With the season bearing down on us, UND's first "game" which is an exhibition match is October 7th, just over 3 weeks away. But before that skates are sharpened, the sweaters doned, and the puck drops let me enlighten (or guessing as the case maybe) what the final standings will be in the WCHA this season.
Coming in at the bottom this year will be...Alaska. I believe there motto is "The Last Frontier" unfornately I think in hockey it is "The Last Place Frontier".
10 - Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
Just avoiding the doubious distinction of finish last will be...Duluth. The license plates in Minnesota reads "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for the Bulldogs of Duluth it could be "Rink of 10,000 Loses" this year. They suffered a big blow when Matt Niskanen and Raymond Mason left early :(
9 - Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
Moving up the preseason poll the "middle of the pack" is a little harder to estimate. Coming in at the 8-spot will be...Colorado. So much for the high peaks of the mountains, I think the Tigers are headed for the low lying valleys this season. The scoring by committee only goes so far, sooner or later you need a figure-head to lead the masses. The Tigers this year will be more roar than bite.
8 - Colorado College Tigers
Going to Vegas you want to get 7's but in a preaseason poll, but who knows it might be lucky in the end. Blowing on the dice and comin' up 7 is...Minnesota State. Maybe the bad luck Vikings purple has rubbed off somehow on the Mavericks. They have moments of being a contender, and then suddenly, BAM, down goes MSU. The Mavericks might go into a flat spin this year and goose (Jutting) will suffer a head injury, it will be sad, but they will find a new wingman.
7 - Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks (hey, I just notice but these guys could be 3-M)
Completing the bottom half of this years preaseason bracket and having to go on the road for the first round of the playoff will be...Wisconsin. The badgers did get a nice recruit in Turris, but the wall is gone (Elliott). Without him the badgers ship will leak water like a rusty bucket and they will not be able to fill that void completely, thus they won't win the close ones like they us too. TheBadger might suffer from the cold season leading the furry critter to "hibernate" a few times this winter season.
6 - Wisconsin Badgers
The "middle" teams in the WCHA will be the... Huskies. This will create a little more animosity between the 2 teams when they end up in a tie for 4-5 spot. SCSU lost there cork stopper too, with Geophart leaving, they do how ever have some fire power up front with Nodl and Dey. The MTU have it the other way, they have two exceptional goalies in Teslak and Nolan. These great work/sled dogs will do just work hard and be rewarded in the end with a juicy bone, home ice advantage.
4-tie - Huskies of Michigan Tech and St. Cloud State
The trey spot will belong to a team from the Rocky Mountain state...Denver. I'm not sure what has really led me to this finishing spot for this team. But, I do know that the Gwaz-man always seems to find a way to win games in the regular season. On a side note, what does a bird symbol have to do with being a pioneer, how about a covered wagon or something more Pioneer-ish?
3 - Denver Pioneers
The team coming in on the duece will be the "first loser" in the division, "the other big ten (11)" school...Minnesota Twin Cities. The gphers will have their usual high powered offense this year, but the back half of the ice will be their downfall. They have lost a group of defensemen that will be near impossible to replace in a season, and the goalie, Frazee, will have to stand on his head and make timely saves for the gophers to make a run in the playoffs. If the gophers collapse in the late season again look for the head-gopher to go down his gopher-hole and dissappear.
2 - Minnesota Twin Cities Golden Gophers
That leaves that top spot in the league for the remaining team (remember you are reading this on Goon's World) THE ONE THEE ONLY... FIGHTING SIOUX. Not that I'm biased, which I am, but the Sioux return a large portion of the team from last year. The most notable loss was Toews leaving early for the NHL. The offense will still be potent with Oshie and Duncan (Hobey Baker) and the starting goalie is back as well as most of the d-men.
1 - North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Without regard to the absolutely laughable placement of the teams in this .... um ... tripe, I don't think I've ever read more clueless commentary about virtually every team.
ReplyDelete4 feet of the wall in Badgerland was "team defense" that could have made Lammy look like a decent goalie. And downplaying Turris' contribution to that team is blind and foolish.
When you say stuff like "not really sure what led me to this" it becomes clear to anyone reading it that either a 12 year old or a fan forum junkie wrote it.
Allowing someone like this to post on your blog is detrimental to your reputation Goon. You should certainly reconsider and recommend that this Sioux7 person go to blogspot and start their own page. It takes less than 10 minutes.
In general you're a good alternative to Brad Schlossman's media blog ... keep useless rubes like Sioux7 off here and that should continue.
I agree with Donald.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate Connelly, he quite often in practice and warmups, looked better than Elliott. Not to say he will come out and do that well under pressure, but he has the potential to be as good.
ReplyDeleteHello?!?! Anyone home?
ReplyDelete