Fighting Sioux 23

12:34 left in the 2nd. 1-0 DU.

North Dakota kills it. Pretty pathetic powerplays from both teams thus far.

DU going to the powerplay. 1-0 DU with 17:06 left in the 2nd.

That's the first period. After twenty minutes, Denver leads 1-0. A fairly typical period for UND this season...dominate, but unable to capitalize on great chances, while the opposing team scores on their only grade A chance. Oh well. Maybe they are saving all of their goals for next season? If so, expect a Hrkac Circus repeat.

DU 1-0. Yuck.

Denver announcers getting tied up in fits by the linesman calling icing... 4:45 left in the 1st. 0-0 It's amazing how much better this team is 5x5 as opposed to on the powerplay.

Powerplay over. 9:45 left in the 1st. 0-0

5x3 coming up for :18.

Sioux to the powerplay...well, at least that's what it normally is called.

Tickets sold. Thanks.

Tickets are still available. I bought them through Ticketmaster, so I can either mail the printed tickets or I can transfer through Ticketmaster's website (you need to have a Ticketmaster account). Thanks.

2 Tickets, Section 119, Row P (I believe on the end the Sioux will attack twice). We are unable to make it to the game, but want the tickets to go to Sioux fans. Text (720-630-9789) or PM if interested. Thanks.

Exactly. I get that a lot of people are upset about the price of the ticket. However, realistically, my guess is that the University could have sold out the stadium at $199/ticket, so getting in for half the fair market value of the ticket is a steal.

Yeah, I don't understand why people get upset about the prices for the Gophers series. If you can't afford it, try to go to a different series that is less expensive. A few years ago, my buddies and I were considering going to the Super Bowl, but decided against it when tickets on the secondary market were $3,000/ticket just to get into the stadium. Instead we went to the AFC Championship game for $200/ticket, and had a great time and still saw some great football.

Terry, Borgstrom, Jaillet, and Hammond all coming back for next season. Gambrell is still undecided. http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/12/du-pioneers-hockey-recruits/ Denver will be very good next season, but people should remember that they lost a Hobey Baker winner along with a large group of Seniors. DU will be in the mix come March, but I'm not going to give them the title just yet.

Well, they at least got something. The Twins had designated Santana for assignment, and he would have hit waivers in a few days. Chapman certainly isn't an All-Star by any means, but Santana was rotten garbage the last two seasons and wasn't looking any better to start this season. I wish Santana well, and hopefully he gets his career back on track. And for Chapman...well, hopefully he can figure it out in AAA and can make an impact for the Twins in the near future.

So Mike Chambers, who has far more inside contacts than I do, came out with his percentages on the early departures: Borgstrom: 80-20 to return. Before the tournament, I had heard he was almost certainly coming back for his sophomore year. After the tournament, I had heard he was 50/50. From what I heard yesterday, I think 80 percent to return is a bit high. If Montgomery leaves, it sounds like Borgstrom will go from 50/50 to lean toward signing early. Gambrell: 50-50 to return. The last I heard he was leaning towards signing early, and it sounds like he is the player who will "definitely be leaving early" if Montgomery signs. I think 50/50 is a bit high. Hammond: 90-10 to return. I haven't heard anything about Hammond signing early. Jaillet: 70-30 to return. As I said previously, nobody seems to have any indication on whether Jaillet will sign. I think 70-30 sounds about right. Terry: 70-30 to return. This is pretty much exactly what I've heard. Terry is leaning towards returning for his junior season. http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/20/denver-pioneers-uneasy-offseason/

I can ask. Will you still be snarky if/when I post what I find out?

My problem with your argument is that you are using a couple of relatively rare (and quite different) situations to state that this particular Denver team will have several early departures. I just have not seen anything to suggest that is true (and indeed I have heard from well connected sources that DU does not expect several early departures). I focused on NCAA title teams to highlight the problem with your argument where you said losing several players early is especially true with NCAA title winners. That is simply not fact.

I think you're trying to use last year's Sioux team too much. They were hit significantly harder by early departures than most previous NCAA champions. Previous 7 NCAA Champion Early Departures: 2015-2016 North Dakota - 4 Juniors, 1 Sophomore 2014-2015 Providence - 2 Juniors 2013-2014 Union - 1 Junior 2012-2013 Yale - 0 early departures 2011-2012 Boston College - 2 Juniors 2010-2011 Minnesota Duluth - 1 Junior, 1 Freshman 2009-2010 Boston College - 0 early departures.

So just speculation? Also, I'm not sure there is a rule when it comes to early departures. This is particularly true when it comes to dealing with Freshmen and Sophomores. Except that's not what he said. He said to expect several DU underclassmen to sign contracts. Based on what I've heard, that is not likely to happen. Don't get me wrong though, I would love to see DU decimated by early departures.

What information are you basing this on? Hope and a prayer? FWIW, I have a few connections high up within the DU athletic department who have told me that Terry is leaning towards coming back and Borgstrom is 50/50. Gambrell is leaning towards leaving, and nobody seems to have any indication on what Jaillet is going to do. Of course, they all four could sign, but there is certainly optimism within DU's program that 3 of the 4 will come back with an outside chance at getting all four back.

I like your optimism! My biggest concern with Gersich is he really tailed off at the end of this season...only scored 3 goals (and only 2 assists) in the last 14 games of the season. I don't see him hitting 20+ goals next season. Pogo on the other hand could definitely improve his 12-13-25 line from last season. Malone put up 40 points his senior year, and I think that should be Pogo's target...something along the lines of 15-18 goals and 22-25 assists. North Dakota went from 162 goals in 2015-2016 to 127 in 2016-2017. With Pogo returning, I see next year's squad scoring something in the range of 135-140 goals and allowing somewhere around 85-90 goals. Those numbers would be quite similar to the 2014-2015 squad (138 goals scored; 94 goals against).

I was just agreeing with your point that a 3rd goal next season will more likely result in a win (and thus making it more important) than a 3rd goal scored this past season.

Hah, good point. The team connected on approximately 9.3 percent of its shots on goal last season. So, add 1 goal for each 11 blocked shots.