jk

Especially when every team is hurt already this time of year, and a little rest before the biggest weekend of the year would be helpful.

Let's say Watkins is out. Here's what they did to compensate for his absence on Saturday: Duncan Hextall Gregoire Vandy Frattin Malone Zajac Martens Kozek Mario Trupp Davidson One line of thinking is: Kozek was an obvious choice to move up from the fourth line to take Watkins' spot. Still an experienced line that will be good on the wall. However, Kozek's absence turns Mario's line from "one of four" to "the fourth line," which will now not see as much ice as it otherwise would. In that case, Malone, who has really stepped forward and has been one of the best forwards in the last month, needs to move up, so they swap him with Trupp. Perhaps Davidson was the choice over Toews against Wisconsin because they are so big and physical this year. For UNH, if you want four lines, I probably go with this: Duncan Hextall Gregoire Vandy Frattin Trupp Zajac Martens Kozek Mario Malone Toews It's a risk, because you probably just want the fourth line to not get scored on, and Toews might be a risk there since he's not the biggest guy and he hasn't played in a while. Then again, UNH is not a physical team, usually like the CC of the East, so Toews might work since he could make good use of the extra space. If you want three lines and just want the fourth to see spot duty, then maybe their setup against Wisconsin is the right lineup. P.S. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

No one should waste any time worrying about BU. We don't know if UND or BU will advance to play that game. Let's hope to get by UNH and see how Ohio State does against BU. OSU has played and beat some very good teams this year, so they're not going to be scared. I know the Sioux will belong on the ice with any college team they might meet up with. They might not win, but it wouldn't be surprising if they did (except against BC). Arrogance: We're freaking North Dakota ... we're not scared of anyone (except BC).

So the Sioux have to beat UNH, OSU, AFA and The Beavs. Tricky but do-able. Lotta green and white at that title game.

Brad's blog says Watkins is questionable for next weekend. Manchester isn't UNH's home rink. It's NHL size, whereas they play on a big sheet at home in Durham.

It's certainly not a heart or effort issue. The guys are going very hard. It's more execution; just not hitting the crisp passes in stride at high speed. Also this weekend at times (especially against UMD) they never got the bounce they needed to get going. It's also health. All teams are banged up now, and the Sioux are too. I'd work on special teams this week and try to get healthy.

How savvy was it for the Dog to haul down Stoa with 3 seconds left? Time ran out before the penalty could be called. Now that is a good penalty.

Roll four lines and stay out of the box.

Other bubble teams will be losing this weekend as well, so they can still bounce around a bit in both directions. Anybody see Stalock in the state tourney against Wheeler's Breck team? Stalock seriously played a hybrid goalie/defenseman position all game long. He was out of the net as much as he was in it. Super exciting though and he was the only reason his team was there.

Sounds to me like the game which shall not be named, when one team dominated and the other took a trip up the ice late in the third, got a bounce, and won 1-0.

Obviously in the playoffs you'd rather win than play great and lose. However, last year the Sioux faltered in the playoffs, beginning with MTU, and they really only played one good game the rest of the way, against CC in the third-place game. Seriously, Princeton skated circles around the Sioux. It was a sign of what was to come against BC. So while I of course hope the Sioux continue to win, I hope they look good doing it, because that will be a sign of what's coming.

Not to beat it to death, but Gwoz said in his post-game that DU/WI is the afternoon game.

UAA is now 27 and doesn't look like they'll be getting back to TUC-land. Mankato is 25, but UMass, RIT and Union lurk below them, all with games tomorrow and perhaps next week, so Mankato may fall as well.

Ask again please.

When Dunc got the puck in his usual area on this PP he had a few Huskies watching him closely.

That's not small news.

3.5 minutes. Replay looked like second goal went cleanly between VV legs; should stay Duncan.

OK, now I got curious and had to go look. Last year, the #1 seed had the night game, regardless of its opponent. It happened to be the Gophers, but it wasn't the Gopher rule in effect, since #1 was scheduled in the night game before the play-in game was played. This is an excerpt from a WCHA press release that week: "Then on Friday evening, the winner of Thursday night's game between St. Cloud State and Minnesota will do battle with top-seeded Colorado College (28-9-1) at 7:07 pm CT." http://www.wcha.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/031708aac.html The exact reasoning isn't spelled out (and of course this is the WCHA, so they could do anything they wanted and it wouldn't be surprising), but I recall something about them ending the Gopher rule.

Not sure at all, but I thought they moved the "1 vs. play-in winner" to the night game so the play-in winner wouldn't have to turn around so quickly. Looks like a lot of people have different ideas here.

Is TUC status still top 25 RPI? If so, the TUC cliff is perhaps a day or two from being defined for this year. 23 Alaska .5160 24 Minnesota State .5133 25 Alaska-Anchorage .5096 26 Massachusetts .5080 27 Northern Michigan .5069 28 RIT .5058 Obviously, with the Sioux being 3-1 against each of MSUM and UAA, and 0-1 against UMass, it's helpful for the WCHA teams to hold onto those last two spots. Duluth has a different perspective. They're 2-0 against MSUM, but 0-3-1 against UAA. They would love for UAA to get passed. MN is 1-2-1 against MSUM, and 1-0-1 against UAA, so they wouldn't be looking at a dramatic change either way.

Yep. My mistake. If the top 3 win, then it'd be DU/UW in the semis, giving DU a chance to send UW home for the year. Interesting, since UW ended Denver's season last year in the Madison regional.

Look out for Wisconsin. We saw how good they can look last Saturday, and now they put 66 shots on goal. 66. Wow. Lot of hockey left this weekend, but we could see a Big 10 cage match play-in game between MN and Wisconsin, with the loser maybe done for the year.

All due respect, MTU has not been sitting back waiting for a Sioux mistake; they played an aggressive forechecking period.

Considering his history in Warroad, I'm guessing Eades is aware of him. Probably just watching to see how quick his feet get as he develops. Big kid with good hands though.

From the very start of the year, even when the results weren't working out, I liked this team better than those of the last few years. Even though I'm sure they weren't, it just felt like guys were waiting for Oshie to save the day. Now they save it themselves. I guess it feels more like a team. That said, no one should be thinking this team is at all a favorite to go all the way. We're so proud of the 13-2-3 record in 2009. BU has lost 1 of its last 23. BU, Notre Dame and Michigan are heavy favorites right now, and the Sioux are in the next group of very good teams that have all the ingredients needed to win it all, if everything breaks their way. I'd love for UND to get a shot at one of those "favorites," because certainly no one is going to run them out of the building, but if they get that shot and lose, we shouldn't be surprised. (I'd personally prefer to avoid Michigan, because they are due against UND.) In their favor, UND does have a goalie who is great at making the huge save. He's not perfect, but he has made a ton of big, big saves this year.