redwing77

I didn't do well at all. Two refs I thought were not good enough to be given playoff jobs made it (Anderson and Adam) which displaced every prediction I made. The only two I got right? UND and UW series refs.

Hard for us, yes. Wisconsin is beatable (so is UAA if they upset UW). I'm thinking Masucko is going to be crying on Wooger's shoulders because no way does the Gophers beat CC. I guess I see a CC/DU F5 Title game. However, anything can happen. I'm just going to have to settle for being along for the ride.

First off, unless we're undefeated, scoring 5 goals a game on average and allowing less than 1 a game, or we get Zach and Bo back, there are going to be people on this board who just don't get it. Do not lump those of us who do value the players whether they have a good game or not mixed in with those who'd rather "criticize" rather than point out ways to improve that are both constructive and meaninful. Let them bash away. They look like fools, but you shouldn't care that much. And as for Smaby and Schneider, I disagree. Smaby and Schneider have been playing well for quite a while. Smaby started slow, but I don't think he's done too poorly since the beginning of the year... Maybe even since December. Schneider hasn't done poorly either really. He certainly wasn't all that noticeable for a good portion of the year, but he wasn't bad either. Early in the year some of us were saying "get these dmen graduated so we can move on and improve" or "I'm counting the days until Matt Greene signs!" Let me ask, what do you all think now? When we score more than 2 goals, we usually win. Doesn't that speak more to offense than defense? Personally, I'm going to dread the first month of next season because we have an all new defensive corps pretty much. Z Jones, Chorney, and Lee starting their careers, Radke restarting his career. That's 4 of seven. Only Bina, Smaby, Foyt (roleplayer/benchwarmer), and maybe (but not likely) Matt Greene returns for the Sioux. Admittedly, these are all great defensemen coming in, but we can't expect them to be as effective as this or last year's defensive corps.

This Gopher rule thing is not sunsetted. If they meaning the WCHA front office, is circulating that around, it's simply to try to get the heat off of them or perhaps bury the issue. For however long the Final 5 is in Minny, the Gopher rule will apply as long as the Gophers make the F5. If they get knocked off in the first round, then everything's up in the air including TV coverage, marketing, and game placement.

Something's in the water. Most of the winners scored 5+ goals tonight in the WCHA.

I thought they predicted UND to win tonight and UMD to take the next two? Even so, it was an impressive score.

Who's going to take Canady's place tommorrow? Sounds like it could be bad.

BC won, Northeastern got bombed, Maine won. Does these hurt us? Help us?

It's the "it's kinda windy out, this game's basically over, let's retire to the bar to go talk about whatever the hell we were talking all game about" crowd. I hope it includes those blowhards that sat behind me at the BSU series. I sat three rows off the glass in the Sioux end and a few rows behind me this guy was rooting for BSU to get a powerplay every time our D touched a BSU player. God what losers.

All I can say is wow. Doubters slam Massen's line and that line explodes. I can't wait to hear what line those losers slam between now and tommorrow's game. Maybe they'll explode too! 8-2 Dogs now.

True jk, but rational thought doesn't matter. When there are bad seasons, a lot of the fans think it's ok to bash certain players on "their" team and call it "criticism." Let them have their fun. I remember when the "chump of the week" was Jordan Parise. Can't pick on him because he's doing well. So, evidentally the new "chumps" are Fabian, Massen, and Canady. C'est le vie.

Though I would agree that a four location rotation (Ralph, XCel, World Arena, Kohl Center) for the Final 5 would be the best, I have to agree with DaveK. No amount of whining or finger pointing is going to change this. It's nice to be the Gophers, and that's just how it is going to have to be come Final five time. Besides, the XCel energy center is the nicest NHL arena in the world, IMO.

It's been said before so I'll repeat what was said: The key to beating Reichmuth is to get him off of his game. The key to do that is to score early and rattle him up a bit. I know that's been tough since we've only like got the first goal in a game, what, 5 times this season? 6? Not many. Since UMD plays us hard every time we play, we can't do the usual and start off the game trailing.

Dumb questions: What does TOC and TUC stand for?

Another interesting point by this bracketology: Ohio State could theoretically put up enough of a game to knock UMN off! Don't expect it, but it is more possible than their previous 1st round opponents.