggressive like we did at UMD.