gilles meloche

This is getting ridiculous with the eastern dominance/. I hope I have an answer: I was happy to see Century and Williston give South and Red River relatively close games yesterday; however, both were ridiculously outshot and were only held in the games because their goalies stood on their heads. It seems that twenty years ago or so the first round games used to be a lot closer and western teams like Minot, Jamestown, and Bismarck would at least occasionally win their share of the first round games. The real problem is that they play these silly regional tourneys now just to make sure that we have 4 teams from each region represented. They should go back to the "play-in" method they had years ago. That way you would get the eight best teams to state. The ironic thing is that under the old method the west used to be a lot more competitive. There were many years in the 80s and early 90s that there would be 4 west teams and 4 east teams using the "play-in" method. Some times it would end up being 5 east, 3 west or even 6 east, 2 west, but at least the kids who deserved to be there would be there. I'm not sure if North, Central, or West Fargo would have beaten the likes of Williston or Century in a head-to-head play-in game this year, but most years you would get the 8 best teams to state. The old format actually gave byes because there were only 13 teams in the state. #1 and #2 in the east and #1 in the west would automatically go while teams 3-7 in the east would play against teams 2-6 in the west for the right to go to state. As it is now with 9 teams, teams 8 and 9 in each region could play a Monday or Tuesday Pre-Play-in game to narrow it down to 8 teams in each region. Then just have the top four teams in each region host the bottom four in the opposite region for one game to go to state. Here is how it would have looked this year: *Shanley over Wahpeton and Hazen over Mandan in the play-in games. Shanley (#8 east) at Minot (#1 west) Central (#7 east) at Bismarck (#2 west) West Fargo (#6 east) at Jamestown (#3 west) North (#5 east) at Williston (#4 west) Century (#5 west) at Devils Lake (#4 east) Dickinson (#6 west) at Grafton (#3 east) Bottineau (#7 west) at South (#2 east) Hazen (#8 west) at Red River (#1 east) This would be the best way, and I have already answered the arguments below: Myth #1: Too much travel Please don't give me that sorry excuse about "too much travel". Actually, under this method fewer teams are travelling, but the ones who travel have to go further. Under the current system, 6 teams from the east have to travel to Grand Forks where only two teams get to stay home, and 5 western teams have to travel to Bismarck when they host the west regions while 7 teams travel when Minot hosts it. That means 11 or 13 teams travel while only 3 or 5 stay home most years. Using the play-in method 8 teams would travel, but 8 teams would get to stay home. Ask Jay Erickson (North head coach), Ross Richards (WF head coach), or Tony Bina (Central head coach) and their players which way they would prefer. Travel a couple extra hours to face a Bismarck, Jamestown, or Williston OR stay closer to home but have to get through the likes of Red River, South, or Grafton. I think the answer would be unanimous. Besides North and West Fargo travel back and forth each day to Grand Forks for the east region tourney each day. By the time they are done with it they may as well have travelled to Williston or Bismarck. Myth #2: It would weaken western hockey NO! It would actually strengthen it. They would know that they have to keep up with the east. Like I stated earlier, under the old method you would often get 3 or 4 western teams to state anyway. Myth #3: A lower seeded west team would never stand a chance against a high east team Wrong, and history actually proves that. A few times in the 80s a western team like Bottineau or Devils Lake would come east and upset a higher seeded team. Is it likely? No. But that what makes Cinderella stories like that so special- they are rare, but they do happen. I am not trying to bash the west. I am just looking out for what's best for ND hockey overall. This method is the fairest by far.

If the projected bracket on the uscho website stays as is, there is one glaring thing I don't like about it: That is the possibility of having four WCHA teams in the Frozen Four again this year. The way they have it set up now, North Dakota and Minnesota will eliminate one or the other therefore leaving the possibility of only three making it. What are the possibilities of sending the Gophers to Albany to play Dartmouth and then possibly the Cornell/Maine winner and sending Miami to Grand Forks to play Bemidji State and the Sioux/Michigan winner? If the NCAA is worried about attendance I'm sure Grand Forks would still pack the Ralph for UND/Michigan and Bemidji State (only an hour or so drive)/Miami game. Besides, I'm sure more Gopher hockey fans would travel to Albany than Miami of Ohio fans. This way we could still have four WCHA teams in the Frozen Four. What does everybody think? PS I know these are still projections and that the Sioux aren't guarenteed anything yet. I'm just wondering.

I am new to this site, but have been a WCHA lover for years. I realize this is a Sioux website and the subject of the Sioux and their successes should dominate. However, there seems to be more Gopher bashing on this site than discussion on the Sioux. Don't you people realize that by constantly referring to them you just make yourself look ignorant? Especially after they've just won the McNaughton in convincing fashion and two national titles since we last won one? I witnessed a prime example of this a few years back. My father-in-law has season tickets to the Sioux and we were at a game late in the season. I don't remember who the Sioux were playing, but they were chasing Denver for the WCHA title. The Sioux needed the Gophers (who were locked in fourth place at the time) to beat Denver and the Sioux could still catch them. When they announced out of town scores the crowd, including my father-in-law, erupted when they heard that Denver was leading. I just sat and shook my head in bewilderment and disgust. I turned and said to him, "Don't you realize we want Denver to lose so we could still win the regular season title?" He responded,"Naw, better to see the Goofers lose." Unbelieveable. Also, I see people on this site making references like "7 National titles to 'only' 5 for the Gophers". I'm sorry, but it makes us sound as stupid as if 49er fans (5 Super Bowls) would mock the Patriots for 'only' winning three. The point is "What have you done lately?" And this ludicrous comparison of the Gophers to the New York Yankees? What are you guys smoking? Last I checked, the Gophers are successful with mostly home-grown talent and tradition. If anything, they are more like the Twins. It is very hypocritical for Sioux fans to paint the Gophers this way. I mean, come on, if we are talking about teams like the Yankees who use money and talent not developed in their region, the Sioux would fit that mold a lot better than the Gophers. They certainly have the money (Hello, $100 million hockey arena!) and they've used talent from other places (Minnesota, Canada, etc.) for years with a few local kids sprinkled in. In fact, in the last few years they've let two of their best local kids (Potulny and Irmen) escape to who else? The Gophers! Why don't we just celebrate our successes and worry about the damn Gophers when we play them. Then let the trash talking begin. Otherwise, we just end up sounding like the moronic hicks the people in the Twin Cities think we are.