jk

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.

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.