jk

centennial moorhead locked in a defensive death duel in the first. not much for chances.

Looks like still no score UMD-MSUM in the first Wi1 aa 0 first BU 4 bc 1 late 2nd wow!! MN sc 0-0 5 mins left in 1st

bite me, donny

bu 3 bc 1 mc 2 maine 1 unh 0 pc 0 mhd 0 cent 0

Sioux on the radio and Centennial/Moorhead on the telie. Looks like a great day for hockey.

Did that happen during or after the game last night...

I love watching this Stalock kid play in goal for SSP. He's probably going to get burned with his wandering, but he is one of the most aggressive goalies I've ever seen. Reminds me of DiPietro (sp) from BU a few years ago. When they pulled him for an extra attacker at the end of the first, I thought they would just move him up and let him be the extra attacker.

Holy cow is Brian Lee good! I'm sure UND's rivals will be very happy with Goligoski and Niskanen, and Hardwick, Ammerman and Anderson will probably be fine players as well, but I can't imagine that they are any better than Lee. Talk about a complete player. Pardon me for the bunny-like look at the future, but I've been wondering how the program will handle losing the four defensemen we have relied on for a few years: Schneider, Jones, Fuher and Greene. Assuming they are all gone after next year, I'm growing more comfortable with a defensive group the next year that includes these players: Marvin Smaby Bina Radke Beaverson Chorney Lee After watching Warroad last night and Moorhead tonight, I'm left to wonder how in the world Warroad stayed within a goal of Moorhead when they played. Moorhead seemed so fast and skilled throughout the lineup.

Much like the OT call against Schutte, the problem isn't the call against Hardwick - it was callable, even in OT. The problem was not calling one the other way within a few seconds of this one. The Orono player just plain ran the goalie; he wasn't pushed into him. I thought Orono looked like the better team overall and deserved to win. After watching the whole game, I am going to start thinking of Oshie as a 2006 recruit. It's hard for me to imagine that his skating can reach the WCHA level in just eighteen months. I hope he has a good skating coach and a work ethic to make himself better. His talent with the puck is undeniable and I can see why they think he could be special (nice combination of hands and vision), but he has a ways to go.

Watching Oshie now. Very nice goal and a fantastic move to get a pass off that wasn't finished. I can see why people say his skating needs work and also why they say he is deadly in the offensive zone.

Did anybody see Jordan Willert (sp) from Minot play in the state tournament? I think he's a sophomore (maybe junior) but he's a big kid who I hear may have a future in the game.

To be honest, I think it's hard to make a convincing case for anyone this year, including the Sioux players. In the past, nearly every year, a few players have risen above the crowd and demanded Hobey consideration. This year it seems to have not happened. Of all the contenders, I think Bochenski was in the best position to run away with it. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone cold down the stretch, with just 1-8-9 in the last 11 games. His 9 points in 11 games is certainly solid, but not the kind of run you expect from a Hobey winner down the stretch. The funny part about it is that he has played well, and had a ton of good chances to score goals. He has just been snake-bitten (hard to believe when talking about #7). Hopefully he will get hot as the second season starts. A few years ago, either Panzer or Ryan Miller would be easy winners this year.

This is now updated through 35 games, through the end of the regular season. This is how UND's and its opponents' scoring breaks down this year (UND's scoring listed first): 5x3 3-0 (When UND has the 5x3 advantage, it has outscored its opponent 3-0.) 5x4 26-4 5x5 112-49 4x4 11-0 4x5 4-21 3x5 0-2 6x5 1-1 (extra attacker) 5x6 4-0 (empty net) Total 161-77 Maybe the best indicator of the kind of season UND has had is 4x4 scoring. They outscored opponents 11-0, and, as they say, it wasn't as close as the score. In the games I watched, UND was consistently able to create chances in 4x4 situations, and the funny part was they did it with a lot of different pairs of forwards. It seems like the favored pairs by the end of the year were Parise-Bochenski and Murray-Lundbohm. Bonus Number Fun: In WCHA play, UND outscored its opponents 122-62. That's right, MTU's lone goal on Saturday prevented the Sioux from getting the "double" in goal differential. More Fun: UND's WCHA PP: 29-135 21.5% UND's overall PP: 29-168 17.3% So, UND's non-conference PP was 0-33, for 0%. The 21.5% is solid. Regardless of the numbers, I'm now comfortable when UND goes onto the PP that they have a good chance to score; they look dangerous most of the time and generate good chances. This is a feeling I have not been able to claim in the last few years - it has usually been, "Crap, UND's not going to score, and there's a make-up call coming soon."

Sounds like the Sioux are playing a very sleepy game and getting the bounces/breaks tonight. Now I'd like them to just skate this one off, collect the two points and the RPI and PWR solidification and get ready for Tech next week.

Congrats to the players and everyone in the program. The team seems to be playing very well right now, and though there's a lot of important hockey still to be played, this is a fine accomplishment. Having Lundbohm and Porter (and at times Bochenski) on the second line reminds me of the Johnson/Krmpotich (sp) second line that made that team so tough to play against. In fact, in terms of being such a brute on skates, Porter reminds me of Johnson. Anyway, very nice depth by the team in this rush to close out the season. And thanks to both goaltenders for giving the team a consistently solid presence between the pipes. While Jake is the man, I can honestly say that if he became unavailable, I would be confident of the team's chances to go far with JPar in the net. This is a luxury few teams have. (The 1998 disappointment at Yost had more to do with Karl getting injured in practice that week than with Yost, IMO.) Congrats again and Go Sioux!

This is one heck of a run to close the season by one heck of a team.

PCM, It's my middle son's birthday today as well. To make it special for him, I'm not going to rub in MN's loss tonight (as he has become a Gopher fan ... you know, born there, lives there, rebellious).

forecheck, I got your e-mail at work today but didn't get a chance to respond before I blew out of there. I'll be back in the office on Tuesday, and I will e-mail you then and we'll get it straightened out in plenty of time.

Here are some numbers. Throw out two guys from Niagara and UAH and the top scorers nationally ranked by points per game are: Bochenski Lessard Parise Murray Vanek I'm sorry I didn't check whether that was before or after tonight's games. Either way, the message is the same - Wow, there is some serious talent in the WCHA, and especially in Grand Forks. (One other caveat: this is of players in the top 20 nationally in scoring. So there may be someone not in the top 20 who is averaging more points per game, like perhaps Ben Eaves.)

Funny thing is that Michigan is actually on pretty much the same roll as those guys. They slipped a few weeks ago and dropped one at UAF, but they pretty much have been smoking everyone they play. Big winning margins. There are several teams this year that are better than the champions of the last several years (copywrite LVS).

There are of course bigger fish to fry, but the Sioux locked up fourth place in the league tonight. Depending on the Wisconsin/SCSU outcome, third may be just one point from being locked up. Good stuff.

Nice to hear that some hats made it onto the ice for Fabian.

Rob Rankin ... moves it down the right side ... sounds like something Scooby Doo would say - a TH classic.

They're five and seven...

Oh, sure, I step away for bedtime and this happens. Way to go, Sioux.