There is a lot of great breaking hockey news going on today… It’s crunch time and shall we say the dog days of winter in the NHL and NCAA hockey and there are a lot of great story lines developing.
Huskies record post Christmas and what to make of it?
First there is a lot being made of the SCSU Huskies going 7-3-2 since Christmas, what hasn’t been talked about is who the SCSU Huskies have played. The Huskies while having won seven games since Christmas the Huskies have only beaten two hockey teams with a winning record (Miami and UMD) and have gone a lack luster
1-3-2 their last six games. I am not saying the Huskies won't beat the Sioux I am just saying that for the most part the
Huskies wins have come against bad teams.
Story lines for this weekend's games
The Pony Express is delivering big time. Here is what
Brad Schlossman had to say about the all senior line.
UND’s top line of Evan Trupp, Brad Malone and Matt Frattin has a combined 20 points in the last four meetings against St. Cloud State. Prior to Feb. 13, 2010, in St. Cloud, Frattin had 17 goals in 96 career games. On that day, he started a stretch of 33 goals in 44 games.
In the rumor mill department, apparently there is some question on whether Wisconsin Defenseman Jake Gardiner is going to go pro or not after this season. It will be interesting to see how this plays out but I would be willing to bet that we won’t see Jake back at Wisconsin next season. Just a hunch… [
Madison.com]
Over at USCHO our favorite EZAC writer Brian Sullivan has the Sioux in third in his weekly top 20 poll… [
USCHO.COM]
Predictions
Goal Gophers has Chris Miller back with him this week making predictions and I must say that this guy must be a real hoot. I have enjoyed reading Goal Gophers predictions the past few weeks.
Old Charlie. He pretended he was enjoying his stay in the Red River Valley, but you know dang well he was on the next phone screaming at his agent for booking him anywhere north of St. Louis. Roman has established the Sioux (are they still the “Fighting Sioux?”) as the team to beat down the stretch, and who am I to argue? The Huskies will steal one this weekend, though, for a ... Split
Roman: The Sioux have clinched home ice, now they want to win the MacNaughton Cup which goes to the regular-season champion. They have a one point lead, a three-game win streak and a hot, hot player. Jason Gregoire, since returning from an injury, has eight goals and four assists in eight games. No wonder Dave Hakstol said he did backflips when he heard Gregoire was healthy again. The Huskies are coming off an impressive three-point weekend at UMD, but finish with a brutal sked: NoDak, Wisconsin and Denver. The Sioux swept SCSU 3-1, 6-2 at the Ralph earlier. ... UND sweep
USCHO gives us their weekend predictions Let's hope that both writers are wrong in their predictions again this week. Both WCHA writers are predicting a
SPLIT in the series between the Fighting Sioux and the SCSU Huskies.
No. 2 North Dakota (21–8–2, 16–6–0 WCHA) at St. Cloud State (12–14–4, 8–11–3 WCHA)
Theresa: This has developed into a nice little rivalry over the past two years and should prove to be an interesting weekend. Despite injuries, the Sioux have been rolling along just fine (as coach Dave Hakstol has said, they’re not technically short-handed). The Huskies, meanwhile, may have found their stride at the perfect time in the season. I believe home ice is a stretch for them (don’t quote me on that), but, like BSU above, they can make their league positioning a lot more favorable. As a result, I believe we’ll see a split — SCSU Friday, UND Saturday.
Tyler: UND’s key injuries (Genoway and Kristo) make it a little more of an even playing field with the series played in St. Cloud. This is probably the last bump in the road for the Sioux before they end the season with Bemidji State and Michigan Tech. Meanwhile, centers Garrett Roe and Drew LeBlanc are finally making strides for SCSU. Split.
Jess Meyers has a nice story about the Big Ten Hockey Conference and I am sure we will see more of these stories as the calendar turns to the 2012-2013 season. Like I have previously said, I think the Big Ten Hockey Conference is ill conceived and hasn’t been thought out yet and could cause more damage than good for NCAA Hockey.
The Hobey Tracker is up at INCH and not a lot of love for the Western College Hockey players, Western being WCHA hockey players. [
INCH.COM]
Mike Eidelbes from INCH has their yearly 4 X 4 and he is predicting that the Fighting Sioux are going to be in St Louis and with a first round match up against Dartmouth followed by the winner of the UNO and Union game. I guess Mike is assuming that Union would get by UNO, I don't know if I would bet against Dean Blais.
The NCAA purportedly doesn’t care about attendance in favor of “bracket integrity”, but it almost seems like North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha have to end up in St. Louis in order for anyone to show up. The thought of a NoDak-Union regional final is quite appealing.
It looks like the DU Pioneers have decided on their starter in net as freshman Sam Brittain will make his third start for in a row for the DU Pioneers. Last Saturday night DU goalie Sam Brittain was shelled against the Gophers giving up
4 goals on 14 shots.
