Sioux Falls Regional - UND / Prov / QU / Merrimack

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

29 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

Maybe a blog about post game reaction too!

That's how you get a press pass at the Ralph

[Blackheart]

7 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Thoughts

-We didn't cope well to the ice surface at all.  Tons of terrible bounces, and you can't play overly cute when thats a factor.  

-I thought we didn't show any rust, and really had a good first ten minutes of the game.  I thought it was more of us on the gas pedal than them not skating.  Goal early always helps.  

-I'd say we passed up shooting the puck easily 10-15 times.  Our pp overpassed a ton.

-Coaches limited #18's minutes quite a bit late in the game.  Fighting it a bit the past few games.  He's so much better when he keeps it simple.  

-Our goalie played better than their goalie did.  Really locked in performance for him.  

-Regardless of what their 8th place finish says, that team was playing their best hockey of the year and won 4 backs against the wall games in a row to make the NCAA's.  They probably deserved a better fate then they got tonight.

An ugly win beats any loss.  Especially in the NCAA tournament. 

 

I'm just glad the boys  kept working until the end; no disappearing act like in our last NCAA appearance.  Keep owning that third period!

[cowboys5xsbs]

[Blackheart]

ESPN showed this at the end of their broadcast tonight…always glad to see it.

 

[MafiaMan]

I’m just gonna leave this here and call it a night:

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, this team has exceeded every expectation I had this season, starting with the first game I saw at GCA against St. Thomas.  

I expected a turnaround to take a couple of years, as I’m sure most of you did.  Kudos to the players, staff, and Coach Jackson for righting the ship so quickly.  

We are so back.

[brianvf]

17 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

-We didn't cope well to the ice surface at all.  Tons of terrible bounces, and you can't play overly cute when thats a factor.  

-I'd say we passed up shooting the puck easily 10-15 times.  Our pp overpassed a ton.

Yep, these two.
Hopefully the ice is better on Saturday with just one game...and if not, hopefully the boys realize that they just need to fire the puck and crash the net for rebounds instead of trying to get cute/fancy.

[Blackheart]

3 minutes ago, MafiaMan said:

I’m just gonna leave this here and call it a night:

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, this team has exceeded every expectation I had this season, starting with the first game I saw at GCA against St. Thomas.  

I expected a turnaround to take a couple of years, as I’m sure most of you did.  Kudos to the players, staff, and Coach Jackson for righting the ship so quickly.  

We are so back.
 

 

So you're saying we can't beat the Q?

[Vegas_Sioux]

5 minutes ago, MafiaMan said:

I’m just gonna leave this here and call it a night:

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, this team has exceeded every expectation I had this season, starting with the first game I saw at GCA against St. Thomas.  

I expected a turnaround to take a couple of years, as I’m sure most of you did.  Kudos to the players, staff, and Coach Jackson for righting the ship so quickly.  

We are so back.

Let’s not forget Bryn who got hired and hit the road. 

[thUNDer]

✔️one game atta time.

Will get the 2nd vs Q too!

Let’s Go Sioux!

[MafiaMan]

6 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

So you're saying we can't beat the Q?

I’m saying they can…and will.  

[Blackheart]

Just now, MafiaMan said:

I’m saying they can…and will.  

We're going to Boston baby!  Eh, I mean Vegas...

[SiouxFan100]

UND being relevant this late in the season makes life more enjoyable 

[Blackheart]

College Hockey News reporting tonights attendance at 3,148.

[SiouxFan100]

1 minute ago, Blackheart said:

College Hockey News reporting tonights attendance at 3,148.

Looked like more than that

[siouxforce19]

6 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Looked like more than that

One of the reporters covering the regional posted a figure that was over 5,000 for attendance 

[GeauxSioux]

USCHO has it at 5114

[Blackheart]

3 minutes ago, GeauxSioux said:

USCHO has it at 5114

That's what you get for trusting CHN...now they are showing zero for attendance.

[Wildfan]

55 minutes ago, skateshattrick said:

It was early in the year, but Merrimack beat Quinnipiac 4-1. Maybe they are better than you think?

UND also lost 5-2 to Clarkson who was 8th in ECAC and under .500. 2nd night was atleast a win but still was only 1-0. Nothing comes easy this time of year. 

 

[Wildfan]

11 minutes ago, GeauxSioux said:

USCHO has it at 5114

Would think that would be somewhat close with the capacity of Premier Center. Some pics made it potentially look a little more full that that but those are deceiving too. The upper deck does not hold a lot in SF. 

Also just curious does anyone know what metric they go by for this since it was posted no re-entry and so you had people from the first game that didn't scan in for the 2nd game, so can't go by scans so there has to be some estimating based on what looks open? I don't believe they use total tickets sold but could be wrong.

 

Edit: that is the only game not showing 0 on USCHO

[MGsioux]

1 hour ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Jax was not interested in whatever Borek was lecturing him about

Wth do we think that was about 

[MGsioux]

1 hour ago, siouxweet said:

This game never, never should have been this close.  This whole Merrimack was a hot team is garbage, they were the 8th place team in HE.  They need to figure this thing out in the next 45 hours.

Stfu 

[TwamleyShuffle]

A few thoughts. 
 

1. I think some fans are upset that this wasn’t like the AIC game where we vastly overpowered them. While we do that to Merrimack for maybe the first 10 minutes, we didn’t keep it up as long as we did to AIC. 

It’s important to address many title teams have a close call or maybe not their best game during the first game of the tourney. 
 

2. Spoons and our d corp shut down most offensive chances. How many times has a team rode a hot goalie or in this case a hot goalie and d corp to a title? Often. If we can shutdown the top scorer in the nation on Saturday, we can likely find ourselves in Vegas baby!!

3. If the ice was poor, hopefully this extra day of prep on the ice can prepare the team for what to do and not do with less than ideal ice. 

Hope everyone in Sioux Falls are enjoying your trip. Also, hope that it’s not the last trip our fanbase takes this season. 

 

[SiouxFanatic]

 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

13 minutes ago, MGsioux said:

Wth do we think that was about 

No idea. Hopefully Schloss or someone else asks one of them about it. Borek could just be a sore loser.

[jk]

When UND scored early and then had a few dominant shifts, the ones that were even strength but looked like a 5-on-3, I think that messed with their heads.  Or maybe just mine.  It seemed like the rest of the game they thought they were the Harlem Globetrotters, hence the overpassing.  Instead of making the fourth pass, maybe just shoot and the guy you were thinking of passing to can clean up the rebound.

As others have noted, teams often have an early brush with death before doing well in the tournament (looking at you, Duluth), so there's still hope.

We'll see how teams look tomorrow, but no one looked impressive today.