jk

Don't we just not really know the whole story on Morrow and Rizzo? I've seen internet speculation (some by me no doubt), but hard to judge without knowing what actually happened.

Dylan James just showed up as a second rounder on a draft list, so if he is here next year he probably finds his way into the lineup.

Yeah, tilted the ice pretty good in the last ten minutes. Had the Ford chance, and Gaber finally got going, including the post. The Ford chance reminded me of the one Keane had sometime in the OTs last year. Just the kind of pass where you know you have the goalie cooked and a goal is coming. Oddly enough they both wore #21.

Also, the OT penalty was not a stupid penalty and not a dive. Jandric whiffed on the puck and the guy was going to go in all alone. He took a penalty he needed to take.

This looked to be a challenging year when we thought Weatherby was our #1 center and Sanderson #1 D. What they did this year, given the circumstances, was pretty amazing. But they seemed to lose "something" when they won the league in Omaha, and really just never found it again. They didn't play poorly today, they were up against a team like Bemidji on steroids, built to make you look bad. By comparison, for instance, WMU really worked UND over. Now that was playing poorly. This was an ultra-tight checking playoff game where a game-breaker like Sanderson could have made a difference, in his 30 minutes of ice time. Again, this team did a lot with what they had.

1. UND carried play the last 10 mins. 2. Notre Dame beat the loaded MI team 4 times. They know how to play defense. 3. Ford and Gaber (post) have to convert.

I thought SC did that to tech.

Given that WMU is the heaviest team in college hockey, it was a particularly bad game to be without UND's two biggest defensemen.

If I had identical twins, I'd name them correlation and causation, so I could say they are equal. For hockey, I leave the fourth line together. They're not heavy, but they are pests, always causing havoc. Good momentum changers.

Or UMD for me.

They played earlier in the year.

Q with the slight edge in shots 42-12, including 18-1 in the third.

UND fans lead the nation in up/down ratio over the last 40 years. And 30 years. Over 20 you could argue they're in the top 3. Over 10 in the top 3. We've been blessed.

I think WMU was impressive and could win some games. They play a heavy, heavy game, and UND could not handle it in the last half of the second. It was men against boys, physically. They will be a load, tough to handle for a lot of teams. Including UND. That said, UND has beaten them, so it can be done. Wow, this UND team plays the least skilled game I've seen from the program in a long, long time. They seem built for a north south, in your face, aggressive, chaos-causing game. But the PPs really highlighted the lack of finesse. They're going to have to dial it to 11 to make it work next week.

Actually playing just fine 5 on 5.

UND without one of its most noticeable players in the second half. Carson Albrecht. Always stirring things up.

If UND loses, I've seen several scenarios where they fall to 8. I was surprised.

So tired of them winning, but someone's in for an unpleasant surprise when they draw them next week. Good luck with all the fancy moves when there's no space.

Denver looks slick as hell. Duluth looks like they always do this time of year.

While Sanderson's injury is still terrible news (and for him more than us; we just watch, he's living it; and this is not a guy with one foot out the door, as evidenced by the fateful crease dive), the good news about the way it played out is the team had February to learn to play in his absence. The team learned they can do it, and individual guys got better with the ice time. So lfg.

My concerns aren't media induced, they're straight from my own head. When Frisch and Sanderson were out, the prospect of adding them back for 25 minutes meant setting Kleven and Jandric up to dominate in their reduced minutes, and helping Moore and Bast hold their own, and putting the fourth pair on the shelf. All is not lost, but beating a bunch a good teams in a row, no losses allowed, will be tough without him. They've proven they can win games, but they'll have to be close to flawless to beat some of these arguably more talented opponents in the big tourney.

No forward has put up dominating numbers, so it seems pretty open, especially given a couple of the netminding performances. Sadly, the way was paved for Sanderson, if not for the Olympics and injuries.

He's the best D I've seen at UND (missed Patrick, but since 83 anyway) and it's not close. I think he's going to be a great pro as well. Its very unfortunate that he's missed so much of the year, but he chose to come back to have a great year at UND when he could have very easily stepped into a top 4 role and big paychecks.

I think the absence earlier in the year was for illness. That means his first injury was in the Olympics, and the second was not so much due to bigger, faster opponents, but a fluky result of his late game swan dive. Edit: I think I'm wrong and there was a late first half injury as well.

I don't really think it's a big deal. It hasn't been a secret to anyone. He could have been cashing the big checks all year but he chose to be here.