Goon's predictions for the Final Five

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I thought I would dust off an old post and see how I did. My prediction unfolded just like I predicted. I would rather be lucky than good. I was also called a homer by one poster. 

Thu 03/15/12 - Quarter Finals
Michigan Tech vs Denver 2:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Quarterfinal (St. Paul, MN)
St. Cloud State vs North Dakota 7:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Quarterfinal (St. Paul, MN)

Fri 03/16/12 - Semi Finals
Denver vs Minnesota Duluth 2:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Semifinal (St. Paul, MN)
North Dakota vs Minnesota 7:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Semifinal (St. Paul, MN)

Sat 03/17/2012 - Championship

DU vs. UND 7:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Semifinal (St. Paul, MN)

Last Week 12-4 Record for the season 154 - 93

Broadmoor Trophy - WCHA Playoff Champions

2000-01 St. Cloud State
2001-02 Denver
2002-03 Minnesota
2003-04 Minnesota
2004-05 Denver
2005-06 North Dakota
2006-07 Minnesota
2007-08 Denver
2008-09 Minnesota Duluth
2009-10 North Dakota
2010-11 North Dakota
2011-12 ?

MacNaughton Cup

2000-01 North Dakota

2001-02 Denver

2002-03 Colorado College

2003-04 North Dakota

2004-05 Colorado College/Denver

2005-06 Minnesota

2006-07 Minnesota

2007-08 Colorado College

2008-09 North Dakota

2009-10 Denver

2010-11 North Dakota

2011-12 Minnesota

Bolded teams won both the MacNaughton and Broadmoor Trophy.

As you can see I have picked the Fighting Sioux to repeat the champions of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five. Before you jump down my throat, read this.

Since Fighting Sioux head coach Dave took over the Fighting Sioux in 2004-05 the Fighting Sioux have gone 38-14 in the playoff s (WCHA and NCAA combined). Coach Hakstol has 13 more wins than the next-closest WCHA School.  Under coach Hakstol, the Fighting Sioux are 16-3 in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The Fighting Sioux have also not lost a WCHA first round playoff series.

Including the WCHA Final Five games, The Fighting Sioux are 27-8 in the WCHA Playoff s under coach Hakstol. Statistics according to @UNDSID.

From 2008-2010 the MacNaughton Cup champion lost all of their games in the NCAA playoffs and all of their games at the Red Baron WCHA Final Five.

Related articles

• The Final Five is set (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND vs. SCSU game notes (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• North Dakota vs. St. Cloud State Final Five (insidehockey.com)
• Sioux slip past Beavers 4-1 (insidehockey.com)

Fox Sports North to Broadcast Final Five

Fox Sports North to Broadcast 2012 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five Live
Official Press Release

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Xcel Energy Center and FOX Sports North, in conjunction with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), announced today the 2012 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five will once again be telecast on FOX Sports North and produced by Minnesota Wild Broadcasting. The entities have televised the tournament since 2000.

Anthony LaPanta will handle play-by-play duties for the tournament. Kevin Gorg will serve as color analyst on Thursday and Saturday and Casey Hankinson will partner with LaPanta on Friday. Jim Rich will report rinkside Thursday with Gorg to take over those duties on Friday. Marney Gellner will round out the broadcast team, reporting Saturday for the Broadmoor Trophy Championship game.

“The Western Collegiate Hockey Association is thrilled to again announce a continuation of our long-standing and successful television partnership for the Red Baron WCHA Final Five with Fox Sports North, the Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy Center,” said WCHA Commissioner Bruce M. McLeod. “This will mark our 11th consecutive year of broadcasting college hockey’s premier conference tournament live to fans across the country from Xcel Energy Center and we could not be more pleased. The Red Baron WCHA Final Five continues to be our flagship event and our on-going relationship with these premier broadcasting partners continues to enable us to showcase our league, teams, student-athletes and member institutions in a first-class manner.”

The 2012 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five will be held Thursday–Saturday, March 15–17, at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul for the 12th straight year. Six teams from the twelve team WCHA conference will advance to the 2012 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five, battling it out over five games for the Broadmoor Trophy and entrance to the NCAA Tournament.
2012 Red Baron WCHA Final Five Television Schedule

Date                          Game    Time CSTThursday, March 15     Game 1       2 pm
                                 Game 2        7 pm
Friday, March 16         Semifinal 1   2 pm
                                Semifinal 2    7 pm
Saturday, March 17    Championship Game    7 pm
All times are Central (CST)
FOX Sports North reaches more than 2 million homes throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North and South Dakota and telecasts nearly 2,600 hours of locally produced programming per year. For more information on the Emmy Award-winning regional sports network, visit www.foxsportsnorth.com.

Tickets to the 2012 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five can be purchased at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office, Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, charge by phone at 800-745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com. To charge by phone using Ticketmaster TDD/TTY, call 800-359-2525. Groups (10+) call 651-312-3486. Single-session tickets are on sale now. A limited number of all-session ticket packages for the tournament are still available.

Final Five pictures from DU and UND

Again, I want to thank Corrie Block my photographe for the final five.

Redwing77's F5 Final Impressions

It's been a very long time but I have finally visited the XCel. My first Final 5 game. I still consider myself not having been to the Final 5 because I didn't get to see every game. However, here are my impressions:

The Fans

I sat around a wide variety of fans. Mostly were Sioux fans, but I sat next to two Gopher fans, in front of two SCSU fans, and talked to a few others. Oddly enough, the people who were the coldest were the two Sioux fans in front of me from Lincoln, NE. Stupid of me to consider we had something to talk about since I live in Omaha, NE. Oh well. Oddly enough, I spent most of my time talking to the Gopher fan and the Sioux fans behind me and to my right. I had fun even though I didn't get to put any faces to any of the names I see on USCHO, SS.com, or Schlossman's blog and here. As for Goon, he'll just owe me a drink for blowing me off this summer.

Talking to the Gopher fan, he was a fun guy despite him yelling Hobey Baker whenever Brittain made a save. However, it was all in fun anyways. I talked to him about the Gophers and he agreed with me about Hill. I didn't expect him to disagree with me though. Oh well.

The Seats

My seats, fans excluded, sucked. I had absolutely NO sightline to the far end of the rink. That meant that I only saw ONE goal, Frattin's game winner, live. The rest I saw on the jumbotron. In the end, with the up and down hockey we witnessed in the Broadmoor game (as I call it), I had a lot of trouble following the puck.

The Venue

XCel is nice. Unfortunately, I got screwed by the woman in front of me for the TShirts but oh well. She ordered one TShirt so, thinking she was done, I placed my order for 1. There were only three left. She turned to me and said "Hey, wait a minute, I'm not done!" And she took all 3 TShirts remaining. What a... Oh well. Not XCel's fault but certainly turned my mood slightly bitter postgame.

The Game

Denver came ready to play and they took it to us. Yes, we had one good period (2nd period), one half-good period (3rd period) and put it in the net in the end, but they had an OT that, by my opinion, was just Aaron Dell away from putting us away something like 3 or 4 times over.

Davidson's goal to put us ahead was SUPER soft. Brittain will have nightmares on that goal. Sam Brittain was DU's POTG for sure (and was awarded as such). Like I said, UND dominated in certain stretches but not for any too impressive stretch of time. Brittain stood on his head. If he stays hot into the NCAAs this could be trouble. Oh, and Zucker is fast. His play on Kristo would have been the Play of the Game, imo, if Brittain hadn't made that save on Knight.

UND didn't play poorly by any stretches, but they did get a bit careless at times. Failure to clear when they could have resulted in the first goal and chasing the puck caused the second. Aaron Dell isn't unbeatable but we should do better to protect him.

The Refs

Meh. I think they called a pretty decent game until the 3rd period when they were starting to let some overt penalties go. The first OT had some incredible noncalls in it. Oh well. It happens.

The Keys to Come

RPI is next. They aren't in the tourney because someone from the ECACHLMAO had to go besides Yale. They are good. VERY good. They have a Hobey finalist on the team. I believe it is his second time as a finalist. Unfortunately, that's as much as I know about RPI. Oh, they're no Holy Cross. They've been to the NCAAs before and have a pretty solid result at least once. We respect them and worry about DU after that.

DU will have no problem, in my opinion, with WMU. It could even turn into a laugher.

The #4 with the best chance to go all the way this year is UNH. CC is good, but won't be able to beat BC. I wish Air Force would beat Yale, especially since Air Force has already beaten them once this season... but I don't anticipate it happening. If Air Force doesn't beat Yale, I predict UMD will.

Notre Dame is also a #3 that has a great chance to make the Frozen Four. DU is the best #2, imo. Merrimack and Union... no offense, but... Thanks for playing.

I want Blais and Co. to beat Michigan badly but I think they'll be focused and ready to go after laying a steaming turd vs. WMU. Nevertheless, go Mavs.

There aren't any "easy" brackets this year. I guess the closest would be Yale's bracket. The hardest bracket is either Green Bay or St. Louis. It really depends upon how well Michigan and UNO play.

Pictures from day one of the WCHA Final Five.

Pictures from day one of the WCHA Final Five by photographer Corrie Block. I will get day two and three up as soon as I get the pictures.

Denver ends BSU’s season 6-2; Pioneers advances.

Photo by Eric Stromgren, Bemidji Pioneer

The Bemidji State University Beavers came into this afternoon’s game against the DU Pioneers having to win two games to advance to the NCAA tourney. Their season ended at the hands of the Denver Pioneers 6-2.

During the first period there was hope for the BSU Beavers. The Beaver came out and they were taking the game to the DU Pioneers, the Beavers had a strong forecheck and they were racing through the neutral zone with speed and they were getting pucks deep past the Denver Pioneers defenders. The Beavers were also generating chances down low and ended the first period with a 2-1 lead. Going into the second period it still looked like the Beavers were in the game and had a chance.

The Beavers had a great opportunity going into the third period as the Pioneers had two players whistled for minor penalties ( Nutini 18:31 and Maiani 19:57) in the closing minutes of the second period, the Beavers had a five-on-three power play for 29 seconds to open play in the third period. The Beavers couldn’t cash in on the five on three power play and it seemed to change the game around for the Pioneers. The Pioneers put the Beavers into hibernation as they scored four goals in third period to (Nick Shore, Jarroad Mermis, Luke Salazar and Kyle Ostrow) cruse to a 6-2 score and end the Beavers magical run in the WCHA playoffs.

[Box Score]

Eric Stromgren, Bemidji Pioneer

Post game quotes...
George Gwozdecky Head Coach, DU...
"First I want to compliment our opponent today. They had a tremendous postseason run. Sam Brittain made some tremendous saves in the first couple of periods to keep the game close for us and killing off the five-on-three to start the third period was an emotional boost for us and we fed off of that. [Bemidji State] was a challenging opponent for us."

On tomorrow's championship game and the importance of playing well heading into the NCAA Tourney...
"Both teams, CC and North Dakota, like to get up and down the ice. They like to attack from end to end. They're going to force you. They're going to forcheck you hard. Both have very good penalty units and both have very good power plays. They're very similar in a lot of ways. Whoever we face, we know it's going to be a major challenge for us.

Over the corse of the past 10-12 games, we've been counting this down as a team and trying to get all of us to realize how important [it is] to be ready to play, emotionally and physically, to the best of our ability at this time of year. The one thing that really helps is to be healthy."

Just for the record Gwozdecky said that 9 of the Pioneers has surgery after their season was over last year.

2011 Red Baron WCHA Final Five promotional video!!!

In case you haven't seen it.