There has been a lot of scuttle butt on the blogs and message boards about how UND not winning the NCAA title makes this season a bust or a lost season. I saw where some troll put that UND just finished one of the biggest choke jobs of all time. This is probably a fan of a team that hasn’t played in almost a month already, this is the same team that’s fan base is hoping their schools athletic director fires head hockey coach. But I digress.
I do think it’s disappointing that the Fighting Sioux didn’t win the NCAA title this season especially when they were built to run deep into the NCAA tourney. As we found out once again, the best team doesn’t always win the NCAA title, this was proven in 1997 and again this season as well.
You can expect the unexpected to happen in the NCAA tourney as well. Just ask Miami fans whose team who looked like they were well on their way to winning their first NCAA title, lost the game after having a two goal lead only to watch lead evaporate in 42 seconds in the final minute of the third period. The Terriers then won the game in overtime off a screened goalie/deflection. What do you do? In a one and done tourney you are more apt to see the unexpected happen then if the teams played 5-7 game series where mistakes wouldn’t be as magnified.
Here is the 64,000.00 question; was 2010-2011 a successful season?
In my opinion I think this season has to be looked at as being a success, while some will say it wasn’t the Fighting Sioux came within a game of winning the Triple Crown (Broadmoor trophy, Macnaughton cup and NCAA title). The Dave Hakstol haters will want Hak removed from his position as the head coach of the Fighting Sioux but I think that opinion is short sighted, UND went 32-9-3 and 21-6-1 in the WCHA also they finished second in the nation with goals scored at 4.05 and finished third in the nation in team defense with 2.14. The two teams that finished ahead of the Fighting Sioux were ECAC teams so they might actually have been the best defensive team in the nation this season. The Sioux have been to the NCAA Frozen Four five out of the seven seasons that he has been the coach of the team… That means his teams have finished at least third four times and was the runner up in his first season. That is a huge accomplishment, but I am interested in what the fans think.
