brianvf

Still looking for some tickets for Sat night's game if anyone has any available. 2 tickets, upper or lower bowl, doesn't matter. Thanks!

I like that bracket for the Sioux. I could see them advancing to the F4 if it worked out like this. IMO this bracket would end with UND/BC/UM/CC in the frozen four.

I'm not sure what he would do in the Skills Challenge anyway... Agitate?

And Radke.

From the sounds of the link that Goon posted, it's hard to say if this would be a family issue or a suspension-type issue. Key words to me are "remain on the team". If it was a family issue, it would have to be pretty bad for him to just quit the team. Or if it was a suspension or something...that would also have to be pretty bad for him to get kicked off the team like that. This is going to be interesting to hear the facts behind this one. Hopefully everything is ok with him and his family.

But they stayed until the end of the game, didn't they? No "beat the traffic" fans there.

UW has some very good forwards coming in... If they can retain any of them for more than a few years they may be on to something. They still would have to open up their game a bit if they ever wanted to let those offensive players shine though, and I don't see that happening. I've never understood why skilled forwards wanted to go there...Skille, Turris, Murray, Lee, etc. Turris would have 10-15 more points this year easily if he played for a team like UND, UMN, UM, or BC. UW could be good, but I don't know if Turris or McDonough are going to stay longer than this year, let alone until 09 when Murray, Stepan, and Lee would be coming.

Check out who wrote that article.

Agreed. While I agree with redwing77 that the "UND haters" certainly got some new ammo this weekend, I try not to let what others say bother me too much. Every team has stuff in their past that they would rather not hear about...and the fans that believe otherwise are just fooling themselves. I also agree with Goon that Chris is just kidding himself when he writes anything about UND and them being "goons". Chris supports MSUM, which are like a less talented version of the Sioux when it comes to the physical, intimidating style of hockey. The Sioux can switch between the physical play and the speed game when needed depending on opponent, where MSUM doesn't have that luxury without the talent.

The good news for the Sioux fans that don't want to see the Gophers in the 1st round is that you can't have BOTH of the situations happen that you have listed above. The Sioux will more than likely finish 2nd or 3rd in the WCHA (with an outside shot at 1st if CC struggles). If the Gophers start to score some goals and get some wins, they're not going to finish in 8th or 9th place in the WCHA. Now, if they continue to struggle, then that is a definite possibility of them coming to GF in the 1st round. It looks like UAA has the cellar wrapped up, it will just be settling the mess that is 4th-9th in the standings right now. UW, UMD, MSUM, UMN, MTU, and SCSU all battling for those spots. I think that UW, UMN, and SCSU are the most talented of those 6...and the ones that I would least want to see visit the Ralph for the 1st round. I don't know how SCSU is in 9th place right now with the group of talented forwards that they have...

Wow. UMD up to 8th and MSUM up to 11th. Insane. I never would have thought the Mavs would climb that high. That sweep over DU certainly helped them.

Duncan

I am looking for 2 tickets for Friday OR Saturday's game against Denver. Lower bowl or upper bowl, I wouldn't mind either. Please PM me if you have any available. Thanks!

I would be surprised if Marto doesn't get at least one game. I think that at this point, he is a better skater than LaPoint, and that might be a nice benefit on the larger sheet.

I would really like this bracket if it actually happened. We have played all three of these teams already, and beaten them once as well. And the Sioux played all 3 of them before they really started to play better. Plus, it would be nice to stay in Madison to go watch the Sioux play. But, I'm not sure if the Sioux will rise to get a #1 seed. It could certainly happen, but things would have to align right for them for that to happen.

I'm guessing that UW, UMN, SCSU, MTU, etc would give any CCHA team a run for their money. In fact, they already have this season. 8th place SCSU lost to Miami in OT this year, despite outshooting them. 7th place MTU beat MSU and lost to UM in 2OT. 6th place UMN is 1-1-1 against UM and MSU this year. That's not showing too much CCHA dominance when their top 3 teams can barely beat (or get beaten by) our 6th-8th place teams. It's going to be great in the NCAA's when UM, MSU, Miami, and Notre Dame all lose to "lesser" WCHA and HEA opponents.

I'll go with Duncan for the UMN game on Friday. I won't have access to a computer between Fri night and Sat before the game, so if possible I would like to make my pick for the Sat game as well (assuming that Duncan scores on Friday). So...if Duncan scores on Friday, I'll go with Kozek for the UMN game on Saturday.

I would say that last weekend was a tale of two opposite games. On Friday night, the Sioux were the hungrier team, winning all the races to the loose pucks and the Seawolves couldn't keep up, so they resorted to hooking/holding/slashing the Sioux to try and slow them down somehow. On Saturday night, the Seawolves were the hungrier team, winning all the races to the loose pucks and the Sioux couldn't keep up, so they resorted to hooking/holding/slashing the Seawolves to try and slow them down somehow. In the end, regardless of which team outworked the other, the Sioux managed to luckily get two wins out of it, because they certainly only deserved one. I'm glad that the Sioux found a way to win on Saturday, because too many times this season they have outplayed an opponent and somehow lost, so it was good to see them finally win one like that with the shoe on the other foot.

I am most concerned with Wheeler and Hoeffel this weekend for the Gophers. Wheeler always seems to play well against the Sioux (or at least get timely goals), and Hoeffel was outstanding in the earlier series between these teams at REA.

I'll be at the F5 again this year, so I would be game to do it once again.

I think the Sioux played well this weekend...on Friday night. Saturday night was a different story altogether, but Friday nights effort was very good.

Agreed. UMN is still dangerous right now. They have been getting improved performances from their defense now that Kangas has taken over the starter role in net. It appears (from what their fans are saying at least) is that their offense is getting chances, they are just shooting wide/passing one too many times/etc. So we can hope that this isn't the weekend where they get it all together. But I will still be happy with a split going into Mariucci, especially with how the Gophers dominated play at REA earlier this year.

Wonder if CC will drop in the PWR after their 1 point weekend against Tech?

I can't believe that MSUM swept SCSU.

Hmm.