TheFarce Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 It is always fun to see the Gophers at the bottom of the pack, but as a life long Sioux fan I caution all of you to take the wins that the Gophers are racking up quite serious. Michigan Tech has never been a perenial winner in the WCHA, but with the increase of teams in the NCAA (which some might say is watering down the leagues) I think that you would be hard pressed to think that there is not great parity in the WCHA this year. Michigan Tech has been in every game that they play. They have some players that can put the puck in the net, just look at the current standings. The biggest mistake that the Sioux can make this year is taking any team lightly in the WCHA this year. It is great to sweep the teams that you think that you may split with, but it is even more important to sweep the teams that you are expected to beat. This is something that the Sioux have struggled with in the past couple of years by not showing up for every game, ie. was there not a game last year against a "soft" team that the Sioux lost to where the players were repremanded for watching the big screen before the game instead of mentally preparing themselves??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slap Shot Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 1. Keep in mind that the comment in question came from one Gopher fan, so it's a bit disengenuous to claim it's refelctive of multiple, "fans". I think only the most delusional Gopher fan wouldn't recognize UND is a very, very good team and should be considered one of the NC favorites. 2. His comments obviously lacked dimplomacy but I think what he (badly) tried to say is that the team has hopefully turned the corner. Do I think the Gophers would have swept UND or UW had they played this well previously? Probably not. Will they sweep or "spank" UND and UW later on - probably not. However, the return of Ballard and Harrington has made a difference in the overall play of the defense, Briggs is playing better, the Gophers are having more success getting the puck out of their zone and the PP has been great. I noted in USCHO that they will have a rough time finishing in the Top 3, they have a legitimate shot at a Top 5 and even though the 4 and 5 seeds have had difficulty in the WCHA tournament, the coaching and talent of this team is high enough they could reach the title game. That their PWR will most likely be high enough for them to get an at-large bid means they are not down for the count. I will never say the Gophers will do this or that for the rest of the season (aside from winning the regular season title, which is way out of reach), but if I were anyone else I would be just as cautious to claim they will not do this or that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxTupa Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 The gophers are a good team. NOT a great team this season...not yet. Tradition is in their favor and possibly momentum now...at least after AA. They lost two big keys: Martin Weber Notice how their defense/goaltending flopped at the beginning of the year. I don't think anyone would doubt that these losses played a factor. However, with good coaching and a great nucleus of players they are finding their way back into the hunt. UND is a different story. Finally out of their rebuilding/young/inexperienced phase, it's now time for the...prove all the hype phase. Many are hinting at a late season slide like last year. Right now the Sioux are playing better than most/any team in DI. Wisconsin is raising eyebrows from their side, but going to denver and DOMINATING 14-4 is MAKING A STATEMENT...just as the headline at USCHO previously stated. If UND played UM right now we would most likely take both games, but it would be much closer...and come January... I'll be at Maricrotchi to cheer on a great series. Merry X-Mas Gophers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Anyone suggesting that the Sioux should beat Minnesota easily in Minneapolis obviously doesn't know college hockey. When was the last time the Sioux swept Minnesota in Minneapolis? My guess is that it would have to be in the old Mariucci days, and we have had some pretty awesome teams since then. The last sweep in Minneapolis was in 1979-1980. It was fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Under most circumstances, no team that finishes outside the top three in the WCHA has a chance at the playoff tourney. I will be utterly shocked if any WCHA team ever wins three games at the X. <rant> This is my biggest problem with the WCHA. The playin game prevents any realistic upset tourney champion and the unbalanced schedule means the difference between 1st and 2nd and just as importantly 3rd or 4th may be decided by who had more games with Tech and AA. The WCHA should either balance the schedule (hard with AA), or drop two teams from playoffs (hard because of money) and play a final four. </rant> When your automatic bid is given to a tourney champ and not a over-the-long- haul-regular-season champ, I think you have to have some advantage for the top few teams. Otherwise, why play the regular season. Lets just have a tournament to get into a tournament. I realize that the regular season champs will make it into the tourney, but it has always seemed odd to me to reward a team for playing one small stretch of games really well. But nothing will change, because it IS ALL ABOUT MONEY. Imagine if a lower than fifth seed WCHA team won the Final Five/Four (if it were changed). They get an auto bid and probably knock out a better overall WCHA team who might have had one bad game at the end. With the current play-in game, that lower than fifth seed really does earn their way in. The only crappy thing is that the NCAA's start like the next Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mksioux Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 The Gophers will make the NCAA's. It's almost a certainty. And once there, I will not count them out until they actually lose...no matter what seed they get...no matter where they play. They started out the season playing like garbage, but teams with that much talent can get hot and become almost unbeatable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 The Gophers will make the NCAA's. It's almost a certainty. And once there, I will not count them out until they actually lose...no matter what seed they get...no matter where they play. They started out the season playing like garbage, but teams with that much talent can get hot and become almost unbeatable. We've said this a hundred times. We said something similar after they were swept by UMD earlier in the year. The Gophers are getting their losing done now so that when they get to the second half, they can focus on winning. It's almost an unintentional game of turtle. They play belly up, lose a few key games, drop out of the picture, lose the hype, and then just win the rest of the season. It happens all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyeagle Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 The last sweep in Minneapolis was in 1979-1980. It was fun. It's seriously been that long? Wow. For some reason I thought UND took a series in Mpls. during one of Woogs last years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagard Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 The great Sioux teams of '98-'01 managed three points a couple of times at Mariucci, but never swept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted December 2, 2003 Author Share Posted December 2, 2003 Goon - For the record: The liquor never stops flowing here. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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