Linkorama.

~So far this season the Air Force Falcons have trailed in only two of their 14 games. Are we to be impressed with that stat based who they have played this season?

~After starting out the season slow UNH star James van Riemsdyk is on a seven-game scoring streak. You wonder if the Flyers will come calling after the season is over?

~According to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy the first KHL's all-star game will be played outdoors in Moscow's Red Square.

~Hero one day, sitting in the press box the next. Wild Forward Cal Clutterbuck was a hero last week after scoring two goals in a game ended up being a healthy scratch after Wild coach Jacques Lemaire thought Clutterbuck was acting complacent.

~Jacques Lemaire says the Wild lack focus. Also the Wild known for being a strong team at home went 2-4 in their last 6 games at the Xcel Energy Center.

~Former Sioux star T.J. Oshie is going to make the road trip with the Blues. Oshie will not play against the Wild tomorow night, but he is listed as day to day.

~Dallas Punk Sean Avery has been suspended by the league for his "sloppy seconds" comment this morning at the skate. Sean Avery had made waves by calling Jarome Iginla boring. I was always told if you can't say anthing nice don't say anything at all.

More Air Force fodder.

Here is an article by Jim Connelly that is kind funny because the writer claims the Falcons aren't getting enough love in the national polls. My question to him is where do want them be ranked? Do you think the Falcons are better than Notre Dame, Minnesota, BC, BU, Northeastern or Miami?

Let’s not let emotions dictate what reality is. Lets face facts and be frank the Atlantic Hockey Association outside of Air Force is a complete and utter joke. They should just call it the bakery league because it is stuffed full of cream puffs and cupcakes. Lets review the league: Air Force 13-1-0 (SOS 46), Bentley 5-5-1 (SOS 47), Mercyhurst 5-8-1 (SOS49), Canisius 6-5-3 (SOS 51), UConn 4-9-0 (SOS 52), Holy Cross 4-9-1 (SOS 53), Sacred Heart 3-9-2 (SOS 54), American International 4-9-0 (SOS 55), RIT 5-8-1 (SOS 57), Army 3-8-1(SOS 58). No one in the AHA has a strength of schedule above 47. That is a weak league.

Looking at the Atlantic Hockey Association their league is not impressive, three out of ten teams have a .500 record the rest of their league has losing records. The AHA inter-conference record against the big four conferences is an unimpressive and weak 8-27-2.

When today’s poll came out, the Falcons were ranked 10th, one spot higher than last week. My argument is that Air Force, in knocking off No. 3 Colorado College in CONVINCING fashion, deserved a better fate. Some will say that Air Force lost a night later, but that shouldn’t impact the position that much. Every team in front of Air Force has losses, most team more than two and some teams have four or five losses.

The fact that Air Force is being held back because it is a member of Atlantic Hockey should be a crushed argument after this past weekend. Other Atlantic Hockey members were dominant and, in fact, the league posted a 5-3-1 record out of conference on the week. Mercyhurst won the RPI tournament by beating the host, RPI, and the No. 7 team in the country. Cansisius took three of four points from Clarkson, a pre-season top 20. Connecticut manhandled Brown. The only non-league losses of the week by Atlantic Hockey members were by RIT, which admittedly got manhandled by UMass-Lowell, Holy Cross, which lost a heartbreaker to former No. 1 Boston University, and the aforementioned loss of Air Force.

Just for the record; Brown is a horrible team 0-6-2 (SOS 50) so I wouldn't be bragging abot Connecticut manhandling Brown. It would be interesting to see the game film on that prolific matchup, if a person was having trouble sleeping they wouldn't need tylenol pm to sleep all they would have to do is turn on the UConn and Brown match up.

Goon goes Five Hole.

Here is the latest column I wrote for Sean Leahy's Going Five Hole

Weekend matchups

The Boston College Eagles play a home and home series with Boston University Terriers this weekend. On Friday night Boston College travels across town to play Boston University at Agganis Arena. On Saturday night the Boston University Terriers make the trip across town to play the Boston College Eagles at the Conte Forum. During the last four games Boston University is 2-2-0 while Boston College has gone 3-1-0. Two weekends ago Boston University was swept by Vermont University.

Boston University is led up front by sophomore Colin Wilson 7-13-20, Senior Chris Higgins 7-8-15 and Sophomore Nick Bonino 5-9-14. Wilson has been hot as of late and has points in five straight games. In goal Boston University is led by sophomore goalie Kieran Millan who is 6-1-0, with a goals against average of 2.01 with a save percentage of .916.

Boston College is led up front by Senior Brock Bradford 13-9-22, sophomore Brian Gibbons 6-12-18, Sophomore Ben Ferriero 2-8-10. In goal Boston College is led by sophomore goalie John Muse who is 9-4-1, with a goals against average of 2.74 and has a save percentage of .900. John Muse has been average this year after having a break out year as a freshman.

Prediction: Boston College wins Friday and tie on Saturday.

Michigan State versus Michigan

Years past this match up probably would have been for first place in the CCHA but Michigan State has been god awful this season. MSU has a record of 0-7-1 in their last 8 games giving up three or more goals in their seven straight losses before finally tying the suddenly cold Golden Gophers (0-2-1 in their last three games) last Saturday night.
Michigan also hasn’t been your typical Michigan team going 9-7-0 on the season and 4-5-0 in November. Last Friday night it had appeared that Michigan had finally righted the ship by pasting Minnesota 6-3 but went out and was shut out the next night by the Wisconsin Badgers 3-0.
Prediction: Michigan State is not playing well right now Michigan sweeps.

Goon’s weekly top ten

1. Notre Dame
2. Boston College
3. Boston University
4. Denver University
5. Miami
6. Minnesota
7. Northeastern
8. Minnesota State University
9. Colorado College
10. Vermont

Boston Bruins Salary update.

The Bruins blog has the Boston Bruins salaries listed. Check it out, Blake Wheeler makes more than Phil Kessel. (Goals-Assists-Points)

Forwards
Blake Wheeler, $2.825 million (8-4-12)
Chuck Kobasew, $2.33 million (5-8-13)
Phil Kessel, $2.2 million (13-7-20)

Here is another interesting perspective, former Wild and current Bruins back up goalie Manny Fernandez is making more money than Bruins starting goalie Tim Thomas.

Goalies
Manny Fernandez, $4.33 million (7-1-1 .918 2.32)
Tim Thomas, $1.1 million (9-3-3 .940 1.88)

Milewski nails it.

Badgers hockey beat writer Todd Milewski really hits it on the head with blog post on Air Force. Make no mistake about it, Air Force has a nice team, but this article really hits all the critical points. Statistically Air Force is 13-1-0, but it has beaten up on the weak sisters of the poor, we have laid out their schedule on numerous occasions.

Until last weekend the Falcons hadn't played anyone that was good or even remotely good or ranked in the top twenty. When the Falcons finally played two ranked teams this past weekend they went 1-1. Yet some want to fawn all over Air Force like they were world beaters. Personally, I am not convinced that Air Force beating C.C. was that big of a deal as well because the Tigers have struggled early this season on Fridays. When Air Force makes the NCAA tourney and wins an NCAA tourney game or two then I will be impressed. Until then I am not drinking the Air Force Kool-Aide.

But we’ve seen that mostly against a collection of teams that won’t come close to sniffing the teams under consideration criteria. My guess — the best that I’m able to offer — is that they wouldn’t be 13-1 if their schedule had a few more games against Miami, Notre Dame, Michigan, Boston College, Boston University, Minnesota and the like.

The Falcons have, for the most part, hammered their Atlantic Hockey foes. A good team should.

Atlantic Hockey has the worst record against the other five conferences. It’s 2-2 against the CHA, 5-8-1 against the ECACHL, 2-9 against the CCHA, 1-5 against the WCHA and 0-5-1 against Hockey East for a 10-29-2 non-conference record.

Maybe it’s unfair for Air Force to pay for the rest of the league’s shortcomings. But in the world of subjective rankings, that’s one of the factors.

Time to end fighting in the NHL? (not)

I saw this article last night over on the illegal curve. Larry Brooks from the New York Post is calling for the NHL to ban Fighting. The NHL will not and should not ban fighting. Seriously folks! Fighting in the NHL is a great marketing tool, but also a way to curb gratuitous violence on the ice. The NHL needs guys like Derek Boogaard because he keeps people honest, if not there will be chaos.

If you take fighting out of the game there is no deterrent to the leagues gutless agitators that hide behind half shields will run around without consequences taking liberties with the leagues star players. If Mr Brooks doesn't like fighting in hockey he should cover a different sport.

Two seasons ago, in the aftermath of the fight in which Orr broke Todd Fedoruk's face with a devastating punch, NHL VP Colin Campbell suggested the time had come for the league to at least investigate the possibility of eliminating fighting from the game.

Campbell was ahead of his time. For the time has come today for the NHL not only to investigate the possibility, the time has come for the NHL to abolish fighting. It's simply too dangerous.

Watching heavyweight fights such as the one in Tampa on Wednesday between the RangersNew York Rangers ' Orr and Lightning's David Koci has become the equivalent to viewing the aftermath of automobile accidents on the Interstate. They're impossible to look at without becoming queasy.

Fighting Irish Number one

USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
1 Notre Dame (40) 10-3-2 961 2
2 Boston College ( 1) 9-4-1 886 5
3 Minnesota ( 2) 7-2-5 881 1
4 Miami ( 2) 8-3-3 773 6
5 Colorado College 9-4-3 732 3
6 Northeastern 10-3-2 717 4
7 Boston University ( 1) 9-4-0 707 8
8 Denver ( 1) 9-5-1 697 9
9 Princeton ( 2) 9-2-0 650 7
10 Air Force ( 1) 13-1-0 625 11
11 Minnesota State 8-3-3 531 10
12 Vermont 9-3-2 488 13
13 Cornell 5-1-2 414 12
14 Michigan 9-7-0 338 14
15 Alaska-Anchorage 7-5-2 131 19
16 Dartmouth 6-4-0 124 20
17 Mass.-Lowell 8-5-0 123 NR
18 Nebraska-Omaha 9-4-1 115 16
19 New Hampshire 5-6-3 113 15
20 Alaska 8-4-2 85 NR
Others Receiving Votes: St. Cloud State 78, Wisconsin 72, Massachusetts 65, Ohio State 54, Maine 40, North Dakota 39, Minnesota-Duluth 36, Yale 13, Harvard 7, Ferris State 3, Niagara 1, Quinnipiac 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll
Dec. 1, 2008

Rank School (first-place votes) Record Points Last week
1 Notre Dame (33) 10-3-2 508 2
2 Minnesota (1) 7-2-5 447 1
3 Boston College 9-4-1 420 6
4 Miami (Ohio) 8-3-3 380 5
5 Boston University 9-4-0 342 8
6 Colorado College 9-4-3 318 3
7 Denver 9-5-1 306 10
8 Northeastern 10-3-2 298 4
9 Princeton 9-2-0 253 7
10 Air Force 13-1-0 209 11
11 Minnesota State 8-3-3 188 9
12 Vermont 9-3-2 181 13
13 Cornell 5-1-2 105 12
14 Michigan 9-7-0 72 15
15 New Hampshire 5-6-3 16 NR
Others receiving votes: University of Massachusetts Lowell, 10; University of Alaska Anchorage, 9; Dartmouth College, 6; University of Nebraska Omaha, 6; St. Cloud State University, 4; University of Alaska, 1; University of Wisconsin, 1.

Monday Rankings

INCH Power Rankings
1. Notre Dame
2. Minnesota
3. Boston College
4. Denver
5. Boston University
6. Princeton
7. Northeastern
8. Vermont
9. Miami
10. Air Force
11. Colorado College
12. Minnesota State
13. Cornell
14. Michigan
15. Dartmouth
16. Alaska
17. UMass Lowell
18. Ohio State
19. Nebraska-Omaha
20. Wisconsin

The INCH power rankins are out and there are a few head scrathers. Princeton lost to Mercy Worst but is ranked 6th, that is a bit of a joke. Minnesota gets smoked by Michigan and has to come back to tie MSU but still remains second in the nation. Minnesota State should probably be ranked higher.

Wild say they aren't anti American.

Michale Russo from the Red Star and Sickle has an interesting story about why the Wild don't draft more American college hockey players. It think it is a good question and personally I would love to see more players with college hockey experience play for the Wild. Teams like the Devils and Bruins seem to be doing well using American born and or college hockey players. The Wild have one player on the current roster from the USA Erik Reitz and he played junior hockey in the OHL.

Meanwhile down on the farm the Wild's farm club the Houston Areos have a good number of former college hockey, however, many of these players don't have much of a chance of playing with the Wild.

Sunday Insider: Wild not anti-American
The fan was tired of, in part, "seeing box scores with names like Wheeler, Kessel, Parise, Ballard, Goligoski, Vanek, etc, all playing well and we have the Wild, whose GM ignores college players and Minnesotans."

I get a few e-mails a week from Minnesotans with the same frustrations, one recently noting "the leading scorers on a bunch of NHL teams have Minnesota ties (Vanek, Parise, Ballard, Kessel, Wheeler) or at least are U.S.-born (Kane, Gomez, Dubinsky)."

The reader made an interesting point, writing, "I'd just like little 'Jimmy from Eagan' to have someone to look up to."

As a point of fact, I wrote back that Thomas Vanek was taken fifth and New Jersey's Zach Parise 17th in 2003; the Wild picked 20th. Keith Ballard went 11th in 2002; the Wild chose Pierre-Marc Bouchard eighth (debate it if you want, but Bouchard was coming off a 140-point season in the Q). Phil Kessel went fifth in 2006; the Wild chose ninth. Blake Wheeler went fifth in 2004; the Wild chose 12th, and took a Minnesotan
(Read the rest of the story here)

This is funny.

I found this over on Hockey Buzz and it is funny. Julie Robenhymer says the Badgers are a bunch of goons.

Scores from 11-29-2008

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Atlantic Hockey
Holy Cross 4 at Sacred Heart 2

CCHA
Western Michigan 3 at Notre Dame 3 ot Notre Dame Wins
Shootout
Ferris State 2 at Northern Michigan 1
Nebraska-Omaha 2 at Ohio State 3
Lake Superior 1 at Alaska 1 ot Alaska Wins Shootout

Analysis
UNO finally comes crashing back down to earth as they are swept on the weekend by tOSU.

Hockey East
Merrimack 4 at New Hampshire 3
Maine 2 at Vermont 3

Analysis
Vermont continues their strong season so far. New Hampshire is struggling.

WCHA
St. Cloud State 1 at Minnesota-Duluth 5

Analysis
Thank God Sioux7 didn't make any predictions this weekend. I am sure he would have picked the Huskies. :)

Non-Conference
Connecticut 4 at Brown 1
Michigan Tech 1 at Bemidji State 2
Minnesota State 5 at Bowling Green 2
Colgate 2 at Colorado College 3
Providence 2 at Union 4
St. Lawrence 1 at Boston University 4
RIT 3 at Mass.-Lowell 6
Canisius 2 at Clarkson 2 ot
Cornell 2 at North Dakota 1
Air Force 1 at Denver 4

Analysis
BSU sweeps the REAL Huskies. MSU-M doesn't let BGSU back in this game after blowing a 2 goal lead the night before. Boston U finally rights the ship. C.C., beats Colgate barely. DU shows some WCHA pride.

College Hockey Showcase
Michigan State 4 at Minnesota 4 ot
Michigan 0 at Wisconsin 3

Analysis
Wisconsin perfect on the weekend. Minnesota salvages a tie.

RPI Holiday Tournament
Northeastern 5 at Rensselaer 1
Princeton 4 vs. Mercyhurst 6

Analysis
Princeton beat Northeastern one night and loses to Mercyhurst the next night, what gives?

Who is "1"?

Who the hech is going to be the number one team this week?
Any clue?

Sioux 1 Cornell 2.

I went to Fargo right after the game and Sioux7 hasn't joined the 21st century yet by getting the Internet at his house, so this is the first time I have been on line today. Maybe that is good because I don't need to have a stroke fussing about this hockey team.

What I have a hard time stomaching is this underachieving hockey team that is just short of disgracing the Fighting Sioux uniform. There is no sugar coating it folks, this team sucks and I blame the coaching staff for not having them ready to play the games. The Fighting Sioux look lost, disinterested and unprepared. We have upperclassmen players making fundamental mistakes 12 games into the season. That is from lack of concentration and focus.

Losing to a team from the ECAC is unacceptable. There is no one out there that can score on a consistent pace. The defense hasn't been bad and the goal tending is good enough to win, but the offense can't do anything but play dump and chase. The Sioux had a four goal lead on Friday night and they started trapping, what the hell is that? You're winning the game. Keep moving forward, keep trying to bury the puck, and gain some confidence.

The disallowed goal was a horse shit bleep call, but that isn't the reason the Sioux failed to win the game. They failed to put forth a good enough effort to win the game and let the Big Red set the tone and dictate what type of game the Sioux played. This is also unacceptable in our house.

Goals Scoring/Penalties Time

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

NDK-1 Andrew Kozek (2-Boarding) COR 0x1 5:44
COR-1 Joe Devin (2-Holding) NDK 0x1 5:57
NDK-2 Evan Trupp (2-Tripping) COR 0x2 12:54
COR-2 Blake Gallagher (2-Tripping) NDK 0x2 16:11
COR-3 Taylor Davenport (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x3 17:45

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

COR-4 Dan Nicholls (2-Charging) NDK 0x4 8:47
NDK-3 Darcy Zajac (2-Interference) COR 0x3 12:34
COR-5 Joe Devin (2-Elbowing) NDK 0x5 14:18
COR 1 - 0 5x6 SH Michael Kennedy (3) (Jared Seminoff) 15:07
COR (+): 18,5,28,24,G30 NDK (-): 18,19,17,21,5,G31

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

COR-6 Justin Krueger (2-Interference) NDK 0x6 3:19
COR-7 Joe Devin (2-Slashing) NDK 0x7 11:12
COR-8 Patrick Kennedy (2-Hooking) NDK 1x8 12:40
NDK 1 - 1 6x5 PP Brett Hextall (5) (Brad Miller, Chay Genoway) 14:37
NDK: 26,14,5,16,29,G31 COR: 2,27,9,5,G30
NDK-4 Zach Jones (2-Interference) COR 1x4 15:05
COR 2 - 1 6x5 PP GW LL Colin Greening (4) (Evan Barlow, Brendon Nash) 16:37
COR: 20,24,27,15,14,G30 NDK: 16,5,25,22,G31

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

Goon makes an appearance on Lets Go DU.

Check it out.

UND Lines for 11-29-2008.

UND's lines

16 Ryan Duncan--29 Chris VandeVelde--8 Ryan Martens
17 Jason Gregoire--19 Evan Trupp--21 Matt Frattin
10 Andrew Kozek--11 Darcy Zajac--18 David Toews
20 Matt Watkins--22 Brad Malone--26 Brett Hextall

3 Derrick LaPoint--5 Chay Genoway
6 Zach Jones--25 Jake Marto
24 Ben Blood--14 Brad Miller

31 Brad Eidsness
30 Aaron Walski
35 Graeme Harrington

Analysis
Some changes from last night Mario Lamoureux, Corey Fienhage out and Ben Blood and David Toews are in. Hextall goes from the top line to the fourth line. Martens moves up.

The Legend keeps growing.

The Milan Lucic legend keep growing in Boston. The kid is an awesome draw for the Boston Bruins, he can score and fight. Typical prototypical Boston Bruins player. Good move for Milan Lucic, I can't stand Brendan Witt the guy is a punk, nice to see him get his ass worked over by Lucic.

Links to the Game.

PCM's take on the game.
Here is what the Cornell beat writer had to say on the game.

I'm sure there's a lot of doom-and-gloom talk out there heading into tonight's rematch, but keep in mind that a Big Red win would certainly — at least in many schools of thought — make this trip a success. A road win over North Dakota is the sort of thing you can hang your hat on 'round tournament time.

That said, Friday's game was pretty much a disaster. Cornell will look to re-establish its own style of play and see where it takes them ... because through the first six games of this season, the results spoke for themselves.

Seems bad bounces are the reason UND beat Cornell. Hum... First off WCHA teams are a lot different that ECAC teams, the talent level in the WCHA is a lot higher. I am not sure what these guys expected to do here in Grand Forks? UND is a lot better than its 5-7-1 record. Second, I thought UND out hustled the Big Red all night. The Sophomore class is going to start making some noise. Mark my words. Frattin can flat out shoot and can snipe the puck.

All of that said, I'm willing to guess things will get a whole lot more serious pretty soon for the Big Red. A 7-3 loss will do that, even if it seemed like some bad bounces doomed the team at a few critical junctures. I haven't been able to see the tape of the entire game yet (we don't get the NHL Network in the office), but I was able to catch the third period — and it wasn't like any Cornell team I've seen so far. Plucky as the Big Red might have been, it was way too flapable.

This article sums up the game from last night between Cornell and UND.

College hockey: North Dakota thumps No. 12 Cornell
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Cornell did exactly what it wanted to early in Friday's game at North Dakota, pouncing on opportunities to take the lead twice in the first period. But both times, the Fighting Sioux kicked down the door and tied it up.

And then roof collapsed on the Big Red. Matt Frattin had three goals and an assist for North Dakota, which went 3-for-7 against the nation's best penalty-killing team in a 7-3 rout of the 12th-ranked Big Red.

This is the most interesting of all the stuff I have read from the Cornell Media is the Cornell Hockey in North Dakota blog. It has been kept up to date. There is some really interesting stuff. The blog writer also made a link to some pictures at the end of the article of the REA.

Scores from 11-28-2008 (wow what a night)

Friday, November 28, 2008

CCHA
Western Michigan 1 at Notre Dame 4
Nebraska-Omaha 3 at Ohio State 4
Ferris State 6 at Northern Michigan 4
Lake Superior 1 at Alaska 4

Analysis
tOSU bring UNO back down to earth. The Irish just keep winning.

Non-Conference
St. Lawrence 4 at Massachusetts 3
Army 4 at Union 5
Minnesota State 2 at Bowling Green 2 ot
Michigan Tech 0 at Bemidji State 3
Dartmouth 4 at Providence 2
Cornell 3 at North Dakota 7
Canisius 4 at Clarkson 3 ot
Colorado College 1 at Air Force 4
Harvard 1 at Boston College 5
Colgate 1 at Denver 6

Analysis
I was looking at the scores last night and this is the most parity I have seen in college hockey in a long time. Isn't this what the fans want to see? The RPI/PWR ranking are going to be fluid all the way to the end. A team is going to have to play each game out, there will be no gimmes. The WCHA goes 2-0 against the ECAC.

RPI Holiday Tournament
Northeastern 3 vs. Princeton 5
Mercyhurst 4 at Rensselaer 1

Analysis
The Princeton Tigers beat Northeastern.

College Hockey Showcase
Michigan 6 at Minnesota 3
Michigan State 1 at Wisconsin 3

Analysis
Wisconsin beats MSU who lost their seventh game in a row. Michigan blasted Minnesota, Alex Kangas was God awful. Yes I watched the game, I taped it on my DVR. looks like Michigan isn't as bad as some have thought.

Fighting Sioux chew up Big Red 7-3.

The Fighting Sioux got a much needed win against a quality opponent. Coming into this weekend the Sioux starving for offense. Tonight the Fighting Sioux feasted on the defensive minded Cornell Big Red and won going way 7-3.

All week long Sioux fans have had to hear about how bad UND's scoring prowess was, tonight the Sioux broke out of their scoring doldrums by hanging 7 goals on the top defensive team in the nation.

The Positives from tonights game

~ Four point games for Matt Frattin (3-1-4) and Evan Trupp (1-3-4)

~Brad Eidsness gets the win and makes some big saves to keep UND in the game.

~This is the most goals UND has scored since UND scored 8 against the UMD Bulldogs on 11/23/2007.

~UND was 3-7 on the power play.

~Chay Genoway with a four point game as well (1-3-4) (Brad has him listed with a 5 point game)


Goals Scoring/Penalties Time

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

COR 1 - 0 6x6 Locke Jillson (1) (Michael Kennedy, Jared Seminoff) 2:43
COR (+): 8,18,3,10,16,G30 NDK (-): 10,22,6,14,20,G31
NDK 1 - 1 6x6 Matt Frattin (3) (Chay Genoway, Evan Trupp) 3:55
NDK (+): 21,5,19,3,17,G31 COR (-): 22,27,12,7,2,G30
COR 2 - 1 6x6 Colin Greening (3) (Evan Barlow, Riley Nash) 6:28
COR (+): 15,20,14,24,3,G30 NDK (-): 16,29,3,26,5,G31
NDK-1 Ryan Duncan (2-Interference) COR 0x1 10:03
COR-1 Jared Seminoff (2-O-HOOKING) NDK 1x1 16:33
NDK 2 - 2 6x5 PP Ryan Martens (3) (Matt Frattin, Evan Trupp) 17:08
NDK: 8,21,19,5,17,G31 COR: 18,5,10,7,G30
NDK-2 Brad Miller (2-Interference) COR 0x2 17:26

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

COR-2 Tyler Roeszler (2-Hooking) NDK 1x2 3:21
COR-3 Taylor Davenport (2-Boarding) NDK 2x3 5:15
COR-4 Brendon Nash (2-Holding) NDK 2x4 5:42
NDK 3 - 2 6x4 PP LL Ryan Duncan (5) (Brad Miller, Chay Genoway) 6:07
NDK: 5,14,16,8,29,G31 COR: 3,5,28,G30
NDK-3 Corey Fienhage (2-High-Sticking) COR 0x3 10:44
COR-5 Riley Nash (2-Tripping) NDK 2x5 12:03
NDK-4 Brett Hextall (2-Cross-Checking) COR 0x4 17:00

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

NDK 4 - 2 6x6 GW Chay Genoway (1) (Chris VandeVelde) 0:51
NDK (+): 5,29,10,14,20,G31 COR (-): 8,10,24,18,3,G30
COR-6 Taylor Davenport (2-Hooking) NDK 2x6 2:09
COR 3 - 4 6x6 Riley Nash (3) (Brendon Nash, Justin Krueger) 4:47
COR (+): 14,24,5,15,22,G30 NDK (-): 10,20,22,3,5,G31
NDK 5 - 3 6x6 Matt Frattin (4) (Jason Gregoire) 7:17
NDK (+): 21,17,19,3,5,G31 COR (-): 27,15,5,22,2,G30
NDK 6 - 3 6x6 Evan Trupp (1) (Jason Gregoire) 15:01
NDK (+): 17,19,14,21,6,G31 COR (-): 27,12,7,22,5,G35
COR-7 Evan Barlow (2-Roughing) NDK 3x7 18:08
NDK 7 - 3 6x5 PP HT Matt Frattin (5) (Chay Genoway, Evan Trupp) 18:56
NDK: 21,5,19,25,17,G31 COR: 28,18,2,5,G35

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

Former Ducks GM takes two jobs

In what had to be one of the worst kept secrets in Toronto sports history, the Leafs have finally settled on a general manager and president.

Former Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke is expected to take both roles when he signs a six-year deal for approximately $18 million US on Nov. 29.

When current Cliff Fletcher replaced John Ferguson Jr. as the Leafs GM last year, Fletcher made it known that he was temporarily filling the void.

After that became clear, the rumours, of a possible successor, floated west and landed on the door step of Burke's residence in California.

After figuring out that Burke was in the final months of a four-year deal with the Ducks, the Toronto media declared that Burke was the top choice for the most coveted position in professional hockey.

They weren't wrong.

Amid rumours of tampering, the Leafs threw foam on the fire and went into deny mode.

All that did was fuel the fire with months of speculation that will, thankfully, come to a conclusion on Saturday night.

So, what was the caveat that brought this lousy mystery to an unsatisfying end?

For the Leafs, with a franchise value of around $320 million US and $1.9 million US in per game revenue, it wasn't the dough.

This was about the presidency of the hockey club.

When Burke officially takes the job on Saturday, he will wrestle the power away from current president Richard Peddie.

In the hierarchy of Maple Leaf hockey, all on-ice decisions were made by Peddie, which included veto power over the GM. The dichotomy is that Peddie is a money man and not a hockey man and many believe he is the main reason for the sub par results the last three years.

With Leaf revenues increasing every year and 18,800 in the building every night why should Peddie care about the teams performance?

Peddie has painted a Picasso when it comes to taking every last nickel from the pocket of Leaf fans but he has punctured a huge hole in the psyche of "Leafs Nation." (a marketing term used to unite Leaf fans under one banner and to increase Leaf brand awareness among immigrants not familiar with hockey. Cradle to grave as it were).

With Burke in the role of president, it is assumed/hoped that he will sprinkle his magic and transform the Chicago Cubs of hockey into winners by making solid hockey decisions.

Most importantly he has no one looking over his shoulder. He will answer to no one but his own whispers at night. Judging by some of the hockey markets Burke has worked in, he will not be motivated by revenue streams.

Vancouver and Anaheim don't generate the kinds of cash the Leafs do and he was successful in his endeavors to produce highly competitive teams, including a Stanley Cup 18 months ago with the Ducks.

Long suffering Toronto fans have waited since 1967 to see a Stanley Cup parade wind its way through the streets of Toronto. What's a few more years between friends in "Leafs Nation."

Ben Scrivens is no sieve.

I hope the Sioux forwards were working on their passing and shooting drills this week in practice, because they are going to have their work cut out for them this weekend. Check this goalie that Cornell has. This doesn't bode well for the Sioux hockey team that is averaging under 2 goals per game. The Sioux forwards are going to have to get traffic in front of the net and get Scriven's feet moving and hope they can catch him out of position. If Scrivens sees the puck/shot he is going to stop it. Scrivens is also a big goalie at 180 lbs and is 6'2".

Their goalie? He’s also ranked No. 1 in the country in both major categories. Junior Ben Scrivens has a 0.81 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage.

Cornell perspective.

Here is a story from the Ithaca Journal. This is going to be a great series and there is something for the Sioux to play for this weekend. This is a must win series. Frankly, I can't wait till 7:37 pm tonight.

College hockey: Cornell enters national spotlight at North Dakota
ITHACA — One year ago, everyone in the Cornell hockey program circled Thanksgiving on their calendars. The Big Red took on Boston University in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden in a chance to make a statement while what seemed to be the entire college hockey world watched. But then the Terriers won a 6-3 game that wasn't even as close as the score indicated.

And while the Terriers aren't on the schedule until next year, Cornell (4-0-2) gets its crack at the national spotlight tonight and Saturday with games at perennial power North Dakota (4-7-1).

The games kick off a span of nine games in which all seven of the Big Red's non-conference contests are staged — and the opponents will never be confused with cupcakes.

The Fighting Sioux, although currently struggling, was the fifth-ranked team in the nation in preseason polls; St. Cloud State (Cornell's first-round opponent in the Florida College Hockey Classic) and Massachusetts are currently ranked and Niagara is the defending College Hockey America conference champion.

Links to Cornell Hockey.

Tim V from the Lynah hockey Forum was kind enough to post some required reading for the weekend non conference match up with the Cornell Big Red. (Thanks Tim)

Here is the hockey blog from the Ithaca Journal


There is the Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell Student Newspaper)

Here is the blog that was linked earlier today Cornell hockey in North Dakota.

Here is a really nice read that I found in the Cornell Sun.

It’s a North Dakota Holiday for Men’s Hockey
For the second year in a row, the men’s hockey team will spend its Thanksgiving break playing in one of the premier hockey facilities in the country. After suffering a 6-3 loss last year at the hands of Boston University at New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden, a more experienced Red (4-0-2) is looking for a better result during this vacation — this year, Cornell will head to Grand Forks, N.D., to face North Dakota, a school which has made it to the Frozen Four in each of the last four years.

The Fighting Sioux’s Ralph Engelstad Arena, which opened in 2001, has a capacity of over 11,000 and will host a pair of games with the Red — the first on Friday at 8:30 p.m. (EST) and the second 8 p.m. (EST) the next day.

Currently in seventh place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, North Dakota has had a rocky going so far. The Fighting Sioux (4-7-1, 4-5-1 WCHA) started the season with three consecutive losses, including a season-opening defeat at then No. 9 Boston University, 5-1.

Check out the latest Hockey Show.

The KBUN boys Scott and Moose discuss a few issues that might be of interest to MTU and WCHA hockey fans. (click here to listen) (If you want to listen on your iPod)



~@1540 Scott and Moose discuss the MTU and Wisconsin bands. Scott on MTU band, they are about the best band in college hockey. Scott really likes "On Wisconsin."

~ Two for one tickets in Bemidji this weekend.

~@2050 WCHA talk.

~@2320 More UND talk. I wonder if I am one of the fans that is refered to as they?

They're here...

I was reading the Cornell hockey blog (nice read) and has some interesting stuff. I read somewhere that the Cornell players will be in awe of the building the first game. Don't count on it. It is too bad it isn't -40 thought, that would make their trip to Grand Forks, ND complete.

November 27, 2008
9:30 a.m. CDT - It's Thanksgiving morning here in Grand Forks, and we've got a pretty low-key day in store. The team will head over to Ralph Engelstad Arena this afternoon for practice this afternoon, but other than that, there's not much on the itinerary.

We got in late last night and swung by The Ralph to drop off our gear, and massive doesn't even begin to describe the place, prompting a few jokes of, "yeah, this is just like Lynah!" I definitely didn't get the impression that anyone was in awe of the place, which, given that we'd just played in Madison Square Garden last year, is pretty much understandable. Locke Jillson mentioned he'd been there before, playing a Midget tournament there about a week before he officially committed to Cornell. Locke even remarked that he went to Ithaca a week or so later, and remembered that it was somewhere in the -15 to -20 range in Grand Forks and a balmy 15 or so in Ithaca and thought, "this is warm!" I never thought I'd ever hear an Ithaca winter described as warm, and especially from a kid from Texas.

UNO's hot start a look at the numbers.

Western College Hockey: UNO's Hot Start
Chris Dilks from Western College takes a look at the UNO Mavericks impressive start (9-2-1). While the record is good and they have beaten the teams on their schedule take a look at the numbers. Here is a break down of UNO's strength of schedule, or a lack of a strength of schedule. Wow! Talk about feasting on cupcakes and weaks sisters of the poor.

Breaking down the numbers

The UNO Mavericks have beaten no team with a strength of schedule over 20. If you look at the numbers that schedule isn't all that impressive.

American International(58)
Union(20)
2 vs. Mercyhurst(37)
2 vs. Bowling Green(45)
2 vs. Western Michigan(48)
2 vs. Ferris State(36)
2 vs. Michigan State(54)

Here is Air Forces strength of schedule is ranked 50 out of 58 division one college hockey teams.
That is unimpressive folks.

Bentley 2-0 (27)
Bemidji State 2-0 (28)
Holy Cross 2-0 (54)
American Intl 2-0 (56)
Sacred Heart 4-0 (55)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Goon's World would like to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. There are many gifts to be thankful for this year. Go Sioux! Lets kick some Big Red ass...

I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country: he is a Bird of bad moral character: like those among Men who live by Sharping and Robbing, he is generally poor and very often lousy.
The Turkey is a much more respectable Bird and withal a true original Native of North America"

Benjamin Franklin

INCH Podcast (11-25-2008)

Here is the link to the INCH podcast. About 16:30 in the INCH boys discuss North Dakota and Cornell series. The INCH guys also cover some of the issues that are plaguing North Dakota this season.

Point of clarification

~The last time UND played Harvard was in December 29th and 30th of 2005.

Goon's Illegal Curve article.

Here my aritle that was submitted to the illegal curve.
1. Minnesota Wild by Eric Burton of Goon’s World

Last night on Versus I had the opportunity to watch the Wild and the Capitals play a non-conference game. Minnesota raced to a convincing and almost unheard of four goal lead. At this point in the game you expect a Wild team to go into their patented defensive mode where they shut down the opponents in the offensive zone and make it almost impossible to score.

In Monday’s game that was not the case and before the third period was over, the Wild had tried to give the game back to the Capitals allowing them to score three goals in under four minutes from Matt Bradley, Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom. For the Wild that is very uncharacteristic.

I think it is an enigma to see the Wild score four goals in a game, in fact it is almost unheard of. The Wild are known for their stifling defense and lack of offensive prowess. The Wild are offensively challenged and are in the bottom of the league for goals (49) for and are only ahead of lowly Phoenix (48). Breaking it down further the Wild have only scored four or more goals in a game only five times so far this season. Wild goalie Nicklas Backstrom should sue his forwards for lack of support.

The Wild had been getting a most of their scoring from the big three: Mikko Koivu (5-4-19), Andrew Burnett (6-5-11) and Anti Miettinen (6-7-13) finally got scoring from two unexpected sources last night as Kyle Clutterbuck (2) and James Sheppard (1) scored their first goals of the season.

There have also been some disappointments so far this season. Pierre-March Bouchard that signed a big contract in the offseason has been invisible so for going (2-4-6) in 16 games so far this season. That is unacceptable for a player of Bouchard’s offensive talent.

Defensively the Wild have been solid getting great offensive play from Marc-Andre Bergeron (2-7-9), Marek Zidlicky (3-5-8) and Kim Johnnson (1-6-7). Also in the mix is Brent Burns (3-4-7) who has been hurt earlier this season and sat out four games has now been asked to play at forward for the Wild because of the Wilds lack of offensive dept.

I think the Wild are going to have to get some balanced scoring or they won’t be able to remain in the top part of the western conference. They are going to have to eventually have to score more than 1-2 goals a game to win. Backstrom is good but he is going to have stretches where he is going to be well, human.

Paul Allen signed for 5 more years. (Dubay news)

Here is some good news for Vikings fans and for fans of the PA show.

Paul Allen's stay on KFAN's airwaves will be extended at least another five years.

Allen, the host of the mid-day show at the all-sports station and the play-by-play voice of the Vikings, signed a five-year contract extension to remain with the Clear Channel-owned property.
-----Snip-----
The announcement of Allen's contract extension comes a month after Clear Channel fired Allen's longtime co-host Jeff Dubay. That decision came after Dubay was charged with felony drug possession; he was accused of tossing crack cocaine and a pipe from his vehicle in Maplewood. Allen and Dubay had hosted the "PA and Dubay" show for 10 years.

Since Dubay's dismissal Allen has been working with producer Justin Gaard and a variety of guests.

"It's kind of on hold right now," Swedberg said when asked about a permanent co-host for Allen. "We're trying some different things. I think we're going to ride with this through the Vikings season and then kind of take a look at it."

From the article there is also some Jeff Dubay news as well.

Dubay hearing
Dubay made his first appearance in Ramsey County District Court on Friday and his case is being evaluated for pre-trial diversion. If he's accepted into diversion, that means the charges could be dismissed following completion of the program. Dubay is due back in court Dec. 19.

The Legend grows.

Milian Lucic is one tough customer and is quickly becoming the crowd favorite in Boston. The guy is almost the second coming of former Bruins great Cam Neely. Lucic much like Neely can fight, hit and score. Former Bruins and current Florida Panther Nick Boyton takes on Milan Lucic and gets beat up. The Bruins keep rolling along.

NCAA round up (Going Five Hole)

Here is my latest NCAA round up that I wrote for Sean Leahy's Going Five Hole.

This week’s match up to watch

Air Force (12-0-0) versus Colorado College (8-3-3) Friday and Denver University (7-5-1) Saturday.

This is the schedule that Air Force has played to date (it is not impressive at all): Sacred Heart 2-8-2 (x4), Bemidji State University 3-7-0 (x2), American International 3-9-0 (x2), Bentley 5-4-1 (x2), Holy Cross 3-7-1 (x2). Looking at that schedule further the Air Force’s opponents have a cumulative record of (16-35-4). While the Falcons have outscored their unimpressive opposition (62 GF, 15 GA), the Falcons are not doing this against top teams ranked in the top 20; they are winning against teams in a bottom-tier league.

This weekend we will finally get to see if the Air Force Falcon’s (Air Farce to some) are for real as they finally play their first games and only games against teams from the big four conferences. These are also the Falcon’s first games against nationally-ranked opponents in the top twenty. These will be the first games the Falcons will play against teams with winning records other than Bentley (5-4-1), which is also not a very good hockey team.

Air Force plays in the relatively weak Atlantic Hockey American conference (I am trying to be kind here) and has beaten the teams that are on its schedule but that doesn’t always translate to the level of competition of the big four conferences (ECAC, CCHA, WCHA, HEA). Currently Hockey East is the pride of the Big Four conferences. Also, the AHA has a very unimpressive 2-23-1 against the Big Four conferences.

Air Force is led offensively by Jacques Lamoureux Junior, (11-10-21), Brent Olson Senior, (5-16-21), Greg Flyn Senior, (4-15-19). Again their points totals might be inflated because they have feasted on less-talented teams.

C.C., sitting in second place in the WCHA with 13 points and two points behind the league-leading Minnesota Golden Gophers, was picked to finish first in the WCHA by the WCHA coaches. C.C. has at times struggled to score goals and has been held to two goals or less 8 times and has a (1-3-3) record during those games.

Denver University, picked to finish second in the WCHA coaches poll, is currently sitting in fifth place with a 5-4-1 record. Denver University is loaded with offensive talents and is currently being led up front by the trio of underclassmen: Tyler Bozak Sophomore, (7-8-15), Anthony Maiani Sophomore, 5-9-14 and Luke Salazar Freshman, (7-5-12).

Prediction: Air Forces loses two games, they aren’t playing Bently, Holy Cross or American International.

Goon’s Top Ten.

1. Minnesota (41)
2. Northeastern
3. Boston College
4. Colorado College
5. Notre Dame
6. Miami
7. Denver University
8. MSU-Mankato
9. Boston University
10. Vermont

Goalie equipment to change again.

I saw this story over on the Illegal Curve. This is really good news. The equipment is still too big and it should be smaller.

More changes coming for goaltending equipment.
If you think your favorite NHL goaltender is letting in more 5-hole goals this season, you might be right.

It's a result of rule changes this season that were agreed to by the NHL Players' Association. Goaltending equipment is a little smaller and a little different this season, and will continue to be downsized in the coming years.

While the NHL is committed to protecting goalies and the adjustments are being made with their safety in mind, the League has deemed that equipment should not be any bigger than it needs to be for protection. Equipment will be proportional to the size of the goalie.

Bottom line: Equipment is there to protect, not make saves.

Monday Rankings

INCH Power Rankings

1. Minnesota
2. Notre Dame
3. Northeastern
4. Colorado College
5. Princeton
6. Boston University
7. Boston College
8. Denver
9. Minnesota State
10. Air Force
11. Cornell
12. Miami
13. Vermont
14. Nebraska-Omaha
15. New Hampshire
16. Michigan
17. Dartmouth
18. St. Cloud State
19. UMass Lowell
20. Massachusetts

Analysis: So we are to believe that Princeton is the 5th ranked team in college hockey? Funny Cornell is undefeated and beat Princeton, shouldn't they be higher than 11th.

USCHO.com

1. Minnesota (41)
2. Notre Dame (2)
3. Colorado College (1)
4. Northeastern
5. Boston College
6. Miami (1)
7. Princeton (3)
8. Boston University (1)
9. Denver
10. MSU-Mankato
11. Air Force
12. Cornell
13. Vermont
14. Michigan
15. New Hampshire
16. Nebraska-Omaha
17. UMass
18. St. Cloud State
19. Alaska-Anchorage
20. Dartmouth

USA Today

1. Minnesota (30)
2. Notre Dame
3. Colorado College (1)
4. Northeastern
5. Miami (1)
6. Boston College
7. Princeton (1)
8. Boston University
9. MSU-Mankato
10. Denver
11. Air Force (1)
12. Cornell
13. Vermont
14. Nebraska-Omaha
15. Michigan

Monday morning Linkorama.

If Sioux fans think things are tough for the Sioux, MSU has lost 6 games in a row. In fact this is the longest losing streak since 1981 for MSU.

The Michigan Wolverines are having a hard time deciding which sieve is going to be their number one goalie because both Billy Sauer and Bryan Hogan are playing well in net right now. Their problem is offense, they are having trouble scoring.

The Miami Redhawks won their 4th game in a row and after sweeping the Michigan Wolverines in Oxford, Ohio this past weekend. The Redhawks now have swept Notre Dame, Michigan State and Michigan this season already. That is an impressive feat.

Still nothing to report in the Marian Gaborik saga, still hurt, still no contract or trade. Gabby is still skating by himself and isn't going to come back until he is 100%.

In this weeks Charlie Waters don't print that column there is a rumor of Marian Gaborik being traded to the New Jersey Devils for a package deal that includes Former Fighting Sioux Zach Parise. Yeah and I am going to win the lottery and quit my day job.

Are you confused after reading this article by Shooter? Wouldn't it be easier to say, "we have no clue when Gaborik is coming back." As soon as we hear something we will let you know. You have to wonder if this guy went to the Sid Hartman school of journalism.

Gaborik isn't going to talk to the media until he plays.

In last night's game between the Canadians and the Bruins, Habs thug/though guy/hack Georges Laraque's job was to get into a fight with Bruins forward Milan Lucic. In the previous Bruins and Habs game Lucic worked former Michigan player Mike Komisarek like a clown and Komisarek ended getting injured druing the fight. During Saturday's game the Habs were looking for some pay back. Lucic didn't end up fighting Laraque because his coach told him not to fight.

(From the same article) Former Michigan Star and current Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick has a four-game point streak after scoring a goal in Saturday's game against the Habs.

Far be it from me to give a Golden Gopher much credit but Joe Finley's favorite dance partner Blake Wheeler beat beat goalie Carey Price during the shoot out to give the Bruins their first regular season win in Montreal since Dec. 4, 2006.

Former Boston College Eagle and New Jersey Devil Mike Mottau has been suspended for two games by the NHL.

Here is the Sioux and Bulldogs game through the eyes of a Bulldog fan.

This is the same blogger that brutalized me earlier this week in the Gauntlet. Yeah that was as much fun as a root canal.

If they don't call it they will miss their next assigment.

Here is a novel idea that Bruce M. McLeod and Greg Shepherd could consider enacting. If one of your refs doesn't call something that is supposed to be called or one your official misses a call, or God forbid does a poor job officiating a game maybe just maybe you could consider suspending that official, causing him to miss his next assignment. Just a thought. (Check it out)

The protocol penalty against the Dutchmen was for going out to greet the goalie at the end of the period. Stewart said there is a rule about that, and he wants his officials to call it. If not, he said that they will miss their next assignment

Here is something to chew on.

I was reading this morning's Grand Forks Herald and this couple of paragraphs really stick out like a soar thumb. This is utterly unacceptable folks. Time for some the upper class men to step it up and be leaders. Enough with the excuses, we are tired of hearing them.

You're a hockey player in one of the top division one hockey programs in the country start playing like it. I would be willing to bet that a lot of the players from the other teams in the league would love to have the opportunity you have been given, stop stinking up the Ralph and acting like a bunch of spoiled prima donnas.

Enough of the stupid sports cliches and saying we are all most there, you are not play like it. It's time to stop talking and it is time step up and get results. I am sick and tired of watching this crap for the last 5 season. This isn't Sioux hockey, you're pissing your season away right now. If you lose your next four non-conference game your going to be hard pressed to make the NCAA tourney. How you guys like to be the first Fighting Sioux Hockey team to miss the NCAA tourney since 2001-2002? The answer is start playing with some pride. There isn't any other answer.

***Sioux seek answers*** The Sioux are three games under .500 at 4-7-1, which ties the lowest point since Dave Hakstol became coach in 2004.

The 2006-07 squad started the season 7-10-1 and rallied in the second half to reach the Frozen Four behind a dynamic top line of Ryan Duncan, T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews.

This year’s squad doesn’t have the luxury of having two first-round NHL draft picks up front, though. They must find scoring throughout the lineup, but it hasn’t been happening recently.

(Edit)
"Coaches" its time to take it up an notch you share some of the blame for this horrible start to the season. The Sioux can salvage the season, but it must start now.

Scores from 11-22-2008

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Atlantic Hockey
Sacred Heart 1 at Air Force 7
Canisius 2 at Bentley 4
American Int'l 0 at Holy Cross 3
Army 3 at Mercyhurst 6
RIT 5 at Connecticut 4

Analysis
This is the schedule that Air Force has played to date (it is not impressive at all): Sacred Heart 2-8-2 (x4), Bemidji State University 3-7-0 (x2), American International 3-9-0 (x2), Bentley 5-4-1 (x2), Holy Cross 3-7-1 (x2). So the cumulative record of teams that Air Force has played is (16-35-4) The real test for the Falcons will be when they play C.C. and DU in back to back games. I don't see them winning either game.

CCHA
Notre Dame 9 at Bowling Green 1
Michigan State 1 at Nebraska-Omaha 3
Ohio State 2 at Northern Michigan 0
Alaska 2 at Ferris State 0
Michigan 1 at Miami 2

Analysis
Michigan State has lost 6 games in a row and Jeff Lerg 3-7-1 in 11 games.
Notre Dame hasn't lost in 8 games. UNO has lost only twice in 12 games.
Michigan is swept by league leading Miami.

CHA
Bemidji State 3 at Niagara 1

Analysis
BSU with the split.

ECAC
Harvard 2 at Colgate 2 ot
Quinnipiac 5 at St. Lawrence 2
Dartmouth 1 at Cornell 3
Princeton 4 at Clarkson 2

Analysis
Cornell comes to Grand Forks, ND next weekend get ready for some defensive boring hockey. Yawn.

Hockey East
Boston College 3 at Massachusetts 4 ot
Providence 3 at New Hampshire 4
Vermont 4 at Boston University 3
Northeastern 4 at Mass.-Lowell 3
Merrimack 1 at Maine 1 ot

Analysis
Gittle from Yardbarker wrote: BU is 1-3 after being number one, including a home sweep at the hands of UVM. Nobody had gone onto Comm Ave and swept a series in 16 years, but it happened. Not only that, but the 1992 team was the Maine national champion juggernaut that only lost one game all season, and I would not put the Catamounts in the same stratosphere. I would have to agree UVM is no where near the 1992 Maine Black Bears team.

Northeastern rolling along at (9-2-2). UMass splits with Boston College.

WCHA
North Dakota 1 at Minnesota-Duluth 3
Minnesota 0 at Denver 4
Wisconsin 1 at St. Cloud State 0
Minnesota State 4 at Michigan Tech 2
Colorado College 4 at Alaska-Anchorage 3 ot

Analysis
Splits-ville in Saint Cloud, Anchorage and Denver. The Purple Cows from MSU-M beat the real Huskies twice in the Houghton, Michigan.

Non-Conference
Robert Morris 4 at Lake Superior 3
Alabama-Huntsville 2 at Yale 6

Luongo injuried

It appears that All-World goalie Roberto Luongo the corner stone of the Vancouver Canucks has injured his groin in a game against the Penguins today.

If Luongo was out for an extended period of time it could be bad for the Canucks. I guess I am also going to have to look for a new goalie because I have Luongo on one of my four fantasy hockey teams.

No sister kissing tonight. UMD 3 UND 1

The Fighting Sioux were stifled by a strong goaltending effort of Alex Stalock and lose 3-1 to the Bulldogs in Duluth. With the loss tonight the Sioux also break a streak of splits in league play. The Sioux out shoot the Bulldogs 38-29 but come up short on the score board.

Sioux fans lets give credit where credit is do. Alex Stalock was good this weekend and I hate cliches but this team IS close to doing some great things.

Pro's from this weekend
~ Brad Eidsness is establishing himself as the starting goaltender.
~ A defenseman scored a goal tonight, their first goal by a defenseman this year.
~ Brad Malone was a physical force this weekend and is mean and nasty to play against.
~ Brett Hextall continues to impress me with his grit and heart.
~ Gregiore is a sniper and will score a lot of goals this season.
~ David Toews is close to breaking out, I think the points will come in bunches.
~ Defensively the Fighting Sioux are getting where they need to be defensively.


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

NDK-1 Matt Frattin (2-Interference) MND 0x1 0:50
MND-1 Josh Meyers (2-Tripping) NDK 0x1 2:05
NDK-2 Evan Trupp (2-Hooking) MND 1x2 4:56
MND 1 - 0 6x5 PP LL Michael Gergen (3) (Trent Palm, Jack Connolly) 6:27
MND: 10,54,12,7,24,G32 NDK: 22,3,5,16,G31
MND-2 Matt Greer (2-Interference) NDK 0x2 6:45
MND-3 Jordan Fulton (2-Slashing) NDK 0x3 8:46
NDK-3 Brett Hextall (2-Checking from Behind) MND 1x3 12:15
NDK-4 Chay Genoway (2-Roughing) 14:33
NDK-5 Brad Malone (2-Cross-Checking) 14:33
NDK-6 Brett Hextall (2-Roughing) 14:33
MND-4 Mike Connolly (2-Roughing) 14:33
MND-5 Mike Connolly (2-Interference) 14:33
MND-6 MacGregor Sharp (2-Roughing) 14:33
NDK-7 Andrew Kozek (2-Charging) MND 1x4 18:34
MND-7 Michael Gergen (2-Interference) NDK 0x4 19:34

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

MND-8 Evan Oberg (2-Hooking) NDK 0x5 2:44
NDK-8 Brad Malone (2-Roughing) 10:24
MND-9 Nick Kemp (2-Roughing) 10:24
NDK-9 Brad Miller (2-Slashing the Goaltender) 13:08
MND-10 Evan Oberg (2-Roughing) 13:08
MND-11 Trent Palm (2-Hooking) NDK 0x6 14:08
MND 2 - 0 6x6 GW Jordan Fulton (3) (Justin Fontaine, Jack Connolly) 18:37
MND (+): 23,37,12,17,24,G32 NDK (-): 14,19,17,25,21,G31
NDK-10 Chay Genoway (2-Hooking) MND 2x5 19:16

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

MND 3 - 0 6x5 PP MacGregor Sharp (7) (Mike Connolly, Josh Meyers) 0:52
MND: 18,22,17,4,37,G32 NDK: 20,11,6,3,G31
MND-12 Michael Gergen (2-Tripping) NDK 0x7 2:46
MND-13 Evan Oberg (2-Slashing) NDK 0x8 8:26
MND-14 Trent Palm (2-Holding) NDK 1x9 11:25
NDK 1 - 3 6x5 PP Brad Miller (3) (Evan Trupp, Chay Genoway) 12:32
NDK: 14,19,5,8,16,G31 MND: 11,16,4,26,G32

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

Lineup for tonights game.

RWD's favorite hockey blogger Brad Elliott Schlossman has tonight lines posted for round 2 of the Sioux and the Bulldogs.

Time for the Sioux to get things rolling.

UND's lines

16 Ryan Duncan--29 Chris VandeVelde--26 Brett Hextall
20 Matt Watkins--22 Brad Malone--18 David Toews
17 Jason Gregoire--19 Evan Trupp--21 Matt Frattin
10 Andrew Kozek--11 Darcy Zajac--8 Ryan Martens

3 Derrick LaPoint--5 Chay Genoway
6 Zach Jones--25 Jake Marto
24 Ben Blood--14 Brad Miller

31 Brad Eidsness
30 Aaron Walski

Edit Zajack is in the game after it was reported that he was a scratch after suffering from an undisclosed injury. Mario Lamoureux is out of the line up.

UMD's lines (As posted by RWD):

M. Connolly - Sharp - Kemp
Fulton - J. Connolly - Fontaine
Carroll - Akins - Gergen
Greer - Bordson - Schmidt

Meyers - Montgomery
Palm - Huttel
Oberg - Lamb

Stalock
Hjelle - Reiter

Check out this podcast

Scott and Moose from KBUN in Bemidji talk about BSU and possibility of realignment/expansion as well as the state of the Beavers and their new hockey arena. If you have an iPod you can down load the broadcast here.

Please make note.

Please Note: the weekly prediction/pontification are done by Sioux7 and not me. So please do not burn an effigy of the Goon for this weeks predictions, I am not responsible for the predictions nor do I edit my other team members work. If you have an issue with Sioux7's predictions please address them to him not me.

Scores from 11-21-2008

Friday, November 21, 2008

Atlantic Hockey
Holy Cross 1 at American Int'l 5
Army 2 at Mercyhurst 6
RIT 1 at Connecticut 2
Sacred Heart 1 at Air Force 8
Canisius 3 at Bentley 4

Analysis
Air Force continues to rack up wins against a less than impressive schedule, yet the pundits are impressed. Next weekend we will know if Air Force is a paper tiger or a legit team when they face Denver University Pioneers and the Colorado College Tigers.

CCHA
Michigan State 1 at Nebraska-Omaha 7
Ohio State 1 at Northern Michigan 3
Alaska 3 at Ferris State 2
Michigan 0 at Miami 2
Bowling Green 1 at Notre Dame 5

Analysis
Michigan State is 0-5-1 in their last six games. Michigan is down this season as well, going 3-3 in their last 6 games. The Blog that Yost Built gives us a few reasons why. Miami continues to win and is leading the CCHA of course they have played 11 games as well.

CHA
Bemidji State 1 at Niagara 3

Analysis
Tough season for the Bemidji State University Beavers.

EZAC
Dartmouth 1 at Colgate 0
Princeton 2 at St. Lawrence 1
Harvard 1 at Cornell 2
Quinnipiac 4 at Clarkson 2

Analysis
Princeton continues to be out shot by their opponents as the Tigers goalie Zane Kalemba stands on his head. Cornell continues to win.

Hockey East
Providence 1 at Mass.-Lowell 6
Merrimack 1 at Maine 2
Massachusetts 0 at Boston College 2
New Hampshire 2 at Northeastern 3
Vermont 4 at Boston University 3

Analysis
The Hockey East is class of Division one hockey in the first half of the season. Northeastern and Boston College win again.

WCHA
Wisconsin 2 at St. Cloud State 6
Minnesota State 3 at Michigan Tech 2 ot
Colorado College 2 at Alaska-Anchorage 4
North Dakota 2 at Minnesota-Duluth 2 ot
Minnesota 5 at Denver 2

Analysis
Minnesota dismantles Denver University (boo) as the Gophers continue to play good hockey one has to wonder if they are peaking already? UAA shocks the Tigers in Anchorage. SCSU whoops the Badgers in the Concrete center.

Non-Conference
Alabama-Huntsville 1 at Yale 0
Robert Morris 1 at Lake Superior 3

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

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1st Period (20:00)
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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

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2nd Period (20:00)
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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

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3rd Period (20:00)
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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

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Overtime (5:00)
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End of Game

Lines for tonights game.

Brad Elliott Schlossman has the lines for tonights game post. Kozek and Trupp in, Martens and Davidson out of the line up. Come one Sioux lets kick some Bulldog ass.

UND's lines

16 Ryan Duncan--29 Chris VandeVelde--26 Brett Hextall
10 Andrew Kozek--11 Darcy Zajac--20 Matt Watkins
17 Jason Gregoire--19 Evan Trupp--21 Matt Frattin
9 Mario Lamoureux--22 Brad Malone--18 David Toews

3 Derrick LaPoint--5 Chay Genoway
6 Zach Jones--25 Jake Marto
24 Ben Blood--14 Brad Miller

31 Brad Eidsness
30 Aaron Walski

Duluth's lines

22 Mike Connolly--18 MacGregor Sharp--19 Nick Kemp
20 Andrew Carroll--12 Jack Connolly--10 Michael Gergen
23 Jordan Fulton--7 Drew Akins--37 Justin Fontaine
16 Matt Greer--13 Travis Oleksuk--11 Kyle Schmidt

17 Josh Meyers--24 Mike Montgomery
4 Evan Oberg--54 Trent Palm
14 Jay Cascalenda--26 Chad Huttel

32 Alex Stalock
30 Brady Hjelle
1 Kenny Reiter

Barely Legal. (UAA Recruit)

The early verbal commitments from really young hockey players keep on coming. This isn't a slam on UAA, as they get a verbal commitment from a kid that just turned 16. Make that TODAY. Wow... I wonder if they will start giving verbal from in Junior High (7th, 8th and 9th grade) next?

According to Chris Heisenberg’s reliable 2009 college hockey recruiting site, the Seawolves have a commitment from Sam Mellor of the Kimberley Dynamiters (great name) in the British Columbia-based Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Mellor turns 16 today.

Michael Komisarek vs Milan Lucic

I just got to watch this game between the Bruins and the Canadians (I was heading to the deer camp and didn't get to see it live) and if this game and fight doesn't fire Bruins fans up you have to be dead. Lucic is animal and he works former Michigan Star Michael Komisarek over. I guess next time Komisarek won't be so quick to challenged Lucic to a fight.

Friday Linkorama...

Last weekend UND's 3-1 win over UAA was a game of firsts.

• There were plenty of firsts to be had last Saturday when North Dakota beat Alaska Anchorage 3-1 in the fourth consecutive weekend split for the Sioux. Sophomores Brad Malone and Matt Frattin each scored for NoDak, snapping a pair of notable droughts in the process. Frattin hadn’t scored in 14 games, while Malone had gone 32 games since last lighting the lamp. There were also special teams milestones, as Malone’s goal was the first shortie of his career, and Frattin’s goal was the first power-play goal of his career.

This could be seen as a play on words Maine's Darling was suspended for a “violation of team rules.” I guess Scott isn't going to be the darling of the Maine Black Bears anymore eh? Actually, Scott Darling has been nothing short of awesome in the net this season for the Black Bears so his absence will probably hurt the Maine Black Bears tonight.

Lets put this feat into perspective it is an understatement to say that the Fighting Sioux hockey players can eat. Joe Finley ate an unprecedented 50 wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. That is a lot of red meat folks.

Jones no light weight himself, can put down 6 soft shells from the Red Pepper. I might have to try that.


This weekend's match up
No. 20 North Dakota @ Minnesota Duluth
Overall Records: UND — 4-6-0 (4-4-0 WCHA). UMD — 4-4-3 (1-4-2 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 128-70-8.

I find it hard to believe that Gophers Sophomore goalie Alex Kangas has only had one shutout for his college hockey career. Kangas got his first collegiate shutout last Sunday when he beat the real Huskies 3-0.

According to Maverick Hockey Luv super pest and former Purple Cow hockey player John Kalinski will be making his NHL debute against the Buffalo Sabres. Maybe Drew Stafford can welcome him to the NHL?

Wisconsin and UMD highlights

Here is some highlights (Low lights if your a Bulldog fan)from last Saturday night's game between the Wisconsin BADgers and the UMD Bulldogs. I would imagine when the Sioux play the Bulldogs this weekend we will not see this Alex Stalock. Stalock is a good goaltender and the Sioux better be ready to play.

INCH CHAT...

In case you haven't seen it yet here is the latest from the INCH/ESPN chat.

UND in SLP, St. Louis Park, MN: How important is it for Joe Finley to get back into the Sioux lineup? Barring any assumptions about a second half revival, what will it take for UND to begin pressing the upstart gophers for the top spot in the WCHA?

Jess Myers: Since the biggest question mark for the Sioux in the preseason was goaltending, and because goaltending has proven to be a real problem in some of the games where they've struggled thus far, I see the return of a shut-down defenseman like Finley as vitally important for the Sioux defense. For them to press the Gophers for the top spot, or to even press for a top-five spot, North Dakota is going to need a more consistent every-game effort, unlike their recent play, when they look like completely different teams (some good, some bad) from night to night.

You kind of wonder if Jess Meyers is just saying these silly ridiculous things to get a rise out of Sioux fans? You almost have to wonder if Jess is lonely and wants Sioux fans to send him nasty emails? Please don't send objectionable emails so Jess thinks Sioux fans are a bunch of blood thirsty, knuckle dragging, rabid fans. We can respectfully disagree with him. (I am rolling my eyes)

Just for the record the talent on this years Sioux team compared to 2001-2002 isn't even close. This guy clown is supposed to be the WCHA expert for INCH? The 2000-2001 team was decimated by graduation and lost many key members of its team (Karl Geohring, Wes Dorey, Bryan Lundbohm, Trevor Hammer, Jeff Panzer). The 2001-2002 team was a shell of the team that finished second over all in the NCAA Frozen Four. My question to Jess is; how many games has Jess watched of the Sioux this season? Nothing like flying under the radar folks.

William (Atlanta, GA): The Sioux always seem to start slow (.500 in the winter the last few seasons), then seem to turn on the jets to finnish strong enough for four straight frozen fours. Do you guys forsee the same second half turn around and if not what do they need to do to turn it around this season?

Jess Myers: Interesting that the sioux and Alaska Anchorage split last weekend, as those two teams seem to always be around .500 at the holidays, and then go in polar opposite directions. I don't foresee as big a second-half push by North Dakota this season for some reason. Something just doesn't feel right. I'm reminded of the 2001-02 NoDak team that had no good reason to struggle, but did anyway. These Sioux have some talent, are struggling for some reason.

Check out this question. LOL, Air Force as a frozen four participant. Please! The Air Force Falcons have a nice record by they haven't played ANYONE that is good. Not one team has a winning record. Talk about choking on cup cakes and a couple of the these guys have them penciled as a possible participant in the Frozen Four. They will be lucky to get through their first game in the regional. Same with Princeton.

Yeah, I would love to make some bets with these guys. I do think that B.C., BU and Minnesota are the top teams right now.

Shad (Alexandria, MN): I know it's early but just for fun who do you have in the frozen four this year?

Joe Gladziszewski: Oh good ... this question already. Let's throw it around the horn ...

Jess Myers: Making predictions like these before Thanksgiving are guaranteed to make you look and feel foolish somewhere down the line. But if the Frozen Four were being held this weekend, I think the four teams vying to get an audience with President Obama would be Boston University, Denver, Notre Dame and New Hampshire, with Air Force as my favorite dark horse.

Jeff Howe: I'll go with BU, BC, Air Force and Colorado College.

Mike Eidelbes: Put me down for Boston College, Boston University, Minnesota, and Notre Dame ... for now.

Joe Gladziszewski: ... and I'll start with Minnesota and Denver, gimme Notre Dame, and sure -- Princeton.

Weekend Pontifications... (Sioux7)

This week we have another full slate of WCHA games, 5-series, you know it doesn't happen that often.


Wisconsin (4-4-2) at #17 St. Cloud (2-3-0)
This is a match between the team that has played the most league games, 10 (UW) and the team that has played the least league games, 5 (SCSU). With SCSU being 6 points back of UW and having 5 games in hand, this is more important for UW to win this series. However, UW has boldly denied my picks of them losing series the last two weeks. Thus, the odds should be in my favor this week (the key word there is SHOULD). The Huskies shocked a lot of us last weekend by sweeping the Pioneers. Have these dogs stopped barking and started biting? I say yes, and they will bite the Badgers this weekend. Huskies sweep. Good doggie :)


#3 Colorado (5-2-1) at Alaska Anchorage (3-3-2)
The Tigers are a good team, but again I don't think they are as good on the road as at home. And lets face it, Alaska is far away from their home. Plus the Seawolves are proving to be a mediocre team this season, so far, I didn't see them doing this well at this point. I say all the animal lovers will like this prediction, the cats win one and the dogs win one, splitsville. Mediocrity says, "welcome Anchorage."


#20 North Dakota (4-4-0) at Minnesota-Duluth (1-4-2)
The Sioux outshot UAA both games last weekend, and didn't surrender a power play goal, but still ended up with a split...UMD gave up 2ppg, 1 each night, and was outshot on last Saturday. UND is averaging 2.75goals/game and UMD is at 2.14g/g. The Bulldogs have been gracious hosts to the Sioux are 8-1-1 their last 10 games at the DECC, the loss was in Dec. 2004. In keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition, I think the Bulldogs will give the Sioux what they want, their continue good run at the DECC, Sioux sweep. Thanks you Bulldogs for being such good hosts :)


#1 Minnesota (5-0-3) at #10 Denver (4-3-1)
Denver need some points this weekend to solidify their spot in the top of the league, after getting swept last weekend. The Gophers were lucky, some say good, to escape last weekend at home with 3pts, from MTU. MTU outshot UM on Sunday, 38 to 27, and carried the play for a good portion of the time. A sweep by DU puts UM pack to reality and back into the WCHA mix-up for the top five spots. I say the Pioneers end up with a new hat, and it's not a coon skin hat either, wink wink, nudge nudge, DU sweeps.


#11 Minnesota State (3-3-2) at Michigan Tech (1-6-1)
The Tech-sters deserve better after seeing those games last weekend (I saw MeanEGirl on TV). However, the Mavericks might have something to say about that. MSUM is in middle of the pack right now and would like to move up, and MTU wants to move out of the lonely basement. Both teams have given up 24goals this WCHA season, but MTU has only scored 11 compared to MSUM's 26. Sorry to say but I like the team that is scoring 3.25 goals per game to win this series. Mavericks sweep the Huskies. Ooh, poor doggies, would you like some treats...