farce poobah

Let's see. For title picks: 2 pick Cornell, 1 picks New Hampshire, 2 pick CC. As to the Sioux, 2 of 5 picked us to beat Ferris State, and 0 of 2 picked us to beat Minnesota. I guess we must be underdogs.

Right now, Ferris State scares me.

Good heavens, ANOTHER sign of the apocalypse - Gophers cheering Badgers? What next?

From what I understand, Ferris is physical, get good goaltending, and Kunitz is centerpiece of the offense. If we have to play Ferris, I am glad its on the Big Ice, as I expect we have more speed than they do. Plus we've played 10-12 games on Big Ice, including Mary Ucci. I'd not like to play them on NHL ice, in say Grand Rapids. Given that the Sioux are a low #3 seed, this is as good a draw as we can expect.

Cornell saw the tape of the WCHA semifinal vs. Minnesota and asked the Selection Committee if they could please play Mankato.

Worked last year.

What now? Pretend that we really didn't care to win. Go home. Rest up. Wait for the NCAA draw to be announced, Sunday afternoon I think. Best bet is we get sent out east.

yeee-haa! couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Dang. I KNEW you'd throw a curveball ... Hmmm... If the games are at Target Center, the game is played on slush and favors Denver. Even the new REA appears to be a cross between slush and ice. Others might say the game is played on skates, maybe THAT'S the right answer. Dang, this is HARD. I like boot hockey, which I think would be a good way to settle this Iraqi thing. Plus, they could get the French to coach them, what with France being every bit as much a world hockey power as they are a strategic and military power. Of course, with the Frnech giving military advice to the Iraqi's this will be over fast. (Wait till the shooting starts to surrender, please.) Oh where was I? Dang. is teh corekt enswer ice?

Don't be TOO surprised if there's open seats on both ends ...

Geez, I'm gonna watch my spelling or elsi Sicatoka will start aksing me a lot of really hrd queshtons. To the ones that you asked, I am curious about the answers so will take a stab .... I think it was developed as a power play scheme that turned into full-court offense ... (riiiiight) And I think UMD's women's team plays the torpedo. It helps that they have Swedes on their team. But they would probably win playing a box-and-chaser, or a wishbone-slot-I for that matter.

the REVENGE TOUR continues ..... We'll see ya THURSDAY NIGHT!!!!! WOOOFWOOOFWOOOFWOOOFWOOOF!!!!!!!!!

But, then again, I wouldn't kick "Later" out of bed for eating crackers either.

We ARE a third period team. We WILL win this one. Mark my words.

I heard another recipe last night, which was very funny ... First, start a bonfire. Second, find Gophers paraphernalia .... STill 1-0.

Nice pix. Thanks for posting. BTW, what photographic fakery did you use to get a picture of Zach without two Red jerseys draped all over his back?

It's amazing how some small things add up to a big difference in outcome. First, Brandt makes a couple saves more than "anybody" could have done. He was very good tonight, especially glove hand. Somewhere DU's scouting report must have said "shoot high" and he kept taking it away from him. Second, the Sioux PK was just a tad better. Things could have gotten REALLY UGLY if DU had scored on any of the first period penalties. Third, Shepard. While there were at least 4 bogus calls on the Sioux, the holding call on Parise was THE SINGLE WORST penalty I've seen in almost 30 years of watching WCHA hockey... good heavens ... I agree with the earlier conspirator comments that he was gonna damn well make sure he wasn't going to be intimidated by complaints from the Sioux side. BUT, bless his heart, he did NOT call at least 4-5 penalties while the Sioux were shorthanded ... slashing, hooking, tripping, we deserved to be down another man several times. Of course the original call was often horsebleep, so maybe it becomes a makeup call. Fourth, WE laid some body on the Pios tonight, and I think it had a hand in the final outcome. They looked dog tired in the third period (maybe its the elevation ha), and all those hits gotta take some zing out of your step. And we kept our feet moving, kept skating thru all the crap, all the sticks, all the arms, all the uncalled garbage that DU does so well. Fifth, and this is a hard stat to keep track of, but FACEOFFS. McMahon and Parise, who take nearly all the draws in-zone, were outstanding tonight. Parise was 15-5 (75%!!) and McMahon was 19-6 (76%!!). If we start the play with the puck, it makes PK way easier, the PP gets setup. As a team we won about 55-60% on Friday, but that was over 70% Saturday. I thought we were doing well, but that's simply outstanding. ==================== Tip of the cap to: 1 Andy Schneider. He was just plain excellent everywhere on the ice ... 2 Lee Marvin, again with a strong night, especially early on the PK some strong play around the Sioux net. 3 Notermann and Spiewak, especially on the PK. They seem dang near impenetrable at times. They clearly scare the wad out of DU players, so much so that they force turnovers just by skating fast at one of the slow-footed Pios. 4 Jake Brandt. Solid, emotional, focused. Stayed in the net . 5 Ryan Hale, leading by example. One play in the third was my favorite. After he got breakout passes deflected or missed by a teammate, it was like he said "dang it I'll do it myself, then". He skated the puck behind Brandt, skated right up the slot, across all three lines at center, into the DU zone and fired a tricky wrister that forced a faceoff. Constructive criticism to: 1 Brian Canady. Should / could have been called for a major spearing penalty. He plays with fire, and we need the physical presence - like the bodychecks he throws - but we can't afford ANY majors at this time of year. 2 Coaches. Track the ice time ... The top PP guys looked leg weary late in the second, and then DU scored their PPG when a DU guy (Barber?) outmuscles a (tired?) Bochenski in front of the Sioux net. I can't criticize for using or even overusing our best guys on the PP, but we have lots of guys who do PK well. Nice effort, all things considered. Nice crowd too. Enthusiastic. Good to see it coming back.....

Reactions from another in-person fan: First, I thought the ice was horrible. Did anyone hear any comments? or was that my imagination ... good heavens, we missed a lot of passes that would normally get taken. Second, I thought about 6-7 guys had good strong games. About 10-11 were invisible or just plain bad. Decent games (as if I'm an expert): Parise, Notermann. Schneider was generally good ... Lee Marvin made some good hustling plays. Brandt was fine in relief of Ranfranz, with a couple very good stops and nothing soft that went in. Spiewak did some good PK work, with Jason. Weak: Somebody put novocaine inside Bochenski's gloves ... his good hands were MIA tonight... maybe the ice is an excuse, maybe not. He fumbled a bunch... Ryan Hale looked out of place at times, but he gets cut some slack playing a new position. McMahon, except for a few good bodychecks in the 3rd. Ranfranz. Genoway. What to do different? First and foremost, keep moving your feet. When the Sioux drew 3 DU penalties in the second period, it was because they were fighting thru the maze of sticks ... and forcing the calls. Stop skating, like we did at times, and it becomes all too easy for DU. Second, improve the ice. At a minimum, drop the temp. inside the REA to like 65 or maybe even 60 degrees. [maybe freeze the pucks harder too]. Third, start Brandt in goal. Fourth, use at least one defenseman on the PP ... the forwards continue having a devil of a time starting behind our own net ... Fifth, ignore everything I say and listen to what the coaches say. ============================================= Like the earlier writer, I am depressed. As a fan, I can accept losing, especially when the other team plays a solid game. But I have a hard time when we don't show heart, when we're not ready, and that's how I would assess tonight. It's been a rare feeling these past 8 years of the Dean Blais era, but we really REALLY deserved to lose tonight. And if we don't play with some heart tomorrow, I'd rather have the season end. If there's any good news in this? its that pairwise still has UND #11. But DU is up to #13.... and probably passes us if they win the series. Come on Sioux. Let's PLAY HOCKEY.

PCM, we're gonna need you to go to church Saturday, please. Sunday may be too late.

It took Prpich all of 2 shifts to take a stupid penalty - he lined up a DU guy behind the net, hammered him hard, but came in with elbow up - which led to the early goal which led to a loss of energy .... [damn]. So much for stay out of the box. Its a good theory.

Get out to a fast start, get all over them ... don't necessarily need to score right away, just keep the puck ... DU could be really REALLY dangerous with a lead, after all they were the preseason favorite ...

I predict Mike Prpich will: * Play all the rest of this years' games * Be captain someday * Score 2 goals in this years Frozen Four. * Get a full ride next year. LET'S GO SIOUX!! LET'S GO SIOUX!! LET'S GO SIOUX!! © [To coin a phrase ...]

Call ME nuts, but if methinks the Sioux RPI and PWR will be helped by playing Denver, whose RPI is still way up there - #15. For all intents and purposes, this is an NCAA playin series. Loser is probably out. Winner is most likely in. ==================== Predictions: CC, MN and UND in 2. MSU-M and UMD in 3. P.S. Final WCHA stats show Jake Brandt with the #2 GA in the conference. Hmmm...

I don't know HOW you get tickets ... check the REA website, call the REA, or i bet ticketmaster will have. Playoffs are part of the season ticket package, so the Sioux start with a mostly-sold house, but with students on break I bet there will indeed be tickets available. Denver .... REVENGE!!!!