jk

Sorry, but that's just disgusting, and I'm not kidding. I'm not offended by a line brawl, but the part about literally using the stick as a spear, and the three guys on one that happened several times - that's not old time hockey. I won't ever understand how the guys in white could stand around while their teammates got mugged.

Bummer to lose Kangas. Maybe we're OK in net with Genoway coming next year. This is from last night's Vernon playoff game: "The Spruce Kings just about got the break they were looking for, down 4-0 Jon Olthuis come way out to play the puck, as he was caught he tried to handle the puck and then coughed it up to a Prince George player, Chay Genoway come back, sliding back into the goal to make a street hockey like save to keep the puck out & keep Olthui's shutout still on the line."

Wins over conference opponents don't count as quality wins, even in nonconference games. The YATC results bear this out.

Not to rain on anybody's parade, but UND is not out of the woods yet. In looking at the 24 comparisons that UND currently wins, 13 are basically complete, 7 are at risk due to RPI (with 4 of those close, and the others less at risk), and 4 are at risk due to TUC. RPI: The worst-case is that UND goes 0-2, with a third-place loss to UMD. Depending on what happens with competing teams, UND could lose at least 4 comparisons. Next worse is if SCSU is the third-place opponent, and last if it's MN. TUC: Here's the basic story. If Dartmouth and Northern Michigan (especially NMU) do well, MSUM is no longer a TUC, and UND loses a 4-1 tally off its current TUC record.* That could lose UND four comparisons. Bottom line: I ran numerous YATC scenarios where NMU won the CCHA, and UND went 0-2, and in most of them UND is out of the NCAAs. I believe that UND is a lock if they win once this weekend. Likewise, I believe UND is a lock if NMU fails to win the CCHA. I'm not 100% certain of this, but I think you could view it as UND has a magic number of "one". Four chances for one good result: either a UND win or an NMU loss. * The reason NMU is so important is that they can catch UNO in RPI, displacing UNO to 16th, thereby rendering MSUM's wins over UNO to be non-quality. The lack of a bonus bump in MSUM's RPI leaves them shy of .5000, and shy of being a TUC.

I noticed that too but didn't want to mention that they both won something at the end of the year.

I did a little checking and found these: - BC in 2000-01. Kobasew (27) and Ben Eaves (13) combined for 40, with Voce adding 12. - MN in 2002-03. Vanek (31) and Guyer (13) had 44, with Hirsch adding 9. Of course Duncan has 11 for the Sioux as well. I checked Michigan, MN, BC and CC back to 1999-2000, since I knew they had some freshmen have big individual years (Senja, Vanek, etc.)

Glancing at UND's season stats after the first-round series, and a few things jumped out at me: 1. Oshie and Toews, two freshmen forwards, have scored a combined 40 goals this season. That is a pretty remarkable number. I haven't gone looking yet, but I'm guessing that's a pretty rare occurrence. 2. Lee and Chorney, two freshmen defensemen, have a combined 6-32-38 line. That is more than just solid for freshmen at that position. 3. Matt Smaby's scoring line after two years was 2-8-10 in 83 games. This year he has 3-13-16 in 41 games (so far). He's following the development curve perfectly: 1. Adjust to college, 2. control your own zone, 3. add offense, 4. dominate everywhere. 4. Seven players have played all 41 games this year: Smaby, Porter, Zajac, Duncan, Kozek, Watkins, Jones. Four freshmen and three others, reflecting the overall makeup of the team. Congrats to those guys.

Got one more for ya about this UMD game. MSUM's RPI is .4997. MSUM has two quality wins that boost its RPI over .500 and make it a TUC, adding a 4-1 record into UND's TUC record. BUT both of MSUM's quality wins are against UNO. UNO sits 14th in RPI, just ahead of Dartmouth and DU. If UNO slips to 16th in the RPI, MSUM is longer a TUC. Dartmouth is still alive and a real threat to pass UNO. If DU wins, they will also likely pass UNO. A UMD win would nearly ensure that UNO would remain in the RPI top 15, which is good for UND.

Maybe he could be your spelling eye dog.

Forney hurt his shoulder about five minutes into the second period and didn't return to the game. At the time, TRF had a 2-1 lead. They extended it to 3-1 before falling 4-3 on a goal with about 35 seconds left in the game. Personally, I'm disappointed because I was hoping to get a chance to see Forney play. It looked like he hadn't gotten into much of a groove at the time of the injury, but I expect that he would have gotten his chances as the game wore on. From the little I saw, you could see that the ingredients are all there, especially hands and size. He also seemed pretty raw right now, with plenty of things to work on. He did crush a kid with a charge early in the game, so it was nice to see a bit of an edge, even if it was a little illegal. (FWIW, I'm one of the expert scouts who thought Oshie still needed to work on things after watching the tournament the last few years.) The big thing here that is truly sad is what the injury meant to TRF's and Forney's state title hopes. To further his hockey career, Forney could played elsewhere this year, but he chose to come back and help his team play in the state tournament. Then he finally got there and only got to play one period. Forney made a really admirable decision, and didn't get the payoff he deserved. Although he did get part of it, as TRF did make it to the state tournament for the first time in 41 years, and he did get to play in it.

I can play if we need. I'm not much of a hockey player, but if we're short numbers I can help out. I played (using the term loosely) two years ago, and not since. I'll watch the thread to see if I'm needed.

This thread has gotten nasty, but thanks for this very clever post. Still laughing.

A close call: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Edmon...466299-sun.html "Greene, 22, was on his way home and talking with friends outside of a nightclub at about 12:30 a.m. when the driver lost control of the vehicle and struck Greene, who saw the SUV coming at him and was able to brace for the impact. The six-foot-three, 223-pound native of Grand Ledge, Michigan, bounced off the hood and windshield of the SUV and hit the pavement. He was taken to University hospital with bumps and bruises and later released. "I was on the sidewalk talking to a friend," Greene said. "I heard some tires squealing, I turned back around and the car fishtailed right into me. It was an accident. "It was dead-centre in the grill and the hood ... I just kind of turned and took the hit." " --------------------------------- There are some pretty good punchlines for this story: "Greene collides with SUV; SUV totalled" but truthfully he is very lucky. The UND program and family could easily be in mourning over this one.

I believe right now they have one neutral win (Miami) and one home win (Harvard). The road win over UNH is not included because they are not in the top 15 in the RPI (UNH is 16th right now). Conference games do not qualify for "quality wins," and I think even a non-conference game against a conference opponent (if UND met CC in a holiday tournament, for example) fails to qualify as well.

Without getting into it too much, I like Prpich and think he plays his role on the team well. There's a whole element to hockey that doesn't involve a puck, pretty skating, and beautiful goals. That's the world Prpich operates in. I don't exactly see Prpich losing a fight to 3/4 of the league, either. No doubt he'd have trouble with a bigger guy like Paukovich, but I'd like his chances against anyone near his size.

rochsioux, I have spent some time over the last month or so with UND's PWR comparisons, and your post is as complete and accurate a picture of UND's PWR status as I could hope to read. Great job. Just a few things I thought about as I read it: - MSUM's unadjusted RPI is now .4992. I think if they go 0-2 against CC in the first round, it will fall to around .4968. MSUM has one quality win each on the road and at home (both against UNO), so if they retain those (UNO is 9th in RPI and needs to stay in the top 15), and if the bonus is in fact in the neighborhood of 3,2,1, then MSUM has a good chance of staying above .5000 even if they get swept. It's obviously very close though. - UNH is now 16th in RPI, but they have a sizable gap to get to 15th. We should have been cheering for UNH all year long, but now they really need our help. Having them beat BC would be good in three ways: 1) UNH's RPI would improve more, helping UND get quality wins, 2) BC's RPI would decline, helping the UND/BC comparison, 3) BC losing is always a good thing.

I was only able to listen to some of the games, and I didn't watch them, so I was curious about the third period meltdown. Checking the boxscore, these were the Sioux players on the ice for the four third-period goals that preceded the empty-netter. 4,6,19,21 -- 2 freshmen 6,15,19,27 -- 1 freshman 6,19,21,24,26 -- 1 freshman 6,19,24,27 -- 1 freshman I was trying to figure out whether the young guys cracked under the pressure, and was surprised to see that it was mostly upperclassmen on the ice. Jones and Prpich, two pretty emotional guys, were probably pretty frosted after being out for all four goals. Not really trying to finger-point. Just checking the facts. I'm sure the guys will be motivated to get it going this weekend.

The last team to sweep MTU was UND, on December 2-3. They have pulled points out of every WCHA series since then. So it's no layup next weekend.

Just like with the CC weekend, the PWR effect of a Friday win can be undone by a Saturday loss. In addition, the RPI will be at risk next weekend against MTU. A win or tie tomorrow night would be very helpful to the cause.

Everyone has their own opinions, but I have to admit to being fatigued by all the Paukovich talk. I love the score update threads, but it has gotten old to read so many comments about him. But that's just me. With Kozek scoring, that's another freshman who carries the Manninonyte in his pocket.

Saying nothing about the outcome of this one, but it's interesting that Toews has two, Oshie and Duncan one each. That's four guys who know nothing of Mannino's past ownership of Sioux shooters. Nice to see them step up and put some goals in.

THETRIOUXPER, At the risk of taking the thread off-course (that NEVER happens here), I assume you see some Section 8 hockey. Have you seen enough of Forney to have an opinion on whether he can contribute next year? He hasn't had the blowout season Oshie had last year, but he's had a pretty dominant year anyway. He's projected to be drafted around the same area, perhaps a little higher, although his draft position will be impacted by his larger size. Just curious. Thanks.

I'm sorry I don't know, but I've been wondering it as well. He played on February 1, then missed Feb. 3, 4 and 10. He played again on Feb. 11, and missed Feb. 17. He played again tonight, and registered his first goal of the year. Congratulations there. If he's in-and-out of the lineup because he's failing to hold down a regular spot, that would be bad news. There must be someone who keeps tabs on either him or the USHL who could provide some information.

Here's a summary of some of the names that have been brought up here or have some geographic or family connection to the program. UND probably doesn't have much interest in some of the kids, and the reverse is also probably true. Nothing new here; just a summary. Forwards: Drew Fisher, 2-6-87, USHL Jordan Willert, 11-6-87, USHL Aaron Marvin, 5-27-88, Warroad HS Mario Lamoureaux, 6-18-88, USHL Taylor Matson, 9-16-88, AHA HS Kelly Zajac, -88, Winnipeg Midgets Jason Gregoire, 2-24-89, MJHL Ben Winnett, 4-3-89, BCHL Lucas Bloodoff, 5-5-89, BCHL Colin Wilson, 10-20-89, USNDP Jordy Murray, 1-8-90, SSM Kelsey Tessier, 1-16-90, Colorado Midgets David Toews, 6-7-90, Colorado Midgets Defense: Kyle Hardwick, 10-24-86, USHL Derrick Lapoint, 5-13-88, WI HS Ben Blood, 3-15-89, SSM Erick Galt, ND HS Goal: Brad Theissen, 3-19-86, BCHL Alex Kangas, 5-28-87, USHL Beau Christian, Illinois Midgets

I was at that game too and I remember it because it was Parise's debut game, as Brandt was serving his one-game suspension. Jordy stopped a 2-on-0 break in the closing seconds of the second period, and I said to my dad: Brandt's suspension might end up costing him more than one game.