fightingsioux4life

Three years into the life of the NCHC and you are writing WMU's postmortem? Let's wait a few more years before we start reading them their last rites.

Really? How much money is the NCAA making with these asinine "neutral site" regional tournaments? I imagine not much. How much money are the B1G hockey programs making? You have seen the same media reports that I have. It is a disaster on all levels (including financial). The sooner people stop trying to turn college hockey into college basketball and start treating it as its own unique entity, the sooner college hockey will become more profitable and popular.

I imagine WMU joined the NCHC because they are looking into making their hockey program the centerpiece of their athletic department. They do nothing in FB. They do nothing in MBB or WBB. Their best bet is to put resources into Division I hockey. I heard they are raising money for a new arena. That shows a commitment to make the program better. And that is what we want in the NCHC. And please stop talking about college hockey as if it operates under the exact same dynamics as college basketball or football. As the current sorry state of the B1G hockey conference proves, you cannot manufacture instant college hockey success in a vacuum. BTN has not made the B1G #1 with a bullet like some people on this forum insisted it would.

I won't tell Peyton Manning you said that.

You too?

You forgot Jimmy Kleinsasser.

I have been a proponent of UND scheduling a home and home with Arizona State to help give their program some instant credibility. That would keep with our tradition of helping nascent programs get off the ground and get established.

Exactly, the NCHC was set up as a conference where hockey is a priority sport on campus. And I don't know if Arizona State is planning on making it a priority on their campus. Of course, they don't do much in any other sport, so I suppose there is a chance hockey could become the top dog there.

They'll have tougher sledding tomorrow against the blockers and tacklers Duluth puts out there.

Karma is a b!tch.

Come on now, let's think positive. That was five years ago; let's not jinx our team by bringing up bad memories.

Heck no. I would take our goaltenders over Minnesota's in the same time period every day and twice on Sundays.

I would rather play Michigan (likes to skate) vs. Notre Dame (likes to trap). So I think we are getting the better match-up.

Yeah. Our fans aren't the ones talking trash before the tournament starts. Some Hockey East fans were talking about an all-HE Frozen Four. They deserve all the humble pie they can eat.

This Michigan team is way softer than the one we lost to 5 years ago. And this is the perfect time for the hockey gods to even up what happened in the X in 2011. That being said, we need to play hard for 60 minutes (not 58 or 59.....60).

Michigan is too fat from all the B1G cupcakes they have been feasting on all season. Notre Dame has been playing a tough Hockey East schedule. That gives them the edge in this one.

But remember, there is more to do out East.

The bad ice seems to happen at arenas that are not hockey-first buildings (Target Center is a good example of this).

Thank you. Now let's get back to beating Northeastern.

As someone who has yelled unpleasant things at referees in multiple sports, I will say with certainty that NOBODY "deserves" what happened to that guy. His family has lost someone special to them. Please don't make things personal.

There are always ebbs and flows in any game. Cam has come up with the saves we need him to come up with and we got the momentum back towards the end of the 2nd period.

I like having the hundredths of a second on the game clock when we went inside one minute left in the period! They have had the tenths of a second on there for years, but I have never seen the hundredths there until today.

Agreed. We are at our best when we are rolling four lines and enter their defensive zone in waves. That means staying out of the box and burying our chances.

Let's leave that alone as long as we are alive in this year's tournament.

You are not the only one that asks yourself that question. We fans live vicariously through our sports teams. Especially those we have been following since childhood. It is a fountain of youth for a lot of people. You are the rule and not the exception.