farce poobah

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.

Bad news: CHN just picked Denver as their Team of the Week. Which means they get swept this weekend.

Of all the Olympic athletes that seem like regular people, the US Curling Team seems like the ones most likely to find at the local tavern/cafe, to share a beer/coffee with.

I'm a little surprised Bobby Brink isn't with Team USA in Beijing. Seems like his game would transition well to Olympic ice and European opponents.

That was certainly another good example of the classic "home cooking": call penalties on the visitor until DU gets ahead.

This was the worst example of home cooking I can remember. https://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20171118/ndk/den/ Denver 1-2 UND 8-27. After UND won Friday night, "home cooking" made sure that didn't happen again.

I thought our forwards gave extra attention to defensive support / assignments in our own zone last night. Very few times an Omahahaha player was wide open. We still need to cut down turnovers in our defensive, which are what gave Omahahaha some long stretches of riding time. Overall though, the best I can say is that we didn't seem to miss Sanderson as much as I had feared. Good job boys.

Generally, I like KRACH as an excellent objective method for this kind of prediction. There's always something, though. Other factors that can't be measured objectively: This includes (1) Denver playing AT Western Michigan -KRACH doesn't (typically) factor in home-ice advantage, which in the case of Western is significant. (2) The wear and tear of short-intervals between games ... such as St Cloud's Tuesday games in the middle of weeks with travel. Hard to see St Cloud doing as well as their KRACH would indicate. (3) Lineup absences, which are pretty significant for some teams (Olympics), and unpredictable factors like covid and injuries. (4) Teams gelling as the year goes on, and I hope UND fits this category. St Cloud and Western have guys that have been linemates for years plus, whereas UND is still getting the hang of playing together. This also applies to teams with a lot of young guys in the lineup, as freshman learn they contribute more. That said, I still like our chances of winning the NCHC again. But with all that said, it would be hard to bet against Denver, still.