Sioux and Gophers week.

Ah the good ole days of Sioux and the Gophers weekend. No clue what to expect this weekend when the two teams meet. I am sure we will have some rough stuff. Friday can't come fast enough. I would compare this matchup to Hatfield and McCoy fued.

Series History

The Gophers lead the all-time series 137-124-12, though North Dakota won both meetings last year with 6-3 and 6-1 victories at home. The Fighting Sioux are 7-2-1 in the last 10 encounters with the Gophers. Prior to last year's sweep, four of the previous six meetings had gone to overtime and eight of the previous nine had been decided by two goals or less. The Gophers also are 4-3 in their last seven games at Englestad Arena.

About the Fighting Sioux


North Dakota opened its season with a home sweep of Merrimack by 5-2 and 3-2 scores last weekend. The Fighting Sioux controlled both games, outshooting Merrimack 40-17 on Friday and 35-18 on Saturday. Freshman forward Michael Cichy had a goal and two assists in his collegiate debut series and was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week. Brad Eidsness played both games in goal, finishing with 15 saves on Friday and 16 saves on Saturday. The sophomore was a third-team all-WCHA selection last season and has now started 35 consecutive games, which is the third-longest streak in school history. Senior defenseman Chay Genoway was last season's WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the Inside College Hockey Preseason All-American team. North Dakota returns 16 letterwinners from last year's WCHA championship team and has 10 freshmen on this year's roster.

Historical Memories

Sioux and Gophers in December of 2007

Sioux vs Gophers 2nd Period Scrum Feb 3rd 2008, Gorg from between the Penalty Box.

Blast from the past Vannelli vs McMahon. Vannelli got worked in this fight.

Last season there were a lot of goals from the Green and White. Highlights from last season 2-0 series win by the Sioux.

Stafford Scores against Detroit.

Former Fighting Sioux hockey player Drew Stafford scores his first goal of the season for Buffalo against the Detroit Redwings. Last night  the Buffalo Sabres took it to the Detroit Redwings beat them 6-2 on Versus.
The Northeast Division has started out the season pretty weak this season and the Sabres are actually leading the Northeast division with a 3-0-1 record early on.

Matt Hendricks vs Garnet Exelby

Who says that Former Huskies can't fight? Former SCSU Husky Matt Hendricks and Garnet Exelby get into a pretty good fight, unfortunately Hendricks slips and got the worse of the exchange. The Maple Leafs are an unimpressive 0-5-1 so far this season. 

USCHO Poll. (UND 4th)

[October 13, 2009]
1 Miami (28) 2-0-0 871 4
2 Boston University (17) 0-0-0 859 2
3 Denver 1-1-0 772 1
4 North Dakota 2-0-0 759 6
5 Michigan 1-1-0 685 3
6 Cornell 0-0-0 608 7
7 Notre Dame 1-1-0 598 5
8 Yale 0-0-0 523 8
9 Minnesota 0-0-0 521 9
10 Princeton 0-0-0 459 10
11 Vermont 1-1-0 408 14
12 Boston College 0-0-0 395 12
13 Wisconsin 0-0-0 352 13
14 Mass.-Lowell 1-1-0 348 11
15 Bemidji State 2-0-0 183 NR
16 Nebraska-Omaha 2-0-0 154 NR
17 Alaska 2-0-0 126 NR
18 Quinnipiac 2-0-0 110 NR
19 St. Cloud State 0-2-0 109 15
20 Northeastern 1-1-0 105 20

Others Receiving Votes: Minnesota-Duluth 102, New Hampshire 84, Union 55, Michigan State 53, Minnesota State 46, Northern Michigan 43, Ohio State 32, Colorado College 24, Harvard 17, Massachusetts 11, Air Force 9, Alaska-Anchorage 7, RIT 7, Colgate 5, St. Lawrence 4, Alabama-Huntsville 3, Rensselaer 2, Canisius 1

Obsession.

 

Being it's Sioux and Gophers week, I figured it was never too early to get this picture posted. Fighting Sioux hockey fans know that Gopher hockey fans are obsessed with anything that is about Fighting Sioux Hockey. We are still debating who is the better player Parise or Vanek. We also can't forget that the Holy Cross game still comes up after six years. I know it's a long time ago but it is still funny. Nothing was more pleasing that watching a bunch of over confident Gopher fans leave the arena in disbelief. My wife informed me yesterday that Scheels is selling Holy Cross shirts. Get them while they are hot.

Of course there are Gophers fans that like to bring up the UNH game but it's still not the same as the Holy Cross game. UNH was a pretty good hockey team, Holy Cross was a sixteen seed.

Not to be out done by Sioux fans, Gopher fans like to bring up this game but this game still brings me much joy as well. A Regional championship > League playoff Championship.

Dirty over at Ditry's Diatribe posted a site that I found pretty comical, the blog post is pretty funny as well. I hope we all remember in the end that this is just a game. We don't need any fights in bars like we had last season. When you get to the point that your ready to start swinging you might have an anger management issue.

Some people really have no life. Apparently Goofs fans love Dave Hakstol as well. This one hasn't gained any steam what so ever.

Leafs in shambles Bozak called up to the Leafs.

The Make Me laughs are a mess, last years top scorer Jason Blake has two points in 5 games, the goaltending can't stop a beach ball. Why not call up former DU star Tyler Bozak? Seriously, I was surprised when they sent him down and he could add some spark to the line up?

[Sun Media] Reeling from their worst start in almost 20 years, the 0-4-1 Leafs called up centre Tyler Bozak from the Marlies, apparently benching forwards Matt Stajan and Niklas Hagman and sitting goalie Vesa Toskala out with a lower body injury.

”Why not?,” coach Ron Wilson said of the high-profile benchings. “We need more from everyone, we’re giving opportunities to younger guys.”

Toskala was shaken up in Monday’s 7-2 loss to the New York Rangers, when teammate Jason Blake crosschecked Ranger forward Ryan Callahan over top of him while he was in the butterfly position. With Joey MacDonald already slated to start after Toskala registered no wins, a 5.56 goals-against average and an .812 save percentage, the Leafs called up James Reimer from the Marlies to back up MacDonald tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. Toskala went for an MRI today, but the problem is not thought to be serious.

The game will also see the return of the Leafs’ top scorer in pre-season, Viktor Stalberg, who suffered a mild concussion a week ago early in the club’s third game after getting one point in two previous starts. He and Bozak live together with forward Christian Hanson, who is also with the Marlies.

“Viktor and I were on different schedules, but I was jealous whenever he went on (an NHL) road trip,” Bozak said.

Bozak received word via text last night he would be called up.

Aaron Fox goes Mike Legg on KHL goalie.

Check out this amazing goal by former MSU player Aaron Fox who's currently playing for Zagreb Medvescak of the KHL, incidently this is also former Fighting Sioux hockey player Mike PrPich's team.
[props] and [props]

Hey ref you...

Fighting Sioux hockey beat writer Brad Elliott Schlossman has now posted the numbers for the WCHA refs just in time for the WCHA season. Sweet.

Personally, I was kind of disgusted that the refs have now gone chicken, so the fans no longer know who they are without the roster, because they no longer put their names on the back of their jerseys. I can't be the only on that thinks that was a stupid thing to do? I mean seriously, if the officials are not doing a good job (like usual) there should be a name attached to the product. I suppose the League Commissioner Bruce McLeod believes that it will decrease the complaints against their crappy officials. Not a chance. If you doing a horrible job there should be some ownership connected with the crappy product.

3 -- Derek Shepherd
4 -- Todd Anderson
5 -- Justin Brown*
7 -- Don Adam
8 -- Tom Sterns*
9 -- C.J. Beaurline
10 -- Peter Friesema
11 -- Tim Walsh
12 -- Butch Mousseaux
14 -- Brian Thul
15 -- Marco Hunt
17 -- Craig Welker
18 -- Max Battimo
20 -- Brad Albers
22 -- Bill Mason
23 -- Matt Ulwelling
24 -- Jon Campion
25 -- Mike McCreary*
27 -- Jonathan Morrison
29 -- Scott Bokal
31 -- Brett Klosowski
33 -- Brad Shepherd

Poll Monday

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men’s College Hockey Poll - #2

1 Miami University, 496 (24) 1 2-0-0 2
2 Boston University, 470 (9) 3 0-0-0 2
3 University of Denver, 413 2 1-1-0 2
4 University of North Dakota, 394 8 2-0-0 2
5 University of Michigan, 365 4 1-1-0 2
6 Cornell University, 298 7 0-0-0 2
7 University of Notre Dame, 294 5 1-1-0 2
8 University of Minnesota, 269 6 0-0-0 2
9 Princeton University, 213 9 0-0-0 2
10 Yale University, 204 11 0-0-0 2
11 University of Vermont, 155 15 1-1-0 2
12 Boston College, 144 (1) 12 0-0-0 2
13 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 136 10 1-1-0 2
14 University of Wisconsin, 74 14 0-0-0 2
15 University of Nebraska Omaha, 36 NR 2-0-0 1
Others receiving votes: Bemidji State University, 27; University of Alaska Anchorage, 17; University of Minnesota Duluth, 17; St. Cloud State University, 15; Quinnipiac University, 11; Union College, 9; Michigan State University, 8; University of New Hampshire, 6; Northeastern University, 3; Northern Michigan University, 3; Minnesota State University, 2; University of Massachusetts, 1.

Just for laughs
INCH Power Rankings

1.)Miami
2.)UND -- Fourteen of the 18 skaters who dressed for the Sioux's sweep of Merrimack registered at least one point on the weekend. 2-0-0 (0-0-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Merrimack, 5-2; W vs. Merrimack, 3-2. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota, vs. Minnesota
3.)DU
4.)BU
5.)Notre Dame
6.)Michigan
7.)Cornell
8.)Princeton
9.)Minnesota
10.)Yale
11.)Vermont
12.)U-Mass Lowell
13.)Wisconsin
14.)Boston College
15.)Alaska (Fairbanks)
16.)BSU
17.)UNO
18.)SCSU
19.)UNION
20.)MSU

USCHO.COM Poll (comes out Tuesday because of the holiday)

Latest Versus Hockey Comercial (Toews)

Goon's world is going to have a partnership with Versus hockey and the folks at Versus sent us this video to get things rolling. Former Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews is featured in this commercial. Stay tuned for details.

OILERS RECALL TAYLOR CHORNEY

Former Fighting Sioux defenseman Taylor Chorney has been recalled by the Edmonton Oilers. Nice to see Chorney get called up, hopefully he will stick with the Edmonton Oilers this time.

[Official Press Release] General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today the Edmonton Oilers have recalled defenceman Taylor Chorney from the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League.

Chorney, 22, currently leads the Falcons in scoring (tied with three others) and is third among all AHL defencemen in scoring with five points (2-3-5) in four games.

The Thunder Bay, Ontario native made his National Hockey League debut last season, appearing in two games with the Oilers.

In 68 games with the Falcons, Chorney tallied five goals and 16 assists for 21 points and 22 penalty minutes.

Plan for Big Ten hockey Conference put on ice

This is an article that has cause a stir in the college hockey world for WCHA fans. We all know the CCHA was mad after UNO decided to join the best college hockey conference in College Hockey the WCHA. According to an article written by Badgers hockey beat writer Andy Baggot apparently some in the athletic department leadership at Wisconsin actually entertained the idea of moving to the CCHA. Luckily Eaves a smart man and doesn’t want to switch leagues. Duh!

Seriously, why would anyone move from a league like the WCHA to the CCHA? First: the move to the CCHA would make them a whole lot less money than the WCHA? Do you think CCHA schools get 90,000.00 per team after the Final Four at the Joe? Second; After Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame who would fill the Kohl center like UND, Wisconsin and DU? 15,000 fans aren’t going to come to the Kohl center to watch a team like LSSU or BGSU. I would bet any of my friend in Madison a case of Bud Light on that one. Also, Alvarez should stick to something he knows football.

I think one thing that is driving some of this is nonsense is the Big Ten Network. While I receive BTN on my digital cable package a lot of house holds do not. You have to have an expanded cable package or some kind of satellite television package to receive it. If the Big Ten Network wants to get serious and make money off of the hockey first show more hockey teams and match ups, how about more games of Wisconsin Vs UND, Minnesota Vs UND, Minnesota Vs Denver, Minnesota Vs UND ecetera. Also, if OSH is concerned about not getting any exposure have the BTN come up to Grand Forks, ND during the Thanksgiving Weekend and broadcast a few of the Subway Classic Holiday Tourney games. I am sure UND pasting OSU in a few games would be good for the ratings.

Multiple college hockey sources said UW officials responded to the slowing of the talks by making it known they would consider moving to the CCHA. That league will go from 12 members to 11 in 2010-11 when Nebraska-Omaha defects to the WCHA. Omaha will join Bemidji (Minn.) State to make the WCHA a 12-school conference.

Frazier acknowledged that UW would be a "jewel'' for the CCHA, but he denied such rhetoric, saying, "We're loyal to the WCHA." In an e-mail, CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos said he's had no contact with UW officials about such an idea, but said he'd be interested in the Badgers coming to his league.

Yet the option of moving to the CCHA was certainly broached by UW officials at some point. Asked about the notion, Alvarez said men's coach Mike Eaves wasn't interested in changing leagues.

"If Mike's not interested, I'm not interested,'' Alvarez said. "I'd be interested in other things. As I've said before, regionalizing hockey makes sense.'' [Madison.com]

I believe this is the crux of the arguement right here, it would be harder to qualify for the NCAA tourney if Minnesota or Wisconsin played MSU, Michigan and or Ohio State for 6 games and went 2-4 in non conference play. Taking that line of thinking further: this could also be another reason to kill the Big Ten Hockey Conference, if you put a bunch of top teams like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan State in a league not everyone is going to have a winning record or a strong PWR number. The almight NCAA dollar = NC$$. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you.

Minnesota and UW currently have annual matchups with Michigan and Michigan State in the College Hockey Showcase, but Ohio State has no consistent access to the two WCHA schools.
"It's something I think we'd like to see accomplished,'' Schneider said of the Big Ten men's hockey league, "but I think we can achieve some of the same goals through a scheduling alliance.''

According to a source, it was proposed that UW and Minnesota devote their six non-conference games to series with Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. The idea was rejected in part because those games would make difficult schedules even more so and make it harder to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

"I think (a new conference) would be nice, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary,'' Schneider said. "It's something we definitely want to continue exploring.''

Talks about a Big Ten men's hockey league have been going on for years, with varying degrees of intensity.

"Where it stands now is that it's still a discussion point,'' Maturi said. "There's nothing imminent.''

UBC to the NCAA?

Actually I have put a great deal of thought into idea and I think that UBC would be a good addition to NCAA Division one Hockey. Why not? I have heard people say that it would cause more competition for recruiting for teams like DU, UND, UMD and Wisconsin. Yeah so what! If anything it would affect teams that recruit more heavily in the BCHL.

Seriously, all these fore mentioned teams have or will have nice facilities and have storied programs that speak for themselves. For my team, I don’t think it would affect UND all that much since the Sioux have a 110 million dollar arena, a storied history and program, seven NCAA titles and a top notch coaching staff. Recently, UND has gotten a majority of their Canadian recruits from the AJHL recently so I am not so sure it would affect our team anyways. I am open to the idea. The more the merrier. Hockey is eventually going to need a regional re-alignment we need more teams in the west.

BC MAY APPLY TO NCAA

Simon Fraser of Burnaby, British Columbia was accepted into the NCAA earlier this year, It will compete at the Division II level starting in 2011. Simon Fraser will be the first Canadian college in the NCAA.

The University of British Columbia is exploring the possibility of applying, too. "It's up to our athletic administration to apply," Dragicevic said. "And they want to make sure that everything is in order to apply either this summer or next summer.

"You might see it happen. We have a brand new facility of 6,000 people. They want to pack that place. They want to bring NCAA to UBC for a couple of years and they are just waiting for the right opportunity."

Dragicevic said there has been some interest from conferences who want UBC as a member.

"In one end, it is an exciting time for UBC because of the new facility and potentially having the NCAA down the road," he said,

The Doug Mitchell Sports Center actually seats 5,700. It will be used for women's hockey in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. "It is a world class facility," Dragicevic said. "You will probably hear more news about this in the upcoming months."
UBC has 40,000 students and is a strong academic school.

One thing that would make it difficult for UBC to go Division one hockey would be: the moratorium on "playing-up". UBC would have to play Division II first and currently there are no Divison II hockey teams. It would take at least 5-10 years before there would be any benefit to moving to the NCAA.

Prospective Division I members would be required to spend at least five years as active members of Division II before beginning the five-year reclassification process under a set of recommendations being considered by the Division I Leadership Council The Council also is considering an application fee model, though the exact amount, parameters and eventual uses for the fee have yet to be determined.

The recommendations discussed at the Council’s October 6 meeting in Indianapolis are expected to be part of a full report sent to the Division I Board of Directors after the Council’s January meeting and distributed to the membership for feedback. The proposals are the result of the Council’s year-long study of membership standards. The Board, which declared a membership moratorium in August 2007, directed the Leadership Council to develop standards that will balance the desire to allow access to the division with a need to provide full services and consistent competitive opportunities to its members.

The recommendation that schools spend five years as active Division II members before beginning the reclassification process arose out of comments from Division II, though preliminary recommendations from the Council also would have required that institutions be a member of Division II before applying for Division I membership. No time limits were suggested, though, in the original proposal.

Gopher Vs Sioux in pictures.

This should get Sioux fans in the mood for this weekend series with the Golden Gophers from Minnesota.

UND to attempt to end RedHawks streak.

True to form; SCSU lost again to the Miami RedHawks last night. Miami has now won six games in a row against WCHA teams. Just for the record the last WCHA team to beat Miami University RedHawks was the Fighting Sioux 3-0 in Lefty McFadden Invitational on October 8th 2005 when Jordan Parise held of a Miami surge and got a shutout against the RedHawks. When Miami plays UND on November 28, 2009 in the Subway Holiday Classic UND has a chance to end the RedHawks streak against Miami. This could prove to be an exciting game with huge PWR implications.

Here is the last 7 games that Miami has played against WCHA teams.

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 10, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.
October 11, 2009 Miami 2 SCSU 0.

Scores from 10-10-2009

Non-Conference

Northeastern 4 at Colorado College 3
Maine 3 at Union 6
Ferris State 0 at Canisius 1
Colgate 3 at RIT 2
St. Cloud State 0 at Miami 2
Vermont 6 at Denver 4
New Hampshire 1 at Rensselaer 3
Alabama-Huntsville 1 at Notre Dame 3
Clarkson 3 at Michigan State 4
Merrimack 2 at North Dakota 3
Air Force 3 at Bemidji State 7
Bowling Green 1 at Minnesota State 4
Holy Cross 1 at Providence 2

Analysis: DU shows that it’s not unbeatable by losing to the UVM Catamounts. BSU gets revenge on AFA by repaying the favor and sweeps the Falcons 3-1 and 7-3, does anyone want to rehash the CHA > AHA? Go Beavers. Notre Dame beats UAH after the Chargers shocked the college hockey world with a win over the golden boys from Notre Dame the night before. Incidentally, ND is 1-2 in its last three games against CHA teams. Still an impressive showing for UAH Chargers which is sure to have many fans from all over college hockey in their corner this winter, screw the CCHA. UNH loses to EZAC team Rensselaer not impressive at all. WCHA teams went 2-3 last night. The Two Colorado teams and SCSU dropped the ball last night. SCSU was swept by the Miami RedHawks and now have lost three games in a row to the RedHawks.

IceBreaker

Mass.-Lowell 3 at Nebraska-Omaha 4
St. Lawrence 5 vs. Army 2

Dean Blais and the UNO Mavericks win the Icebreaker Championship. The Mavericks beat a good team in UMass Lowell.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha kicked off the Blais era in grand fashion this weekend, winning the Mutual of Omaha Icebreaker with a pair of gutsy victories. The Mavs locked up the tournament title Saturday night with an impressive 4-3 win over UMass Lowell, a team ranked Nos. 10 and 11 in the country and picked to finish second in the heavyweight Hockey East conference. [omaha.com]

Kendall Hockey Classic

Mercyhurst 1 vs. Alaska 5
Michigan 6 at Alaska-Anchorage 1

University of Alaska Fairbanks wins the Kendall Hockey Classic.
My prediction on the UAA and Michigan game looked pretty good.

It's here Sioux and Gophers week.

This is the game on the calender that most of us put a mark next to and get fired up for. The "Brown and Yellow" Rodents and their fans are coming to town. Here is a break down of how the games have gone the last five seasons.

2008-2009 Sioux 2-0
2007-2008 Sioux 2-1-1
2006-2007 Sioux 3-1
2005-2006 Goofs 3-1
2004-2005 Sioux 3-1

The Sioux have a 11-6-1 the last 18 games against the Golden Rodents.

Fighting Sioux 3 - Merrimack Warriors 2

Edit: First off my prediction about UAA being a big slow, untalented, team is coming to fruition as the Seawolves are getting run out of their own building and losing 5-1 to Michigan in the second period. We will see what the final score ends up being. What can I say; same UAA team as the last four seasons, same results. Yeah this team is going to finish in the top four. How?

Series notes:

What can I say about this weekend, the hockey for the most part lacked the emotion of a conference game but the Warriors were a good test for the Fighting Sioux, in preparing them for the regular season. The Merrimack College Warriors have two very good goalies in Joe Cannata and Andrew Braithwaite and both goalie played well this weekend and gave the Fighting Sioux nothing. Merrimack College plays a neutral zone trap and they are very good in their own end and are very smart with the puck. They will give the Hockey East a good fight this season.

Freshman Impress

This past weekend I was very impressed with Danny Kristo, Mike Cichy and Joe Gleason. First off, based on his play this past weekend I don't see how Joe Gleason sits, the kid has earned a spot in the line up because plays very smart hockey, Gleason is an offensive defenseman but he doesn't get carried away and he always keeps the opposition in front of him.

Cichy and Kristo both left a good impression as I thought both were very good with the puck and have great offensive imagination and will score a lot of points before they leave UND.
[Box score]

1st Period (20:00)

NDK 1 - 0 6x6 Brett Hextall (2) (Brad Malone) 4:11
NDK (+): 26,22,20,2,19,G31 MER (-): 7,3,14,23,12,G33
MER-1 John Heffernan (2-Hooking) NDK 0x1 7:39
NDK-1 Darcy Zajac (2-Interference) MER 0x1 10:08
MER-2 Simon Demers (2-Hooking) NDK 0x2 14:21
NDK-2 Jake Marto (2-Hooking) MER 0x2 15:06

2nd Period (20:00)

MER 1 - 1 6x6 Chris Barton (2) (Jesse Todd) 0:32
MER (+): 23,27,7,3,16,G33 NDK (-): 25,22,26,19,3,G31
NDK-3 Mario Lamoureux (10-Game Misconduct) 0:55
NDK-4 Mario Lamoureux (5-Checking from Behind) MER 0x3 0:55
NDK 2 - 1 6x6 LL Michael Cichy (1) (Chay Genoway, Carter Rowney) 7:15
NDK (+): 8,5,27,11,24,G31 MER (-): 17,26,23,9,15,G33
MER-3 Brandon Sadlowski (2-Slashing) NDK 0x3 11:37
MER-4 Kyle Bigos (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x4 19:31

3rd Period (20:00)

MER-5 BENCH (2-Too Many Players) (Served by Brandon Brodhag) NDK 0x5 4:43
MER-6 Jesse Todd (2-Interference) NDK 0x6 5:26
MER-7 Kyle Bigos (2-Slashing) NDK 1x7 7:19
NDK 3 - 1 6x5 PP GW Jake Marto (1) (Chris VandeVelde, Danny Kristo) 8:53
NDK: 25,29,7,26,17,G31 MER: 26,4,15,27,G33
MER 2 - 3 6x6 Chris Barton (3) (Jesse Todd, J.C. Robitaille) 16:08
MER (+): 23,27,16,4,5,G33 NDK (-): 22,3,25,26,19,G31
Timeout - Merrimack 18:53

End of Game

Is Miami a powerhouse?

Here is this weeks Illegal Curve Article.

On October 27th 2007 Miami Student writer Mike Zoller declared that Miami University hockey ‘was on the Brink of being a dynasty.’ While Miami Hockey is not a dynasty by definition (need to win a few NCAA titles), I am also going to hold off calling them a dynasty for now but Miami does have a good shot at being a title contender this season if they play up to their potential.

Since 2003-2004 the Miami RedHawks have compiled a 144-76-23 record and have made the NCAA tourney five out of the last six seasons. Last spring the RedHawks had the NCAA chapionship in their grasp, the RedHawks made it to the NCAA Championship game, took a 3-1 lead before losing the game in over time to the Boston University Terriers. [Box Score]

This is what I found in my Twitter posts this morning when I got up this morning.

MikeSwainey @goon48 All I know is Miami continues to knock off WCHA teams. IIRC, 5 straight wins against your league. But tomorrow’s another day.

First off I wouldn’t be surprised tonight if SCSU loses to the RedHawks again tonight to make it six games in a row. Breaking it down further, Mike is right, Miami has done pretty well against WCHA foes as of late. Both DU and SCSU have both lost their last two games they have played against the Miami University RedHawks. Also, the Miami RedHawks beat UMD in last season’s Midwest regional at Mariucci Arena. Incidently, the last WCHA team to beat Miami University was the Fighting Sioux 3-0 in Lefty McFadden Invitational on October 8th 2005 when Jordan Parise held of a Miami surge and got a shutout against the RedHawks.

Here is the last 6 games that Miami has played against WCHA teams.

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 10, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.

First off; I wouldn’t be surprised tonight if SCSU loses again to make it six games in a row. Breaking it down further, Mike is right, Miami has done pretty darn good job against the WCHA teams as of late. Both DU and SCSU have both lost their last two games they played to the Miami University RedHawks. Also, the Miami RedHawks beat UMD in last season’s Midwest regional championship game at Mariucci Arena. Incidentally, the last WCHA team to beat Miami University was the Fighting Sioux 3-0 in Lefty McFadden Invitational on October 8th 2005 when Jordan Parise got a shut out against the RedHawks. The Fighting Sioux might have to stop that streak if the Huskies can’t stop them tonight.

Non Conference scores from last night

Last night the WCHA went 7-1 in non conference play. Last season the WCHA’s non conference play was their Achilles heal, last night SCSU was the only team in non conference play from the WCHA to lose.

UND 5 Merrimack College 2
MTU 5 NMU 3
C.C. 4 Northeastern 2
UMD 4 LSSU 3
MSU-M 3 BGSU 2
DU 5 VMU 4
UAA 5 Mercyhurst College 3
Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.

CHA 2-0 in Non Conference play last night

UAH 3 Notre Dame 2 (this one makes me happy)
BSU 3 AFA 1 the battle of the Serratore brothers

More on Sioux and Warriors.

Here are a couple of the goals from last night's game.

Looks like David Toews has found his scoring touch early.

Here is Corbin Knight's first collegiate hockey goal.

Hextall should've scored two or three goals last night. This goal was a thing of beauty.

Here is what Mike McMahon the hockey beat writer from Merrimack College had to say on last night's game. In my opinion Mike does a pretty good job reporting the news and I enjoy reading his blog.

The score was 5-2, but this game was not out of reach for the Warriors until the very end.

North Dakota scored two early goals but Merrimack battled back with tallies from Chris Barton and Justin Bonitatibus to close the first tied at 2-2.

Getting back in the game the way they did was a promising sign for this team. In years past, down 2-0 early meant that the Warriors would fold and you’d see a 5-1 or 6-0 game. That wasn’t the case on Friday night and shouldn’t be going forward.

Trailing 4-2 entering the third the Warriors needed a big period and came out flat. Merrimack was outshot 17-5 in the third period (40-17 overall); obviously a gap that isn’t going to be a recipe for success.

Three of ND’s five goals came off of rushes or other plays in which Merrimack attacked and was caught coming back the other way. Joe Cannata played a solid game (35 of 40 on shots) and was tested more often than I’d like to see. But, he held his own and, as he did last season, kept his poise and made his saves. [Warrior Rink Rat]

Here are the heaviest teams in division one hockey. The Fighting Sioux are the 11th heaviest team in the WCHA.
1. Vermont 194.61
2. Alaska-Fairbanks 191.96
3. Notre Dame 191.78
4. Boston University 191.54
5. Ohio State 191.50
6. Alaska-Anchorage 191.42
7. Rensselaer 190.97
8. Minnesota State 190.67
9. Miami 190.35
10. Michigan Tech 190.27
11. North Dakota 190.16
15. New Hampshire 189.92
16. Nebraska-Omaha 189.81
17. Minnesota-Duluth 189.80
18. Clarkson 189.71
19. Northern Michigan 189.45
20. Providence 189.35
21. Minnesota 189.23

Who has egg on their face now?

The big upset win of the night was in South Bend as the UAH Chargers stung the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 3-2. This win by the Chargers had me smiling from ear to ear. The CCHA might want to go ahead and reconsider UAH's application for admission since the Chargers just took down one of the top teams in the CCHA. I read a lot of post during the off season where fans were saying UAH doesn’t belong in the CCHA or they can’t compete. Yeah! How do you like the Chargers now?

SOUTH BEND — Alabama-Huntsville coach Danton Cole downplayed the significance, but his Chargers hockey team came to town with something to prove.

Denied admission this summer into the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, UAH exacted some revenge Friday night against the league's defending champions.

Cody Campbell scored a power play goal with five seconds left to give the Chargers a stunning 3-2 upset win over No. 5 Notre Dame in front of a sold-out Joyce Center crowd.

Alabama-Huntsville, looking to join a new league since its current home, the CHA, will disband after this season, found motivation from the summer snub. UAH Goaltender Cameron Talbot told the Huntsville Times earlier in the week, "We want to show we can play with the big dogs of the CCHA."