farce poobah

Sayonara tOSU

Indeed. Credit also to an overdue coaching switch. Mike Hastings has been consistently good.

Mavericks win the Mason Cup over Bemidji. 2-1 OT Ole oleoleole ole ole

As this game goes on, last change will be a bigger benefit to UND… especially since our bench is a bit short.

How in the heckedy-deckedy is UMD the fifth best team in the NCHC? They look set for another NCAA title run.

If all the favorites win… all the games. they get helped if Denver wins since they played DU.

I watched him a lot also. Reminiscing about my favorite James Patrick memory. Setting: Williams Arena 12/3/82. Tie game Sioux-Gophers 1:30 left, when a fracas breaks out. Somehow, and I'm still puzzled how, its 3x3 for 2 minutes then Minnesota gets a 5x3 for 3 minutes. Patrick plucks a rebound off Jon Casey's pad, skates around various defenders and then the goalie, and makes scoring the goal look easy for a 5-4 lead. And plays the last minute when Minnesota pulls its goalie and somehow UND pulls out the W. What made it so stunning is that he didn't typically rush the puck a lot; he was superb at reading plays, getting the turnover, and getting the puck up to forwards. For his day, his skating was exceptionally strong and agile. Another tribute to the talent on that 1982-1983 SIoux team is that Canada picked FOUR UND players for their National team to train for the Olympics. Nowadays, its headline news up there if even ONE NCAA player gets picked for a national team. Patrick won an NCAA title ... so ask me again in a month after we win this year's NCAA. I'd have a hard time picking Sanderson over Patrick.

First thoughts: The Eastern goalie votes may well get split between Levi and Perets. The MSU votes also may get split between McKay and Smith. Past Hobey awards seem to have included a factor rewarding Seniors who stayed in college and so McKay would fit that bill. I can see Bobby Brink getting a lot of play from voters who saw a lot of NCHC play. There must be a typo - nobody from UMD? WTH?

Sorry I should have noted he remembered Toews. And, yeah I think Toews is still the highest.

NHL.com article about Jost trade Nice conversation with Tyson Jost. But horrific factual error by the often-shoddy Dan Myers - "Jost became just the second UND player drafted in the top 10 of the NHL draft." ARGH! I can think of three off the top of my head, and I'm sure this board can recall others: James Patrick #9 in 1981 Jason Herter #8 in 1989 Brian Lee #9 in 2005

I’ve never been prouder of a Sioux team that got our butts handed to us.

I didn't realize how dependent on Hrenak they are. Backup goaltending this week wasn't very good, IMO. Certainly, they won't be a #6 now; more like #10.

If I tried that Superman leap that he did in the final minute, I would be in the hospital for a week. But I bet he is okay.

Costantini in the right place at the right time. Good job guys.

The best part of a lost weekend in St Louis, was the genuine surprise on his face when they announced his name. Very humble guy. Well that, and the enormous roar from a throng of Sioux fans there to cheer him on.

Very odd sensation last night of checking the scoreboards, and finding: No Hockey East games, no CCHA games, no Big Ten games. Tonight it ramps up ... gonna be interesting.

Agree. I would also like to see Time on Ice stats for UND tonight, because it seemed like even playing time across all four lines and all three D pairs. (Special teams excepted of course but there was very little of that.) Playoffs are also a game of attrition and fatigue, and I like how fresh our top guys are going into tomorrow. And knock-on-wood if we win tomorrow, that saves a game that would be nice not to play.

I think it’s possible. He’s a 5th rounder by Buffalo, who always needs talent, BUT he’s not the next top line scoring machine. I love his game and two stats stand out: one minor penalty all season, and leads forwards in plus minus. Those tell me he has good hockey sense, doesnt get caught out of position, and plays well with his teammates.

Looks like CC scouted an effective way to pressure Bast and Moore.

Fair point, that preseason expectations for Western Michigan should have been higher. Still amazed at how quickly UND turned around it season, with the best winning percentage of the season in latter January and February against very tough competition.

I agree with almost all your picks above, but since I've started the crazy talk here about WMU's coach as a deserving candidate for COTY, I'll go through the rationale in a little more detail. And yeah as a UND fan I bleed green and would love to see UND's staff rewarded for their accomplishments in bringing together a pile of new players and a goaltender who needed to listen to Karl for a while before getting his thinking into his head. (And I'm going to ignore Carle for this discussion, even though I think he and Berry may split the votes that go to the Title Team.) Let's start with # years experience in the job Ferschweiler 1. Berry 6. First year coaches always get a bonus there. Preseason expectations vs actual/current rankings. NCHC: WMU Preseason #6 Actual #3. UND Preseason #2 (tied almost) Actual #1 tied. Nationally (USCHO Preseason vs current Pairwise. WMU Preseason Not Ranked (#24) Current #5. UND Preseason #7 Current #6. UND has met preseason expectations, while Western Michigan has clobbered them. Average Age of roster WMU 22.3 UND 21.8 (Source CHN, I didn't check their calculation.) Average # Seasons of College Playing Experience (Fr 1 So 2, etc to 5 years for some) WMU 2.50 UND 2.33 # 5th Year players on the roster WMU 2 (Ethan Frank, Josh Passolt) UND 2 (Connor Ford, Zach Driscoll) Not sure where you think they have a pile of super seniors, but that number looks equal to me. Number of New Players on the Roster WMU 5, all Freshmen. UND 14 (9 Freshmen and 5 Transfers including 3 WCHA All Conference) Big edge to UND coaching staff here turning that chaos into cohesive team chemistry. "Talent" on the roster aka NHL Draftees WMU 2 UND 9. Yeah Western coaches have a lot less talent to work with. Maybe there are other factors that real voters consider. As I look at all the data above, I see Ferschweiler sorting through Andy Murray's mess and getting everyone on board. And I see Berry sorting through a pile of players - and I remember how painful 1980-1981 was, the last time we had 13 new players - and getting them all on board. Berry has a lot more talent to work with, and preseason expectations mirror actual pretty closely. Ferschweiler has a bit more age to work with, but only 2 draftees is a fair reflection of their overall NHL-level talent. Tough tough call. I wouldn't be surprised if the award goes to Ferschweiler.

I like the tribute here to breadth and depth of competition in the NCHC. FIVE different teams represented in All-NCHC first team, and SIX in total. Its been another year where you strap your pads on tight and play a full 60 minutes to win. Lot of players would be a good choice for POTY. And for COTY, yes Berry is up there, but if I had a vote I would have to think long and hard about if Pat Ferschweiler at Western Michigan as a first year coach got my vote. Wish there was an award for Assistant Coach of the year ... some interesting possibles there too.

Final bracket predictions: UND moves up to a #5, but MN does enough to get the #4 overall seed. I predict an ECAC upset over the Q, so my #15 is the ECAC AQ (perhaps Cornell if Schafer is back behind the bench). Also predict the Committee protects the #1 overall seed, and does a bit of geographic juggling to get a little attendence in Worcester (MA and Lowell), and in Allentown (put 2 Big Ten teams there), and yeah I predict they will find a way to get Western Michigan a shot at Michigan. In Albany: #1 MSU-M vs #16 AHA AQ, #8 Quinnipiac vs #11 UMD In Allentown: #2 MI vs #15 ECAC AQ (Cornell) #7 W MI vs #9 Notre Dame In Denver: #3 DU vs #14 Northeastern #6 SCSU vs #10 MI Tech In Worcester: #4 MN vs #13 MA-Lowell #5 UND vs #12 MA

Quick look at UNO's season shows they have two bad losses in non-conference play: Lake State, first game back in October. Gave up an EAG then lost in OT. And, at St Lawrence around New Year's: Up two in the 3rd, Abate takes a slashing penalty, SLU scores one. UNO takes another minor, tie game, then SLU scores late in regulation to win it. Omaha sits #18 today, but with those two wins (vs weaker non-conference opponents), they would be #13.

For tonight, I would like to see all our guys come home healthy and in one piece. Anything more than that is icing on the Penne Rosa.