farce poobah

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.

Equally surprising was Alex Heinert on the CBS Sports broadcast saying that UND now has the #1 seed. He's so impeccably well prepared that surprised me too.

Gritty, gritty PK there. Good job finding a little extra there guys.

Peter Thome outdueling Dryden McKay through 40 minutes

Peter Thome holding back MSU so far SOG 18-5 score 1-1

UND 3 UNO 1 Thanks Abate you should be minus 2

Holding back Gaber and Sanderson looking better after multiple cheap shots from UNO in period one.

What the over under on how many times they call him Constantini before someone corrects the announcers.

Every time I think it’s a textbook 5, I’ve been wrong. Not this time. Happily.

Sure, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here. I'll save my thanks until next Saturday about 10 pm.

Driscoll with a .970 performance tonight. Excellent.

This game reminds me of some of the old time Denver vs UND games. Hard nosed, make sure your pads are on tight and your chin strap is buckled. Hockey for real men. And we've stood the test really well for 59 minutes tonight.

Sorry. My bad.

I wouldn’t want him as my lawyer either. But he’s the best writer/journalist in all of college hockey. Glad we have him writing UND hockey for now.

Yeah, they do. If the purpose of a goal song is to celebrate AND annoy the opponent, it’s hard to think of one better. also, I thing their version comes from a soccer Aka futbol. (Which come to think of it probably comes from bullfighting.) OT Mankato with the downtown arena and loads of places to hit before and after is a good experience. Best to go if it’s a rivalry game, though. (Oh, and if the Mavs score a natural short handed hat trick while you are there, you’ll be hearing Ole ole in your sleep for days)

Pretty stupid way to keep attendance up.

I was just laughing about that too. Ree-dick- you-lus.

Yeah and when did he get to be an annoying screamer?