What if the Gophers don't make the Final Five?

The beat writers are already starting to ponder the thought of the Gophers not making the Final Five and the West Regional. There is a very good chance this could happen this season.

There will be plenty of time to throw darts — and I’m sure they will be thrown — if the Gophers don’t make the NCAA tournament, with a regional here, and worst yet, if they get bounced in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and don’t make the Final Five.

The wailing will be heard all the way to Colorado Springs, where WCHA commish Bruce McLeod has his office. People have always speculated how well a Final Five without the Gophers would draw, they might get a chance to really find out.
(Read the whole story here)

I keep hearing gloom and doom for the WCHA and the NCAA regional if the Gophers don't make the WCHA Final Five or the NCAA West Regional. I predict that both tourneys will survive even if the Minnesota Gophers fail to make either tourney. NCAA hockey is bigger than the Minnesota Gophers.

Keith Ballard vs Chuck Kobasew

Nothing like a fight between a former Minnesota Gopher and a Boston College Eagle. Kobasew isn't really know for his fighting skills but took exception with Ballard's low hit and held his own against a pretty tough hockey player like Keith Ballard.

Check out VV on the Pipe Line Show.

Check out what UND's Chris VandeVelde had to say on the Pipeline Show.

They asked Vandy if he is ready to make that jump to the next level? Chris is going to sit down after the season with his family advisor and weigh his options. I think there is a good chance that Vandy will not be back with the Fighting Sioux next season.

Bitz makes it big for the Bruins.

Former Cornell Big Red player Byron Bitz is getting his shot with the Boston Bruins and making the best of his opportunity. While staking on the fourth line Bitz has (3g-2a-5pts) in 20 games. As a Bruins fan that watches just about every Bruin's game I have to say that I have been impressed with Bitz so far. (goal 1) (goal 2)

BOSTON (AP)- It wasn't the first time Byron Bitz had a big crowd chanting his name. It had been a while, though.

The rookie fourth-liner scored his second and third NHL goals Tuesday night, leading the struggling Bruins to a 6-1 win over the Florida Panthers in the opener of Boston's six-game homestand.

Bitz's performance had the fans buzzing, just like he used to in his days at Cornell.

"Couple times in college - but 20,000 people's different than 4,000, so it was pretty cool," he said.

Bitz, playing in his 20th game since being recalled from Providence, Jan. 10, scored once in the second period and again in the third as the Bruins won for only the second time in their last eight games.

His second goals made it 4-1 and Aaron Ward and Michael Ryder followed with goals to break the game open. That got the home crowd chanting for Bitz to finish off the hat trick.

He didn't do it, even with a bit of late power play time.

"It would have been nice if it worked out but it?s not that big a deal," he said.

Lucia might start Patterson.

Check out the Story here. Lucia must be feeling the heat? I think Kangas is the least of the Gophers problems. If I was a Gopher fan I would be more concerned with their porous defense that has left their goaltending out to dry numerous times and the Gophers are starting to pay for this. I don't see Patterson making much of a difference.

As the Gophers men's hockey team prepares for its final four games of the men's hockey season, coach Don Lucia says he might have to tinker with his goaltending this weekend.

"Everything's being evaluated right now," he said. "Whether we split our goalies this week, that's not a decision that's been made. Have we talked about it as a staff? Sure we have."

Sophomore Alex Kangas has started all 30 of Minnesota's games as the Gophers have gone 13-11-6, including 10-10-4 in the WCHA going into a weekend home series against Minnesota-Duluth.

After earning the team's designation as most valuable player last season with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage, Kangas this season has a 2.94 GAA and a .895 save percentage. The numbers have been even worse as the Gophers have gone 6-11-2 in their past 19 games: 3.63 and .869.

The option is backup goaltender Kent Patterson, a 19-year-old freshman from Plymouth who spent two seasons with Cedar Rapids of the U.S. Hockey League and recorded a 2.75 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Patterson has played only four games for the Gophers and has stats of 2.09 and .933.

Would Kangas benefit from sitting out a game?
(read the whole article)

DU now Tigers fan this weekend.

Props to Fighting Sioux fan for making note of this Blog post from Mike Chambers. If I was DU Pioneers I would worry solely about beating the Huskies who swept the Pioneers in St. Cloud back in November 4-2 and 2-1.

Props to my buddy Sioux7 for bringing out the obvious, "The Pioneers will be playing an hour behind the Tigers, hosting St. Cloud State." FYI - CC and UND play on Sat. & Sun. at 3:37pm CT both days. You have to love Mike Chambers. Lets Go Sioux. It's time to kick some Tiger ass this weekend. Seriously, Roe, Lasch and the Huskies are going to come out flying against the Pioneers and they are not going to give the Pioneers anything. One game at a time.

CC could help DU win WCHA.
By Mike Chambers ---- The Denver Post

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championship could be awarded to the University of Denver on March 7, and it's a title archrival Colorado College could help produce.

DU fans will be fans of the Tigers this weekend when CC visits North Dakota. But the Pioneers and Tigers end the regular season March 7 at Magness Arena.

DU, tied with the Fighting Sioux atop the WCHA, needs CC to win a game or two in Grand Forks, N.D. The Pioneers will be playing an hour behind the Tigers, hosting St. Cloud State.

"We are concentrating fully on our series here with St. Cloud and feel strongly that if we take care of business over the next couple games, we'll put ourselves in real good position," DU coach George Gwozdecky

They will play at least five games and as many as eight — depending on how far they advance in the WCHA playoffs — before the 16-team NCAA Tournament field is announced March 22.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Gwozdecky said of obtaining a No. 1 seed. "We feel good about ourselves right now, but I certainly don't want to be predicting or making plans. As we've seen from a week ago, the Pairwise can fluctuate so easily because of how close everyone is."

Crosby and Ovechkin.

I saw this story over on Puck Daddy. I love watching these two teams play each other. Also, I can't be the only one that is getting tired of Crosby's antics, while Crosby is a good hockey player he is a bit of a cry baby. Here is Ovechkin had to say about Sidney Crosby.

"What can I say about Crosby?" he said. "He is a good player, but he talks too much. I play hard and if he wants to hit me, he can hit me, not talk to you guys about who plays cheap and who plays dirty. That's my game... If he doesn't like it, it's his problem."

Later on, when I got my chance to speak to Ovie in Russian, he seemed to be jokingly frustrated about the whole "cheap shot" issue.

"What, I can't play hard against him? What is he going to do, cry?"

Wild are boring to watch.

You can't make this stuff up. This is what the Chicago Blackhawks had to say about playing the Minnesota Wild. As a life long Wild fan I think this is a pretty accurate description and it is becoming boring to me. I would recommend that if you're are having trouble sleeping at night, why not watch a replay of this game on DVR. It would put you right to sleep. If you like goal tending last night's game offered quite a few opportunities to see good goaltending. Last night Wild goaltender Josh Harding was nothing short of amazing as he stopped former Sioux Jonathan Toews close in. For the Blackhawks Jonathan Toews scored the only goal of the game for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Maybe it's time for Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold to rethink the Wild's team philosophy. Come on now! Maybe it's time to take a look inward and try to remake the Minnesota Wild into something more exciting, more appealing and a better on the ice product that the fans can be proud of.

Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith called the Minnesota Wild's style of play "patient." Coach Joel Quenneville said it was "well-disciplined." Winger Kris Versteeg went with a more basic description.

"It's boring to play against, and it's boring to watch," Versteeg said. "They really put you to sleep out there. They have five guys that basically just stand in front and just block shots.

"Playing against a team like that makes it pretty tough to really get any life in the building."

The boring approach worked just fine for the Wild in a 2-1 victory over the Hawks on Sunday night at the United Center. The defeat snapped the Hawks' four-game winning streak, and they lost for the fourth time in their last five home contests.
(Read the whole article here)

Here is what the Blackhawks hockey blogger Steve Rosenbloom had to say about the Minnesota Wild's style of play. It sounds a lot like Sioux Sports own Redwing_77.

More games for the Blackhawks against Minnesota’s old hockey team instead of the new one.

I hate the Wild. I hate the neutral-zone trap. I hate the way Jacques Lemaire has uglied up the game.

But I really hate that the Hawks had 800 shots, including almost two minutes of a 5-on-3, but couldn’t beat Josh Harding for three stinkin’ goals when three goals is a month’s output for the Wild.

I’m aggravated, but that’s all I really want to say. No sense ranting. The Hawks don’t play the Wild again this season. Thank goodness. We now return to hockey and leave the land of lobotomies behind.

Poll Monday

USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
February 23, 2009

1 Boston University (31) 23-5-4 981 1
2 Notre Dame (19) 25-5-3 968 2
3 Michigan 24-10-0 863 3
4 Northeastern 20-8-4 850 4
5 Denver 19-9-4 790 8
6 Princeton 20-7-0 673 10
7 Miami 18-9-5 666 5
8 North Dakota 20-11-3 637 9
9 Vermont 17-8-5 635 6
10 Cornell 17-6-4 540 11
11 Yale 19-6-2 532 7
12 New Hampshire 16-9-5 513 12
13 Colorado College 16-9-8 352 18
14 Minnesota-Duluth 16-9-7 336 15
15 Ohio State 19-11-4 281 16
16 Wisconsin 16-13-3 227 13
17 St. Lawrence 17-11-4 191 20
18 Minnesota 13-11-6 145 14
19 St. Cloud State 17-13-2 122 19
20 Mass.-Lowell 15-13-2 62 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Air Force 50, Boston College 41,
Alaska 22, RIT 16, Dartmouth 7

USA Today poll

1. Notre Dame
2. Boston University
3. Michigan
4. Northeastern
5. Denver
6. Princeton
7. North Dakota
8. Vermont
9. Miami
10. New Hampshire
11. Cornell
12. Yale
13. Colorado College
14. Minnesota-Duluth
15. Ohio State


Analysis:
UND keeps moving up in the national polls and in the PWR where the Fighting Sioux are currently sitting 11th.

Sioux 5th in INCH Power Ranking.

INCH Power Rankings
1. Notre Dame
2. Boston University
3. Northeastern
4. Michigan
5. North Dakota
6. Denver
7. Princeton
8. Miami
9. Vermont
10. Yale
11. Cornell
12. New Hampshire
13. Minnesota Duluth
14. Wisconsin
15. Ohio State
16. Colorado College
17. St. Lawrence
18. Minnesota
19. St. Cloud State
20. UMass Lowell

Dropped out: Boston College

Bubble-licious: Air Force, RIT, Alaska

Color me surprised that UND is ranked that high.

Are the wheels coming off in Minneapolis?

The Minnesota Gophers were picked in the top half of the WCHA; currently the Gophers are again sitting in seventh place of the WCHA with four games remaining. There is a good chance that the Gophers could end up on the road again for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Gopher fans are already worried that their team will do the unspeakable and end up missing the Final Five and the Midwest regional as well which is at Marriucci Arena. These fears are very realistic and could very well happen. Playoffstatus.com give the Gophers a 17% chance of getting home ice for the WCHA playoffs. If this happens it could get very ugly in Minneapolis. (Stay tuned folks)

As the Gophers season goes poorly and the loses continue to pile up there will be more and more calls from Gophers fans for the head of Gopher's head coach Don Lucia. It is only natural, as a Viking fan I have been calling for Brad Childress to be fired since season two. The questions are already starting to mount, what went wrong with the Gophers? While there have been many distractions that could lead to some of this season's failures, there has also a plethora of excuses and silly statements to come out of Gopherville. It’s been like a train wreck in slow motion. Here are some of the excuses we have seen so far; the Gophers are too young, the WJC players are tired, coach excuse. I even heard the lovable Doug Woog utter a jersey excuse in case the Gophers had managed to lose to SCSU.

No easy road to home ice

Two weeks ago during the Wisconsin series I heard Doug Woog mention to “the Rug” that Minnesota’s schedule is much more favorable the rest of the way. After the statement the Gophers proceeded to get three points out of a possible eight in their last two series. You gotta love the Wooger.

Fast forward to this weekend the Gophers the gritty and determined UMD Bulldogs, let me just say the Bulldogs are no cup of tea and I can personally think of seven other teams I would rather face right now. If the Gophers continue to play like they have the Gophers will get run out of building by Scott Sandelin’s team. Being a rivalry series UMD is going to be all over the Gophers.

Moron of the week

Here is my candidate for the Moron of the week; this is some classic stuff folks. I like how Gophers fan always refer back to the Fighting Sioux as being a bunch of hacks when their teams is ranked a lot higher nationally in penalties in minutes (PIMS) than the Sioux. I also like how this posters mentions UND’s 4 trips to the frozen four, yep UND has come home empty handed the last four years but the Fighting Sioux also finished ahead of the Gophers.

NMGo4
DU has 8 Colorado players on its roster, Wisky has 9 in-state kids, CC only two. But Tammyloud is right. The amount of in-state talent has nothing to do with how obnoxious the fan base might be. That comes, in large part, from the coach. Some coaches flip the bird and encourage otherwise thuggish behavior, and that manifests itself in fan behavior. I am afraid we just have to get used to it, but can also take comfort in the fact that even the most obnoxious fans get very, very quiet when they get punked out year after year after year after year in the Final Four. Sue fan, try channeling your energy into winning a national title with Hackstol at the reins. Maybe that will help.

Check out some of these comments from fans on the various web boards and newspaper web sites.

Gophers fall to 7th place in the WCHA.

Loss has Gophers on the road for the playoffs.

Is it time to move on without Lucia?

Even Gopher's beat writer Roman Augustoviz has an article on Lucia and the Gopher's struggles this season. Roman's article is more careful and dances around the edges but it is interesting and does ask a few questions that might be on Gopher fan's minds.

UAA attendance problems.

Earlier this weekend I touched on the attendance woos at UAA.From watching the hockey broadcasts from UAA on their webcast and from this weekends hockey broadcast you can see there wasn't anyone in the stands. Here is an article by Doyle Woody that breaks this down even further.

Seawolves hurting; Aces about even

By DOYLE WOODY

With three home games remaining at Sullivan Arena, the UAA hockey team is on pace to register its lowest average attendance in more than 20 years.
Going into tonight's series opener against North Dakota, the Seawolves are averaging 3,348 tickets sold per home match, a drop of nearly 300 per game from last season's average of 3,641.

And last season's average attendance was the lowest since the 1987-88 season, when the Seawolves averaged 3,520 tickets sold per game.

UAA's attendance is down 8.0 percent from last season, the second-largest loss in the 10-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association behind Michigan Tech, where attendance has fallen 9.0 percent.

Eight of 10 WCHA teams have lost attendance -- granted, some of the drop-off is negligible -- and Minnesota State-Mankato has actually raised attendance 5.0 percent.

In the ECHL, where 18 of the 20 teams returning from last season have suffered drops in attendance, the Alaska Aces are among the top franchises in retaining fans.

The Aces have averaged 4,649 tickets sold per game, down 68 per game from last season.

Alaska's 1.4 percent loss in attendance ranks third-best in the league, behind defending Kelly Cup champion Cincinnati, which has increased attendance 6.9 percent, and Bakersfield, which has raised attendance 1.9 percent.

Sioux 6 Seawolves 2

The Fighting Sioux sweep the UAA Seawolves in Anchorage for the first time since 2003 but the series sweep didn't come without a high price tag as Evan Trupp left the game with an apparent shoulder injury and didn't return. The UAA television announcer said. "one shoulder is lower than the other and that's not good." According to the Grand Forks Herald Trupps status is unknown at this time; I suppose we will know more later in the week. Trupp missed four games earlier this season with a shoulder injury. Let’s hope that Trupp doesn’t miss too much time as the Sioux need his offensive creativity. I would imagine that freshman David Toews will take his place in the lineup next weekend.

With the win against the Seawolves last night, coach Hakstol's team has won at least 20 games in each of his first five years of coaching for the Fighting Sioux. With the win last night the Fighting Sioux also clinched home ice for the WCHA playoffs. The Sioux should not be satisfied with securing home ice for the playoffs; the Fighting Sioux have bigger fish to fry as they are currently tied with the Denver Pioneers for first in the WCHA. If the Sioux finish tied for first with the Pioneers the Sioux hold the tie breaker based on head to head record.

Sioux on a roll

The Fighting Sioux have been on a tear since their horrible start; since Thanksgiving weekend the Fighting Sioux have gone 16-4-2 and 11-1-2 since the first of the year after starting the season 0-3-0. The only real blemish on the Sioux's record was the disappointing showing in the GLI during the Christmas break. I would be willing to bet that no team wants to be in UND's bracket come NCAA playoff time.

Complete domination

The Fighting Sioux played a complete game and both ends of the ice and cashed in on their opportunities when they were presented to them. The Defense cleaned up rebounds and did a good job getting the puck out of the zone and up ice. Freshman goalie Brad Eidsness 20-8-3 2.409 gaa sv% .911 had a good weekend between the pipes and made some big saves in both games. At one point last night Eidsness stoned a Seawolves player on a clean break away after the Sioux defense had gotten caugh up ice in the defensive zone.

Senior Ryan Ducan (1-2-3), Freshman Jason Gregoire (0-3-3) and Junior Chris VandeVelde (3-0-3) were huge for the Fighting Sioux all weekend as they made big plays at important times during the weekend series. With the Sweep of the Seawolves last night the Fighting Sioux moved into 11th in the Pairwise Rankings which mimic the selection for the NCAA hockey tourney.


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

NDK-1 Evan Trupp (2-Tripping) AKA 1x1 2:00
AKA 1 - 0 6x5 PP Kevin Clark (7) (Josh Lunden, Mat Robinson) 2:58
AKA: 9,21,33,24,20,G49 NDK: 6,16,17,25,G31
NDK-2 Brett Hextall (2-Cross-Checking) AKA 1x2 7:58
NDK 1 - 1 5x6 SH Ryan Duncan (14) (Jake Marto, Jason Gregoire) 9:29
NDK (+): 16,25,6,17,G31 AKA (-): 14,40,33,16,4,G49
AKA-1 Curtis Leinweber (2-Holding) NDK 1x1 12:00
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP LL Chris VandeVelde (11) (Brad Miller, Ryan Duncan) 13:17
NDK: 29,14,16,25,26,G31 AKA: 14,18,33,13,G49
NDK-3 Ryan Martens (2-Interference) AKA 1x3 13:44
AKA-2 Trevor Hunt (2-Tripping) NDK 1x2 15:16
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 GW Brad Malone (3) (Darcy Zajac, Ryan Martens) 19:05
NDK (+): 22,11,8,25,6,G31 AKA (-): 23,24,9,21,22,G49

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

NDK-4 Brett Hextall (2-High-Sticking) 6:49
AKA-3 Kevin Clark (2-Roughing) 6:49
NDK 4 - 1 5x5 Chris VandeVelde (12) (Jake Marto, Brad Miller) 6:59
NDK (+): 29,21,14,25,G31 AKA (-): 16,4,20,33,G30
NDK-5 Andrew Kozek (2-Cross-Checking) AKA 1x4 9:16
NDK-6 Zach Jones (2-Checking from Behind) AKA 1x5 12:44
NDK-7 BENCH (2-TOO MANY PLAYERS ON ICE) (Served by Andrew Kozek) AKA 1x6 19:22

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

NDK-8 Joe Finley (2-Tripping) AKA 2x7 6:56
AKA 2 - 4 6x5 PP Josh Lunden (12) (Curtis Leinweber, Mat Robinson) 8:22
AKA: 21,11,9,33,20,G30 NDK: 5,11,20,24,G31
NDK 5 - 2 6x6 EN Jake Marto (6) (unassisted) 17:13
NDK (+): 25,17,6,29,16,G31 AKA (-): 9,18,20,21,16,11
NDK 6 - 2 6x6 HT Chris VandeVelde (13) (Matt Frattin, Jason Gregoire) 19:15
NDK (+): 29,17,21,6,2,G31 AKA (-): 40,21,33,4,12,G30

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

News from the other side

Check out this link for highlights from last night's game. The video also does a pretty good job of illustrating that there wasn't very many fans at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage last night. While the box score says that the paid attendance for last night game was 3679, it would appear from the broadcast and from the news highlights that the actual attendance was a lot smaller. I just don't get it. Why wouldn't the attendance be higher?

While UAA has had a tough go at it the last three seasons, UAA is improving and UAA coach Dave Shyiak has his team close to being a decent to very good hockey team in the WCHA. UAA also plays in one of the premier hockey conferences in Division one hockey. Lastly, I also don't buy the argument that there is a lot more to do in Anchorage than some of the other other WCHA cities; like say Grand Forks, Saint Cloud, Houghton or Mankato. It is the dead of winter in Alaska right now and hockey would seem to be a natural fit for a state that is known for it cold winters and majestic beauty.

Here is the Anchorage Daily News story on last night's game.

UAA certainly didn't go down without a fight. The Seawolves outshot the Fighting Sioux 18-12 in the final two periods.

"I thought we played well enough to win," UAA coach Dave Shyiak said. "You gotta give (North Dakota) credit. They earned their breaks -- they got a power-play goal and a bounce to go their way in overtime.

"We hung in there with one of the best teams in the country."

Here is Anchorage hockey blogger on attendance for hockey in Anchorage.

In the meantime, UAA entertains North Dakota this weekend in its final WCHA home series, and the Seawolves could use some more fans. Look in Friday's paper for a chart detailing the program's attendance drop this season, which is in keeping with most of the teams in the league, although UAA's drop is the second-worst.

In any event, the Aces have dropped in attendance, too, but just barely. They open a three-game, ECHL road trip at Phoenix on Saturday.

Saturday Morning Bracketology.

Here is the latest from Jason Moy at the Bracketology blog. Personally I would like to see UND get another crack at BU.
Midwest Regional (Grand Rapids)

East Regional (Bridgeport)

15 RIT vs. 1 Boston University

12 North Dakota vs. 7 Yale

Midwest Regional (Grand Rapids)

16 Bemidji State vs. 2 Notre Dame

9 Princeton vs. 8 Miami

West Regional (Minneapolis)

14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Michigan

10 Cornell vs. 6 Northeastern

Northeast Regional (Manchester)

13 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 4 Vermont

11 New Hampshire vs. 5 Denver

UND 2 UAA 1 OT

We watched the game at the Highlander Bar in Grand Forks, ND tonight after watching Central Knights shutout the Red River Rough Riders 6-0. What a day for hockey.

The Sioux won a game against a team that does a great job clogging up the neutral zone. While I am happy the Fighting Sioux won the game it wasn't a very good game to watch, it was down right boring. These are also the type of games you have to win to be successful in the WCHA and NCAA playoffs. The classic tight checking, tough contested game that requires a lot of grit where you can't make a lot of mistakes. One of those games where a missed pass ends up being a goal. Brett Hextall and Chay Genoway were huge tonight and they were the difference in the game.

UAA is kind of an enigma, for a team that is sitting in 9th place in the WCHA they sure play a lot better hockey than their record. The Seawolves play with a lot of grit and tonight they did pretty much everything they were supposed to, except they didn't get the win. Seawolves coach Dave Shyiak he said, “They are one of the best teams in the country,” and when “You give them a couple of chances and they are going to score.”.
Box Score

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

AKA-1 Tyler Moir (2-Interference) NDK 0x1 3:29
NDK-1 Brad Malone (2-Tripping) AKA 0x1 6:59
AKA-2 Jared Tuton (2-Interference) NDK 1x2 11:04
NDK 1 - 0 6x5 PP Brett Hextall (9) (Ryan Duncan, Brad Miller) 12:03
NDK: 26,16,14,25,29,G31 AKA: 18,33,13,12,G49

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

AKA-3 Mat Robinson (2-Tripping) NDK 1x3 17:25
NDK-2 Jason Gregoire (2-Roughing) 19:27
AKA-4 Curtis Leinweber (2-Roughing) 19:27

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

NDK-3 Joe Finley (2-Roughing) 4:18
NDK-4 Joe Finley (2-Cross-Checking) (Served by Andrew Kozek) AKA 0x2 4:18
AKA-5 Kevin Clark (2-Roughing) 4:18
AKA-6 Trevor Hunt (2-Hooking) NDK 1x4 7:33
AKA 1 - 1 6x6 Josh Lunden (11) (Mat Robinson, Kevin Clark) 11:17
AKA (+): 21,33,9,13,40,G49 NDK (-): 2,5,16,26,17,G31
NDK-5 Jason Gregoire (2-Interference) AKA 0x3 13:28

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overtime (0:17)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK 2 - 1 6x6 GW LL Chay Genoway (3) (Brett Hextall, Jason Gregoire) 0:17
NDK (+): 5,2,16,17,26,G31 AKA (-): 16,12,20,13,33,G49

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

Pasquale Mangiola And The Three Habs

Coming off a disastrous 1-4-1 road trip, the last thing the Montreal Canadiens' needed was to be embroiled in another controversy.

With the Montreal media in a frenzy about the teams rapid descent down the Eastern Conference standings, any good news that's fit to print is hard to find.

Tracts of glorious pine trees are plowed under as the media attempts to play Sherlock Holmes in his latest mystery: What The Hell Is Wrong With The Habs?

Barring a miraculous clue from the sole of a dusty hob nail boot, the mystery of the Habs will fail to satisfy.

The media are smart enough to know that there are only so many times you can hammer home the point that the Canadiens are under performing.

So, it stands to reason the media will take their collective boot off the throat of the Canadiens' and look for something else.

French language newspaper La Presse were the first to find the rotting fish in the brine.

I don't want to get sued so you may find the word alleged or reportedly sprinkled throughout this diatribe.

It is alleged that the Kostitsyn brothers (Sergei and Andrei) and Roman Hamrlik are acquaintances of a Pasquale Mangiola, a man who has alleged links with organized crime.

Mangiola was arrested and charged with conspiracy and cocaine trafficking by Montreal police last week, in a sting operation called "Project Axe."

Allegedly the police have recorded conversations between Mangiola and two of the players.

La Presse was quick to point out that the three Canadiens' were not suspected of anything more sinister than a good night on the town with Mangione.

However, the optics of it all don't look good.

In a hastily put together press conference Friday afternoon, Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey would not brush aside the allegations made by the media.

"I can only go on what I know," Gainey told TSN.ca. "It's not good for our team. It does not reflect well on our team, it does not reflect well on the individuals and it cannot be extinguished as a possible inhibitor to our performance."

While there are many people who want to be associated with a professional hockey team for good reasons. not everyone is a chaste.

For decades there have been hangers on and ruthless people who want to befriend young, millionaire hockey players and gain access to the inner sanctum of a club.

Gainey said that the Kostitsyn brothers and Hamrlik simply made a bad choice in whom they chose to associate with.

"We've made the players aware that this is not the kind of conduct that is part of people in our organization and for them individually as young athletes, as professionals who are trying to attain their goals, that they have to make stronger choices than the person beside them," Gainey told TSN.ca.

The NHL security department, which visits each team yearly to talk about issues, including personal associations, is aware of the situation.

"The NHL is aware of the reports and is in the process of gathering information," deputy commissioner Bill Daley said in a statement released on Friday.

Surprisingly, various Habs' blog sites are silent on this issue. They were more interested in the recent trials of Alexei Kovalev.

This isn't the first time organized crime has crossed paths with NHL players.

According to an investigation by PBS, Pavel Bure was friends with Anzor Kikalishvilli who, according to the FBI and Russian law enforcement, is the co-head of a Russian organized crime operation.

The FBI stated that Russian hockey great Vyacheslav Fetisov was linked to a Russian mobster named Vyacheslav Ivankov. Ivankov spent ten years in a U.S. prison for extortion and was charged and acquitted of two murders in a Russian restaurant.

I've got to give kudos to Alex Rodriquez for his recent troubles. If this situation is worse than initially thought, then A Rod may be the best and most obtuse saviour the NHL has ever seen.

Tell us what he did.

USCHO blogger Todd Milewski brings up a good point in his latest blog post. It would be interesting to see what is actually going to be tolerated and what isn't going to be allowed in the WCHA. Seems that the league is a little inconsistent in their rulings. I think the WCHA should model its self after The NHL who does a good job breaking down suspensions and letting the fans, teams and the players know what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable.

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod, in his statement, sent a message to the rest of the league that the game must be played “within the spirit of the rules at all times.”

So why not spell out exactly what happened and why it was unacceptable? Why not say plainly that the WCHA will not tolerate X and Y and Z, and Bruess is being punished for violating that?

If players are going to be held responsible, they deserve to know without a doubt what the expectations are. This is a case where a clearer definition is needed.

Mavs and Sioux in pictures.

Here are the pictures that Garlynn and Sioux7 took this past weekend. I want to thank the two photographers for their work.

Buress supended for his hit on LaPoint.

I have to admit that I am a little surprised by this move and didn't expect the league to suspend Buress especially after they allowed a few other incidents to go unpunished, like say the Brian Schack incident and his impersonation of Todd Bertuzzi.

What I am hoping is the league has finally decided that enough is enough and is going to start flexing some of their muscle and suspending players who cross the line. During the series between the Sioux and the Mavericks Trevor Buress crossed the line a few times last weekend. I am also surprised that Geoff Irwin wasn't suspended for his stick swinging incident on Zajac at the end of Saturday's game. If that act had happened in the NHL Irwin would be getting a call from Colin Campbell.

Bruess Suspended One Game
CHN Staff Report
MANKATO, Minn. — Pursuant to WCHA policy, Minnesota State has suspended junior forward Trevor Bruess one game.

Bruess was suspended for a hit on North Dakota defenseman Derrick LaPoint. LaPoint went hard into the boards and suffered a broken leg. He had surgery this week and will miss the remainder of the season.

Bruess was not assessed a penalty on the play.

“We need Trevor to understand that he needs to make every possible effort to avoid these types of incidents and want to emphasize to him that he is responsible for his actions on the ice,” said WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod. “We hope he will use this as both an educational experience and as a time to reflect on his play.