Scores from Saturday, January 8 2011 and links...

AHA
Air Force 2 at Sacred Heart 4
Mercyhurst 9 at Connecticut 4
Niagara 1 at Holy Cross 5
RIT 5 at Army 2

CCHA
Ferris State 3 at Bowling Green 1
Miami 2 at Ohio State 5
Notre Dame 3 at Northern Michigan 1
Michigan State 0 at Michigan 4
Western Michigan 2 at Alaska 0

ECAC
Brown 1 at Dartmouth 3
Clarkson 1 at Union 8
Cornell 3 at Quinnipiac 2 OT
St. Lawrence 3 at Rensselaer 5
Yale 4 at Harvard 2

Hockey East
Maine 1 at Merrimack 7
Boston College 3 at Providence 1
UMass Lowell 1 at Northeastern 3
New Hampshire 3 at Massachusetts 1

WCHA
Michigan Tech 1 at St. Cloud State 5

Nonconference
Bemidji State 3 at Alab-Huntsville 4
American Int'l 2 at Minnesota State 5
Canisius 5 at Wisconsin 6 OT
Robert Morris 1 at North Dakota 2

Exhibition
USA Under-18 Team 1 at Minnesota Duluth 4

From the INCH Chat Friday 7 January.

Matt (Chokio, MN)
Tell me that the Fighting Sioux are not the best team in the nation right now? Yale??? C'mon man I know they have only one loss but look at who they have played!
Joe Gladziszewski--- (2:26 PM)
The Fighting Sioux are not the best team in the nation right now. There. OK, as the Yale doubters have become more vocal in recent weeks (especially in regard to the schedule) let's put forth a little bit of a defense for the Bulldogs. Sure, their schedule hasn't been as difficult as some other teams. They also have four fewer losses than North Dakota. There are schedule limitations that every Ivy League team faces. If Yale could play 6-10 more games, they'd take on some bigger series for sure. But in that limit, they did travel to Colorado College and Air Force. They're not dodging people, they're handcuffed by some rules. And the results are convincing. Not a lot of one-goal squeakers in there.
_____________________________________
Chris (Boston)
Prediction. Yale will not win a single postseason tournament this year.
Joe Gladziszewski --- (2:30 PM)

Daring prediction, considering that the maximum number of teams that can do that is six out of 58

Apparently Gopher's sieve Alex Kangas' career might be over at UMN.

College Hockey news has more on Yale forward Chris Cahill; Eligibility of Yale Player Questioned...

NoDak vs. Minny pontifications (Redwing77)

Since my posts are so often misconstrued as being those of Goon's, I'll come right out and say that Goon didn't write this. He probably will wish he did though. I spell better than him. (:D)

Just the Facts Jack

The University of North Dakota enters this series on fire. They've had a great first half with only a few hiccups along the way. They're very highly ranked and busy living up to the preseason hype. Sophomore goaltender Aaron Dell has been a surprise and Matt Frattin has been on fire. Corbin Knight has emerged as the scorer that many had thought him capable of when UND got his committment out of the AJHL.

It has been discussed here, I believe, that cohesion is a big factor in UND's success. This team does play like a team. Everyone seems to know his place and his role and, though perfection isn't there (nor do I expect it will be), they work hard and try to get as close to it as possible.

The University of Minnesota enters this series after whalloping the U-18 team. They're operating barely above water as they are just one game over .500 overall. They're better on the road (they're sub-.500 at home). Coach Lucia has come out with having some emotional issues apparently, but whatever it takes to take the heat off of the most incompetent coach in DI hockey (John Hill), I guess tDon will do whatever it takes. Baffles me as to why though.

The Gophers play a finesse style of hockey that can be dangerous if they are able to execute their game plan without too much disruptions or mistakes on their part. Though it is true that they've had a lot more down seasons than most of us (even those of us who dislike the Gophers with a passion) can believe. Looking at their talent, one would wonder what in the world is going on in the Twin Cities that could make all that talent underperform. Again, I look to Hill.

My take Jake

You can argue that special teams and goaltending have been questionable for the Gophers as of late, but I don't think so. I still maintain that Kangas is a good goaltender who has been hung out to dry more often than would be acceptable to maintain sanity. There is no doubt as to why his numbers have declined or his performance deteriorated as of late. It sometimes seems as though Kangas has to steal the game in order for the Gophers to win. The result of this complex that Kangas has been put through, Kent Patterson, who has been abysmal vs. the Sioux, has wrested the starting role away from Kangas.

My take is thus: The Gophers will go nowhere without Team Defense. Their Team D the past few years has been nothing short of a punchline. You get physical on them and they fall apart and eventually fold in on themselves much like a flimsy Wal-Mart folding chair at fat camp.

Look, they're a lot more talented than they've shown on the ice. Only a moron would disagree with that. They just can't put it together. This is a function of leadership and personnel. And again, I return to Hill. I'm going to do a bit of assuming when I say that Hill has a large hand in recruiting (much like Hakstol did when Blais was coaching at UND). They seem to have the opinion that the best on the table is better than the best for the team. For example, UND jumped at Robbie Bina because of the way he played the game and what he brought in leadership. I don't see Minnesota recruiting this type of player because he's nowhere on the radar of any NHL teams nor does he have the hype etc. that players like Leddy, Ness, Fairchild, etc. had/have. Personnel wise, they just don't seem to hold much faith in role players and lunch pail type players.

I really feel that the Gophers don't have any Lamoreauxs, Martos, Davidsons, Genoways, Hextalls, Malones, Rowneys, or Rodwells. They only seek out players like Knight, Gregoire, Frattin, and Kristo. Sure, I love players like Kristo, Knight, Gregoire, and all. I loved having Parise, Panzer, Toews, Oshie, Bochenski, Stafford, and so on but they don't work if you don't have a full team behind you and a team concept.

What to expect

I expect a tightly checked game. I expect a lot of hits and a lot of penalties. I think the officials will switch off. Friday night, UND gets the benefit of the doubt. Saturday, the officiating is much more swung to the other side. I think that hits that were legal on Friday won't be legal on Saturday. I also feel like diving could make its appearance in the game.

Leading 2011 Robbie Earl Memorial Frozen Water Freestyle Diving Candidate Jacob Cepis is swiftly running away with the award after defending champion Garrett Roe seemingly hitting a regression in his diving abilities. Look for Cepis to firm up at least a berth as a finalist this weekend as he heads to Grand Forks.

Expect big hits, crying Gopher fans, complaining Sioux fans (regarding what is sure to be a plethora of missed calls and buffoonery by the officials). The river will the thawed out in a good stretch in case a Sioux or Gopher player is to be sent down the river after making a bad play or not being as much of a fan favorite as he should be compared to fans preconceptions and draft position.

UND wins on Friday
UMN wins on Saturday

Fire Hakstol threads appear 12:01am Sunday.

This post will update as the week goes on so stay tuned!

Tom Kostopoulos suspended 6 games for this hit...

For this hit Tom Kostopoulos was suspended 6 games by Colin Campbell... There is no excuse for these types of hit in any league of hockey, I am all for hitting but the Redwings Defender Brad Stuart didn't even have the puck when he was freight trained... Tom Kostopoulos is not known for his offensive prowess and has (4g-4a-8pts) points in 43 games.

NHL.COM----Calgary Flames forward Tom Kostopoulos has been suspended for six games and will forfeit $29,569.92 in salary for delivering a blow to the head of Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart in NHL game #609 on January 7, the National Hockey League announced today.

"A number of factors were considered in reaching this decision," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "Kostopoulos delivered a blow to the head of an unsuspecting and vulnerable player. As well, he targeted the head of his opponent and, while the hit was not from the blindside, the head was the principle point of contact. The fact that Brad Stuart was not in possession of the puck when the blow was delivered and the serious nature of the player's injury were also considered in my decision."

Gopher goalies beware - Matt Frattin is in the house...

Golden Gopher goalies, you can watch all of the film you want, it’s not going to make a difference, you're going to be in the butterfly and Matt Frattin is going to release his howitzer and all you're going to feel is the puck zinging by your ear as you wave at the puck. Then we will hear the horn and see the fireworks going off. Here is the video of the goal that Matt Frattin scored on Friday night... Matt Frattin is leading the nation with 20 goals in 23 games for the season.

We can finally turn the page on our nonconference schedule where the Sioux went 5-2-2 and return to league play. This week the much hated and our heated rival the Minnesota Golden Gophers come to the Ralph Englestad arena riding an unimpressive record of 1-3-2 in their last 6 games. Fresh of their unimpressive 3rd play tie in the annual Dodge Holiday Cupcake Classic, where the Minnesota Golden Gophers lost to Union and tied Ferris State University. Gopher head coach Don Lucia even decided that he has seen enough and canceled the shootout.

If you have seen it Ryan Cardinal of the Gopher Puck Live has this little paragraph on the up coming series between the Gophers and the Sioux.

Next weekend, Minnesota kicks off the second half of their schedule in a big way as they head to Grand Forks to take on the first place Fighting Sioux. It will be the first meeting of the season between the two rivals, and the last since the Sioux ended Minnesota’s season last March in Grand Forks.

The Sioux are playing Robert Morris at home this weekend but have just one loss in their last 11 games and have played the toughest schedule in the nation. They have upperclassmen and depth up and down their lineup, so this will be the best team Minnesota has played all season long. Big games have brought out the best in the Gophers at times this year (wins vs. UMD and Michigan come to mind) but the Sioux have absolutely owned Minnesota over the last five years or so, and the Gophers cannot afford a pointless weekend at the Ralph.

Arguably the biggest key to success for the Gophers will be matching the intensity the Sioux are sure to bring to the table, which is a big reason they have had a ton of success vs. the Maroon and Gold in recent years.

WCHA Buffoons Blow Another Replay

How many is this now? I thought that the instant replay was supposed to be used to get it right rather than making things worse.

Anyway this video has the Trupp goal that was disallowed by the buffoons on ice, otherwise know as Adam and Mason. The first view of the disallowed goal is clear that the puck was in the net BEFORE the whistle blew.

As you can see the puck went DIRECTLY into the net. There is no conceivable way that the referee could have blown the whistle before the puck went in.

The referee was on the side of the net the puck went in. Because of that he may not have seen the puck go in. But the goal judge certainly did. Why do we even have goal judges.

Coach Hakstol said he was told by Buffoon Adam that they weren't sure enough the puck went in before the whistle. Well the overhead camera is definitive and they certainly should have a feel for how fast the puck went into the net.

Anyway, just to cheer you up, we won the game. The difference maker is at the end of the tape which was Matt Frattin's goal of beauty. It won't go down as the game winning goal, but there's no doubt that this was the crucial play.


Goon documented the WCHA buffoons screwing up the instant replays over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here's one where Buffoon Anderson disallowed a Frattin goal that was called a goal on ice.

Here's where the Buffoon officiating crew allowed a goal that was disallowed on ice to tie the game.

And here's the Buffoon head of officials' lame excuse for their buffoonery. As was pointed out by PCM, there is no way they can say the Notre Dame player didn't interfere with our goalie without calling a penalty.

Sioux 2 Colonials 1

First off much different game tonight, it was a tight checking playoff style hockey game. I also thought I detected the Fighting Sioux playing the 1-2-2 at times this weekend. This is the type of game that UND is going to get in the WCHA and NCAA playoffs. The WCHA officials in this game tonight were downright brutal; especially Don Adam, the Sioux appeared to have scored a goal in the third period but the goal was waved off by Don Adam. There was no reason what so ever that goal should have been waved off. None… But I digress, also tonight, Matt Frattin was breaking in on the RMU goalie and the Colonials player yanked down no call by the officials. While we are on the subject of Matt Frattin, he scored his nation leading 20th goal of the season; it was a big time goal by a big time money player.

I would also like to know why the officials let the RMU Colonials hook and hold the Sioux up and down the ice, it was brutal, I would like to know what the WCHA officials consider obstruction? Also, the refs need to stop yapping at the players, either call them for a penalty or leave them alone… Again bad night for the video review and the guys in stripes.

Dell should be defensive player of the week

I thought the Fighting Sioux looked a step off tonight as well, it appeared that they just were at the top of their game and their goaltender Aaron Dell really bailed them out, there is no reason Dell shouldn’t be the defensive player of the week, he was nothing short of brilliant this weekend. Dell was impressive on the weekend as he stopped 61/62 shots this weekend and lowered his GAA to 1.92 and improved his save percentage to .922, that’s pretty respectable… Those are pretty good numbers for the sophomore goalie who had gone 224 minutes without giving up a goal. It’s also a testament of the defense whose letting Dell see the puck and clearing rebounds… The defense is also cutting down on turnovers.

[Box Score]

Goon's three stars of the game

1.) Aaron Dell - 1 goal against
2.) Matt Frattin
3.) Eric Levine

Sioux Smoke RMU 8-0

After the game last night I said that my blog post should read one sentence, “Robert Morris in not a good hockey team.” Today in reviewing the game film from last night’s game, it wasn’t so much that Robert Morris isn’t a very good hockey team, by WCHA standards they aren’t very good, however, it was a matter of the Fighting Sioux playing a flawless game plan and the Sioux just blew the Colonials off of the ice, you can use other clichés if you would like to explain last night blowout win for the Fighting Sioux… With the win, the Fighting Sioux improve their record to 15–5–2 overall, in nonconference play Sioux have a record of 4-2-2.

Sioux get some puck luck

Last night’s game was one of those contests where everything went right for the Sioux and the RMU Colonials not so much. I think it would be an accurate statement if I said the Fighting Sioux got a lot of puck luck as well. Everything went the Sioux’s way last night. The first Fighting Sioux goal was shot by Corbin Knight and that went in off the RMU defenseman in front of the net, the second goal was by Fighting Sioux forward Brock Nelson who going hard to net while being tied up by a RMU defenseman and the puck went off Brock Nelson’s foot, there was no distinct kicking motion and the rout was on…

Dude we got a Dell

There have been a lot of positives that Sioux can take out of last night’s game. The Sioux goaltender Aaron Dell got his second straight shutout of the season and has played 164.51 minutes of shutout hockey, the shutout last night was his third of the season and the fourth of his short Fighting Sioux hockey career. The line on Aaron Dell is 14-4-1 1.97 and a save percentage of 9.18 and is 7-0-1 in his last 8 games.

Goon’s Three Stars of the game
1)Aaron Dell, UND no goals against
2)Corban Knight, UND ( 2g-1a-3pts)
3)Jake Marto, UND ( 1g-2a-3pts)

RWD's favorite beat writer Brad Schlossman [UND Hockey Blog]

Pseudo USCHO reporter and writer; Nelson tallies two goals for Fighting Sioux

Timothy Boger; Nelson, Forbort keep rolling as UND rolls RMU

Division 1 College Hockey Stats
Matt Frattin leading the nation in goals with 19
Chay Genoway is 5th in the nation for points by defenseman (4g-16a-20pts)
Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell is 8th in the nation in GAA 1.97
UND is ranked 5th in the nation for goal scoring 82 goals 3.73
UND is ranked 13th in the nation defensively 53 goals against 2.41

KRACH, PWR

[Box Score]

Scores from 01/07/2010

Atlantic Hockey
Niagara 5 at Holy Cross 2
Air Force 5 at Sacred Heart 5 OT
Mercyhurst 1 at Connecticut 3
RIT 1 at Army 1 OT

CCHA
Ferris State 4 at Bowling Green 1
Western Michigan 2 at Alaska 2 OT
Miami 0 at Ohio State 1
Michigan 3 at Michigan State 4 OT
Notre Dame 8 at Northern Michigan 1

ECAC
Brown 4 at Harvard 3
Colgate 1 at Quinnipiac 3
Clarkson 3 at Rensselaer 2 OT
Yale 2 at Dartmouth 1
Cornell 2 at Princeton 1

Hockey East
Northeastern 5 at Massachusetts 3
UMass Lowell 2 at New Hampshire 5
Providence 1 at Boston College 4

WCHA
Michigan Tech 0 at St. Cloud State 3

NON-Conference
Bemidji State 3 at Alab-Huntsville 1
Canisius 0 at Wisconsin 3
American Int'l 0 at Minnesota State 1
Robert Morris 0 at North Dakota 8

Exhibtion
USA Under-18 Team 0 at Minnesota 9

Benoit Pouliot dipsy doodle shootout goal

I know there are a lot of hockey fans that don't like the shootout and think it's a shame or even a sham that the NHL uses a skills competition to decide the fate of a hockey game but check out this sick "dipsy doodle" by former Wild forward Benoit Pouliot as he fakes the Penguins goalie Brent Johnson out of his jock.

Victor Hedman hit on Sidney Crosby

The face of the Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby was injured on Wednesday January 5th by this hit from behind by Lightning defenseman/tree trunk Victor Hedman, while it's not a "dirty hit" it was definitely a boarding penalty. Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion and could miss a week.

A couple of things

This is the shot that everyone is talking about; Sioux Falls Stampede defenseman Andrew Prochnoas shots the puck "so hard" and it breaks when it hits the pipe... I like the question so if half of the puck went into the net does it count? I have never seen something like that before.

The Saint Cloud Times has "finally" released a story telling us saying that Tony Mosey has been kicked off the SCSU Huskies... Really? You're kidding right? Never saw that one coming. Say it isn't so? As one SCSU fan said in the article comments section, "How come I find out more about SCSU hockey from competitors blog than the beat writer???" I have to agree, that was something I said this week as well, what is the SCSU hockey team hiding? There's not a lot of transparency there... Not sure what the SCSU Husky hockey is trying to hide? I think the SCSU hockey team looks worse for trying to keep all of this quite instead just coming out and saying, 'hey our players screwed up.' I just think it makes the SCSU hockey team looks worse by trying to be all mum on it.

ScTimes.com ---- St. Cloud State men’s hockey player Tony Mosey has been dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules, Huskies head coach Bob Motzko. said.

Mosey, a senior forward from Prior Lake, played his last game for the Huskies on Dec. 29 against Cornell at the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla. He was not in the lineup on Dec. 30 when the team played Miami (Ohio) in the tournament.

“Any time that you’re in a situation where you’re going to lose one of your players and teammates, it’s very difficult,” Motzko said. “We’ve crossed the midway point of our season, and we want to build on what we accomplished in Florida.

“We wish Tony the best. We’re going to help him in any way we can toward graduation.”

Motzko declined to state what rule was violated.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Welcome to 2011 and the second half of the WCHA. We are easing into the New Year, with only one conference match-up and four teams with the weekend off. I hope all of the Goon’s World readers had a nice holiday season, I did. Well, except for the two blizzards over the New Year’s weekend, we now have plenty of snow in the Fargo area. Well let’s get down to hockey again.


WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. North Dakota………11-3-0…22
2. Denver……………...9-3-2…20
2. Minnesota-Duluth....9-3-2…20
4. Nebraska-Omaha….9-4-1…19
5. Colorado College…..8-6-0…16
6. Minnesota…………..6-6-2…14
6. Wisconsin…………..6-6-2…14
8. Alaska-Anchorage...4-8-2…10
8. Minnesota State…...4-8-2…10
10. Bemidji State……….4-9-1…9
11. St. Cloud State….....3-8-1…7
12. Michigan Tech……..1-10-1…3


WCHA

Michigan Tech @ St. Cloud St.
During the Holiday break the MTU Huskies lost to Michigan and Michigan State at the Great Lakes Invitational and the SCSU Huskies beat Cornell and Miami (OH) at the Florida College Classic.

This is a big series, especially for SCSU. They can leap into the middle of the pack with a sweep and back into contention for home ice in the playoffs. For MTU, they could spoil SCSU’s second half start by taking some points on the road. SCSU might have turned the corner over Christmas break, with getting a pair of wins in Florida. Of course, in the win over Miami, SCSU was outshot 31-11, and they won the game 4-3. The MTU Huskies have now dropped 13 games in a row, not a good streak to have. But, like all streaks they do come to an end, some time. MTU would like that streak to end this weekend and start a winning streak. I’m going to say both Huskies get some points this weekend. (PS - SCSU lost some players over semester break) SPLIT

NON-CONFERENCE

American Int’l (4-9-0 overall) @ Minnesota State
Over the Holidays the Mavericks beat Notre Dame and Brown at the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago.

I don’t know what to say about this non-conference match up other than, who is American International? Here is a little background on them, they are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, nick-named the Yellow Jackets, have an enrollment of 1,200 students. SPLIT.

Bemidji State @ Alabama-Huntsville (2-18-2)
During the Holiday break the Beavers beat Ferris State and Union at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

These two teams will re-new their old CHA rivalry this weekend with a pair of games. The Beavers look to be headed in the right direction after a lack luster two months of the season. BSU has been beating ranked teams (UNO, FSU, U) in the last month. UAH is now an independent this year, hopefully they will get into a conference (CCHA or AHA) for the 2011-12 season. The Chargers will start out 2011 with a heavy dose of WCHA opponents. So don’t expect their win total to sky-rocket anytime soon. I have to go with our newest WCHA brother in these contests. BEAVERS SWEEP

Robert Morris (12-5-2 overall) @ #2 North Dakota
During the Christmas break the Sioux beat the UMD Bulldogs in Duluth to spoil the opening of the new AMSOIL arena.

This will be the last season that the Sioux will be the Sioux, so lets hope they do us proud these last few months. Now on to the Colonials from Robert Morris, if you are wondering about them, here is some background on them. They are located in Moon Township, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have an enrollment of 5,100 students and play their home games at Island Sports Center. RMU is in the Atlantic Hockey division (they use to be in the CHA) where they are currently in second place (behind RIT). They have been coached by Derek Schooley since they started their program in 2004-05. I don’t think the Sioux will have much trouble with the colonials this weekend as long as they don’t overlook them. SIOUX SWEEP

Canisius (6-8-4 overall) @ #13 Wisconsin
During the Christmas break the Badgers beat UMass twice in Madison.

I’m guessing most of the Badger faithful are still reeling from their Rose Bowl loss to TCU. But don’t fear, the football crowd can now spend more time enjoying the hockey games. A couple more non-conference wins could help the Badgers in the pairwise rankings later this year. UW controls their own fate in the WCHA but need to pick up some more momentum heading into the second half. And I think they will keep the puck-a-sliding this weekend. BADGERS SWEEP


USA-U18 @ Minnesota (Friday)
During the Holiday break the Gophers lost to Union and tied the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

Since this is an exhibition it doesn’t show up on the record books or poll computers. But for the Gophers this is a very important game. They need to work out some kinks in their game before they start the WCHA games next weekend. A win and the Gophers get some positive re-enforcement, a loss and uh-oh there is trouble in Mariucci-land.


USA-U18 @ #5 Minnesota-Duluth (Saturday)
During the Holiday breaks the Bulldogs lost to the Sioux in the opening of their new arena in Duluth. They also played Claskson on January 3-4 and swept them.

This game is also an exhibition game, so nothing counts. UMD has lost Dylan Olson, academics weren’t going so well, and well he left for the AHL (at least that's the story I heard).

BYE Week
#18 Colorado College
#12 Nebraska-Omaha
#6 Denver
Alaska Anchorage

The Russian Bear has awaken...

Wow what a game for the World Junior Championship gold! I think a lot of people assumed, including me; hey I admit that I am guilty, that we would be hearing Oh Canada at the end of the game… I guess this is why we play the games right?

I think in the days going forward that there are going to be a lot of hockey minds that are going to over analyze this game, it was a great game to watch that ended up being historic for one team and painful for the nation to our north… I think the reasons the Canadians lost this game in the end was that the Canadians stopped doing the things that made them successful in the first two periods, in the 16 minutes that will come to be known as the historic collapse the Canadians failed to eliminate turnovers, get the pucks deep, answer the Russians counter attack and be smart defensively in their own zone. The Canadians lost because the got away from doing the basics.

Seriously folks! When it’s all said and done and the hockey minds have analyzed this game and picked it apart ad nauseam the real reasons the Canadians lost this game in the third period is that the Canadians got away from doing the hockey basics, it’s that simple. The Canadians rested on their laurels and it came back to bite them in the ass...

I think at times as a sports fan you’ve just got to take it all in and enjoy the moment but I don’t know if I could ever relish a Russian win in anything. I was a soldier during the cold war and the Russian were our sworn enemy and to this day I still don’t like them. I will cheer for the Swedes if they are playing the Russians. I was also wondering if I was the only ones that thought the Russian celebration at the end of the game was grating or over the top?

I also enjoy the fact that since the inception of the KHL there are a lot less Russians playing in the NHL. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Ovechkin is a great hockey player; one of the best in the world and I would have him on my team any day but I would rather see the North American hockey players playing in the NHL… I know there are lots of other fans like me that feel the same way as well. Maybe it’s good to have a villain in the black hat and I think this year it’s team Russia.

In conclusion; the much maligned American from New Jersey and former Division I college hockey coach and TSN analyst Pierre McGuire called Team Canada loss the greatest collapse in international hockey… While some might enjoy the Canadian collapse in the third period, because some perceived the Canadian fans and their players to be cocky and arrogant, I would much rather see the Canadians win the WJC than the Russians. See you next year…

Boston Bruins practice at Havard...

I thought this was funny when I read it and I tried to put it up last night but blogger was down...

Russo's Rants --- The Wild attended Hahvahd for an afternoon practice at Bright Hockey Center, home of Alexander Fallstrom, the Swedish-born, former Shattuck-St Mary's forward drafted by the Wild and eventually traded to the Bruins for Chuck Kobasew.

Kobasew, who played one year at Boston College, where he won the Beanpot and some other somewhat major tournament by beating North Dakota, will play in Boston on Thursday for the first time since being traded to Minnesota in October 2009.

Russian team to drunk and obnoxious to fly...

You might be a Russian if you're too drunk to fly... You can't make this stuff up. Wow! This is one of those stories that are made for a reality television show...

Buffalo New --- Oh, what a party it must have been for the Russian hockey team after their big win over Canada on Wednesday.

But it apparently caught up with the World Junior Hockey champions. They were kicked off a flight from Buffalo Niagara International Airport early this morning after sources said disruptive behavior after a night of celebration posed a safety threat.

"The crew of a flight from Buffalo to Atlanta denied boarding to 30 passengers as a result of unruly behavior," said Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott. "This was an effort to ensure safe operation of the flight. They will be rebooked on a future flight."

Elliott would not confirm that the 30 passengers were members of the Russian team, but airport sources said it appeared the tournament champions were still celebrating when the incident occurred around 6 a.m. today.

Steven Stamkos falls down on the penalty shot...

Can we classify this in the #epicfail department... Holy Cow, I have never seen anything like that before.

USA World Junior Team Wins Bronze

I was stuck at work and couldn't watch the game. But the US followed up their great Gold Medal year with a respectable 3rd place finish.

The US only lost one game in the tournament which is as good as anyone can do.

I'm not disappointed at all and I hope that we can all be proud what the team accomplished this year on the international stage.

The United States will not be going home empty handed as they have capture the bronze by beating Sweden 4-2 at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

It is the first time ever that the Americans have won medals in consecutive tournaments after defeating Canada for the gold last year in Saskatoon and Regina.

Chris Kreider scored twice while Jack Campbell made 34 saves to clinch the victory for the States.

The teams one loss was to Canada, who just plain was a better team Monday night.

Former Fighting Sioux Defenseman Commodore Requests Trade

The other night when I watched the Wild and Blue Jackets the TV announcers said that Mike Commodore had been a healthy scratch quite a bit as of late. According to the Columbus Blue Jackets beat writer Mike Commodore has sat out seven of the last eight games. Based on the kind of money big Mike makes it's going to be hard to trade him...

Here's what Commodore said:

"(Arniel) doesn't want to play me. Obviously, he doesn't want to play me. After wins, losses ... it doesn't matter. Obviously, I'm the seventh guy in his mind. So, I'm going to take care of myself, be a good teammate, work hard, practice hard and keep myself ready for whatever comes in the future."

Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel reiterated his stance yesterday.

"I don't have him in our top six," Arniel said. "He feels he should be, which is why he asked for the trade. I understand that.

"This isn't personal. This has to do with hockey skills. How you play the game, how you are with your teammates, how you work off the ice. It's not personal. He's just not in our top six."

Howson would not comment publicly on the trade demand, but both he and Arniel said Commodore has not been a poor teammate and has not been a distraction in the dressing room.

This is the latest detour in what has been a winding road since Commodore signed a five-year, $18.75 million contract on July 1, 2008. A no-trade clause covered the first two years of the deal, but lifted last July 1.

Wednesday Linkorama - Break over time to get to work

On Wednesday there is a lot of news worthy stuff going in the college hockey world.

Elliot Olshansky has a really really nice article at NCAA.COM that talks about the Fighting Sioux's first half success during the month of December... [NCAA.COM]

Let's Go DU Hockey Blog has a funny blog post; SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team [Let's Go DU]

The writers at INCH have an interesting quip about the ratings...

We accept that many people will dissent against Yale’s standing atop the INCH Power Rankings and both voter-driven polls as they are currently published, but there’s something else that should be considered. Many of those same dissenting voices have traditionally pointed to polls “that matter” or are derived from mathematical calculations based on results and opponents. Well, looky here—Yale happens to be ranked first in both the PairWise and KRACH. Citing those as the most reliable measures when they show WCHA or Hockey East dominance and ignoring it in favor of blaming voters when Yale reigns doesn’t align.

Here is the SCSU beat writer's sanitized version of Chris Hepp leaving the Huskies, er, dismissal from the Husky team and signing a professional ECHL contract. I find it laughable that Garrett Roe said, "said he was surprised by Hepp’s decision." Sure Garrett, take another dive... Nothing on the Tony Mosey dismissal yet... [Click to read article]

If you look at the official SCSU Hockey Roster you will see it's devoid of the Mosey, Johnson and Hepp names... [SCSU Hockey Roster]

KVSC has the Less sanitized version of the SCSU dismissals of the two SCSU bad boyz... [Click to read article]

Amid this news, rumors are flowing on internet message boards about a possible off-ice incident while in Florida that lead to Hepp's or Mosey’s dismissal and potential repercussions for more players. This has not been confirmed by KVSC, and SCSU Athletic Media Relations has no news or information at this time regarding those rumors.

According to Don Lucia Union is a good old team, or at least they are recruiting older players... [Goal Gophers]

Clayton Stoner first NHL goal...

If you didn't watch the Wild game on Versus last night; check out Clayton Stoner's first NHL goal, you just don't see goals like this very often. Chalk up a game winning goal for Clayton Stoner as well...

SCSU Huskies having a hell of a week...

The Twitter world has been ripe with news that the SCSU Huskies have had a great week; after winning the Florida College Hockey Classic by beating Miami and Cornell, it appears that some of the Husky players made some bad decision on their Florida trip and were kicked off the SCSU Husky hockey team. SCSU Huskies seniors Defenseman Chris Hepp and Forward Tony Mosey being kicked off the team… Chris Hepp has already signed a professional contract and is going to be playing with former SCSU goalie Jase Weselosky.

The 23-year-old Hepp joins Idaho from the college ranks at St. Cloud State, the same school that produced Steelhead forward John Swanson and goaltender Jase Weselosky. Hepp was an alternate captain, appearing in 20 games for the Huskies this season before turning professional. He also played junior hockey for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, where he was a teammate of Mark Olver, the son of former Steelheads head coach John Olver.

Hepp will be in uniform Tuesday night when the team takes on the Utah Grizzlies, wearing number 3.

Over the past summer it was revealed on the internet that Tony Mosey had been charged with a felon charge for running over a parked cars and damaging them. On twitter todayChuck Swartz had in one of his tweets that Chris Hepp was charged with possession of marijuana last September… You would think that since these two players were not kicked off the team for past incidents they might have cleaned up their act, but they didn’t.

USA gets it handed to them by team CANADA...

Canada came to play while the USA team looked like deer in the headlight. I think the writer from TSN.CA sums it up best with this...

It was a satisfying evening on Monday for Canada, which saw goals from Curtis Hamilton, Quinton Howden, Ryan Johansen and Zack Kassian. Chris Brown had the lone tally for the Americans, in what must have felt like an "away" game for them with all those red and white jerseys in the stands at HSBC Arena.

"We got great support. People were coming over the border," said Canadian forward Brayden Schenn after the game. "Hopefully it will be the same in the final."

The Canada-U.S. matchup was less of a contest than many had predicted, sending the Canadians to their 10th consecutive appearance in the finals at the WJC. The Americans - with eight returning players from 2010's championship team - were the favourite to win the tournament, but they didn't appear up to the challenge on this night.

"We were a little lackadaisical and a little big-headed," said American forward Emerson Etem.

U.S. captain John Ramage seconded that notion.

Last night’s effort by the USA squad was pathetic, I had a hard time watching this game, I was ready to throw my television out the front window. The Canadian WJC team had all of the answers for the USA squad that looked like a team that had forgotten that when you wear your countries uniform the logo the front means more than that name on the back back of the uniform, I know it sounds cliché but it’s true. Too many players on team USA last night were playing like individuals and could take a page from the Canadian's play book, defend your countries honor… Play like there is no tomorrow, no excuses. Last years team had it, this years team played like a bunch of spoiled "prima donnas" that couldn't deal with adversity.

While some want to blame the coach for the loss I don’t think that is the right approach, it's counter productive and I also don’t think it would have mattered if the coach had been a WCHA, coach or a coach from the OHL. The loss is squarely with the players that fail to compete and make plays when the game was on the line. The goaltender Jack Campbell should sue his team mates for nonsupport.

TEAM Canada 4, Some American guys 1 (REDWING77)

Yeah, I said it.

The American team came out and played like crap. It really looked a lot like UND playing Holy Cross a few years back. USA looked, not totally outclassed, UNBELIEVABLY outclassed.

Jack Campbell... wow. Thanks, guy. Thank you for showing up. Too bad everyone else was too busy planning what they were going to do when the game was over to worry about playing the game.

The US played heartless. They played like they were scared of the Canadians. They had opportunities to shoot the puck and they decided to try to get closer to the net. This made the outstanding Canadian D say to themselves "Happy Boxing Day! This is too easy!"

Canadian Goaltender Visentin wasn't tested. I don't know how good he is. Team USA didn't make him do much. He probably could have shored up his CIS degree while awaiting the American team do ANYTHING worth his attention.

The First Period ended with the Americans being outshot 10-4. The second period wasn't much better.

The third? Meh. Too little too late.

The officiating was decent. A missed call on Team Canada when a Team Canada player left his feet to make sure Brock Nelson went into the Team Canada bench. The officials got a quick make up call soon thereafter and the Americans were meh.

We were the experienced team here. We were actually FAVORITES!!!! We had an opportunity to prove that we belonged in front of some of our own fans in our own country. We blew it.

After the game, Chris Kreider talked about how the upcoming bronze medal game vs. Sweden was a game about pride. REALLY? Where was the PRIDE in this game?

This was THE game! THE BLEEPING GAME!

I am not too impressed with Allain. I don't know if I'd ask him back again as a head coach. I would have tried again to get Blais to come back. Heck, he won it all. Let him do it again.

Or perhaps bring in an American coach that has won it all lately... like Jerry York or Mike Eaves or Enrico Blaisi, or perhaps there's an American coach somewhere in the WHL.

The other think I think of is the schedules. Everyone talks about how the Canadians had the path of death or whatever. Well, they built their team to win by playing in it and, although they didn't play well at times, they did enough to not only stay competitive, but to win when it mattered.

It would not be surprising to me if Sweden won. Heck, if the US came out as well prepared (sarcastically speaking) on Wednesday as they did tonight, I suspect Sweden runs all over the Americans.

Optimistically speaking, I'm hoping for a Bronze Medal for Forbort and Nelson. Realistically speaking, I don't know who will win.

As for Gold, we're stuck with the Arrogance to the North vs. the Divers from Asia/Eastern Europe.

Well... I despise Canadian hockey fans for their arrogance and condescending attitude, but they play clean. So, despite their fanbase, I'm going to root for Canada vs. the Diving team from Russia.

I hope Forbort and Nelson do what's best and bring all of their luggage to the arena or check what they can ahead of time. Then have their Airport Shuttle waiting outside so they can get out of Buffalo AHEAD of the exiting fans! I'd want to put this entire embarrassment behind me as fast as possible.

7 on 5 hockey...

Check this video out and count the number of players on the ice. #epicfail by the on ice NHL hockey officials. I thought the WCHA officials were bad but this is unacceptable, the NHL officials are paid to do a job and this officiating crew should be punished for this blunder. Can you imagine if the Colorado Avalanche had scored?

Huskies finally break the Miami Curse...

s/t to Husky Hockey time... The SCSU Huskies got off of the snide by finally beating the Miami University RedHawks who had owned them as of late, as the Huskies had gone 0-4-1 since December of 2007. This time the RedHawks luck had run out and the Huskies finally got the win and have evened the season series with the RedHawks 1-1-1.

The Huskies ended up winning their Holiday Tourney by beating Cornell and Miami, in both games SCSU was behind in both games before coming back in the third period of each game to win by a score of 4-3. It was also the Huskies first wins in the month of December as they went a not so impressive 2-4-0. [Cornell game box score] and [Miami box score]

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 09, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.
October 10, 2009 Miami 2 SCSU 0
November 28, 2009 UND 5 Miami 5 O.T.
October 15, 2010 Miami 6 SCSU 3
October 16, 2010 Miami 1 SCSU 1 O.T.
December 30, 2010 SCSU 4 Miami 3
[Goon's World]

Poll Monday - Sioux second in both polls

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[January 3, 2011]
1. Yale (45) 12-1-0
2 North Dakota ( 2) 14-5-2
3 Boston College (3) 13-5-0
4 New Hampshire 10-3-4
5 Minnesota-Duluth 12-4-3
6 Denver 13-5-4
7 Miami 11-6-3
8 Michigan 12-5-4
9 Maine 9-5-4
10 Rensselaer 11-4-3
11 Notre Dame 12-7-3
12 Nebraska-Omaha 12-7-1
13 Wisconsin 12-7-3
14 Boston University 8-5-6
15 Union 11-6-3
16 Alaska 9-6-3
17 Merrimack 9-4-4
18 Colorado College 12-9-1
19 Princeton 10-5-0
20 Ferris State 9-8-4
Others Receiving Votes: Western Michigan 45, Clarkson 40, Dartmouth 26, Minnesota 26, Robert Morris 23, Minnesota State 15, Bemidji State 4, Ohio State 2, Quinnipiac 2, St. Lawrence 2, Niagara 1, Providence
---------------------
USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[January 3, 2011]
1. Yale (34) 12-1-0
2. North Dakota 14-5-2
3. Boston College 13-5-0
4. Hampshire 10-3-4
5. Minnesota Duluth 12-4-3
6. Denver 13-5-4
7. Michigan 12-5-4
8. Miami (Ohio) 11-6-3
9. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 11-4-3
10 Nebraska-Omaha 12-7-1
11. Maine 9-5-4
12. Notre Dame 12-7-3
13. Wisconsin 12-7-3
14. Union 11-6-3
15. Boston University 8-5-6
Others receiving votes: University of Alaska, 36; Colorado College, 27; Merrimack College, 23; Ferris State University, 1; Princeton University, 1; Robert Morris University, 1; Western Michigan University, 1.

I am going to pose a question; I am not trying to start a flame feast, however, do you think the "pollsters" think that Yale's 10-3 shredding of a lesser opponent/cupcake Holy Cross is a more impressive than UND's 5-0 win against UMD who is in the top five of the national standings?

Again, I would like to know how many of the “pollsters” actually saw the games this weekend or during the holiday break? I think it’s safe to say that beating Holy Cross is not equal to beating UMD. Again, I would love to see how some of the ECAC and AHA teams would do if they were in the WCHA and had to play the schedules of UMD, UND, DU and Wisconsin... Pretty sure we wouldn't be having this argument if these teams had played that kind of a schedule.

Also, we have teams in the bottom of the WCHA standings (MSU-M, BSU, SCSU) winning holiday tourneys by beating teams that are in the upper half of the other conferences (ECAC team UNION, CCHA teams Notre Dame, Miami) yet these teams are still sitting in the top 15 of the national rankings. So a couple of weeks ago when I was told that the Strength of schedule doesn't matter I think last weekend's holiday tourney results shoot that theory all to hell...

This ranking system is out of whack, and it’s getting to be as silly as the Boise State football being near BCS rankings until late in the season; these teams aren’t playing anyone really that tough and they can rack up wins against lesser opponents (mid majors) and will take a tumble in the pairwise and the polls the minute they lose a couple of games to the teams from their schedule.

They said what?

This was in yesterday's Fargo Fish wrapper...

Witlessness continues to afflict North Dakota bureaucracies and the chattering class, especially on the now-verboten University of North Dakota “Fighting Sioux” nickname. They have forced the change because of the nickname’s offensiveness to North Dakota’s Sioux, yet the Spirit Lake tribe voted in favor of UND keeping the logo and is still fighting in court to force UND to keep the name. The leaders of the Standing Rock tribe won’t allow the issue to come to a vote, most likely because they know the outcome would echo Spirit Lake’s vote.

So we have gutless, white- bread folks forcing a change the North Dakota Sioux don’t want in order to protect those same Sioux. Does this make any sense to you? Paging Michael Moore’s “Stupid White Men.”

INCH Power Rankings

As always I include the INCH Power Rankings, because they are worth a look... Of course Yale on top of the rankings again after ripping through weak sisters of the poor from the Holy Cross... Seriously! The only poll that really matters is the one that is going to be looked at on March 19th 2011.

INCH Power Rankings
[January 2, 2011]
1. Yale
2. North Dakota - As if the Sioux needed any more offensive weaponry, previously slumbering sophomore forward Danny Kristo has a goal and six assists in his last four games. 14-5-2 (11-3-0 WCHA) RECENT SCORES: W at Minnesota Duluth, 5-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Robert Morris, vs. Robert Morris
3. New Hampshire
4. Boston College
5. Minnesota Duluth
6. Michigan
7. Denver
8. Rensselaer
9. Miami
10. Maine
11. Nebraska-Omaha
12. Union
13. Wisconsin
14. Notre Dame
15. Merrimack
16. Boston University
17. Alaska
18. Robert Morris
19. Colorado College
20. Clarkson
Dropped out: Ferris State
Bubble-licious: Dartmouth, Ferris State, Niagara, Princeton, Western Michigan

Colton Orr and Chris Neil

Wow what a great heavy weight fight. Colton Orr is a one dimensional player that brings nothing to the ice surface except fighting majors and penalty minutes, but I have to admit that I like to watch a good fight as much as the next guy… While I am not a fan of Chris Neil he does at least score goals once in a while and has (2g-10a-12pts) in 40 games this season.

Drew Stafford burys the Bruins again...

Drew Stafford has scored 13 goals this season 6 of them have come against the Boston Bruins, that is 6 goals in three games for the Former Fighting Sioux winger. Stafford has 4 career hat tricks and two have come this season against the Boston Bruins. You would think going forward that the Boston Bruins might want to check Stafford a little more closely.

David Steckel’s blind side headshot on Sidney Crosby

I don't know what to make out of this hit, it doesn't appear to be intentional at all, I would say that it's a freak accident. I see any reason for the league to review this hit because, there was no penalty on the call and it doesn't appear to be anything but an accidental collision. Crosby did return for the third period.

Daniel Carcillo vs Kyle Chipchura

Every time I see my favorite hack Daniel Carcilo drop the gloves I always cheer for his opponent, there is something about that guy that I detest... Chipchura lands some nice punches on Carcillos face... It doesn't help that Carcillo plays for the hated filthy Flyers. Carcillo is one of those players you don't want play against him and you don't want him on your favorite team either.

UMD's Olsen leaves UMD for the AHL...

When this story broke yesterday afternoon the first thing that came to mind was ineligible for the academically for second half of the season. Dylan Olsen is a first round draft choice so realistically he isn’t going to sit around at UMD not playing hockey; studying, trying to get eligible academically for the fall semester. Not going to happen folks.

If my memory serves me right Dylan Olsen was recruited by UND but wasn’t able to get into UND so he ended up choosing UMD. The academically ineligible spin was the buzz around this story on the blogsphere and Twitter and it's not surprising what so ever.

Rink and RUN ---- Former NHL first-round draft pick Dylan Olsen, a Minnesota Duluth sophomore defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, signed a three-year, two-way contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and will join the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford, Ill., following the World Junior Championships.

Olsen, 19, leaves UMD with two goals and 22 assists for 24 points in 53 career games. This season, he had a goal and 12 assists for 13 points in 17 games before leaving to join Canada for the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. Canada finished the preliminary round 3-1 following a shootout loss to Sweden on Friday. The tournament runs through Jan. 5.

“Dylan was having a good year and we were expecting a better, more confident player to return to us after the experience of the junior tournament,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We knew how much making Canada’s team meant to him and that it could only help his play. We’re just disappointed he chose to make a change at midseason.”

Sandelin did note that recent academic developments would likely have left Olsen ineligible for the second semester.

If you can’t stay eligible academically to play for your college hockey team I believe it’s a character flaw a lack of commitment on the part of the athlete because they are not living up to their end of the scholarship deal, Dylan Olson let his teammates down and he let himself down. This one also falls on the coach because they should be evaluating his players academic progress throughout the semester.

Being a former college athlete, I have seen a few people flunk out of college and lose their eligibility to compete in athletics and I don't understand how they can let this happen? Most places all you need to get is a 2.0 or a 2.5 and you can almost do that by just attending class and reading the materials from the lectures. Again, going to the state schools in the WCHA isn't all that difficult, (BSU, UMD, SCSU, UND, MSU-M) isn't like attending the MTU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, AFA and or Yale and Harvard. My advice to young athletes is go to class, study and complete your assignments, ask for help if you need it, get a tutor.

Happy New Year – Moving Forward…

Another year has come and gone at Goon’s World. This year was the most successful date as we had 456,000+ visitors. I personally would like to thank everyone that stopped by to read our blog … At the bottom of the blog I added the Popular Posts widget and the most popular blog post of the year was Halak scores on himself, which incidentally or maybe it was accidentally made Fox Sports, there was 10,000+ hits on that article for one day… I woke up the morning after I submitted that blog post and looked at the stats and said, "what's going on here?" Blogging is a lot like life, you really never know what article is going to be popular or which one is going to be a dud, you just kind have to go with the flow. I also, have thank YardBarker has been very good to Goon’s World.

The second most popular article was Andrew Ladd with the Stanley Cup, thanks to Puck Daddy… Occasional Goon’s World contributor Amy aka Lets Go Mavs made the top ten posts of the year with her post MN's "Pride on Ice" is officially the "Pathetic on Ice" (by LGM) . While I have gotten some flak from Sioux fans for letting her post on Goon’s World, I do think she brings an interesting perspective to the table and this blog is about heated discussions. I don’t see anything wrong with taking an occasional dig at the Gophers fan base… They aren't as much fun when their team is losing though.

I appreciate everyone that writes for Goon’s World; Sioux7, Redwing77, the Whistler, LGM, Kevin Wiley… Thanks a lot for your efforts… Seriously, it’s harder than it looks… Retired and former Goon’s World Contributor Gordon Anderson is now writing for the Ottawa Sun...

I would also like to thank the Bemidji State University SID Brad Folkestad for credentialing me for the historic first WCHA series between the BSU Beavers and the UND Fighting Sioux. While for some reason I haven’t been able to get a press pass just to attend the Wednesday press briefings and post game press conferences for UND hockey, Brad was kind enough to save me a spot for me in the BREC center press box when there were many requests for press passes… Brad Folkestad and the BSU SID office run a first class organization...

I learned a lot of interesting things that weekend about being in press row, first if you going to report the game in time via Twitter, Face Book, it’s harder than it looks. You also have to be really good at typing, but also an awesome multitasker. Lastly, you also have to pace yourself with the Diet Coke or you end up missing a goal or key play…

Sioux 5 Dogs 0

Grand Forks Herald Photo

As I posted on twitter the UND Fighting Sioux ruins the Bulldogs building opener. UND is now 3-0 and has scored 15 goals and given up only 4 goals in inaugural games/weekends.

To take a quote from the Viking’s quarterback Brent Favre, “the pieces are in place.” I do think this year’s Fighting Sioux hockey team is one of the better teams that Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol has had here at UND, that's including the teams that had Stafford, Oshie and Toews, this year’s version of Sioux has the UND Fighting incredible depth and are getting great play from all four of the forward lines. Defensively, the Fighting Sioux are getting to be very difficult to play against and held the FCC line pointless in tonight's game. The Sioux didn’t look like a team that had been off for a week and a half.

B2tv.com why bother?

Personally, I was impressed with what I saw tonight or at least with what I could see. I watched tonight's game on the B2tv.com and I am not impressed with the quality of broadcast that they put out, they are ripping people off. I am not sure it was worth the seven bucks that I spent to watch the game. It’s a low quality broadcast and just short of being horrible, the announcers were fine, I thought they did a good job, if you like the Bulldog perspective. Kind of makes a guy long for the student broadcast of KBSU or SCSU.

Both teams not at full stength

At the end of the game there was a mention of the Bulldogs not having all of their players. I am not sure we can use that as a reason why one team won or lost. Both teams were missing key players for this game, the Bulldogs were without Justin Faulk (6g-9a-15pts) and Dylan Olsen (1g-12a-13pts), both players are playing in the World Junior Championships. Senior forward Kyle Schmidt (7g-5a-12pts)was injured in at practice on Wednesday and he was out of the line up as well.

On the other side of the ice the Fighting Sioux were without Brock Nelson (2g-4a-6pts) and Derek Forbort (0g-9a-9pts), who were at the WJC. The Sioux were also missing forwards Jason Gregoire (6g-7a-13pts) and Brett Hextall (2g-4a-6) because of undisclosed upper body injuries. While Falk and Olson might be the Bulldogs best defenders, Hextall and Gregoire are 2/3 of one of the Fighting Sioux’s top two forward lines. Jason Gregoire is one of the best two-way forwards in the WCHA so, if anything, the missing players are a wash. It does appear that UND, who ends the month of December with a record 5-0-0, is heading in a different direction than the UMD Bulldogs who end the month of December at 1-3-1.

Goon's three stars of the game

1.) Aaron Dell 35 saves and records 2 shutout of the season
2.) Danny Kristo (1g-2a-3pts)
3.) Brad Malone (2g-0-2)

[Box Score]

Zach Kassian hit on Czech defenceman Petr Senkerik.

Here is the hit that Zach Kassian put on Czech defenceman Petr Senkerik. For the hit Kassian was given a 5 minute major and a match penalty which carries an automatic game suspension. Kassian was given an extra game suspension by the IIHF and will have to sit out another game for team Canada when they play the Sweds.

Jody Shelley gets two games

Last month when Shelly was given a two game suspension for a hit from behind on Adam McQuaid I was told on my twitter page that Jody Shelly wasn't that type of a player. Huh! Now he is a repeat offender. Because funny thing, that is Jody Shelly's second suspension of the 2010-2011 season.

csnphilly.com --- On Wednesday, the NHL suspended Shelley for two games. He will miss Thursday’s game in Los Angeles and the New Year’s Eve contest in Anaheim.

This has been a “December to Remember” for the 35-year-old native of Thompson, Manitoba, as he served a two-game suspension earlier in the month for a hit from behind to Adam McQuaid in Boston.

Given Shelley is a repeat offender, this could have been four games instead of two.

“Exactly right,” Shelley said. “Right now, my gut reaction is that I’m disappointed. And I said this last time. That’s why they do it. They want you to feel sick, shame, embarrassment ... It’s been a tough December.”

Lightning upset with this penalty call...

This was the penalty that led to the Boston Bruins power play that Boston Bruins forward Mark Recchi scored on. The Tampa Bay Lightning took issue with this call that cost them the game.

TBO.COM ---Don VanMassenhoven, the referee at the trailing end of the play, put his arm up and called boarding on Stamkos, giving Boston a man advantage with under two minutes to play.

"Not a penalty, a shoulder on shoulder hit,'' Boucher said. "I've watched it 10, 12 times and I still can't get myself to see what others saw. … This is a game I firmly believe should have went to overtime. It's just very, very difficult to swallow for everybody, everybody. I'm not going to point my finger at my players for this one. They battled hard enough to win this game. It was not decided on something I could control.''

To make matters a bit worse, Adam Hall got picked at the Tampa Bay blue line by Michael Ryder as the Bruins entered the zone, preventing Hall from getting to Dennis Seidenberg and putting pressure on the puck at the right point. One pass later, Recchi found open space at the top of the slot for the winning goal.

I guess I can see why the on ice official called a penalty on the play; we have seen players in college hockey get thrown out of the game for the same hit. As a player you really have to be careful when you hit someone into the end boards, especially with the number of injuries that have happened recently. You run the risk of getting thrown out of the game or have a penalty called on you if a player has his back turned. In this case I think it's a grey area, it was close to being a shoulder to shoulder hit. The Bruins players thought it was a questionable hit...