The Fighting Sioux earned an auto bid for the NCAA tourney with a convincing 5-3 win against the pesky SCSU Huskies in the championship game of the Red Baron Final Five in St. Paul. The Huskies Cinderella season came to an end as their lady luck finally ran out. SCSU needed a win to get into the NCAA tourney and the Fighting Sioux were already in but cemented their playoff position by gaining a number 2 seed. This scenario seemed almost doomed a month ago after the Huskies had swept the Sioux in a two game series at the Ralph.
The Sioux will face off against the Michigan Wolverines of the CCHA at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night, on our terms. The Sioux will finally get to play the Wolverines in our barn and not have to play in the unfriendly confines of Yost Ice arena in Ann Arbor. This will be the first time Michigan has come to the REA since it opened. The Fighting Sioux will get a chance to avenge a 1998 NCAA playoff loss to the Wolverines. Look for the Sioux to come out and get in Michigan’s face from the drop of the opening face off.
The Fighting Sioux freshman were the story again as Jonathon Toews had a goal and two assists and Ryan Duncan had an amazing goal as he made SCSU goalie Bobby Goepfert look silly. Duncan waited for the star SCSU goalie to make his move then put the puck behind the SCSU goalie into an empty net.
SCSU had played 6 games in 9 days and didn’t show any rust as they came out of the gate on fire, but the Sioux prevailed in the end by answering the Husky goal by scoring two goals in about 15 seconds. It was the second game in a row where UND went down early only to answer with two quick goals.
Season of Highs for SCSU.
SCSU proved to be a tough opponent as they beat many of the tough teams ahead of them in the WCHA standings. SCSU beat Minnesota twice, UND three times, Colorado College three times, and Denver University once. That is pretty impressive for a team that finished in 6th place during the regular season. It also speaks volumes for the strength of the WCHA. It’s a shame our league only got 4 teams in the NCAA playoffs.
SCSU has nothing to be ashamed of as they beat a good Minnesota Gopher team to get to the championship game. Their coach is a class act and has their program going in the right direction. While watching the Huskies and the Golden Rodents a Gopher fan came up to me and asked me why I was cheering for the Huskies. This rube had told me that he cheered for Sioux against the Badgers earlier today and he couldn’t understand how I could take such comfort in the Huskies dismantling their storied team/program. That comment speaks volumes because I can’t cheer for a team that oozes such arrogance. I took great comfort in watching the Gophers lose two games to peak at the right time for the playoffs. Of course the tDon will tell us that the games meant nothing and they were already in the playoffs. I guess team pride means nothing.
The NCAA pairings
Midwest Regional (Green Bay)
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Bemidji State
No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 3 Colorado College
West Regional (Grand Forks)
No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 4 Holy Cross
No. 2 North Dakota vs. No. 3 Michigan
East Regional (Albany)
No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 4 New Hampshire
No. 2 Harvard vs. No. 3 Maine
Northeast Regional (Worcester)
No. 1 Boston U. vs. No. 4 Nebraska-Omaha
No. 2 Miami vs. No. 3 Boston College
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