OHL over reacts.

I believe the OHL has over reacted. The league has decided that if you take your helmet off before or during a fight you will be suspended for a game. I think it is a stupid rule. Fighting is a part of hockey. This rule isn't going to stop guys from ripping their opponents helmet off.

OHL bans helmet removal in fighting
TORONTO (CP) -- The Ontario Hockey League has instituted a game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension for players who remove their helmets or undo their chinstraps before or during fights.

The OHL, one of Canada's three top juniors leagues, previously fined a team $100 when a player took off his helmet to fight.

But when 21-year-old senior league defenseman Don Sanderson died Jan. 2 after striking his head on the ice during an on-ice fight, OHL commissioner David Branch said his league had to look at stiffer sanctions.

Sanderson played for of the Whitby Dunlops, who are a senior men's AAA league and not part of the OHL.

"I would suggest to you the fine isn't working. It's not enough of a deterrent," Branch said then. "The issue of removal of helmets for the purpose of fighting is something we must address in a much stronger fashion."

Also under the new rules, if a player removes his helmet and releases his chinstrap to fight and the opposing player doesn't, the former gets an additional two-minute minor penalty in addition to the game misconduct and game suspension.

Sister kissing in Duluth: Sioux 2 Dogs 2

They say that ties in hockey feel like kissing your sister, I have no idea about that, however, 65 minutes of hockey solved nothing and both teams skated off the ice still tied. While this game ended in a tie, it had to be the better games that I have seen so far this season. End to end action and a lot of hard hitting.

Ties are worth one point and a lot of WCHA fans are cool with this result, however, this game would have been a perfect game to end with a shootout (they are measuring the ropes folks, I wonder if they can find a tree big enough). If this had been a CCHA game, it would have ended in a shootout. Both teams still would have gotten one point with the winner getting an additional point. While the shootout win would counted in the league standings, the shootout loss would have counted as a tie in the RPI/PWR rankings. No harm, no fowl; right?

The stars of the game in my opinion were the two goalies Brad Eidsness and Alex Stalock, both goalies played really well and held their teams in the game. I have said before Alex Stalock is a great goalie that doesn’t get as much love as he should when the end of the season awards are handed out.

For the people that are still hacking on Eidsness and saying he isn't very good, or he isn't as good as Phil Lamoureux; here are some stats for you. Sioux rookie goalie Brad Eidsness is 4-3-1 his goal against 2.83 with save percentage .902. Yet there are still people that want to see Aaron Walski play for the Sioux. When you goalie's save percentage is over .900 you have a good chance of winning. Eidsness is getting it going, have faith.

The Refs in the WCHA suck

While both team played well and should be commended for their play, the refs Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd were God Awful. The refs called a whooping 29 penalties during last nights game. The funny thing is that the refs actually missed quite a few calls as well they made up a few calls as well. In my opinion Derek Shepherd shouldn’t be allowed to ref squirts, peewees or bantam games.

The leadership in this league is trying to apply the new rules (which are the old rules they refused to enforce in years past) to the WCHA play while using the same horrible officials, this is a combination for disaster. Isn't cronyism and nepotism great?

Someone needs send these clowns/moron to hockey officiating school, the refs in the MSHL are better than these guys. Checking someone face first into the boards is checking from behind, it is the same penalty in the first period as it is in the third period or over-time. If charging is a penalty for one team, then it should be a penalty for the other team.

I have read other fans around the league complain about the officiating in this league I am not going to fault you, because you are watching the same crappy officiating that I am watching. THE REFS SUCK IN THE WCHA AND THE FANS AND PLAYERS OF BOTH TEAMS DESERVE BETTER. Enough is enough.

Hextall for Hobey

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but I really like watching Brett Hextall. The fresman forward has points in five straight games (4-2-6) this kid is really a gamer and is quickly becoming a fan favorite. What I like about Brett Hextall is tough and he gets into the places you need to be to score gritty dirty goals. Pound for pound he is one of the toughest players on the ice.

Jason Gregoire impresses

Freshman Jason Gregoire has points in 6 of 8 games (4-2-6) and is starting to give Sioux fans a glimpse on why we should be excited about him being here. I think it is just a matter of time before we see a Gregoire break out.


Goals Scoring/Penalties Time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK-1 Brad Miller (2-Slashing) MND 0x1 3:07
MND-1 Michael Gergen (2-Interference) NDK 1x1 4:43
MND-2 Trent Palm (2-Holding) NDK 1x2 4:43
NDK 1 - 0 6x4 PP Matt Frattin (2) (Ryan Duncan, Chay Genoway) 6:39
NDK: 21,16,6,19,25,G31 MND: 24,17,16,G32
MND-3 Andrew Carroll (2-Hooking) NDK 1x3 7:07
NDK-2 Brett Hextall (2-Charging) MND 1x2 9:11
MND 1 - 1 6x5 PP MacGregor Sharp (6) (Justin Fontaine, Josh Meyers) 9:17
MND: 18,37,17,22,4,G32 NDK: 6,20,11,3,G31
MND-4 Jay Cascalenda (2-Hooking) NDK 1x4 10:38
NDK-3 Brad Malone (2-Elbowing) MND 1x3 14:52
NDK-4 Chris VandeVelde (2-Interference) MND 1x4 15:14

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MND-5 Trent Palm (2-Hooking) NDK 1x5 5:50
NDK-5 Andrew Kozek (2-Elbowing) MND 1x5 9:06
MND-6 Chad Huttel (2-Holding) NDK 1x6 14:31

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK-6 Ben Blood (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-7 Darcy Zajac (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-8 Andrew Kozek (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-9 Matt Watkins (2-Roughing) 1:30
NDK-10 Andrew Kozek (2-Hitting after the Whistle) 1:30
MND-7 Trent Palm (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-8 Drew Akins (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-9 Andrew Carroll (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-10 Matt Greer (2-Roughing) 1:30
MND-11 Matt Greer (2-Tripping) 1:30
MND-12 Travis Oleksuk (2-Slashing) NDK 2x7 2:53
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP Jason Gregoire (4) (Brett Hextall, Chay Genoway) 4:26
NDK: 17,26,5,16,14,G31 MND: 24,26,19,22,G32
NDK-11 Jake Marto (2-Roughing) 9:46
MND-13 Jack Connolly (5-Checking from Behind) (Served by Travis Oleksuk) NDK 2x8 9:46
MND-14 Jack Connolly (10-Game Misconduct) (Served by Travis Oleksuk) 9:46
NDK-12 Derrick LaPoint (2-Tripping) MND 1x6 10:15
MND-15 Evan Oberg (2-Tripping) NDK 2x9 14:57
NDK-13 Brett Hextall (2-Tripping) MND 1x7 15:49
NDK-14 Chris VandeVelde (2-Tripping) MND 2x8 16:39
Timeout - Minnesota Duluth 17:36
MND 2 - 2 6x5 PP GT Josh Meyers (5) (MacGregor Sharp, Evan Oberg) 18:30
MND: 17,22,18,4,37,G32 NDK: 26,6,3,20,G31

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overtime (5:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game

Duncan named captain of the fighting Sioux

I just saw this over on Brad's Blog first I am surprised that there are 3 players wearing the "A". I was right on my prediction that Duncan and Finley would be wearing letters.

UND just officially announced this season's captains. They are as expected:

C -- Ryan Duncan
A -- Matt Watkins
A -- Joe Finley
A -- Zach Jones

Pacioretty forgoes eligibility and Signs with Montreal Canadiens

Just in hot off the presses from MGOBlue and the blog that Yost Built Super frosh Max Pacioretty has signed a professional contract with Les Habs. This is a big time loss for the Michigan Wolverines. It will be interesting to see what other big signing will happen as the summer progresses to the fall...

MONTREAL -- Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced Thursday the signing of forward Max Pacioretty to a three-year contract (2008-09 to 2010-11). As per club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Max Pacioretty is a young player with a lot of skills who has the potential to play in the NHL. We are very happy to have him under contract for years to come. We feel he is ready to make the jump to professional hockey, and we will make sure to provide him with all the resources which will benefit his long-term development as a player,’’ said Bob Gainey.

Pacioretty, a native of New Canaan, Connecticut, completed in 2007-08 his freshman season in the NCAA with the University of Michigan Wolverines of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The 19-year-old ranked fourth in scoring with the Wolverines with 39 points in 37 games (15 goals, 24 assists), posting a plus-31 rating along with 59 penalty minutes.

Pacioretty (6’02’’, 199 lbs) finished second on the team in plus-minus (+31) and powerplay goals (9). He also scored three game-winning goals and registered 109 shots on goal. The left winger was named the CCHA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the College Hockey News All-Rookie team and the CCHA All-Rookie team. He finished fifth in U.S. college hockey among rookies in points (39) and points per game (1.05). He was also Recipient of the Mickey and Wally Grant Scholarship for Men's Ice Hockey.

Pacioretty was a member of the US National team which finished fourth at the 2008 World Junior Championship presented in Czech Republic.

At the junior level, Pacioretty played two seasons with the United States Hockey League's Sioux City Musketeers from 2004 to 2006. In his second season, he scored 21 goals and 42 assists for 63 points in 60 games, which awarded him the USHL Rookie of the Year honours and a selection to the USHL All-Rookie team.

Max Pacioretty was a Canadiens’ first-round selection, 22nd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Versus looking into Puck tracking

I saw this story over on the center ice blog. All I can say NOOOOOOOO. I am going to be very unhappy if they go to a versus version of the fox glow puck. The Fox glow puck was a joke and should not be replicated. I have seen the argument that some of the newer fans to the game can't track the puck and it makes it difficult for them to follow the game. I would rather not compromise the integrity of the game just to please a few novice fans or to attract a few more. Hockey is a regional/niche sport and I don't want it to become a side show just to get more viewers.

Versus might take shot at puck tracking for NHL telecasts
By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
The NHL and cable TV partner Versus are talking about introducing "puck-tracking" technology as early as the 2008-09 season, executives from the network and the league told USA TODAY.

Tracking would make it easier for TV viewers to follow the fast-moving puck. But the idea brought back memories of Fox's "glowing puck" experiment from 1996-98. It got mixed reviews, with some players and coaches complaining the internal electronics of the "FoxTrax" puck made it play differently. When ABC picked up the NHL's broadcast rights in 1998, the idea was junked.

Marty Ehrlich, executive producer at Versus, has been pushing for a new puck-tracking system with NHL executives. If Versus gets the OK, it would test puck tracking on its studio show before trying it during a game, he says. There would not be any computer chips embedded in pucks, at least at first.

"We're looking to track the evolution of a play," says Ehrlich. While puck tracking is on his "wish list," he admits it's still a "sore subject" with hockey purists. "There's people who looked at it as a great success at Fox. A lot looked at it as a dismal failure."

Marc Fein, Versus' senior vice president of programming, says puck tracking could be a great tool to trace the pinpoint passing of NHL stars. "You could see how they thread the needle," he says. NBC and other networks employ tracking technology to trace the flight of shots on golf telecasts. The Golf Channel, Versus' sister Comcast network, recently won its first Sports Emmy for its AimPoint technology, which predicts the break of a putt, Fein notes.

John Shannon, the NHL's senior vice president of programming, says the league's open to another attempt at puck tracking — as long as it doesn't compromise the integrity of the game. "The one thing you have to admire is Fox's ingenuity at the time. It was great promotion for the game," he says.

The Hockey Chicks cover free agency and the Frozen Four.

This is a must listen to podcast, it's from the Hockey Chicks that aired on 4-14-2008.

The Hockey Chicks had an interesting guest Lewis Mongelluzzo who is a amateur scout from the Ottawa Senators and Lou did a really good job breaking down the NHL free agency, but also the major junior versus college hockey.

Andy Strickland on Oshie

As the silly season continues this is something Sioux fans will have deal with; the loss of their favorite player(s), it has become a yearly right of passage, this year very painful as there could be many defections. I am sure other college hockey fans feel the same way as they hold their breath and hope the NHL doesn't come and take their favorite players. In my opinion T.J. Oshie has been nothing but class since he has been at UND and it will be a sad day for this hockey blogger when Oshie does sign on the dotted line.
Andy Strickland blog article on Oshie

Oshie Will Take His Time Before Making Announcement
Blues super prospect T.J. Oshie has yet to make an official announcement regarding any decision to leave the University of North Dakota and signing an NHL contract.

Word is Oshie could wait until his final exams are completed before he goes public with his decision. UND holds their finals during the first week of May.

Due to NCAA regulations, the Blues are prohibited from directly contacting Oshie.

Oshie will likely start game planning his future with his family advisors sometime next week.

It appears to be pretty much a slam dunk that Oshie will sign with the club who selected him in the first round back in 2005.

Oshie will likely have an opportunity to step right in and be a top six guy for Andy Murray next season. He’s primarily been a centerman his entire life but could be asked to play wing in the NHL.

Oshie arrived at UND a little under the radar with Jonathan Toews, Brian Lee, and Taylor Chorney getting most of the attention.

That will be far from the case when he joins the Blues. Fans know who this kid is and have been patiently waiting for his arrival.

Here is some other stuff that is related to the Fighting Sioux players that might also be leaving.

The Fighting Sioux could also lose Capitals first round pick Joe Finley, Oilers second rounder Taylor Chorney, and last season’s Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan.

Duncan, whose saw his production take a dip from 31 goals a year ago to 18 this season with the absence of Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews, was never drafted. He did participate in the Blues development camp last summer and he and his father have a relationship with St. Louis Head Coach Andy Murray.

With that being said I’m not certain the Blues are sold on signing Duncan.

The Blues will likely ask Oshie to spend several weeks in St. Louis after he signs to familiarize himself with the Blues off-ice program.

The NHL develops the Avery rule

Seems that the National Hockey League felt Rangers tough guy Sean Avery stepped over the line last night.

INTERPRETATION OF RULE 75 – UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT

NEW YORK/TORONTO (April 14, 2008) -- National Hockey League Senior
Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell today issued the following advisory on the interpretation of Rule 75 - Unsportsmanlike Conduct: "An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

The lone Bright spot from the Frozen Four.

This is one of the few bright spots from the Frozen Four for North Dakota. Jake Marto gave us a few glimpses of what we can expect in the future. Jake Marto the 2005 North Dakota Mr Hockey was a game breaker on the blue line when he played at Central high school, we are starting to see that same person in college with the Fighting Sioux.

Linkorama: Articles on the Eagles and the Frozen Four.

Here is an interesting discussion from B.C. Interruption I must say that I am nervous as well. One might say that it is hard to concentrate at work today. I am hoping that the third time is a charm against the Eagles. It would be interesting if the Fighting Sioux and the Fighting Irish both advance to the Frozen Four Finals the battle of the....

Last one, Toss Up - Who ya got? BC - North Dakota, and Michigan - Notre Dame?

Brian: I am nervous about the Eagles matchup tomorrow. It's REALLY hard to beat a team 3 years in a row in the national semifinals, but I'm going to go with my heart here and say that the Eagles keep things rolling. For the other matchup, again it's really difficult to beat a team 3 times in the same season ... ask this year's version of the Dallas Cowboys. I'm going to go the other way on this. I'm going with Notre Dame with the major upset, if only because Notre Dame survived the West regional of death, and Michigan had, by far, the easiest road to the Frozen Four. All Catholic final, let's do this.

Jeff: Notre Dame beat New Hampshire easily and then went on to beat Michigan State in this tournament. I don't know a lot about hockey but I know UNH had a good season so Notre Dame is clearly playing well and I give them the edge. Michigan expects to win and therefore has pressure, ND has no pressure on them to win. In the important matchup, I'm going with BC, obviously. What difference does it make that we've beat North Dakota the last two years? 3 times in one year might be a big deal but 3 times in 3 years ... no big deal. In 2001 North Dakota scored two late goals to force OT but then somehow BC regained composure and won the game. If BC could beat them under those circumstances I certainly expect them to win before the game starts tomorrow!

Foggy Notion: Eagles and Sioux destined to meet again.

Eagles confident they'll measure up

B.C.'s Muse plays like seasoned veteran

No stopping him: Irish's Pearce always wanted to be a goalie

Julie Robenhymer on the NCAA Hockey Tourney.

Check out what Julie Robenhymer had to say on the NCAA hockey tourney. In case you are wondering who Julie Robenhymer is? Jules was named Miss New Jersey 2005, but she also does a pretty good job covering hockey...

The Midwest – Madison, WI
First Round
Princeton 1 North Dakota 5
TJ Oshie, 2007 Hobey Baker Winner Ryan Duncan, Taylor Chorney and Joe Finley - otherwise known as the team leaders of the Fighting Sioux - decided not to follow former teammate Jonathan Towes to the NHL figuring if enough of them decided to stay, this year could be special. ECAC Champions, the Princeton Tigers sounded like Academy Award nominees – we’re just happy to be here, blah, blah, blah. North Dakota in a roll right? Well yes, but not really…They might have won by four goals, but don’t let that lopsided score fool you – two of them were empty netters and the other three were on the man advantage. Princeton took it to the Fighting Sioux going step for step, playing physical and getting offensive opportunities the entire game, they just couldn’t solve NoDak’s goalie Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux.

Sidenote – Duncan , who scored his first career hat trick during this game, is an undrafted free-agent, but did participate in the Blues Prospect camp this past summer…will he jump to the NHL after this season?
Sidenote #2 – Ivy League athletes literally blow my mind…Princeton’s captain, Landis Stankievech, studies mechanical and areospace engineering and was named ECAC Student Athlete of the Year. I dated an engineer once and he practically lived at the lab…this guy’s ability to play D-I hockey and study what he does – at Princeton, no less – and be good at both, shows his commitment to success. He’s a rockstar in my book!

Make that 2-24-0 after this game.

Second Round
Wisconsin 2 North Dakota 3 OT
This was the last game of the weekend and what a game it was! The Badgers fed of their home crowd and absolutely dominated the first period peppering Lamoureux with 17 shots after one and 30 after two. It was fast paced and physical and the larger ice surface allowed the guys to use the open spaces and get the transition game going creating end to end rushes. Wisconsin led after two with North Dakota holding a 1-24-0 record in such situations, but North Dakota’s leaders stepped up as Kaip, their captain scores from the slot on a hard fought goal and Duncan ties it up from a ridiculous drop pass from Oshie a minute later. The highlight reel move completely sucked the energy out of the building and silenced the sea of red 18,000 strong who stood for most of the game in anxious anticipation. The Badgers nearly pulled off the upset, but Andrew Kozek scored as he was knocked off his skates less than two minutes into the extra session to send the Fighting Sioux to the Frozen Four for the fourth straight year.

Kozy's goal send UND to Denver.

I could watch this video all day and it wouldn't get old. At the beginning of the season I thought Andrew Kozek had the potential score 20 goals, I guess I wasn't too far off on his goal total. I suppose Andrew Kozek is going to have to score a couple more of those highlite reel goals during the Frozen Four because he is currently sitting at 18 goals on the season and surpassed his career total of 12 goals his first two seasons. The kid has a quick release and has been working on getting his shots off faster all season long.

Sioux fans are spoiled?

I think as Sioux fans sometimes we take for granted that our team is going to be there in the playoffs year after year. Four Frozen Fours in four years, that is unprecidented. Michigan hasn't been to the Frozen Four since 2003. Maybe we don't realize how good we have it as Sioux hockey fans. I think it makes living up here in the frozen tundra more tolerable.

Fighting Sioux 5, Princeton 1

Photo by Tim Brule
The Fighting Sioux may not played their "A" game today but it was good enough to beat the scrappy upstart Princeton Tigers 5-1. The Fighting Sioux received a strong effort in goal from Hobey Baker candidate Jean-Philippe Lamoureux as he stop 38 of 39shots; many of theses shots were grade "A" scoring opportunities. For the game Princeton (21-14) outshot No. 1 seed North Dakota 39-18. The Sioux can not let that happen tomorrow if UND is to win the regional championship.

Last years Hobey Baker winner comes through

Ryan Duncan the Hobey Baker winner from last season picked the national stage to have one of his best games of the season as he scored a big hat trick. Also, Sophomore Defenseman Chay Genoway also had a pretty big game as he chipped in a goal and an assist and T.J. Oshie UND’s other Hobey Baker candidate chipped in two assists as the Sioux scrapped and clawed their way to hard fought 5-1 victory...


The latest remark from Bob Norton

I wonder if there comes a time when maybe ESPN/ESPNU college hockey analyist Bob Norton should hang up the skates and find something else to do. Norton's hockey east/east coast bias was showing it's true colors today when he said; that the Fighting Sioux got all of the breaks from officials and scored big goals on the power play. Come on Bob! You can not say the officials had a hand in Princeton's loss today.

Box Score

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRN-1 Mark Magnowski (2-Tripping) NDK 1x1 12:11
NDK 1 - 0 6x5 PP LL Andrew Kozek (17) (Chay Genoway, Jake Marto) 13:39
NDK: 10,5,25,14,8,G1 PRN: 10,25,2,15,G32
PRN-2 Taylor Fedun (2-Hooking) NDK 1x2 14:37

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRN-3 Mike Moore (2-Holding) NDK 1x3 14:15
NDK 2 - 0 6x6 GW Ryan Duncan (15) (T.J. Oshie, Matt Watkins) 16:18
NDK (+): 16,7,20,25,28,G1 PRN (-): 25,15,12,2,21,G32
NDK-1 Taylor Chorney (2-Checking from Behind) PRN 0x1 19:25

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRN-4 Brett Wilson (2-Interference) NDK 2x4 6:23
NDK 3 - 0 6x5 PP Ryan Duncan (16) (Ryan Martens, Chay Genoway) 8:13
NDK: 16,8,5,20,25,G1 PRN: 17,19,4,21,G32
PRN-5 Kevin Kaiser (2-Slashing) 13:54
NDK-2 Chay Genoway (2-HITTING AFTER WHISTLE) 13:54
NDK 4 - 0 5x5 EN HT Ryan Duncan (17) (T.J. Oshie) 14:48
NDK (+): 16,7,2,4,G1 PRN (-): 16,21,27,6,4
NDK-3 Matt Frattin (2-CTH ROUGHING) PRN 0x2 16:19
NDK 5 - 0 5x6 SH EN Chay Genoway (8) (unassisted) 16:28
NDK (+): 5,16,2,7,G1 PRN (-): 4,21,22,6,16,27
PRN 1 - 5 6x6 Cam MacIntyre (13) (Lee Jubinville) 19:27
PRN (+): 27,6,2,15,16,G32 NDK (-): 4,28,10,8,21,G1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game

Michigan happy to not have to play UND again...

JERRY S. MENDOZA/Associated Press

It sounds like the Michigan Wolverines are relieved they do not have to play UND Fighting Sioux in the first round for a third year in a row. I guess the Wolverines are tired of getting beat by the Fighting Sioux. Honesly; I could have seen Red snapping if the Sioux or the Gophers ended up in the same regional bracket as the Wolverines for third year in a row. It is not impossible for the Wolverines and Sioux to meet, the Sioux could meet the Wolverines if both teams win their next three playoff games.

The Wolverines gathered at Yost Arena on Sunday morning and let out a roar when the East Regional was announced. They were glad to be facing any team other than the North Dakota Fighting Sioux to start the tournament.

"To play Niagara in our first game is great," said senior forward Kevin Porter, "especially having to play North Dakota the past two years. They're going to be a good team, but it's nice not having to play North Dakota the first game." The Wolverines were also happy to avoid playing Wisconsin or Colorado College, lower-seeded teams that are hosting regionals this season.

"You don't want to play a team on their home ice first game, second game, whatever," Porter said. "It's nice we didn't end up in one of those brackets."

Michigan was proclaimed the favorite to win the tournament by analysts Bob Norton and Sean Ritchlin during the NCAA tournament selection show.

The kiss of death from Bob Norton, I wonder if there is any way we can get him to predict that DU is going to win the Midwest regional.

Gorg is whining now...

When your team gets to the NCAA tourney you get who the NCAA hockey tourney committee picks for you, UND has made it through two regions of death with Michigan and Minnesota two years in a row. Not everone is going to be happy with their draws, it is just a fact of life.

I have heard/read no less than about 10 people complain about DU winning the WCHA Final Five and then having to go to Wisconsin to play the BADgers on their home ice. While most of us agree Wisconsin getting in the tourney probably isn't right, it is a travesty actually, that being said the BADgers are not world beaters and couldn't even win a single playoff game and they are 15-16-7, however, listening to the pundants you would have thought that DU just suffered a huge socia injustice and was playing Michigan.

You have to hear Gorg's rant about Denver University having to play in Wisconsin after winning the WCHA playoff title. It is the 3/25 Kevin Gorg podcast.

It is a travesty is that Minnesota State Mankato is not in this tourney and Wisconsin is. The one thing that opened up the committee for some criticism by putting Wisconsin in is a three seed and hosting a regional. The team that really got the shaft other than Minnesota State is Denver; you are going to tell me that Denver wins the WCHA playoffs and they have to play a road game against Wisconsin and if they are fortunate to win they have to play a North Dakota team who is probably the best team in college hokey the last five weeks of the season. This is the same team that they eked out a win against in the conference tournament who is looking for payback the following week, the DU coach can’t be happy right now.

If there is a travesty at all its the fact that the NCAA stuck three WCHA teams in the same regional, that is kind of a thumb in the eye to our league. The bigger travesty is the fact that two of these teams have to play a conference opponent in their first round match up and if you win you more than likely get to play a conference opponent in the second round for the right to go to the frozen four. You know the NCAA doesn't want anymore all WCHA frozen fours.

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).

Wisconsin files an appeal with the WCHA.

Here is an article written by Andy Baggot: The University of Wisconsin has filed a formal appeal with the WCHA

We've not heard the last about that controversial loss the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team suffered over the weekend.

The school took the unusual step of filing an official appeal with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association late Monday afternoon, seeking, at minimum, a review of the procedures and circumstances surrounding a 3-2 loss Friday at Denver.

"I think we have to go through the due process," UW coach Mike Eaves said Monday afternoon during his weekly press conference. "We would not be diligent in not doing that."

UW senior associate athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who accompanied the Badgers on the trip to Denver; UW associate AD Sean Frazier, who oversees men's hockey; UW associate AD Steve Waterfield, who oversees rules compliance; and Linda Baumann, the UW Athletic Board representative to the WCHA, are involved in the process.

According to WCHA bylaws, the school had 48 hours from the end of the series to file an appeal. The league has 36 hours to respond to it.

Here is a response from the WCHA that I find troubling.

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod has not returned multiple phone calls since issuing a three-paragraph statement Saturday acknowledging that a mistake had been made.

Doug Spencer, the WCHA associate director for public relations, said Monday that McLeod was traveling between Nashville, Tenn. — where McLeod was attending the NCAA convention — and his home in Denver. Spencer has worked with the league for 22 years and couldn't recall a step like this being taken by a school.

"We acknowledged our error," he said. "Everybody regrets what happened, but we move forward."

I say we move forward with terminations and letters of reprimand. I think more schools should take this approach, it is the only way that the league will ever fix the problems it has. The WCHA is a first class league with second or third rate on ice officials. This is where I encourage fans to start sending letter to the WCHA League office. Am I the only one that finds this tone and attitude troubling, these problems need to be address then fixed. The league after recognizing that their official has made a mistake should suspended him indefinitely pending an investigation. After that investigation has been conducted, they should force Schmidt to write a formal letter of apology and tender his resignation. Lastly, I hope UND would have the same response if they had a colossal event like this happen to the Fighting Sioux.

This weeks picks

The second half of the season is under way and now it is cruch time for all the teams in the WCHA, there is a lot of team fighting for the top five positions. One could make the argument that each point is very important and there are no longer any throw away games. It will be interesting to see how this race shakes up.

FRIDAY:

Alaska-Anchorage at Colorado College
Minnesota State at Minnesota-Duluth
Wisconsin at Denver
St. Cloud State at Minnesota
Michigan Tech at North Dakota

SATURDAY:

Alaska-Anchorage at Colorado College
Minnesota State at Minnesota-Duluth
Wisconsin at Denver
Minnesota at St. Cloud State
Michigan Tech at North Dakota

Last week 8-2
For the year 67-47

Can someone step up?

I got this picture from The WinTwins blog and this picture really kind of explains the whole team effort of the Fighitng Sioux in the third period; out of place and standing around watching.

If SCSU is the seventh place team in the WCHA the Sioux might be in touble this season, because SCSU really kicked it in during the third period and the Sioux lost another game they were leading in the third period, UNACCEPTABLE...

~Someone needs to take some leadership on this team.

~I am tired of watching veteran players making rookie mistakes.

~I am tired of watching UND loose.

~I am revamping my predictions for this season. Nohthing good is going to happen this season, I just don't see another run to the Frozen Four, cause they suck this season. The Fighting Sioux are a veteran team that looks disinterested in doing anything or playing 60 minutes of hockey. Wear that uniform with pride or go home. If The Fighting Sioux coaching staff can't get their players to beat the league teams how are they going to qualify for the NCAA tourney.

Time for the Second Half of the Season

Now is the time for the Fighting Sioux to step it up and set the tone for the second half of the season if they want get a good seeding for the WCHA playoffs and do anything in the NCAA playoffs. It seems that the Fighting Sioux under Coach Dave Hakstol start slow, almost uninterested, in playing at the beginning of the season. They then peak at the right time just before the playoffs begin and go on a torrid pace. At least that is what has happened the past three seasons; all three seasons have had a familiar ending with UND finishing their season in the Frozen Four minus a NCAA Championship trophy.

This season the expectations were set much higher. During the three previous seasons the Sioux had lost numerous big time hockey players. However, this time the Sioux were relatively unscathed as they had only lost two highly skilled underclassmen and two veteran hockey players to graduation.

That being said, it would seem that the expectation of the Sioux winning some hardware such as a league title and an NCAA title might be the standard of achievement this season, especially with the return of Hobey Baker Memorial award winner Ryan Duncan, T.J. Oshie, Joe Finley and Taylor Chorney.
Here are a few points of interest for this weekend's series.

ALL-TIME SERIES vs. UNH (9-2-2)
12-29-71 (H) UND 9 UNH 3 W
12-30-71 (H) UNH 3 UND 2 L
11-16-84 (A) UND 4 UNH 3 W
11-17-84 (A) UND 11 UNH 0 W
11-8-85 (H) UND 4 UNH 2 W
11-9-85 (H) UND 7 UNH 4 W
11-28-86 (A) UND 10 UNH 0 W
1-17-88 (H) UND 6 UNH 2 W
1-6-89 (A) UND 8 UNH 2 W
11-28-99 (H) UNH 6 UND 2 L
10-6-00 (N) UNH 2 UND 2 OT T
10-21-05 (H) UND 3 UNH 2 W
10-22-05 (H) UND 3 UNH 3 OT T

Series against New Hampshire: North Dakota is 9-2-2 all-time against New Hampshire. The Sioux are 4-0-0 against the Wildcats in Grand Forks, 5-2-1 against UNH in Durham, N.H., and 0-0-1 at neutral sites.

The last time the teams met was in October 2005, when the Wildcats played host to the Fighting Sioux in a two-game series in Durham, N.H. UND won the series opener 3-2 and the teams played to a 3-3 tie the next night.

UNH Wild Cats Roster Break down

Alberta (1): Fornataro- Calgary
Arizona (1): Flaishans- Glendale
British Columbia (1): Switzer-Peachland
California (1): Beck- Long Beach
Florida (1): Vranek- New Port Richey
Illinois (2): Krates-Palos Park, Radja-Yorkville
Maryland (1): Fritsch- Odenton
Massachusetts (6): Butler- Marlboro, Kapstad- Boxboro, Pollastrone- Revere,
Regan- South Boston, Rossman-Boxford, Savard- Framingham
Michigan (1): Dries-Lake Orion
Minnesota (1): Fricke-St. Paul
Missouri (1): Fortney- Webster Groves
New Hampshire (3): Foster-Pembroke, A. Thompson- Gilford, P. Thompson- Derry
New Jersey (1): vanRiemsdyk-Middletown
New York (3): Charlebois- Potsdam, Collins- Fairport, DeSimone- East Amherst
Ontario (1): LeBlanc-Hamilton
Pennsylvania (2): Campanale- Chester Springs, Manz- Wayne
Wisconsin (1): Sislo- Superior

Pretty interesting break down of hockey players from many different places, including a couple that are from south of the Mason Dixion Line.

University of New Hampshire Links for the Series

My Favorite the UNH Hockey blog

University of New Hampshire Media Guide

Chris Heisenberg Unofficial UNH site


You have got to check out this really cool hockey promotion from USA hockey