cujo2

for crying out loud UND will be making the ncaa's. you can take that to the bank. The question becomes were do they end up?

Meehhhh, to hell with the polls.. The only one that really matters is the Pairwise. The rest of the polls are junk, except the KRACH

Yes, the sioux have played such college power houses as Quinnipiac, the u-18 team, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence The only common non-conference opponnet both UND & mn played is Maine. Both UND & mn got beat my maine. The reality is that both UND & mn do schedule some cupcakes for their non-conference schedule.

I think mn's lead in the wcha race had a small factor, not much though IMO. They started with a 5 point lead, got swept, and still have a 3 point lead. As bad as the weekend was for us gopher fans it is still not time to jump off the bridge. Basically UND outplayed the gophers in every facet of the game all weekend. Hands down end of discussion Desperation mode for UND is correct. They need to approach every series from here on out the same way. If I was a UND fan this might concern me in 2 ways: #1) The intensity they showed this weekend can not last forever. Sooner or later "mental fatigue" and/or "physical fatigue" will rear its ugly head. #2) The pro-verbial "off game". Let's say UND does go on a historic run and wins their last 8 games. They finish the season 18-1-1 and looking like the red army team of the 70's. Eventually the "off game" appears. I don't think UND would want to bow out in the final 5 or in the 1st round of the ncaa's. Case in point was last years MN & WI teams. Both looked like juggernauts that would not be stopped. Same thing with DU & BC a few years ago and even to some extent Maine and New Hampshire this year. I do think MN will get things headed into the right direction. Let's face it most, if not, all national title contending teams need to have a "Wake up call" Last year MN did it to Wisconisn in the Kohl center. It turned out pretty darn good for the Badgers. I also think UND will continue their surge. I have wondered if the loss of Brad Berry proved to be more costly than was intially.

Damn it this is habit forming and hopefully there will not be a 3rd or 4th edition of this segment. Any way, once again UND came out and dictated the pace of the game. The took the game right at the Gophers. I was really shocked becasue UND beat mn at their own game. Typically the quick pace coupled with end to end rushes favors Minnesota. CC and Michigan tried that early this year and were thumped pretty good. Seeing UND do that to MN was eye-popping. I posted earlier in the week that if UND sweeps it will springboard them the rest of the season. Watch out WCHA the 800# Gorilla has awoken. No doubt the Gophers have some issues to work on. To see them give up 5 straight goals in 2 consecutive games does have me concerned a little. The defense & goaltending have been the backbone of this club. But for me, the Gophers have another month to take care of these issues. Getting Pohl & Kaufmann back will help a lot but won't happen until mid-Feb. Contratulations UND you definetly earned the sweep.

Glad to hear you had a great time. I do think that the "pompous arrogant fans" thing is extremely exaggerated. I will admit that we do have a few of "those" fans. Every teams fan base does--yes including you UND fans. Also I think most, if not all, gopher fans have a deep respect and admiration for the game of hockey.

Thanks for the kind words Redwing77.

Well the good guys get Ben "the human punching bag" Gordon back tonight. They should be able to roll with 4 lines along with the last line change should give MN a slight advantage in matching line vs line. Sooner or later the Gophers are due for an offensive explosion and Lamroux is due for a Briggs type meltdown. Big key for MN is to shut down the DOT line. I think Duncan had 2 goals and 1 assist, Toews had a few points, and Oshie had a few as well. If (big if) the Gophers do that they should be in good shape. Gophers also need to play a lot more sound defensively. They gave up two goals by not covering their man in front of the net. Also, take care of the puck and not turn it over. For UND, need to limit the penalties. Eventually that will haunt them. On the inverse, UND needs to go hard to the net to cause penalties. Keep up the aggresive forecheck like last night. Teams that fore-check aggresively against the Gophers are the one's that have had success. Basically, play the game they did last night and more than likely they will get 2 more points

Ah yes, cause I have been so rude and disruptive on this site. Matter of fact look at the author of this thread and the title of said thread. Maybe if you would put your blind hatred for the Gophers and the state of Minnesota aside for a while you would be able to see that some of us Gopher fans are not that bad.

That is one stat I do not like to see. However, this Gopher team needs a wake-up call in a big way. Maybe being swept by UND in their own barn will open their eyes.

Pathetic as in going over to GPL and spouting off about tDawn and morals, getting banned from GPL because you have no class at all. Then starting a thread on siouxsports about being banned, screaming and hollering about your 1st ammendment rights at the same time not knowing the difference between a "public" site or a "private" site. Now that my friend is pathetic. BTW, Let me clear the air here on the 25-year old Canadian comment. My wife's is from Grand Forks and here entire family are sioux fans, she has high-school friends that live in the twin cities, we are friends with many former fighting sioux hockey players and when/if we all get together I razz all of them about "the 25 year old Canadians". They have no problem with it at all. Matter of fact they get a good chuckle out of it while drinking beers. It is meant to be friendly banter which what makes this rivalry so fun and special. Siouxguyinstpaul if it still irritates you. please click on this website http://www.angermgmt.com/ 1.)

It was really the opposite. The 01-02 Gopher team really mirrored this years team. Both started out hot from the get go. Both had goalies, according to most fans, who could not win a national title (Hauser & Briggs). Both were led by offensive-minded defensemen (Goligoski & Jordan Leopold). Both had alternated wins and losses through the month of Januray. Both teams had "high-end" talent as well as "blue-collar grind it out" talent. The difference I see is the 01-02 team was led by Seniors Leopod and Jonny Pohl were this team has only Vannelli as the senior. The 02-03 team did struggle for the 1st half of the year. They were not that good. Once Grant Potulny came back to the line-up he really added some inspiration to the team. I watched a documentary on the 02-03 team & Feb 7th after CC had thumped the Gophers 6-2, Grant Potulny stood up and said "We are going to win the National Title and anybody that does not believe that then don't dress for the game tommorrow" Apparently the entire team rallied behind this statement and they went on to win the 03 title. Now these 2 teams are similar to the current gopher squad but I don't know if this years team has the "character" guys like a Leopold, a Pohl, or a Potulny.

I know it drives me crazy to see them play like this. Remember most if not all teams are relying on 18-20 year olds to lead their team,except UND who only has 25 year-old Canadians--sorry guys I could not pass up the cheapshot. I think UND is in straight up crisis mode coming into this weekend. I think they thought they need to get 3or4 points and they way they played last night showed the might get 4. I am ok with bumps in the road during the season. That is going to happen. What I don't want to happen is the losing to become contagious and spread like a disease

Well I am giving my squad an F for the performance last night, especially in the 3rd period. No excuse. None what so ever. The Gophers better bring it tonight plain and simple. They need to press the clutch in and shift to 5th gear from the get go. I want to see some intensity, fire, passion, and heart from the Gophers tonight.

The Gophers blew a 2 goal lead to Ohio State, Michigan State, St. Cloud State (twice in 1 game), and last Saturday against DU and again last night. Granted the ended up winning those games, except to SCSU a tie. I can handle a blown lead every now and again but to do it repetively bugs the hell out of me. I am all about National Championships, and national championship teams do not blow 2 goal leads over and over and over.

Not even close. All the way through the tech series they had absolutely dominated every team they played. They would go an entire period without giving up a shot on goal, the opposition could barely get the puck into their offensive zone. The CC series was a prime example. Friday night they won 2-0 but had 40+ shots on net. The only difference was Matt Zaba, who said in the paper that "Minnesota had too many monsters on the ice" Zaba stood on his head the entire night. Well the Saturday night game the Gophers won 8-1 but the game felt like it was over after the 1st period. UMN had just dominated and dictated the play the entire game. I think in the 2nd period they did not yield a SOG to CC. They continued their dominate play through the tech series but after that something happened. They have not been playing well at all. They played terrible in the uw & msu,m series. The only reason they won the games was because both of those teams have little if any offensive scoring punch. Now the same thing happened last night. Very sloppy with their transition game and turn the puck over. Same gopher team beign careless with the puck but the difference is that UND has a ton of guys who can bury those chances. And they did. It is clearly obvious that without Tyler Hirsch the Gophers are not the same offensive threat. The thing that troubles me is the defensive side of the game is abysmal at best. Very simple basic assignments are being missed which led to I think 2 UND goals last night---UND wins 5-3. Pick up your defensive assignments and do not let those goals scored we have a different game. I don't want to sound like too much of a homer but, if the gophers can play in March & April like they did in October & November it is gonna be a fun ride. Clearly the have some kinks in the armor but essentially have about 1 month to remove said kinks.

Yeah, I think both Woog & Mazzocco do a great job. I highly respect Woog's input and has probably forgot more about hockey than all of us combined will ever now. Say what you want about Woog but he is impartial. He calls it like it is. If the Gophers are playing well he states it but if the other team is sticking to the Gophers he is quick to give credit to the oppostion as well. I do think Woog & Mazzocco have a high amount of respect for the UND program and are quick to point it out.

About 7:45 tonight I thought this would be a route. Gophers were flying and buzzing all over the ice. Up 2-0 I always cringe, escpecially with this years Gopher squad. They have blown 3or4 two goals leads this year. Once Bina scored that short-handed goal I thought OH CHIT here we again. And sure enogh the sioux demolished the Gophers the remaining 2 periods. Hats off to UND they showed a lot of moxy and composure. Very easily could have been very ugly very fast. I don't think it was so much what the Gophers did not due but more what UND would not enable them to do. Anyways, congratulations UND. Played a hell of a game and deserved to win.

I'm here. trying to do laundry, drink my paint thinner, and take care of 5 kids---sheesh give a guy a break would ya

I want to see their "character" and see what they are made of. This is foreign territory for the gophers to be down 2 goals at home going into the 3rd period. In all honesty I think this 3rd period will tell me if they are a legit team or not. If they come out guns-a-blazin Tony Montana style it will show me they have some pride. UND absolutely 100% dominated that 2nd period. It really appeared as if the sioux were the #1 team in the country and the gophers were languishing around the .500 mark

And please, this is a family forum so keep the f-bomb laced tirades to a minimum

43 seconds into the game and a penalty is called

I could see green. Green with envy Gopher envy that is.

As a Gopher fan I would take a guy like Prpch on my team all the time. Hard-working nose-to-the-grindstone attitude coupled with the fact he can get under the skin of opposing players. I think this years UND team misses him or a player of his mold

#1) Hey buddy I am here #2) It is always nice to have a built in excuse