yzerman19

WIth the uber talented teams of the past decade, they had tons of pressure and high expectations...this team without expectations can play loose and that might make all the difference.

we're in 7 and 8...hopefully we'll be doing a lot of high fiving!

Awesome! Go Sioux! See you in St Paul!

Missed the Five this year with my wife out of town. Missed seeing the "gang" and seeing you. I just bought my regional tix though- Section 108, row 8. Hope to see you there!

Just bought my tix- section 108 row 8! Go Sioux!

I agree that the bandings are often very, very tight, however I believe you have to maintain the integrity of 1 seed, 2 seed, 3 seed, 4 seed due, if to nothing else, the final line change impact. The regular season has to have some consequence.

The question marks are only there because of Minnesota being a host. They should be the be in Worcester playing BU, but instead they get moved to St Paul. The committee could swap the whole bracket and move Minnesota and BU to St. Paul as some have suggested, but I don't know why they would move BU from Worcester...this is the NC$$ and Beanpot lite is very appealing. Or, as a conspiracy theorist, you might intentionally move BU west to set up the potential for two Boston schools in the Frozen Four. So, I think they will slide the 2 seeds rather than moving an entire bracket.

True- and I agreed with his brackets every one of the prior years. This years was harder though and you really have to think through it. #1 seeds are supposed to go to the REgional closest to home. That puts the Sioux in St Paul again. I don't know why people think that UND will go to Green Bay...Michigan is closer to Green Bay than GF is.

11am on ESPNU

I don't agree with this bracket...they will preserve the top seeds route in before they preserve the true 2 and 3 seed matchups...why would they ever pull BU out of Worcester...a potential BU vs BC matchup in Worcester to go to the Frozen Four is gold. Same thing in St Paul...you love a UND vs Minn matchup to go to the Frozen Four.

Natural Seeding placing #1 seeds closest to home: Worcester 1 BC vs 16 Air Force 8 Minn vs 9 BU Green Bay 2 Mich vs 15 MSU 7 UMD vs 10 Maine Bridgeport 3 Union vs 14 WMU 6 Ferris vs 11 DU St Paul 4 UND vs 13 Cornell 5 Miami vs 12 Lowell Minnesota, as a host institution must be placed in St Paul, so: Worcester 1 BC vs 16 AF open vs 9 BU Green Bay 2 MI vs 15 MSU open vs 10 Maine Bridgeport 3 Union vs 14 WMU open vs 11 DU St Paul 4 UND vs 13 Cornell 8 MN vs 12 Lowell 7 UMD, 6 FSU and 5 Miami remain as the 2 seeds that need to be placed. Attempting to preserve bracket integrity, 7 should replace 8, 6 should replace 7, and 5 should replace 6...so: Worcester 1 BC vs 16 AF 7 UMD vs 9 BU Green Bay 2 MI vs 15 MSU 6 FSU vs 10 Maine Bridgeport 3 Union vs 14 WMU 5 Miami vs 11 DU St Paul 4 UND vs 13 Cornell 8 Minn vs 12 Lowell Now adjust to avoid first round intra-conference Michigan can not play MSU or WMU in the first round Union can not play Cornell in the first round So you swap 13 Cornell with 15 MSU You arrive at: Worcester 1 BC vs 16 AF 7 UMD vs 9 BU Green Bay 2 MI vs 13 Cornell 6 FSU vs 10 Maine Bridgeport 3 Union vs 14 WMU 5 Miami vs 11 DU St Paul 4 UND vs 15 MSU 8 Minn vs 12 Lowell The Worcester and St Paul brackets will have AWESOME attendance. The other two are ok...so, they might stick with this or, they might swap DU and Maine in order to reduce the travel burden for fans resulting in: Worcester 1 BC vs 16 AF 7 UMD vs 9 BU Green Bay 2 MI vs 13 Cornell 6 FSU vs 11 DU Bridgeport 3 Union vs 14 WMU 5 Miami vs 10 Maine St Paul 4 UND vs 15 MSU 8 Minn vs 12 Lowell That's my bracketology

Hak has certainly put his name on the short list of potential "coach of the year" winners this year! Unbelievable performance.

That charge of Dell was the most bush league thing that I have seen in a hockey game in a long time. If it was a regular season game and not a tournament, I would've cleared the bench. Hak's discipline held out though.

I appreciate your diplomacy in this debate. You are absolutely correct in asserting that both have pluses and minuses. I do neec to call out a little flaw in the logic on your player stats...the player is a year older, and it is possible that the player has a different role on the CHL team than he did for the landcows (special teams, etc). If I assume that the player was an 11 goal scoring freshman in the WCHA, that is a VERY good freshman.

Don't get me wrong, I support college hockey. Additionally, I loved college and completely understand the affinity the Sioux family continue to feel for the school...it is life before responsibility...I would guess that a lot of guys who play in the CHL feel the same way about those one horse towns across the Trans-Canadian highway 1. This is a business decision for these kids. Now, I do believe that defensemen need more time to develop than forwards, and NCAA will allow for more time spent on the weights and one on one skill training while the CHL will give you more game experience. CHL will generally have more skilled players, but college will have more physically developed players (men). It is probably a more difficult decision to make for a dman. I still say that if I were touted as the potential #1 overall and I had been playing in Ann Arbor, I would go CHL

I never said that. Nothing even close, so don't roll your eyes. JT would've had the same success had he played in the W or for UND. JT was also 17 as a freshman at UND; he needed to develop physically. If you recall, his hockey skills were beyond reproach, but his physical performance at the combine was less than ideal. UND is probably the best NHL development center in NCAA. The CHL still produces more NHLers.

Missing my first Final Five in five years... wife is out in the big apple visiting friends, so I am daddy daycare. I will miss all my Sioux friends!

A man makes his own money. Popeye Jones' financial situation probably isn't driving Seth either way. CHL is still the road most often taken to the NHL for first rounders. It is tried and true, and unless you really need time to develop physically (in which case NCAA is best) you go to the CHL.

I respect that. I would not. Just as I would not let my son make other decisions that are not in their long term best interest...17 year olds lack perspective.

First of all, as much as I'd love to see Seth Jones in a North Dakota (almost wrote Sioux) sweater, if I were Seth or my son were Seth, I'd send him to the CHL...if you are a potential #1 go play in the CHL, have a big year, sign your name and be set for life. secondly on Mario- look people, Mario knows his role is not as a top 6 forward. His role is to lead, disrupt, energize and play with an edge. He does that. He also plays hurt and backs up his teammates. Don't underestimate the importance of these "team" guys. Rarely does an elite scorer or scoring line a champion make, but rather the championship teams are defined by the performance of their 3rd and 4th lines. Lunch pail, heart and soul checking line guys are what we pride ourselves on and that ethic defines Sioux hockey. Toewser and Parise are perhaps two of the twenty most talented players in the world, and you know what, they both wear Cs in the NHL because of how hard they work every shift. I guarantee you that while Mario may never hold the Conn Smythe trophy nor rack up a 90 point NHL season, he will never quit, and he deserves to wear the C for this team.

Looking at the pwr, the DU series is critical. I have no delusions that we are a national championship team, but I'd like the freshman to get an NCAA regional undr their belt.

I was in 5th grade...what a year to be a 5th grade boy in GF...Sioux dominate and win with the Hrkac Circus, and then the Twins win the world series...what a year. No team or line has ever been as dominant.

By the looks of the posts on this board, I would be wanting a piece of these refs if I was watching live. Good riddance to WCHA officiating!

Fox News reporting that Whitney Houston is dead.

It's going to be a long winter... the positive is that the ice time that MacMillan, O'Donnel, Parks and Mattson are logging now as freshman could really have a nice ROI (Return On Ice) in 3 or 4 years...they could become like Frattin, Malone and Trupp.