farce poobah

Well for starters both MSU Mankato and St Cloud need to win two games ...

An all-Minnesota Frozen Four is still a possibility.

Tonight's referees were yet another in a long list of reasons to leave the WCHA. Geez guys.

I used to think I knew what a penalty was. Now I have no idea.

https://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/championships-safety-overview

Kudos also to the 29% of Siouxsports bracket pickers who had Bemidji moving on.

So the Big Ten Egos Conference is already down two teams, and a third is on the ropes. Count me as happy for now.

Bemidji playing textbook, perfect hockey during the first 10 minutes. Keep it going, Beavers!

Probably for the same reasons Ivies don't accept invitations to FCS playoffs ...

I enjoyed seeing the Vote For Hobey standings: 1. Shane Pinto 36% ... 10. Spencer Knight 0.1% https://www.hobeybaker.com/vote

Maybe following his coach over to Miami?

In the early 1980's, disagreements about length of season, number of games, and scholarships led to the creation of Hockey East, as they split off from the ECAC. Teams that bagged their entire season will be at a large competitive disadvantage, and it has to have created hard feelings with those teams playing and left in the lurch. This divergence may lead to what you suggest.

Did someone say two autobids? I have Hockey East (11 today) calling on line 1.

If there are 4 Big Ten, I expect 4 NCHC.

Autobids: UND, MN, Lake St, U Mass, St Lawrence, AIC. Easy to Say in / Locks: SCSU, UMD, WI, MI, MSU-M, BC, BU, Q Leaves two spots for what I see as a bubble, with 5 teams I think the Committee will consider: UNO, BGSU, Bemidji, Providence, Army. I believe UNO and Providence will be in. I believe the Committee will adhere to traditional "band integrity" (top 4 teams get #1 seeds, next 4 get #2 etc). They've said that. As it turns out, I think they will decide to fly teams - a couple extra - to maintain band integrity. (3 of my 4 #4 seeds are Eastern, and 3 of my four #1 are Western). West / Loveland: 1. MSU-Mankato vs 4. UNO 2. Wisconsin vs 3. UMD Midwest / Fargo 1. UND vs 4. AIC 2. SCSU vs. 3. Michigan East / Bridgeport 1. MN vs 4. Providence 2. U Mass vs 3. Lake St NE / Albany 1. BC vs 4. St Lawrence 2. Quinnipiac vs 3. BU Geographic balance 9 West 7 East. Conference balance 4 NCHC, 3 Big Ten, 2 WCHA. 4 Hockey East, 2 ECAC (ugh) and 1 Atlantic Flights: 7 teams flying (assuming Omaha chooses to bus). With the bands above, that's the minimum. If they stop seeding regions by band then all bets are off. P.S. I'm sure I will look at this tomorrow morning and chuckle at how far off I was.

NCAA guidelines say a maximum of 25% of participating schools may qualify for NCAA championship in their sport. I think its a good way to prevent things from getting too watered down. And too expensive. You'll have a lot of people at NCAA HQ to convince, and they are going to be thinking of all the other sports that want to water down their championships, and the cost of all those invited teams. If you can get D-1 mens hockey up to 96 teams, I think you can get 24 invites to the Tourney.

1983 still hurts. 2nd place North Dakota gets left out - and Ralph Romano of UMD is on the committee and like magic 4th place UMD gets in. Argh. I can hope its better this time around, but I expect there to be hard feelings.

I started and then realized there are too many upsets still possible. Four teams could grab autobids but not have overall records strong enough to get themselves onto a bubble: Canisius, Northern Michigan, UM Lowell, and St Lawrence. If those four get autobids, then all h-e-double-hockey-sticks will break loose in the committee meetings because a lot of deserving squads for at large bids won't get in. And the competition for the at large gets really intense. My stogies and picks come out Saturday after the games. Sorry.

The GWG by Lowell reminded me of Evan Tripp batting a centering pass out of midair, for GWG in OT vs Minnesota.

Two posts for the underdog! thanks for the link.

Spencer Knights Hobey - and Richter - Award chances circling the drain here tonight.

Last night Gaber reminded me of another excellent player who also wore #17: Jeff Panzer. Quick hands, reads plays, and accurate hard wrist shots. Good job young man.

Thanks for adding a new euphemism to my repertoire. Please excuse my buddy, he's "missing a few keystrokes" if you know what I mean.

One of those games was played in the brand-new Xcel Energy Arena in St Paul. Memorable for me because, with 6 minutes left and UND down by three goals, my daughter, age 7, looks over and says "I think we will win. We have Panzer." Soon after UND, with a comeback for the ages, got 3 goals to force overtime. St Cloud won (by interfering with the goalie, but hey I'll get over that someday). Don't ever stop believing.

Fun fact of the day: The only two times St Cloud State won the Conference Tournament (1 WCHA and 1 NCHC), UND went on to the Frozen Four and St Cloud State didn't.