NCHC Hockey: Going down to the Wire

North Dakota	NoDak	42	22	14	8	0	0	0.636	73	61	32	19	10	3	0.641	101	84
St. Cloud State	SCSU	42	22	13	6	3	0	0.659	76	59	32	19	8	5	0.672	114	86
Nebraska Omaha	UNO	39	22	12	8	2	1	0.591	76	60	32	15	15	2	0.500	106	101
Minnesota Duluth	UMD	34	22	10	10	2	2	0.500	60	64	32	15	13	4	0.531	90	91
Western Michigan	WMU	34	22	10	10	2	2	0.500	64	66	34	16	13	5	0.544	91	89
Denver	DU	32	22	9	10	3	2	0.477	54	54	34	15	13	6	0.529	86	77
Colorado College	CC	24	22	6	11	5	1	0.386	47	64	32	6	20	6	0.281	61	100
Miami	MIAMI	17	22	5	16	1	1	0.250	52	74	32	11	18	3	0.391	92	98

 I guess we should take a look at the standings. This is definitely going down to the wire this season. Three teams (UND, SCSU, UNO) have a chance to finish first overall. Tiger’s beat writer Joe Pasiley has the procedures for breaking ties on his blog. This is what happens if teams tie in standings of the NCHC. So, if UND and SCSU win out, UND gets the tie breaker.

1. The team with the greater number of NCHC regular-season wins shall be the higher seed.

2. Head-to-head competition. Among the teams tied in the standings, the team with the highest winning percentage will be the higher seed.

3. Goal differential: Total goals for and against in contests between the teams tied in the standings.
4. Winning percentage of the teams tied in the standings against the remaining NCHC teams, starting at the top of the standings and working toward the bottom until the tie is broken.

5. Coin flip.

 

Live thoughts from Omaha (RW77)

Hello everyone from the land of Corn.

Goon asked me to give my thoughts on the weekend since I went to both games and live in the great city of Omaha, NE.  What I saw was a mixed bag, but I assure you (since the haters are out in force) that what I'm about to relate is PURELY my opinion and my opinion alone.

The Venue and Atmosphere

If you live in Omaha, you get to see two venues for hockey:  CenturyLink for Mavs hockey and the Ralston Arena for Lancers (USHL) hockey.  CenturyLink is older than Ralston Arena.  CenturyLink is a better environment to watch hockey.  Sure, Ralston is newer and gets you closer to the ice.  One can argue that there really is no bad seat in the Ralston Arena.  But go to a Lancers game and you have an arena full of cow bells and vuvuzelas and NO ONE who has them knows when to silence them!  Not so at the CenturyLink.  I enjoy my time at the CenturyLink Center.  Great atmosphere and fun to watch hockey when you don't have endless noise flowing into your ear.

It seemed more crowded Saturday than Sunday.  Unfortunately, those who didn't come on Sunday missed a far better game (even if I say that knowing UND won).

The Goaltending

I have honestly NO IDEA what got into Gothberg Saturday.  No idea at all.  He was BRUTAL.  He reminded me of his first game as a freshman.  BIG rebound cost him the first goal and the other two was so fundamentally poor hockey play that I was honestly stunned Hakstol didn't pull him.  The second goal itself was one that I think even I could have stopped (and let me tell you, if I can make even ONE save facing DI players, that'd be a miracle!)!  The second one was simply a loss of focus.

Saunders tonight was far better and he had to be.  Why?  Because, in my opinion, UND played far more careless hockey Sunday than they did Saturday.  In the end, Saunders played VERY well and will certainly garner more playing time going forward.  I just wish I knew what the Sam Houston State was going on with Gothberg (and I know what the haters will say.  Too bad I don't care).

Massa for UNO was VERY solid and I'm surprised he didn't play on Sunday.  It turns out it was bad karma because UNO's starter, Thompson, caught the Gothberg bug and gave up two horrific goals (though to be fair the second goal he gave up was simply his defense abandoning him).

Game Play

On Saturday, we looked flat, imo.  We looked especially bad in the first period.  I thought we looked slow, behind the play.  Goon disagrees with me when I say that UNO was clearly the better team and was very solid at even strength.  I truly don't believe Massa was challenged that much.  To my recollection, Massa had to make two great saves and the rest of the night was largely unchallenged.

Let's face it:  I noticed a LOT more defensemen leading the rush on Saturday than on Sunday and ANY time you have a Dman leading the rush into the offensive zone that, to me, speaks VOLUMES about where we are at with our attack.

As for our power play, it still sucks.  IIRC, we only scored 1 goal on the powerplay all weekend.

Our Penalty Kill?  Both of UNO's goals on Sunday came on the Power Play.  Neither goals were weak as far as Saunders is concerned.  The first was where we gave them the center of the ice below the faceoff circles and the second was where we forgot about a man (Archibald) and gave him the center ice below the faceoff circles.  Imagine that.  They scored on both times.

Sunday was a FAR more entertaining game.  UND had to kill off 1:45 of a 5 on 3 PowerPlay after Grimaldi took a stupid penalty... I'd argue that Panzarella's penalty was also stupid.  It also had what had to be the most tense final 2 minutes of the game I've witnessed in quite some time.

The Officiating

I always get a different opinion of the officiating when I view it live at the arena rather than on TV or webcast.  I didn't think the officials were that bad.  I'm a bit baffled as to why UNO came away with a powerplay with 1:10 left in Sunday's game.  Pattyn and UNO #13 clearly deserved penalties.  So did UND's second of the altercation.  But I thought the other UNO participant should've gone as well.

Players that stood out or I thought would stand out:

Archibald (UNO):  I think he was one of the best players for UNO on Sunday.  I'm still a bit confused as to why he wasn't ejected on Saturday though.  He had a ton of energy and he reminded me at times of Mike Prpich.

Grimaldi (UND):  Boy, UNO fans don't like him.  UNO was trying to run him all game long on Sunday and Brady (UNO) nearly took himself off the ice with an injury because of it.  In the end, Grimaldi ended up being a sort of agitator... a role I didn't know Grimaldi was supposed to serve with UND.

Walters (UNO):  Ok, he factored in on one of the goals on Sunday but I didn't notice him much at all this weekend. 

The MacMillans (UND):  Neither stood out to me.... at all.

Caggiula (UND):  I liked the way he played.  Drake and Rodwell impressed me with their aptness to crash the net.

Ladue (UND):  I'll always be a fan of Dmen that aren't afraid to shoot the puck, especially on the PowerPlay.  It started with Nick Fuher and it continues with Paul LaDue.  I LOVE IT when he shoots the puck.

Overall impressions of the Sioux:

We have a ways to go.  With the NCHC being like it is, though, I'm not sure how it is going to work out.  I'm not sure what to expect going forward.  I always hope for the best.  The tools are there.  How fast they mature and get into their stride is unknown.  It's going to be one helluva ride.  The fun times and the haters will make the season an interesting one for sure.

My player of the weekend is Drake Caggiula.  He was noticeable on both games.

(Video) UNO's new multi-purpose arena

Here's the video of UNO's new multi-purpose arena that will be used for hockey, basketball and volleyball. I have to wonder what the ice conditions will be like in a multi-purpose arena? This is one of the reasons that I like the REA, it's for the most part used solely for the UND men and women's hockey team. It's obviously going to be a very nice hockey arena.

UNO's Andrej Sustr to leave UNO

No surprise, but Andrej Sustr, 6-foot-8 Univ of Nebraska-Omaha junior dman (UFA), has officially decided to leave school/field NHL offers.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 18, 2013

This probably really isn't really a shock to anyone, Andrej Sustr is a free agent that will probably get a lot of offers from teams looking to add a defenseman.

Sustr kind of reminds me of a raw version of Zdeno Chara and from what I saw, he isn't too bad with the puck and didn't make a lot of mistakes.

Apparently, the Flyers are after him.

This is a toughest part of the college hockey season, the end of the year. Fans have to worry if their favorite players are a fight risks to leave early. Obviously, there will be other players that will begin to start weighing their options as their seasons end.

UNO's college season ended on the weekend. Sustr will weigh his options, and he has many, this week. No rush or timetable on a decision.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 18, 2013

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Ready… Get Set… GO…  And they’re off.

The good news, the regular season is starting, the bad news, there is the last season of the WCHA as we know it.  This is it.  Everyone has a chance to start their run to capture the big, shiny, MacNaughton Cup.

I hope everyone enjoyed the extremely hot and dry summer we had in the northern Great Plains.  I hope you are as anxious as I am for college hockey to get underway.  I try to improve my prognostication skills this season as it is the last WCHA season for many of the current teams.  Hopefully, you will enjoy reading my weakly (get it) attempts to make some type of educated guess as to who will win their games each week.

Just so we are all on the same page, here is a little refresher of how things ended last season…

WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2011-2012

Team………………………W-L-T………Points

1. Minnesota………………20-8-0…..…….40
2. Minnesota-Duluth……..16-7-5….……..37
3. Denver…………..………16-8-4………...36
4. North Dakota.……….….16-11-1….……33
5. Colorado College ……..15-12-1……….31
6. St. Cloud St……………. 12-12-4………28
7. Nebraska-Omaha………11-12-5……....27
8. Michigan Tech………….11-13-4………26
9. Bemidji State……..……..11-14-3.……...25
10. Wisconsin…....……….11-15-2...…..…24
11. Minnesota State……..…8-18-2...……..18
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....5-22-1………..11

2012 final 5 in St. Paul – recap

The Final 5 in St. Paul featured MTU, SCSU, UND, DU, UMD, and UM. 

The WCHA tournament went like this – Thursday, DU defeated MTU 3-2 in OT, and UND defeated SCSU 4-1 – Friday DU beat UMD 4-3 in a 2-ot thriller, and UND defeat UM in an exciting 6-3 comeback win – Saturday UND defeated DU 4-0, to claim their 3^rd consecutive Broadmoor Trophy.

This season the WCHA starts out with 5 teams ranked in the USCHO poll:

#2 – Minnesota

#4 – North Dakota
#8 – Denver
#12 – Minnesota-Duluth
#18 – Wisconsin
#20 – Colorado College

Exhibition Games   -   Saturday Oct. 6^th  

British Columbia @ Denver

I don’t know much about the guys from UBC, but they are from Canada so they should be a good team.  So I did some looking up on UBC, they are located in Vancouver, established in 1908, have 37,000 undergrads, 9,000 grad students, and they are nicknamed the Thunderbirds.  Since this is an exhibition game I’m sure DU will be playing some of the starters but will also be giving everyone some ice time.  I’m going with the WCHA to start the season and pick the Pioneers to win their first unofficial game of the year.

Brock @ Michigan Tech

Brock?  Who are they?  I had to look these guys up.  Okay here is the info; they are located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (close to Niagara Falls or just north-northwest of Buffalo, New York).  The University opened its doors in 1964, and is named for General Isaac Brock, who died in the War of 1812.  BU has a student body of approx. 17,000. And we all the 411 on Michigan Tech, so I’ll just move on.  Since I don’t know anything about BU, I’m going to pick the Huskies to win over the visiting Brock Badgers.

Regina @ Alaska-Anchorage

Ah Regina, the city that rhymes with fun!  I’ve never been to Saskatchewan, but someday I’ll get there.  They are still a long way from Anchorage, but I’m sure the flight isn’t that bad…  I’m going say the Cougars will blend into the UAA crowd, since their school colors are green/yellow/white.  I’m once again going with the home team Seawolves win.

Lethbridge @ Minnesota

I’ve actually been through Lethbridge!  It is a nice city in the southern part of Alberta, the Oldman river gorge on the west/middle side of town has spectacular views.  I also like their nickname, the Pronghorns (I think UND should be the Antelope or Pronghorns, just my two cents worth.)  UL has appox. 8,000 students and was founded in 1967, and their school colors are blue and gold.  The Gophers should be able to put goals on the board this year, so look for them to “unofficial” open the season with a win.

Manitoba @ North Dakota

The Bisons make their, what seems to be, annual trip to Grand Forks.  They didn’t play last year, but did in October 2010 with the Sioux winning that game 5-2.  I’m going to go with ND to win this game, I also expect to see a few guys playing goalie for ND in this exhibition game.

US U-18 @ Wisconsin

The U-18 team is usually full of talented young hockey players and can give teams older than them problems.  But the Badgers are always stingy on the defensive end of things, so look for them to frustrate the U-18 team.  Badgers win.

Exhibition Games   -   Sunday Oct. 7^th  

Manitoba @ Bemidji State

The Bisons head over to Bemidji, nice 120 mile drive on US-2, after playing in Grand Forks that night before.  This will be a good tune up game for the Beavers to unofficial start the season.  I’m going with Beavers in a squeaker of a game.

British Columbia @ Colorado College
The Thunderbirds head south for Colorado Springs after playing in Denver the previous evening.  The Tigers will have to be ready to since UBC will have played the night before.  I’m going with the Tigers in this tilt.  (UBC also plays Air Force on Monday night.)

Lethbridge @ Minnesota State

This will be the Pronghorns second game in two days, or the middle game of their 3 game road trip to the States.  I’m going with the visitors in this match-up, I just have a feeling that the Mavericks will be trying out their new players and coaching system.

Exhibition Games   -   Monday Oct. 8^th  

Lethbridge @ Nebraska-Omaha

Third game in three days for UL, I’m thinking they might run out of gas in the match-up.  Mavericks win their first exhibition game of the year.

Non Conference Games   -   Thursday Oct. 11^th  

Michigan Tech @ Lake Superior State

This will be the official first game for the Huskies as the face off against another Upper Peninsula team.  Huskies win.