farce poobah

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?

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.