Godsmack

I tried to listen to the radio broadcast on the fox tonight and they were just playing music. Did they change stations?

I oughta keep my big mouth shut...

That was one of the best periods of hockey I've seen them play in a long time! This is not the same team I saw in Vancouver last Friday!

CC was doing what they've done all season long...defensive zone breakdowns. I also think CC is a different team on the NHL ice sheet.

Despite CC's terrible overall record, they are in 5th place so there's hope in their eyes for a top half finish. That will give them motivation. Furthermore, all season long they've demonstrated the ability to play well for at least one of two nights (even in some of their losses). That said, I'm going to predict a split.

Three things to watch for in UND/CC series: http://m.gazette.com/three-things-to-watch-in-the-colorado-collegenorth-dakota-hockey-matchup/article/1512277

Amen!!!

My buddy just bought tix for the series directly from the DU website. He said he paid just a little north of $30 per ticket. Perhaps the restriction has been lifted due to lighter than expected ticket purchases?

Thank You! TC Transplant, I think you missed my point. My point was that the feedback I got didn't simply come from inferior players who were bitter about not playing for the Gophers. Furthermore, yes-CC has had some top notch talent, even in recent years and despite their average record...have you heard of the Schwartz brothers? But I digress. My point wasn't to argue whether or not CC has had talent, it was simply to give the readers some first hand insight as to what some college hockey players thought of the other programs in the conference. It's not scientific, it's merely some of the CC guys' opinions,who I would think lend some credibility to the topic.

Not at first. I'm a CC alum but UND is still my favorite team. I wanted to see what they had to say before telling them I was from Grand Forks.

Ha ha! Touché!

Sitting at the CC hockey banquet at the conclusion of each of the past two seasons, and sitting at a table with 2-3 different CC players at each banquet, I asked them the following question: "So what are your thoughts of DU, Minnesota, UND, etc.?" Basically, I wanted to gauge their thoughts on the other teams in the conference. The response from all of them was a variation of the following: "Minnesota constantly chirps and talks trash during and after the games...they're a bunch of prima Dona's and behave like it." UND doesn't say anything when you play them...they go out there and attempt to get their 80 hits per game." Skalbeck said this and it cracked me up! I followed that up by asking, "UND players don't talk trash at all?" And the response was, "nope, they play hard and physical but don't say anything out on the ice." I'm sure Gopher fans will jump to the conclusion that CC players are all a bunch of disgruntled Minnesota Gopher rejects but considering a good number of their players who express this sentiment are not from Minnesota as well as the fact that CC has had blue chip talent every bit as good as anyone in the country, I didn't take their remarks as sour grapes.

Here's an interesting article in the Gazette. Part of me thinks that it's somewhat wishful thinking but as a fan, one must be positive and optimistic of their team. (I just hope CC's success is put on hold until after the UND series!)

When I first read that Tambellini had left the program, my first reaction was, "this sure is a kick in the nuts." However, upon reading everyone's posts here, plus the tone of Hak and Simpson's responses, I'm thinking that perhaps this can be addition by subtraction. Perhaps the remaining guys can use this as a positive motivator going forward into the second half.

With Thorimbert, anything can happen. The guy can stand on his head one night and then be a huge sieve the next.

I hate to say this but, I was a bit embarrassed at UND's performance last weekend, particularly Friday's game. There were a number of teams in attendance (I'd say they were pee wee and bantems) and I kept telling myself as well as my girlfriend-who hadn't seen UND in person until the BC trip-we're really a much better skating team...I swear! I bet those local kids weren't in awe of UND after Friday's game. I'm not blaming the coaches because at the end of the day, the players went out on the ice. I was just really bummed after Friday's game because it's always been a source of pride for me to attend road games over the years-UND regularly has an air of confidence (not arrogance but more of an attitude of, "we're here to win and we will work our butts off to accomplish that and we will not be intimidated, no matter how hostile the opposing fans are."). I promised my gf that when she sees the UND/CC series, win or lose, she is going to see a much more aggressive, hungry, and harder working squad. I am confident that Hakstol will have the full attention of the players this week in practice as well as this weekend's games.

This season, I've attended most of CC's home games plus their road game at DU. They're a strange team-even in their losses, they've demonstrated they can hang with some of the top teams (Wisconsin, DU). And yet, in other losses, they've been blown out (Western, Duluth, New Hampshire). When you average under two goals a game, that puts a ton of pressure on goalie Josh Thorimbert to keep the team in it. Guys like Fejes, Krushelnyski and Skalbeck aren't producing goal-wise. That said, perhaps UND's lackluster performance up in Canada was in part due to playing down to their level of competition. I'm betting (and hoping) UND's compete level will be much better this weekend against CC. Despite CC's awful record, don't discount them-they always play UND tough. The UND/CC series is one of the more entertaining series for me as both typically play a very up-tempo style.

My girlfriend and I attended the games this weekend. Here are some of my observations: -Ice totally sucked. Puck skipped around; ice appeared soft. I spoke to Gary Valk at intermission and he said that he freezes pucks prior to his ten-year-old's games when they play at that arena, the ice is so bad. This is not an excuse for UND's poor play as both opponents played on the same ice, it's just an observation. -Enjoyed meeting Steve Peters and Gary Valk. Very nice guys. Valk dropped ceremonial puck at Saturday game. -Enjoyed a Clan fan who stood directly behind UND bench and heckled the players. He truly loves his Clan! -No video boards so no benefit of seeing replay but I thought that the penalty called late in Friday's game that led to BC's pp goal was questionable. Also, there was a slash or trip by SFU on one of our guys with under a minute to play that went uncalled. That said, we took some very undeciplined penalties this weekend. -SFU and BC players came upstairs and signed autographs. Very nice guys, were very impressed with UND fan turnout. SFU guys said they had a blast playing us and were all smiles despite losing the game. -Refs looked barely old enough to shave. Seriously, the three of them looked younger than UND's players. Not a criticism, just an observation. -SFU and BC fans were really nice and gracious. We are glad we went and we very much enjoyed our time in Seattle and Vancouver.

Channel 159 on Dish Network. 7pm Central time.

I always used to cheer on Canada but after observing them boo the United States at the WJ's in Grand Forks, I stopped. And this wasn't friendly good-natured booing by the fans either....and the US wasn't even playing Canada!

5-1, final team USA...nice win. Lots of controversy with team Canada...lost their captain to injury and their head coach announced his resignation this morning for "personal reasons."

Oh wait! Hilary Knight just made it 4-1 Americans!

I hope I didn't jinx them...3-1, Canada just scored. Ten minutes left in period 3.

Team USA is dominating team Canada in tonight's women's olympic exhibition game up in Calgary! 3-0, but it really should be about 6-0 for the Americans!

Off topic but am watching the women's exhibition tonight between team USA and team Canada. Wow! Entertaining game! I wish I was going to be in GF on Dec 20th to go see these two teams play!