jk

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.

Ferris was dealing with the flu when they lost to Mankato. I thought they looked great for much of today's game, very creative and dangerous with the puck, and everyone had a motor running. It will be a tough game. Plus as someone mentioned, their goalie was outstanding.

I had parenting duties and had to follow the first two periods via chat and the board. I managed to get to a bar for the third, and I just can't express how well I thought they played in the third. The first ten minutes were pretty much domination, and not in the sense of limiting WI's chances, but in the sense of taking the game to them. Very quick turnarounds in the neutral zone to guys with speed. After WI got their strange tying goal (and what was with all those hail mary launches out of their zone), the guys faltered for about four minutes, and they could have easily lost the game there. They managed to keep it tied, and again turned the game back in their favor. Again, I only saw the third, but the better team in that period definitely won the game.

If they actually tried to get him to go midseason they are scumbags. Way to build a team, by encouraging guys to be bad teammates.

Zane stopped 28 of 29 to beat Niagara 2-1 in last year's first round. Then he got hurt and Saunders played very well in a loss to Yale.

The writeups are old. Schmaltz led the US in scoring with 8 points in 5 games at the Ivan Hlinka tournament; the next highest US player had 3 points. He was second overall in tourney scoring. He also led the entire tournament in scoring at the World Junior A Challenge with 12 points; his teammate Connor Hurley was next with 10. He's also predicted on that site to be drafted the highest of any of the Sioux recruits. He probably does have those flaws, but 18 year olds (not just hockey players) go to college to mature. He'll be in the right place to develop a team-first mentality, if it's not there yet.

I have read about the inflexibility of the coaching staff, wedded to their systems with no changes based on the makeup of the team. Funny, then, that this is a Sioux team that doesn't really resemble anything I've seen in years. They have a defensive corps that includes six guys that can move the puck and themselves, and they are a big part of the team's puck possession, rushes and offense. In the offensive zone, the offense seems to flow through the defensemen more than in the past. A shot from the point has always been a solid hockey play, ripe with opportunities for good results in the form of screens, deflections and rebounds. This team does it a lot. Look at Saturday. Gaarder deflection of a shot-pass. Gaarder rebound of point shot. Schmaltz walking in from the point. Grimaldi rebound. LaDue shot (granted it was in tighter because of the 5-on-3 PP). They're able to do it because they have the puck a lot and they are pretty good at getting it through. Other Sioux teams have had a guy who occasionally led or joined a rush, but there was usually only one or maybe two on a team who would do it. Most of this year's group does it, especially Mattson and Thompson, and double especially Schmaltz, who seems to have a gift for finding open ice as a trailer and has the skating ability to get there. It's a more risky approach to the game, but when you get to the end of the year solid defense is a given and having something special offensively wins games. This team has some good solid forwards with a good skill level, but they're not dominant. This team's edge is the skating, puck handling and hockey sense of the defense. The coaches have thankfully recognized that and adapted. In addition to the risk of getting caught up ice, the downside of this type of team is that there is no crease-clearing physical presence, which we are so used to seeing. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few years.

The picture of Caggiula shooting Saturday is pretty stunning. Flex, baby.

UND knows this Wisconsin team pretty well. They played one series last year, in the REA, with a 1-1 tie on 2/1/13 and a 4-1 UND win the next night. Missing from that UND team: Kristo Knight Rowney Gleason Forbort MacWilliam Jim Tate Added to UND: Johnson Bunch of Freshmen D Missing from the Wisco team: Lee Ramage Little Meuer Woods Added to Wisconsin: Besse Soleway Cavallini Wisconsin is heavy with seniors and will likely see early departures as well, so this is their Frattin 2011 team. They think they are on a mission. We know most of their lineup, and although they know one of our second lines, they don't know the other as well, and they don't know the kiddie corps on defense. They may be old and loaded (sounds like half this board), but anyone can beat anyone now.

You post this every year, and I agree every year. BC and Lowell shouldn't be in the same bracket; nor Union and QU. Mix it up, and let teams and fans see someone different. As for the Sioux, objectively I would consider them one of the easier draws in the tournament. I'd rather face a team that limped into the tournament than someone on a roll. That said, the college hockey postseason has truly turned into a bizarre event, as demonstrated numerous times in recent seasons and of course over the last two weekends. Yale winning an improbable Broadmoor of sorts on its way to a national title widens the world of the possible even further than before. UND, like 15 other teams, can win two games next weekend, and we shouldn't any longer be surprised at who does. Can UND do it without a first line, without a power play that can get the puck into the zone, and with a young defense? Yes, because anyone can. All you have to do is score more goals than the other guys, and there's no set formula to do it. If UND does it, I think their formula will have been: goaltend well and get some bounces.