Goon's World

Saturday, March 05, 2011

College Hockey Scores from Friday, March 4, 2011

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

CCHA
Michigan State 2 at Alaska 3 OT
Ohio State 0 at Lake Superior 4
Bowling Green 3 at Northern Michigan 6

ECAC
Brown 0 at Quinnipiac 4
Harvard 2 at Clarkson 1
St. Lawrence 1 at Princeton 4
Colgate 2 at Rensselaer 4

WCHA
Alaska Anchorage 4 at Minnesota State 0 [Box Score]
Minnesota 3 at Bemidji State 3 OT [Box Score]
St. Cloud State 3 at Denver 2 [Box Score]
Nebraska-Omaha 1 at Minnesota Duluth 4 [Box Score]
North Dakota 6 at Michigan Tech 1 [Box Score]
Colorado College 3 at Wisconsin 2 [Box Score]

Analysis – Friday night was a semi interesting night of college hockey and by the end of tonight we will have the final standings and know where everyone is going for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The playoff scenarios are a bit fuzzy right now. First things first, UND clinched their 15th McNaughton Cup outright last night with their win in Houghton, Michigan against the MTU Huskies, and the same two teams will play again next weekend.

We also know that UND, UMD, UNO, DU, UMN and C.C. have home ice, where these teams end up is still up for discussion; both UMN and C.C. have clinched the final two home-ice spots on Friday night. The Wisconsin Badgers continued their free fall/slide and they will be on the road for the WCHA playoffs, the Badgers have not won a game since January 29, 2011. The Badgers will probably have to win the WCHA tourney to make it to the NCAA tourney.

Alaska Anchorage 4 vs Minnesota State 0 – In the battle for 7-8-9 spots the UAA Huskies shutout the Minnesota State Mavericks. UAA Senior Nick Haddad had two goals for the Seawolves and Freshman goalie Chris Kamal stopped 35 shots to get the shutout for the Seawolves... [Puckato], [Delusions of Grandeur],[ADN.COM]

Minnesota 3 vs Bemidji State 3 OT – The Beavers tied the game on a goal from Brad Hunt with 19 seconds left in regulation after receiving a power play on a controversial hooking call against Nick Bjugstad. [Up North Sports Report], [Goal Gophers]

St. Cloud State 3 vs Denver 2 – The SCSU Huskies Senior forward Aaron Marvin scored with 1:36 remaining in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the Huskies a 3-2 win. Sophomore Goalie Mike Lee stopped 32 shots for the Huskies. Before the game Pioneers head coach George Gwozdecky suspended DU senior forward Anthony Maiani one game for a violation of an undisclosed team rule. If the Pioneers win tonight they will be the second seed overall for the WCHA playoffs. I think it’s safe to say that no one really wants to play the SCSU Huskies in the WCHA playoffs, especially if they are sitting on the bubble of an NCAA tourney bid. [Mike Chambers], [Mick Hatten]

Nebraska-Omaha 1 vs Minnesota Duluth 4 – The Bulldogs got two goals from Junior forward Travis Oleksuk to lead the Bulldogs to a 4-1 victory against the UNO Mavericks. Senior Goalie Kenny Reiter made 29 saves for the Bulldogs who with the win are tied for second place in the WCHA standings. The UNO Mavericks defense held Duluth’s all world forwards Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly and Justin Fontaine to one assist between the three of them. [Rink and Run], [Omaha.com]

North Dakota 6 at Michigan Tech 1 – The UND Fighting Sioux wrapped sole possession of the McNaughton Cup defeating the hapless Huskies 6-1. Matt Frattin paced the Sioux with a goal and three assists. According to Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman ‘Sophomore defenseman Andrew MacWilliam, left last night’s game during the first period with an undisclosed injury and MacWilliam’s status for today’s series finale is unknown.’ As far as watching the game last night, I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary in regards to Andrew MacWilliam and how he could have gotten injured. Cross your fingers folks that its nothing too serious.[UND Hockey Blog],[Fighting Sioux], [Daily Mining Gazette]

Colorado College 3 vs Wisconsin 2 – The Wisconsin Badgers extended their losing streak to seven games (0-6-1) and with the loss will be on the road for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. C.C. Tigers Junior David Civitarese’s scored with 2:55 left in the third to lift the Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. [Eye of the Tigers], [Madison.com]

Controversial Call on Gophers?

Mike jm posted this on Sioux sports this morning, as I thought last night, the refs were right in calling a penalty; they made the wrong call, it’s a matter of semantics. This straight from the NCAA rule book… If you don't believe me you can peruse rule book...
Interference
SECTION 29. a. A player shall not interfere with or impede the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck, deliberately knock a stick out of an opponent’s hand, prevent a player who has dropped the stick, or any other piece of equipment, from regaining possession of it or knock or shoot any abandoned or broken stick or illegal puck or other debris toward an opposing puck carrier in a manner that could cause the player to be distracted. Waving of arms in front of a goalkeeper by an opponent is interference.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Sioux 6 Huskies 1

The game was what we thought it would be tonight, the Huskies have won 4 games the entire season and the first period was a close hard fought period of gritty hockey as the Huskies goaltender Kevin Genoe was rock solid turning back 17 shots, however, hockey is a game of three periods.

In the Second period, the Fighting Sioux’s fortunes changed as the Sioux starting cashing in on the Huskies miscues and turnovers and blew the doors off of the MTU Huskies by scoring three in the second period and then getting two more goals in the third period to run away with a 6-1 win.

Being nothing short of amazing Fighting Sioux senior forward Matt Frattin was a man among boys as he scored a goal and three assists. I know I am biased and I get to see Frattin play every weekend, but I have not seen another player dominate like Frattin has this season. I have to say that Frattin is the player of the year in the WCHA, I think the race for that award has pretty much been decided already. With the Four points Frattin has (28g-18a-46) points and barring injury or an unseen absence Frattin should break the fifty point threshold soon.

Andrew MacWilliam leaves game in second period

With the win tonight UND UND wins MacNaughton Cup outright and is the number one seed in the WCHA. There is some concern for Sophomore defenseman Andrew MacWilliam, who left the game during in the second period and did not return, as of right now it’s not known what happened to MacWillam and there are no details on the reason MacWilliam left the game at this time, speculation is that there is a "possibly injury" maybe, I am sure we will hear more tomorrow. I will write more tomorrow during the morning.

Lines for tonights game against MTU...

The UND SID has posted the lines for tonight's game... Rumor has it that the Sioux are wearing the "Black" jerseys tonight.

Forwards lines

1. Evan Trupp – Brad Malone – Matt Frattin
2. Jason Gregoire – Corbin Knight– Brett Hextall
3. Mike Cichy – Brock Nelson – Joe Gleason
4. Brent Davidson – Maio Lamoureux – Derek Rodwell

Defense pairing

1. Andrew MacWiliam – Jake Marto
2. Derek Forbort – Ben Blood
3. Derrick LaPoint – Dillion Simpson

Goalies

Starter – Aaron Dell
Backup – Brad Eidsness

Scratchs

Carter Rowney Injury, Genoway Injury, Kristo Injury, Hill Healthy Scratch, Dickin, Maris Healthy Scratch, Bruneteau Healthy Scratch...

Michigan Tech’s Forward lines

12 Ryan Furne–8 Jacob Johnstone–18 Alex MacLeod
32 Tyler Gubb–7 Patrick McCadden–9 Dennis Rix
13 Aaron Pietila–11 Daniel Holmberg–29 Evan Witt
23 Ricky Doriott–33 Alan L’Esperance–27 Bryce Reddick

MTU Defensive Pairings

26 Deron Cousens–25 Carl Nielsen
21 Tommy Brown–6 Steven Seigo
3 Brad Stebner–24 Daniel Sova

MTU Goalies

35 Kevin Genoe
30 Josh Robinson
31 Corson Cramer

Scratches
Brett Olson Injury, Milos Gordic and Bennett Royer DQ.

NHL throws book at Islanders Goon Trevor Gillies...

This buffoon just got back from a nine game suspension and on his third shift back this clown does this despicable act, apparently he didn’t learn anything on his first suspension. Here is an interesting stat, Trevor Gillies has played less than five minutes combined in his last two games and been suspended a total of 19 games. Unbelievable!!! Already Islander fans are saying that Cal Clutterbuck should have been suspended for 5 games, which is a load of crap, Cal hit the Islanders player from behind, he didn't target his opponents head, so no suspension is warrented.

NHL.COM----- New York Islanders forward/Hack Trevor Gillies has been suspended for 10 games for delivering a blow to the head of Cal Clutterbuck of the Minnesota Wild in Tuesday's game at Nassau Coliseum.

Gillies will forfeit $60,975.60 in salary.

The incident occurred at 2:23 of the second period and Gillies was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind.

"By targeting his opponent's head, three shifts into his first game back from a suspension for a very similar action, Mr. Gillies has forfeited his privilege of playing in the League for 10 games," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "While it is fortunate there was no injury on the play, there can be no justification for a player delivering a dangerous check to an opponent in this manner."

Gillies, who was suspended for 9 games on Feb. 11 for his actions in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and forfeits his salary based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (186).

Watch the Sioux Women vs UW Badgers...

Watch live streaming video from nottinghammediaservices at livestream.com

The Live Chat is on this link...

UND lines:

Alyssa Wiebe - Jocelyne Lamoureux - Allison Parizek

Kelsey Ketcher - Sara Dagenais - Stephanie Roy

Holly Perkins - Mary Loken - Megan Gilbert

Margot Miller

Defense:

Candace Molle - Monique Lamoureux-Kolls

Kayla Berg - Ashley Holmes

Ashley Furia - Madison Kolls

In net: Stephanie Roy

Goon's on KNOX 1310 Friday from 2:00 - 2:30 PM

Listen to Goon live at 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm on KNOX 1310 AM on Friday March 4th, 2011. R.J. and I will be talking about hockey... We will talk about the WCHA playoff race, and the Fighting Sioux's upcoming series with MTU…. If you live out of town you can listen live by clking on this address. [Click to Listen]

Call in 701-775-5559, 1-866-KNOX-1310, email: Live@KNOXRADIO.com

Dalrymple mum on Sioux bill

Grand Forks Herald Picture

I think it would be bad move politically and possible political suicide if Governor Dalrymple he doesn't sign the bill if it is approved by the House and Senate, especially with how much support it has from the people of North Dakota.

Bismarck, ND --- Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Thursday that he’s asked Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley, a former U.S. attorney, to “thoroughly” study a bill in the North Dakota Legislature that would require the University of North Dakota to retain its Fighting Sioux nickname.

But he’s keeping mum about what he will do if the legislation gets the approval of the Senate and comes to his desk for a final signature.

He told the Grand Forks Herald’s editorial board that he needs to know “exactly what it does” before making a final decision. House Bill 1263, which easily passed the House in a 65-28 vote last Monday, could be changed in the Senate.

Another issue is that the North Dakota Constitution doesn’t allow the governor to threaten a veto, he said.

Dalrymple said he told Wrigley to look over the legislation and study the issues behind this bill as it heads to the Senate.

“I want him to totally understand all of the legal arguments on both sides and keep an eye on it,” he said. “But we think that it’s very possible that we could see an amendment or two in the Senate. I’m not going to say anything about it until I see what I’m being asked to sign.”

Reason not to fight... Taylor Hall injuried

While I am old school and believe in the hockey code, I am all for a player solving their differences on the ice instead of hoping the refs make the right call. That being said, a player has to be smart and pick his time and place for fighting, while I applaud Taylor Hall for fighting his own battles, on the other hand Hall picked a fight with a player Derek Dorsett who has been 14 fights this season and ended up getting hurt in the process. If I was the general manager or head coach of this hockey team I wouldn't be all that pleased with Hall, but such is life.

EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers’ rookie Taylor Hall said Thursday morning that he had only been in two junior fights in his hockey life and didn’t like his chances with the bigger boys in the NHL, but after one goal and a dazzling rush later, Hall shockingly dropped the mitts with one of the toughest pound-for-pound customers, Derek Dorsett, eight hours later.

Give Hall an A for bravery, but an F for foolishness after he exchanged punches with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ forward, who’s had 14 fights this season. Hall hung in after instigating the scrap in the wake of a hard Dorsett hit along the boards, but fell to the ice, landed awkwardly and injured his left ankle. There was no immediate word on how badly he was hurt but it didn’t look good as he limped to the dressing room. His night was over 33 minutes into the hugely entertaining affair with the Oilers driving Jackets’ starting goalie Steve Mason to the bench with three goals in their first 14 shots.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Thursday Links - Is the winter ever going to end addition???

Back Row (L to R): Jordan Parise (Pro Europe), Kyle Okposo (NY Islanders), Casey Boer (Carolina Hurricanes), Chris Porter (St. Louis Blues), Travis Zajac (NJ Devils), Paul Matin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Scott Bjugstad (Shooting Coach), Diane Ness, Troy Stevens Front Row (L to R): Troy Davenport, Chris Student (MN Gopher), Zach Parise (NJ Devils), Drew Staffor (Buffalo Sabres), Andy Ness

First off, RWD sent me this picture on Twitter and I must say that I am very disappointed in former Sioux forward Drew Stafford, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that God awful Minnesota jersey. Noticed former Sioux Zach Parise with the correct wear on... :)

There are quite a few hockey related things out there that might be of interest to hockey fans. For those wondering about Chay Genoway and Carter Rowney, according the Sports Information Director for UND Fighting Sioux hockey Jayson Hajdu said that Chay Genoway made the trip but he won’t play on Friday night, Carter Rowney didn’t make the trip. Rowney was hurt during the Sunday game between BSU and UND.

N.D. Senate panel to hold Fighting Sioux hearing on Monday [Grand Forks Herald]

Here is an interesting article about college hockey. Fighting in hockey begins long before games [Boston Globe]

Air Force coach Frank Serratore says that the Atlantic Hockey Association playoff format is a joke and after looking at their league playoffs format I have to agree that it's a joke. It would be interesting to know who was the genius that designed that playoff format? [Gazette.com]

Dan Meyers from College Hockey News has his WCHA Playoff Prognostications posted. [College Hockey News]

If case you have haven't heard it yet Rob Port from sayanythingblog interviewed Terry Ree; the Sioux Indian half of the comedy team "the Indian and the White Guy," during the Scott Hennen show yesterday. [Click to listen to the Interview]

There was an interesting news tidbit that surfaced from that interview between Terry Ree and Rob Port, apparently the Indian and the White guy were in the process of being booked to perform at the Alerus in Grand Forks, however, the show was never finalized because of the Fighting Sioux nickname issue.

Grand Forks Herald --- Williams and Ree, the longtime comedy duo who bill themselves as “the Indian and the White Guy” and play off race for some of their material, were negotiating in February to play Grand Forks this month when UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname controversy apparently derailed the talks.

Williams and Ree frequently perform on Indian reservations as well as in Las Vegas and at other major venues. They performed two shows at the Spirit Lake Casino near Devils Lake on Feb. 28.

In a video clip posted on sayanythingblog.com, Ree talks about the unscheduled concert and his reaction when Battle told him the engagement would not happen – but might if they agreed not to make references to Indians.

“When I pulled myself up off the floor and stopped laughing, I told him yeah, we’ll do it.”

He hinted, though, that the performance might have included some new material drawn from the UND nickname fight.

“I was going to hang this son of a bitch out to dry, any moron who could be that narrow-minded,” he said.

“I don’t know any Indian that doesn’t like Fighting Sioux,” Ree said in the undated video. “I don’t know any. I’m a Sioux and I think it’s a hell of a deal. I like to see that Indian head on there.”

Bloggers who favor keeping the nickname and logo have been citing the incident as evidence of “political correctness” influencing the debate.

If this isn’t an example of political correctness run amuck I don’t know what is? There is no other way they can spin this.

According to Roman Augustoviz @eyeonupuk the Minnesota Rule is still in affect... I guess the WCHA front office figures that Minnesota fans won't take time off work like the rest of us other WCHA hockey fans to go to the Final Five if their team had to play in the afternoon game.

That being said, I wouldn't worry about this yet since their is still a good chance that Minnesota Gophers wont make the Final Five anyways. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that If UMN has to play the SCSU Huskies I could see their season ending at Mariucci Arena, just a hunch. If I am wrong Gopher fans can send me love letters at the end of the playoffs. What are the Gophers going to do when the Big Ten Hockey Conference no longer fawns over them like the WCHA front office does.

Also checked on the Gophers' rule at the Final Five. It's still alive. If Gophers get in, they will play in night session on Thurs.

And if they win first game, Gophers also will play at night on Fri. Theory there is, Gophers fans will flock to X after work both nites.

Darren Dreger has a new up date on the Coyotes situation. [TSN.COM]

Here is what Trevor Gillies had to say about his attempted decapitation of Cal Clutterbuck; "I went over and finished my hit," Gillies told Newsday. "There was no intent to injure him. I saw him hit DiBo, and I made a hit on him. That's it." [Star Tribune]

It amazes me that Islander fans can defend the hit by Trevor Gillies. [Light House Hockey]

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Here we are - we’ve finally arrived - the last weekend of the WCHA regular season.
The MacNaughton Cup will be moving to a new home, good-bye Denver, hello Grand Forks. (The Sioux clinched at least a share of it last weekend.) It doesn’t seem that the season started almost five months ago – My how time flies when you’re watching WCHA hockey.

I wonder about the future… Will Goon’s old liver survive the Final 5 in St. Paul? Will team’s still play their “natural league rival” 4 games next season? Will the refereeing improve? (Not likely) How many early departures will teams suffer over this spring? Will UND pick a new nickname?

Okay, enough daydreaming, back to what’s at hand, 10 positions will be decided this weekend, MTU locked up the 12th spot a few weeks ago, and UND locked up the top spot last weekend. The top 4 teams cannot be caught, so it is just deciding who gets what seed there. Spots 5 thru 8, that’s where the action will be. It’s possible to have a 3-way tie for 5th place after this weekend - possible, not probable. The bottom 4 teams are stuck, they cannot get home ice.

WCHA standings

TEAM……………..…....W-L-T...Pts
1. North Dakota…..….….19-6-1…39
2. Denver……..…………16-7-3…35
3. Nebraska-Omaha.…..16-8-2…34
4. Minnesota-Duluth......14-7-5…33
5. Minnesota……..…...12-10-4…28
6. Colorado College.…12-12-2…26
7. Wisconsin………..…11-12-3…25
8. St. Cloud State........10-12-4…24
9. Alaska-Anchorage…10-14-2…22
10. Bemidji State…….….8-14-4…20
10. Minnesota State…….8-14-4…20
12. Michigan Tech………2-22-2…6

WCHA (Numbers are current PairWise Rank)

#14 Colorado College @ #21 Wisconsin
Last weekend the Tigers took 3-points from the UMD Bulldogs in Colorado Springs and the Badgers were swept by the SCSU Huskies in St. Cloud.

A month ago the Badgers were a big cheese, now they’ve turned into a dried up, crusty cracker – what happened in Badger-ville? They went winless in February, going a 0-5-1. (Perhaps they were lucky - February is the shortest month.) The Tigers have just been plugging along and are 2-points ahead of the Badgers for the final home ice playoff spot. The fans in Mad-town will need to cheer hard this weekend, as they need a sweep to grab that coveted last playoff spot. It’s also quite possible these teams will be playing each other next weekend too, in the first round of the playoffs. CC has been okay on the road this year posting a 6-7-1 record away from World Arena. The Badgers have been good at the Kohl Center going 13-5-2 at home this season. This is going to be a battle, for both teams. If Wisconsin can score first and get the crowd really into it, CC could be in trouble, but if CC can score first they can take the crowd out of the game. SPLIT

#8 Nebraska-Omaha @ #11 Minnesota-Duluth
Last weekend the Mavericks split with the DU Pioneers in Omaha and the Bulldogs got 1-point from the CC Tigers in Colorado Springs.

UMD has a 4-1-0 advantage in the all time series versus UNO. The Bulldogs had a rough February, going 2-3-3 and the Mavericks went 6-2-0 last month. Both teams still have a chance to grab the number two seed in the WCHA and neither can drop lower than fourth place. If you start looking ahead at first round match-ups, UNO might be concerned about hosting the Beavers. The Bulldogs need to stop the bleeding and playing a tough UNO team isn’t going to make it easy. Both are still in good shape for making the NCAA tournament, but if UMD can’t stop the bleeding their season might end earlier than expected. UNO has scored 88-goals in league play this season and UMD has netted 85-goals. The Bulldogs are 9-4-2 at home this season, 7-1-2 at the old DECC and 2-3-2 in the new Amsoil Arena, while the Mavericks are 7-8-1 away from Omaha. UMD fans might want this series played back at the good old DECC. I’m leaning towards a split in this series, but a sweep either way wouldn’t be to shocking. SPLIT

#19 Minnesota @ Bemidji St.
Last weekend the Gophers swept the MTU Huskies in Minneapolis and the Beavers were swept by the UND Fighting Sioux in Grand Forks.

The Gophers lead the overall series with a 6-1-0 mark. The Gophers also lead the WCHA in penalty minutes this season with 412, and they are 11th in conference on penalty killing. The Beavers should know this and try to capitalize on their power play chances this weekend, since BSU is leading the WCHA power play perecentage at 21.7%. The Gophers look to lock up home ice this weekend, and can do it on Friday with a win. The Beavers can only climb as high as 8th with a sweep this weekend. Don’t expect BSU to roll over play dead, since home ice is out, coach Serratore won’t let his team do that. Do expect the Beavers to play a tough, close to the vest, style game(s) this weekend. BSU has had problems scoring goals, much like the Gophers have this season. The Gophers found some offense last weekend, but hanging a pair of 5’s on MTU is not exactly climbing Mount Everest. The Beavers need scoring from their top line and power play, if they want to get some points this weekend. I see these games as a race to three. The first team to reach three goals in the game will most likely win it. SPLIT

#2 North Dakota @ Michigan Tech
Last weekend the Sioux swept the BSU Beavers in Grand Forks and the Huskies were swept by the UM Gophers in Minneapolis.

The Sioux clinched at least a share of the MacNaughton cup last weekend and can get it out right by getting one point this weekend. I watched the Huskies and Gophers game last weekend, as well as the Sioux-Beavers. MTU isn’t as bad as their record would indicate, they just haven’t gotten any bounces. Look for the Sioux to use their team speed to cause problems this weekend at John MacInnes Arena. This will be the first of back to back weekends these teams play. Next weekend the Huskies will make the return trip to Grand Forks for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The Sioux are 10-4-2 away from The Ralph and the Huskies are 1-10-4 at home this year. (I can see UND winning Friday and then resting players on Saturday, with nothing to gain.) SIOUX SWEEP

#19 St. Cloud St. @ #5 Denver
Last weekend the Huskies swept the UW Badgers in St. Cloud and the Pioneers split with the UNO Mavericks in Omaha.

The Huskies have been mushing their way up standings in 2011. Unfortunately their horrible first half has them sunk into a bottom half finish. They Huskies are heating up at the right time of the year and are not a team people want to see in the first round of the playoffs. The Pioneers have stumbled a bit, but are back home at Magness Arena where they are an impressive 13-3-2 overall this season. The Huskies are 5-6-1 this season away from the National Hockey Center. (They are going to update/renovate the NHC using $31M to do so, I can’t wait to see a new upgraded NHC.) The Pioneers are just about a shoe-in for the NCAA tourney, and the Huskies still have a chance too. DU has talent and is at home, so I don’t think they’ll get swept, but do they have the instinct to finish off teams? SPLIT

Alaska-Anchorage @ Minnesota State
Last weekend the Seawolves split with in-state rival, the UAF Nanooks, in a home-home series and the Mavericks were enjoying a bye weekend.

These teams met back in October in Anchorage, and MSUM won and tied UAA at Sullivan Arena. The Mavericks hold a 7-6-3 home record at Verizon Wireless Center this season and the Seawolves are a lowly 3-10-0 away from Anchorage. Both teams will be on the road next weekend, regardless of what happens in this series. The Seawolves are the second lowest scoring team in the league (only MTU is lower) netting only 54-goals. So needless to say, they want a couple of low scoring games. Same could be said for the Mavericks, they have only scored 66-goals in the WCHA so far this season. I’m going with the home team in this series. MAVERICKS SWEEP

More to Cooke than meets the skull

National Post Picture

Wow! I can’t believe a major Canadian Newspaper would try to paint Matt Cooke in a positive light. The fact remains he is one of the dirtiest and most hated players in the NHL. It’s hard to get to that level. No matter how the National Post tries to portray Matt Cooke, he is a major P.O.S. and one of the dirtiest hockey players that I have ever witnessed play the game during my lifetime.

National Post ---- One of the National Hockey League’s greatest villains finds peace in a garage near the water east of Toronto. Matt Cooke has stocked it with the essential tools, sanders and saws among them, while eschewing any of the chatter that might remind him of what he does during the winter to earn his summer retreat.

“The crash of the waves is my radio,” he said.

Cooke collects antiques. His prized find is a pine cabinet, six feet long and seven feet tall, that he refinished himself after stripping off several layers of paint. There was pink, baby blue, green, white and grey.

“You could tell it came through different eras, where that colour was ‘in’ at the time,” he said. “It wasn’t the easiest thing to get back to wood, but I managed to do it.”

The cabinet is still standing, eight years after its rebirth, in the kitchen of his cottage near Belleville, Ont. It is a testament to the constructive skills of a man with legions of critics screaming about his destructive behaviour, most recently and notoriously with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Highlight reels have been dedicated solely to his apparent willingness to abandon almost all sense of human morality on the ice. Don Cherry railed against Cooke in one segment of Hockey Night in Canada last year, an animated dissertation on Cooke’s decade-long hit parade that ended with a prediction — correct, as it turned out — that without adequate protection, such violence would eventually find Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

The catalyst for Cherry’s rant was Cooke’s (unpunished) headshot on Marc Savard. The Boston Bruins forward had just released a shot on goal when Cooke slammed a shoulder into his right temple, sending him to the ice with a severe concussion and, ultimately, toward the prospect of an early retirement.

Ovechkin's sick goal in ovfertime.

Wow! If you haven't seen this awesome game winning goal by the Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin I would have to say that this is one of the better goals I have seen this season... Alexander Ovechkin now has 25 goals and 40 assists in 64 games.

Mike Milbury nails it on Trevor Gillies

Check it out...

Islanders hack Trevor Gillies elbows Cal Clutterbuck

You have got to be kidding me, what the hell was this worthless P.O.S. Trevor Gillies thinking about? Did he not learn anything during his last suspension? Tonight was Gillies first game back from a nine game suspension for being a total goon against the Pittsburgh Penguins and he does this despicable crap.

I know some Islander fan will make the argument that Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck hit the Islanders player Justin DiBenedetto hard from behind, maybe he did, so what? If Gillies or DiBendetto took issue with the hit then challenge Clutterbuck to a fight don’t plant his head in the boards with your elbow. I mean really, what the hell was Trevor Gillies thinking? Trevor Gillies is basically a cement head that plays 2.52 minutes a game and gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 shifts a game, I think this clown should get 10 game suspension for this.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Matt Frattin makes the INCH Hobey Tracker

Nice to see Matt Frattin get some recognition from the College Hockey pundits. So props to the boys at INCH for putting Frattin in their Hobey Tracker…

MATT FRATTIN
North Dakota | Sr. | Forward
To Date: 35 GP, 27-15–42

The Skinny: The Matt Frattin goal machine keeps turning on the red light and potted three more this past weekend in a sweep of Bemidji State that helped North Dakota clinch the MacNaughton Cup. Frattin is tied for second nationally with 27 goals on the year, and has been particularly hot down the stretch. He’s scored seven goals in North Dakota’s last seven games, and the Sioux are 6-0-1 in that span. Frattin is the leading scorer on one of the nation’s top teams, and among a talented group of forwards, there’s no doubt that he’s the guy you’ve got to keep the closest eye on to slow down North Dakota.

He said what?

First off, I enjoy Roman’s articles and his blog posts… As a regular reader I find his blog post to be amusing and I like his style. Roman writes in a style that I find easy to read and enjoy and he doesn’t talk down or use a bunch of fancy words no one can understand… I admit that I usually read Goal Gopher a few times each day because there are usually lots of juicy nuggets that make good conversation pieces and blog posts. This post caught my eye and I couldn’t resist.

Goal Gophers --- Senior Jacob Cepis said the Gophers have beaten most of the best teams in the WCHA -- North Dakota, Denver and UMD -- and the top teams from other leagues, too.

The U beat Michigan 3-1 in the final College Hockey Showcase and took Union to overtime before losing 3-2 in its holiday tournament.

Michigan won the CCHA title this past weekend while Union won the Cleary Cup, symbolic of its first ECAC title.

The Gophers, of course, had a good weekend, too, sweeping Michgian Tech 5-2 both games. It got chippy Saturday as the U built a lead

That being said, I think this Star and Tribune blog post is an illustration of how far the mighty have fallen from grace; the Minneapolis Star Tribune is taking quotes from Jacob Cepis, just a few short years ago you would’ve seen more polished all American like players, you can picture the Gopher players names in your head. More prolific names like Jordan Leopold, Johnny Pohl, Thomas Vanek, Paul Martin, Alex Goligoski, Danny Irmen, Matt Koalska, Grant Polulny and Ryan Potulny. These all American like players would would be feeding the local media printable quotes and the media and their fans from the Metro area would be eating it up.

There would have been interviews in which the home town players would be talking about how the Minnesota Gophers had just wrapped up another league title or secured a high seed in the WCHA tourney and were looking forward to their upcoming trip to the Final Five and the NCAA tourney... Now the Gophers and the local media and their fans are talking about how their team can hopefully finish in fifth or sixth place in the WCHA standings so they can secure home ice. Gone are the annual trips to the NCAA tourney and as the Gophers are sitting on the bubble of making the NCAA tourney… They more than likely are going to be sitting on the outside looking in again, or playing golf when April comes around. Most of us would be grumbling about how Minnesota is going to get the evening game again on Friday, they will be lucky to play on Thursday.

Now the local Minneapolis/Saint Paul media talk about moral victories and how they took Union to overtime before they lost in overtime, in years past the former Gopher team would have taken the Dutchmen to the wood shed and hung a five or six spot on them. Now Minnesota is hard pressed to score five goals on anyione. Ironically the same Union team then lost the next night to the BSU Beavers... The Bemidji Beavers also are the same team that has gone further than the Gophers in the NCAA tourney the last two seasons.

So fast forward to present time, am I the only one that finds it funny that senior Jacob Cepis has become the face of the Minnesota Gophers hockey team? With nineteen NHL draft choices on the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ hockey team roster, some of which were taken in the first round; instead the have an undrafted player from Parma, Ohio that seems to have become the preferred spokes man for the Gophers hockey team. Wow! How times have changed.

Slashing is now sticking up for a teammate...

I have been reading this article a few times and I find it more amusing each time I read it. First off what is the Stib’s definition of a brawl? Does anyone see a problem with this paragraph? Usually if you going to take exception with something that an opposition player has done on the ice, in my opinion slashing would be an inappropriate and gutless response. It's not sticking up for a teammate, and it might get you fined, suspended and or probably beat up in other leagues.

* On whether brawl the Gophers' 3-2 win at North Dakota on Jan. 14 was a bonding experience: "We've got a lot of bonding experiences this year. We see each other too much. Every second of the day. We've got some young guys who are not afraid to mix it up. Enough of that stuff where people are criticizing us for not being tough. We showed we can be tough. Same with North Dakota. You want to try to bully us, it's not going to work. We are going to back ourselves up."

After a big hit on Gophers defensemen Kevin Wehrs, the 5-8, 170-pound Cepis actually took exception and started the donnybrook at the end of the second period. He got called for slashing.

* On the roughing calls and fighting on Saturday: "If somebody is going to take a shot at you, we are going to take a shot back."

Linus Omark shootout goal...

Edmonton Oilers forward Linus Omark is starting to compile a shootout highlight reel. While some fans think that the shootout is a farce or a side show, perhaps, but I also like watching shootout goals like this… I think it’s a good way to end a tie during the regular season.

Monday, February 28, 2011

History

The History of the MacNaughton Cup

The MacNaughton Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the regular season champion of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The trophy is named after James MacNaughton of Calumet, Michigan, who was an avid supporter of amateur ice hockey. The Cup is hand crafted of pure silver and stands almost three feet high and weighs nearly 40 pounds.

In 1913, MacNaughton purchased a cup trophy for approximately $2,000 and donated it to the President of the American Hockey Association, which was to be awarded to the league’s champion at the end of the season. The MacNaughton Cup remained with the American Hockey Association until 1932. From 1933 to 1950, the Cup was given to semi-pro and intermediate hockey teams in Michigan’s Copper Country.

In 1951, the MacNaughton family arranged to have the Cup awarded to the newly founded Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (MCHL), a precursor to the WCHA. The MCHL was composed of Michigan Tech, Colorado College, Denver, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Michigan Tech became the trustee for the MacNaughton Cup. In the original spirit of the trophy, the league decided to award the trophy to its regular season champion. In 1953, the MCHL became the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL).

The Cup remained a part of the WIHL until the league was disbanded in March of 1958. There was no league play for the 1958-59 season and for the 1959-60 season, the seven teams resumed competition under the new name of the WCHA.

From the 1961-62 through the 1964-65 seasons, the MacNaughton Cup was awarded to the WCHA’s playoff tournament champion instead of the regular season champion, but the WCHA resumed awarding the Cup to the regular season champion again for the start of the 1965-66 season through the 1981-82 season.

Michigan Tech left the WCHA to join the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) for the 1981-82 season. Since Michigan Tech is the trustee of the Cup, the Cup went to the CCHA.

The Broadmoor Trophy was created as a replacement and awarded to the regular season champion until Michigan Tech returned to the WCHA for the start of the 1984-85 season. The McNaughton Cup also returned and continues to be awarded to the regular season champion today. With the return of the MacNaughton Cup, the Broadmoor Trophy is awarded to the WCHA tournament champion.

Poll Monday - UND number 1 in both polls...

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[February 28, 2011]
Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 North Dakota (42) 24- 8-3 989 1
2 Boston College ( 6) 24- 7-1 948 2
3 Yale ( 1) 23- 5-1 887 3
4 Union ( 1) 25- 7-4 837 5
5 Denver 20- 9-5 726 6
5 Michigan 23- 9-4 726 10
7 New Hampshire 19- 7-6 659 9
8 Miami 19- 9-6 628 11
9 Merrimack 21- 7-4 620 4
10 Notre Dame 21-10-5 608 8
11 Minnesota-Duluth 19- 8-6 569 7
12 Nebraska-Omaha 20-12-2 457 12
13 Boston University 17- 9-8 365 15
14 Maine 16-10-6 342 16
15 Western Michigan 16-10-10 248 17
16 Rensselaer 19-10-5 227 14
17 Colorado College 18-15-3 182 19
18 Wisconsin 19-13-4 177 13
19 Minnesota 15-12-5 148 20
20 Dartmouth 16-10-3 114 18
Others Receiving Votes: Princeton 18, Ferris State 8, Rochester Institute of Technology 6, St. Cloud State 5, Cornell 3, Robert Morris 2, Air Force 1
_____________________

USA Today poll
[February 28, 2011]
1. University of North Dakota, 505 (30)124-8-321
2. Boston College, 473 (4)224-7-121
3. Yale University, 432323-5-121
4. Union College, 401525-7-418
5. University of Michigan, 3331023-9-421
6. University of Denver, 331620-9-521
7. Merrimack College, 264421-7-48
8. University of New Hampshire, 263919-7-621
9. University of Notre Dame, 253821-10-518
10. Miami University, 2471119-9-621
11. University of Minnesota Duluth, 214719-8-621
12. University of Nebraska Omaha, 1531220-12-217
13. Boston University, 741517-9-818
14. University of Maine, 53NR16-10-618
15. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 371319-10-513

Union's goal: No foul mouths

Wow! Check out this article from the Times Union… Honestly, you can probably do this in smaller arenas that dot the landscape on the east coast in the ECAC but it’s more difficult in the palaces that make up the WCHA.

SCHENECTADY -- Before every Union College hockey game, the announcement is the same:

"We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. Profanity, racial or sexist comments or other intimidating actions directed at officials, student-athletes, coaches or team representatives ... are grounds for removal from the site of competition and other disciplinary actions."

And they're not kidding.

Students who yell chants the school has deemed vulgar or offensive are getting the boot from Union hockey games. The practice began midway through last season, students said, and while school officials claim it's in the name of promoting sportsmanship, some students said it's gone too far.

"I understand not allowing vulgar language," senior John Russell said, "but not allowing fans to express emotion during games is a bit much."

Students said public safety officers have come down hard on the use of the word "sucks" during games, ejecting any students who use it to jeer opposing teams.

Gophers and Huskies scrum

Hum, very interesting, color me surprised, I thought it was UND that was always in the middle of these kind of things, don’t see a hint of green and white anywhere, it looks like Minnesota Pansies’ on ice actually have a player with some grit and moxie in seldom used Jake Parenteau, unlike his fellow teammate sophomore defenseman Seth Helgeson whose modus operandi is to cross check someone that already had an opposition player laying on top of him, or yap at someone while being guarded by the ref, Parenteau takes matter into his own hands, literally.

I was watching the game in question on tape delay early Saturday morning and the game was getting very chippy and rough and MTU Husky Royer took exception with the Parenteau hit which some hockey fans might have taken issue with, I have seen worse hits in this league go uncalled. Well that hit lead to this scrum and also was the end of the night for Bennett Royer and Jake Parenteau who were ejected for fighting, kudos to the refs for letting these two actually settle their differences, instead of giving them a disqualification for fighting when they didn’t actually fight... For some reason unknown, the fight was not part of the FSN video and I can’t find it on line anywhere.

Does Fighting have a place in college hockey?

While some will say that Fighting has no place in college hockey or the NHL for that matter, fighting in hockey does serve a purpose, again, if a team is taking too many liberties with the opposition, fighting can be used as a way to settle differences and or send a message that your team will no longer be pushed around on by the team taking the liberties. Some may look at this as being a vigilante justice but I believe the current rules in college hockey are causing some of the problems we have today.

For instance, if I am a smaller, mouthy hockey player in Division 1 college hockey, I know that I can go up the biggest guy on the ice and slash him or try to choke him in a scrum with my carbon fiber stick, ala what Jacob C-Piss did on Andrew MacWilliam earlier this season and know that I don’t have to fight because the ref is going to rescue him before the bill comes due. If that same player was in a hockey league where fighting is permissible that player would probably never do that guttless act because that player knows that he will probably have to fight if he does. I would be willing to bet the same act that I described above would have not happened in the USHL, CHL, AHL or NHL where fighting is permissible or frowned upon.

In this particular incident the two teams were getting after each other and there probably were a few instances where the players might have crossed that line, after this fight the game settled down the players returned to playing hockey. I also think the mask and the no fighting rule is actually making the college hockey game more dangerous and is the root cause of more gratuitous violence.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Ground Hog Day, Sioux 5 Beavers 1 - Edited

What a weekend of hockey, first the North Dakota State Hockey Tourney, the two game series between the Fighting Sioux men and the Bemidji State University Beavers and finally the Sioux women playing against the Beavers in the WCHA first round of the WCHA tourney. As they say in baseball lets play two... Yesterday was an amazing day of hockey, first I was able to watch the Sioux and the Beavers play in the Ralph Engelstad Arena, the Fighting Sioux won the game 5-1 wrapping up their 15th MacNaughton Cup Championship. Then after the game I high tailed it to the Purpur Arena to catch the second game of a double header, between the Sioux women’s team and the Bemidji State University Beavers. Let’s just say I was not disappointed with my first look at the UND women’s team.

The Sioux start slow...

During this afternoon's game the Fighting Sioux started out slow getting behind 1-0 in the first period, the Beavers were limiting the Fighting Sioux time and space and getting their sticks in the passing lanes and they made it difficult for the Sioux to get going... The Fighting Sioux made adjustments after the first period and opened the game up scoring 4 goals in the second period to blow by the BSU Beavers. The Sioux scored again in the third period winning the game 5-1. It only would have been fitting if the Sioux goaltender Aaron Dell had let in one more goal to make the game 5-2. The first three games in the series were 5-2, 5-2, 5-2… With the win the Fighting Sioux clinched at least a tie for first place and a share of the MacNaughton Cup Championship and now get to play MTU in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Actually, the Sioux will get to play the Huskies four games in a row. The Sioux are going to need to stay focused and not get into any bad habits from one could develop from playing the worst team in the WCHA.

Hobey Frattin

During yesterday’s afternoon matinee Matt Frattin continued to play like a man possessed working on his final crescendo as he closes out his final games of his UND career, it definitely looks as if the Senior forward is going to end his career at a fast pace. As we sat and watched Matt Frattin pick apart the BSU defenders, I had commented to my buddy Sioux7 “that Frattin looks like he is a fowl mood this afternoon” that translates to good for the Sioux bad for the Beavers. Seriously, no kidding, if Matt Frattin isn't one of the best players in College hockey right now I would have to question your eye sight because Matt Frattin was like a men among boys this weekend. You can give me all of the candidates from Hockey East and the ECAC but Frattin is probably the best player in college hockey this season hands down.

Off to Purpur Arena

When the first game of the double header was over I hightailed it to the Purpur arena to watch the Sioux women and the BSU Beavers play game three of the WCHA home series, I had the pleasure of watching the game with a couple of friends of mine from Bemidji. I have to admit that this was my first time I had ever watched a UND women's game and I was impressed with what I saw, I think there are definitely some great days ahead for UND Women's hockey. Tonight's game turned out to be a barn burner but also a very tense game as the Sioux came close to losing the game in overtime themselves before Monique Lamoureux-Kolls took the puck on an end to end rush and put the puck in the Beaver net ending the game... For the Beavers goalie Zuzana Tomcikova was amazing as well made some awesome saves in net for the Beavers. Lastly, the Lamoureux twins are elite women’s hockey players and its’ worth the price of admission to see them play hockey. With the win the Sioux women make the WCHA Final Face-Off tournament where the Sioux will face the Wisconsin Badgers…

Domination by the Fighting Sioux

The Fighting Sioux have played the Beavers four times this season scoring 20 goals in four games and while the Fighting Sioux were never in any danger of losing any of these games to the Beavers, in games past the Sioux and the Beavers had been hard fought contested games between the two teams. This season the Fighting Sioux were the better team and played very well in all four games systematically taking apart the Beavers hockey team, the Sioux just seemed to have an extra gear and always seemed to kick it in at the right time scoring timely goals.

While the games might not have ended well for the Beavers against the Fighting Sioux, the future is bright for the BSU Beavers and Tom Serratore is a very good hockey coach that I have a lot of respect for, Serratore is a great hockey mind and he will get the most out of his hockey team and he will his team prepared and ready to play in the WCHA playoffs. Coming into this series the Beavers were riding a five game unbeaten streak.

This season the Fighting Sioux scored a total of 20 goals against the Beavers. Matt Frattin had a goal and an assist today for four points on the weekend (3g-1a-4pts) and should be the player of the week in the WCHA, if Frattin is not it will be a travesty. Frattin was unstoppable against the Beavers this season racking up (7g-2a-9pts) during the four game season series against the BSU Beavers. Tom Serratore had this to say about Matt Frattin, “He’s (Frattin) such a dangerous player and he showed why he’s probably going to be the WCHA player of the year.”

INCH Power Rankings - 2/27/2011

As always I post the INCH Power Rankings because they are worth a look, this week we are to believe that Union is the 3rd best team in college hockey, I don't think so...
1. North Dakota — Matt Frattin scored his 25th, 26th, and 27th goals of the season in the Fighting Sioux's sweep of Bemidji State. In the last 10 seasons, the only NoDak players with more goals in a single season are Bryan Lundbohm (32 in 2000-01), Brandon Bochenski (35 in 2002-03), and Ryan Duncan (31 in 2006-07). 24-8-3 (19-6-1 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Bemidji State, 5-2; W vs. Bemidji State, 5-1. THIS WEEK: at Michigan Tech, at Michigan Tech
2. Boston College
3. Union
4. Yale
5. Miami
6. New Hampshire
7. Merrimack
8. Michigan
9. Denver
10. Notre Dame
11. Minnesota Duluth
12. Nebraska-Omaha
13. Boston University
14. Western Michigan
15. Rensselaer
16. Minnesota
17. Wisconsin
18. Maine
19. Colorado College
20. Dartmouth
Dropped out: Cornell, RIT, Robert Morris
Bubble-licious: RIT, Air Force, Cornell

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sioux 5 Beavers 2

The Fighting Sioux have played the BSU Beavers three times this season and in each game the score has been an identical 5-2 verdict. One might say that each game has been like ground hog day, same score all over again. In each game Matt Frattin has been on a torrid pace as well, it's almost like it's personal, it's like he sees read against the Beavers.

After watching the game this afternoon, I would imagine that the Bemidji State University Beavers would be happy to never see Fighting Sioux senior forward Matt Frattin again, counting the two goals that Frattin scored this afternoon against the BSU Beavers, Frattin now has (6g-1a-7pts) on the season against the BSU Beavers. Matt Frattin with the two goals today has (26g-14a-40pts) on the season and is one point short of reaching the hundred point mark of his NCAA career (54g-45a-99pts).

Jason Gregoire has also been hot against the Beavers this season as the junior forward has scored an impressive(4g-0a-4pts) against the BSU Beavers in three games. Gregoire has also been hot recently for the Fighting Sioux since returning from his mid season injury as Gregoire has a nine game point streak where he has gone an impressive (9g-7a-16pts), with the two goals today Gregoire now has (48g-48a-96) for his career and is four points shy of the century mark as well...If the Fighting Sioux can continue getting consistent scoring from all four forward lines the Fighting Sioux will be hard to beat during the WCHA and NCAA playoffs.

Balanced scoring

With Mario Lamoureux recording an assist today the Fighting Sioux now have twelve players with 10 or more points, the Fighting Sioux also have 7 players with twenty or more points, four of which have thirty or more points… So the Sioux are getting balanced scoring through the forward lines. The UND Fighting Sioux lead the WCHA with Goals score with 90 and have a game in hand on the rest of the league.

Goon's Three Stars of the game

1.) Matt Frattin (2g-0a-2pts)
2.) Jason Gregoire (2g-0a-2pts)
3.) Brock Nelson (0g-2a-2pts)

Matt Niskanen hit on Eric Staal

Check out this hit by former UMD Bulldog Matt Niskanen on Carolina Hurricane Eric Staal. There was no penalty called on the play and Eric Staal suffered an upper-body injury on the play and will not play against the Montreal Canadians tonight. According to the rules this is not a violation of the NHL's Rule 48.

Derek Stepan Hit On Mike Green

Check out this hit by former Wisconsin Badger and current New York Ranger Derek Stepan on Washington Capital Mike Green, by definition this is probably a violation of of rule 48... There was no penalty called on the play, one could make the argument that the cross check by Green on Stepan was just as bad and could have been called a penalty as well. Just for the record, Derek Stepan is not a dirty player and according to the New York Post beat writer Larry Brooks the NHL will review the hit. Mike Green is listed as questionable.

Friday, February 25, 2011

College Hockey tonight breaks down the BSU and UND series...

Listen to Scott and Moose Richards talk about the upcoming series between UND and BSU. [Click to listen]

At about 10:00 minutes Scott Williams took issue with Tyler Buckentine wrote about the BSU Beavers in a USCHO blog post. After reading the article yesterday, I have to agree with Scott... I am pretty sure that BSU isn't trying to find themselves in their 12th season as a D-I Hockey team... In my opinion that statement is so far from the truth it’s not even funny... The BSU program, whether Tyler wants to admit it or not has been successful in every level of hockey they have competed in and the BSU Beavers will continue to strive in the WCHA as well… As was brought up by Scott, BSU has been to the Frozen Four a couple years ago and they made the NCAA tourney as an at large team so this article really misses the mark, while Tyler’s team the MSUM Mavericks have not…

USCHO.COM ----- The Beavers were coming off two straight NCAA tournament bids and built a flashy new arena. They started the season off with a five-game winless streak and were never able to recover. BSU couldn’t put together four straight games without a loss until its current five-game unbeaten streak.

BSU is two seasons removed from its only Division I Frozen Four appearance but has a rich tradition in other divisions, winning five national titles at the D-II level and one in D-III. The Beavers are still trying to find themselves in their 12th season at the D-I level, and the move to the WCHA can help BSU get noticed.

The key is to break out and establish itself as an accomplished program in the WCHA, something teams like Minnesota State and Alaska-Anchorage are still struggling with. MSU has been in the league since 1999 and UAA came into the league in 1993.

“You want to go out and make sure people know you’re not a bottom dweller,” Lowe said. “It was important to come in here and play these teams and make sure we weren’t a team that would just get rolled over.”

ESPN; Delay of Coyotes sale has cascading effects

Hum, this is an interesting little news tidbit that just came across the Tweet Deck. Why do I get the feeling that the Desert Dogs are on life support in the Phoenix area? They can only fool around so long before the NHL is going to pull the plug on the Coyotes.

Scott Burnside, ESPN --- The trade deadline isn't the only deadline looming on the NHL landscape.

The City of Glendale, never quite on the same page as anyone else when it comes to getting the job done, failed to begin selling bonds to raise money that would go to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer as part of an agreement on a new lease for Jobing.com Arena. That bond sale must go through before the lease agreement with Hulsizer is finalized, and that deal must be completed before the league will close on its sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Hulsizer.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com Friday that the league has established no deadline for the sale of the bonds and multiple sources familiar with the deal insist they expect the deal will close, just not as soon as had been anticipated.

One of the reasons for the delay in the bond sales, which were expected to be completed by this week, is the specter of a lawsuit by watchdog group the Goldwater Institute.

Goldwater threatened legal action because the deal may contravene state rules on subsidizing private businesses. If the monies committed by the City of Glendale are greater than what they would receive through parking revenues and other monies that would go to the city as part of the deal, it would break state rules.

It's not clear whether Goldwater will take the municipality to court if the deal is consummated.

While the NHL may not have imposed a deadline the reality remains that the NHL does not have infinite patience with the City of Glendale.

NHL should be terrified of threat to Crosby

This article caught my eye this morning and I believe it's worth a look; it’s an issue that won’t go away anytime soon, concussions have become almost an epidemic in the NHL this season. All you have to do is look down the injury list to see this. Look how many names are currently on the NHL injury list for concussions, it’s staggering. At first glance at this list I counted approximately 18 players out with concussion, I think that list actually grew three from last week. The Penguins alone have three players suffering from Concussions.

Bruce Arthur February 23, 2011 – 10:19 pm ----- It has been eight weeks now. Eight weeks since Victor Hedman smashed Sidney Crosby’s head into the glass in Pittsburgh, which was four days after David Steckel ran his shoulder into Crosby’s temple in the Winter Classic at Heinz Field. Which means that it has been eight weeks since Sidney Crosby played an NHL game.

And that should make anybody who cares about hockey nauseous. It should give them a headache. It should cause sleepless nights. In other words, it should make them feel like they have suffered a concussion.

It’s not that Sidney Crosby, as a person, is more important than Marc Savard or David Perron or Matthew Lombardi or Peter Mueller, all of whom have missed most or all of the NHL season with post-concussion symptoms. It’s not that his symptoms are necessarily worse. There were 33 concussions reported in the NHL through Dec. 1. There are a lot of guys sitting in dark and quiet rooms, these days.

But Crosby is different, because he is Sidney Crosby. He is the best player in the world; he is one of the two players in the league who actually have the ability to transcend the league. And since Alexander Ovechkin has spent the season being a more physical Brad Richards — another guy who has the curtains drawn, at the moment — Crosby was, until early January, standing alone.

And then came David Steckel and Hedman, neither of whom were fined or suspended for making contact with Crosby’s head from behind. And as the days stretch out, you start to wonder and worry about what comes next.

The precise severity of Crosby’s concussion has not been made public. The Penguins have said he needs to go symptom-free for 10 days before being cleared, and that has apparently not happened. On Jan. 24 he told reporters in Pittsburgh, “People say mild concussion, but I don’t know that there really is such thing. The good thing is the past four to five days have been pretty good, but that’s not to say symptoms won’t come back.”

That was a month ago, now. Then he talked about headaches, and not knowing what triggered them — light, noise, exertion, it all seemed a little random — and that he was happy to be able to drive a car again. Just 10 days ago he returned from some time away from the team, with his parents, and when Pittsburgh Tribune beat reporter Rob Rossi mentioned he didn’t have much of a tan, Crosby said, “I didn’t want to stay [outside] too long because that might bring on [headaches].”

There has been speculation that he is done for the season, but we won’t know until the season is over. So all we really know is that Crosby’s symptoms have not gone away. Or that if they have, they’ve always come back. And that the vacuum of information coming out of Pittsburgh is like the quiet between bombings.

And the NHL should be terrified. Crosby was having his finest season; he is still fifth in the league in scoring despite missing 20 games. And the greatest difference between Crosby and every other hockey player is not his skating, or his hands, or his size. It is his neural capacity to control his skating, to direct his hands, to see the ice, to think the game with a fine edge. It is his brain.

So many players have never been the same after suffering a concussion this severe, or at least, that has lasted this long. Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Pat LaFontaine, Keith Primeau, Savard, on and on. Not every concussion opens a window to more concussions. Maybe this is the only brain injury Sidney Crosby will ever suffer, and he will fulfill the promise of being a generation-defining player. He is just 23.

But either way, he will now play the rest of his career in greater danger of a second concussion, and a third. The worst-case scenario, of course, is that he becomes Lindros all over again. Crosby’s much better at protecting himself, but in a league where those two hits are deemed acceptable, it might not matter. When he decried such hits back in January, Crosby said, “when you get hit like that there’s nothing you can do, there’s no way you can protect yourself.”

And yet they went unpunished.

While driving home from my workout this afternoon, the host from the Point on XM-204 NHL Home Ice was talking about Sidney Crosby’s concussion and basically saying the longer Sidney Crosby is out with this concussion the more likely he won’t be back this season, we are running out of time for his return, there is roughly what six weeks left to the season. Which is a shame you have the top player in the NHL an elite player sitting on the shelf and might not play again this season because he has a head injury.

I think the NHL could prevent more of the head injuries if the NHL took a more serious approach to disciplining the offenders that are laying out this types of questionable hits to the head and started protecting the players, maybe the numbers would go down. Until the NHL front office gets serious about protecting the players on the ice you will continue to see an injury list full of players suffering from concussions and post concussion syndrome.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Goon's on KNOX 1310 Friday from 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Listen to Goon live at 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm on KNOX 1310 AM on Friday 25, 2011. R.J. and I will be talking about hockey... We will talk about the WCHA playoff race, and the Fighting Sioux's upcoming series with BSU…. If you live out of town you can listen live by clking on this address. [Click to Listen]

Call in 701-775-5559, 1-866-KNOX-1310, email: Live@KNOXRADIO.com

Chay Genoway Hobey Baker Memorial Award promo

I think when you look at UND senior defenseman Chay Genoway’s and his career at UND, he reminds me of your prototypical Hobey Baker Memorial Award Candidate, he is a 4.0 student, All WCHA Academic, clean cut, the leader on his team. The UND Fighting Sioux hockey team will miss him after he graduates... Here is the link to his Vote for Chay Genoway for Hobey Baker Memorial Award page. Also, here is the official link to the Vote for the Matt Frattin Hobey Baker Memorial Award page...

His Story

Chay Genoway not only thought his college career was over, he thought he may never play hockey again.

Hit to the head early in the 2009-10 season, suffered post concussion symptoms that kept him off the ice.

"Not knowing whether you're going to play at all again is pretty scary," Genoway said.

The captain watched his team go on to win the Broadmoor Trophy and into the NCAA playoffs. He wanted nothing more than to be a part of the team.

Shortly after the season ended, Genoway announced he would return after receiving a medical redshirt.

He wanted to finish what he started.

On and off the ice, Genoway makes a difference. Game changer in the rink. In the community. The class room. Genoway continues on.

Matt Frattin Hobey Baker Memorial Award promo

Here is the promo for UND senior Matt Frattin and his official promo for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, in my opinion this is well done and I was impressed by the quality of work. Goon’s world would like to send major kudos to the UND Sports Information Department for their great work for both Candidates Chay Genoway and Matt Frattin. Here is the official link to the Vote for Matt Frattin Hobey Baker Memorial Award page.

His Story

Matt Frattin has the skill set every hockey player dreams of. Fast. Powerful. Elite scorer.

He was living his dream of playing college hockey. That came to an abrubt end.

"The way he was living his life away from the rink wasn't what it needed to be," UND head coach Dave Hakstol said.

After two alcohol-related incidents — one of which he was later acquitted of — Frattin was dismissed from the team.

Frattin didn't give up. He showed other aspects of his character.

Hard work. Selflessness. Committment. Teamwork.

With his scholarship taken away, Frattin decided against going pro. Instead he took out a loan and came back to UND. He worked hard and earned his way back onto the team, earning respect in the process.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

We have 5 league series lined up this weekend again. Interesting fact - there was not a single sweep last weekend in the 6 WCHA series last weekend. The top 4 teams are separated by only 3 points. Also 5th place thru 11th place is only separated by all 5 points. It looks like the last home ice playoff spot will come down to the last weekend of play, the way things are going. It looks like the top four teams this week will be the top four teams come playoff time. Most teams only have 4 WCHA games left (UAA and MSUM only have 2). The standings show the top 4 have distanced themselves from the middle of the pack, and it is very unlikely that they will be caught. Interesting fact, both UND and CC go their first league tied games last Friday night. If UND sweeps, UNO-DU split, and UMD gets no more than 3-points, the Sioux will claim a share of the MacNaughton Cup this weekend.

Remember, I’ve changing my rankings; I was using the USCHO poll, but changed to the PairWise Rankings. Since the PairWise mimic who is selected to the NCAA tourney.

WCHA Standings

TEAM……………..…....W-L-T...Pts
1. North Dakota……….17-6-1…35
2. Denver………………15-6-3…33
3. Minnesota-Duluth.....14-6-4…32
3. Nebraska-Omaha…..15-7-2…32
5. Wisconsin……….…11-10-2…25
6. Minnesota……..…..10-10-4…24
6. Colorado College…11-12-1…24
8. Alaska-Anchorage…10-14-2…22
9. Bemidji State…….….8-12-4…20
9. St. Cloud State…......8-12-4…20
9. Minnesota State…….8-14-4…20
12. Michigan Tech………2-20-2…6

WCHA

Michigan Tech @ #18 Minnesota
Last weekend the Huskies split with the DU Pioneers in Denver and Gophers took 3-points from the UW Badgers in Madison.

Can we say MTU is making waves, late in the season? They have gotten a win and a tie over their last two WCHA series, doubling their point total. Have the Gophers finally hit their stride this season? They are 2-1-1 in their last 4 league games, and those are teams that are higher in the standings. Three weeks ago I would have said the Gophers should sweep MTU, but now I’m not sure. The Huskies should be gaining some confidence now with some success, as should the Gophers. The Maroon & Gold faithful better hope they don’t have a letdown after their big UW road series. The Gophers now control their own fate, win out and they get home ice. The Huskies can put a kink into the Goldy’s hopes if they can pull a point or two out of Mariucci. The Gophers are 7-8-1 at home this season, and without a sweep they will not have winning home record in the regular season. GOPHERS 3-POINTS

#4 Denver @ #8 Nebraska-Omaha
Last weekend Pioneers split with the MTU Huskies in Denver and the Mavericks split with the UAA Seawolves in Anchorage.

This should be the “premier series in the WCHA” this weekend. Both the Pioneers and Mavericks suffered minor setbacks last weekend. This is a very important series for both teams; DU and UNO both have a chance to win the league. Both have secured home ice, so that isn’t an issue, but the PairWise ratings are. The Mavericks have a sparkling 12-3-1 record at the Qwest Center this season and the Pioneers have a decent road record of 6-5-3. The Pioneers are 2nd in league scoring with 82-goals and the Mavericks are 3rd with 81-goals. Denver has played the Mavericks a few times with DU holding a 7-2-0 all-time mark versus UNO. It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw a couple of shoot-outs in Omaha’s barn this weekend. SPLIT

Bemidji State @ #2 North Dakota (Sat. & Sun. @ 3:37pm)
Last weekend the Beavers took 3-points from the CC Tigers in Bemidji and the Sioux took 3-points from the SCSU Huskies in St. Cloud.

BSU opened their WCHA schedule by hosting the Sioux at their new arena, back in October. The Sioux spoiled their opening by sweeping the Beavers in a pair of 5-2 games. The Beavers still have an outside chance at home ice, but the need points and lots of help to get there. UND is looking to put a strangle hold on first place this weekend with getting a home sweep. UND is averaging 3.54goals/game in the WCHA and BSU is at 2.25goals/game. The Sioux lead the WCHA in goals scored at 85 and fewest surrendered at 56. Not too often does a team lead in both categories, this late in the season. It is senior weekend at Grand Forks, since it is the last regular season home games. No doubt, that the 7 seniors on the team will want to go out with a sweep, and the rest of the team wants to see that too. If the Sioux continue their consistent play, I see them taking care of business this weekend. SIOUX SWEEP.

#14 Wisconsin @ St. Cloud St.
Last weekend the Tigers split with the MSUM Mavericks in Colorado Springs and the Beavers took 3-points for the MTU Huskies in Houghton.

Two weeks ago the Badgers looked to have a lock on a home ice spot. But getting only one point in their last four games has hurt them badly, not only in the WCHA standings but the PairWise too. The Huskies have played well as of late going 1-1-2 against UMD and UND the past two weekends. SCSU can continue their climb and sink the Badgers this weekend, if, they can pull off a sweep at the National Hockey Center. It appears these teams are heading in opposite directions now, SCSU going up, UW going down. The Badgers are 5-5-2 away from home this year and the Huskies are a dismal 4-8-4 at home. The Badger’s can ill afford to get swept this weekend. If that happens the Kohl Center might see a protest or two, just like the Wisconsin capitol building. It appears that both teams might be circling the panic button. SCSU has nothing to lose, and UW is getting desperate, so this series could have some good action. SPLIT

#7 Minnesota-Duluth @ #19 Colorado College
Last weekend the Bulldogs split with the MSUM Mavericks in Mankato and the Tigers got 1-point from the BSU Beavers in Bemidji.

The Bulldogs still have a shot at the title, and are pretty much locked into home ice. The Tiger lose the tie-breaker to the Gophers for 6th place currently, so they need points to try and grab a home ice spot. The Bulldogs are an impressive 10-3-1 away from Duluth and the Tigers are 9-7-1 at World Arena this season. UMD has slipped a little going 1-2-1 in their last 4 games, all against lower half teams. The Tigers will need sink their teeth into this series and claw their way back into the top half of the league. If CC contains the “law firm of Connelly, Connelly, & Fontaine” they should be able to get some points. SPLIT

Governor’s Cup

Alaska-Anchorage (11-16-3) vs Alaska (13-14-5 overall)
Last weekend the Seawolves split with the UNO Mavericks in Anchorage and the Nanooks split with the Michigan State Spartans in Fairbanks.

In any case, if you’re wondering the current governor of Alaska is Sean Parnell. This is a home and home series, at Fairbanks Friday and Anchorage on Saturday. I was in Anchorage to kick of the season at the Kendall Classic back in October. Back then I saw UAF play a couple of games, they didn’t look to bad, but that was 4 months ago. I just saw UAA two weeks ago in Grand Forks; they looked a bit slow compared to the Sioux. I have to go with the Seawolves in this series, just because I loved the city of Anchorage, when I was there. SEAWOLVES SWEEP

BYE WEEK
Minnesota State University Mankato – Mavericks

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Thursday Links - EDIT

Just a few things going on today... Here is Ryan Cardinals weekly appearance on 1130 KFAN yesterday, it’s a day earlier because P.A. is in Indy for the Combine. [Click to listen]There were some interesting things said during the thirty two minute interview. Said UND is the Favorite to win the WCHA and that the Fighting Sioux have the best chance at playing in the Xcel Energy Center.

You probably didn't hear it because most of us don't listen AM 1500 out of the Twin Cities... In So here is the audio of Don Lucia [Click to listen]

Jim Rich brings you This Week in the WCHA... [click to listen]

Don Lucia was also on 1130 KFAN this past Monday, a very interesting interview as well. [Click to listen]

Jamestown Girls hockey coach Brad Schaack is headed to the Girls state hockey tourney this weekend. [Jamestown Sun]

Here is what UND head hockey coach Dave Hakstol had to say at yesterday's press conference. [Click to watch]

Fighting Sioux hockey and two weeks remain before the playoffs [Click to read]

The Boy's at INCH have their First Shift up for Week 20

Tyler Buckentine from USCHO has prematurely called the race for the WCHA’s MacNaughton Cup. [Click to Read]...The last thing the Sioux want to do is mail in their last four games and think the race is over. There is a decent chance that they could win the cup but the Beavers are going to have something to say about the race as well.

Without a Peer has their Bracketology up again this week. [Click to view]

Sixty Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets, has their Bracketology up this week as well. [Click to view]

Mike McMahon has his own version of Bracketology up and I would love to see the bracket he has on his blog. [Click to view]

The DU Pioneers are now having a change of heart and net and will probably play ~~Sieve~~ goalie Adam Murray in Friday’s series opener at Nebraska-Omaha... [Click to read article] Also, Pioneers Captain Kyle Ostrow will not travel with the team to Omaha; Ostrow is still out with an injury.

Gophers goalie Kent Patterson would like his forwards to score more goals so he doesn't have to stand on his head every night. [Goal Gophers]

Slightly Chilled has a great article about Gopher hockey fans have a sense of entitlement. Well, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that says this. The more I read this blog to more I admire this guy's work.

Joel Colborne Sega hockey goal

Back in the 1990's Sega Hockey was popular and you could score almost every time using this type of a goal. Check out this dipsy doodle goal by former DU Pioneer and Providence Bruin Joel Colborne. Joel Colborne was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Tomas Kaberle and a first and second round pick. This is Colborne playing for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

Who is the Player of the Year in the WCHA?
	Matt Frattin, F, North Dakota
	Drew Shore, F, Denver
	Jack Connolly, F, UMD
	Mike Connolly, F, UMD
	Justin Schultz, D, Wisconsin
	Drew LeBlanc, F, St. Cloud State
	Jason Gregoire, F, North Dakota
	Jordan George, F, Bemidji State
	Justin Fontaine, F, Minnesota Duluth
	Jason Zucker, F, Denver
	Kent Patterson, G, UMN

pollcode.com free polls

Goon's World Extras