GFG

If Minnesota has a strong enough leader this year, which I think they do in Tom Serratore, they can surpass this past years team due to hard work alone. That's IMO only.

Defense should still be pretty solid. Only losing 2 defensemen. Helgeson is replaceable but Schmidt hurts because of his offensive talent. Minnesota is bringing in more of the small/fast forwards than usual, but I think that's the way to go in college hockey now. Fasching is going to be nothing but a big bodied forward IMO.

On Lucia's radio show tonight he said that for those three "the decision is up to them." And then he mentioned the Budish thing. Haula is probably the most gone actually. The Wild want to sign him and if they don't they lose his rights. After their last home game when the team went to the locker room Haula came back out and saluted the crowd that was still there and started signing autographs and stuff for kids too. Schmidt will more than likely get a maximum contract offer from someone since he's an undrafted free agent. Florida sucks again, so I'm sure they'll want Bjugstad more now. I'll be more surprised if any of them stay than if they leave.

Seems like Bjugstad, Haula and Schmidt are all but gone from Minnesota. Lucia also said Nashville wants to sign Budish but Budish said he was staying. So I guess we'll see how that one goes..

BC usually doesn't have any more than 7-9 draft picks on a team. In fact I don't know if I've ever seen them have 10+ draft picks on a single team. If they have it's not very often. They rely much more on role players, which is what you need because those are the guys that give it their all and put everything on the line since they know they may not play past the college level.

In all honesty I don't think the state could support one FBS team. Is it possible? Of course it is, but I don't think it would work without a lot of the regional schools jumping at the same time and starting their own conference. This includes all the Dakota schools and the Montana schools as well as a couple others. That is, IMO, the only way it would work.

well played

Lucia said the same thing. Fire Lucia. Fire Hakstol. We want Jacques Lemaire!

They're triplets. They all starred in the movies "Baby Geniuses"

That thread is internet gold. All the logical fans just trying to completely derail the thread by any means necessary to shut up the illogical fans.

We were all Yale'd within about 26 hours. One week after both teams were CC'd haha. Minnesota just flat out didn't show up the first 2 periods, with the exception of a couple players. Probably the 2 worst periods of the 2nd half of the season. They showed up for one period and almost won it in regulation before losing because of a player that was still sleeping UND showed up right away and then seemed to fall asleep or something. I know UND wasn't an overall great team this year, but it was weird to see that from a team that's still been good. Next year will be interesting for you guys because Kristo and Knight were HUGE leaders for the team and are, in my opinion, the reason UND was in the NCAA tournament. Just curious as to who you guys think will step up next year to try and replace that leadership spot? I believe that was one of Minnesota's biggest downfalls this year. They didn't really have anyone that was a team leader.

Or it was created by a rube who saw an opportunity to make a meme picture

Lol. For real, though. That's actually how I feel the UND game will go. Niagara and Canisius are the only bad teams in the tournament IMO. I could be wrong, just my opinion. I feel like Minnesota is gonna have a track race with Yale that will come down to goaltending.

More chances at marquee matchups (even if your school does get crushed) and much more visibility on the national spectrum. Even the low level FBS schools are fairly well known throughout college football. Compare that with FCS and it's not close. Most people that don't follow FCS probably couldn't name more than 2 or 3 FCS schools, if that. For the small schools it's all about getting their schools name out there yet still playing an overall higher level of football than FCS. Is it BCS level for most of them? Not even close. But fans are more likely to go watch an FBS school than an FCS school (usually).

Basketball is a different sport. Schools like VCU can make a run in basketball and make it to the Final Four. That can not and will not happen in football. The BCS conferences are king of college football and they know it.

So my memory was slightly off, but not by much.

I think all but 3 bowl games this year, even the worst of the worst, had higher ratings than ANY FCS playoff game. The FCS title game wasn't even close to having the amount of viewers one of the FCS quarterfinal games had. IIRC every bowl game had higher ratings than the FCS Championship game. I need to find the link for the viewing numbers again....

I wouldn't say the hit was "vicious", but it was definitely worthy of a 5. I do agree with the 2nd part you said. That's like saying Robbie Bina's injury was because he didn't take the hit right.

I think UND got a good draw with this one. Niagara is a team that is quite possibly the most overrated team in the history of the PWR. Only 21 in the KRACH rankings and their SOS is 53 out of 59. I know it's playoff time and anything can happen, but I fully expect UND to completely out class Niagara in every aspect of the game. 6-1 UND.

Yet if it were Kristo or Knight that got checked on that play you'd probably want Marciano suspended for life. With the point of emphasis on hits like this the right call was made, which is surprising, considering the officials in the WCHA. There's no need for clear intent to injure to make it a major penalty and it was a dangerous hit that had the possibility of causing a catastrophic injury.

Mmmmmmmm I loaded up on Founders to bring home while in Minneapolis this past weekend and will do the same when I visit Michigan in July. I love their beer. Easily in the discussion for best brewery in America, IMO.

I don't really agree with this years bracket. Bracket integrity was almost completely thrown out the window in order to (surprise, surprise) get BC back east for attendance. Must be nice to be BC.

Looking at the youth on their team, they have the ability to be VERY good in the next couple years.

This.

Patrick Reusse is a journalism troll. He gets a lot of attention by trolling fans with his writing, and why not if it works? I said I wouldn't be surprised if they got in. With as well as Michigan is playing I'd almost peg them as the favorites to win the CCHA tournament at this point.