farce poobah

Defense is the hardest position to learn, but down the stretch last night, 3 of our 5 still in the game were freshmen. If this is how well they play in game 4, vs the #1 team in the nation, I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Atlantic Hockey with 3 wins already against Big Ten teams and just 5 losses. Also 2-3 vs Hockey East. Their move a couple years ago to increase scholarships offered to 18 paying dividends, it seems.

Minnesota forechecked hard, bringing two guys in deep and trying to force the turnover. (Which was a strategy that worked last year for many teams against us.) Already this year, we're showing excellent awareness of where teammates are, and making good choices in our own zone. For the most part, and especially in the first period, we cleared our own zone effectively and that speed in transition was a key part of our success last night. A sign of good team chemistry. Count me as very happy to see that.

I agree we are a good team. sometime soon, I think we will be a great team.

Notre Dame 3-1 BU after 1. BU defense looking porous / not yet cohesive.

Denver v Providence is on ESPN+ for those that subscribe. Still Du 1-0 Prov late first.

Matt Wellens' tweet is a little over the top in saying "his junior season is over". Having played just 3 games, he's eligible for a medical redshirt. Of course, still a bad blow that I wouldn't wish on him or UMD by any means.

December 3, 1982. The Best Birthday Present Ever. I've seen over 90 Sioux-Gopher games in person over the last many years, but my favorite? A birthday present. At the creaky old Mariucci, seats in the front of balcony were amazing, for two reasons: the view of ice, obviously, but the swaying and rocking when the locals started jumping and bouncing made it a little scary, like a roller coaster is. The game was also a roller coaster, tied at 4-4 late in the third. An old school brawl breaks out, and somehow the Sioux get called for two extra majors vs two minors to the Rodents. (Still can't figure out why those calls were made, except to note that most of the officials in those days seemed to be former Gophers players. (?)) Anyway, its 3x3 for the final bit of regulation, then the Gophers will get 3 minutes of 5x3 major PP into overtime. Basically, a must-score situation. 3x3 starts and Jon Casey makes an easy save off a long shot, and James Patrick pulls the puck off his pads, then carries the puck all the way down the ice, and fires a wrist shot past the Gopher goaltender for a 5-4 lead. UND survives the 6x3 in the final minute (which prevents the 5x3 major PP in overtime), and wins 5-4. Yeah, we toasted James Patrick and Jon Casey over several rounds at the post game party.

It was a miserable night to be at Mariucci, I have to say. But a fabulous lesson in pride in wearing the jersey.

Not all of my most memorable Sioux-Gopher games are wins. October 5, 2001. Sioux 5 Gophers 7. First game at the new Ralph. The palace was even nicer on the inside, and obviously built to last for a long, long time. Maybe the only night I wasn't "too" upset at losing to the Rodents. Can still see a high floating shot loop over the blue line, bounce just in front of Andy Kollar's feet, and trickle past him. November 11, 1994. Sioux 4 Gophers 4 in OT. Dean Blais' first game as head coach. It followed a few down years, and he hadn't yet gotten a fair shot at recruiting a full roster of his type of guys (hint: Speed Kills). This started an 11-game unbeaten string at home, and marked the last time a Doug Woog coached Gopher squad got even a tie in Grand Forks. November 9, 1996. Sioux 6 Gophers 10. A defining characteristic of Dean Blais' teams was "never say die"; they gave a full 60 minutes effort every night. On this night, we got 3 late goals to chop a 10-3 deficit to 10-6. Later on, those "meaningless" goals got UND the #1 seed in WCHA playoffs, after we shared the conference title with the Gophers (season series split 2-2, but total goals were like 20-19). That got us last change in the WCHA Final Five title game, which Peter Armbrust won in OT. And led to a higher seed in the NCAA regionals. We only had to beat Cornell, whereas the Gophers got stuck playing two games, including a loss to #1 Michigan in Michigan. And eventually, a very memorable NCAA title in Milwaukee. But it all starts with "never say die".

Good choice. The old Winter Sports Building was never louder - after several years of Gopher beat-downs, Gino had people starting to believe. I recall a shower of dead gophers on the first Sioux goal. Also the first game between Gino Gasparini and Herb Brooks. It really is too bad that Gino and Herbie only had five contests as opposing head coaches.

March 3, 1979, at Williams Arena. Last game of regular season. UND with a chance to end a 12-year drought in WCHA titles, but we needed a win after Rodents won Friday's game. A dozen of my closest buds joined several hundred noisy Sioux fans in the old barn. (True optimists, we bought tickets for this final weekend series back in October, expecting (hoping?) this series would be the decider.) After Friday's game, a couple guys said that star freshman goalie Bob Iwabuchi (who had stood on his head for most of the season) looked tired, so it was only a little surprise that veteran senior Bill Stankoven started the deciding game. Hostile environment? Heck yes. We were called "communists" and a lot worse by the local fauna (apparently because we had Canadians? but perhaps wearing yellow helmets with red flashing lights helped us stay obvious). On the plus side, sitting in the corner of old Williams Arena helped our non-stop chants and songs carry quite well. On the ice, UND got some early goals, Stankoven played very well, and when Dave Christian blasted a slap shot into an empty Gophers net in the final minute, we were delirious. Final score UND 4, UM 2. We stayed and cheered for a full hour after the game, and got high fives from players and staff. Virg Foss captured the sentiment well in Sunday's GF Herald: "Welcome back, Billy the Kid."

I'll see your Butters story (which is a good story), and call with a different Butters. November 30, 1979: During warmups, the glass was low enough to stand on the front row seats, put your elbows on the glass and talk to the opponents. Most of the mind-games banter came from the guys ("Hey Neal (Broten), you know you're only on the team because Brooks wants to recruit your brother (Aaron)"). But the most effective mind game came from a petite, cute female in our group. She was from Rochester, and asked Paul Butters, goalie: "did you know that (insert guys name here) is still banging** your girlfriend (insert name here)? She then quoted dates and places ... I'm certain if one of us guys had said that, he'd have climbed the boards and thrown fists. But she was too cute, and smiled an amazing $$$-eating** grin the whole time. ** actually another verb or noun, which decorum prohibits listing here. PS. quick fact check shows we dropped 13 goals on them that weekend.

With UNI playing SDSU last weekend, there's a lot of film (for both coaching staffs) to review. Who spots weaknesses best will have an edge going into what looks like a pretty even matchup, and an important game for both. (For example: SDSU sacked UNI 4 times ... and got them to fumble 4 times, 3 lost.)

Kudos to Lindenwood and Rick Zombo on getting a tie at #14 Ohio State. I think that's their first result against a ranked team.

FYP (hey, I get a wish every now and then)

So…. NDSU is the 4th best football team in the Dakotas.

Gaber taking advantage of a gift from the Badgers. Nice pass Berg! (Hastings will coach that out of them soon.)

Stat of the day: most points scored by UND vs NDSU since 1896.

If I feel sorry for anyone today, its all the great players that played for UND the last 20 years that didn't get to experience this.

Is Ziebarth closing in on the school record for yards after contact?

This is something really truly special. Not just the wicked bar down one timer by Perron, but a lot of guys playing team first hockey. Excellent start so far.

Details, details.

One of their forwards, Horatio Magellan Crunch, was voted Captain by his teammates.

Last season, Army finished middle of Atlantic Hockey. But I hear they have some real snipers.