NCAA Hockey Tournament

[Dustin]

I figured I'd start a thread specific to the NCAA tournament games.  I'm sure there will specific threads created for UND's games, so this would be primarily for discussion of what's happening outside of UND specifically.

I figured I'd start out the discussion by creating a list of the 16 teams and my relative happiness if said team won it all, divided into 4 categories.

Elated - North Dakota.  Absolutely the scenario I'm hoping will play out.

Happy - Probably the longest list of teams in quite a while that I would be happy for that team, their program, their fans, etc.  These are in no particular order.

- Wisconsin.  While I appreciate our hard-nosed history with the Badgers, I do not wish them ill will and easily root for them over more vicious rivals.  College hockey is better when Wisconsin is relevant.

- Michigan St.  Sparty would be on the cusp of joining college hockey's blue bloods with another Natty to their name.  I would gladly welcome them to the club.

- Cornell.  Have decent hockey history, and have not won a championship in over 50 years.

- Dartmouth, Merrimack, Minnesota St., UConn, Bentley.  None of these have ever won the championship, and getting new blood is good, too.

Okay

- Western Michigan, Quinnipiac, Providence.  These guys have all won their first (and only) championship this century.  Are they a one-time wonder, or are they building towards being part of the conversation for the foreseeable future?  These guys being successful adds even more parity to college hockey.

- Penn St.  This is the one I am most on the fence.  Their breakup of college hockey alliances/conferences is almost unforgiveable.  But I love seeing a big-name institution commit to college hockey and bring a bigger spotlight.

Unhappy

- Michigan.  Their smugness irritates me.  I also don't want a former UND player to win a championship after exiting via the transfer portal.

- Minnesota-Duluth.  The rivalry with the Bulldogs keeps getting more vicious.  It's getting close to Gophers and Pioneers.  Speaking of which....

- Denver.  These guys winning would absolutely be worst case scenario for me.  Hope they're ousted early so I don't have to think about them anymore.

[ND_Texan]

I'm looking for the cheap shot artists at Duluth to take a 5-minute major or two that costs them a game. Maybe goons Pionk and Pierce absorb a few board crunchers of their own and find themselves limping to their locker room. Karma is glorious.

[stoneySIOUX]

16 minutes ago, Dustin said:

I figured I'd start a thread specific to the NCAA tournament games.  I'm sure there will specific threads created for UND's games, so this would be primarily for discussion of what's happening outside of UND specifically.

I figured I'd start out the discussion by creating a list of the 16 teams and my relative happiness if said team won it all, divided into 4 categories.

Elated - North Dakota.  Absolutely the scenario I'm hoping will play out.

Happy - Probably the longest list of teams in quite a while that I would be happy for that team, their program, their fans, etc.  These are in no particular order.

- Wisconsin.  While I appreciate our hard-nosed history with the Badgers, I do not wish them ill will and easily root for them over more viscous rivals.  College hockey is better when Wisconsin is relevant.

- Michigan St. - Sparty would be on the cusp of joining college hockey's blue bloods with another Natty to their name.  I would gladly welcome them to the club.

- Cornell.  Have decent hockey history, and have not won a championship in over 50 years.

- Dartmouth, Merrimack, Minnesota St., UConn, Bentley.  None of these have ever won the championship, and getting new blood is good, too.

Okay

- Western Michigan, Quinnipiac, Providence.  These guys have all won their first (and only) championship this century.  Are they a one-time wonder, or are they building towards being part of the conversation for the foreseeable future?  These guys being successful adds even more parity to college hockey.

-Penn St.  This is the one I am most on the fence.  Their breakup of college hockey alliances/conferences is almost unforgiveable.  But I love seeing a big-name institution commit to college hockey and bring a bigger spotlight.

Unhappy

- Michigan.  Their smugness irritates me.  I also don't want a former UND player to win a championship after exiting via the transfer portal.

- Minnesota-Duluth.  The rivalry with the Bulldogs keeps getting more viscous.  It's getting close to Gophers and Pioneers.  Speaking of which....

- Denver.  These guys winning would absolutely be worst case scenario for me.  Hope they're ousted early so I don't have to think about them anymore.

Elated -- UND.

Unhappy -- Everyone else.

Disgusted -- DU, UMD, WMU, Michigan

Everyone else - Meh, but still unhappy.

[Big Green]

Elated: UND (Obviously)

Happy: No One

Little Better than OK:  UMD and Western (Conference Pride)-Rip away on UMD, Bentley (Good Luck), Minn St, Cornel, Dartmouth

Slightly worse than OK Merrimack, UCONN, Providence

Gross: Quinnipiac

Disgusted: Any Big Ten Team and DU

 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Keeping the "Big Ten has yet to win a natty" storyline going as long as possible is my preference.

[airmail]

39 minutes ago, Dustin said:

Elated - North Dakota.  Absolutely the scenario I'm hoping will play out.

 

Unhappy

- Michigan.  Their smugness irritates me.  I also don't want a former UND player to win a championship after exiting via the transfer portal.

- Minnesota-Duluth.  The rivalry with the Bulldogs keeps getting more viscous.  It's getting close to Gophers and Pioneers.  Speaking of which....

- Denver.  These guys winning would absolutely be worst case scenario for me.  Hope they're ousted early so I don't have to think about them anymore.

Yes, Yes, Yes, and absofrickinlutely Yes.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

15 minutes ago, Big Green said:

Elated: UND (Obviously)

Happy: No One

Little Better than OK:  UMD and Western (Conference Pride)-Rip away on UMD, Bentley (Good Luck), Minn St, Cornel, Dartmouth

Slightly worse than OK Merrimack, UCONN, Providence

Gross: Quinnipiac

Disgusted: Any Big Ten Team and DU

 

That's wild to me if you've ever interacted with one of their fans. Lowest common denominator of college hockey fan around.

[stoneySIOUX]

1 minute ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

That's wild to me if you've ever interacted with one of their fans. Lowest common denominator of college hockey fan around.

Dead on accurate. And that's coming from a guy who's a part of OUR fanbase 😁

[Big Green]

18 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

That's wild to me if you've ever interacted with one of their fans. Lowest common denominator of college hockey fan around.

Gfhockey seems like a great guy.  Lol

I did have a conversation with a UMD fan when they were up here earlier this year.  Nice guy.

But, I get it, I understand the hate for them.

 

[fightingsioux4life]

Just now, Big Green said:

Gfhockey seems like a great guy.  Lol

I did have a conversation with a UMD fan when they were up here earlier this year.  Nice guy.

But, I get it, I understand the hate for them.

 

Sometimes he p!$$es me off.

Sometimes he makes me laugh out loud.

It just depends on what he is posting.

He does add some flavor to this forum.

[MGsioux]

Did anyone watch Game on journey to the NCAA championship on ESPN ?? Caught the ene of it but it seemed all about Penn state and McKenna.   Can't wait to see UMD beat them. 

[stoneySIOUX]

22 minutes ago, MGsioux said:

Did anyone watch Game on journey to the NCAA championship on ESPN ?? Caught the ene of it but it seemed all about Penn state and McKenna.   Can't wait to see UMD beat them. 

Just one section on McKenna. Did one of Zach Wisdom from Western, Rand Pecknold, Providence, and Michael Hage. Even talked about us for 5 seconds and Players to Watch included KV. It was pretty good.

[TwamleyShuffle]

Buffalo wings - eaten

cheese curds (I live in Wisconsin after all) - eaten

diet Coke - open and ready for nine hours or so of hockey 

let’s drop the puck!!

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Kicking off the tournament with fixing the plexiglass in Worcester in front of dozens of fans. 

[brianvf]

Just now, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Kicking off the tournament with fixing the plexiglass in Worcester in front of dozens of fans. 

20min delay.

[NDinCO]

 

Betting odds fwiw... 

Michigan State      +330
Michigan                +360
North Dakota         +450
Western Michigan +700
Denver                   +900
Penn State             +1700
Quinnipiac              +1800
Providence             +2000
Minnesota Duluth +2000
Wisconsin              +2000
Cornell                   +2500
Connecticut            +2700
Dartmouth              +3000
Merrimack             +6500
Minnesota St.         +8000
Bentley                   +10000

[TwamleyShuffle]

lol they just said “big ten teams in hostile territory” referring to the Mass regional. Since when is empty seats an aversive territory to be in? 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Just now, TwamleyShuffle said:

lol they just said “big ten teams in hostile territory” referring to the Mass regional. Since when is empty seats an aversive territory to be in? 

It's filling in a bit more now, people probably went to the concourse when the delay was announced.

[1972]

It's either my tv or the lighting in the arena, but it literally looks like 2 teams in blue and blue and white.  M.st. green does not show up well

[Johnny Five]

1 hour ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Keeping the "Big Ten has yet to win a natty" storyline going as long as possible is my preference.

Same.  

Signed, Gopher Fan

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Boisvert's piss poor season took attention away from how worthless Lindstrom has been.

[brucespook]

23 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Just one section on McKenna. Did one of Zach Wisdom from Western, Rand Pecknold, Providence, and Michael Hage. Even talked about us for 5 seconds and Players to Watch included KV. It was pretty good.

So they picked their 4 guys to mention for the whole tourney.  Lol.  

[brianvf]

Super passive PK from MSU.
They don't pressure at all.

[1972]

U conn does not move the puck well on the pp

[1972]

Nice drive to the net