dagies

Right on. Duluth deserved to win. They were the epitome of the cliche "the harder you work the luckier you get". It seems to me that MN outplayed Duluth but for bad luck could/should have beaten them. When the pressure came on in the 3rd in that game Duluth started to look a little flustered but seemed to find themselves with 4-5 minutes left in the game. But Duluth worked very hard in that game, took advantage of opportunities, and sold out to block shots and bottle up the middle and got great goaltending. Against the Sioux, once again, it was the same recipe, and the Sioux couldn't buy a break. They did it even better against Denver. Actually, watching tonite's game made me feel a little better about last night. Stalock has let in 3? goals in the last 5 playoff games again CC, MN, UND and Denver. Can you dispute that this is more than luck? It will be interesting to see how Duluth responds when they don't get the first goal, when things aren't quite going their way. But this weekend they got the early break or the timely goal, continued working and never gave up. You could almost see Duluth's confidence grow as the weekend wore on, starting near the end of the 3rd on Thursday. Almost like they started to believe. Tonite, what really made me feel like Duluth was feeling it was deep in the 3rd period, up by 3 and on the PK the Duluth forward got the puck high in the zone. Instead of trying a reasonable percentage pitchfork, he actually skated the puck parallel to the blueline until he got a great angle to dump it down with authority. Pretty heady play during a key PK that could have switched the mo against a team that had to be running on confidence and adrenaline. Congratulations to the Bulldogs who truly were champions this weekend.

I thought the Sioux worked very hard this weekend but some things just didn't click and other things just didn't bounce their way. Effort, desire and heart are not things I think are lacking in this team. I do think it's a failing to have SO many PP opportunities and not score, so hopefully they can figure that out this week.

Donna, was that you on DanceMania the other night? Yeehaw! I'm cheering for Duluth tonite. Probably my second favorite WCHA team.

Another meaningful game. Let's drop the puck and play the way we finished last night.

That's pretty much the way we saw it from our seats as well. Gopher fan behind and to the right of me was yelling "Wah Wah!" when Watkins went down. Typical for that clown and his friends.

From our seats we thought the Bulldogs lacked speed and the ability to quickly turn the transition. They got the puck deep but rarely seemed to be able to work it out front for good opportunities. They did a great job of blocking shots and played very very hard. I think the Sioux have to get bodies to the net. MN got shots to Stalock and he deflected them here and there, but take enough shots and get enough bodies in close and you'll pick up one or 2 of those. MN didn't. Don't take too many penalties as Duluth's PP looked pretty good. And since Duluth seems to be a little challenged offensively, don't make stupid mistakes with the puck that lead to odd-man rushes. I think the Watkins/Martens/Zajac line could be a key tomorrow, if they can rag the puck and wear down the D. They may be able to generate some chances.

Was there that much time. Live I thought there was less than 2 but I wasn't watching the clock and the play. Just the play. I saw the arm go up and I was surprised they didn't call the penalty and put time up but I suppose the dogs didn't touch the puck so there you go. Pretty wild finish. I will say this. MN dominated the 3rd, wracking up opportunity after opportunity. With 4-5 minutes left I think shots were about 40-25. Surprisingly, the Duluth that looked spooked and scared for most of the 3rd suddenly bottled up MN and final shots I think were 40-30. Nice finish for Duluth, which they needed to do. However, it might have been for naught without a couple monumental whiffs.

Turn and wave. 104 Row 11 Seats 12-14

I think it was Kevin Hoogsteen who took that shot. I distinctly recall that puck bouncing out into the open, seeing Armbrust flying into the scene and the momentary hope that he could get to the puck and get off a shot before the goalie was able to move over. And he was.

farce, great memories. I had forgotten #4 and #7. For #4 we had great seats near that end and had a great view of that hit. It still stands out.

Tonite listening to the Wild game I was surprised to hear Derek Peltier was playing for Colorado. That brought back an instant Final Five memory, which brought back a few others. Figured I'd share them here and see who else has any faves they want to share as well. 1. Derek Peltier - A few years ago MN was playing and just about every time Peltier passed in close proximity some guy close to us would stand up and yell things like "PELTIER YOU SUCK!" and "THAT'S YOUR MAN, PELTIER". What made it so funny is it was a Gopher fan who was screaming at him. 2. Many years ago my buddy Jim and I brought our fairly new wives to watch the Sioux take on the Gophers at the old Civic Center. I'm assuming this was a Final Five game but this was early '90s. Anyway, Goldy Gopher cames by and sees my Sioux jersey and so we have a little set-to. It was just for fun but my wife has not attended another hockey game since. She just smiles and waves as I leave. 3. Another Final Five Civic Center moment......'97 FF Championship game. Best game I'd seen to that point in my life. What a rush! 4. Buddy lands us seats in the Old Dutch suite back in the Target Center. For some reason Goldy's got it out for me. Comes into the suite and we start giving each other the business again. I pick him up and carry him to the edge of the suite which apparently unnerved Goldy as he grabbed on for dear life and bent my glasses. No harm done, but Goldy and I steer clear of each other in our old age. 5. I think it was right after the move to the X. Sparsely attended Friday afternoon contest and Denver was playing. We're sitting directly opposite the Denver bench. Gwoz is pissed at one of his Dmen and yells "Get the F... OFF the ice!". We decided those are pretty great seats! Still have them. 6. Back at Target Center after winning a Final Five championship, I think in 2000, marching with the band from the Target Center to the team hotel for the championship celebration, singing the Beer song and the fight song the whole way. Nice crowd parading through the streets. Room too packed to get in so many of us were standing out in the hallway while the players filed in after cleaning up. Still remember Commie's shock of red hair. 7. A few years ago telling people to come see me and giving them the wrong section number. Ok, that wasn't really a good memory, just an embarrassing moment. 8. Final Five championship loss to MN in the last year of Parise/Bochenksi/Blais. While I hate losing to MN that was one great game. 9. Final Five 2001 loss to SCSU in the championship. Coming back from 3? down, and looking to the end of the ice where my SCSU fan co-worker sits and seeing him grasp his hands around his neck when the Sioux tied it up. Jeffy Panzer comes on the ice after the tieing goal and you can see from his body language he's loving life and can't wait for the puck to drop. I'll never forget watching him kind of scissor his legs waiting for the guys to line up and the puck to drop. 10. What special? (ok, that one's an inside joke for my buddies)

I would have said that I think Bucky will beat Denver Friday afternoon but I also disputed Duluth beating CC last week so I'll just shut up and let Dave have his say.

I wouldn't have any knowledge of the situation but I'd be surprised of Owens was going to get the ax. For a while I thought Owens was profiting from the momentum created by Lucia, but just when it looked like he ran out of good players he started recruiting other good players and has maintained a pretty competitive program. They haven't finished strong, that is true. But it seems for a program that used to be Tech-like, Lucia rebuilt it and Owens has pretty much maintained it. The wrong coach and they could be a bottom dweller. Owens has kept them from falling to that. I think he's safe.

From the replay it looked to me like he used his knee as well to propel Gregoire into the boards which is why he went in kind of hard.

With moves like that you would think Zajac would have a few more goals. Martens deserved that one. Too bad for him.

Considering Gabe Guentzel was essentially an "alternate" for Milewski's All-Rookie team and Brad Schlossman selected him here from how many angles might that hurt in MN considering their struggles at defense?

I would love that Final Five but I don't see it happening. MAYBE AA takes out Denver. Life isn't good enough for SCSU to beat MN, and Duluth appears to be doing a late season swoon and is playing CC on the road.

I totally agree it's not relevant, but since when did fair matter when taking a shot at a rival? ;-)

Someone point out to me how the last 2 Shattuck recruits worked out for MN...

I thought he might pretty much ignore it like the first time. But I guess he at least mentioned it. Surprisingly, his whining about the big bad Sioux didn't appear anywhere in the post.

Your cousin is always hung over.

There are only 2 reasons I care about the rule, in this order: 1. I prefer Final Five Friday's when the Sioux are playing in the night game. I love to relax and enjoy the afternoon game with the anticipation of the night's contest yet ahead of me. If the Sioux lose in the afternoon it kind of bites for the night contest, and if they win in the afternoon, the night is anti-climactic for the most part. What I care about is if the Sioux are ever, by seed, scheduled to play Friday night but get bumped to the afternoon because of this rule. That bugs me. 2. One team get's special dispensation to allow a greater percentage of their fans to show up. Yes, I hate sitting through the Alphabet with a house packed with gopher fans. They can take an afternoon off work like the rest of us. O wait, maybe not. Most of us are their bosses.