jk

Regarding Ford, unless I know the details of someone's situation, I don't like to judge them. To me it's not a certainty that he's a bad guy because he left Wisconsin. Also, some of this is speculation and getting ahead of things perhaps too much, but with the budding free agent buzz pre-injury for Stecher, as well as the fast career starts for LaDue and Poolman, it's possible the core of this D-corp might not be around too long. UND may be looking for bodies in a year or two. Fabbro is supposed to be really good. (I saw that on the internet.)

No way, man. There is no other team influencing the outcome.

I'll be able to step into Top Six minutes and the first PP unit right away!

Stecher has been super solid, but I don't worry about the team as much as I worry about him, if it is serious. The team will manage, as that position is deep. But a serious injury just as he was taking off would be difficult to take. Hopefully it won't be that bad.

If it's obvious to us, it's obvious to opposing coaches, who can play to take that away. In that case, getting the puck deep is taking what they give you.

It's been mentioned, but not enough. The Sioux were quick at the start of the game, and slow by the end. What happened in between? 100 lost faceoffs, including every one in front of Zane. Every whistle was basically handing possession to SCSU and chasing them for thirty seconds. They're going to have to fix that. I personally don't buy the "didn't show up." I thought they played hard, missed the net on some good looks, and ran out of gas chasing the Huskies around trying to get the puck back.

Without responding to specific posts, in a seven year window, I believe: UND could compete with NDSU in football. NDSU could compete with UND in hockey. ASU could compete with UND in hockey. The barriers to competitiveness are very low in hockey, as the USHL is filled with guys who could turn into very good 24 year old college players. Specifically, NDSU could tap MN high school hockey, and it would be the second closest program to the Central/Western Canadian prairies. Would they win recruiting battles with UND/MN? No. To win, do they have to? No. See SCSU, UMD, MSUM. ASU can appeal to Western U.S. kids, kids who want the big-name school experience, and smart kids who want to escape these God-forsaken winters, where, to quote a movie I can't recall, every boob is covered by two shirts and a sweater.

I agree on the makeup of the league, and that also makes it very possible that a national champion could come from fourth or fifth place in the league. Get healthy, get hot, go on a run.

Comparing eras is difficult, especially when you try to quantify things. Just looking at 80s highlights tells you how far goaltending has come since then, which accounts for some of the point totals at the time. Which means I'm down to the eye test. Since I just missed Taylor, Smail and Patrick, I can't consider them. The two guys I saw who most dominated the competition were sophomore Hrkac (my choice as the best), who consistently, shift after shift, made people look silly, and senior Jeff Panzer, who not only knew where the puck was going but was fast enough to be there before anyone else. The funny thing about the knock on Panzer, that he had so many assists because he played with such good linemates, is that as good as those guys were, he set up a lot more plays that didn't end up in the net. Had he played with a finisher like Bucks or Duncan, he would have had a hundred points that year, and Duncan could have approached fifty goals. Go back and look at the last game of Panzer's career, against BC, and see how many plays he made that game. (Stop watching about four minutes into the OT). Of course it's hard to compare goalies and skaters, but the anointment of Toews, who is truly great and always has been super smooth, as the greatest former Sioux considering a complete career, has an argument in Belfour.

Hate to say it, but mister injury will probably end up having a say in which defenseman sits. It was unusual last year to have only seven defensemen and not have short roster issues at some point. The team probably won't be so lucky again this year.

It had to have felt like that BC semifinal, the bad one. All the rest were competitive and could have gone either way, but not that one.

I've never seen him play, but as an internet scout I did notice that Rowe began scoring pretty regularly near the end of the USHL season.

Now that's good.

Rocco may become a great hockey player, but he's not there yet. Jeff Panzer was older, but as far as on-ice impact goes, he was on a different level than Rocco has shown to date. Panzer was, for my money, UND's best college player in the Blais/Hakstol era. Yes, better (in college) than one of the best forwards in the world. He knew where the puck was going and got there before everyone else, since he was also the fastest guy on the ice.

Plus time value on 220k is closer to zero than 10k. Hopefully for only one more year. We can analyze it every which way, but in the end a guy has to make his own decision based on what he thinks is right for him. For the record, I think it would be better for me if he stayed another year.

Does her husband know she has a boyfriend?

Really no way to know. Union's goalie was not great in that game, though. Lucia would probably have given his kingdom for a Matt in the first period. Any Matt would do, Greene, Jones, Smaby. A few Dutchmen needed to take a seat in the blue paint.

It's an interesting topic, because we were recently revisiting Bennett's loss-of-mind episode earlier this year against RPI, and wondering if that would have gotten Hak or other NCHC coaches fired. At least one national analyst was calling for a suspension for the rest of the year, and I think he got two games for it. Just youtube search for some combination of Bennett, Union and RPI and it should be easy to find. Compare it to Hak's momentary lapse in judgement and decide if they deserved about the same punishment.

With seven main defensemen, usually injuries will ensure plenty of playing time for all. The group staying basically healthy all year, necessitating the lineup decision between Thompson and Ausmus, was unusual and will probably not be repeated next year. A ton of talent coming back, but Simpson will be missed. He was not fleet of foot, but his hockey sense was outstanding. The last time I recall a college defenseman breaking up so many plays just by knowing they were coming was in Leopold's Hobey year. (Sorry for that, but it was frustrating at the time watching him deflect so many passes.) That's what Simpson did Thursday, get his stick in passing lanes just in the nick of time.

Sagard mentioned it, but the last play was reminiscent of Armbrust in 1997. The game, though, felt a lot like the title game against Denver in 2005, where an undermanned Sioux team really was the better team on the ice that day. Then, it was Denver goals going in off Sioux defensemen, and Fabian's shot getting caught by the goalie's glove while in the net. This time, it was a bounce off a Sioux skate that turned what was really a fairly harmless rush into disaster. I can't think of any truly, literally, last second NCAA tournament losses other than the two which live in dark places in our hearts. It's not that they stopped playing, either. That's just when the bounce happened. The tricky part, as Brad mentioned on his blog last night, is that UND could be a powerhouse next year and not make it as far. The tournament is unforgiving. Even if they reach the tournament, they may not be playing at their peak, or they may be nicked up. They may also be feeling the pressure, as 2011 seemed to, and not playing loosey goosey as this group was. One thing you can say about this team is they played their best at the end. They had a good game plan, and it was well executed. This one will linger for fans, and has got to be a killer for the players and coaches.

Brilliant defensive game by Simpson, as he sniffed out so many of the opponents' clever chances.

Tired of losing when playing really, really well. UND played the game they wanted all night long, getting pucks bouncing around the crease, and the bounce off a skate goes to the other guys. Game saving save by Wilcox on Pattyn's tip 9 seconds earlier.

One guy who hasn't gotten a ton of buzz here has been scoring pretty regularly. Jack Rowe has scored in 4 straight games, and has 7 goals in his last 7 games. With Muskegon, he has 10 goals and 3 assists in 19 games.

I think you should have said he turned a Porsche into a Hummer, given your argument. I also think Blais stumbled onto that type of team in the mid-90's, as it's pretty well established that he didn't get a lot of his top targets early on, and had to go to the second and third tier recruiting targets. It's not surprising that he ended up with smaller skilled guys because that's often what's left at that point. What he was apparently brilliant at was picking the right smaller guys. (Although the current guys picked Gaarder out of a crowd as well.) By the time Blais left, the team he turned over to Hak was more Hummer than Porsche. Lean sports car doesn't come to mind when you consider the Red Pepper line that was so important in 2005, Canady, Massen and Fabian. So I don't think it's fair to pin the changed makeup of the team on Hak, when it actually occurred before he took over. While you may believe Blais would have won at least two more titles, as an argument it's poor because we just don't know that. The last data point we have is a first round loss with one of the most dominant Sioux teams of this era. You hanging your hat on Blais' hypothetical titles isn't living in the past, it's living in an unprovable fantasy world.

Just my opinion, but Gothberg's inconsistency is largely a thing of the past. I'm sure there are numbers to back it up, but I don't have time to track them down right now. He has stolen games all year long, from the trip to Western Michigan, where he pilfered six points, to last Saturday. Has he let in the occasional soft goal? Yes, as even the best goalies do from time to time. But it is not regular anymore. What is a regular occurence is letting in very few goals, stopping the easy ones and the hard ones, and giving his team a chance to win. I think he's closing in on the transtition from good to great goalie.