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NCAA Tournament round 1: UND vs. Michigan


jimdahl

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So what does anyone know about Michigan (other than that we see them every year in the NCAA tournament)?

They're also coming off a close loss to the regular season conference leader in the conference championship (a 1-2 loss to Notre Dame).

They have a Hobey Baker finalist, T.J. Hensick:

It’s no surprise the nation’s highest scoring team has a player tied for the national scoring lead. Hensick has led the CCHA in scoring for the second time in his career, posting 20 goals and a nation-leading 42 assists for 62 points in 38 games. A Player of the Year finalist in the CCHA, Hensick is First Team CCHA becoming the first forward in league history to be All Conference all four seasons. He’s had four straight 40-point seasons.

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This matchup should be closer than last year, but the result looks the same to me. Jack Johnson will take some stupid penalties leading to Sioux PP goal(s).

That will be a downfall to any team who play the Sioux in the playoffs. Definitely don't want the DOT line on a PP. Goofs did a good job at limiting the PP opportunities last night.

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The Denver site is great for the Sioux. There will be a ton of Sioux fans there supporting the team. It won't be quite the home ice advantage of last year, but will be very loud for the Sioux! If I remember correctly, the Sioux fans outcheered the DU fans earlier this year. The real season starts on Saturday. GO SIOUX!

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If I remember correctly, the Sioux fans outcheered the DU fans earlier this year. The real season starts on Saturday. GO SIOUX!

Hell yeah they did! A DU fan asked me if Sioux fans always travel that well, they just couldn't believe that we packed 1/2 of the arena. This is going to be a great series! Now I just gotta figure out how to get off work by 1:00! I wish the games weren't so early in the day.

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Michigan is an interesting draw. The Goofs pounded them back when the Goofs were really rolling, but Michigan beat Wisconsin. Leads me to the conclusion that if we can get them into a run and gun affair, we can beat them just like last year. I think Red likes to open it up, so this one could be a high scoring event. The Sioux coaches need to watch plenty of tape from last night's game and figure out how we can get more open ice for our top forwards. Surely Red will be watching that tape, as MN and Denver are the only teams that have been able to leg one out with us.

Conditioning will also be a huge factor, as you have both the end of the season and the altitude to deal with. Number one for us is to stay out of the box, but not change our aggressive play.

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Hell yeah they did! A DU fan asked me if Sioux fans always travel that well, they just couldn't believe that we packed 1/2 of the arena. This is going to be a great series! Now I just gotta figure out how to get off work by 1:00! I wish the games weren't so early in the day.

We got the night game, so at least you could be able to make that one.

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This matchup should be closer than last year, but the result looks the same to me. Jack Johnson will take some stupid penalties leading to Sioux PP goal(s).

As some one who goes to their games every now and then. Jack has learned to avoid the label of "Jack-In-The-Box" this year. Be more concerned with the Sioux making the wrong time to get called for stupid penalties.

Michigan is an interesting draw. The Goofs pounded them back when the Goofs were really rolling, but Michigan beat Wisconsin. Leads me to the conclusion that if we can get them into a run and gun affair, we can beat them just like last year. I think Red likes to open it up, so this one could be a high scoring event. The Sioux coaches need to watch plenty of tape from last night's game and figure out how we can get more open ice for our top forwards. Surely Red will be watching that tape, as MN and Denver are the only teams that have been able to leg one out with us.

Conditioning will also be a huge factor, as you have both the end of the season and the altitude to deal with. Number one for us is to stay out of the box, but not change our aggressive play.

As a team, they have improved alot from the first part of the season. Their passing has improved, but still not WCHA quality. They are offensive minded, leaving Billy Sauers on his own in net. He is still young and has improved this season, but is easy to beat on a breakaway. It was a surprise that he stopped a Penalty Shot Friday night. Shutouts are rare, as the 'D' will let him down and he'll make mistakes.

T.J. Hensick has learned to pass the puck this year. :D I thought he'd go four years without passing the puck to anyone. This has helped others on the team to score Porter, Kolarik, and Rohlfs.

On the Power play, look for Jack to play 60 to 90 seconds of it. He is the hardest shot on the team, and is about the only one to take a one-timer. The lack of a great passer means you won't see that many one-timers from Michigan.

Keys are to bottle them up at center ice, and get under Hensick's skin. Hensick and Hunwick are the two who will take the bad calls for Michigan.

Skaters are Hensick, Johnson, and Cogliano. All three can skate from end to end if you let them, again bottle them up. The team likes to play wide open from start to finnish.

Only Hensick is the only man good on the draw, and he will have his bad nights. The rest of the team can't win the face-offs when needed. So, the set plays in the zone have not been there this year for them as in years past.

Michigan had their chances to be seeded else where, and knows how the Pairwise works, and the last team I wanted them to face are the Sioux. I can't see Michigan play at the same level as the Sioux right now. The Sioux should win 4 - 2 if it's close, by more if it's not. :D

I hate to say it, but Notre Dame has a sound team, with no stars on it. Jeff Jackson has taught his team how to play good hockey. How long before they run into a well coached and talented team is the question everyone has been waiting for. David Brown looks as strong as Elliott did last year for UW.

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Should I post my Air Force jersey with Brian Gino's name removed, or keep the Huntsville Rozman up.

I'll have the Kaip Frozen Four back up after the Michigan game.

Either way I hate the gophers! And I don't want to see them in St. Louis.

I got word that my Frozen Four tickets are being sent out this week. I'll have the Jon Durno (aka Wookie) with me.

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The seedings for this tournament is the biggest load of crap! And why only 3 WCHA teams??

Ever since a few years ago, when it was a WCHA all final FOUR of the tournament, the seedings have routinely placed

our conference teams against each other early on. And to add another point, the NCAA has seeded teams so that no WCHA team could face each other in the final!

It's just a buch of ##($)@@!.!!

So, if we have to go throught the goofers, to get to the final four...so be it! But we'll have to have our better A game to do that, as Michigan in no pushover, (how the hell are they ranked higher??) and a better team effort against Minnesota.

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Just spent the last hour determining average age of both teams (I'm on Spring Break for 8 more days!!! ;) ) and discovered that Michigan is about a month younger than our team on average. Experience wise, Michigan has made the NCAA's the last 16 years, so their older players have the experience, but so do our guys with our run to the Frozen Four the past two years and and the west regional finals game the year before. We're pretty much even in those two areas, with the experiencing edge going to us for getting further the past 2 years.

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Maybe I had too many st patty beers but why do we play the late game? It seems as most tourneys have the number one team play the late games ;)

Actually, they routinely put the Number 1 seed's game first. It does give them some extra rest, if they win.

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It looks like Michigan had a similar playoff run to us in the CCHA. Nice win over Michigan State and then a tight loss to Notre Dame.

Do they stack one line like we do? Are Hensick, Cogliano, and Porter on the same line?

I know Jack Johnson is solid from watching him in the world juniors.

Michigan scored 9 goals in beating Ferris State in late Jan and 8 goals against Northern Michigan in the first round of their conference match-ups, so they clearly have some fire power.

Pretty decent size from checking out the roster. One Duncan size guy and the rest 5-10 or taller.

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Here's their lines they have been going with:

LW 11 Porter C 7 Hensick RW 16 Rohlfs

LW 4 Summers C 9 Cogliano RW 24 Kolarik

LW 22 Naurato C 18 Miller RW 10 Turnbull

LW 14 Lebler C 15 Ciraulo RW 26 Fardig

LD 3 Johnson RD 6 Hunwick

LD 5 Kampfer RD 8 Dest

LD 25 Cook RD 17 Mitera

G 36 Sauer

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Here's their lines they have been going with:

LW 11 Porter C 7 Hensick RW 16 Rohlfs

LW 4 Summers C 9 Cogliano RW 24 Kolarik

LW 22 Naurato C 18 Miller RW 10 Turnbull

LW 14 Lebler C 15 Ciraulo RW 26 Fardig

LD 3 Johnson RD 6 Hunwick

LD 5 Kampfer RD 8 Dest

LD 25 Cook RD 17 Mitera

G 36 Sauer

Don't know for sure, but Hensick is obviously getting points, and Cogliano is no slouch, so I'm assuming those two are scoring regularly, with the other two lines chipping in at times. I really wish our second line was scoring more regularly throughout the season. Yes, they've been contributing a lot in the past month, but I still feel uneasy when they're on the ice, in that they're not going to be able to put one in. I found myself really wishing the DOT line was on the ice all the time last night.

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The seedings for this tournament is the biggest load of crap! And why only 3 WCHA teams??

Ever since a few years ago, when it was a WCHA all final FOUR of the tournament, the seedings have routinely placed

our conference teams against each other early on. And to add another point, the NCAA has seeded teams so that no WCHA team could face each other in the final!

It's just a buch of ##($)@@!.!!

So, if we have to go throught the goofers, to get to the final four...so be it! But we'll have to have our better A game to do that, as Michigan in no pushover, (how the hell are they ranked higher??) and a better team effort against Minnesota.

Yep, the Sioux got the short-end-of-the-stick in the scheduling - we have to go through BOTH Michigan AND MN just to win the regions? DAMN! And THEN the tough games begin?

Well, if .... NO, WHEN! ..... the Sioux win their 4th game of NCAA tournament play, we'll have EARNED the championship, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!

GO SIOUX!!!

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