The Whistler

I don't know that we're being snubbed, but I always find their coverage a bit goofy. Plus I think they do give extra coverage to the Boston Schools and the Gophers, but that's just business. What I thought was goofy is that when the Sioux are on top, (not in recent years of course) they don't give much coverage to them at all. I would think that prime coverage would go to top teams, but they seem to just sling it around (except Boston and UMTC). Just my impressions and it doesn't matter what teams they feature on the front page.

I looked at it and sorted by SOS. No surprise that the WCHA is 1-10 as far as that ranking. It's a shame that mostly likely only 3 WCHA teams make it to the National Tournament. Split up the WCHA teams into the other conferences and there probably would be six or seven tournament teams in there. It looks like Denver very well will be on the outs. They have a decent record with really a pretty good non conference record. I think I counted 8-2. So they PWR ranking isn't very good. BTW I didn't realize that SS had the polls here. I usually just go right to the forums. So thanks.

Radio Link? Thank you in advance.

And the winner gets the DQ cup, right?

Remember that game at the old Englestad where he was going to show one of the phantom assists? When they slowed it down you say that Panzer poked the puck right onto a teammates stick (above the circles) as they had a full head of steam. The teammate scored of course. When woog saw the assist he tried to claim that it was barely an assist. As in without that nifty little play there would have been no goal. Woog's a jerk. I agree with you that Woog cost Panzer as much as anything else.

Yes him too, but it's harder to prove it with statistics. Since both Lessard and Parise were forwards it's easier to do. Panzer was the best offensive player that year for sure. Miller had the best goalie statistics. A guy that went to a lot of CCHA games said that the defensive system Michigan state played forced most of the shots to come from the outside. I guess if I'm going to argue I try to have some facts and not just opinion.

The more important thing was that Parise's +/- was much much higher than Lessards. His points per game were higher. He missed a few games due to the World Junior tournament that year. I seem to remember that both he and his team did fairly well that year. (MVP and Gold Medal.) So although you shouldn't necessarily give a player credit for his WJ performance you shouldn't eff him over for it either. Parise was robbed.

Part of the problem may be that while he is statistically the best player, if I was picking a team I'd pick TJ first and Toews second.......

Being statistically the best player by a fair margin in the by-far toughest conference should count for something.

IMO (of course) Finley has excellent footspeed for his size. He's not as fast as Chris Porter but very few are. So it comes down to learning how to play at this level. I think he's coming along fine.

No I didn't miss the thread,(Finley needs to be signed by the Capitals, now) I was mocking the people that thought that way. Joe Finley is developing much like the other big guys we've had recently, Commodore, Greene and Smaby come to mind. I don't think those guys were real good until the end of their sophomore years. All three had great Junior years and were unfortunately gone. It takes a while to learn the game at this level. One thing about him is that he isn't taking the penalties that Commodore and Greene did in their underclassman years. In that way he's hurt the team less. Because of his size people expect him to be a big hitter. In this case, his size may be working against him. He's so much taller than the other guys he might have a hard time getting behind the checks. That doesn't really matter, he has to play physical but that doesn't always mean throwing the big check at center ice.

BTW, did I hear Tim Hennesey say that Finley also has been playing injured. Maybe I misheard and he said Forney. (He said this weekend that Forney was having surgery in the off season.)

Even before the rule enforcement change the only way you'd get calls was by falling down. If you fought threw the holds and hooks there would be no call. Diving is supposed to be a rule infraction but it's called in one out of an hundred chances. Frankly why wouldn't you dive except for the fact that you have some self-respect?

Did that make much sense, that he was going to make it at the NHL because he couldn't hack it at in the WCHA?

Playoff time, Sophomore season. It's the time when we saw the great Matt Greene and Matt Smaby's step up.

Just curious, how long do the candidates have to prove themselves. I assume that their record from the conference tournaments count, but does the first round of the regionals count?

You're a little late on the global warming thing. We could have used it a couple weeks ago though.

I'd be satisfied if the WCHA would call the same penalties against all teams in all WCHA games.

I didin't know we weren't allowed to talk about some things. Can you just post the rules up there for the rest of us?

Me Too! Me Too! Me Too!

Oh, then I imagine then it'd be politically correct to discuss the poor officiating. "I'm shocked, shocked that there's obstruction going on in the WCHA."

It'll be called like it's been called all year. Sometimes for some teams in some situations that's a penalty. Other times for other teams in other situations it's not. Hak would be correct in practicing with two things in mind, keep your hand on the stick and the stick on the ice. (not on the other players.)

I would have asked him why he threw his stick in the World Juniors that led to a successful penalty shot by JT.

This has to be the worst year for polls that I recall. Thankfully they don't matter at all.

Jon Campion?