The Guillaume Latendresse for Benoit Pouliot trade

In another blog post I looked at the trade between the Wild and the Habs, (Guillaume Letendress for Benoit Pouliot), at first I thought it was a one sided deal, however, it would appear that both players Guillaume Latendress and Benoit Pouliot have had an resurgence in their hockey careers and are helping both of their respective teams.

Last night the Wild played and beat the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3. The Wild victory was fueled a possessed Guillamume Latendresse who led the charge with (1g-3a-4pts). Latendresse is really on a roll, in the last four games he is (4g-5a-8pts)

Incidentally, the guy the Wild traded to the Montreal Canadians to get Latendresse, former Wild player Benoit Pouliot has only scored 4 goals in 9 games. Latendresse surpassed Pouliot's production with the Habs in three periods of hockey. Not hard to see who got the best of that deal?

Since moving over the Montreal Canadians Benoit Pouliot has recorded (8g-1a-9tps) in 13 games. On the other side of the trade Guillaume Latendresse (13g-6a-19pts) in 26 games for the Minnesota Wild. It would appear that the trade is working out for both teams.

On Wednesday I was watching the Habs and the Blues play on my television and I couldn’t believe what I saw, Pouliout scored two goals. It was like Benoit Pouliot was a different player, energized by moving to the Canadians.
[props]

Carcillo proves he is a hack

I know why Gabby dropped his gloves because he probably saw this one sided exchange that Matt Bradley had with uber hack Daniel Carcillo. I don't blame the Ranger coach at all for being upset.

PHILADELPHIA -- Dan Carcillo's bloody knuckles came at the expense of an unlikely victim.

Ray Emery made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season, and James van Riemsdyk and Mike Richards scored in the Philadelphia Flyers' 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

But Carcillo's fight against Rangers star Marian Gaborik overshadowed another strong effort by the resurgent Flyers.

Rangers coach John Tortorella was furious that Philadelphia's enforcer went after his best player and sarcastically called Carcillo "a brave guy."

"There's no honour in that," Tortorella said. "I don't play the game, I don't wear the uniform, I don't want to say too much about it, but there's simply no honour in that."

Carcillo floored Gaborik with a hard uppercut early in the second period after the two-time all-star surprisingly dropped his gloves first.

"I didn't really expect to fight who I fought, but it kind of worked out," Carcillo said. "I don't know who on that line would have been able to help him though. I wasn't expecting him to drop his gloves, but when he did, I pretty much was licking my chops."
[TSN.COM]

Press conference and coaches show.

Click here to listen to the Fighting Sioux coaches show. I guess I would call this week’s Fighting Sioux coaches show was interesting because Chay Genoway filled in for the coaches who were missing in action.

Chay Genoway filled in for the coaches. First thing that stuck out was that Chay Genoway was recruited by Cornell. Cornell has a lot of players from out west. Chay said that he played against the Nash Brothers and some of the other guys on the team.

Chay was asked if he was recruited to Michigan Tech. Chay said, no he wasn’t recruited by Tech. Tim or Chay didn’t know of anyone on the team or recently who was recruited by Tech.

Chay says still struggling with a lot of things, doesn’t feel like it’s getting much better, the systems have lightened up a bit. Chay really hasn’t thought about a medical red shirt, but there will a time when they come a point, where they might consider it, it’s coming up on ten weeks since he has last played (2 ½ months). Chay, said that we haven’t jumped any conclusions will just trying to get better. Chay really hasn’t looked into the details of it of medical redshirt but has been told he might be eligible.

Weekend Match Ups (by Sioux 7)

If someone would have said UMD would have been on top of the WCHA with ten games to go at the beginning of the season, I would’ve said, “Is that a type-o, don’t you mean UND?” We have to hand it to the Bulldogs they have been a good solid team this year, and are taking advantage of their league schedule (they play MTU, MSUM, & UND 4 games, all are currently in the bottom half of the league).

The playoff picture is starting to take shape, it looks like both UMD and DU will get home ice, and MSUM and MTU will be on the road.

The interesting thing I noticed in the standings is that 6th place UND has a winning record and 7th place Minnesota has a .500 record. If certain games go a certain way, you could see only 6 points separate the top 7 teams in the league, talk about what could be a pile up in the standings.

The WCHA now has 5 out of the top 7 spots in the USCHO poll this week, or 6 out of the top 12, or if you count BSU, then there would be 7 out of the top 14. The pollsters really seem to love the dub.

WCHA STANDINGS

TEAM…………………GP.…W-L-T….PTS
1 Minnesota-Duluth….18….12-5-1..…25
2 Denver……………....16….10-3-3..…23
3 Colorado College…..18…..9-6-3……21
4 St. Cloud State……..16…..9-5-2……20
4 Wisconsin…………..16…..9-5-2……20
6 North Dakota……….18…..8-7-3……19
7 Minnesota…………..16…..7-7-2……16
8 Alaska-Anchorage…18.….6-11-1….13
9 Minnesota State…….18….5-12-1….11
10 Michigan Tech…….18.....2-16-0…..4

WCHA

#7 Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage
Last week the Tigers split at home against the Badgers, and the Seawolves swept the MTU Huskies in Houghton.

Back around Thanksgiving these teams split a pair in Colorado Springs. The Seawolves are 2-1-1 in their last four WCHA games and the Tigers are 1-3-0 over that same stretch. The boys from Up North are looking to move into contention for home ice by extending their current winning streak, and the CC Tigers need some points to stay in the top five. Are we now seeing the CC team, which many of us predicted to finish in the bottom half of the league? The Tigers gave up 10 goals last weekend, seeing that, they were lucky to get a split. CC needs to limit their opponents scoring, if they want to win some more games. The boys from UAA look to be playing their best hockey of the year right now, a sweep of cellar-dwell MTU, and a tie and one goal lose to DU, in their last outings. I like the Seawolves at home to take some points this weekend. SEAWOLVES 3PTS.

Minnesota away/home #12 St. Cloud State
Last week the Gophers got 3 points at home against the Sioux, and the Huskies swept Quinnipiac on in Connecticut.

Have the Gophers finally righted their ship? This weekend is another big test for them, the Huskies were my pre-season dark horse of the league and they are quietly sneaking up the standings. SCSU is just five points out of first with two games in hand on UMD. I like the way the Huskies are playing right now they are H.O.T. winning 6 in a row and are 9-1-1 in their last 11 games. The Gophers set a record on Saturday scoring goals 7 seconds apart. However, the Gophers were outshot and had fewer scoring chances than the Sioux, but did get some “puck luck” as it were. I’m going with the Huskies in this series, SCSU SWEEP.

#1 Denver at #3 Wisconsin
Last weekend the Pioneers were enjoying a bye-week, and the Badgers split with the Tigers in Colorado.

DU has really owned the Badgers in Madison the past six years. The last time the Badgers beat the Pioneers in Madison was Friday October 30, 2004. DU won the next night (Halloween), and has won their last 7 games in the Kohl Center. The Pioneers are three points ahead of Bucky right now in the standings and both teams will want to get some points to secure their spots for home ice. The Pioneers are starting a tough road stretch, next week they are on the road again at “their real rival North Dakota” according to a DU hockey player.
Both teams are playing well right now and I’m going to take the easy way out and call this series a SPLIT.

Non-Conference

#4 Minnesota-Duluth at/home #14 Bemidji State
Last week the Bulldogs swept the Mavericks in Mankato, and the Beavers split at fellow CHA member Niagara.

This should be an entertaining series between two highly ranked teams, and soon to be league foes. It looks be the Bulldogs are trying to send the DECC out with style and a WCHA title this year. I haven’t been to the DECC in a few years but it was a fun building to watch hockey in and I’m sure it will be missed by the faithful UMD fans. I’m looking at the big picture in this non-conference home-and-home series. I’m taking the WCHA here, BULLDOGS SWEEP.

#5 North Dakota at #9 Cornell
Last week the Sioux got a point playing the Gophers, and the Big Red beat Clarkson and tied St. Lawrence.

The Sioux are in the second half of the season and will be looking to get some wins this weekend to start their “second half run” which they have done every year since Hakstol took over as coach. However, is this the year that streak comes to an end? Does UND start calling this a rebuilding year, if they don’t get a win or two this weekend. The Sioux do have 10 freshmen on the team this season. The other issue in Grand Forks has been the injury bug, Genoway has been out since mid November (concussion), Zajac was out for a month but is back now (hernia surgery), Hextall is out for what sounds like another month (leg injury), Knight was out last weekend… I’ll say this when the Gopher fans started to cheer “over-rated” last Saturday, I would have to agree with them. If UND is the 4th best team in college hockey, that doesn’t say much for the state of hockey as a whole. I’m not making excuses, but if I wanted too, there would be a couple to choose from. Okay, enough of my whining about the Sioux.

I’ve never been impressed with teams from the ECAC (Goon is not impressed with ECAC teams either…) even when they are ranked. I have to look at the big picture and go with WCHA in this match up, SIOUX SWEEP.

OFF – BY WEEK
Minnesota State University Mankato Mavericks
Michigan Tech University Huskies

UND still Fighting Sioux for now.

The Fighting Sioux nickname will stay for now.

GRAND FORKS - The state Board of Higher Education voted 5-3 today to keep the status quo with the Fighting Sioux nickname while an appeal is pending.

The board also directed its attorney to request an expedited hearing with the Supreme Court.

Board member Grant Shaft of Grand Forks said although the appeal does not prevent the board from directing UND to retire the nickname, he thinks it is appropriate to wait for the legal matter to be resolved.

Board member Mike Haugen of Fargo argued for directing UND to begin retiring the nickname.

"I don't see it in 10 months being any different than today," Haugen said.

Prior to the vote, UND President Bob Kelley and Athletic Director Brian Faison told board members a resolution is vital for the university to pursue membership in the Summit League.

Board members Shaft, Sue Andrews, Claus Lembke, Jon Jackson and Duaine Espegard supported the motion.

Members Mike Haugen, Minot State University , Rachelle Hadland, NDSU Student and President Richie Smith, Creighton University opposed it.

Does this sound familiar?

I saw a link to this article over on Maverick Puck. Sound Familier? Seems like the UNO Mavericks are having some of the same issues.

“We’re real close,” UNO coach Dean Blais said of his squad. “But we can’t be satisfied with just being close. We’ve got to be team-hungry. We’ve got to do everything a little bit better in practice. We’ve got to be better on the power play, and we’ve just got to be a little bit better in everything we do.”
[WORLD-HERALD]

Changes coming to the 'Final Five'?

Todd D. Milewski looks at the Final Five and what might happen next season. I don't mind the idea of keeping the tourney at five games, albeit now there will probably be two games on Thursday and only one on Saturday. I am also would not be opposed to the WCHA deciding to go ahead and making the it a Final Six or Super Six (6 teams, 6 games), this would allow them to play two games each day. Money drives college hockey and the league could make a little extra money for its member schools. Of course some of the teams wouldn't want to play a third place game. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It appears that the postseason will include all 12 teams once the WCHA expands to include Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha next season. That would push six teams to the league’s playoff championship and require a reformatting of the three-day tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Currently, the Final Five includes five games — a play-in contest Thursday night, two semifinals on Friday, a third-place game Saturday afternoon and the title game Saturday night.

The leading thought out of the meeting, the source said, was that the league could still use the Final Five title with a simple redefinition — five games, instead of five teams.

The third-place game has long been a source of contention in the league. While that game can be important — winning the 2006 version gave Wisconsin the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament over Minnesota, which it defeated — it also has been detrimental to some.

In 17 years of the Final Five, the consolation game loser has made the NCAA tournament 10 times. Seven times — including the last four years — that team has lost its first NCAA game.

The third-place game is important to the league’s coffers however, because it is a separate ticket that provides revenue, and therefore the league is reluctant to give it up.

Having six teams involved would allow the WCHA to keep a five-game format — two play-in games Thursday involving the teams seeded third through sixth, two semifinals Friday and the championship game Saturday — and please a vocal group of coaches by dumping the consolation game.
[Read the rest of the article]:

With the Final Five now becoming the Final six it’s time to kill the Minnesota rule, enough is enough. The Final Five is in the Gophers back yard and if they can’t take time off from work or school to see their favorite team play in the afternoon game that their tough luck. Last year proved that even with the Gophers only playing one game the tourney was attended well. I also believe that the “Minnesota Rule” is an unfair advantage; a team should play where they’re supposed to play. If the Golden Boys are supposed to play in the 2:00 pm game than I like other fans feel that is where they should play.

— Whether Minnesota would automatically be assigned to the night game on Thursday and Friday (if it is still alive in the tournament) to maximize local ticket sales. The so-called “Minnesota rule” currently sets the Gophers up with the prime-time semifinal spot, even if it causes the Thursday night winner to play Friday afternoon

Cross Posted on the Sin Bin.

Andy Sutton suspended two games.

Former Michigan Tech Huskie Andy Sutton was given a two game suspension for planting former Wild Pascal Dupuis into the boards. [Note: not a pretty video] Just for the record I don't think Andy Sutton isn't a dirty player, he has only been suspended one other time by the NHL from what I have seen.

TORONTO – New York Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton has been suspended for two games, without pay, for an incident in NHL game #738 against Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis, Tuesday night, the National Hockey League announced today.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and based on his average annual salary, Sutton will forfeit $31,088.08. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Sutton was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding at 17:05 of the third period. Dupuis was injured on the play.

Sutton will miss Thursday's game against Florida and Jan. 23 against New Jersey. He will be eligible to return Jan. 26 against Washington.

Fighting Sioux Nickname Issue Remains Unsettled

I found this article perusing the Ithaca Journal, what I found interesting was this article even made the New York Times. The more I read into the article the more I think Tom Douple, comments that the university would not be considered for admission until it found a solution that made the N.C.A.A. happy. I interpret these comments to mean that the solution that makes the NCAA happy is UND no longer being called the Fighting Sioux.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Some University of North Dakota officials were hoping that a long-running dispute over the university’s Fighting Sioux nickname would be settled this week. Now it appears it could continue for several months.

A state judge ruled last month that the North Dakota Board of Higher Education has the power to drop the Fighting Sioux nickname before a November deadline set as part of a settlement with the N.C.A.A. The board scheduled a meeting this week to officially retire the moniker. But Patrick Morley, the lawyer for a Spirit Lake Sioux group that sued to keep the nickname, filed an appeal late Friday to the state Supreme Court.

North Dakota officials are hoping to get their teams into the Summit League, but the conference president, Tom Douple, said the university would not be considered for admission until it found a solution that made the N.C.A.A. happy.

The nickname issue has been debated since the 1990s. Nearly five years ago, North Dakota was placed on a list of universities the N.C.A.A. deemed to have “hostile or abusive” American Indian nicknames or logos. North Dakota is the only college on that list that has not changed the name or logo or been granted a waiver to keep them.

The Spirit Lake group and other nickname supporters hope a delay will give North Dakota a chance to get approval from the state’s two namesake tribes. A referendum last April on the Spirit Lake Sioux reservation gave overwhelming support for the nickname, but the Standing Rock Sioux tribal council has opposed it, and the tribe has not scheduled a referendum.

Tenative 2010-2011 UND hockey schedule

Brad has the tenative Fighting Sioux hockey schedule for next season. The first three series of the year will be on the road. Looks like no holiday tourney but a series against the ND Fighting Irish on Thanksgiving weekend. Next season we will have 4 games against UNO, BSU, SCSU. 20 games at home next season counting the game against Manitoba and the U-18 team.

Oct. 3 -- MANITOBA (exh)
Oct. 8-9 -- Nye Classic in Anchorage (vs. UAA and UAF)
Oct. 15-16 -- at Bemidji State
Oct. 22-23 -- at Maine
Oct. 29-30 -- DENVER
Nov. 5-6 -- DULUTH
Nov. 12-13 -- at Wisconsin
Nov. 19-20 -- at Omaha
Nov. 26-27 -- NOTRE DAME
Dec. 3-4 -- ST. CLOUD STATE
Dec. 10-11 -- at Mankato
Dec. 18 -- U.S. UNDER 18
Dec. 30 -- at Duluth (Hall of Fame Game)
Jan. 7-8 -- ROBERT MORRIS
Jan. 14-15 -- MINNESOTA
Jan. 21-22 -- OMAHA
Jan. 28-29 -- at Colorado College
Feb. 11-12 -- ANCHORAGE
Feb. 18-19 -- at St. Cloud State
Feb. 25-26 -- BEMIDJI STATE
March 4-5 -- at Michigan Tech

UND and Cornell

Check out what Coach Hakstol had to say about this weekend's game against the Big Red from Cornell.

Here is what I took from the interview; Coach Hakstol is basically challenging his team that now is the time to put the lessons learned to heart and start putting it all together. I also detect a little urgency in Coach Hakstol’s voice that wasn’t there earlier in the season.

#5 North Dakota vs #9 Cornell
•RADIO: 96.1 The Fox (KQHT-FM)
•TV: Time Warner Sports (N.Y. only)
•WEBCAST & LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com/Showcase •AUDIO: FightingSioux.com
•MEDIA INFORMATION: All Fighting Sioux men's hockey games, home and away, can be heard on 96.1 FM (The Fox) and on stations across the Fighting Sioux Hockey Network. Veteran broadcaster Tim Hennessy is in his 30th season as the voice of the Fighting Sioux.

Friday night's game will be televised live locally on Time Warner Cable Sports in New York. No further TV coverage has been announced as of Tuesday morning.

A video webcast of this weekend's games can be purchased at CornellBigRed.com. FREE live audio is available at FightingSioux.com and FREE live stats are available at CornellBigRed.com.

Nazem Kadri vs Tyler Cuma

Here is Minnesota Wild's prospect Tyler Cuma fighting Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nazem Kari. Kari was part of the second place Canadian WJC team.

Petr Sykora and Robbie Earl put on waivers.

I have to admit that this really chaps my ass. I was hoping they would put the waste of a uniform James Sheppard on waviers. Robbie Earl had played in 13 games and scored more goals than James Sheppard.

The Minnesota Wild have placed Petr Sykora on waivers, meaning any club can claim the veteran forward prior to Noon et on Wednesday.

The 33-year old has had an injury-riddled season since signing with the Wild as an unrestricted free agent last summer. In 14 games, he has compiled two goals and one assist but has missed a total of 29 games with groin and concussion issues.

Sykora began his NHL career with New Jersey in 1995-96 and has also played for Anaheim, the New York Rangers, Edmonton, and Pittsburgh. He won Stanley Cups with the Devils in 1999-2000 and last season with the Penguins.

If Sykora is not claimed, Minnesota can send him to the minors or place him on re-entry waivers where he could be claimed at half the price of his contract.

The Wild also placed forward Robbie Earl on waivers on Tuesday. The 24-year old has divided his time this season between Minnesota and Houston (AHL), and posted three goals in 13 games with the Wild.
[TSN]

UPDATE: Per Russo's Rants, Veteran Petr Sykora and winger Robbie Earl cleared waivers this morning [Link]

CCHA killing the shoot out?

Here is something that I found interesting. CCHA is thinking of dismantling the shoot out because no one else is currently using them. I thought the NCAA was mandating breaking ties in the future? Personally, I find the shoot out to be exciting and would like to see the NCAA/WCHA break ties that way.

Also, this doesn’t appear to be good news for UAH. I can’t imagine the scheduling nightmare with an 11 team league. Cue the Big Ten Hockey Conference discussion again?

Shootouts out?
Anastos says the future of CCHA shootouts will be discussed in offseason meetings. They could be eliminated, since the rest of the NCAA schools are not using them. The CCHA also must decide whether to keep using four officials for financial reasons, and he doubts another school will be added with Nebraska-Omaha leaving for the WCHA.[Lansing State Journal]

Cormier suspended indefinitely

I think this is the right decision to suspend Cormier indefinately and I hope they throw the book at this guy for his dirty hit on Mikael Tam. I would not be surprised if there will be legal charges against Cormier as well.

MONTREAL -- Junior hockey was making sense of another head-hunting incident Monday after Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts was sent to hospital by an elbow from Rouyn-Noranda centre Patrice Cormier, who captained Canada at the recent world junior hockey championship.

Cormier caught Tam with an elbow while skating through the neutral zone during overtime of Quebec's 3-2 shootout win at Dave Keon Arena in Rouyn-Noranda on Sunday afternoon.

The 18-year-old defenceman went into convulsions and was taken to hospital after the hit, where he is listed in stable condition with brain trauma and several damaged teeth.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League gave Cormier an indefinite suspension on Monday and will continue to investigate the incident. No timeline was provided on when league disciplinarian Raymond Bolduc will issue a ruling.

The discussion that has everyone up in arms.

This is the video that everyone was talking about on Saturday night. Listening to Collin Campbell speak makes my head spin. The The National Hockey League teams need to think twice about Collin Campbell's employment and get rid of him, he is a disgrace. Refs should not be settling scores with players on the ice. I don't have a problem with refs talking to players they should not be telling them I going to get you.

I guess I don't blame Alain Vigneault for being upset with the way things have unfolded. I guess I expected more from Ron MacLean even though as a Minnesota Wild fan I am not a big fan of Alex Burrows, but what MacLean did is border line character assassination.

Again, I am not a big fan of Burrows but I do believe that a ref would try to settle a score against a player and that I do find Burrows story to be believable. Burrows went about bringing it to light in the wrong way.

Poll Monday

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[January 18, 2010]

1 Denver (39) 14-5-3 989 1
2 Miami (11) 15-4-5 957 2
3 Wisconsin 13-6-3 863 3
4 Minnesota-Duluth 16-7-1 795 10
5 North Dakota 12-7-5 654 4
6 Yale 10-4-3 651 5
7 Colorado College 13-8-3 641 8
8 Ferris State 16-6-2 633 6
9 Cornell 9-4-3 573 9
10 Michigan State 15-7-4 563 7
11 Boston College 12-6-2 554 12
12 St. Cloud State 14-7-3 523 14
13 Union 13-4-5 485 13
14 Bemidji State 15-5-2 435 11
15 Massachusetts 14-8-0 310 19
16 New Hampshire 10-7-4 220 20
17 Vermont 11-7-2 185 18
18 Lake Superior 14-8-4 118 NR
19 Mass.-Lowell 12-9-2 97 15
20 Maine 11-9-2 83 16
Others Receiving Votes: Michigan 52, Quinnipiac 47, Minnesota 30, Alaska 20, Notre Dame 19, St. Lawrence 2, RIT 1

--------------

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Jan. 18, 2010]
1 Denver (24) 14-5-3 500 1
2 Miami University (Ohio) (10) 15-4-5 483 2
3 Wisconsin 13-6-3 420 3
4 Minnesota Duluth 16-7-1 361 10
5 Yale 10-4-3 304 5
6 North Dakota 12-7-5 295 4
7 Cornell 9-4-3 263 8
8 Colorado College 13-8-3 249 9
9 Ferris State 16-6-2 237 7
10 Boston College 12-6-2 232 12
11 Michigan State 15-7-4 214 6
12 St. Cloud State 14-7-3 173 15
13 Union College 13-4-5 158 13
14 Bemidji State 15-5-2 90 11
15 Massachusetts 14-8-0 58 NR
Others receiving votes: University of New Hampshire, 35; University of Massachusetts Lowell, 3; University of Vermont, 3; University of Alaska, 2.

Analysis: Color me surprised. It would appear that the Pollsters have to be taking the loss of Chay Genoway and Brett Hextall injuries into account in their rankings because I honestly believe that UND is really probably about a 10th ranked team and not a 5th or 6th ranked team nationally. Cornell and Yale ranked high again. It will be fun watching one EZAC team make it into the NCAA tourney and watching them go out in their first game, again.

Star Tribune says Gophers swept this weekend?

I thought I would include the evidence before it gets corrected. The Fighting Sioux did manage a tie against the Gophers on Friday night so getting three points in a series is not a sweep, in anyone's book. [Link to the page] I decided to take a picture in case the Gophers beat wrtier decided to change his head line.

Cormier Elbows Mikael Tam

This is the latest ugly incident to mar the hockey world. Team Canada's world junior captain Patrice Cormier (New Jersey Devils draft pick) was ejected from a QMJHL game in overtime when he delivered a head shot to Quebec Remparts defenseman Mikael Tam. Caution this is video is not pretty folks.

You have to imagine that there will be a hefty suspension coming from the QMJHL.

INCH Power Rankings

As always for a good laugh to start your Monday morning off the INCH power rankins. WCHA dominating the top twenty.

1. Denver
2. Miami
3. Wisconsin
4. Minnesota Duluth
5. Cornell
6. Yale
7. North Dakota
8. Michigan State
9. Boston College
10. Colorado College
11. Union 3
12. Ferris State
13. St. Cloud State
14. Bemidji State
15. New Hampshire
16. Massachusetts
17. Lake Superior State
18. UMass Lowell
19. Maine
20. Vermont

Dropped out: Quinnipiac, Alaska
Bubble-licious: Minnesota, Michigan, St. Lawrence

Kovalchuk for a couple of former WCHA players?

As a Bruins fan this trade would go a long way in putting Boston in the elite status. I am all for sending Wheeler and Joe Colborne to Atlanta if it gets Boston a crack at the cup.

Kovalchuk trade bait?

Is Ilya Kovalchuk, who has 323 goals but is minus-86 in his Atlanta career, a better trade rental than Marian Hossa was in 2008 when Pittsburgh got him and got to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final? I don't think so. I may be in the minority, but I think Hossa is a better player (he actually can check) and, in his prime all he fetched was centre Erik Christensen, winger Colby Armstrong, suspect draft pick Angelo Esposito and a 2008 first-round draft pick -stocking stuffers really, although Hossa was 29, and Kovalchuk is only 26, so maybe he'd be worth more.

I still think the Boston Bruins are the short-term destination, although they don't have long-term cap room, because Marc Savard and Kovalchuk have a history from Atlanta, and the Bruins can give up Blake Wheeler, their first-round pick (not the one they got from Toronto for Phil Kessel) and, say, centre Joe Colborne, who is a sophomore at University of Denver.

This might cheer up Sioux fans.

Maybe the Viking's win will put some of us into a better mood after watching that debacle that was last night. This was the one postitive of the weekend for me. Along with the Fighting Sioux, the Wild and Bruins both lost yesterday as well.

*Last night before the Sioux and Gophers game on FSN there was a UND fan wearing a Fighting Sioux Jersey with a Native American head dress on his head. That is not cool; this will not set well with the anti-name crowd and just give more fuel to their argument. I hope someone corrected this guy and told him this isn't cool.

*This past weekend Todd Anderson did a good job of officiating during the series and there were no line brawls or dasher dances. I must say that this is one of the few times I will actually give Anderson credit.

*When the Sioux are out of town and on TV or on webcast I like to read the Chat that is on Brad's blog. Jayson and Brad do a good job running a chat and still covering the game, they are great multi-taskers. Here are a few points that stuck out from the Chat.

----
Schlossman: Man, some people sure jump off the bus fast. UND has a 5 game unbeaten streak end, it's probably not the end of the world. Their last loss here was 6-1 and that team went to the Frozen Four
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Jayson, UND SID: One bad loss does not mean a season is over. In 2004 when DU when the NCAA title, it lost three games to the Sioux by a combined score of 20-5.
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Jayson, UND SID: Of course fans have a right to be frustrated. I'm frustrated too. But it's important to remember that one bad road loss does not mean the season is a write-off.
----
Jayson, UND SID: Perhaps this loss ends up being a turning point for the Sioux, in a positive way. Sports can be funny that way.
----
[UND Hockey Blog]

I must admit that I am frustrated with the Fighting Sioux play as well. After last night's game I was looking at the schedule and since Genoway injury UND has gotten two points from our top rivals, Minnesota 0-1-1 (1 point) DU 0-2 (0 points) Wisconsin 0-1-1 (1 point). That is a record of 0-4-2 that is unimpressive and unacceptable. You can't win a title with results like that.

*Apparently the Gophers beat writer wasn't impressed with the Sioux during last night’s second period. Really! I think its funny how this guy will call out the opposition but didn’t even report Schack the hack's Todd Bertuzzi style attack last year. Yawn!!! I find it hilarious that I can get more credible Gophers hockey info from Cardinal’s GPL weekly columns, Gorg weekly appearances on KFAN or Hammy’s twitter than I can the Gophers hockey beat writer. He is actually paid to do his job that others do better than him. Maybe he should stick to covering woman's volleyball. Thank God the Sioux have Brad. Just for the record I thought that hit was unnecessary. That being said, Cepis should expect to be hit if he is going to over celebrate each and every goal and show up his opponents. The kid in my opinion is a good hockey player but a bit a of a punk.

Then it got ugly. Unaccustomed to trailing 4-0, the Sioux retaliated seconds later. Andrew MacWilliam, a 6-2, 213-pound defenseman, hit Cepis, and the 5-8 junior fell backward. His head hit the ice. [Star and Tribune]

So he had it coming?

For the people that haven't seen this article it really sheds light on the Colin Campbell “wheel of justice” and maybe this will get the ball moving to have Colin Campbell removed at the NHL Senior VP and Director of Hockey Operations. Someone is going to get killed out on the ice under Colin Campbell’s leadership. This is unacceptable, since Cal Clutterbuck is the hits leader in the NHL and hit Sergi Gonchar with a hard hit, which may or may not have been legal (in my opinion it was a legal hit) he deserved to be head hunted? That is what I am getting from this comment. Unfortunately, that is the same kind of leadership we have in the WCHA.

Campbell's comments on NHL Live! -- a weekday radio show on XM Radio and NHL Network -- can be dissected like a frog.

"There's got to be a little bit of passion in the game," Campbell said. "Cal Clutterbuck leads the league, or is close to leading the league, in hits. He hit Gonchar very hard into the boards prior to that -- real hard. It could have been boarding. It could have been charging. It wasn't. So Gonchar, who's been hurt before, knocked out before and suffered a concussion -- he's on the receiving end more than he's on the giving end ... -- he went in and it was a five-minute interference penalty and he hit him with his shoulder."

Campbell proves that the NHL isn't serious about getting rid of head shots.
[Star Tribune]

What kind of logic is this Cal Clutterbuck is the NHL hits leader and has a grand total of 20 penalty minutes in 42 games, so it’s not like he is a dirty player, but since he is the hits leader he has to expect being run once in a while? That is what I deduced from Campbell’s ridiculous statement, Cal Clutterbuck had it coming.
Cross Posted @ The Sin Bin

Gophers 5 Sioux 1

I think this blurb from the Fighting Sioux.com sums tonight game pretty well. Not the Fighting Sioux's night or weekend. Kind of a low point of the season.

MINNEAPOLIS--Minnesota scored three goals in the final 5:09 of the second period, including a pair of goals seven seconds apart, en route to a 5-1 win over the fourth-ranked Fighting Sioux tonight in front of the second-largest crowd in Mariucci Arena history.

The Sioux ran into the "hot goalie" tonight, seems like the Fighting Sioux run into a hot goalie each and every weekend. The Sioux really didn’t play all that bad they put 35 shots on the Gophers net tonight and could only sneak a meaningless goal by in the third period. The Sioux killed themselves with stupid penalties at inopportune times. Players have to stop taking knuckle headed penalties in key points of the game.

The defenseman have to be more smart with the puck, turnovers kill this team each and every week. Chip the puck out of the zone. Don’t count on your goaltender to bail you out, because the goaltending have been absolutely brutal this season. I hate to bag on the goaltender but In my humble opinion I believe that goaltending is the weakest link on this team. Brad Eidseness has to be better if this team is going to win. I don’ t understand it, Eidness stinks up the joint and yet coach Hakstol keeps going back to him. Only think I can figure is that Dell must be hurt or he is not doing well in practice I don’t know what else it could be. Seriously, I wonder why he doesn’t at least get a chance to play, when the starter has stunk up the joint, like he did tonight.

All good teams are back stopped by great goaltenders, unless you can score goals and put teams away. Not this team. Reviewing the game tape in my mind, the first goal was questionable, defense didn't pick up the man. Forward went to the net unchallenged. The second goal, Brad had no clue where the puck was, didn't even see it. On the third goal defense should have been sued for non-support, same with the fourth. On the fifth and final goal, this was grounds for being pulled from the game and sent to the showers. Disgusting effort.

Second Achilles heel this weekend was the power play; UND was 0/9 on the power play this weekend that has to change. I hope finally the guys in that locker room realize that they need to have a team effort from everyone.
[Box score]

Sioux and Gophers lines

Brad Schlossman has the lines up for game two of tonight's game.


UND's lines

17 Jason Gregoire--29 Chris VandeVelde--21 Matt Frattin
19 Evan Trupp--22 Brad Malone--7 Danny Kristo
8 Mike Cichy--11 Darcy Zajac--18 David Toews
13 Brett Bruneteau--9 Mario Lamoureux--27 Carter Rowney

2 Andrew MacWilliam--24 Ben Blood
3 Derrick LaPoint--25 Jake Marto
20 Joe Gleason--4 Corey Fienhage

31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell
[UND Stats]

Minnesota's lines

17 Jacob Cepis--19 Jordan Schroeder--24 Zach Budish
11 Mike Hoeffel--16 Mike Carman--18 Nick Larson
12 Tony Lucia--13 Nico Sacchetti--21 Jake Hansen
23 Josh Birkholz--7 Patrick White--22 Ryan Flynn

5 Nick Leddy--20 David Fischer
10 Aaron Ness--28 Cade Fairchild
2 Kevin Wehrs--4 Seth Helgeson

33 Alex Kangas
35 Kent Patterson
30 Jake Kremer
[Gophers Stats]

Coach Hakstol on "Beyond the Pond"

Coach Hakstol was on "Beyond the Pond" today. [Click here to listen] Coach Dave Hakstol was on from 26:00 to 31 minutes of the second hour of the show.

Coach had a few interesting things to say today on “Beyond the Pond”.

On the WCHA: is a very good league this year from top to bottom. Every game is a war. There are good players on every roster in the league.

On recruiting in Canada: It’s gotten harder to recruit, the CHL is on edge. The CHL has changed the focus of their recruiting. Battle raging as high as it ever has. College Hockey needs to sell the college hockey game. Hiring Paul Kelly was a great choice.

On Ben Blood: Ben shows good poise and is a good solid two way player. We had to accelerate thing with Blood because of the injury to Chay, young defensemen MacWilliam and Blood playing big roles on this team.

On the Power play going 0-4 last night: We have to get pucks to the net. We need to simplify it.

Saturday Morning College Hockey Links.

The Bemidji State University Beavers lost their first conference game last night against the Purple Eagles. The Beavers are not 8-1-0 in conference play. [Bemidji Pioneer] Expect the Beavers to come out firing tonight to get the split.

Miami University RedHawks sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard got a shut out as the Miami RedHakws beat the FSU Bulldogs 4-0 in Big Rapids, Michigan. Cody Reichard now has 6 shutouts in a 1 1/2 seasons with the RedHawks. [Red Hawkey]

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish suffered a serious blow to their playoff chances as their leading scorer Billy Maday suffered a shoulder separation and is expected to be 6-8 weeks. [The College Hockey blog]

The UNO Mavericks are getting very few breaks during their final season in the CCHA. I have to wonder if the Mavericks will get many next season when the Mavericks become a member of the WCHA. [Mavericks Blog]

Tie with Fighting Sioux almost predictable. Check out the comments from Minnesota beat writer? Almost predictable. Yawn! Why even make that comment in your blog? That is bush league if you ask me, and I would expect more from a beat writer that covers a WCHA team. [Goal Gophers]

* The Big Ten Network televised the game and used Don Lucia's daughter, Ali, as an interviewer. I didn't watch the telecast but did see her asking assistant coach John Hill questions between periods. Wonder how many Sioux fans will complain about her?

The UMD Bulldogs beat the MSU-M Mavericks 2-1 in Mankato. The Bulldogs moved into a first place tie with idle Denver University. [Duluth News Tribune]

Cross posted at @ Real Clear Sports

Saturday morning pontifications.

With the tie last night against the Fighting Sioux the Minnesota Gophers are (0-4-3) against UND in their last 7 games. The last thirteen games against the Gophers the Fighting Sioux have an impressive 8-2-3 record.

Not it

Fighting Sioux forward Evan Trupp (0g- 2a-2pts) takes over the team lead in points (5g-15a-20pts), you have to wonder if Trupp is the next one to suffer some form of misfortune. Every time a different player has taken over the lead in team points something bad happened to them or they were unavailable to the team the next game. First it was Chay Genoway, he took over the team lead only to suffer a concussion, Chay has yet to return. Chris VandeVelde briefly took over the team lead in points, suffered an undisclosed injury and was unable to go the next night against UMD. Danny Kristo took over the team lead and then went to the WJC in Saskatoon.

WCHA flexing its muscles

This season the there has been a resurgence of the WCHA in the national polls and rankings. There are currently six WCHA teams in the Pairwise rankings; DU 1, UW 3, UMD 5, UND 6, SCSU 7, C.C. 10. I would not be surprised to see 5-6 teams from the WCHA in the NCAA tourney at the end of the season.

Pylons of the game

For the Gophers defensemen Cade Fairchild and Aaron Ness were a -2 last night against the Sioux.

WCHA leading in PM's?

1 Alaska-Anchorage 21 467 22.24
2 Ferris State 23 484 21.04
3 Canisius 23 468 20.35
4 North Dakota 23 443 19.26
5 Wisconsin 21 395 18.81
6 Michigan Tech 23 420 18.26
7 Minnesota-Duluth 23 416 18.09
8 Miami 23 411 17.87
9 Michigan 23 392 17.04
10 Bowling Green 23 391 17.00

The WCHA has 4 teams sitting in the top ten nationally in penalty minutes.


Scores from this week.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

EZAC
Yale 2 at Harvard 3

Hockey East
Providence 1 at Boston College 4

Non-Conference
Northern Michigan 1 at Michigan Tech 1 ot

Friday, January 15, 2010

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

CCHA
Miami 4 at Ferris State 0
Alaska 0 at Michigan 6
Nebraska-Omaha 1 at Lake Superior 2
Bowling Green 0 at Northern Michigan 6
Michigan State 2 at Notre Dame 5

CHA
Bemidji State 4 at Niagara 6

Alabama-Huntsville 2 at Robert Morris 3

EZAC
Colgate 0 at St. Lawrence 4
Cornell 3 at Clarkson 1

Hockey East
Northeastern 3 at Vermont 1
Maine 1 at Boston College 6
Boston University 1 at Providence 3
Mass.-Lowell 2 at Massachusetts 3

WCHA
North Dakota 3 at Minnesota 3 ot
Wisconsin 4 at Colorado College 0
Minnesota-Duluth 2 at Minnesota State 1
Alaska-Anchorage 6 at Michigan Tech 2

Non-Conference
St. Cloud State 3 at Quinnipiac 1

Exhibition
US Under-18 Team 3 at Ohio State 6

Sioux 3 Gophers 3

I never thought that I would beg to hear the Rug and Wooger on a Hockey broadcast but the Big Ten Networks crew they had for tonight's game was brutal, they didn't have a clue about the game of hockey. Seriously, if you broadcasting a hockey game you have to know the game of hockey. Listening to them was painful. Epic fail for the BTN broadcast crew, these guys were brutal and they get failing marks when it comes to conducting a hockey broadcast. I expect more from the Big Ten Network than this. When Kristo was chopped into the boards by Leddy, that was not a dive, Leddy should have been given a five minute major for his efforts.

Sister kissing in Minneapolis

I thought the Sioux and the Gophers were pretty equal in their play tonight. For the Fighting Sioux I thought their biggest problem was turnovers and the Sioux failed to get puck deep at crucial times. The two goals by Danny Kristo was amazing, the first goal was a laser.

Tomorrow night I think it is imperative that the Sioux defenseman cannot allow a player to just walk in and shoot the puck on net he has to be challenged but the defenseman, everyone needs to carry out their assignments. If you can’t get the puck out of the zone by carrying it out of the ice it must be shot out of the zone.

Tonight while watching the broadcast tonight was one of the few nights that I saw Dave Hakstol show any emotion on the bench, most of the times Coach Hakstol is really stoic and subdued on the bench. There were a few times tonight that I saw him get disgusted with his teams play on the ice, one time I saw him point to the bench in front of him and mouth this is where you’re going to be if you do that again. While I am not disappointed with a tie I know they can do better.

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

NDK-1 Brad Malone (2-Tripping) MIN 0x1 0:51
NDK-2 Andrew MacWilliam (2-Interference) MIN 0x2 8:18
NDK 1 - 0 6x6 Danny Kristo (7) (Evan Trupp, Jake Marto) 15:56
NDK (+): 7,19,25,4,22,G31 MIN (-): 11,18,16,28,10,G33
MIN-1 Jacob Cepis (2-Roughing) NDK 0x1 16:35
NDK-3 Ben Blood (2-Holding) MIN 1x3 20:00

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

MIN 1 - 1 6x5 PP Jordan Schroeder (5) (Zach Budish, Cade Fairchild) 0:53
MIN: 19,24,28,11,17,G33 NDK: 2,3,17,7,G31
MIN 2 - 1 6x6 Patrick White (6) (Ryan Flynn, Cade Fairchild) 2:38
MIN (+): 7,22,28,23,10,G33 NDK (-): 11,8,20,22,18,G31
MIN-2 Jacob Cepis (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x2 6:47
NDK 2 - 2 6x6 Danny Kristo (8) (Joe Gleason, Derrick LaPoint) 13:24
NDK (+): 7,20,3,22,9,G31 MIN (-): 7,18,11,28,10,G33
NDK-4 BENCH (2-Too Many Players) (Served by David Toews) MIN 1x4 18:16
MIN-3 Aaron Ness (2-Hooking) NDK 0x3 19:55

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

NDK 3 - 2 6x6 Brad Malone (6) (Evan Trupp, Derrick LaPoint) 6:37
NDK (+): 22,19,3,7,25,G31 MIN (-): 21,12,13,10,28,G33
MIN 3 - 3 6x6 GT Jacob Cepis (3) (Jordan Schroeder, Zach Budish) 17:56
MIN (+): 17,19,24,20,5,G33 NDK (-): 17,29,21,2,24,G31

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

MIN-4 Nick Leddy (2-Cross

Lines for tonight's game Sioux and Gophers game.

UND hockey beat writer Brad Schlossman has the lines posted for tonight's game. Right now the BTN is replaying the 2002 National Title game. My first impression is non-HD TV sucks.


UND's lines

17 Jason Gregoire--29 Chris VandeVelde--21 Matt Frattin
19 Evan Trupp--22 Brad Malone--7 Danny Kristo
8 Mike Cichy--11 Darcy Zajac--18 David Toews
13 Brett Bruneteau--9 Mario Lamoureux--15 Brent Davidson

2 Andrew MacWilliam--24 Ben Blood
3 Derrick LaPoint--25 Jake Marto
20 Joe Gleason--4 Corey Fienhage

31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell

[Link to the Fighting Sioux stats]

Minnesota's lines

17 Jacob Cepis--19 Jordan Schroeder--24 Zach Budish
11 Mike Hoeffel--16 Mike Carman--18 Nick Larson
12 Tony Lucia--13 Nico Sacchetti--21 Jake Hansen
23 Josh Birkholz--7 Patrick White--22 Ryan Flynn

5 Nick Leddy--20 David Fischer
10 Aaron Ness--28 Cade Fairchild
2 Kevin Wehrs--4 Seth Helgeson

33 Alex Kangas
35 Kent Patterson
30 Jake Kremer
[Link to the Gophers stats]
According to Brad's Twitter refs for tonight's game areeveryone's favorite Todd Anderson and Brad Shepherd.

Mid Friday thoughts.

Check out former DU Pioneer Tyler Bozak's first NHL goal. Tyler Bozak was called up to play on a line with former Bruins and Minnesota Gopher Phil Kessel. Just think Bozak could still be playing in the WCHA scoring goals. Kessel now has points in three straight games after going 12 games and only scoring one goal.



Here is the latest hit (Bobby Ryan Hit On Oscar Moller) that may be reviewed by the NHL. Personally, I don't think there will be an additional penalties on the hit. It looked like a classic text book charge.

Sioux and Gophers

Here is the prediction on the Minnesota and Gopher series from Theresa Spisak. I am going to say split as well because the Gophers aren’t easy to sweep in Mariucci arena and are going to be playing for pride and a WCHA home series. Expect some combination of Jon Campion, Bill Mason, Don Adam, Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd and or Todd Anderson. My bet is Jon Campion and Bill Mason because he will let the teams play hockey. Expect either WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod and head of WCHA officials Greg Shepherd to be in attendance for tonight game.

North Dakota @ Minnesota
Realistically, this series should be a split. However, even though Minnesota seems to be finding the right track, I'm going to go with the theory that UND rocks in the second half. UND sweep. [Read the rest of the article]

Travis Zajac Hot

Former Fighting Sioux forward Travis Zajack is on a tear right now and looks like he is flourishing under Jacques Lemaire defense first approach. The Devils coach wants Travis Zajac to shoot the puck more as well.

Travis Zajac has scored four goals and seven points in his last five games. Zajac broke out last season with 20 goals and 62 points and it looks like those are the kind of numbers you can expect from him going forward

The Oshie bites the home town team Minnesota in the ass with this goal and that was all the Blues needed to beat the Minnesota Wild. Both goaltenders were on their game last night.

Sioux vs Gophers

Some of these pictures should get people thinking about tonight's game between the Sioux and Gophers. Remember folks it's just a game and it's supposed to be fun. Let's not have anymore incident where people end up in the hospital.

Sioux vs GophersSeries Prediction from Stephen Lyngstad aka Gopherz

My mind would like to say that this series is going to be a split, but I'm going to have to say the Gophers get 3 points with a tie tonight and a big win tomorrow. 3-3 Friday, 4-2 (ENG) Saturday.

The homer in me is going to have to say 2 Gopher wins by 2+ goals as we get back on track.

My Brother-in-law's brother Steve Brink said:

5-1 Gophers with an empty net goal

Heard around the rink.

Teemu Selanne had only been back for three games after missing 17 games with left hand injury, is now back on the mend after suffering a broken jaw against the Boston Bruins. Caution the video above is not for the weak of heart. [props]

Jonathan Toews is not know for his fighting ability, threw up in the penalty box after fighting David Backes. Seriously!

After Backes fought Toews, Toews threw up twice in the penalty box.

I mentioned that to Blues enforcer Cam Janssen today and he said, “No way, did he really?”

Derek Armstrong jumped in the conversation and said: “Oh yeah, if you’re not used to it, you’ll throw up. Cam, it would be like you playing 20 minutes in a game . . . you would puke!”

“You had go there, eh?” Janssen said, laughing.
[www.stltoday.com]

Here is what Jacob Cepis said about playing the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Honestly, I am not sure how he would know since he has never played against the Sioux in his college hockey career, and Cepis is a transfer from Bowling Green. I hope the Sioux give him a crash course on the rivalry.

"[The Sioux] are going to want to stick it to you right away," Cepis said, "and they are going to want to bully you around. We got to be ready to battle back."
[Star Tribune]

There was some discussion about the RMU Colonials beating the Miami RedHawks this past weekend and how it was a fluke; however, RMU has played some top teams tough.

Close-but-no-cigar decisions against NCAA heavyweights Ferris State (5-4 in OT), Bemidji State (2-0 including an empty-net goal) and Colorado College (4-3), all of which are ranked in this week’s Top 11 according to USCHO.com, tested that belief but didn’t shake it.

“It does frustrate you,” senior defenseman and RMU captain Dave Cowan said. “Nobody likes to lose, especially the guys on our team as close as we are and as competitive as we are.

“Losing games like that pushes you harder in practice to get better and put you over that hump and eventually win those games. We believe we’re capable of great things and that showed this past weekend.”

The two wins over Miami upped Robert Morris’ record when facing off against ranked teams to 3-6 (the Colonials are 3-7 against teams ranked in this week’s Top 20). [www.rmucolonials.com]

KFAN talks hockey

Ryan Cardinal was on KFAN today with Paul Allen and talked about the Fighting Sioux and Minnesota Gophers series this weekend down in Minneapolis.
[listen to the broadcast here]

PA and Cardinal are on with 16:45 left in the middle hour of the broadcast. A couple of things that caught my attention while UND has been 4th and 6th in the national rankings they are sitting at 9th in the pairwise, I don't know if I am ready to say that UND is an elite team. I think UND is a good team that should make the NCAA tourney if they keep playing consistent. The Fighting Sioux have a lot of potential to make some noise in the national tourney, if they can play consistent.

I also thought I heard Cardinal say that he kind of admires the way UND plays the game, interesting because a lot of Gopher fans I know think they play a rough and tumble goon hockey.

On the UND defense: Joe Finley might have been walked a few times in the Mariucci Arena, but that is history, I believe Andrew MacWilliam is a much better skater than Finley was and plays against all of the top players in the WCHA. While I wasn't a Finley hater by any stretch of the imagination, I think MacWilliam is a better defender than Joe Finley.

Here is a link to the write up that Ryan Cardinal did for Gopher Puck Live.
[Click link to article]

So, while it’s nice that the Gophers have been able to string some wins together and get back above .500 for the first time all season, it should not be lost on fans that they still haven’t shown the ability to consistently beat average to above average teams, and that is all they play the rest of the way, starting with North Dakota this weekend at Mariucci.

So far this season, the Gophers have been awful against good teams, which is why they are facing a big up-hill battle to get home-ice for the WCHA playoffs and making the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is 3-9-1 vs. teams with a winning record, and only 1-5-0 at home in those games. The atmosphere at Mariucci Arena this season has been pretty marginal, due to the team playing at a lower level than they have in years past, but also due to the fact they have played a pretty soft home schedule and, when they’ve played good teams, they’ve been handled by the Denver and Minnesota Duluth’s of the world.

The Sioux came into this season with high expectations despite having 10 freshman on their roster, and got off to a hot start, going 7-1-1, including taking three of four points against the Gophers to start the season in Grand Forks. However, in a 4-2 series-opening victory over St. Cloud State on Nov. 13, SCSU’s Aaron Marvin hit UND defenseman Chay Genoway from behind, with the 6-3, 205 lb. Marvin essentially cross-checking the 5-9, 174 lb. Genoway’s head into the glass. Genoway, who had 10 points in nine games at that point and was likely on pace for a first-team All-American selection, suffered a concussion and hasn’t played since, and his prognosis for the rest of the season is still up in the air.
--------------------------------
From a Minnesota perspective, the Gophers are going to have to hope their improved play of late translates as the speed limit goes (way) up this weekend, as Head Coach Don Lucia likes to say. Between Minnesota’s offensive issues and North Dakota’s defensive prowess, the Gophers hopes to winning this weekend could fall on the shoulders of junior goalie Alex Kangas, who will for sure get the start on Friday, and likely against on Saturday unless the wheels really come off in game one of the series. Kangas has shown the ability in the past to steal games, and he may have to do that more than once during the next few months if this team is going to ascend in the WCHA standings. The Sioux have had Kangas’ number, as he’s just 1-4-1 all-time against the Sioux, and has a save percentage of .854 save percentage in his last three starts against the Sioux, all Gopher losses. Now, four of his five starts have been at Ralph Engelstad Arena, which is a hostile building for any goalie to have to play in.

Weekend Match Ups (by Sioux 7)

Well, 2010 is in full swing and WCHA is entering into the second half of the season. I was surprised by all the sweeps last weekend, and also that UAA almost tied DU twice!

Current WCHA standings

TEAM…………….........GP…W-L-T…PTS
1 Denver………………….16…10-3-3…23
2 Minnesota-Duluth….16…10-5-1…21
3 St. Cloud State……...16…9-5-2…20
4 Colorado College……16…8-5-3…19
5 Wisconsin………………14…8-4-2…18
5 North Dakota…………16…8-6-2…18
7 Minnesota……………..14…6-7-1…13
8 Minnesota State…....16…5-10-1…11
9 Alaska-Anchorage…16…4-11-1…9
10 Michigan Tech……16…2-14-0…4

WCHA

#10 Minnesota-Duluth at Minnesota State
Last week the Bulldogs swept the Tigers at the DECC, and the Mavericks were swept by the Sioux in Grand Forks.

The Bulldogs take to the road this weekend, where they are 3-3-1 this year. The Mavericks return home from GF without any points, and have a 7-4-1 record at the Alltel Center. Back in mid October UMD swept MSUM, but that was 3 months ago and both teams have changed since then. The Mavericks are needing to pick up some points to try and make the top five for home ice, while the Bulldogs are sitting pretty good right now for home ice. UMD could leapfrog DU for the top spot with three or four points, MSUM could move closer to the 5 spot with a sweep. The Mavericks never quit playing last weekend when they got swept, so I expect them to come out this Friday with some resolve in their skating. I’m going to say this series goes the way of a SPLIT.

Alaska-Anchorage at Michigan Tech
Last week the Seawolves got 1 point at Denver and the Huskies got swept at SCSU and tied Northern Michigan on Tuesday.

The Seawolves played excellent against the Pioneers last weekend, and if they have that type of effort this weekend, I see them leaving Houghton with four points. The Huskies have had little to cheer about this season, barring some type of miracle MTU will be on the road in playoffs. In this battle between the 9th and 10th place teams in the league, UAA has lots on the line. If the Seawolves sweep they will be up to 13pts in the standings and 9pts ahead of MTU with 10 league games to go. SEAWOLVES SWEEP.

#4 North Dakota at Minnesota
Last weekend the Sioux swept the Mavericks at the Ralph and the Gophers swept Harvard in Minneapolis.

The Sioux have not lost a game in 2010, the Gophers have only last one game in 2010. To open the WCHA season the Sioux took 3pts from the Gophers in Grand Forks. The Gophers cannot afford to get swept on home ice, if they want any chance of hosting a first round playoff game. The last time UND was at Mariucci was Feb. 1-2, 2008, when they beat and tied the Gophers, in a pair of overtime games. The last time UM beat UND in Mariucci was Jan. 13, 2006. Both teams have plenty of talent on them, but UND has been getting the W’s whereas UM has gotten the L’s. This is a big rivalry for both teams, so you can generally throw the records and everything else the window for that matter. I like my Sioux to take Friday night’s game and the Gophers to rebound on Saturday, SPLIT.

#3 Wisconsin at #8 Colorado College
Last week the Badgers beat the U-18 team, and the Tigers were swept at UMD.

The Tigers are one point ahead of the Badgers in the standings, but CC has played two more games. This is the only series these teams play each other, so there won’t be a rematch, until maybe in the playoffs. UW is 4-3-1 on the road and CC is 7-4-0 at World Arena. CC is on a 3 game losing streak, and only won twice in their last 9 games (2-5-2), and UW is on a 7 game unbeaten streak (5-0-2). The Badgers host Denver next weekend, so hopefully they are focused on this series. I think this is a very critical series for CC, if they get sweep or split, they might not recover and continue to slide down the standings. I have to go with the hot hand and that belongs to UW. BADGERS SWEEP.

NON-CONFERENCE

#14 St. Cloud St. at Quinnipiac
Last week the Huskies swept the other Huskies from MTU. The QU Bobcats lost to fellow ECAC members Rensselaer and Union last weekend.

The Bobcats have a 13-7-1 overall record, and are 8-2-0 at home in Hamden, Conn. QU has lost 4 straight and only have 1 win in their last 8 games. SCSU has an overall record of 12-7-3 and have won 4 in a row, and are 7-1-1 in their last 9 games. Have to go with WCHA in this non conference series. SCSU SWEEP.


BYE – OFF WEEK
#1 Denver Pioneers

Top 100 Skaters (Parise 6th)

From Sports Illustrated, Sean Allen's top 100 forwards, former UND forward Zach Parise is ranked 6th and Jonathan Toews is ranked 26th. The WCHA is well represented.


1. Alex Ovechkin, LW, Was (1)
2. Sidney Crosby, C, Pit (2)
3. Dany Heatley, RW, SJ (3)UW
4. Marian Gaborik, RW, NYR (4)
5. Evgeni Malkin, C, Pit (5)
6. Zach Parise, LW, NJ (6) UND
7. Mike Richards, C, Phi (7)
8. Patrick Marleau, C, SJ (8)
9. Joe Thornton, C, SJ (9)
10. Anze Kopitar, C, LA (11)
11. Henrik Sedin, C, Van (18)
12. Rick Nash, LW, Cls (10)
13. Nicklas Backstrom, C, Was (13)
14. Corey Perry, RW, Anh (14)
15. Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, Atl (15)
16. Jarome Iginla, RW, Cgy (12)
17. Steven Stamkos, C, TB (16)
18. Bobby Ryan, RW, Anh (17)
19. Daniel Sedin, LW, Van (20)
20. Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anh (19)
21. Ryan Malone, LW, TB (21) SCSU
22. Alexander Semin, LW, Was (22)
23. Jeff Carter, C, Phi (23)
24. Patrick Kane, RW, Chi (26)
25. Eric Staal, C, Car (25)
26. Jonathan Toews, C, Chi (31) UND
27. Dustin Penner, LW, Edm (27)
28. Nathan Horton, RW, Fla (29)
29. Brenden Morrow, LW, Dal (30)
30. Pavel Datsyuk, C, Det (24)
31. Marian Hossa, RW, Chi (33)
32. Mike Cammalleri, LW, Mon (32)
33. Brad Richards, C, Dal (35)
34. Scott Hartnell, RW, Phi (34)
35. Ryan Smyth, LW, LA (37)
36. Alexandre Burrows, C, Van (42)
37. Loui Eriksson, LW, Dal (39)
38. Paul Stastny, C, Col (38)DU
39. Mikko Koivu, C, Min (40)
40. Vincent Lecavalier, C, TB (41)
41. Henrik Zetterberg, C, Det (36)
42. John Tavares, C, NYI (43)
43. Brooks Laich, C, Was (44)
44. Olli Jokinen, C, Cgy (45)
45. Martin St. Louis, RW, TB (46)
46. Patrick Sharp, C, Chi (48)
47. Tomas Plekanec, C, Mon (49)
48. Mike Knuble, RW, Was (50)
49. Teemu Selanne, RW, Anh (58)
50. Patrik Elias, LW, NJ (52)
51. Ryan Kesler, C, Van (53)
52. Shane Doan, RW, Pho (54)
53. Tim Connolly, C, Buf (69)
54. Stephen Weiss, C, Fla (64)
55. Milan Hejduk, RW, Col (57)
56. Marc Savard, C, Boston Bruins (28)
57. Travis Zajac, C, NJ (59) UND
59. Phil Kessel, RW, Tor (55)UMN
60. Andrew Brunette, LW, Minnesota Wild (56)
61. Maxim Afinogenov, RW, Atl (62)
62. Martin Havlat, LW, Minnnesota Wild (74)
63. Bill Guerin, RW, Pit (63)
64. Wojtek Wolski, LW, Col (51)
65. Mason Raymond, LW, Van (73)
66. Jason Arnott, C, Nsh (65)
67. Ryane Clowe, RW, SJ (66)
68. Mike Fisher, C, Ott (67)
69. Daniel Alfredsson, RW, Ott (60)
70. Kyle Okposo, RW, NYI (68)UMN
71. Rich Peverley, C, Atl (61)
72. Vaclav Prospal, C, NYR (70)
73. Brian Gionta, RW, Mon (71)
74. James Neal, LW, Dal (72)
75. Steve Downie, RW, TB (86)
76. Mikael Samuelsson, RW, Van (77)
77. Joe Pavelski, C, SJ (78)UW
78. Chris Stewart, RW, Col (83)
79. Niclas Bergfors, RW, NJ (79)
80. Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW, Tor (80)
81. Jamie Langenbrunner, RW, NJ (92)
82. Milan Lucic, LW, Boston Bruins (82)
83. Thomas Vanek, LW, Buf (76)UMN
84. David Backes, C, StL (98)MSU-M
85. Danny Briere, C, Phi (85)
86. Kris Versteeg, RW, Chi (88)
87. Michael Frolik, C, Fla (89)
88. Matt Moulson, LW, NYI (84)
89. Nik Antropov, RW, Atl (91)
90. Rene Bourque, LW, Cgy (95)
91. Brendan Morrison, C, Was (93)
92. Dustin Brown, RW, LA (94)
93. Jarret Stoll, C, LA (96)
94. Derek Roy, C, Buf (97)
95. Troy Brouwer, RW, Chi (99)
96. Todd Bertuzzi, RW, Det (100)
97. Patric Hornqvist, RW, Nsh (NR)
98. Simon Gagne, LW, Phi (NR)
99. Scott Gomez, C, Mon (NR)
100. Jakub Voracek, RW, Cls (NR)

Wednesday night at the fights.

Tonight's Minnesota Wild game was very good hockey game to watch. The Wild beat the Cancucks on the ice 5-2 and in the fights as well. The fight between Alexandre Bolduc and John Scott was really one sided. The Former Huskies defenseman John Scott worked Bolduc like a clown. John Scott even fixed his hair before he started pummeling Bolduc.

Here was the bout between Boogeyman and Darcy Hordichuk. Apparently Hordichuck told Boogaard that his coach made him fight.

According to Boogaard, before the faceoff, Hordichuk told him that "The coach is making US fight you guys.” [Russo's Rants]

It wasn't much of a fight because Hordichuck just basically went after him and didn't let Boogey get a set so he could hit him. Notice when the jersey came over Hordichuck's head Derek stopped fighting him.


The Sheriff Shane Hnidy and Tanner Glass got it on as well. Hnidy all but ripped Glass' jersy off his body. From watching Hnidy during his days with the Boston Bruins, Hnidy is a willing combantant and he will throw em.

Here is what Minnesota Beat Writer Michael Russo had to say about the John Scott beat down of Alexandre Bolduc.

Who's us? Alexandre Bolduc is us. Moments after the fight, Bolduc came up to John Scott and begged Scott to fight him. Huge mistake. Scott beat the living daylights out of him. Honestly, it was scary. The crowd was going nuts. I was scared I'd be covering the making of a vegetable. I don't know what you prove down 5-2, but if it's true Vigneault sent these guys out to fight two of the biggest heavyweights in the NHL, I hope Vigneault feels a tad guilty because he had a front-row seat to the Scott fight.

When it was over, Bolduc had at least a shoulder injury, according to the Canucks writers, and looked like he didn't know if he was on Earth or Mars. Later, Shane Hnidy fought Tanner Glass. [Russo's Rants]