The NCAA's. UND vs. Duluth

[UNDColorado]

8 minutes ago, franchise said:

Completely agree.  

I hate all the NCHC teams until UND is out.  Then I just want all the natty titles in the conference.  

Hoping Huskies 1st, Dawgs 2nd

Agreed, but I wouldn't be bummed if Minnesota State took it.

[brianvf]

My order is:

1. SCSU...would be nice to see them finally get their first after so many quality teams over the years
2. MSUM...same as SCSU
3. UMass...I know that they're HEA, but I just don't want to hear it from the five UMD fans
4. UMD...yep, they have enough luck over the last couple title runs, it's time that their luck ran out

[The Sicatoka]

Who do I believe has the best chance of coming out on top?

Covid protocol

[siouxweet]

17 minutes ago, franchise said:

Completely agree.  

I hate all the NCHC teams until UND is out.  Then I just want all the natty titles in the conference.  

Hoping Huskies 1st, Dawgs 2nd

Can't root for Denver.

[Siouxphan27]

38 minutes ago, UNDColorado said:

Agreed, but I wouldn't be bummed if Minnesota State took it.

Or Covid University.  

[franchise]

4 hours ago, siouxweet said:

Can't root for Denver.

Well maybe i would not cheer for them, but check the title game score after not watching it, and prefer the NCHC team won

[Hayduke1]

7 hours ago, brianvf said:

My order is:

1. SCSU...would be nice to see them finally get their first after so many quality teams over the years
2. MSUM...same as SCSU
3. UMass...I know that they're HEA, but I just don't want to hear it from the five UMD fans
4. UMD...yep, they have enough luck over the last couple title runs, it's time that their luck ran out

It would be kind of fun to see SCSU win it all while their ex-coach, going to what he thought was a dream job at Minnesota, gets to watch them hoist the trophy.

God, I hate the gophers.   

[cberkas]

9 minutes ago, Hayduke1 said:

It would be kind of fun to see SCSU win it all while their ex-coach, going to what he thought was a dream job at Minnesota, gets to watch them hoist the trophy.

God, I hate the gophers.   

I've been hearing he took the Minnesota job right before the Air Force loss.

[ubish]

I wouldn't mind seeing SCSU take the title as they were a late comer to the NCHC (along with us).  I'm really fine with anyone winning as long as it's not Mankato.  There is a very vocal minority of WMU fans who think we should have gone to the WCHA, and a WCHA national title will finally give them some positives about that conference to bring up. 

[Rebel_Sioux]

12 hours ago, ubish said:

I wouldn't mind seeing SCSU take the title as they were a late comer to the NCHC (along with us).  I'm really fine with anyone winning as long as it's not Mankato.  There is a very vocal minority of WMU fans who think we should have gone to the WCHA, and a WCHA national title will finally give them some positives about that conference to bring up. 

Part of me sometimes wonders how we would have dated if we hadn't left the WCHA. The CCHA teams we took are often at the bottom of the conference as it is. MSU, MTU and BSU have had some decent teams that hit hard by the WCHA OOC record. But then I look and see how much the NCHC has dominated college hockey and those thoughts go away. 

 

That being said, I'd love for the WCHA to get one. The NCHC clearly worked out very well for us, but I do still feel bad for our former conference members that got left behind. 

 

I'm also ok with this scenario :-)

On 3/31/2021 at 10:16 PM, Hayduke1 said:

It would be kind of fun to see SCSU win it all while their ex-coach, going to what he thought was a dream job at Minnesota, gets to watch them hoist the trophy.

God, I hate the gophers.   

 

 

[Blackheart]

I'd be fine with the Frozen Four results in this order...

Mankato

Clown College

UMass

and Covid 19

 

[ubish]

On 4/2/2021 at 12:41 AM, Rebel_Sioux said:

Part of me sometimes wonders how we would have dated if we hadn't left the WCHA. The CCHA teams we took are often at the bottom of the conference as it is. MSU, MTU and BSU have had some decent teams that hit hard by the WCHA OOC record. But then I look and see how much the NCHC has dominated college hockey and those thoughts go away. 

 

That being said, I'd love for the WCHA to get one. The NCHC clearly worked out very well for us, but I do still feel bad for our former conference members that got left behind. 

 

I'm also ok with this scenario :-)

 

 

Wait a minute now, WMU has never finished at the bottom (though we did have a couple of tough years early on finishing 7th).  The rest of the time we've usually been in the top 4, with a couple of 3rd place finishes in there.  I don't think Tech or Bemidji would have done any better than that.  We just haven't had any success in the post season (ncaas or frozen faceoff) and so it's easy to forget about those teams. 

[petey23]

1 hour ago, ubish said:

Wait a minute now, WMU has never finished at the bottom (though we did have a couple of tough years early on finishing 7th).  The rest of the time we've usually been in the top 4, with a couple of 3rd place finishes in there.  I don't think Tech or Bemidji would have done any better than that.  We just haven't had any success in the post season (ncaas or frozen faceoff) and so it's easy to forget about those teams. 

I agree, WMU is solid.

When everyone was speculating about Denver and UNO at the end of the year I think a case could have and should have been made that WMU was better than both of them at the end of the year.

[The Sicatoka]

If the NCHC had done a true crossover tourney (1E v 4W style) I'm quite sure 2W (Omaha) wanted no part of 3E (WMU). 

 

Crossover brackets would've been:
UND / Miami
Omaha / WMU
DU / UMD
CC / SCSU 

[jk]

38 minutes ago, petey23 said:

I agree, WMU is solid.

When everyone was speculating about Denver and UNO at the end of the year I think a case could have and should have been made that WMU was better than both of them at the end of the year.

This gets to the heart of how I think UND's tournament preparation suffered from the NCHC schedule.  2021 weekends against UMD, SCSU and WMU would have hurt the team's record but stiffened its spine.  Playing CC and Omaha, with a diminished DU sprinkled in, did them no favors.  

Two clarifying points. 1. UND was still very good, played well against UMD, and deserved a better fate that morning. 2. I don't blame the NCHC, as organizations had to choose the path they thought best in an unusual time. 

[UND1981]

I would like to see No Maas over Dogs, Purple Cows over St. Cloud.  Natty to PCs.

 

[BusinessSiouxt]

2 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

If the NCHC had done a true crossover tourney (1E v 4W style) I'm quite sure 2W (Omaha) wanted no part of 3E (WMU). 

 

Crossover brackets would've been:
UND / Miami
Omaha / WMU
DU / UMD
CC / SCSU 

Actually, I think UNO would have preferred WMU. They match up much better skill-wise with them. You can’t make mistakes against Denver but you can get away with some smudge against Andy’s boys...

[ubish]

9 hours ago, petey23 said:

I agree, WMU is solid.

When everyone was speculating about Denver and UNO at the end of the year I think a case could have and should have been made that WMU was better than both of them at the end of the year.

6 of WMUs 10 wins came against frozen four teams.  But there were some pretty bad losses early in the season that knocked them out of the discussion. 

 

[cberkas]

45 minutes ago, ubish said:

6 of WMUs 10 wins came against frozen four teams.  But there were some pretty bad losses early in the season that knocked them out of the discussion. 

 

I see Western Michigan being in the top three next season

[Rebel_Sioux]

12 hours ago, ubish said:

Wait a minute now, WMU has never finished at the bottom (though we did have a couple of tough years early on finishing 7th).  The rest of the time we've usually been in the top 4, with a couple of 3rd place finishes in there.  I don't think Tech or Bemidji would have done any better than that.  We just haven't had any success in the post season (ncaas or frozen faceoff) and so it's easy to forget about those teams. 

You're right. I should have been more specific and said Miami. WMU has fielded very competitive teams recently. 

The thought experiment was more how the CCHA/WCHA would have faired if the NCHC never happened. I think they would have been still competitive (and better than the Big Ten) but it's hard to believe they would have been as successful as the NCHC. 

[ubish]

22 hours ago, jk said:

This gets to the heart of how I think UND's tournament preparation suffered from the NCHC schedule.  2021 weekends against UMD, SCSU and WMU would have hurt the team's record but stiffened its spine.  Playing CC and Omaha, with a diminished DU sprinkled in, did them no favors.  

Two clarifying points. 1. UND was still very good, played well against UMD, and deserved a better fate that morning. 2. I don't blame the NCHC, as organizations had to choose the path they thought best in an unusual time. 

That's a really good point actually.  They had to split the "groups" somehow, but it was rather uneven this year.  It would have been helpful for you guys if you would have had the opportunity to play the top teams in our league more than just a handful of times.  That said, I'm thankful that WMU wasn't stuck in a group with SCSU, Duluth, AND North Dakota. 

[ubish]

20 hours ago, BusinessSiouxt said:

Actually, I think UNO would have preferred WMU. They match up much better skill-wise with them. You can’t make mistakes against Denver but you can get away with some smudge against Andy’s boys...

lol @ Andy's boys.  Now I'm picturing this on the bottom of all the player's skates.