brianvf

Great news on MacWilliam returning. He is such a solid defensive dman, he will be a rock on the blueline next season as a senior. Kind of disappointed that Nelson signed. I always just assumed Kristo would leave and Nelson would stay for one more year. Nelson never really took over a game like Kristo did...he was always in the right spot for those goals around the crease though. Nelson made such huge strides from his freshman to soph year once he added some bulk/muscle, I would only assume that next year he could have really done well at UND. But I don't think he's quite strong enough yet to hang in the NHL, so would guess he'll spend all of next season in the AHL. Hopefully he doesn't end up regretting it like Gregoire and Hextall and wish he stayed another season. Best of luck, Brock.

Imagine if the Gophers made the NCAA tourney more than once every four years...they could have actually used that home-ice advantage more than once recently!

It'd be cool to have Kristo involved with that "pact" as well. In the year of the original "pact" (Oshie, Chorney, Duncan, etc), we still had Toews leave early. He was just ready.

UMD Sophomore JT Brown signed with Tampa Bay.

DU loses their 2nd player in 2 days. Zucker has signed with the Wild.

Goalies (4): Dell (Sr), Maris (Sr), Saunders (Jr), Gothberg (Fr) Forwards (16): Rowney (Sr), Kristo (Sr), Knight (Sr), Rodwell (Jr), Nelson (Jr), Mitch MacMillan (Jr), Dickin (Jr), Gaarder (So), Grimaldi (So), Mark MacMillan (So), O'Donnell (So), Parks (So), Pattyn (So), St. Clair (Fr), Chyzyk (Fr), Koules (Fr) Defense (8): MacWilliam (Sr), Gleason (Sr), Simpson (Jr), Forbort (Jr), Mattson (So), Panzarella (So), Senkbeil (So), Schmaltz (Fr) Potential Early Departures (5): Dell (30/70), Kristo (80/20), MacWilliam (20/80), Nelson (50/50), Forbort (20/80) Potential Arrivals (1): Jones My very early lines assuming no departures: Nelson-Knight-Kristo MacMillan-Grimaldi-Parks O'Donnell-Rowney-Rodwell Pattyn-Chyzyk/Koules-St. Clair Extras: Mitch MacMillan, Dickin, Gaarder Forbort-Schmaltz MacWilliam-Mattson Simpson-Gleason Extras: Panzarella, Senkbeil Dell Saunders Gothberg Maris

Sportswriting ability or not, I think his online coverage is the best in the biz and makes me a huge fan.

Drew Shore from DU signed. He was a junior. I would guess Zucker will be close behind him.

It sounds like Hextall already did his part over Xmas break by telling the team that he regrets leaving early. Hopefully he convinced a couple underclassmen to give it another year.

How long was BC's title drought before their recent run? York has built up quite a program there, but BC had a VERY long gap between titles before finally getting that one in 2001. Same thing with Michigan.

Don't forget that Mitch MacMillan will join the team after the New Year as well. And I agree with Wilbur in regards to the potential early departures. I would love if Kristo and Nelson were to return...that top line could really work some magic next season and lead this team. Plus, all the pressure wouldn't be on them with a strong 2nd and 3rd scoring lines with the injured players return. That D-corps is going to be very, very good next season with only Blood gone and Schmaltz incoming.

Please tell me what years the Sioux haven't been a contender since Hakstol took over. Maybe we need to bring Blais back, right? I'm sure he'd get it done since he's had so much success in Omaha.

The Hakstol haters will always be on board, at least until he wins his first national title. It's been said before, but this was an excellent coaching job by this staff...with all this team lost and had to go through this season, not many would have predicted them even making the NCAA tourney, let alone winning the F5. In fact, I believe many of those same haters were calling for Hak's head in November. Am I happy that our season is over? Hell no. Do I wish that we could have brought home the big trophy the last few seasons? Of course. But that doesn't mean that I'm blaming the entire drought on the coaching staff like some seem to always want to do. This team will win another national title some day...and I would be willing to bet that Hakstol will still be at the helm when it happens.

I was more referring to you calling all the other posters "nuthuggers". It's certainly allowed to post negative comments, just try to do it with some class.

You're not going to last long on this forum if you keep going with these type of posts.

That Union/UMass game was not entertaining at all. Lots of mistakes and slow play. I can't believe how "easy" that side of the bracket is compared to the other side: Union/UMass/Ferris/Cornell vs UND/UMN/BC/UMD Wow.

A. This makes no sense. B. Last Friday's game will have no bearing on tomorrow's game if the Gophers advance.

Nice of ESPNU to televise the West Regional games...a day later. They're showing the UND/WMU game on Sunday morning, the BU/UMN game in the afternoon, and then the regional final live. I really hope one of the FSN channels picks up the live feeds for the semi-finals!

Let the real games begin! The Sioux have the toughest #4 seed opponent in Western Michigan, who just beat Michigan in the CCHA tourney championship. They appear to be a tough team that is peaking at the right time. The Sioux will need to play like they did in the 3rd period against MN if they want to advance to the regional final! WMU played four games against UND common opponents this season: They played two games against SCSU after Xmas, losing 4-2 in game 1 and beating SCSU in OT 2-1 in game 2. The series was played in St. Cloud. Right after the New Year, they played a series against UMD in Kalamazoo, losing both games 4-1 and 5-2 to Duluth.

No doubt. I would guess that there will be less than 500 actual WMU fans in attendance. Sure, the Gopher fans will cheer for WMU, but the article makes it sound like thousands of fans will be there from Kalamazoo.

Very tough draw for UND. WMU is by far the toughest #4 seed, and just played very well to win the CCHA tourney over talented teams. Then, if the Sioux can get past Western, they have to face the winner of UMN/BU. Tough stretch to get to Tampa...let's see what this team can do!

I think every fanbase hates Lapanta. Note to Lapanta: It's not a soccer match, so please don't call goals like one.

I read through some of the posts from around Thanksgiving...it is crazy to think how far this team has come since then. Everyone was writing off this team (both opposing fans and our own fans) when they were sitting in 11th place in the WCHA and the injuries were mounting. Hard to believe that this same team is now a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney and just wrapped up their 3rd consecutive Broadmoor title. This team has played with a ton of heart & passion to get where they are right now. They certainly aren't the most talented of Hakstol's teams, but they play so well together as a team and refuse to give up...whether it be on their season (climbing up from 11th to 4th in the standings) or in individual games (amazing comeback against the Gophers). This team has already given more than was expected of them this season...none of us would have ever believed back in Nov/Dec that this team would be winning the Broadmoor again. They've already exceeded my expectations...but now I can't wait to see just how far this team can take this run. Go Sioux!

If things ended up as Moy predicts: West and NE regionals are very tough. East regional is a cakewalk.

Denver got the instant rematch last year too.