Where are they now... Tyler Bozak

Since it is Final Five week, I figured I would pass along a story that I found on line. Former DU star Tyler Bozak is making a good impression with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I can only imagine what kind of a team DU would be if Bozak was still in the line up. Bozak is playing with former Minnesota Golden Gopher and Boston Bruin Phil Kessel.

OTTAWA–Leaf rookie Tyler Bozak is making a name for himself these days as a speedy centre with playmaking skills.

But a year ago, the pivot who has found chemistry with Phil Kessel, was making his name in the NHL for his interviewing skills. As a highly touted forward with the University of Denver, Bozak was entertaining NHL offers while winding down his NCAA career in 2008-09.

Making the difficult decision wasn't easy, since he was already balancing school and hockey. He needed a plan after 27 NHL teams came to see him in a span of two months. In the end, it boiled down to two teams – the Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

Top Canucks prospect Jordan Schroeder promises NHL decision by week's end

Looks like the players leaving early season is about to begin, I don't think it will shock anyone when if Schroeder signs. Looks like Schroeder has one of the better players agents Family advisors in the business. Sounds like Gopher fans aren't all that sad to see him go as well.

VANCOUVER — A disappointing season came to an early end Sunday for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, and now Vancouver Canucks draft pick Jordan Schroeder has a decision to make.


Does he turn pro or return to Minnesota for a third season?


Schroeder said Monday he will make his decision by the end of this week. But in a telephone interview the 19-year-old centre sounded very much like a young man who is leaning toward turning pro.


"It's every kid's dream to be a professional hockey player," Schroeder said. "I am discussing my options right now and you never know what might happen here in the next few days. I am talking to my agent (Neil Sheehy) and my family."


Schroeder acknowledged the Canucks would very much like to sign him to a pro contract. He could then conceivably join the Manitoba Moose for the remainder of their American Hockey League season.


The Gophers were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs for only the second time in the last 33 years on Sunday when they dropped a 4-1 decision to North Dakota.

Frattin gets a one game suspension

The WCHA Wheel of Justice has given Frattin a one game suspension, that didn't take long. No word if UND will appeal.

MADISON, Wis. – The Western Collegiate Hockey Association today (March 15, 2010) announced a one-game suspension to University of North Dakota hockey player Matt Frattin as a result of his actions in the March 13 game vs the University of Minnesota.

Frattin’s suspension was determined as a result of a review of the incident under the WCHA’s Supplementary Discipline Policy and Procedures.

Frattin will be required to serve this one-game suspension in his team’s next regularly scheduled game on Thursday, March 18 vs the University of Minnesota Duluth. [WCHA.COM]

Edit: First off the writers at Goon’s want to wish Kevin Wehrs a speedy recovery and that he will have no lingering affect from the hit. I don’t think any of us want to see a player from another team injured on the ice. There are those people that like to see players or race car drivers carried off the playing surface or track on a stretcher, no one that I know would take that point of view. Let’s hope that Wehrs will make a speedy recovery and be able to play next season with the Golden Gophers.

Moving forward, I kind of figured that a suspension from the league was coming for the hit in question. The focus will turn to the Sioux playing in the Final Five and the Sioux will have to play without Frattin for one game.

Links to the Story:

Goal Gophers; Wehrs has mild concussion; Frattin suspended for one game

Grand Forks Herald; Frattin suspended one game for big hit

Saint Cloud Times; WCHA suspends UND's Frattin for hit to the head

The Ciske Blog; Frattin Receives Suspension

North Dakota Hockey Blog; WCHA suspends Frattin for one game

Rink and Run; PairWise and Frattin

Puck Daddy; Video: Frattin's nasty hit leads to suspension in college hockey

60 Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets;North Dakota's Matt Frattin Suspended 1 Game

Alex Kangas Hates Us

Here's the video of Alex Kangas saying that he hates North Dakota, UND, the Ralph Englestad Arena and fans of Sioux hockey.

I'm surprised that the U of M hasn't done any education on what a player should say in an interview and what they shouldn't.

Ovechkin suspended two games for Campbell hit

I would have to say that I am surprised that it wasn't longer. Campbell is going to be out for a long time with a broken collar bone. If this had been Derek Boogaard this would have probably been 5-10 games.

NHL.COM - Alex Ovechkin was suspended for two games without pay by the National Hockey League on Monday for his hit on Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell early in Sunday's game in Chicago that reportedly has ended Campbell's regular season.

NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell ruled that it was a "reckless" hit by Ovechkin, who received a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct on the play that occurred 12:16 into the first period.

Ovechkin, now considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, forfeits $232,645.40 in salary, based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (193). The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Versus is back on DIRECTV.

This is good news.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and PHILADELPHIA, March 15, 2010 - DIRECTV and Comcast have reached an agreement to return VERSUS to the DIRECTV programming lineup today. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VERSUS will return to the same DIRECTV programming packages it was in at the end of August 2009.

“We are pleased that both sides were able to work out a satisfactory deal to bring this programming back to our customers,” said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Strategy and Development, DIRECTV.

“We’re excited that we were able to come to a fair agreement that puts VERSUS back in millions of homes with DIRECTV in time for our busy spring programming schedule,” said Jamie Davis, president of VERSUS. “We look forward to super-serving these fans with NHL regular-season and playoff coverage, our first live UFC event and much more.”
[KuklasKorner]

Poll Monday (Sioux in the NCAA tourney)

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[March 15, 2010]
1 Denver (46) 27- 7-4 996 1
2 Miami ( 4) 26- 6-7 931 2
3 Wisconsin 24- 9-4 913 3
4 Boston College 23-10-3 833 4
5 North Dakota 22-12-5 792 5
6 St. Cloud State 22-12-5 726 7
7 Cornell 19- 8-4 699 9
8 Ferris State 21-11-6 610 13
9 Yale 20- 9-3 552 6
10 Bemidji State 23- 9-4 514 8
11 Minnesota-Duluth 22-16-1 503 14
12 Northern Michigan 19-11-8 454 16
13 New Hampshire 17-13-7 320 11
14 Vermont 17-13-7 298 19
15 Union 20-11-6 280 17
16 Michigan State 19-13-6 259 10
17 Michigan 23-17-1 234 NR
18 Alaska 18-11-9 224 12
19 Maine 18-16-3 107 NR
20 Boston University 18-16-3 80 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Colorado College 75, RIT 45, Nebraska-Omaha 19, Mass.-Lowell 15, St. Lawrence 11, Minnesota 6, Massachusetts 3, Minnesota State 1

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USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[March 15, 2009]
1. Denver (31)
2. Miami (3)
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. North Dakota
6. St. Cloud State
7. Cornell
8. Ferris State
9. Yale
10. Bemidji State
11. Minnesota-Duluth
12. Northern Michigan
13. New Hampshire
14. Vermont
15. Union

Here is what Jason Moy had to say about Bracketology and the NCAA tourney. Wow, the western school are really showing thier strenght this season.

- I Believe that the Top 7 are in. Denver, Miami, Wisconsin, Boston College, North Dakota, St. Cloud, Bemidji.
- I have been able to get Ferris State out of the tournament.
- I have not been able to get Cornell and Yale out of the tournament as of yet, but I think that there are scenarios that can leave either team out, I just have not found them. It may or may not be the case.

INCH Power Rankings

As always I include the INCH Power Rankings for something to talk about. The only ranking that really matters is the Pairwise Rankins. The head scratcher is Union is sitting at 18th in the power rankings and they have them ranked 8th.

1. Denver
2. Miami
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. North Dakota 1 The favorite to win WCHA Rookie of the Year honors, forward Danny Kristo had a goal and two assists in the Fighting Sioux's series win against Minnesota to extend his current point streak to a season-high 10 games. 22-12-5 LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota, 6-0; L vs. Minnesota, 4-2; W vs. Minnesota, 4-1 (WCHA First Round Series). THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota Duluth (WCHA Final Five)
6. Cornell
7. St. Cloud State
8. Union
9. Ferris State
10. Yale
11. Northern Michigan
12. Bemidji State
13. Minnesota Duluth
14. Michigan State
15. Alaska
16. New Hampshire
17. RIT
18. Michigan
19. St. Lawrence
20. Boston University

Dropped out: Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, UMass Lowell

Bubble-licious: Maine, Vermont

Matt Frattin hit on Kevin Wehrs

The quality isn't very good I used my digital camera to record the hit from television. There has been a lot of discussion on the hit on the Internet. Frattin said in the post game comments that he was trying to fire his team up with a big hit. The crowd was fired up after the penalty kill was over. I do think the hit in question took the steam out of the Gophers and threw them off their game especially when they didn’t score on the five minute major. The Sioux were not very fun to play against tonight and this was one rough series across the board all three nights.

I want a preface this that I didn’t see the hit live I saw it ex post facto, my daughter had called me away from the television and when I got back from helping her my cell phone was ringing and my buddy Gary was chirping at me about the hit which hadn’t even seen as of yet. I had to review the video to get up to speed on the hit. This hit was a text book charge and maybe interference and I was surprised when I found out that Frattin hadn’t been kicked out of the game, I thought he had gotten the gate. Will the league review the hit? I would say they might, the WCHA Commissioner said that they review all major penalties to see if any additional discipline is needed. Will Frattin get suspended; he may. Nothing this league office does surprises me. That being said Matt Frattin was the best forward on the ice for the Fighting Sioux this past weekend, he scored four goals this weekend and the kid played like a beast, in my opinion Frattin is a prototypical power forward.

Watching the game from home

I unlike others I thought UND was going to dispatch of the Gophers in two games and didn't bother to line up a baby sitter for last night's game. I guess when they say three games series I should plan for the series to go three games. Any ways, I don't think I sat down the whole game between texting and pacing. I finally sat down once the game got to 3-1.

Cross posted at the Sin Bin.

Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell

This is the hit that everyone is talking about in the NHL today, I was watching this game and it was kind of a buzzkill. I wonder if the league will suspend Ovechkin or not. Collin Campbell has proven in the past that there are different standards for different types of players.

Post game comments from the Fighting Sioux

Here is the post game comments from tonight's game.Matt Frattin said he tried to make a big hit to fire up his team. I am in the process of uploading video from the hit in question. It was a text book charging call; I think 5 minutes was the right call.

A Redwing77 Gopher Series Wrap-Up

The Game

This game couldn't have been more up and down. The Sioux dominate the first period yet I felt like the Gophers were the ones who left the period with the momentum. Lo and behold, the second period was just dominant by the Gophers on 5 on 5. It was not good for them on the Powerplay (more on that in the next section). I thought it was going to be just another close loss by the Sioux at one point, but luckily enough, we kill off Frattin's second penalty of the period (more on that in the next section) and Frattin makes amends by scoring in the third.

The big man of the evening is Jason Gregoire. He ends tonight with 1 goal and 2 assists. He was just obscene with the puck tonight and should've scored more than he did. He also was very selfless in giving the puck to Hextall, who should've scored last night.

My UND 3 Stars:

First Star: Jason Gregoire
Second Star: Ben Blood
Third Star: Brad Eidsness

I chose Blood because he was all over the ice and scored. Had he not scored, Trupp gets the nod at 3rd Star and Eids goes up to second. I did not give Frattin a Star (again, explanation upcoming).

My UMN 3 Stars:

First Star: Alex Kangas (yes, Alex Kangas)
Second Star: Nick Leddy
Third Star: Jake Larson

I chose Kangas because he really didn't play poorly at all. He got hung out to dry a lot. This brings me to the operative question: If the Gopher D left Kangas out to drive so much, why have a Dman as the second star? Because one player isn't the whole corps. I think Leddy played pretty well all things considered. Helgeson was outmatched.

The Hit

Ok, my take on the Frattin hit. Simply stated, the hit was illegal, but only for one reason and one reason alone: Frattin left his skates to make the hit. Sweeney stated that it was contact to the head and maybe it was. I thought I heard Looker call it a Charging Major. This Charging major is more to my line of thought. This was a stupid and dangerous hit that was the big note in what has to be the worst period for Matt Frattin since he returned. It was quite possibly the worst period of hockey for him in his entire Sioux career. He was a liability. Yes, you heard it. A liability. Over aggressive, reckless, and payed the price. He spent almost half of the second period (including the last minute 55 of the second) in the penalty box. He hit Wehrs hard and injured him, true enough.

Was it a cheap shot. NO. Frattin didn't come from behind or from the blind side. He came face to face with Wehrs. Wehrs saw it coming. He actually did the right thing, which was put his head up. Unfortunately, Frattin jumped and well... read the first part of this section.

Should he have been ejected. Wooo... I'm actually on the fence on this one, though my reason on the side of giving him an ejection is more of the fan perspective than the rule book. The reason why I would have been "ok" with a 5 minute and a game is because of how Wehrs left the ice. It was OBVIOUS he was injured. He wasn't Robbie Earl-like (he got checked from the behind, laid on the ice so long the trainer came out, he skated back to the bench asking the trainer if they called a major on the Sioux player, and then started out on the ice for the Powerplay). So, since injury occurred, Frattin could have gotten a game and I would have been "ok" with it. But he didn't... because I believe the rulebook gives that decision to the officials and the officials, who enjoy situational officiating, are very reluctant to eject a player when they are not absolutely forced to.

So I'm ok with him staying because now the Gopher fans see the officials through Green colored glasses. The Gophers didn't lose the game because of Frattin's lack of an ejection. Frankly, I was surprised they gave him a major. That was surprisingly what the rulebook said, something the officials only occasionally cite.

But anyways, if Frattin did the same thing but this time didn't leave his skates, at worst it would have been a 2 minute minor, at best, just a really hard hit.

Minnesota

They played better than Game 1 but not as good as Game 2. I'm stunned to say this but... Cepis actually played 90% of the game by the rule book. There were no overt dives I saw unlike in Game 2.

Alex Kangas wasn't the reason the Gophers lost. I think Game 2 and 3 was why Lucia started Kangas over Patterson. What I don't think was good was the fact that Lucia waited until the 3rd period to replace Kangas in Game 1.

The problem with Minnesota isn't Lucia folks. It's John Hill's incompetence and Grant Potulny's inexperience. This year was huge for Grant. If Lucia was serious about his job, this year should be Hill's last with Minnesota. I really think the "whiny" stance the Gopher players take is more Hill's influence than Lucia's. Lucia may say some stuff in the media. He may have hair that reminds some of a 1980's style plant toy. But he's won EVERYWHERE he's gone. You can't get that anywhere.

The Outlook

WCHA Conspiracy Theorists can relax now. McLeod will be in a panic as the superficial sports media morons in MSP will look to an overrated Gopher basketball team or perhaps the Minnesota Mild to occupy their time rather than some good hockey played by good teams.

I don't expect UND to win it all. I have them entering the NCAAs as a #2 seed. And that means that it is very likely we'll get BC in the regional. Yuck.

Update

I fixed a few errors I had in my original post and I'd like to add my 3 Stars of the Series:

First Star: Matt Frattin
Second Star: Jason Gregoire
Third Star: Brad Eidsness

Honorable Mention: Derrick LaPoint, Evan Trupp, Jake Marto, Danny Kristo

Jordan Schroeder watch...

Since the Gophers season will end tonight or next week in the latest, I wanted to start a Jordan Schroeder watch. Here is my question; if Schroeder’s team is eliminated tonight will he be on the plane to Vancouver from Grand Forks, ND. Will call on the cell phone come from his agent? Will the contract be sitting in the fax machine in the Gophers locker room when that elimination game is over. The Jordan Schroeder watch is officially on.

Jordan Schroeder's Golden Gopher squad is in tough tough in the playoffs against North Dakota, losing the first game in the best-of-three series 6-0, and may be available in a matter of days. His numbers have dropped between last year and this one (45 points to 27), but remember that this is University level hockey, and dramatic swings between seasons are commonplace as the teams change composition every year. Plus, even with the fall in scoring, he leads the Gophers in points despite missing two games this season; he has ten points in 34 games on the power play; he's over .500 in face offs and he was given an "A" this season.

The black mark against him is his size: but even at (a somewhat generous) 5'8", he's very strong on the puck and has a heavy wrist shot, even if he doesn't use it enough. He'll have to get his mindset away from passing and into scoring, but once he does he's going to be just deadly. Bring him up and let him try![Nuck Misconduct]

Cross posted first at the Sin Bin.

This should put you in the mood.

Brad Schlossman has the lines posted for tonight's games against the Rodents. The same two buffoon's from last night's game Marco Hunt and Derek Shepherd are going to ref tonight's game as well, let's hope they can do a better job than they did last night. Cepis was diving up and down the ice like the SCSU troll Garrett Roe does and it's sad when their beat writer is making light of it as well.

Wonder how many penalties Papa Chirp Cepis -- he's older and talks a lot -- will draw tonight. Refs probably on high alert he may take dives

Maybe one of the Sioux players will give Mr C-piss a nice wake up or remind him that this is an adult league and we don't dive. That's for high school kids. C-piss is a punk.

UND's lines

17 Jason Gregoire--29 Chris VandeVelde--26 Brett Hextall
19 Evan Trupp--22 Brad Malone--21 Matt Frattin
10 Corban Knight--11 Darcy Zajac--7 Danny Kristo
8 Mike Cichy--9 Mario Lamoureux--13 Brett Bruneteau

2 Andrew MacWilliam--24 Ben Blood
3 Derrick LaPoint--25 Jake Marto
15 Brent Davidson--20 Joe Gleason

31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell

Minnesota's lines

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

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

33 Alex Kangas
35 Kent Patterson

UAH Chargers throw a monkey wrench in the equation

Well the scenario that everyone feared might happen became reality in the CHA tourney this past weekend. Last week I read on line where quite a few of the self appointed hockey experts and the various hockey bloggers had penciled in the BSU Beavers as being a shoe in to take the CHA conference tourney this weekend. Many of these same people were probably left scratching their heads after the Bemidji State University Beavers lost to the Niagara University Purple Eagles in Friday’s CHA semi final game 5-4. I know this sounds like a real cheesy sports Cliché but that’s why you play to the last whistle, nothing in sports is a given, you can assume nothing, everything worth fighting for in life has a cost.

Personally, I am not surprised at all and from watching the CHA over the past 10 years know that the teams that make up the soon to be the defunct CHA are legit teams, I don't care what anyone says. A lot of their games have been tough out of conference games where they traveled to another team’s arena to play a couple of games, most times it was hard for the CHA teams to get a return visit to their home arena. Robert Morris University had 14 home games, University of Huntsville had 12 home games, Niagara University had 14 home games and finally Bemidji State University 15 home games, in comparison a typical WCHA team have the luxurary of having more games played on their home ice. In comparison the University of North Dakota had 18 regular season games at home, the University of Minnesota has 19 games at home and the Wisconsin Badgers had 19 regular season home games as well. Playing 4-5 extra games at home helps.

I think it’s only fitting that the CHA champion is the team that CCHA decided to snub this past summer. I wonder if the UAH fans are saying, “Suck it CCHA?” Maybe not!

In the coming week there is going to be a lot of grumbling that half the teams in the CHA are in the NCAA tourney. That’s 50 percent of the CHA’s teams that will be playing in the NCAA tourney, not even the WCHA can make that claim very often. The NCAA decided to give the CHA a final auto bid in their final season, a move that I thought it was the right call then and I still think it is now. It is what it is. Ironically on the only team that hasn’t found a home in one of the existing five leagues is the one that made the tourney with the CHA’s final auto bid. I think its poetic justice. If you’re a fan of a team in the 13-16 spots in the Pairwise rankings you’re probably not going to be very happy camper right now.

Rodents 4 - Sioux 2

First thing I want to do is put this thing into perspective. The Gophers season either ends tonight or next week, the Golden Gophers aren’t going to the NCAA tourney. The Gophers aren't going to win the Final Five from the play-in-game. The Gophers won't make the NCAA tourney as an at large bid unless the selection crew that picks the teams for the NCAA tourney is drunk. That’s the reality folks; the Sioux are going to NCAA tourney barring a major unforeseen Pairwise catastrophe. It's up to them if they want to play next weekend. This is the first loss for the Fighting Sioux in 9 games. The Sioux also remain 5th in the all important Pairwise Rankings.

Dive Cepis Dive...

Losing to our heated rival sucks, watching Jacob C-Piss dive and flop around up and down the ice drawing penalties does makes a person see red and it does make you mad because the WCHA/NCAA is suppose to be focusing on embellishment and they are not. No big surprise there. It is what it is. It’s obvious that Jacob Cepis is trying to surpass Garrett Roe for punk of the year. Don’t worry Jacob you're still a punk in my opinion but Garrett Roe still has you beat, you’re going to have to work harder to beat the dive queen Roe at his game. Lastly, I also have to question a player’s character that leaves his team half way through a season. To me that is major a character flaw and speaks volumes to the type of person that he is.

Here is how UND hockey beat writer Brad Elliot Schlossman described UMN goals on his blog.

Minnesota 1, UND 0 -- Mike Hoeffel (Jacob Cepis, Cade Fairchild) 17:20 (pp). Cepis sets up the power play with a dive, then sets up a goal with a pass in the slot to Hoeffel, who slips it by Eidsness for Minnesota's first goal of the weekend.
-----------------------
UND 2, Minnesota 2 -- Jacob Cepis (Mike Hoeffel, Jake Hansen) 12:10 (pp). Cepis draws another penalty with a dive and ends up scoring on a shot from the circle with traffic in front.

This is from the in game live chat on Brad's blog: Do you see a emerging theme here. It was pretty obvious what was going on except to the on ice officials.

9:13 Jayson, UND SID: Cepis draws another
9:13 Jayson, UND SID: I hope Cepis is ok. He sure went down hard.
9:13 Schlossman, GF Herald: This is really embarrassing for the officials. Cepis dives again
9:14 Jayson, UND SID: Gophers have responded well after both Sioux goals.

It is embarrassing. It's obvious that Cepis is duping the WCHA officials and making them look like asses with his over embellishment last night and you would have to be a complete homer not to notice this. What the hell is Brad Eidsness suppose to do when a player comes through his crease like that?

This is how the UMN beat writer described the antics of their player in his article for the Star and Tribune.

Cepis orchestrated the goal. The 5-7 agitator nicknamed "Papa Chirp" drew a tripping penalty on Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness, falling when Eidsness' stick brushed one of his ankles.

Sioux fans wanted a diving call; the referees ignored the boos

Is Adrian Peterson wearing a Sioux Jersey?

Last night the Sioux were coughing up turnovers like running back Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings football team. The Sioux were not very smart with the puck last night, they didn’t cycle the puck very well and they didn’t get set up in the offensive zone. They Fighting Sioux needs to get puck deep and keep the Gophers on their heels. Last night the Fighting Sioux made undisciplined errors that they couldn’t recover from in the end. They must be better tonight if they want to advance to the Red Baron Final Five.

Sunday Game to look forward to

While the officiating was sub par and sucked, I don't think anyone has blamed the loss on the officiating. The Sioux didn't execute last night and they got beat by a team that had nothing to lose. Alex Kangas was on TV talking about how he hated North Dakota and playing up here, let’s remind him tonight why he doesn't like playing here. This Gopher team's mental make up is weak and can be shattered with a few well time goals. If the Sioux can get to Kangas early he will crumble like a prom dress at an after prom party. The Sioux need to be miserable to play against and play with an edge.

Links to the Series

MEN'S HOCKEY: Sioux fall to Gophers

Red Star and Sickel: Given up for dead, U forces Game 3

College Hockey News: WCHA Tournament Roundup

Gopher Puck Live: Gophers Surprise – Rebound to Force Game 3

USCHO.COM: Kangas Stops 41 as Minnesota Tops North Dakota 4-2

Fighting Sioux: Gophers force game three with 4-2 win over Sioux

Examiner.com: Gophers play hard and give good effort in 4-2 victory over North Dakota; series finale Sunday

So the WCHA wants to sell tickets?

Red Meat: Fighting Sioux fans get accused of being conspiracy theorists, however, after watching last nights poorly officiated game, one could make the stretch with relative ease, that the WCHA wanted a game three to sell more tickets, they must be loving life, three series will go to a third game. What bigger draw than having the Gophers and the Sioux play on Sunday night, you're going to sell 9,000 - 10,000+ tickets at a 80% profit for the WCHA. I did see a black helicopter hovering behind the Ralph last night.

Another Sad Day at the Ralph

Today, the Sioux lost 4-2 thanks to some timely diving and some lackluster play. True, the Sioux had their chances, but when they were down a goal in the third period, they did not even attempt to ratchet up the intensity.

Here's a case in point: Cepis scores on the Power Play and we respond by playing "whatever" hockey. It seemed like the Sioux were saying "we'll take care of them tomorrow then." Well, let me tell you, the arrogance of that stance is so outstanding it would be hilarious to look on their faces tomorrow as the Gophers keep their season alive... if it wasn't the Sioux being the victims.

When you are down a goal, especially in a playoff game in the 3rd period, you NEVER play back. You ALWAYS ratchet up the intensity. You play aggressive and if they burn you for taking chances, so be it. This DID NOT HAPPEN TONIGHT.

We shot the puck on net plenty of times. However, we crashed the net almost not at all.

Ok, the officiating:

Last night, the officiating was pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good. They let go what they should have let go and called what they should have called. They even called unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, even one on Cepis, something unheard of in the past.

This game REEKED of situational officiating and institutional-enforced parity. They wanted a series. They got one. They want Minnesota in the Final Five and they can't outright give it to them, but they can facilitate it as much as humanly possible.

Tonight, the officials called the rule book on the Sioux. They made exceptions left and right for the underdog Gophers. Yeah, you got me right critics of my anti-officiating bias. I'm not going to sit here and say that the Sioux are angels. I'm not going to say they never commit a penalty.

I will say that, with the exception of the Cepis dives, every penalty called against UND was legit, or at least reasonably called. However, constantly I witnessed the refs giving a free pass to the Gophers for crap we got called for earlier in the game! What's the deal. Call it both ways or don't call it at all. PERIOD.

True, the officiating is terrible with PLENTY of missed calls and bogus calls for both sides. However, if Hakstol doesn't opt to push for new officials tomorrow, then his sanity will be called into question. That being said, I doubt Daddy dumbarse will stand by and let his darling little boy be criticized by a goon and his clan.

My players of the game:

First Star: The Refs. They led UMN in points with 2.

Second Star: Alex Kangas

Third Star: Brett Hextall because he wasn't afraid to shoot the puck.

The League got what it wanted tonight. Now, I hope they come back pissed off and ready to actually make something of themselves.

End Rant

You make the call...

Apparently the Gophers beat writer seems to think that Nick Larson was tripped by Danny Kristo before scoring on the Gophers. Someone in the press box might want to check Roman's drink. Kristo knocked the puck off of the Gopher players stick. What do you think?

Did anyone think Nick Larson was tripped on his turnover by Danny Kristo? Sure looked like he might have been, but didn't hear a word on it after game. [Goal Gophers]

Caption Contest

From last night.



Do you like to watch gladiator movies, Tony?