NCAA Tournament

[Shawn-O]

16 minutes ago, cowboys5xsbs said:

Let's go meteor 

What a nauseating Frozen Four.   

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Still frustrated that the team blew the #1 seed which would have likely resulted in a gopher showdown in Sioux Falls with the Frozen Four on the line.

[Benny Baker]

Gosh, pulled up my work calendar earlier this week, and it said “out of office” today and tomorrow.  Was I supposed to be somewhere … ?

Let’s go (gulp) BU.

[Kevin G]

There's no one to pull for. Pulling against all of them. 

Pulling hardest against Michigan and Denver. 

[stoneySIOUX]

6 minutes ago, Kevin G said:

There's no one to pull for. Pulling against all of them. 

Pulling hardest against Michigan and Denver. 

Isn't that wild? Our teams this weekend are BU and BC.

https://giphy.com/clips/hamlet-dumb-and-dumber-grossed-out-gagging-ttx2jTW1ubblzFjwPr

[Benny Baker]

5 minutes ago, Kevin G said:

There's no one to pull for. Pulling against all of them. 

Pulling hardest against Michigan and Denver. 

Feel the same way. Don’t want Michigan and Denver at 10 before UND gets 9.  Don’t like Boston schools at all either.

Hopefully whoever wins has their title vacated due to some NCAA recruiting violation.

[.357]

5 minutes ago, Benny Baker said:

Hopefully whoever wins has their title vacated due to some NCAA recruiting violation.

Thanks, I needed a chuckle. But knowing our luck, BC would have their title forfeited to the runner-up: DU.

[burd]

A little ironic that this really should be a great FF we don’t want anyone to win.

[siouxfan512]

Maybe covid can make a swift comeback for the weekend. Just enough to cancel the tourney. Then back to normal.

[Benny Baker]

35 minutes ago, burd said:

A little ironic that this really should be a great FF we don’t want anyone to win.

I don't know about you guys, but this is quickly becoming the norm for me.  I've been through a lot of butt puckering the last 3 frozen fours.

- 3rd year in a row for Michigan to get to #10;

- Watched Minnesota play the last two years, and they were only a few minutes from winning last year; and

- Watched Denver win #9 just two years ago (but it was better than seeing Minnesota and Michigan win, right?), but now they're gunning for #10 as well.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Headed to the X, planning to ask everyone in Gopher apparel why Minnesota isn't playing. Not wearing anything Sioux related to prevent the obvious retort.

[burd]

44 minutes ago, Benny Baker said:

I don't know about you guys, but this is quickly becoming the norm for me.  I've been through a lot of butt puckering the last 3 frozen fours.

- 3rd year in a row for Michigan to get to #10;

- Watched Minnesota play the last two years, and they were only a few minutes from winning last year; and

- Watched Denver win #9 just two years ago (but it was better than seeing Minnesota and Michigan win, right?), but now they're gunning for #10 as well.

The entire tournament this year is exceptional, IMO, in that it has been just loaded with high end talent and really good teams.   This FF lineup is really good, and we should be in store for some great hockey.   Just too bad someone has to win.  

[Oxbow6]

Is there hockey today?

#TheMasters

[nodakvindy]

They just need to get away from the schools bidding on regionals and have conferences do it.  They can then pull from schools that aren't in the tourney for staffing, and you don't have the "host team guaranteed to play somewhere" issue.  So say the Big Ten bids for Grand Rapids, the NCHC bids for Fargo, ECAC builds Albany and Hockey East bids Manchester.  They could also go with the approach that womens' basketball was taken for Sweet Sixteen and Elite EIght and have 2 sites effectively host 2 regionals each.  That would create more festival like atmosphere, allow neutrals to see games four days in a row and two Frozen Four tickets punched.  That probably drives better attendance as you can still try to position as many teams as close to home as possible with one location in the east and one in the west, but also maintains the fairness of neutral sites.

[stoneySIOUX]

1 hour ago, Benny Baker said:

I don't know about you guys, but this is quickly becoming the norm for me.  I've been through a lot of butt puckering the last 3 frozen fours.

- 3rd year in a row for Michigan to get to #10;

- Watched Minnesota play the last two years, and they were only a few minutes from winning last year; and

- Watched Denver win #9 just two years ago (but it was better than seeing Minnesota and Michigan win, right?), but now they're gunning for #10 as well.

This one ended with a really fun memory that I re-watch on bad days, however 

[stoneySIOUX]

15 minutes ago, nodakvindy said:

They just need to get away from the schools bidding on regionals and have conferences do it.  They can then pull from schools that aren't in the tourney for staffing, and you don't have the "host team guaranteed to play somewhere" issue.  So say the Big Ten bids for Grand Rapids, the NCHC bids for Fargo, ECAC builds Albany and Hockey East bids Manchester.  They could also go with the approach that womens' basketball was taken for Sweet Sixteen and Elite EIght and have 2 sites effectively host 2 regionals each.  That would create more festival like atmosphere, allow neutrals to see games four days in a row and two Frozen Four tickets punched.  That probably drives better attendance as you can still try to position as many teams as close to home as possible with one location in the east and one in the west, but also maintains the fairness of neutral sites.

Would you still distribute teams across the four sites our would you group them based on regions? Ie. West teams in two regions and East teams in the other two.

[cberkas]

19 minutes ago, nodakvindy said:

They just need to get away from the schools bidding on regionals and have conferences do it.  They can then pull from schools that aren't in the tourney for staffing, and you don't have the "host team guaranteed to play somewhere" issue.  So say the Big Ten bids for Grand Rapids, the NCHC bids for Fargo, ECAC builds Albany and Hockey East bids Manchester.  They could also go with the approach that womens' basketball was taken for Sweet Sixteen and Elite EIght and have 2 sites effectively host 2 regionals each.  That would create more festival like atmosphere, allow neutrals to see games four days in a row and two Frozen Four tickets punched.  That probably drives better attendance as you can still try to position as many teams as close to home as possible with one location in the east and one in the west, but also maintains the fairness of neutral sites.

They have done that before a few times with the ECAC. ECAC has been the host for two regionals (I have it written down on my computer so I’ll check the years later). Hockey East hosted the Boston Frozen Four and not a school in Boston.

Albany regional in 2026 is hosted by the ECAC and not RPI.

[Benny Baker]

1 minute ago, stoneySIOUX said:

This one ended with a really fun memory that I re-watch on bad days, however 

100%

I was in the pit at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at US Bank stadium while this game was being played.  Capella tower downtown was lit up in maroon and gold. I occasionally followed along on my phone during the show, but put it away with a few minutes left expecting the Gophers would win #6

About 20 minutes later, a ripple of audible groans started permeating around the pit.  No, it couldn’t be, I thought to myself.  I checked my phone again, which confirmed what I was hearing: the collective groans of Gophers fans after they just sh!t the national championship away!

It was music to my ears.

 

[stoneySIOUX]

1 minute ago, Benny Baker said:

100%

I was in the pit at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at US Bank stadium while this game was being played.  Capella tower downtown was lit up in maroon and gold. I occasionally followed along on my phone during the show, but put it away with a few minutes left expecting the Gophers would win #6

About 20 minutes later, a ripple of audible groans started permeating around the pit.  No, it couldn’t be, I thought to myself.  I checked my phone again, which confirmed what I was hearing: the collective groans of Gophers fans after they just sh!t the national championship away!

It was music to my ears.

 

That's fantastic. So funny there was an noticeable reaction hahaha. 

[sioux24/7]

1 hour ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Headed to the X, planning to ask everyone in Gopher apparel why Minnesota isn't playing. Not wearing anything Sioux related to prevent the obvious retort.

I am going on Saturday but I do plan on wearing my UND gear. Just because we aren’t there, doesn’t mean I’m not going to represent. 

[stoneySIOUX]

10 minutes ago, sioux24/7 said:

I am going on Saturday but I do plan on wearing my UND gear. Just because we aren’t there, doesn’t mean I’m not going to represent. 

I've never been one to wear gear of a team that's not involved, but the Frozen Four is one of those exceptions. It's a celebration of all of college hockey. Just as long as neither Michigan or DU win on Saturday 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 hours ago, Benny Baker said:

I don't know about you guys, but this is quickly becoming the norm for me.

Yep, it's becoming the norm around here. And that is very disturbing.

[nodakvindy]

2 hours ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Would you still distribute teams across the four sites our would you group them based on regions? Ie. West teams in two regions and East teams in the other two.

distribute them, and they could be pods like mens basketball, so the two brackets at each regional wouldn't necessarily have to be the ones that play each other in the Frozen Four.  So using this year as an example, if the Regional sites were say  Manchester, N.H. and Des Moines

Manchester 1 Th-Sat

BC-Michigan Tech and UW-QU

Manchester 2 Fri-Sun

BU-RIT and Minnesota-Omaha

Des Moines 1 Th- Sat

Denver-UMass and Maine-Michigan

Des Moines 2 Fr-Sun

Mich. Sti-Western Michigan and North Dakota-Cornell

Frozen Four would be Manchester 1 vs Des Moines 2 and Manchester 2 vs Des Moines 1.  I flipped the UND and Maine to spread the top 8 by conference a little better, that's a personal preference that likely wouldn't happen.