jk

Also regarding injuries, if UND is fortunate enough to advance this weekend, WMU would be a risky opponent, given how heavy they are. But most of all I'd worry about facing UMD, where page one of the playbook is run the other team's best player. Ask Tucker Poolman.

Reminds me of 2011. Totally different type of team, but the coaches were ultra cautious with injured guys down the stretch, wanting to be full strength when it mattered. It worked for the regionals anyway.

While I generally agree, I'd just note that some teams have won, or nearly won, the year after they were supposed to. Exhibit A would be UND 2000. After the three-year run of domination, they lost a lot of important players, and I never imagined they would win it all. UND 2005 lost in the title game in the first year post Parise and Bucks, on sheer will. Also, UMD 2018 won it after turning over a ton of its title game roster and playing 5? freshman D.

Speaking of needs at defense next year, one potential unpleasant off-season surprise would be another of the top four getting a nice offer. They have all been pretty impressive down the stretch.

Gonna quote myself to shine a light on my bad call on UND. I felt like sweeps were practically impossible without the entire Senden, Hain, Jammer line and with Sanderson in China. I thought even the CC series was iffy. Pretty much had the rest of the league in the right order, but UND's shorthanded sweeps of UMD and WMU were amazing, reflecting great coaching, effort and goaltending.

It seems pretty likely that UND will finish a 2 seed, somewhere in that 5-8 overall range. If so, it's just a matter of which 1 seed's regional they would end up in. If UND managed to advance to the regional final, none of those would be a picnic. But then, I doubt any of the 1 seeds would be thrilled to see UND there either.

First of all, I disagree that they're not trying. It's just not working out yet. Second, just keep playing and you never know what'll happen. It's hockey. Third, take the top scorer and top D pair off a team and see how it goes. The results the last few weeks have been miraculous. If one of these games finally goes sideways, it should not be a surprise. That means D 7 and 8 are playing. But if you don't fully trust them, then 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, are playing heavy minutes. Which leads to fatigue, and then mistakes. It's not an excuse, just reality. Fourth, I'm not sure who the better draw is between CC and Miami. They have both had their moments and they will both be playing for their seasons. Seems like a push.

I think that puck was in the net, but you can't see it in there, so I expect no goal.

Actually Omaha has nothing to play for.

When Tony Hrkac went 2-5-7 and then 3-5-8 one weekend (against CC or Tech I think) for the 15 point weekend, Gino said: that's a career for some guys.

If they're going to call it tight, I don't know why they didn't call it when Calder got hauled down on a 2 on 1 just before the Kleven penalty.

Stoney, not to nitpick but I believe UND was #1 PWR in 2020 at the shutdown. (#2 in the silly polls).

Great news. The program is thriving.

Just to tie this down, Lorenz is 46 days older than Singleton, so about the same, as scpa thought.

In the current iteration of college hockey, unless you're a rare potential NHL star, your chances of making an impact are greater if you're a bit older. And a team's chances are better if most of its players are older. That complicates the decisions on guys like James and Spicer. I think the coaches will have good reads on it. I also don't think the Morrow thing was a simple: we think you should defer; ok, bye. I think the coaches' eyes were open and they did what they thought was best. Given that we have recently seen the on-ice benefit of the program's culture, it's easy to see why they value it so much.

Along the same lines, every season since Blais righted the ship has been interesting and competitive. They've all had their ups and downs, and most ended up shy of Nirvana, but they have been endlessly entertaining. Just look to Wisconsin's sad journey and BC's fall from grace, not to mention the prolonged suffering of Maine and UNH, to see what could be. We have been so spoiled, for what has basically been the bulk of my adult life.

WMU has some very clever offensive players. You can see them slide into open space to receive passes, and the guys with the puck know to anticipate that. It's pretty impressive. Just as impressive then was the consistent play by UND's forwards to take that space away. Time after time a seemingly dangerous play or rush was defused by a backcheck. I can only conclude the guys are well coached and coachable.

How about a guy like Caulfield? You could see the tools before, but he's grown into this monster, dangerous on so many shifts. That pass last night was a thing of beauty. I have a feeling two years from now we'll see that Kunz is on the same trajectory. He's getting close, and he is a load.

Boy I bet Omaha wishes it could go back a few weeks and not get swept by Miami. Flip those two losses and Omaha is PWR 14 instead of 21.

Even with their problems this calendar year, I wouldn't be surprised to see SC or UMD win a few tourney games to get to the Frozen Four. SC can be explosive, and we should have all learned by now to not count out UMD.

Most of the TC kids listed MN would not gave cared about. They would never have looked at Gaarder, to their detriment. Or Senden, whom they could dearly use.

I seriously doubt UND has been after anyone CC and UNO have landed, and getting beaten by SC and UMD for recruits is also probably rare. Not that the latter two have not done fantastic jobs lately overall, but they are very good at finding late bloomers. In Sandy's case, he has also benefited from the local assembly line. The kind of TC kids UND wants are the type MN wants as well, which makes it tough. They snagged Boeser during the height of Lucia's drag on the program, but it's been very rare over the decades for UND to get a top TC kid.

I thought it had moved to a broader, when did we ever beat them?, discussion, based on a string of misses. Cooley is a great win, but the others were TC kids.

One chicken. Two chickens.

If Kleven doesn't count because he grew up a Sioux fan, why do we gnash our teeth over TC kids who grew up with the m tattooed on their chests?