Fighting Sioux vs. Minnesota Game Thread

[The Whistler]

When did Lee get beat? If your referring to the last goal, there was nothing that he could do.

I was listening on the radio, but Tim Hennesey said that it looked like he relaxed waiting for the icing.

[siouxrunner]

He is from Bismarck he should be wearing a Fighting Sioux sweatshirt.

Dave St. Peter is a UND Grad

[Frontroguy]

Well, I WAS at the X, for all 5 games! And yes, I saw alot of sloppy drunks, and more wearing maroon/gold than green, but there were plenty of abusive loud-mouths on EACH side of the cheering aisle. And WTF was with the Sioux fans wearing the Holy Cross jerseys? What're they, nine years old? I was actually only embarassed that the same people, holding up letter cards ended up spelling "H-O-L-Y-C-O-R-S-S." If you're gonna dis the opponents, at least make sure you're not too drunk to SPELL! (Inside, I did enjoy the joke, tho!)

The "booing" for the 9-year old was a repeated thing during the tourney, where the announcer would have one rep of each team, and EVERYONE booed for their opposing representative, including the Sioux fans! It was part of the fun and festivity! If you REALLY thought this was mean-spirited booing of a child, then you're totally bereft of any sense of humor. Get real!

You seriously think "the Sioux players dogged it all game?" "MTU and Wisconsin?" What color is the sky in your world? The Sioux played a damned fine game, and except for some dumb penalties, made VERY few mistakes! This was a hard-hitting, fast paced game, between 2 legendary rivals, with 2 VERY good teams!

Admittedly, the Gophs had to play their best (except for the 0-for-8 PP, that is!) to beat the Sioux, but DO NOT compare this weekend's Gopher team to the one playing when we swept them at Mariuchi - during the couple of months after Christmas, EVERY team was able to beat them, but they seem to have found the grit they had during the early season, and I think they can play with anyone right now. And the Sioux have gotten guys back from injury, and gotten someone besides the DOT line to play hard and score. The finals at Denver should be a VERY good game, between, arguably, the 2 best teams in college hockey!

GO SIOUX!!!!!

I did not think the green and white dogged it either. I was there with a buddy (Sioux fan, in jersey, in the seats that I bought......) and as the game was going into OT, I told him that even if the Goph's lost, I would still be happy, it was a great game.

I found plenty of well lubricated fans wearing green and white, and maroon and gold. My 7 year olds got taunted by Sioux fans after the Holy Crap game. The line I remember most was Effing little A$$ Gopher losers. Nice, made them cry. The positve is that hopefully they will remember how it felt and not do it when they get older. We also met plenty of decent Sioux fans as well. We just need to work on educating the knuckleheads. It is just a game.

Next weekend should be a fun. Looks like the winner of our regional should be the team to beat.

Good luck.

[Blackheart]

When did Lee get beat? If your referring to the last goal, there was nothing that he could do.

Exactly. Anyone that blames Lee for that last goal should pull their head out...the guy was layed out and made a lucky shot...good for them, bad for us...

[rochsioux]

Random Comments:

1. MN outplayed the Sioux and deserved to win the the game.

2. Seemed to me the Sioux were a bit slower than usual. I was sitting a lot further away from the action than usual so maybe that was just my perception. Just didn't seem to have quite the same jump in their step.

3. Is Erik Johnson new to hockey or is he just stupid ? How does someone who has played the game his whole life at such a high level and with good coaches over the years, not know that you can't pick up the puck and throw it ? And for the gopher fans to boo the call ? State of hockey, right.

4. The first two MN goals were pretty weak, the last one was just lucky/fluke, but I'll give Wheeler credit for his effort, never been impressed by Wheeler in the past, seemed like a big guy who didn't use his size and played very lazy (like Barry Talleckson). Phillippe did make a number of good saves after some pretty bad defensive plays where we seemed to want to play the puck instead of taking the body. In all, I would give him a grade of B, from now on we need A performances or our season will be over. The defense needs to also play better and we need to keep the SOG to under 30.

5. Because we started the season so poorly, we left little margin for error in the second half of the season. And while we have generally played very well the second half it is very difficult to maintain a high level of performance for a long period of time. I am hopeful that we have not peaked yet and that the best is yet to come. We came back strong after a miserable loss to Denver in OT where the defense played terrible so I expect them to play a strong game against Michigan. Can't throw in any poor performances the rest of the way...to just reach the FF championship we will need to beat Michigan, then MN, then probably BC. A very formidable task but one that this team is capable of doing. After doing all that they would still need to win the final game.

6. No more WCHA refs the rest of the way!!! I'll take the unknown over the known (inconsistent calls) every time in this case.

7. There is no conspiracy in the brackets or who makes the field at selection time. The process is very well known and is almost always predicated correctly prior to the selection show. Why is there even a committee that meets to do this ? Seems like a waste of time. Having said this there is huge problem with the process (PWR). Sometimes it is better to lose a game than win, this should never be the case. Why use top 25 RPI for TUC, why not top 20 or 30 ? Mankato ended at 26th in RPI, .0013 out of 25th. For 13/10,000 of a point we lose a 5-0-1 record for TUC. Too arbitrary of a cutoff. For only 3 WCHA teams to make the tourney when KRACH would put in 7 teams says the system needs to be tweaked. If you really need to keep PWR then only select 14 or 15 teams using auto-bids and PWR. Leave 1-2 teams to be selected using KRACH to help balance some of the major flaws with PWR.

8. Once the field of 16 is selected, there needs to be some room for setting up the pairings so we don't have the situation we have this year. The seedings should take into account how the teams performed all year but should also recognize who the best teams are right now. St.Cloud ended the season poorly and yet got a much better draw then MN, UND, Mich, or BC. If they can't win the East regional this year I have to question if they ever will make the FF. If they get to the FF they will get Notre Dame, BU, or MSU which IMO is a much better draw than facing UND/MN/Mich/BC.

9. I have faith in Hak and the coaches to have this team focused and ready to play. In hindsight, we may realize that losing this game in ot may be more helpful than winning in ot. A win sometimes can mask some problems that need to be addressed. By losing I'm sure the coaches will have the full attention of the team this week.

10. Whoever was keeping track of shots on goal is an idiot. There were a number of SOG recorded that were not shots on goal, not only in the final but in the UND/SCSU semi-final.

11. Booked my flight to Denver where I plan on seeing them celebrate the regional title.

[redwing77]

I disagree with #8. The NCAA is overjoyed at this setup because it puts rivalries together potentially. The only thing that could be better is DU and CC in the West Regional.

[yzerman19]

I don't think that Lee was holding up for an icing, I think that he was scared of getting a penalty call,and rightly so. He can not be blamed for the miracle goal.

It wouldn't have been an issue had the entire team played their best game. I am now over the loss. Let's go Sioux. Its a new tournament. The big one. Play Sioux hockey, Play the way that got us here.

[The Sicatoka]

... there is huge problem with the process (PWR). Sometimes it is better to lose a game than win, this should never be the case. Why use top 25 RPI for TUC, why not top 20 or 30 ? Mankato ended at 26th in RPI, .0013 out of 25th. For 13/10,000 of a point we lose a 5-0-1 record for TUC. Too arbitrary of a cutoff. For only 3 WCHA teams to make the tourney when KRACH would put in 7 teams says the system needs to be tweaked.

... Once the field of 16 is selected, there needs to be some room for setting up the pairings so we don't have the situation we have this year. The seedings should take into account how the teams performed all year but should also recognize who the best teams are right now.

The Bradley-Terry method looks to create a model of actuality based on history. Given the nature of KRACH (the Bradley-Terry method), I say it is a far better choice. The PWR still has "arbitrary" aspect to it, namely (as pointed out) 25 teams, not 20, not 30, not all, and it has RPI which is an arbitrary formula (made up of negotiated percentages of your, your opponents', and your opponents' opponents' winning percentages).

My thought (and I'm about to contradict myself because I'm going to put some "arbitrary" into my plan): Let's run two KRACH calculations after the conference tournaments. One would be the currently generated full-season KRACH. The other would be the from the end of the season back to enough games to make the analysis statistically valid (that'd probably work out to be "since Christmas"). Apply a weighting to each (oops, sorry, arbitrary) and seed the tourney from that.

[The Sicatoka]

I don't think that Lee was holding up for an icing, I think that he was scared of getting a penalty call,and rightly so. He can not be blamed for the miracle goal.

Lee had Wheeler:

- on the outside

- shooting from below the dot

- on a bad angle to the net

- angled to the corner

- and having to dive for the puck to get to it

- and did it all without committing a penalty

Show me in that what a defenseman is doing wrong.

The problem started at the attack zone blueline: Get it in deep in OT.

[siouxnami]

Lee had Wheeler:

- on the outside

- shooting from below the dot

- on a bad angle to the net

- angled to the corner

- and having to dive for the puck to get to it

- and did it all without committing a penalty

Show me in that what a defenseman is doing wrong.

The problem started at the attack zone blueline: Get it in deep in OT.

You bring up very good points...

...they are not welcome here.

[Big A HG]

You can look at it two ways with Lee. You can look at the fact that it was a miracle shot, that had virtually no chance of going in bad did. Or, you can look at the fact that if he had skated just a hair harder, Wheeler would have gotten ZERO chance b/c Lee would have tied him up sooner making it impossible for Wheeler to even hit the luckiest of shots...which would have caused an icing.

Some see it one way, some see it the other.

[PCM]

Or, you can look at the fact that if he had skated just a hair harder, Wheeler would have gotten ZERO chance b/c Lee would have tied him up sooner making it impossible for Wheeler to even hit the luckiest of shots...which would have caused an icing.

Some see it one way, some see it the other.

And only with perfect 20/20 hindsight do you know just exactly how much harder Lee needed to skate to make the play. I suppose it's also Lee's fault that the puck suddenly stopped rolling milliseconds before Wheeler's stick made contact with it. That was something Lee should have known was going to happen, right?

[UNDintheNHL]

maybe if Kozek (i think it was kozek) would have hit the puck with his blade and not his shaft right before the end of regulation, the puck would have gone in the net, and we wouldnt be having this argument......

[skateshattrick]

And only with perfect 20/20 hindsight do you know just exactly how much harder Lee needed to skate to make the play. I suppose it's also Lee's fault that the puck suddenly stopped rolling milliseconds before Wheeler's stick made contact with it. That was something Lee should have known was going to happen, right?

I have a hard time blaming Brian Lee for that goal. If you are going to do that, then you have to look at how the play started. Taylor Chorney made a good play getting the puck up ice, but in hindsight, probably should have gotten it in deep rather than dropping it to Watkins. Matt Watkins also had a chance to catch the pass and throw it in deep, but he had difficulty controlling the puck and it was intercepted.

The bottom line is that it was a fluke goal created by good hustle on the part of Blake Wheeler. There are lot of lessons to be learned by that goal, but its really not fair to blame any one player or really any of the players. Besides there really is nothing that can be done about it now. The Sioux need to refocus and get ready for a good Michigan team.

[PCM]

maybe if Kozek (i think it was kozek) would have hit the puck with his blade and not his shaft right before the end of regulation, the puck would have gone in the net, and we wouldnt be having this argument......

It was Kaip. With EJ hanging all over him, I'm surprised that Rylan got his stick on the puck at all.

[sprig]

I don't think that Lee was holding up for an icing, I think that he was scared of getting a penalty call,and rightly so. He can not be blamed for the miracle goal.

Exactly right, Lee looked back over his shoulder thinking Shep would call a hook or trip when Wheeler dived. Maybe Shep had his arm up? Only those at the game might know for sure.

[basil_17]

So wouldn't that make her wrong if you can hand pass, which you can, and that was what she was arguing? Penalty was called due to the grasp, which was obvious how he picked it up and than threw it. I still can't believe the look he gave the ref afterwards, like he didn't know that.

It should be noted that EJ was not arguing the 'Delay of the Game' call for the closed hand pass out of the zone (which incidentally, Greyeagle, that pass was rather sick. I hope your Mom throws better than that), rather he was complaining about the slash that broke is stick in the corner, just prior to the play, and subsequently he did not have a stick to clear the zone.

A bone-headed play for a #1 pick. He should really know better, especially given the fact that he had enough time to direct the puck without closing his hand around it.

[stickboy1956]

Has anyone seen any post - game quotes from Hak - other than -

"A heck of a play, a big-time play," Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said.

"It was a hard-fought game," said Hakstol, whose team was 12-1-4 in its previous 17 games. "It was everything it was billed to be."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/16927730.htm

Did he speak after the game to TH on the radio?

[A.B.T.G.]

A big time play in a big time game....congrats to the winner of a game that could have gone either way.

From a person who has played the game at a highly competitive level, you can not blame Lee on that play. He took his man to the outside and forced him to make a one in a million shot.

Let move on to the games that really matter starting with the Michigan game. Let's hope the boys can get their game going with that heatbreak loss as motivation to go on a four game winning streak to end the season!

Go Sioux!!!

[Big A HG]

Has anyone seen any post - game quotes from Hak - other than -

"A heck of a play, a big-time play," Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said.

"It was a hard-fought game," said Hakstol, whose team was 12-1-4 in its previous 17 games. "It was everything it was billed to be."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/16927730.htm

Did he speak after the game to TH on the radio?

About the previous 17 games being 12-1-4 (now previous 18 are not 12-2-4)....

The 2 losses were both OT losses. We haven't lost in regulation since January 5th at Colorado College....which is still virtually an unbeaten streak in a green-shaded sense.

[Fetch]

I have not read all this

I was at the game

Lammy Played Great !!!

Too many penalties on us

The goophers played good

The final goal was UNREAL (was it luck ? - or a Fluke ?) - I have not seen the replay, except in my head over & over

I still enjoyed the weekend

[basil_17]

Seen at the Final Five Championship

Out of curiosity, do any of these people post on here?

Holy Cross!

[dagies]

Seen at the Final Five Championship

Out of curiosity, do any of these people post on here?

Holy Cross!

I'm apparently not authorized to see whatever that links to.

[basil_17]

I'm apparently not authorized to see whatever that links to.

Did this work?

Holy Cross!

[Goon]

When did Lee get beat? If your referring to the last goal, there was nothing that he could do.

It wasn't a matter of getting beat this weekend, it was the ill advised passes that led to goals.