farce poobah

Cool. So all we have to do is not name an arena after him.

I like Woog as a commentator. He's pretty honest, although he holds back a little from criticizing Lucia's moves (anything else would just be seen as sour grapes anyway). Before the WCHA Final Five title game, and after the national anthem, Woog was both touching and profound "meanwhile, the big game tonight is being played outside Baghdad". Even Frank Mazzocco had to leave a moment of silence behind that.

I heard a different forecast: 100% chance of Hale. 95% probability of two. Widely scattered shots on goal by Ferris State, diminishing by the third period to virtually nothing. Speedwhack and Notermann will be blowing past you at 25-35 knots. Blizzard of pucks at Mike Brown's end of the rink, heavy at times. Total accumulation of 8-12 goals. Recommend you arrive early, as Speedwhack makes quick hash of all-CCHA goalies, don't be late. This was from the NHFC (National Hockey Forecasting Center): Will let you know Saturday's Forecast when I hear it.

Yeah, its way too early to pull our goalie.

Whites on Saturday, since we'll be the home team.

Count me in for four. I'll be wearing a Sioux jersey and a Mercyhurst hat.

Friday game 1, you'll definitely be able to find a seat. Saturday, UND vs Mercyhurst s/b safe too.

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.....