farce poobah

I think all the #1 seeds (and #3 seeds) would love to see Quinnipiac in their bracket instead of MSU or the other top teams out west. The only challenge is getting goal #1.

An interesting thing from the polls lately: #1 in the polls has been MSU Mankato. #2 in the polls has been Michigan. Residual frustration with the pee-and-blue?

Yes, and they are playing the only team with a better Goals-Against per game than MSU has. Dryden McKay at 1.25 GAA is superb, and then I see Yaniv Perets at 0.85. (Granted MSU has played a much stronger schedule ... but still.) PS Congrats on the 5th straight conference title. Guys walking around with five rings is rare indeed.

So … it’s not that St Cloud is losing, they are tanking so they don’t get sent to Colorado. and … what’s the over/under on how many minutes of game time would be required for MSU vs Quinnipiac in the Albany Final? I’ll start the betting line at 110 minutes. First goal wins! maybe we could talk Western Michigan into tanking so they get that Michigan matchup we all want to see.

One other route for startups would be to launch a non-scholarship Pioneer league structure. Makes that part of it more affordable. Plus , Penn State could fill out their non- conf schedule.

Sometimes the old memory still functions. https://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20191207/ndk/wmu/

The good news is they seemed to play defense pretty well tonight.

Starting to play like the team that looked good on paper back in October. Well done boys!

You nailed it. I am not worthy.

Textbook CTH. Predict a fast review.

On replay, it looked like a skate collision. Which could definitely mess up either leg.

Kudos to the UND fans sitting right being the Duluth bench, AND wearing UND gear. Happens to a lot of our road opponents. Well done.

538 doesn't specify how they calculated their expected values for medals, so I'm left to guess. Compared to 2018, Russia/not-Russia has more in cross-country skiing and biathlon, but their medals in those sports roughly mirror World Cup results this year. So 2018 was an aberration for ROC/not-Russia (below trend), and it seems pretty clear that doping standards relaxed from 2018 to 2022. Will be fascinating to see how the post-event testing works out (how many medals reversed). USA got 23 medals in 2018 and 21 so far in 2022. Doesn't sound all that bad, but there is a large "what could have been" if Shiffrin had gotten the Slalom and GS like we hoped for. Bottom line not sure I agree entirely with 538 forecasts or methodology.

My favorite part of this Olympics? Russia aka ROC aka "Not-Russia", population 144 million, cheats like crazy, and fails to top the medals table. Norway, population 5 million, very clean (not perfect but pretty close), tops the medals table. SKOL!

I'd like to join the chorus of voices wishing well to the family and friends of Tootsie Gasparini. I had the privilege of talking to her several times, a long time ago in a galaxy far away. She is a wonderful woman indeed. Sending sympathies to Gino and the entire family. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2022/2/17/mens-hockey-north-dakota-mourns-the-loss-of-kathleen-tootsie-gasparini.aspx

Would settle for a sweep like Parise and company did in Feb 2004 over Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard that basically clinched the WCHA title. Lot of Sioux fans at the old DECC for that one. It was loud. PS Parise was robbed.

I’m hoping for a repeat of the first game ever in the Amsoil arena: UND 5-0 win. Didn’t even get to blow their brand new goal horn until after the game was over and the teams left the ice.

Bring Poganski along just for shootouts.

I would have been very happy to see Corban Knight get a medal. One of my all time favorite Sioux, plus a captain of the last Fighting Sioux team.

Feel bad for Sanderson… must be really hard to watch.

Beniers is a liability 3x3. but definitely a shootout pick!

Yeah, I think Jake could beat Slovakia with one hand.

There seems to be a pretty strong correlation between this year's success and the number of games played last year. The Ivies are paying a price for last year's cancelled season: #58 Yale, #56 Dartmouth, #55 Brown, #44 Princeton, #25 Cornell #23 Harvard. I don't ever recall 3 of the 5 worst teams being Ivy League schools. Other ECAC's that didn't play last year #48 Union and #43 Renssalaer. Their total shutdown last season has to hurt conditioning, recruiting, retention, not to mention game-readiness. By contrast, #6 Quinnipiac played 29 games last year, and #15 Clarkson played 22 games. (Also, #49 St Lawrence and #38 Colgate played last year.) Hockey East played many fewer games than the "out west" teams, and that has to have hurt to a lesser degree. #9 UMass, if they win the conference tournament, might be their only tournament team. How far they've fallen. The leagues with the most games played last year were all out West, and guess who's topping the charts in a domination that's as strong as I can remember. As to BC (the most interesting of the three Sicatoka named because the fall has been so fast), they lost players as always. Some went straight to the NHL (Matt Boldy spot duty for the Wild, Mike Hardman to Chicago, Alex Newhook to Colorado and Spencer Knight to Florida). But i don't recall them having so many transfers out (Harrison Roy to Lake State, Timothy Lovell to Arizona State, Jack Agnew to RPI and Danny Weight to CC). None got much playing time or had big stats at BC, so its possible they left for playing time or different coaching. Also possible they got scholarships hacked and refused to sit still for it. But BC's newcomers (3-4 from the Portal and 6 freshmen) haven't contributed in the way they might expect. And I think Jerry York got spoiled by a succession of great goalies. Seeing how this continues to play out in a Portal world will be fascinating. Will the Ivies and BC bring in talent (because well a degree from an Ivy is still a ticket up) or will the damage linger? Or is it going to be NCHC with 5 of the top 12 every year? Hey a guy can hope.

Denial plus ignorance equals an admission of guilt.

If the guys you ask to do this have the character you think they have, adversity pulls them together. Count me optimistic.