2013-14 Atlantic Hockey Pre-Season Poll

I know this is late, I forgot to put this up. Niagara was picked to finish first in the AHA this season by the AHA's coaches. Niagara lost to UND in the first round of the 2013 NCAA West Regional that was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

UND’s Hakstol: “regionals pinnacle of our season and should be played in a great atmosphere.”

und v. usa (Photo credit: intersubjectiv)

This past weekend, UND played in the NCAAWest Regional tourney in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you watched the games you will see that the games were sparsely attended,just like I had predicted.

So the NCAA wants the teams to play in empty arena’s posing as quite mausoleums during prayer time.

Come to think of it, I have probably been to churches that are louder than last week’s West and Midwest regionals.

The announced attendance for Friday’s game between Niagara and UND was 2289 and for Saturday’s game, the announced attendance was 1918 fans.

Seriously!

If mathematically challenged, that’s a grand total for 4207 fans to see the NCAA West Regional hockey games for the weekend. My words, “that’s pathetic.” The NCAA should be ashamed. There are high school hockey tourneys in North Dakota that have more people attend them then this regional.

Today was the last press conference of the year for UND hockey head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about his thought on the NCAA tourney being played in building with atmospheres like last weekend’s regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan?

“The pinnacle of our season should be played in a great atmosphere,” Hakstol said. “I think the players that are involved in the national tournament deserve that. “I think It’s something that has garnered a fair amount of discussion over the last couple of year, but no action.” We have to fix things. We’re not doing this the right way at the regional level – to play in front of… I saw a stat within out program we had 5500 people on a live chat, and there was maybe 1500 people in a building watching a great hockey game between Yale and North Dakota on Saturday night. That’s not right. That’s the pinnacle and that’s the spotlight of our season. Yeah, we have to change things. Certainly, I would like to work towards doing that, sooner, rather than later. The best regionals that I have been involved in, that I can remember, atmosphere wise, was here, in 05-06, where we hosted, competitive environment. The regional in Minnesota; last year at the Xcel Energy Center; in front of 10,000 people, we came up one game short. Great atmosphere to play in, spotlight event, the way the national tournament game should feel. Third one would have been; at the Kohl Center, where the University of Wisconsin hosted. We had the good fortune of coming out of that regional. That was a tough game, there was about 15,000 people cheering against us and 1,000 of our fans with us, but that was atmosphere, and that’s the stage that our national tournament should be played on, we need to get back to one shape or form. “

It’s pretty clear that the UND’s head coach would rather play in a raucous, loud arena filled with passionate fans, even if they’re another fan bases’  than an empty arena, in a nameless town with empty seats posing as fans for the sake of having a regional championship at a neutral site, in an empty building on Saturday in March.  I agree.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers-Combine.

(Video) UND's No goal against Yale

When I first saw this goal, I had a feeling that it wouldn't count. I am not sure why it took seven-plus minutes to review this play, it's either there or it's not there. If you're a UND fan, you kind of feel bad for Connor Gaarder, because he went 15 games without scoring a goal and had four goals all season long, three in one game against the Boston University Terriers.

I would contend that this long review was a momentum killer, because going into the review, UND had the momentum as well.

When the review took seven-plus minutes, I had a bad feeling and I kind of knew that UND was not going to get the goal. I don't know, from past experience. If UND get's to a 2-0 lead over Yale, it's a different game. It's a tough ending to a pretty decent season.

A few things.... NCAA Hockey

Question for UND fans. If you had to choose someone OTHER than North Dakota to win the national title this year, who would it be? Why?
— Sioux Tradition (@SiouxTradition) March 28, 2013

Chad from a Tradition of Execellence posted this question on Twitter and this was my answer.

@siouxtradition NO ONE!!! :)
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) March 29, 2013

Here is the link to the WDAZ Story on the UND trip the Grand Rapids. Corey from WDAZ will be with the team as they play in the Regional

UND Ready for West Regional after WCHA Final Five Loss to CC | WDAZ | Grand Forks, ND shar.es/dpC6b via @sharethis
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) March 29, 2013

Another Epic Fail, this time by the Niagara University SID office. It's really not all that hard, A simple search on www.google.com could have cleared this up. I am also sure that SID from UND Jayson Hajdu could have answered any questions that the SID Niagara could have had, as well.

For the geographically challenged, NDSU is in Fargo, ND and doesn't have Division I college hockey. UND is Grand Forks, ND and is the seven time NCAA Division I Champion. NDSU is a football school, UND is a hockey school and an up an coming school in FCS football.

A quick flight to Grand Rapids.Check out Niagara game notes.Sioux logos and "North Dakota State University" twitter.com/Hamsbrew/statu…
— Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 27, 2013