jk

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.

First game of a 5-game league semifinal series: (This is just AAA midget hockey, so don't get too excited) Brandon Wheat Kings 6 at Winnipeg Wild 7 - Overtime In the high scoring game at St. Adolphe, the Wheat Kings came back from 3-0 first period deficit to send the game to overtime. It was a big game for Brendan O'Donnell, as he scored four times, incuding the OT winner and assisted on the tying goal with 38 seconds left in regulation time. The Wheat Kings scored six straight times to take a 6-3 lead with just over 5 minutes left in the game. O'Donnell scored two power play goals at the 5:04 and 4:12 mark and set up Michael St. Croix (G&3A)with under a minute left.

Considering where the Force started the year, you have to conclude that Dean Blais can coach hockey. I think Columbus made a mistake in not giving him a real shot in the NHL.

CHN reported that UAA's sweep of UMD was its first road sweep ever in the conference, which is shocking. I checked and it looks like they swept Wisconsin in 2000, but that's still an amazing amount of time between road sweeps.

Plus you could argue that Duluth might be a preferable opponent to Mankato right now.

That's a bunch of crap and typical of the worst stuff on this board.

Was just going to type that Connelly has made some huge saves tonight, then they scored. Sioux running around a bit now.

Most of those rushes weren't his fault. The first one was. It was a team effort for those few minutes.

It was Trupp on the pass on the last one.

Bizarre turn of events. Sioux have the better of the play and chances for most of the game, then have this strange stretch of PP time where the Badgers get chance after chance. The last few chances were with a defensive pair of Genoway and Finley. Reminiscent of the surge by Wisconsin in the third period of the second game in REA this year.

Malone took the last couple shifts in Trupp's spot on VV's line. Wonder if Trupp is feeling that hit now. BTW Malone did well in that spot.

Here are a couple items of interest: Vandevelde bookended the run to the Cup with big third-period game-winners. He had the first GWG of the season when he scored arguably the most important goal of the year. Limping along with an 0-3 record and trailing 2-0 after two periods in Mankato, VV broke a 3-3 tie with an unassisted SHG with 9 seconds left, securing UND's first win. Last night he finished the Cup run with a late third-period PP goal. Watkins' SHG last night in a late-season game in Madison, ending in a 2-1 Sioux win, rung a bell in my airy brain. It turns out that, on January 31, 1987 in Madison, Scott Dub scored a shorty in the third period to help UND beat Wisconsin 2-1. Dub and Watkins are different players, but similar in that they are heart-and-soul guys who do anything to win. (BTW, Ed Belfour made 43 saves to outduel Mike Richter in the other net; couple pretty good goalies.)

For which they were soundly ridiculed here. People are so focused on the results, rather than the play. As you noted, there were signs from the start of a very good team, but they just weren't getting the bounces, and they were adjusting to a patchwork defensive group with Finley out.

I had to leave with 9 minutes left to pick a kid up. Just back. Nice to read the last few pages.

Wisconsin's talent level is higher than most recent Sioux opponents. Big, strong, fast, skilled. You can see the ingredients there for a really good team. UND will have its hands full this weekend.

D - Wiercioch, DU: 8-18-26, +6 Still think he has a good shot at ROY. Top defenseman on one of the league's two best teams, top PP unit, top PK. Not easy to do as a freshman at that position. I hope he has an aggressive advisor who sees that he's nearly ready for the big league.

Chainsaw?

As they were being separated at the end, Greene patted Commie, like, OK thanks for going, I had to stand up for my guy.

The CC series was the start of a stretch that will run to the end of the season of playing desperate opponents who are fighting for their lives. No one in the NCAA tournament will be any more motivated than CC last week, or Wisconsin next week, or whoever is playing to extend their careers in the WCHA first-round. Then the final five looks to be a cage-match of teams trying to qualify for the NCAAs. Looking at Jim's PWR analysis, the Sioux should be pretty darn desperate themselves this weekend.

He passed Eades, but is a long way from the top of the list. Still the MVP in my eyes.

Period 1 Indiana - Mike Cichy (unassisted) 3:30 Indiana - Mike Cichy (powerplay) (Torey Krug) 7:25 Waterloo - Nick Larson (powerplay) (Lee Moffie, Craig Smith) 9:50 Indiana - Mike Cichy (unassisted) 20:00

Miller has been much more effective on defense than he ever was up front. In an interview he talked about liking it because he gets to have the puck a lot more, and that really shows. Just that little bit of extra room makes him a much more dynamic player. For me, especially with LaPoint out, and despite the fact that he's not perfect in his own zone, Miller's back on defense the rest of the way. Up front, I don't break up any of the lines unless injury forces it, and then I try to only touch the line directly affected by the injury. In other words, I'm not breaking up Zajac, Martens, Watkins because of an injury on another line. Likewise Duncan, Gregoire, Hextall, and I would have said the same about VV, Trupp, Frattin until Trupp went down. There's just too much chemistry built up now with such solid results to be messing with it.