redwing77

I know! WTF was I thinking by choosing SCSU?

I'm tied for 70th! Why do I even participate in these challenges? I can't even predict yesterday's weather!

Yup! They were leaning too much towards Clinton!

I agree! I hope Vilanove or Davidson goes all the way. It would make ESPN crap their pants. UW's hockey team, by the way, is the only NCAA contending team left playing right now.

I thought we were talking about Minnesota Technical University's club team! Oops... heheh. Oh screw it, it doesn't matter. In a comparison of Minnesota hockey teams in the playoffs, I'd still take MTU.

My prediction: UND 27 Princeton 465 Let me summarize: In an incredibly unorthodox move, both teams decide to not dress a goaltender. Instead, they dress two extra skaters aside and play the entire game 6 on 6. It got off a little rocky at first when UND forward TJ Oshie won the opening faceoff cleanly...but Robbie Bina, the sixth player, missed the puck and it went straight into the empty net. It would only get worse from there.

I'm sure this is a joke, but I'd put MTU and UMD ahead of SCSU. They've each won at least one NCAA game in their DI histories. I'm not surprised by the Michigan/Niagara tilt (well, I'm surprised Niagara scored at all, to be honest). I am surprised at the UNH/Notre Dame tilt. I thought UNH was FAR better than ND in talent and experience. I also thought that there would be no way it would be no defense on the part of UNH. I'm not sure I'd classify this game as an upset, per se, but it is still a surprising outcome. As for Clarkson/SCSU, I'll say this: SCSU fans and players should be extremely upset with themselves. The only way SCSU could have faced a "weaker" opponent would have been if they were a #1 seed. This was their golden opportunity (add on to the fact that SCSU has had success against Clarkson recently) and they blew it big time. One and Done... It never ceases to amaze me. EDIT: Oh, and as usual, Jim's Bracket contest loser is me. First day and my bracket is completely shot to hell. I had SCSU, Michigan (I still got that one right), UNH, and I have CC (but with the shot count as any indication, I may lose that as well).

BS Call. Everyone knows that Lee doesn't play the body!

With the trap and clutching and grabbing, do they have to keep up?

I think this issue comes down to a few factors: 1. CCHA teams, for the most part, are further East than WCHA teams. The closer to Bristol, CT and New England (for reasons I'm not entirely sure other than ESPN is in Bristol), the more closely they are watched. 2. CCHA has more big schools. The WCHA, for big schools, have UW and UMN. The rest are medium to small schools (including the media-irrelevant schools in Alaska). The CCHA has more big schools period. They have Notre Dame, Michigan, MSU, and tOSU. I don't know how big Miami is, but regardless, there is only really one "small" school in the CCHA and it is a "media-irrelevant" school in Fairbanks. To the media, big school = big press. 3. The CCHA is incredibly top heavy. I think more so than any other major DI hockey conference. When Michigan is good, they often are FAR better than anyone in the CCHA, even if it doesn't exactly match up with other conferences. Since (my bias showing here) it is more than likely a team like UAA, on any given night, could beat all but the best CCHA teams, this implies that it is somewhat of a lesser conference among WCHA fans. Disregarding tradition entirely, I believe the closest conference competitively to the WCHA is not the CCHA, but rather Hockey East. Though rather subpar from top to bottom, the ECACHL seems to be the most level of playing fields, in my opinion, outside of the WCHA. My two cents.

I completely agree. I don't like either team in a playoff situation. DU has our number in the NCAAs and UW's defensive scheme can be trouble.

Wait a minute..... members of Greek Life doing something stupid? NO WAY! That NEVER happens! Seriously, yet another item to add to the long list of things that support making Greek Life a NON-School supported function. That means, they are allowed to exist, but they exist off campus, not affiliated with any University or place of higher education, receive no state funds or college funding of any kind, and so on. Sure, they won't fall under the University Code of Conduct any more, but who cares. They no longer have to answer to the University. Instead, they answer to the Judicial System. Much better. But again, I'm a bit biased. (And before anyone or everyone jumps on me, I realize that not all Greek Life is like this, but a damn good percentage is. Black Eye on a large body or otherwise, the large body has done next to nothing visible to eliminate the black eye, which, IMO, makes them equally culpable)

Siouxtatoo- I disagree with the Boogaard vs. Radke thing. They both can be goonish...well, Boogaard is a goon, but Radke has more defensive presence than Boogaard and therefore adds much more to the Sioux than just a fighter like Boogaard. Then again, I'm a mite biased... And, yes, as skilled as Miller is, he's still easily taken off the puck. I'd STILL put Kozek on the first line.

Jones can't be our best D. He has no points, isn't from ND, wasn't drafted....

Just saying one thing: Finley, you rock! Don't let "The Scout" and the other people who think that wins and losses come on the shoulders of ONE PLAYER get you down. Last time I checked, we lost to DU because they scored 3 goals and we scored 1. If blaming Finley for that makes you guys feel better, GREAT! Better you the d-bag than me. So, yeah, win or lose, I'm not throwing any player under the bus. And I'll do this instead: For every blatant "He sucks!" or "If it werent for so and so" post brought up from now until the end of the season I'll say this: I just LOVE it when players get thrown under the bus. What we did to Brian Lee should make us feel proud as a fanbase. What we are doing to Finley whenever he may make a mistake should make us proud. So, yeah, TJ Oshie is driving the bus provided he follows these "fan's" (so to speak) requests to back up repeatedly over Joe Finley. Tired of that? Well then, figure out some way to coin a loss on the fact that the team didn't play well enough to beat the other team. If ONE NAME surfaces in explanation of defeat, then this passage will return. Annoying as it is, so is reading your pathetic posts that only serve to flame a member of what I'd assume is YOUR TEAM.

Despite the fact that officiating has been a disappointment year after year, I'm still the optimist. After all, one would assume the playoffs are officiated by the best.... or maybe Greg's best friend...or best son...

Slap Shot- I agree with you. THe officiating hasn't cost the Sioux any series...but it did cost UW and SCSU, though. And, yes, my big problem with officiating is that the officials en masse suck. That isn't a reflection on the officials themselves as much as it is a reflection on who is running the show.

Bob Dole?

I have a character flaw... I feel more sorry for Wiley than I ever did for Paukovich. I guess that makes me a bad person. Anyone heard if Pohl's number will appear on the backs of helmets like Bina's did? I think it would be neat to see Sioux helmets with Pohl's number on the back.

No, but this has to be the situation Nolan was hoping for. It is similar to JPL and JPar. It gives Nolan a good year extra as the #1. I hear Hachey (or whatever their #3 guy's name is) isn't that bad either, though that comes from his junior days. MTU also is getting in a good USHL goaltender in Josh Robinson. I don't know why MTU can't get a lot of scorers because they certainly get some great goaltenders.

Same old broken record but... I love the fact that Masucko is so extreme in his bias that it makes Woog look like a Sioux fan.

Yeah, because obviously I'm the best! MEg even somewhat implied it so it must be true!

Might as well not matter if you can tie. NExt thing you know, after the third place game they'll make the teams stand at the blue lines and hand out "Honorable Mention" Ribbons to the fourth place teams and "Bronze" metals to the third place team.

Well, I'm a "non-fan" because I only get to about 1 game a year, I talk a lot and "know little," I whine a lot, I usually sit wherever I can rather than in the posh sections with Chauncy, Beauregard, and Froedrich, I've never played hockey before, I'm not willing to overly criticize certain players, I'm not pro-ND over everywhere else.... I don't know... the list can go on. It really doesn't matter that my income is well below the poverty line (I saw it estimated between $9,000/year and $14,760/year)... I guess I'm just a poor peon. It used to offend me. Now, it's become so much of a joke that I find amusement by it.

Are ties even possible in the CCHA playoffs?