USA something to be proud of; Olympic hockey finish

I was reading the blog post by Redwing77 I got to thinking, US College Hockey has come a long ways. Look at the list of players and where they came from. The best goalie in the Olympics was a colligate hockey player from Michigan State and a Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner. Two of the top forwards Zach Parise USA, Jonathan Toews Canada, came from my alma mater the University of North Dakota. The Top Defensive hockey player was an Wisconsin Badger Brian Rafalski, or as I like to say he is a "dirty Badger", I know I am kidding.

The purpose of this post is not about beating my chests and saying that the NCAA division one hockey is better than the CHL because, I don’t believe this an argument we need to have, I think it's counter productive. I think both hockey associations serve their purpose and both have their strong points. I think it’s just a good time to give recognition where recognition is due, college hockey produces some really good hockey players. Based on the USA WJC finish and the Olympics hockey results, I also think that the USA is closing the gap with the Canadians in hockey.

I also like what Ron Wilson and Brian Burke are trying to do with Team USA, they built a team around players that buy into the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back. This team also excelled when many thought they would be on the outside looking in. Does it sound like a sports cliché? Yeah it does. I only wish there had been another miracle on ice.

Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA) Michigan State University
Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)University of Wisconsin
Defenceman: Shea WEBER (CAN)Kelowna Rockets WHL
Forward: Pavol DEMITRA (SVK) ZTS Dubnica
Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN) University of North Dakota
Forward: Zach PARISE (USA) University of North Dakota
Most valuable player: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Tournament Directorate Best Player Awards
Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)
Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)
Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)
Cross posted @ the Sin Bin

Gods Absent: Olympic Selection Committee cited for Atheism

Ok, another cynical post but actually...

The Olympics named their "All Star Team" and MVPs. And guess what! Both Gods are absent just like they were all tourney long!

Sidney "Jesus" Crosby and Alexander Ovech-Christ didn't make the the All-Olympic Team.

Who did? Why, 1 foreigner, 1 Major Junior alum, and FOUR former collegians.

TWO of them former Sioux and THREE of them former WCHA players.

SUCK IT DON CHERRY!

Ryan Miller got the MVP and Top Goaltender awards. Well, gee, thank you Team Canada for starting out with Brodeur or I think Luongo would have gotten this award.

Brian Rafalski got top D. Former UW player. Former Devil. Current Red Wing. Booyah.

Parise and Toews on the Forwards listing with Toews getting top forward. Suck it Crosby. That's not fair! Sid will always be tops in McGuire, Milbury, and Cherry's books. I'm sure there was some conspiracy as to why Crosby didn't get named to the list.

Shea Weber and Pavol Demitra got the other honors. HEH! Former Wild Demitra. HEH!

To be honest, Shea Weber was amazing defensively but I can't believe he got the award because usually these things favor the offensive dmen. Weber might've done ok in the offensive zone, but I thought his best work came playing defense.

Demitra... nice to see. The Slovaks should've won Bronze. Finland seemed ripe to choke after not showing up to the USA game.

Anyways, here's the list (from CTV Olympics):

Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)

Defenceman: Shea WEBER (CAN)

Forward: Pavol DEMITRA (SVK)

Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)

Forward: Zach PARISE (USA)

Most valuable player: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Tournament Directorate Best Player Awards

Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)

Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)

RATS! Congrats.

Oh well. What can I say? Congrats to Canada for squeaking out a Gold Medal. To be honest, I'm not surprised they won. They were the clear cut favorites all tourney long (screw you Vanbiesbrouck, they were. Accept it and move on). USA wasn't even supposed to medal.

To make matters better, it was actually a good game! Toews got a goal. Parise with a HUGE game tying goal with just 24 seconds left. When they went to OT, I said to myself "Hey, we made a game of it. I'd still like to win, but if Canada wins in OT, I'll be ok with it... provided..." You guessed it. Provided Jesus Crosby didn't make any noise in OT. Well, he got the game winner. And Vanbiesbrouck and Gillstein (I think that's what that putz's name was) went nuts. But let me back this up a bit...

I knew they would go nuts. How? Well, they've been practically drooling over the Canada D all game long. No, not even that got me thinking they would. What got me thinking they would was during the initial part of the intermission between the 3rd period and OT. They said "Team Canada played the third period perfectly. They just lost track of one player..." WAIT A BLEEPING MINUTE HERE.....

What're you saying, pal? If they played a "perfect 3rd period" this game would have been OVER in regulation! Losing Parise wasn't a mistake? Seriously, they couldn't admit that the Canadians made a mistake and Parise made them pay. This isn't a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial. Oh well.

Then Sidney Crosby potted the game winner on a beautiful pass by, IIRC, Rick Nash. I'm happy for Nash. I'm happy for Toews, but the radio commentators played it like this: "The legend wins it! The legend of Sidney Crosby gets even bigger!" Uh......... Nope.

You see, legends aren't born WHILE THE PERSON IS STILL ALIVE. Here's Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary's definiton of the term legend:

1 a : a story coming down from the past; especially : one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable b : a body of such stories c : a popular myth of recent origin d : a person or thing that inspires legends e : the subject of a legend (http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/legend)

You see, this isn't exactly accurate. Sidney Crosby's accomplishments aren't a story coming down from the past that is popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable. It's not a body of such stories. The stories might be of recent origin, but it is no myth. Sidney Crosby MIGHT accomplish 1(d) and/or 1(e) of the definition, but right now? How many stories are being spawned about the prowess of Sidney Crosby? I can't speak about things in Canada, so there might be something to it there. But there's nothing in the U.S. And, if you've never seen a hockey game, nor tuned into these Olympics, nor watched NHL Network, there's a decent chance as an American that you've never even heard of Sidney Crosby. HARDLY legendary.

Fancy the fact that I still run into students in OMAHA, NE that know who Wayne Gretzky is. How would they know or care about Gretzky when they have a "legend" playing right now in Crosby?

Look, I know it looks like I dislike Sidney Crosby. He's a great player and surely Hall of Fame quality at this pace... but he's not there yet. Let's let him get there before we crown him and start worshipping him like some sort of Sports God.

Yeah, Milbury, McGuire, and Cherry, you got your two wishes: Canada wins Gold and Crosby pots the Gold Medal winning goal. But Crosby was NOT the best player on the ice during this Olympics. He wasn't even the best player on the ice in this game!

Here's my 3 Stars of this game:

1st Star: Roberto Luongo
2nd Star: Ryan Miller
3rd Star: Zach Parise

Honorable Mention: Rich Nash, CAN; Ryan Kesler, USA; Sidney Crosby, CAN

Yeah, I know Crosby scored the game winner, but if Luongo hadn't played the best game I've EVER seen him play, and the Canada D hadn't played good when Luongo wasn't facing pressure, would Crosby even have been necessary? Crosby was a COMPLETE NON FACTOR until OT. Arguably, wasn't a factor for all but this game and the game against the Swiss!

Hardly a "legend."

Let's give props to where it lies: Congrats to TEAM Canada. They won. They did so fairly. They played GREAT. They deserved it.

And now, with the Closing Ceremonies commencing, we can say good bye to NBC's crappy coverage and return MSNBC and CNBC back to where it belongs: Obscurity.

Don Cherry predicts Canada will win...

I must admit that I am nervous for today's game because I don't think the Americans are going to sneak up on Canada. Ryan Miller is going to have to bring his "A" game in net to beat the Canadians. Cherry is right there are going to be a lot of pucks on net today. The Americans need to play smart, get pucks deep and not give up odd man rushes to the Canadians.

It may be the most anticipated hockey game in Canadian history.

And with national pride at stake — and some serious ice bragging rights on the line — the country’s biggest puckhead has made his prediction.

“I am calling it 5-3 for Team Canada,” declares Don Cherry.

It won’t be long now until we find out.

At 3:15 p.m. Sunday, the country will gather together to watch the gold medal match between Canada and the United States for hockey supremacy.

“It just shows you the interest in hockey, the greatest game in the world,” Cherry said.

And today, he said, Canada will prove once again we are the best at it?

“I am pretty sure we will but it won’t be easy,” said Cherry. “Ryan Miller has been excellent in the American’s goal and has only allowed five goals in five games. They are going to have to earn it.”

The coverage on CTV has been stellar throughout but a lot of hockey fans miss hearing The Coach’s take on each development. He will be back on CBC’s Coach’s Corner next week but American fans will get a taste of Grapes on NBC today.[Toronto Sun ]

UND sits at 6th in the PWR

Here is the latest Pairwise Rankings. UND has gone an impressive 5-1 in the last 6 games, all of them against teams that sitting higher than them in the WCHA standings. Also, as Brad Elliot Schlossman mentioned that UND has made up 10 points in 15 days on C.C. in my opinion that is an impressive run. It wasn't long ago that I was ready to give UND the paddle and put them on life support.

1 Denver1 24 0.5885 24-6-4 0.7647 Feb 27 Mankato
2 Miami2 23 0.5845 24-5-7 0.7639 Feb 27 Ohio State
3 Wisconsin 22 0.5712 21-8-4 0.6970 Feb 27 MTech
4 St Cloud St 19 0.5581 20-10-4 0.6471
5 Bemidji State 19 0.5522 22-8-2 0.7188 Feb 27 Nebraska-Omaha
6 North Dakota 18 0.5527 18-11-5 0.6029 Feb 27 CC
7 Boston College 18 0.5501 20-10-2 0.6562 Feb 26 Massachusetts
8 Yale 17 0.5458 19-7-3 0.7069 Feb 27 Quinnipiac
9 New Hampshire 16 0.5437 16-10-6 0.5938 Feb 27 Northeastern
10 Alaska 16 0.5357 16-9-9 0.6029 Feb 27 AA
11 Cornell 14 0.5359 17-8-4 0.6552 Feb 27 Rensselaer
12 Michigan State 12 0.5335 19-11-6 0.6111 Feb 27 Bowling Green
13 Minnesota-Duluth 11 0.5362 19-14-1 0.5735 Feb 27 UMN
14 Ferris State 11 0.5351 19-11-6 0.6111 Feb 27 Western Michigan
15 Northern Michigan 10 0.5310 17-11-8 0.5833 Feb 27 Lake Superior
16 Vermont 10 0.5282 14-11-6 0.5484 Feb 26 Boston University Feb 28 Boston University
17 Maine 9 0.5284 16-13-3 0.5469 Feb 27 Merrimack
18 Nebraska-Omaha 6 0.5255 18-14-6 0.5526 Feb 27 Bemidji State
19 Union 6 0.5223 18-10-6 0.6176 Feb 27 Colgate
20 Colorado College 5 0.5319 17-14-3 0.5441 Feb 27 UND
21 Boston University 5 0.5150 14-14-3 0.5000 Feb 26 Vermont Feb 28 Vermont
22 Mass.-Lowell 4 0.5192 17-14-3 0.5441 Feb 27 Providence
23 Northeastern 3 0.5204 16-14-2 0.5312 Feb 27 New Hampshire
24 Minnesota 2 0.5201 16-16-2 0.5000 Feb 27 UMD
25 Michigan 0 0.5147 19-17-1 0.5270 Feb 27 Notre Dame

Cam Janssen hit on Matt Bradley

Since the NHL will return on March 1st I thought we would get back in the swing of things. This is the latest controversial hit from the NHL that will cost Blues tough guy Cam Janssen 5 games. I was kind of surprised that it was worthy of a 5 game suspension, but I digress, because you can never really guess what the Colin Campbell wheel of justice is going to yield. What do you think?

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues forward Cam Janssen received a five-game suspension from the NHL on Thursday for his Feb. 13 hit to the head on Matt Bradley of the Washington Capitals.

Janssen must forfeit $14,248 and will miss the Blues' first five games once they return from the Olympic break from March 2-13. He is eligible to return March 14 against Minnesota.

Janssen received a five-minute major interference for the first-period hit along the boards. He also was challenged to a fight by Washington's Quintin Laing, with Laing picking up a two-minute instigator penalty, two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct.

Janssen was eventually assessed a game misconduct penalty.

EDIT: It's been a tough season for Matt Bradley this is the same guy that Flyers hack Daniel Carcillo smoked.

Sioux clinch home ice for the WCHA playoffs

The Fighting Sioux have a 3-0 record when I don't listen or watch them play. I know what you’re thinking, it’s not going to happen. The first win was when UND won in Duluth the first night of the two game series back in December when I was in Bemidji to watch the Beavers play the Purple Eagles. Add 2-0 this past weekend I was at the state hockey tourney in Grand Forks, ND watching the Central Knights win the 2010 state tourney.

Central Knights 2010 champs

Let me just say congrats to the Grand Forks Central Knights for winning the State title. Your hard work, dedication and focus finally payed off tonight. I can remember two years ago the Central Knights were sitting in the stands after they failed to make the tourney and you could see it in their eyes that they wanted to be there, tonight was their night. The 2009-2010 Knights were a impressive group of hockey players with a stifling defense and it only seems right that you end the year with a shutout. Senior goalie Seth Lang got his 13 shut out of the season.

Sioux play air tight defense

With the Sweep at C.C. the Sioux clinch home ice for the WCHA playoffs. I remember it wasn't too long ago most of us that UND was going to be on the road for the WCHA playoffs. Just when you think the Sioux are down and out Coach Hakstol pulls a rabbit out of his hat. The Sioux are 5-1 in their last 6 games and have won 5 straight games. For 2010 the Sioux have a 9-5-2 record. In the last 5 games the Sioux haven’t given up more than two goals and have beaten the teams above them in the standings. The Sioux are the top defensive team in the WCHA and are ranked third nationally giving up 2.18 goals per game.

Frattin Smoking hot

Matt Frattin remain hot this weekend as the junior forward had (2g-2a-4pts) for the weekend, you would think he would get some consideration this week for offensive player of the week. Just a gage on how hot Frattin has been he had 8 points in February and the Sioux didn’t play one weekend. I can only imagine how the season could have gone for him if he hadn't screwed up last summer. I honestly think Frattin could have scored 15-20 goals this season. Matt Frattin has an amazing shot and his potential upside is not yet tapped. Brad Malone (1g-4a-5pts) and Evan Trupp also had a good weekend has he picked up (0g-3g-3pts) for the weekend.
[Friday's box score] [Saturday's box score]

WCHA wheels of justice squeak to a halt

In reading this article; do you see a potential problem? It’s almost a week later and the league still hasn’t made a decision on Aaron Marvin’s status for next weekend. If this was the NHL the NLPA would be all over this. This is a joke, either suspend the player in question or not. This hit in question is either worthy of additional supplemental punishment or it’s not. What is taking so long? This is why the WCHA league administrators are looked at with contempt. It’s incidents like this that make the WCHA leadership look like a Kangaroo Court but also makes them look like a bunch of bumbling buffoons.

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said Friday that there is a potential violation stemming from last Saturday's St. Cloud State game at Wisconsin and the Huskies are in the process of an appeal.

The "potential violation" in question is Huskies forward Aaron Marvin's center-ice shoulder-to-head hit on Badgers captain Blake Geoffrion. No penalty was called but Geoffrion was knocked out of the game and is missing this weekend's series at Michigan Tech because of a concussion.

"We're into the process and St. Cloud was notified Sunday of the potential violation in our view," McLeod said. "It's been a little slower than normal coming to a resolution in part because we have the luxury, I guess, of St. Cloud not playing this weekend. We want to get through this as quickly as possible. I don't think anything would happen before (early next week). But we know (SCSU coach Bob Motzko) and his team needs to prepare for the series ahead so we want to do something as early as we can."

McLeod said he could not discuss the specifics of the violation or the hit on Geoffrion until after the process is completed.

Reading between the lines here, it seems all but certain Marvin will face some penalty next week and could miss one or both games of the regular-season finale against Minnesota State-Mankato. If senior defenseman Garrett Raboin (who suffered an ankle injury on a questionable hit by Badgers forward Aaron Bendickson) also can't play, the Huskies would be without both of their captains. [Pucks and Bats]

Knight on Connolly; in conclusion

This vindicates Sioux forward Corban Knight. All week long UMD and Sioux fans have pontificated on the hit in question and some fans had thought it was a dirty hit, Sioux fans were told we were delusional because we said it was a clean hit and that there was no elbow on Connolly and it looks like the people that were calling out Whistler were wrong. The WCHA is going to use it as an example.

Word is that the WCHA has requested video of a Corban Knight hit on Duluth's Mike Connolly from last week to use as an example that a textbook clean hit can still result in an injury.

Connolly was shaken after colliding with Knight during the third period of last Saturday's game. He didn't return, but he did practice this week and is in the lineup tonight against Minnesota. [UND hockey blog]

NBC and how they are ruining the International Sporting World (REDWING77)

First off, I'd like to congratulate the Winter Olympics of being the first show to have better ratings than American Idol in around 6 years. That being said, it's not for NBC's, which stands for Nary a Broadcaster with Competence, lack of trying.

Let's look at award ceremonies. We all seem to enjoy the personal stories and overcoming adversity that many Olympic athletes bring with them to the Olympics. We all know about the Canadian downhill skier whose brother has CP. What we don't know is who won Silver and Bronze in that competition...well, at least without looking it up on Google. The fact remains that, if you didn't win Gold, WHO THE H*** CARES...at least according to NBC.

Don't worry though. I see and recognize the brilliant accomplishment of a Gold Medal. Then again, I also see the significance and recognition of winning a Silver or Bronze. I guess that puts me ahead of NBC.

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius or Swifter, Higher, Stronger. In many ways, it's been described as the only sporting competition where the competition is almost as important as the result. It's always mentioned on how the athletes only compete in their events and set aside much of the animosity away from the arena. I can't speak to how true that really is, but if that's the case, then why all the bias?

The reason is because of the rule of the Gambler: You always go for the sure thing. NBC broadcasts to benefit Canada. Their coverage is, at times, overwhelmingly biased towards Canada. The only time this isn't the case is when there is no possible way a Canadian can even come close to medalling. Why? Well, only an idiot would say that an event of this caliber wouldn't be popular already in the host country. So, since it is already popular, you play to that crowd. Then you can claim the ratings and popularity as being caused by your "superior broadcasting prowess."

That's probably part of why NBC won't even allow HIGHLIGHTS to be broadcast on other stations.

So, since we're on a hockey blog, let's talk hockey. The two biggest morons ever to be connected to a microphone this year happens to be... yup... Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury. There are countless Op-Ed websites talking about Pierre McGuire's competence (He's competent, just ask him!). None related to the Olympics better than this one by Tab Bamford of the Bleacher Report.

I'm not sour grapes like Bamford is about McGuire and his stance on the U.S. I think that's more homage towards fellow Canada-first commentator Don Cherry (sorry, I'm omitting my true feelings on him because I don't want to tempt slander charges). McGuire is just filling his role in this case perfectly: To add an overwhelmingly pro-Canada voice at ice level. Heck, with Milbury's "Euro-trash game" comment, so's Milbury. But hey, I'll get to Milbury shortly.

What I do have a problem with is his (and Milbury's) huge Madden-esque mancrush on Sidney Crosby. The guy is a great hockey player. WE GET THAT! It's nice to know that McGuire has already annointed Crosby as the next Gretzky. I'm glad Gretzky doesn't have a problem with it. I would. If I were Gordie Howe I'd have a problem suddenly being third greatest all time in offensive categories when Crosby doesn't yet have the right to be called such. Maybe he will. Maybe he'll outscore Gretzky... but let's let him DO IT FIRST.

In any case, the other big rube is Mike Milbury. He's another example of "just because you played the game [and even spent time as a hockey exec] doesn't mean you actually know the game." Case in point: At the end of the Russia-Canada tilt Russian forward Alexander Semin rocked Canadian defenseman Dan Boyle against the boards. He called that hit a "cheap shot." Maybe it was. I'm not going to contest that. What happened next was Dan Boyle got up, skated over, and returned the favor overtly to Semin. Now, that in itself is the game. Boyle got rocked, had a problem with it, took it out on Semin. Whoopdedoo. Milbury goes apes*** and calls out Semin for cheap shotting Boyle. Again. Don't care. When Boyle retaliates, he basically applauds Boyle for hitting him back. Well... what's it going to be? If Semin's hit was a cheap shot, then Boyle's retaliation was a cheap shot too! BOTH were penalties. Both were noncalls (HEY! When did WCHA officiating make the Olympics?). Milbury's an idiot because he was too blinded by that stupid tree leaf on the front of that jersey to understand that a cheap shot, if you want to call it that, is a cheap shot regardless of the jersey. Had Dan Boyle been a member of Team USA, he'd've probably called the retaliation a cheap shot as well. Pierre McGuire would have killed Boyle.

Bias is what it is all about. Well, so then why don't we switch to radio? Today, I listened to the Finland-US tilt (wow! Let me say that I was dead on regarding Finland... I claimed they were lucky and looked rather mediocre against the Czechs. They used diving to produce powerplays and everything) and former NHLer John VanBiesbrouck claimed that Russia was the favorite against Canada. WHAT THE.... What planet is he on??? The only thing that the Russians were favorites for on the ice was the most likely to lynch figure skating judges after the men's figure skating competition. As soon as Hockey Canada announced the roster, Team Canada was IMMEDIATELY the favorite... in EVERYTHING hockey. OooOOOooo Alexander Ovechkin... THANK YOU for proving my biggest point regarding Sidney Crosby: I don't give a crap how good you are... if your team plays like crap around you, YOU LOSE.

So, now we have another US vs. Canada hockey tilt.... I think I'll watch on mute.

Frattin's goal

In case you haven't seen it here is Frattin's game winning goal. According to coach Hakstol, Matt Frattin had a few injury issues and it wasn't clear if he would play or not this weekend, sounded like he was a game time decision.

Sioux Rally to Win Against Colorado College

This year the Sioux have an awful record in one goal games. Today they finally won a close game against a quality opponent.

This puts the Sioux in sole possession of 5th place in the WCHA. That means that we are in the drivers seat for home ice in the first round of the WCHA tournament.

The Sioux were first on the boards with an early goal by Freshman Danny Kristo. That's the way the first period ended. CC tied it up in the second and took a lead in the 3rd.

Considering the history of losing these close games I didn't have a lot of luck. But with a couple minutes left Brad Malone scored a goal to tie it up.

The game was capped off with an overtime game winner by Matt Frattin in the overtime frame.

We have to be happy with coming back like that. It was certainly feeling like we were going to let another game get away from us.

I just heard that we had 42 shots on goal in this game.

I wouldn't mind having the wins come easy, but you have to be proud of the guys figuring out how to battle back and win a game that they could have let go.

Let's get out there and get the sweep tomorrow night.

Kevin Gorg regains moron status

I was starting to like Kevin Gorg's from FSN Sports and starting to feel his vive and then Kevin Gorg went out and ruined it with this stupid segment filling in for Dan Barreiro - KFAN AM 1130.

At about six minutes into the last hour of the Dan Barreiro broadcast, Gorg comments on the Corbin Knight hit on Mike Connolly, calling it a cheap shot, I would doubt if Gorg has even seen the video, goes off on UND and cheap shots and still talking about the Joe Finley incident two years after the fact. Gorg go back and watch the video, I have about 30 times and even in slow motion there is NO ELBOW, if any thing it might be a boarding call, it's certainly not a cheap hit. These are the same kinds of hit that Cal Clutterbuck makes, that you applaud as an FSN hockey analyst, hard and right on the line.
[Listen to the Clip]

IOC to investigate Canadian women's hockey team for celebration

My buddy Gary sent me this story in an email. I guess girls will be girls eh? Interesting.

The International Olympic Committee will investigate the actions of Canadian women's hockey players who celebrated their gold medal victory Thursday night by swigging beer and smoking cigars on the ice in Vancouver.

A number of players, including 18-year-old superstar Marie-Philip Poulin, were drinking alcohol on the ice following the team's 2-0 defeat of the United States. (The legal drinking age in British Columbia is 19.) Players lingered for more than 70 minutes after the awards ceremony reveling in the arena, which was empty except for media and arena staff. (Click here to view a slideshow of the celebration.)[Read the whole story]

Dean Blais on the Hockey Show

Listen to the award winning Hockey Show from KBUN. Former UND coach Dean Blais talks with Moose Richards. [Click to Listen]

UNO on the up and up.

Props to Husker Mike for this article. For those people that automatically think Blais is going to be the next coach in Minnesota, if the University of Minnesota comes calling, I don't know if I would hold my breath waiting. It’s definitely not a not a slam dunk like some assume.

In listening to him speak here in Grand Forks, ND in December and reading the articles over the past few months, it kind of sounds like Blais has some unfinished business in Omaha, Nebraska to take care of. It also sounds like he enjoys what he is doing at UNO. I think he has also put the college hockey world on notice that the Mavericks from Nebraska Omaha are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Like a lot of Omahans, I didn't know Dean Blais from Dean Martin.

He had won two NCAA hockey championships at North Dakota. He sounded like a good hire for Trev Alberts at UNO. But this is UNO we're talking about. What could he possibly do? Win a national championship?

Well, it's only the first year.

“When I took over at North Dakota, the first year we were .500,'' Blais said the other day. “The second year, we were about six, seven games above .500. The third year, we won the national championship. I could see the same thing here.''

I'm sorry. Did he just say he thought that UNO could win the national championship in two years?

He did, in fact. And just a word to the wise: Don't bet your farm against him.

So far, he has delivered. And then some. Blais' first year at UNO isn't even over — we're just getting to the good part — and he has already lived up to expectations. If anything, he may be exceeding the hype as college hockey legend/savior.

It's not just that his first-year club has developed into a hard-skating, hard-checking, high-scoring force. It's not just that the Mavs swept Ohio State and Michigan on back-to-back weeks, then went into No. 1 Miami's den and stole a split. Nor that they enter the weekend's series with Bemidji State with a shot at the NCAA tourney and the confidence to trash the playoffs.

It's more the way he wields an unfailing confidence and the way he picks up believers like hitchhikers along the way. Blais has an aura about him, a swagger. He talks about greatness matter-of-factly, like it's to be expected. And that's just it: It is.

In that way, Blais is unique among coaches in this area. Tom Osborne delivered the goods, but he made it sound like his team would be lucky to win seven games every year.
[Read the whole article here]

Check out this comment by Blais, interesting.

On Omaha: “Lovely city. My wife and I have been downtown, eating at all the restaurants. I love the road system, although there are a lot of potholes. Golf courses are great. I haven't had a chance to hunt and fish, but I guess you can do that here.''

On buying a house here: “I've got four houses right now: one in Fargo, one in Minneapolis I had when I was with the (Columbus) Blue Jackets, and two lake homes in International Falls (Minn.). I've got to sell a couple and buy one here.''

That's a good sign. Now that Blais is back in college hockey, suitors may be lining up. But he says he wants to fulfill his four-year contract in Omaha.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

I got some grief for my prediction last weekend of a UM sweep over CC, and now that it happened, I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Even a Sioux fan gets lucky sometimes.

The playoff picture is just about set, DU and SCSU have locked up home ice. UW looks to be a sure bet as well for home ice, and UMD is also looking like they will get home ice. The big question is who will get the 5th and final spot, CC or UND, or will the UM shock everyone. I like UND’s odds, after their clash this weekend with CC, they return home to host last place MTU, while CC faces DU, and UM faces UW in the last weekend of the regular season. The only other spots that are for sure are UAA, MSUM, and MTU will be on the road for the first round of playoffs. Here are my predictions for the 1st round of WCHA playoffs…

10 MTU @ 1 DU
9 MSUM @ 2 UW
8 UAA @ 3 SCSU
7 UM @ 4 UMD
6 CC @ 5 UND


CURRENT WCHA STANGINGS

TEAM………………..GP….W-L-T….PTS
1 Denver…………….....24….16-4-4….36
2 St. Cloud State……26….15-8-3….33
3 Wisconsin…………....24….14-7-3….31
4 Minnesota-Duluth…24….14-9-1….29
5 Colorado College…..24….11-10-3…25
5 North Dakota………..24….11-10-3…25
7 Minnesota…………....24….10-12-2…22
8 Alaska-Anchorage...26…..8-16-2….18
9 Minnesota State…..24…..8-15-1….17
10 Michigan Tech…...24…..4-20-0…..8



WCHA

#3 Wisconsin at Michigan Tech
Last weekend the Badgers split with the SCSU Huskies in Madison and the MTU Huskies were swept by the Pioneers in Denver.

Earlier this year these teams met in Madison with the Badgers crushing the Huskies, 8-2 and 6-0 in that series. Look at the stats and these teams are at opposite ends, UW has scored a league leading 95 goals, MTU has given up a league worst 100 goals. The Badgers are an average road team this season with a 6-5-1 record, but this is Tech, they only have 5 wins all season. If the Badgers get a sweep this weekend, they will pass up SCSU and be into second place. BADGERS SWEEP.


#8 North Dakota at #13 Colorado College
Last weekend the Sioux swept the Bulldogs in Grand Forks and the Tigers were swept by the Gophers in Minneapolis.

This is a big series for both teams, since they are tied for the 5th and final home ice spot. It looks as if the Sioux have started their second half run, a little later this year compared to seasons past. The Tigers are headed in the other direction, losing 4 out of their last 5 WCHA games. The boys from CC need to focus on this weekend and not look forward to the following weekend, when they face their rivals DU for the Gold Pan. The Sioux have now won 3 in a row, scoring 18 goals over those games. I think UND can grab the 5th spot if they split with the Tigers, because they host MTU the following weekend. However, if the Sioux sweep the Tigers, they will have the tie breaker on them, with head-to-head, and would only need a point against MTU to possible hold of the Gophers (if UM wins its final 4 games). SIOUX SWEEP.


Minnesota at #10 Minnesota-Duluth
Last weekend the Gophers were at home and swept the visiting Tigers of CC, the Bulldogs went to Grand Forks and were swept by the Sioux.

Earlier this season the Bulldogs swept the Gophers in Minneapolis, with two come from behind wins, one of them in overtime. The Bulldogs need some points to try and get 3rd place and possible avoid the Final 5 play-in game. Of course, last year they won the play-in game and the Final 5 Broadmoor Trophy. The Gophers still have hopes of home ice, but they need some help. They trail CC-UND by 3 points, but the Gophers own the tie breaker with CC. The Gophers would need CC-UND to split this weekend to keep both of them within striking distance. That being said the UM needs to help themselves again by getting 4-points out of Duluth. In what will be the last regular season home games at the DECC (next year they open their new arena). The Bulldogs have been sliding as of late going 2-4-0 in their last 6 WCHA and are 2-6-0 in their last 8 games (2 loses to Bemidji St.). The Gophers just got their 2nd WCHA sweep of the season; their first was way back on Halloween weekend against UAA. I’m going to “wimp out” on this series and go with a SPLIT.


#1 Denver at Minnesota State
Last weekend the Pioneers swept the MTU Huskies at Magness and the Mavericks swept the Seawolves in Mankato.

The Pioneers can win the MacNaughton Cup this weekend with a sweep over the Mavericks. The Mavericks can pass up UAA this weekend and take over 8th place, if they can get a win. I’m sure all the UW and SCSU fans will be pulling hard for the Mavericks to knock off the Pioneers, and give the Badgers and Huskies another shot at the title. The Mavericks are 5-6-1 overall on the road this season and the Pioneers are 13-2-3 at home this season. This looks to be some more easy points for the Pioneers, but they can afford a loss with their cushion, and possibly looking ahead to next week’s showdown with CC. I’m going to go with an upset in this series. SPLIT.


NON-CONFERENCE

Alaska at Alaska-Anchorage (Governor's Cup)
Last weekend the Seawolves (10-18-2 overall) were swept by the Mavericks in Mankato. The Nanooks (14-9-9 overall) swept Lake Superior State in Fairbanks.

This will be the first meetings of the teams from the Last Frontier this season. Last season the Seawolves swept the Nanooks. I think the Seawolves will be angry and looking for some revenge after losing two games last weekend. I have to go with the WCHA, the best league in college hockey, in this series. SEAWOLVES SWEEP.

BYE WEEK
#4 St. Cloud State University

It's Thursday and WCHA League office still silent.

In case you haven't seen this article. Over on USCHO there is an interesting article by USCHO writer Todd D. Milewski. I do find it interesting that it's Thursday and we have yet to hear a ruling about this hit in question from the WCHA league office on a hit that happened this past weekend.

What I do know, however, is that he’s getting quite a reputation around the WCHA, and it’s not something to be proud of.

I heard one longtime WCHA observer use the term goon in reference to Marvin after last Saturday night’s game, in which the Huskies junior forward delivered an open-ice check to Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion that left the Badgers captain with a concussion. Geoffrion didn’t return to the game that night (he later informed everyone via Twitter that he was doing “just fine”), and the Wisconsin State Journal reports that the Badgers’ leading goalscorer won’t play this weekend at Michigan Tech.

On first glance, I didn’t see that Marvin’s shoulder went against Geoffrion’s head in the check, so I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. I’m guessing the on-ice officials were of the same viewpoint, even though their eyes were significantly closer to the play than mine, because no penalty was called.

St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said after the game that players on his bench told him it was a good hit, but even then, he was worried because of the crackdown on hits to the head.

If this was an isolated incident, I don’t think it would be as heated a topic this week. But Marvin is the same player who leveled North Dakota captain Chay Genoway on Nov. 13, drawing a one-game suspension from the WCHA.

As of nearly five days after the latest incident, there has been no public follow-up from the league, so many were left to believe no action is being taken. A WCHA official, however, said that the league’s supplemental discipline procedure was launched a day after the game, and the reason that no announcement has been made is that it must fully run its course before public comment is issued. [Read the whole article]

Oshie on Brad Miller time

I thought this one was a really funny episode; it was also interesting that TJ Oshie brought up the point on Danny Kristo’s celebration and how he goes down on one knee and waves his hand around. Oshie said, “when you score goals, this (goes down on one knee and waves arm) we don’t do that here, maybe in Minnesota we know you’re from the cities, probably could have went there…” That was classic stuff.

Grand Forks Central Knights begin quest for title.

The Grand Fork Central Knights 21-3-0 begin their quest for a state title tonight at 6:00 pm at the Ralph Englestad Arena; their first hurdle will be the Bottineau Braves 15-8-1. Goon’s World would like to wish the Central Knights good luck and hope that they achieve the goal that they have been working for all season long – a North Dakota state hockey title. This Central Hockey team is deep and not many teams can match it's stretch through the forward lines or defensively.

Defense is Key

This past season the Central Knights limited their opponent’s goals and outscored their opponents an impressive 148-21. In addition, the Central Knights shut out their opponents 13times in 24 games. The blue line is paced by senior Danny Ray (10g-23a-33pts) and junior Paul Ladue (9g-23a-32pts). Seth Lang is the top starting goalie in the State of North Dakota with a 18-3-0 record, GAA .089 SV % of .936. The Central Knights have been limiting their oppostion to about 14 shots on goal a game. During the season the Central Knights never game up more than 4 goals a game and and only had 4 goals scored on them twice, during the course of the season the Central Knight's defense game up about 0.913 goals per game.

Paul LaDue (10g-23a-33pts), Danny Ray (9g-23a-32pts)
David Nelson (5g-12a-17pts), Jeremy O’Keefe (8g-12a-20pts)
Corey Zimmerman (1g-2a-3pts), Matt Walters (0g-2a-2pts)


Forwards

Luke Johnson (16g-28a-44pts), Casey Purpur (33g-27a-60pts), Johnny Simonson (14g-28a-44pts)
Aaron Hatt (9g-18a-27pts), Justin Moody (5g-15a-20pts), David Sayler (7p-8a-15pts)
Jordy Aamot (5g-15-a-20pts), Jared Sorlien (5g-4a-9pts), Brenden Gust (14g-17a-21pts)
Tyler Haug (2g-2a-4pts), Caleb Folson (4g-10a-14pts), Alec Lazur (1g-2a-3pts)

As you can see that Central is well balanced through the forward lines and you will not be able to just shut down one line. Central's top line has three players in the top ten of the North Dakota state scoring leaders.

[Central High Player Stats]

[Bottineau High Player Stats]

Geoffrion still not back.

Looks like Blake Geoffrion is still has lingering effects of the concussion he suffered during last Saturday night's game against the SCSU Huskies. Update: According to Andy Baggot the beat writter for the Wisconsin Badgers, Blake Geffrion will not play against Michigan Tech this weekend. Also, as of Wednesday there still has been no suspension handed down for the hit on Geoffrion.

Senior center and tri-captain Blake Geoffrion sat out a second day of practice Tuesday, raising the possibility that he won't be able to play for the UW men's hockey team in its WCHA series at Michigan Tech Friday and Saturday.

Geoffrion suffered a concussion when checked by St. Cloud State center Aaron Marvin during the second period of a WCHA encounter at the Kohl Center last Saturday. It was the second time this season Geoffrion has suffered such an injury.

"He wasn't good enough to skate today,'' UW coach Mike Eaves said of Geoffrion Tuesday. "He still had a headache today.''

Eaves outlined a series of steps that Geoffrion must make before he's cleared to play. Among them, he must be able to exercise without triggering a headache [read the rest of the article here]

How the times have changed

Check out this blog post by the Star Tribune Minnesota Gophers hockey beat writer. I would say that the times have sure changed. In my opinion as an outside observer that this post is very critical of a coach that once walked on water in the eyes of a lot of Gopher fans.

While I am no fan of the Gophers it does seem that there is a lynch mob mentality brewing in the Twin Cities. This is a hockey coach that has won 2 NCAA titles (back to back) and a couple of league titles. This isn't some some hack coach that teams have finished in the bottom of the league standings for five years in a row. Sure the Gophers have all the breaks but you can't win them all. If you want to assign blame, blame the players who are playing with little life. I can't imagine a reason why Lucia would let this reporter interview him? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on the matter. Are Gopher fans being a little hard on their head coach? Should the Gopher fans blame the players as well? Would it make a difference if Patterson had played more games this season?

The Gophers' chances will be much better if coach Don Lucia changes his tactics and if the players play with desperation.

Lucia has to stop saying that goalie Alex Kangas has done his job if he gives up only two goals. His job -- especially at this time of the year -- is to play better than the other goalie. He might have to get a shutout sometime in the playoffs, or give up only one goal to win a game.

Kangas has played great at times that in the past and he has to go into games with the attitude that the opponent can't beat him. His mindset has to be that he will give up one fewer goal than the other goalie.

Coach Lucia has rarely asked me for advice -- OK never -- but he also has to stop saying this team has to win games 3-2, that it's not good enough to score more than three goals. In playoff hockey, the Gophers have to score as many goal as it takes to win.

If they get in a shootout with somebody, than they have to keep popping goals in. This team is a real mystery that way. It''s got talented offensive players who seem to do little for weeks at a time and then have one good game here and there. It's surprising Lucia has so much hair and it's not all white already. [Goal Gophers]

Puck Daddy picks Bruins as number one dissappointment

You know I have to agree with Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy, the Boston Bruins have been a dismal and utter disappointment this season. After winning their division last season they are probably going to fall nothing short of an epic failure this season.

During the off season the Bruins lost their star offensive threat to the Toronto Maples Leafs and the Bruins front office failed to give the Bruins coach any replacement for the loss of Phil Kessel 36 goals. You can tell your team certain players will be expected to pick up the slack but it didn’t happen. The Bruins were also decimated by injuries and key players haven’t picked up the slack. I see the Bruins as a one series and done team, IF the make the playoffs.

1. The Boston Bruins

How do you go from 53 wins and a point away from the President's Trophy, with an eye-popping offense and a stifling defense to, well, this?

The Bruins are in the thick of the fight for a bottom-2 Eastern Conference playoff spot (meaning they'd be miles out of it if they played in the West) and can't seem to do anything all that well.

Let's talk about the forwards. Not one has 40 points. Really. Not one has 20 goals. Only four who have played in 30 or more games have a positive plus-minus. If it weren't for Marc Savard's(notes) 31 points in 37 games, no one would even be close to a point-a-game pace. Besides Savvy and Patrice Bergeron(notes), it's hard to think of anyone that hasn't at least been a disappointment at best, or a colossal, blown-up-on-the-launchpad disaster (hi, Milan Lucic(notes)!). The power play has dropped off by a solid five points as well.

And let's go over the defense. Zdeno Chara's(notes) a plus-6. Johnny Boychuk's(notes) a plus-3. That's it for positive plus-minus ratings there as well. Remember last year when the Bruins defensemen scored 50 goals? Yeah, they must not either, because they have 19 this year with a pretty similar D corps. And yeah, they're fifth in the league in goals against, but last year they were first.

A lot of that defensive slump, though, has to do with Tim Thomas(notes), who has been very mediocre pretty much all season, but only recently was benched by Claude Julien in favor of Tuukka Rask(notes), who, if he had more games, would be getting Steve Mason-type plaudits from pundits for his 2.08/.928 performance. Especially in front of a team as terribly disappointing as the Bruins have been this year. [Puck Daddy]

UND Misses Summit League scheduling window

Hum, I find this move predictable, look very carefully at this statement: "won't be considered until the "Fighting Sioux" nickname issue has been resolved." I think we know what that means. What we have now is a University President Robert Kelley lobbying the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education to drop the Fighting Sioux nickname immediately.

Let’s not kid ourselves, “RESOLVED” probably means dropped, nickname changed, no more Fighting Sioux nickname. Sioux fans our once proud name is going to be on the scrap heap of history soon. It appears that the Summit League has become a proxy for the NCAA, the first salvo has been fired over the bow, do as we say or else. I am sure Miles Brands is smiling today.

UND has missed it's opportunity to joining the Summit League this year.

UND president Robert Kelley says he talked with League commissioner Tom Douple over the last few days and learned UND has missed the scheduling window for the 2011-2012 season.

Kelley says 2012 will be the earliest they can play in Summit League conference play if they are even accepted.

They've applied but won't be considered until the "Fighting Sioux" nickname issue has been resolved.

Kelley say this was unexpected, they had hopes they would still make the window.

He says it shows the league won't wait for them even though they've said UND is a perfect fit.

Kelley says this points out the urgency of resolving the nickname issue quickly, so they don't miss out on other opportunities.

" We are seeing some doors start to close the scheduling has moved past us you know this is a long process there is no drop dead date in this the big concern I have is other schools are wanting to get into the Summit League."

Kelley says his concern could lead him to ask the league for a contingency plan to hold a spot for their application if the nickname issue is not solved in a reasonable time frame. [WDAZ]

In Seth the Knight's trust

I was reading my home town newspaper the Grand Forks Herald this morning and much to my amazement there was an very nice article about Grafton Park River goalie Dylan Offutt in the sports page. That's fine to write a nice article about the Grafton Park River goalie but this was a kid that as shelled in two previous games against the Knights 8-0. Offutt was outscored 17-2 in three games.

There is another goalies that has had a much more impressive season, Central Knights senior goalie Seth Lang has a GAA of 0.89 and a save percentage of .936 with 11 shutouts. If your not impressed with those numbers the Grand Forks Central Knights have 13 shutouts this season in 24 games.

I am not here to slam the Grand Forks Herald sport page because I think Brad Elliot Schlossman does a great job covering Fighting Sioux hockey. None the less the Herald coverage of high school sports in Grand Forks, ND that doesn’t relate to Red River High School is a bit to be desired. If Red River plays a hockey game it’s on the front page of the sports page, if the Central Knights play a hockey game it’s lucky to get three columns on the fifth page.

I not saying don’t cover Red River High school, I am just saying both schools should get equal coverage from the Herald and it’s just not the case. I like the kids from both schools they are great ambassadors for Grand Forks, ND. Does the herald really need to do a story on a kid from Grafton, ND that is the 15th ranked goalie in the state of North Dakota when the number one goalie in ND plays 6 blocks from the Grand Forks Heralds office?

Central Knights offensive Juggernaut

Not only is the defense getting the job done but the Central Knights can roll three lines and grind the opposition into the ground. Central has 10 players over 20 points and junior forward Casey Purpur is 2nd in the state of North Dakota with (33g-27a-60pts) in 24 games, freshman Luke Johnson is ranked 5th in the state in scoring with (16g-28a-44pts) and Johnny Simonson is ranked 9th with (14g-28a-42pts). You might never know this because little if anything has been written in the newspapers about this impressive high school hockey team. Central players Bottineau in the first round of the ND High School Hockey team on Thursday.

Grand Forks Central [21-3]
The Knights have won 11 of their last 12 games with their last loss coming on February 13th at home to Fargo South 4-1. The Knights have only allowed 21 goals in 24 games this season which is just under less than a goal per game and they average around 6-goals offensively. The Knights only allowed 1-goal and Seth Lang posted two shutouts in three games last weekend at the East Region Tournament so they are coming in very solid. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since at least 1993.

Bottineau [15-8-1]
The Braves are the story of the tournament so far as they have not played in a state tournament since 1993. David Hoff was the coach back then and he is still the Head Coach today so he has experience at state although it was many years ago. His Braves are somewhat young but can play and come in with a [4-1-1] mark over their last 6-games. Their only loss over the last 6-games was the 4-1 West Region opener to Bismarck High who went on to win the region title two days later. The Braves have not played G.F. Central for many, many years so no recent match up history to report.



2010 N.D. State Boy's High School Hockey Tournament

Thursday, February 25th: at Engelstad Main Arena - Grand Forks, N.D.
12:00 PM: #1W-Bismarck High vs #4E-West Fargo
2:30 PM: #2E-Fargo South vs #3W-Williston
6:00 PM #1E-G.F. Central vs #4W-Bottineau
8:30 PM #2W-Bismarck Century vs #3E-Grafton/Park River

You make the call. Suspend or not.

Like I said on the other post: I just watched the video when I got home from work at least 15 times and I just can't see an elbow in there, that is not saying it didn't possibly happen. The video quality for FSSN isn't very good to begin with; this is an ongoing issue. I have been hoping that FSSN decided to go to HD soon.

Since the video of the hit in question is not very good and it's grainy, even on my 40 inch television, I wouldn’t be able to make a definitive determination if there was in fact a questionable hit. I would also hope that the video quality is better than this if and when the WCHA league office decides to review game film and determine if they want hand down a suspension on the play or not.

To me from my perspective it looks like Connolly turns into the wall at the last moment and it appears to be a shoulder to shoulder check that looks like the check in question vaults him into the boards violently, possibly hitting his head on the boards? From the video I reviewed, it does not appear to be an elbow to the head of Mike Connolly from Corbin Knight. There was no call on the play from the refs on the play.

I don't know maybe this is a boarding or charging call? Based on that video which is not conclusive, I predict there will be no suspension from the WCHA. If there is another angle that has better video evidence, I would like to see it to make a determination. My personnel ruling is in complete not enough evidence.

I am in no way condoning hits to the head or endorsing hits to the head, if a Sioux player commits an act that is punishable or worthy of a suspension they should face the consequences. If the league decides that they want to suspend Knight, so be it, I would except the ruling. What would the league suspend him for one game? I am not sure that this hit rises to the level of the Genoway and Marvin incident. Marvin got a one game suspension. Do you think the WCHA will suspend Corbin Knight for this hit? What do you think?

Winger Mike Connolly is recovering from a concussion received in the final minutes of Saturday's game at North Dakota. Connolly took an elbow to the head from North Dakota's Corban Knight. The play was made along the side glass in UMD's defensive zone and Connolly hit the glass with the left side of his face, and has a bruise and black eye to show for it. He will be allowed to practice and play when his concussive symptoms are gone, he said. There was no penalty on the play. [Rink and Run]

Here are a few other links to blogs discussing the issue [Ciskie Blog], [Runin with the Dogs], [Rink and Run], [Sioux Yeah, Yeah]

Corban Knight HIt on Mike Connolly

Goon asked me to post this video of the Knight hit on Mike Connolly. The talk over on Sioux Sports is that Connolly suffered a concussion from an "elbow."

For the life of me I don't see Knights elbow come up. It looks like a routine check to me.

I saw the check live and was also surprised that "22" went down like that. I even thought that Knight got more of the boards than the body on that check.

I don't think it was a dirty hit and I hope that Mr. Connolly is back in the lineup soon.

Edit: I asked Whistler to post the hit, I have not seen the hit in question and tried to find it on the DVR before I went to work at 1530 hours this afternoon. I will hold off commenting on it till tomorrow morning.

Poll Monday (UND 8th in both)

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[February 22, 2010]
1 Denver (39) 22- 6-4 988 2
2 Miami (11) 23- 5-6 957 1
3 Wisconsin 19- 8-4 887 3
4 St. Cloud State 20-10-4 829 4
5 Yale 18- 6-3 811 5
6 Bemidji State 21- 7-2 700 9
7 Boston College 18-10-2 668 8
8 North Dakota 16-11-5 638 11
9 Cornell 16- 8-3 551 10
10 Minnesota-Duluth 18-13-1 499 6
11 New Hampshire 15-10-5 498 13
12 Michigan State 18-11-5 452 12
13 Colorado College 17-12-3 435 7
14 Ferris State 19-11-4 371 14
15 Union 18- 8-6 368 16
16 Maine 15-12-3 245 15
17 Alaska 14- 9-9 211 20
18 Vermont 13-11-6 95 17
19 Nebraska-Omaha 17-13-6 88 NR
20 Boston University 14-13-3 73 19
Others Receiving Votes: Northern Michigan 34, Mass.-Lowell 27, RIT 25, Northeastern 19, Michigan 10, Massachusetts 7, Sacred Heart 7, Minnesota 4, Colgate 2, St. Lawrence 1

--------------------------------

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Feb. 22, 2010]
Team (First Place) Record Pts PR
1. Denver (28) 22-6-4 504 2
2. Miami (6) 23-5-6 480 1
3. Wisconsin 19-8-4 429 3
4. Yale 18-6-3 392 5
5. St. Cloud State 20-10-4 387 4
6. Bemidji State 21-7-2 311 7
7. Boston College 18-10-2 288 9
8. North Dakota 16-11-5 279 11
9. Cornell 16-8-3 200 10
10. New Hampshire 15-10-5 185 13
11. Minnesota Duluth 18-13-1 170 6
12. Colorado College 17-12-3 126 8
13. Michigan State 18-11-5 122 12
14. Ferris State 19-11-4 73 14
15. Union 18-8-6 68 NR

Others Receiving Votes: Maine 29, Alaska 19, Nebraska-Omaha 8, RIT 6, Northern Michigan 3, Sacred Heart 1.

Who said this statement?

Here is a question for the great hockey minds. Who made this statement.

"We talk about it — I tell (the players) every week that we can't take foolish, selfish penalties," said unnamed WCHA coach, 12-9-3 overall in his first season as head coach. "North Dakota, they're notorious for roughing it up.

If you see a fight in our league, chances are they're involved. It's a source of pride for them. They try to get nasty and get in your face. That's the way they like to play, aggressive. We've got to be ready for that."

Thanks a million

I would like the thank the people that read our blog, we just surpassed 1,000,000 hits. My wife wanted to know if I was responsible for 900,000 of them. Goon’s World started in December 31st of 2005. This article covering former Gopher Phil Kessel's draft combine was the most ever viewed blog post.

INCH Power Rankings.

As always I include the INCH power rankings. Now we are to believe that Yale is the third ranked team in the power rankings. I don't think so.
1. Denver
2. Miami
3. Yale
4. Wisconsin
5. St. Cloud State
6. North Dakota Maybe Mario Lamoureux should drop the gloves more often. After serving a one-game suspension Friday for his pre-empted tete-a-tete with St. Cloud State's Aaron Marvin, he returned to the lineup Saturday and scored twice in the Fighting Sioux's 5-1 win over Minnesota Duluth.
16-11-5 (11-10-3 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 5-2; W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 5-1. THIS WEEK: at Colorado College, at Colorado College
7. Cornell
9. Bemidji State
10. Union
11. Boston College
12. Minnesota Duluth
13. Colorado College
14. Ferris State
15. New Hampshire
17. Nebraska-Omaha
18. Alaska
19. RIT
20. Boston University

Dropped out: Rensselaer, Northern Michigan
Bubble-licious: Rensselaer, Northern Michigan, Northeastern

USA Olympic Roster

USA OLYMPIC ROSTER

So, I’m watching the US Olympic hockey team, and thinking, I recognize a lot of those names from college. So I look up the USA roster, which is made up of 23 guys, and this is what I see.

WCHA
1. Zach Parise ----------- U. North Dakota
2. Paul Stastny ---------- Denver U.
3. Phil Kessel ------------ U. Minnesota
4. Erik Johnson --------- U. Minnesota
5. Ryan Malone --------- St. Cloud State
6. Joe Pavelski ---------- U. Wisconsin
7. Brian Rafalski -------- U. Wisconsin
8. Ryan Suter ------------ U. Wisconsin
9. David Backes --------- MN State – Mankato

CCHA
10. Jack Johnson -------- U. Michigan
11. Ryan Miller ----------- Michigan St.
12. Ryan Kesler --------- Ohio St.

Hockey East
13. Chris Drury ----------- Boston U.
14. Ryan Whitney ------- Boston U.
15. Brooks Orpik --------- Boston College
16. Jonathan Quick --- U. Mass-Amherst


That would be 9 guys that played in the WCHA are now playing for team USA, or 39% of them, if my math is correct. Plus you have 3 from the CCHA and 4 from HE. I think it is easy to see that college hockey does produce numerous great hockey talents. In total that would be 16-out-of-23 with ties to college hockey, or 70%, not too shabby. Oh, and there are also some college guys on team Canada too, eh.

USA Prevails 5 - 3

The speech from the movie Miracle still kind of fits today even thirty years later. Yeah; I watched the game.

Fast forward till today; leading up to the game we have heard how great the Canadians are and don't get me wrong the Canadians are a good team. The Russians are a good team; the Swedes have a good team as well. Team USA is going down without a fight. I think the thing that makes me happy is the fact that team USA just put four goals past one of the best goalies in the world. Two of the goals were scored by former Wisconsin Badger Brian Rafalski who was a former NHL team mate of Martin Brodeur’s. Maybe Rafalski know’s Marty’s weaknesses? If Brodeur has any?

You have to wonder if the Canadians just thought they were going to win. I must say that the last two minutes of the game were some of the best hockey I have seen in a long time. Former MSU goalie Ryan Miller was a brick wall and nothing short of awesome keeping the American in the game when the Canadians were pressing all over Team USA in the closing minutes. I guess you could say it was Miller Time.

GAME SUMMARY

SCORING
CAN 1 1 1 - 0
USA 2 1 2 - 0

First Period

1. USA, Rafalski (Suter , Langenbrunner) :41
2. CAN, Staal (Seabrook, Toews) 8:53
3. USA, Rafalski (Unassisted) 9:15

Penalties - Getzlaf CAN (interference) 3:41, Pavelski USA (high sticking) 6:07.

Second Period

4. CAN, Heatley (Toews, Weber) 3:32
5. USA, Drury (Ryan, Backes) 16:46

Penalties - Staal CAN (holding) 19:06

Third Period

6. USA, Langenbrunner (Rafalski, Suter) 7:09 (PPG)
7. CAN, Crosby (Nash, Keith) 16:51 (PPG)
8. USA, Kesler (Parise) 19:15 (ENG)

Penalties - Crosby CAN (high-sticking) 1:44, Perry CAN (slashing) 6:05, Kane USA (hooking) 10:49, E. Johnson USA (tripping) 14:56.

SHOTS ON GOAL
CAN 19 12 14 - 45
USA 6 13 3 - 22

Goaltenders (goals-shots against) - CAN: Brodeur (L, 4-22); USA: Miller (W, 3-45).

Power plays (goals-chances) - CAN: 1-4; USA: 1-4.

CHN hits it out of the park.

If you have not seen this article from the College Hockey News; you have got to read it because Adam Wodon really hits it out of the park. This article is a lot like the zinger Virg Foss wrote for the Grand Forks Herald last week. Kind of saying the same things many of us are saying only this is from a writer from the outside looking in at the WCHA. The view can't be that impressive. I know from a fan of the WCHA I can look at the ECAC and say that I would rather have Paul Stewart supervising our officials than Greg Shepherd.

I mean it's a serious question and should be addressed. Take the ECAC; Paul Stewart was a beloved NHL official, Greg Shepherd is not. My question is do we hold the WCHA officials and leadership culpable if a player gets hurt on their watch? There are no teeth to the WCHA's suspensions or discipline, If I am a player I can do about just about anything on the ice and only get a one game suspension.

We have been pretty critical of the WCHA officiating over the years, and rightly so. Actually, in general, offciating at the college level isn't the best, but that's to be expected, actually, and there's not much you can do about it. On that score, we rarely harp on officiating. But the WCHA seems to have this "let them play" atmosphere that, on the one hand, fans have loved vis-a-vis the other conferences, then deplored because it escalates into things like this.

Of course, it's not just this. The WCHA has bungled so many video review calls in recent years, I've lost count.

The issues stem from the top, and the leadership in the conference does not seem very interesting in cracking down on anything. When the other leagues all announced a crackdown on obstruction a number of years ago, for example, the WCHA remained very Laissez-faire about it. Well, that's one thing, but when the league keeps a hands off approach to any discipline of any kind, things start to snowball into instances like this.

Again, forget whether we should indict Aaron Marvin in particular. I just want to know how in the world that play is not a "contact to the head" penalty, a rule that was put in specifically to take the guesswork out of things by ruling any hit to the head, intentional or not, an infraction.

As players have become bigger, faster and stronger over the years, the potential for head injuries has exponentially increased. That is why more and more protective measures have been put in place. But that only works if these things are enforced. Bungling a video review call is one thing — being non-chalent about enforcing hits to the head calls is something that can put players' careers, or lives, in jeopardy. [Read the Whole Article]

History repeats itself Aaron Marvin hit on Blake Geoffrion

Color me surprised?!? So does this hit reach the threshold where the WCHA might decide to suspend Mr. Marvin for this hit? I would love to hear what that buffoon WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod has to say on this matter.

There is no queston, this is definitely a questionable hit, watching the video one could make the argument that Marvin is trying to head hunt Geoffrion on an open ice hit. Let's not forget Geoffrion is also in a vulnerable position as well. Of course there was no penalty called on the play, no one should be remotely surprised either based on the gong show that is Brad Shepherd, Todd Anderson were reffing this game. More buffoonery in action from the WCHA, but hey there wasn’t any fights, can’t have that, but you can have another all-American and Hobey Baker Candidate possibly injured on another questionable and dirty hit. Some day Marvin will have to answer for his questionable play by the hockey code. If anything this latest transgression basically makes McLeod look like a bigger moron for suspending Mario but acting as if Marvin was the victim.

It’s funny how history repeats itself again. This hit has cause quite the stir in Badger land. This wasn't a hit where a smaller player was hit by a bigger player either. Also, Mr Garrett Roe was gooning it up this weekend as well as he took 9 minutes in penalties in the third period of tonight's game. Roe is such a punk in my opinion.

(STC-9 Garrett Roe (2-Roughing) 18:51,
STC-10 Garrett Roe (2-CONTACT TO THE HEAD) 18:51
STC-11 Garrett Roe (5-Cross-Checking) WIS 2x8

This is what Chuck Swartz from 60 Minutes,No Alibis, No Regrets had to say about the Marvin hit. It will be interested to see how long it takes for some SCSU fan to defend this hit.

Senior Captain Blake Geoffrion had a major scare in tonight's game when he took a dirty check from St. Cloud State goon Aaron Marvin to the head. Now, Wisconsin isn't the cleanest team in the league, that's for sure...but I have no patience for hits to the head and this was as blatant as it can get.

Sioux sweep Dogs 5-1

The UMD Bulldogs have a record of 1-10-1 against the Fighting Sioux in the Ralph Engelstad Arena their last twelve games this weekend proved to be no better for the UMD Bulldogs. The REA has become a house of horror for the Bulldogs. If it wasn't for the puck in the net goal in duluth, the Fighting Sioux might have gone 4-0 against the Bulldogs for the season.

Air Tight Defense

The UND Fighting Sioux have the top rated defense in the WCHA and third overall nationally and have been tough to score goals against this season. Adding to their statistics this weekend the UND Fighting Sioux only gave up three goals the whole weekend to the UMD Bulldogs and UMD is no slouch when it comes to scoring goals.

What was impressive to me this weekend was that the Fighting Sioux held UMD Bulldogs to three goals all weekend, the UMD Bulldogs were 17th over nationally in scoring. What was even more impressive was the Fighting Sioux shutting down the Connolly boys (no they are not related) to a measly and impressive one point each - Mike Connolly (1g-0a-1pts) and Jack Connolly (0g-1a-1pts). That is no small feat because they are nice impressive dynamic offensive pair of players. The Sioux also held the talented Justin Fontaine (1g-0a-1pts). So basically the Fighting Sioux defense was able to limit the 4th and 5th (X2) best players in the WCHA to one point each.

Tough stretch for the Dogs

It is almost like the two teams are going different directions. UND has won three straight and UMD is kind of hit a tough stretch and kind of cooling off after starting out so hot.

The loss kept No. 9 UMD (18-13-1 and 14-9-1) in a tailspin, going 2-6 the last eight games and 1-10-1 the last 12 on North Dakota ice. The Bulldogs dropped to fourth in the league, four points ahead of North Dakota and Colorado College. [Rink and Run]

Second half surge?

The Sioux have a three game winning streak and are FINALLY scoring goals again (8 + 5 + 5 = 18 goals) in the last three games. While I am not ready to announce that everything is ok with the Fighting Sioux and they are off and running again towards the Frozen Four, it does appear that the Sioux may have righted the ship and peaking at the right time.

Brett Hextall has been impressive and has scored (8g-3a-11pts) in his last 7 games. It appears that Frats is back, Matt Frattin is also starting to chip in offensively and actually scored the last two goals of the second SCSU game and the first one of the first SCSU game.

[Box Score]

Saturday pontifications

Here is an up date on the Bemidji Regional Event Center will be the new home of the BSU Beavers. The Sioux and Beavers will open the new BREC next season the 15th and 16th of October 2010. This will also be the Beavers first home WCHA series.

The Fighting Sioux will also play UMD in the Hall of Fame game December 30th 2010 in the new DECC. Next season is going to be an exciting time in the WCHA, there will be two new teams; two teams in the WCHA will be opening brand new hockey arenas. Incidently, the UND Fighting Sioux will be opening both of these new buildings. Let's hope UND can prove to be good guests by starting both teams off with loses. :) Obviously, that is easier said than done because both teams are tough to beat on their home ice.

Julie Robenhymer brings luck to the Fighting Sioux

Julie Robenhymer from hockey buzz attended last night's hockey game between the Sioux and the Bulldogs. I tweeted this after the Sioux went up 2-0.

@JulieRobenhymer you seem to have brought some luck to the Sioux.

Here was her reply.

RT @goon48 you seem to have brought some luck to the Sioux - yet to be seen!! they're 0-6 in games I've attended, although none at home...

Yeah we can't lose all the games she watches UND play in right? You have to figure the law of averages will pick up for the Sioux right? Now they are 1-6 with the former Miss New Jersey watching us.

UND power play on fire

Since Brett Hextall returned from his leg injury last weekend the Fighting Sioux's power play has recovered from their 0-32 winter doldrums to go an impressive 8/17 in the last three games. Also, Hextall himself has been on fire scoring 10 points in his last 6 games.


Closing an Arena

My Friends Scott Williams and Moose Richards from the Hockey Show break down the final series in the John Glas Field House, against the Niagara University Purple Eagles. Close one down and open another one. The guys are right the John Glas Field House is not adequate for division one hockey. [Click to listen]

Redwing 77: A Situation McLeod would never know (nor for that matter, would Shepherd)

I just found this article and I thought I would share it. Nathan Fournier of the World of Junior Hockey Blog posted this article of the QMJHL's recent upholding of Patrice Cormier's suspension. Apparently this is a very legal-style process with examinations, cross examinations, and so on. I wonder if the QMJHL Commissioner, as the judge in this apparent courtroom drama, wore a black robe?

Anyways, the crux of the article is thus: Patrice Cormier committed an illegal act that was of the most severe and heinous order. Upon review of the facts, there was no reason to doubt or alter the initial discipline board's decision. Of course, Cormier can appeal again to independent arbitration. (I expect him to do that)

So, Patrice Cormier, YOU SIT YOU SIT YOU SIT! (Courtesy: Sioux student section among others)

Here's the direct quote from QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Courteau:

"After hearing the testimonies, examining the evidence and meticulously analyzing the facts, I believe that Patrice Cormier’s gesture was very violent and susceptible of inflicting severe damage to the victim. The decision rendered by the Disciplinary Prefect follows the principals outlined by the League’s Board of Governors in the fall of 2008 regarding the elimination of gratuitous violence. Furthermore, the decision is consistent with the need to establish new and more severe disciplinary standards to dissuade players from taking these actions."

"Consequently, I declare that the Disciplinary Prefect’s decision to suspend Patrice Cormier is justified, reasonable and consistent with the League’s new policy."

NOW: To tie this into WCHA Hockey: Could you imagine McLeod saying that he'd like to impose some sort of stance such as the one the Q's Board of Governors took in 2008?

I can.

Do you think McLeod has the cohones to ENFORCE it like the Q's Discipline Board and now the Commissioner did?

Absolutely....not.

It would mean suspending a player for more than 2 games. It would also mean forming some sort of commission to enable the player's voice to be heard as well as the coach and AD of both schools. To be fair, that would probably benefit Gwozdecky. Then again.... I don't believe he ever has to worry about suspensions anyways.

To be honest, I don't think a discipline board is necessary in the WCHA. As aggravating as cheap hits are, the WCHA is lucky enough to not have them as too often an occurrence. But Virg Foss is right. The WCHA, and perhaps even the NCAA, doesn't have the safety of the players in mind.

I don't know what the answer is. I'm reluctant to allow fighting in NCAA hockey as I don't believe that fighting will always occur at the "right" times. That's a growing problem even in leagues that allow fighting. But at the same time, the officials, who have to step up if fighting isn't allowed, aren't stepping up.

Virg Foss (article here) said that the officials got reprimanded the last time UND was involved in a fight because they were allowed to fight. So, they stepped in on Lamoreaux and Marvin before it could have been settled. Well... now what?

It's now coming to the point that there SHOULD be a push by member schools to force the WCHA to take a hard stance on this topic: Either push the NCAA to allow fighting and structure the rules about fighting accordingly OR officials and the league disciplinary stance must be stepped up to protect the players at all costs. It seems to me, the only realistic and consistent way to do that is to take the judgment out of the hands of the officials. That means crackdown. It destroys the integrity of the game by forcing the hands of those officiating, sure, but when the officials cannot be trusted to make the right decisions for a variety of reasons (already covered) over time (aka a trend), it becomes a necessity (the Bina rule wasn't a new invention, remember).

I just hope something happens before someone gets another season ending injury of the cheap shot variety.