Fighting Sioux 23

Here is how it breaks down... First, and foremost, If you are in the top 11, you are in the tournament. There are 5 auto-bids currently, and the AHA champion will almost assuradely finish outside the top 16. As a result, you need to be in the top 15 to have a chance. The CCHA has been extremely strong this year, and it is likely that whoever wins the CCHA Tournament will be bolstered in the PWR, and will finish in the top 15. So, top 15 is still good. Hockey East is similar to the CCHA, so it is likely that whoever wins the Hockey East tournament will be high enough in the PWR that it won't kick anyone out. So, top 15 is still good. The ECAC is the biggest risk. Unless Union (currently) wins the ECAC Tournament, it is likely that the auto-bid from the ECAC does not finish in the top 15. So, top 14 is still good. 15 may still be good depending on if Union were to drop out of the top 15, or if a team like Cornell wins and jumps into the top 15. The WCHA is tricky. If Minnesota, Duluth, Denver, or North Dakota win the tourney, it is likely that those squads will be in the top 14 or 15 of the PWR. If another squad wins the tourney, it could take away a spot. However, CC or UNO could move up enough to finish in the top 14 or 15 if they were the squad to win the tourney. Basically, it is likely that the WCHA champ finishes in the top 14 or 15. What does all this mean? If you finish 16th, you're not making the tournament, barring the AHA champion moving up into the top 16. Less than 1% chance. If you finish 15th, you need to be extremely lucky and have all favorites win the tourney. Perhaps 5-10% chance. If you finish 14th, you are probably better than 50/50 to make it, but need to have limited upsets. If you finish 13th, you can withstand some upsets, and are probably close to 90%+ at making the tourney If you finish 12th, you are almost assuredly in the tournament, barring major upsets in every conference tourney If you finish 11th or higher, congratulations, you will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

When it's a title won against amateur rec-league teams.

It sure stinks of jealousy to me, but when you've played for 50 years longer than most programs, I'd sure hope you'd have the most wins. Perhaps you should hang a few more banners for that...I'm a little surprised they don't have a banner for each win.

Understandable, but at the end of the day, if you need to hang a banner, hang a banner for the undefeated season. That is far more impressive than the AAU title, which probably any college hockey program at the time could have won. I haven't been to Mariucci since 2008, but it sounded like from the previous posts that there now was a banner for the '29 season, which would be a complete joke.

The point is they were not "National" titles. In 1929, the Gophers were voted as the co-#1 team with Yale (which leads to the question of why Yale doesn't hang a banner for their co-title in '29, nor any other self-respecting program that won "titles" back in this time period). In 1940, the Gophers definitely won the AAU title that year, and were probably the best team in college hockey. The problem is, the AAU tournament did not feature any other college hockey programs, and the schools Minnesota beat were nothing more than amateur rec-league teams. The Brock-Hall Milkmen (that's right, a rec league team sponsored by a milk company) was who Minnesota beat to win the AAU title in 1940. The problem is that every college team the Milkmen faced that year beat them, including Yale who beat the Milkmen by a larger margin than the Gophers did. Is that really a "national" title? Of course not...this is why any title won before a recognized system of getting the best teams to play each other for a title doesn't hold muster in comparison to an NCAA Title. This is also why ONLY the Gopher program, experiencing some sort of envy, claim those titles. No other program in college hockey claims a title won before the NCAA era. That is why it is truly sad and pathetic that Gopher fans try to rationalize those titles as NCAA titles, which they are not. Minnesota has a long and storied program history, and they should be proud of what they have. They are easily one of the top 5 programs in college hockey, and have the 5 National Titles and dozen or so MacNaugton Cups to back that up. However, to hang those banners is sad and pathetic, and goes to show that Minnesota is very jealous of Denver, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Michigan.

Based purely on what I've read on the different message boards, they will be hoping and praying that Michigan wins. It certainly seems that we are the one team that Duluth fans do not want to play. Given that, if Duluth loses to Notre Dame, I could see some changing tune, and pulling for the Sioux.

No. David Tenzer used to be my neighbor when I lived in Boulder.

I'm in the know with the University of Denver athletic department. They did not receive any tickets from the NCAA.

You're welcome. Thanks for playing. EDIT: I'm glad you highlighted that paragraph in my previous post. You see, there is a difference between Corporate Sponsors (think Wild/Xcel sponsors) and NCAA Sponsors. They draw tickets to this event from two different groups. You are extremely misinformed about how the ticket process works. You have absolutely no evidence to support your claims, and are making a fool of yourself. I have tried to enlighten you on this, but you refuse to listen.

These are not tickets given out to schools. These are tickets given out to NCAA Tournament executives, NCAA Sponsors and the like. These tickets, if not used, are sold via Ticketmaster. They are not given to schools. The only tickets given to schools are the 600 to the 4 participating teams. End of Story.

Let's work this out. I'm done talking about this with you after this... 18,500 tickets total. 10,000 are won through the lottery (your assertion that everybody won is simply false) 2,400 are given to the 4 schools that are actually IN the Frozen Four 1,600 (minimum) are given to NCAA 100 (50 each) are given to the two bands of the participating teams 74 (37 each) are given to the players/coaches/reps of the teams not playing in the first semifinal There are then tickets given to corporate sponsors and Gopher season ticket holders (hosts). These are the tickets that many gave back to the NCAA and were subsequently released, first to people who are high priority in the lottery (this was done 2 months ago or so) and then eventually to the general public. These were the tickets that were still available on Ticketmaster up until Sunday. This is approximately 4,000 tickets. Now, let's add up... 10000 02400 01600 00100 00074 04000 _____ 18174 The rest of the tickets were most likely obstructed view/SRO tickets that went on Ticketmaster earlier this week. There simply were NO tickets given out to other schools. North Dakota couldn't have done anything different. The ONLY...I repeat...ONLY way that they could get more is if one of the other participating schools doesn't give out their 600 tickets and sends back to the NCAA. Given the four schools, I will almost guarantee that all four schools will use their allotment of 600. Simple Math.

I guess if we give you absolute proof that you are wrong, and you still "stand by your statement" then there really isn't anything left to say. You have no clue whatsoever how the ticketing works for the Frozen Four.

You do realize that it is 600 to each school in the Frozen Four, NOT every school that made the NCAA Tournament. I would imagine that Michigan and Notre Dame will find users for their 600 tickets, and I know Duluth found users for their 600. There aren't any other tickets to get...

Since the end of World War II, Minnesota has the third best Winning Percentage in the Regular Season, and the 5th best overall. ESPN had their "Greatest NFL Franchises of All-Time" list a few years back, and Minnesota was in the top 10 (I THINK they were #7).

That would be insane. There would be 9,600 tickets given to the schools.

I will be flying up from Denver. I have business Friday morning, but decided to come in Thursday morning and stay until Sunday when I realized that it was over Frozen Four weekend. I got my tickets about 6 weeks ago, and am glad I did. I'll be in Section 113.

I think what he is saying is that if BOTH Boston College AND Merrimack get #1 seeds we'll get sent out east if UNH is a #4 seed. I'm hoping that UNH is a #4 seed, and Denver, Michigan or Miami get the fourth #1 seed. That would force BC to come out West (most likely St. Louis) and play CC or UNO.

That MIGHT be an error in the guide. IUPUI played Oral Roberts on March 7th in the Summit Tournament. I suppose it COULD be a replay of that game, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sioux hockey will be on that channel.

Miele is a +18, and has 35 PIM. Frattin is a +21, and has 36 PIM.

Frattin

What everyone is overlooking is the fact that we don't know how two teams tied are separated in PWR. While everyone is assuming RPI (that's how they separate with 3 teams), the committee could very well look at the tie between Denver and Merrimack and determine that Merrimack is the last #1 seed since they win the individual comparison between the two teams. If that's the case, then things clear up a bit... Bridgeport: #1 Yale vs #16 AH Champ #7 Union vs #10 Michigan Manchester: #2 BC vs #14 RPI #8 UNO vs #9 UNH Green Bay: #4 Merrimack vs #15 Wisconsin #6 UMD vs #11 Miami St. Louis: #3 UND vs #13 Dartmouth #5 Denver vs #12 Notre Dame Green Bay gets Wisconsin and UMD, St. Louis gets UND and a "big name" in Notre Dame (also Notre Dame can bus to St. Louis), and Bridgeport and Manchaster obviously get their host.

Well, a flight is a flight, so it doesn't really matter if Green Bay is closer for UND and St. Louis is closer for Denver. Generally, they try to match up the #2 seeds with their #1 counterpart as well. Saying that, given the teams that are currently in the tournament, I think we'll see some odd looking brackets for integrity purposes. Here is what I have given the current PWR: Bridgeport: #1 Yale vs #16 Atlantic Hockey AQ #7 Union vs #12 UNO* Manchester: #2 BC vs #14 Dartmouth #8 UNH vs #9 RPI Green Bay: #4 Denver vs #13 Michigan* #6 Merrimack vs #11 Wisconsin St. Louis: #3 UND vs #15 Miami #5 UMD vs #10 Notre Dame *UNO and Michigan are tied for 12th in the PWR. Michigan has a higher RPI, while UNO wins the individual comparison. There is a little confusion on how ties are broken between two teams. We know if there are three or more, that RPI is used, but according to the rulebook, it seems as though if only two teams are tied, the individual comparison is used to break that tie, hence UNO as a #3 seed and 12th overall, and Michigan as a #4 seed and 13th overall. While one could make a case to swap UND and DU, I think the committee will do whatever it can to get as much attendance in St. Louis as possible. The other three regionals should be fine, but St. Louis is going to be a trainwreck attendance wise. With the current PWR, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Miami are all bus trips to St. Louis. However, I think it's almost a given that Wisconsin will be placed in the Green Bay Regional (also a bus trip and basically home ice atmosphere for the Badgers). Obviously there is still a lot of hockey left to be played, but if the season ended today, I think we'd be shipped to St. Louis.

Friday - Knight Saturday - Frattin

Duluth would likely go to Green Bay as well, as they are within the 400 mile radius so they wouldn't have to fly. North Dakota is a flight wherever, so they are a better candidate for St. Louis. Also, last year there was no such thing as bracket integrity. UND was the #1 2 seed and Yale was the #1 3 seed.