Goon's World Extras

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

From the Final Five Media Guide.

This is from the Media guide for this weekend's tourney.
Fighting Sioux
University of North Dakota


North Dakota (25-9-4 overall) is headed to the 2008 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn., to take on Denver (24-13-1 overall) at 2:07 p.m. Friday in the tournament semifinals … UND is the No. 2 seed,
while Denver is the No. 3 seed …

~UND advanced by beating Michigan Tech 2-1 on Sunday in the third game of the teams’ WCHA first round playoff series… the Sioux won the first game of the series 4-0 on Friday, and Michigan Tech won the second game 3-2 in overtime on Saturday …

~this weekend’s Final Five appearance will be the sixth in a row for the Fighting Sioux … it will be UND’s 11th appearance in the past 12 years and 12th appearance in the 16-year history of the Final Five in its current format … the No. 2 seed is UND’s highest since the Sioux were seeded No. 1 in 2004 … this will be the second time the Sioux have been seeded No. 2 in the last 16 years … the Sioux have been the top seed five times, the No. 3 seed twice, the No. 4 seed once and the No. 5 seed twice …

~North Dakota has won the Final Five tournament three times – in 1997 as a No. 1 seed, in 2000 as the No. 2 seed and in 2006 as the No. 3 seed … UND is 13-8 in its previous 11 appearances at the Final Five … last year UND defeated St. Cloud State 6-2 in the semifinals and then lost to Minnesota 3-2 in overtime in the championship game …

~UND’s all-time overall WCHA playoff record is 77-57-7 in 141 games for a winning percentage of .571 … the Sioux have won eight WCHA playoff titles in their history (1967, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1997, 2000 and 2006) … UND has now won 11 consecutive home first round playoff series …

~the Sioux and Denver have met just twice previously at the Final Five, with the Pioneers winning both of those games…

~Denver beat the Sioux 4-3 in the 1999 Final Five championship game and 2-1 in overtime in the 2005 Final Five semifinals …

~the Sioux were 3-1 against Denver this season … the teams split a Nov. 30-Dec. 1 series in Denver (1-0 Denver win, 3-1 UND win) and UND swept a Feb. 15-16 series in Grand Forks (5-4 and 4-1 UND wins) … UND has won four of their past five games against Denver …

~the Sioux are 1-6 all-time against the Pioneers on neutral ice … last weekend UND extended its unbeaten streak to a school-record 18 games (15-0-3) and home unbeaten streak to 11 games (9-0-2) with a 4-0 Friday win over Michigan Tech … goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks, N.D.) posted his sixth shutout of the season and the 10th of his career in the game by stopping all 14 Tech shots …

~four different players scored for the Sioux, including forwards Ryan Duncan (Jr., Calgary, AB), T.J. Oshie (Jr., Warroad, Minn.), Darcy Zajac (So., Winnipeg, MB) and Andrew Kozek (Jr., Sicamous, BC) … Oshie and Duncan each added an assist on Friday, while defenseman Chay Genoway (So., Morden, MB) had two assists … UND’s overall and home unbeaten streaks came to an end last Saturday when the Huskies tied the game 2-2 on a Tyler Shelast goal with :05.5 seconds left and then won on a Shelast goal 1:59 into overtime …

~each of UND’s last three losses (Dec. 29 to New Hampshire, Jan. 4 to St. Cloud State and Friday against Michigan Tech) had similarities in that the Sioux had two-goal leads in all three contests and also had second period leads in all three games before eventually losing … last Saturday marked the first time since Nov. 24, 1979, that an opponent tied a game against UND in the final minute and then won in overtime … Michigan State did it in the 1979 game, tying it 4-4 with :12 seconds left and then winning 5-4 in overtime …

~scoring for the Sioux in their 3-2 loss to Michigan Tech were forwards Brad Miller (Jr., Alpharetta, GA) and Matt Frattin (Fr., Edmonton, AB), who each also assisted on the other’s goal … on Sunday, Shelast gave Michigan Tech a 1-0 lead, but Oshie scored his second and third goals of the series to lift the Sioux to the win … Oshie now has a team-best 17 goals on the season, one more than Kozek …

~Oshie’s game-winner was the 16th of his career, moving him all alone into second place on the all-time school list, two behind school record holder Mark Taylor (1976-80).

4 comments:

  1. Think there is a typo in here somewhere...

    UND is 13-8 in its previous 11 appearances at the Final Five

    Some good information, but have we gotten a prediction from the Goon yet?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't really have a prediction other than Minnesota won't win another game this season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will have one in the next couple of days though... i got our cell phone number in my cell now.
    Your in 115 and we are in 113.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since Bemidji's season is over, I will have to root for the other Green and White team while at the X this weekend! Club level, here I come!

    Also, not an early departure, but BSU's goalie Matt Climie signed with Dallas and has been assigned to the AHL's Iowa Stars.

    ReplyDelete