MafiaMan

Is anyone arguing that regular season is a guarantee of post-season finish? I haven't heard anyone make that argument. If that's the case, let's stop March Madness and jump straight to the Final Four with Kentucky, Duke, St Josephs, and Stanford. Oh wait...nevermind...two of them are already done. Streaky, I'd agree with you on the goalie issue for both teams. Wait a minute...did a Sioux fan and Gopher fan just find something in common that they agreed upon? Wow. What's next? Peace in Ireland and the Middle East? Dare to dream!

Had to "fight" its way to the post season, streaky? Surely you jest. 2004 Minnesota Hockey...the NEW Miracle on Ice. They're the regular Gonzaga of college hockey, cinderella story, from outta nowhere...

It's a vast conspiracy...The UND Sioux hockey team killed Kennedy, too!

This is so appropriate that I received this e-mail about two minutes ago. Here's a note from a friend of mine that attended the Final Five this past weekend with me...Gopher fan. "Nice draw ND got. Denver who lost to Colorado, Holy Cross Who, and Miami Ohio. Nice bracket." Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! We won the Final Five and still got screwed!

Waaaaaaaaaaaah. Re-read my post earlier about the conduct of Gopher fans directly towards me this past Saturday, TC, and you'll understand why I hate Minnesota so much. I've never yelled "f*** the Gophers" to a fan at a game, nor have I threatened fans or asked someone to "take it outside and we'll settle things." My point was the Gophers should be happy with a #1 seed. PRI aside, how a #5 team in a league gets that is beyond me, but it's what the computer said, so that's how it is. It's just humorous to hear MORE whining now about why UND has an easier bracket. Is it because the people who picked the brackets took into consideration the entire season or because I picked the teams out of a hat myself this past weekend to determine the pairings?

TC, A little sensitive today? I was referring to UMD fans whining about missing players against Minnesota. They had no excuses. Like I said, 2-0 and 3-1...that game was theirs for the taking and they blew it. Why would Minny fans be talking about that game? It truly is amazing, though, how highly Minnesota fans think of their team and no matter what, Goldy gets the short end of the stick. If it's not one thing it's another. I heard rumblings from co-workers Monday about how UND managed to get such an "easy" bracket despite losing the WCHA Final Five playoff. I'm thinking to myself, "HUH?". Regular season champs but playoff loser apparently means UND should have BC, Maine, and Michigan in its region while the playoff champ Gophers should get Holy Cross, Niagara, and the Hill-Murray Pioneers in theirs. Gimme a break! We'll see how it shakes out this weekend and in the final four. Time will tell.

Hmnnnnnnn...I thought it was Harrington. Perhaps I was mistaken. The point is, you're only as good as the team you have on the ice. UND played a key series back in December/January AT St Cloud without two of its big stars who were at the World Jr tournament. I didn't hear them grumbling about taking 3 of 4 points and missing out on that 4th one because players were missing, nor did I hear UMD babble about missing players in their semi-final loss. They had Goldy on the ropes twice, at 2-0 and 3-1, and choked it away. My guess is the 'Dogs are frothing at the bit for a rematch this weekend. And I hope they get it.

TC Transplant...Are you including Harrington as being in the line-up this past Saturday night? I don't know if he can be counted since he spent 30% of the first period sitting in the sin bin.

Did I say the crowd won the game for Minnesota? Sheesh. My point is the noise is a factor. Like it or not, it's a factor. What I didn't say was that several Gopher fans grabbed sticks and helmets and were allowed on the ice for a 7 on 5 power play. There's a difference between the two. You think this discussion is getting old, I think it's silly that a game with your fans there isn't an advantage. When you have two opponents who are even in talent, I'll give the advantage to the home team any day of the week and win 90% of the bets I make on that team. That being said, you're right about UND's defense. Give-aways in your own zone can't be tolerated.

Funny how the Gophers love to rant and rave about that PRI if it helps them, yet by using the theory they have used to rationalize their #1 seed, the PRI is totally shot. According to them, we should take into account who is "hot" at the end of the season. If you know anything about college hockey at all, you know the PRI is based on the entire season, not who's hot at the end. Who's "hot" has no impact at all on the rankings. In fact, it's much like the BCS. There was even a discussion that CC should LOSE to Alaska-Anchorage to keep their PRI spot because a win would de-value the win itself much like Miami (FL) playing a Division I-AA team in NCAA football drops their ranking. The PRI is the silliest thing going in college hockey and yet people seem to base everything on it. Here's the problem with the PRI. It kept out a "hot" Duluth team last year and kept in 0 for their last 6 St Cloud. St Cloud goes to the dance and promptly gets thumped in the first round. Would Duluth have done any better? They defeated St Cloud in the opening round of the playoffs, knocked out UND in the play-in game, lost to CC in a tough game, then defeated Mankato for 3rd place in the WCHA tournament. 4-1 in the WCHA tournament against teams that went to the dance. My guess is YES, Duluth would have stuck around the NCAA tournament for more than one game. However, they never had the chance. If human logic had ruled over computers, no one would have taken St Cloud over Duluth last year. This season, what's the true showing of where the Gophers are at? Home ties against 8th place HE Boston University? Being embarrassed at the hands of Denver? An 0-4 regular season record against Duluth? Or back-to-back home sweeps of a mediocre St Cloud team and winning two playoff games held in front of 16,000 rabid Gopher fans in St Paul? I guess we'll find out who the real Gophers are this weekend.

WPoS, Now you're being a big facetious. No home team has ever won 100% of its home games in any sport, but it's silly to think playing in front of 16,500 of your own fans isn't some sort of advantage. Home advantage in any sport isn't a guarantee of success (just ask the Philadelphia Eagles), but I guarantee you that if given the choice of playing a championship game at home or in the back yard of your biggest rival, 100% of people polled would say "at home."

Fetch, I believe you are talking about the section that I was in with the dad/mom/kid fight. That was a near-disaster in the making. There was another near-fight in the section next to us when four or five drunken Gopher fans wanted to sit with their buddies even though Sioux fans rightfully occupied the seats. The Sioux fans showed their tickets, but that apparently wasn't good enough. The Gopher fans tried shoving their way into the seats. Several jabs were thrown and there was plenty of smack-talk, yet for 3-4 minutes, not a single usher or security officer arrives. Pretty ridiculous. The UMD/UM fight started when a Gopher fan held up a sign that suggested UMD fans sell their tickets to the championship game because they wouldn't need them. A UMD fan took offense when the sign was displayed a second time, then the Gopher fan said something about his daughter's dancing. This totally set the UMD fan off since his daughter was right next to him. Several other fans got into the fracas and the woman behind us (holding a 6 month old baby) got bumped rather harshly. She started exchanging words, some popcorn got thrown around, and eventually, a Gopher fan leaped three rows back to get this UMD fan. This went on for a good five minutes and NOBODY came down from above to stop it. In all the Final Fives I have been too (97 UND/UM game included), I've never seen such sparse (were there ANY security guards/cops???) security presence at such a tense sporting event. That just leads to trouble. Had the first moron been escorted out Friday afternoon and sent home, everyone would have settled down. Instead, it just escalated all the way to after the game where I should have removed my Sioux jersey completely so as not to be harangued by any "grateful winner" walking by me. And I've already pointed out the loudmouth Sioux fan who was jawing with the guys in the row in front of him on Friday. He thought he was funny and tried talking to me since I had a green jersey on. I told him to shut his yapper and that just because we cheered for the same team didn't mean that I wanted to socialize with him. He got the point because he was pretty quiet on Saturday.

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't realize I said that the reason the Sioux lost on Saturday was specifically due to Scott Hennen not doing the PA. All I pointed out was that I asked him why he wasn't doing the title game and he said it was all decided without him having anything to do with it. My point is I am sick and tired of hearing about the "neutral-ice" site known as the Xcel Energy Center. I live in Bloomington and I love going to games there, so I'm not blasting it from that stand-point, but for Goldy fans to say "there were a lot of Sioux fans there too" just doesn't hold any water. It's a home game for the Gophers, period. I just find it humorous the number of benefits Minny gets...the 2 minute shoulda-been-5 penalty on Vanek's cheap-shot on Parise, Briggs getting MVP of the tournament with a .89 save percentage on the weekend, blah blah blah. The bottom line was it was an awesome game and let's see what happens here on out. I'd love to watch a UMD/UM match-up. Minny better not overlook the 'Dogs on truly neutral ice.

Nah. The only think dorkier than having a blank hockey jersey is having one with some goofy nickname on it and/or the number 69.

CFM, I laughed out loud when I read your comment. Pretty funny stuff. Tongue in cheeck humor it was.

TC...I'm not saying the Sioux are vastly superior in any way, shape, or form. Just saying the crowd, the announcer, the atmosphere...and yet we get to hear Lucia and co. claim "neutral" ice site? I live in the TC's, too, and I love the Final Five being at the X, but it certainly benefits the Gophers more than anyone else. I'd hardly consider it a miracle on ice when a #5 beats a #1 in front of 16,000 of its own fans. The place was jumpin' Saturday night.

Greyeagle...I lost a bet with my buddy wearing the Gopher jersey so I have to WEAR his Gopher jersey for the first game of the tournament next year. Someone buy me a waffle cone and all will be forgiven! CFM...pretty funny comment about the weight room. I'm about 5'10" and 190 lbs so I'd say I can hold my own. Maybe I need to talk to BALCO, though, and bulk up a little more during the off-season?

Another note, streakygopher...credit because they're hot when it counts? If I remember right, UMD was the hottest team in the country last season, yet still managed to watch a St Cloud team go to the NCAA's on the basis of quality victories back in October. #5 seed in the conference gets a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament? Wow. I can hear Goldy fans whining already if Wisconsin had run the table and won the WCHA Final Five and gotten a #1 seed.

streakygopher = typicalgopher. I love how UM fans try to even remotely suggest that Xcel is a 50/50 venue for the Gophers. The noise was deafening in there Saturday night. Oh, by the way, real classy move by the WCHA to have the neutral announcers for every game EXCEPT the title game, which was announced by Minny's guy. Scott Hennen, the UND announcer, sat in front of me during the championship game. He was clearly steamed that they made sure he didn't do any Sioux games, then let Goldy's homer do the title game. Go back to 2001 and you almost see the smirk on Lucia's face when he tells reporters he expected Xcel to be 1/2 full of Maine fans for the title game. GIMME A BREAK!

I'm glad to know SOME Sioux fans had good experiences at the X this past weekend. My entire weekend was ruined by not one or two fans, but four separate Gopher MORONS, which only increases the number of reasons why I hate everything about the U of M. I try to write it off as idiotic, drunken, non-typical fans, but four idiots making a big point to go out of their way to do something stupid was too much for me to handle in one night. I was attending the games this weekend wearing various Russian hockey jerseys, but wore my Sioux Sioux jersey for the UND semi-final and title game. I was with a Gopher friend in his jersey and a non-committed friend wearing a USA jersey on Saturday night. We've been in the same section for three years now, sitting with pretty much the same people every year. When the game ended, I exchanged pleasantries with the Gopher fans around us and wished them all good luck in the tournament. All 8-10 fans around us were courteous and wished the Sioux good luck, too. However... Idiot fan #1 Saturday night: As I'm walking to my seat before the game, a 20something wearing a Gopher jersey changes his course of direction in the concourse and darts over to me, gives me a nice unexplainable jab on the shoulder as he walks by and blurts out "f*** the Sioux" as he chuckles with his buddy about how original and witty he was. Idiot fan #2 Saturday night: After the presentation of the Broadmoor Trophy, my friends and I walked up the steps of section 102. I'm behind the two of them, and much to my astonishment, a guy in an aisle seat (this time, 40-50 years old) reaches out and puts two hands on my jersey and yanks me into his seat and yells "better luck next time a**hole! Sioux suck!". I told him to let go of me and he promptly pushed me back into the aisle. I shoved him back and got in his face to ask him what his problem was and he said "no goal my a**! F*** you." I told him that Gopher fans everywhere were a class act all the way and wished him luck in the tournament, then bolted as fast as I could before things got even worse. Idiot fan #3 Saturday night: My buddies got too far in front of me in the rush to leave so I was wandering out to an exit by myself. Yet another Gopher fan rushes to track me down. He comes up behind me, pats me on the shoulder and says "second place isn't so bad...better luck next time to your SUCK!". His girlfriend grabs him and asks him to stop it and I suggested he listen to her. He goes on to ask what my problem is and why I am taking it so personally that my team sucks. I told him it was nothing personal, but that my team's name was the Sioux, not the Suck, as he had suggested. As his girlfriend is trying to drag him away, he's asking me if I want to take it outside and go a few rounds with him 'cuz he'll knock me out. Winning with class, that's for sure. Idiot "fan" #4 Saturday night: A group of ushers stood about 20 feet from where the incident with fan #3 was going on, yet didn't bother to call security or even come over to do anything about it. Yet when I walked closer to them on my way out of the building, one usher walks over to me, holds out his hand and asks if he can shake my hand. Nice enough gesture, until he says, "Better luck next time...Sioux SUCK!". It was so comical I just laughed and said we would see what happens in the big tournament and left. I came into work yesterday still peeved about everything and mentioned to a co-worker who is dating a UND grad who was also at the game and at Cosetta's between games. She's not a Sioux fan at all, in fact, she's a Gopher fan, but her boyfriend was wearing a Sioux jersey. I was stunned to hear she'd experienced the same thing. At Cosetta's, a Gopher fan came over to her table as she was dining with her boyfriend to announce to that the Sioux sucked and the Gophers were going to kick their a**. She said other fans started coming over once they noticed the Sioux jersey and had similar comments for them. They ended up eating quickly and leaving. Their experience at the arena was the same as mine and she told me she was embarrassed to be a Gopher fan after what happened to them on Saturday. I'll say this much...I've been to games in St Cloud, Duluth, Mankato, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, regionals, Final Fives, and NCAA Frozen Fours, and never have I encountered the complete classless acts that happened this past weekend. And before you start thinking that I'd downed a few beers myself so this is only half of the story, I had nothing but Coca Cola in my system this weekend. Considering that Gopher fans outnumber the Sioux fans in the X by about a 16-1 count, I keep a low-profile, which makes this all the more comical to me. I realize that it was a big game and an even bigger rivalry, but that's no excuse for what happened. I'm not trying to classify all Gopher fans, because there was one Sioux fan in the next section razzing the Gopher fans in front of him all night on Friday. At one point, I turned over to his section and told him to shut his mouth and get off my side. He actually was pretty subdued the rest of the weekend, which was a good thing. Anyways, five awesome hockey games and yet the only thing I could talk about yesterday was the conduct of the fans. I hope it's better next year. Minnesota Fans...Pride in the Stands.

Whine, whine, whine. I played basketball from the third grade until my junior year in high school. 2/3 of the way thru my junior season, the varsity coach called a team meeting of the freshmen, JV, and varsity squads. At that time, he announced "cuts" from each one so he could bump up better 8th graders to the freshman team, freshman to JV, and some JV players to varsity. Despite being one of the better JV players (12 points per game and not on Allen Iverson 6 of 28 shooting either), I was cut in favor of a benchwarmer who happened to be the first cousin of two varsity players. Did I cry about it? Hell yea. Did I learn that the fun things and the things you want out of life aren't necessarily just handed to you? Yep. Did I get over it? NO, I did not. Wait. Yea, I was bummed, but life went on. Life is about lessons and there are bound to be disappointments. That was a big one in my life, but today we're all about coddling kids and telling them they can have anything and everything they want just because that's how it should be. And it's definitely not the best thing to be teaching them. Sports is about winners and losers and so is life. Get over it!

OK, I was at both games this past weekend and asked several staffers at REA and no one had a clue what I was talking about with regard to player cards being given out. HUH?

The Gopher Bar! Ha ha! That's right down the road from where I work. A place I might suggest that is a little further walk than Tom Reid's is a jaunt in the other direction of 7th Street...Wild Tymes.

Coteau, Sorry for mis-spelling your moniker. Thanks for the info. I've seen the 2000 NCAA title banner raising game, the 2000 Broadmoor Trophy championship presentation, the 1997 Broadmoor Trophy championship presentation, and the 1997 NCAA title game and festivities afterward. Looking forward to seeing UND (taking care of business on the ice first) hoisting the MacNaughton Cup for the first time live and in person.

Couteau, Thanks for clarifying for me. I'm looking forward to coming up this weekend, although I don't know how I'll like the weather. We're leaving pretty early tomorrow morning to make sure we get there in plenty of time for the game. Any good hotels/motels in GF with some waterslides?