Claude Giroux scores with his junk

Talk about taking one for the teams eh? No pun intended. Credit Flyers Defenseman Chris Pronger with the assist on the Giroux goal. It will be interesting to see if this goal wins an ESPY or not?

INCH Power Rankings

For a good laugh I included the INCH Power Rankings as they come out each week. In looking at the ranking, there really isn't a lot of movement from last week's rankings and the national ranking will probably mirror these rankings. I am still not convinced that Yale is a top five team, when an ECAC team wins a title then I will be convinced.
1. Minnesota Duluth
2. Boston University
3. Yale
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Maine
6. North Dakota — Sophomore forward Danny Kristo has been scuffling so far this season, but picked an opportune time to net his first goal of the year, potting the eventual game-winner in the Fighting Sioux’s 6-5 win at Nebraska-Omaha Friday. 8-5-1 (7-3-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Nebraska-Omaha, 6-5; L at Nebraska-Omaha, 1-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Notre Dame, vs. Notre Dame
7. New Hampshire
8. Miami
9. Michigan
10. Union
11. Notre Dame
12. Boston College
13. Denver
14. Alaska
15. Wisconsin
16. Rensselaer
17. Merrimack
18. Minnesota
19. Ferris State
20. Western Michigan
Dropped out: Robert Morris, Michigan State, Providence
Bubble-licious: Brown, Niagara, Robert Morris

Sunday afternoon pontifications.

After watching great professional and college hockey all weekend long I must say that the Minnesota Viking’s effort this afternoon was a buzz kill. Words like atrocious and brutal come to mind, you can also classify today's effort as an EPIC FAIL. For the life of me I have no Idea why the Vikings owner Ziggy Wilf keeps Brad Childress around. I don’t’ buy the argument that the impending work stoppage has a factor in this.

Vikings fans just think every time the aging and broken down Brent Favre throws another interception (and there have been many this season) that that Viking paid 12+ million dollars for that stiff. What is even more discerning is watching the Viking’s players act like a bunch of spoiled Prima Donnas on the side lines, stop pointing fingers at each other and play some football, your professional athletes start acting like professionals. I am having a hard time believing that the Vikings couldn’t have found a better quarter back for less than 12 million dollars a season. I will take Michael Vick and his antics over this buffoon. I bet Michael Vick isn’t sending raunchy text messages of his member to female employees of the Eagles. I know my dog will never forgive me, but can the Vikes sign Vick and send T-Knuckle and Favre down the road?

Also, the Viking secondary is so poor or porous that it couldn’t cover a receiver from a semi professional league let alone a team from Division III. The Tampa cover 2 defense or what you cant to call it now, is no longer working for the Vikings. The Packers receivers were blowing by the Vikings defenders like they were back pedaling in cement. I am not so sure the Viking secondary could cover me with my blazing speed.

Since I can’t stomach thinking about the Minnesota Vikings football team anymore I thought I would share a few things that I found from the UNO beat writers blog.

Both Blais and UND coach Dave Hakstol downplayed their prior relationship leading up to the series. But you know it was significant for Hakstol to win Friday's opener (there are a good number of North Dakota knuckleheads who are super-critical of Hakstol and refuse to acknowledge how well he's done in succeeding Blais). You also know that Blais, without question, wanted Saturday's series finale to prove his new team could get the better of his old team. Blais' Mavs now are 3-1 in four games against UND and Minnesota. It's a meaningful feat for the coach. And it was no coincidence that Blais, without prompting, offered up this quote -- and said it with purpose -- during Saturday's postgame press conference: “I have a lot of pride in North Dakota. But I have more pride in these guys (at UNO).”

There were rumblings late Saturday night about UNO being offsides on the rush that resulted in Hudson's goal. But when you watch the video, it was way too close to call as it unfolded at game speed. It's the type of play that only becomes apparent when you freeze video or play it in slow motion. By no means was it a glaring blown call (it'd be quite the stretch to call it a blown call at all). The linesman was jumping over the puck as Ambroz moved into the zone along the boards. Most telling, Hakstol and North Dakota's players didn't make an issue of it after the game.

CHRIS MACHIAN/OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

If I was one of leaders on the Fighting Sioux hockey team I would put this picture up in the locker room and keep it there to remind them on how this series against the Mavericks ended. The picture was taken in the lobby of the Quest Center in Omaha after the game. "The UNO hockey team sings the UNO fight song in the lobby of the Qwest Center after a thrilling last second 1-0 victory over North Dakota Saturday evening."

Looking at the numbers

1 Minnesota-Duluth 29.6528 10
2 Nebraska-Omaha 46.0139 2
7 North Dakota 64.7059 1
13 Denver 32.8292 7
14 Minnesota 30.4115 9
17 Wisconsin 42.5637 3
26 Colorado College 32.7434 8
31 St Cloud St 33.5745 6
32 Michigan Tech 34.6960 5
38 Alaska Anchorage 25.0449 11
39 Bemidji State 40.3832 4
43 MSU-Mankato 23.8635 12

Here is the strength of schedule from the KRACH, without a doubt the UND Fighting Sioux have played the toughest schedule in Division I so far this season.

While other teams around college hockey are feasting on lesser teams and the weak sisters of the poor and racking up wins by big impressive scores the Fighting Sioux are playing good solid hockey and hold an 8-5-1 record. While that record is not awesome or mind blowing by any stretch of the imagination it’s still a pretty respectable. So to use the old cliché, it is what it is. The Sioux will only get better if they can get their goaltending solidified. Aaron Dell appears to have stolen the show.

So before the Fighting Sioux fan base decided to throw coach Hakstol and his staff under team bus for splitting on the road this weekend; I think we need to grab some perspective here. UND just went 3-1 on the road, swept at Wisconsin and split at Omaha.

Regardless if the play was offsides or not, that’s the breaks, the Sioux didn’t play to the whistle and they lost the game. Go back and watch the video again there were Sioux defenders standing around watching the Maverick forward put the puck in the net, that can’t happen.

Game 2 vs. UNO: The Attack of the Moronic ARs (RW77)

Well... we lost.

The Game

Funny, they didn't show the replay of the goal at the Qwest... at least not without removing the clock. So I was left with the impression that we were going to overtime. Judging on the fact that Campion only reviewed the goal for about 5-10 seconds made me wonder if he even looked at the time. I guess he did.

UND played great... for 59 minutes and 47 seconds. With about 12 seconds left in the game, the puck was tucked behind the UNO goal and I thought "well, OT here we come. We better not tie." And the rush for UNO began. UND bottled up the outside and I thought they would waste enough time to force OT, but... The Red Light went on and the crowd went nuts. It was truly dramatic. And it was scored by a UNO player that gave us fits all weekend, imo.

Alex Hudson (#26 aka last night's 3rd star of the game imo) was again all over the ice and again in the position one needs to be in to capitolize on a rebound. He was there and he made no mistake.

Aaron Dell played well. Matt Frattin can't find a stick that can stay intact for longer than a game. He broke at least 2 this weekend, maybe 3. I can honestly say that we were just beaten by opportunity. We didn't beat ourselves in this one.

My Three Stars:

First Star: Faulkner (UNO)
Second Star: Hudson (UNO)
Third Star: Aaron Dell (UND)

The media went with Hudson as the first star, and I couldn't blame them, but I think it was the UNO goaltender that stole the game for UNO. There were some incredible saves he made on UND down low.

The Experience

I sat near more UND fans this game, but not immediately so. Once again, I sat in front of an incredibly nice UNO family who were great fun to talk to. They were courteous. At one point in the game, UND was dominating (we were on the PK) and he told his wife how UND was a team UNO hasn't played before in terms of talent and ability. "Everything was smooth" according to him. And I agree. Fundamentally, we were MUCH better last night than Friday.

The Officiating

Nope. Not going to rag on Campion and Mason because I think they actually called a decent game. However, Dane Jackson was right. The ARs were atrocious all weekend long. Once again, UND was offsides a few times and got away with it. They once again didn't know how to call hybrid icing. They had a bear of a time trying to stay out of the way. As for the final rush and that offsides, looking at the replay, they couldn't have gotten that one right. If they had, the crowd would have seriously been upset. And they have a right to be. Up until that point, UNO was offsides and got the whistle. UND had been offsides 2 times (3 times this weekend at least) without the whistle going off.

If I were Hakstol and Blais, I'd see if I could get those plays on video and submit them to Sheptard. Then file a copy away for the post season meetings. This was a screw job that affected both UND and UNO.... but at least they didn't get as screwed by the officials as the Husker football team.

The Weekend

UND played well enough to get 4 points offensively, 2 points defensively, and got 2 points despite it all. They were trying to accomplish 3 straight WCHA Sweeps, something they haven't done since '98-'99. Oh well.

I think Dell is the man for now. His numbers are mind blowing. Eidsness' confidence is wandering somewhere between Grand Forks and Minot in that wasteland known as Highway 2. He is the key, imo. We need two goaltenders on their game to make #8, even if it is Dell in the Title game...or Dell taking most of the games as #1.

The only thing I question is: It would have been nice to see Bruneteau play instead of Gleason this weekend. Gleason was invisible (at least from where I was sitting).

Oh yeah, Brock Nelson needs to find away to use his weight. He got thrown around like a rag doll this weekend.

Scores from 11/20/2010

ATLANTIC HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

Air Force 7 at Niagara 4
American Int'l 4 at Connecticut 5
Bentley 5 at Holy Cross 2
Robert Morris 2 at Canisius 3 OT
Sacred Heart 4 at Army 4 OT

ECAC

Dartmouth 3 at Princeton 2
Brown 3 at Cornell 2
Harvard 4 at Quinnipiac 5
St. Lawrence 1 at Clarkson 3
Yale 6 at Colgate 4

CCHA

Michigan State 2 at Notre Dame 4
Miami 3 at Bowling Green 0
Western Michigan 2 at Ferris State 2 OT


HOCKEY EAST

Providence 0 at Northeastern 5
UMass Lowell 2 at Merrimack 3
New Hampshire 2 at Boston University 4

WCHA

Bemidji State 2 at Denver 4
Minnesota 4 at Michigan Tech 1
Minnesota Duluth 3 at Wisconsin 2 OT
North Dakota 0 at Nebraska-Omaha 1
St. Cloud State 4 at Alaska Anchorage 3

Analysis - Denver 4 Bemidji State 2; The BSU Beavers had a 2-1 lead before losing the game 4-2. Denver University goalie Sam Brittain was stellar in net again for the Pioneers. Nick Shore scored the game tying and game winning goal for the Pioneers.

Minnesota 4 Michigan Tech 1 – The Gophers cruised to a series sweep against the MTU Huskies in Houghton, Michigan. Gopher senior Mike Hoeffel scored two more goals giving him four on the weekend as the Gophers beat the Michigan Tech Huskies. Kent Patterson started both games in goal for the Gophers this weekend and was solid in net all weekend as he got his fifth and sixth wins of the season.

Minnesota Duluth 3 Wisconsin 2 OT – The Bulldogs swept in Madison Wisconsin for the first time since 1985. For the season the UMD Bulldogs have a record of 11-1-2/8-1-1 WCHA and have an impressive record of 5-0-2 in the extra session. For the Second week in a row Wisconsin was swept at home. With the loss the Wisconsin Badgers dropped to 6-6-2/3-5-2 WCHA.

Nebraska-Omaha 1 North Dakota 0– The game was tied for 59 minutes and 59 seconds until the Mavericks scored with 0.03 left in the game. I was trying to think back to a game that resembled this one and the NCAA playoff game between UND and UNH comes to mind. This is why you play to the whistle. There was some question if the Mavericks were offside on the goal and from looking at the video I would say yes. Here is what Brad Schlossman had to say about the goal in question.

Screenshots show that Matt Ambroz was offsides by about an inch on the rush on the game-winning goal. Tough call to make when you can’t really tell at live speed. The linesman doesn’t have the luxury of slowing it down frame-by-frame (he was actually jumping over the puck when Ambroz entered the zone). The Sioux didn’t make an issue of it after the game.

According to an eye witness account and a friend of mine who was at the game last night, said that Fighting Sioux assistant hockey coach Dane Jackson was giving it to the linesman at the end of the game and was very unhappy.

Statically: Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell has been impressive to say the least; during the road trip Dell had a 1.20 gaa where the Fighting Sioux went an impressive 3-1. Dell was a brick wall and shut out the opposition in seven out of ten periods of hockey. While Matt Frattin didn’t score a goal on Saturday night, scoring 22 goals in 26 games is still an impressive streak.

St. Cloud State 4 Alaska Anchorage 3 – SCSU won the game but 4-3 but in reading the UAA beat writer blog by Doyle Woody there was hit that resulted in an injury to a SCSU player.

Novak, 22, was injured on a seemingly harmless play. As the horn was about to blow to end the second period, he had the puck in his zone and pivoted toward the boards. UAA defenseman Brad Gorham came from behind and rubbed out Novak -- it was not by any means a malicious hit. Novak appeared to dip his head a split-second before Gorham arrived and Novak went into the boards head-first.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Travis Novak of the SCSU Huskies.

Tim Thomas save on Stoll

This is the save of the night and the year in my opinion. Last year there were many Boston Bruins fans that wanted to throw Tim Thomas under the bus and there were many fans that wanted the Bruin's management to trade him to another team. I wonder if these same fans are happy that Tim Thomas is still on the Boston Bruins hockey team.

UNO 1 Sioux 0

This is the goal in question from tonight's game, if you look at the puck carrier bringing the puck across the line his feet are over the blue line before the puck. The correct call in my opinion should be offsides. MattC over on Sioux sports has a still shot of the play. [Click to view the picture]

I am no sure I can be upset with this game, just the way the puck bounces sometimes. What can you do? The Fighting Sioux were all over UNO for 59 minutes and let their guard down for one minute, and they lost the game. Hockey is a team game, you can win a hockey game if the forwards don't put the puck in the net, the Fighting Sioux had many grade "A" chances in the slot and didn't seal the deal, that's not acceptable either.

The goalie gave the Sioux a chance to win the game, forwards have to put the pucks in the net and defensemen have to pick up the forwards with the puck slot. Other than that I think UND has played well during the first half of the season and they have played the toughest schedule to date in college hockey. The Fighting Sioux has a very favorable schedule down the stretch.

Looking at strenght of schedule

Looking at the KRACH you will see that the Fighting Sioux have played the toughest schedule to date. Yale and Union on the other hand have played one of the weakest schedules to date.

1 Minnesota-Duluth 28.1962
2 Nebraska-Omaha 33.5532
3 Yale 112.6900 18.7817
4 North Dakota 52.9412
5 Notre Dame 39.3082
6 New Hampshire 31.5811
7 Michigan 49.1701
8 Boston University 30.5876
9 Maine 30.1576
10 Boston College 36.0261
11 Miami 33.2945
12 Alaska 37.0023
13 Denver 31.5491
14 Union 17.1503
15 Wisconsin 35.2400
16 Merrimack 30.3300
17 Minnesota 26.0761
18 Western Michigan 19.5535
19 Rensselaer 20.6242
20 Lake Superior 32.8237

Scores from 11/19/2010

Friday, November 19

AHA

Air Force 1 at Canisius 1 OT
American Int'l 3 at Army 9
Connecticut 2 at Bentley 3
Holy Cross 7 at Sacred Heart 2
Mercyhurst 3 at Robert Morris 1
RIT 1 at Niagara 4

ECAC

Brown 5 at Colgate 2
Dartmouth 0 at Quinnipiac 2
Harvard 0 at Princeton 1
Yale 4 at Cornell 2

HOCKEY EAST

Boston University 2 at New Hampshire 5
Merrimack 4 at UMass Lowell 3
Maine 0 at Boston College 4
Northeastern 3 at Providence 3 OT

CCHA

Miami 4 at Bowling Green 3
Western Michigan 1 at Ferris State 3
Lake Superior 2 at Michigan 7
Michigan State 2 at Notre Dame 6
Northern Michigan 1 at Alaska 1 OT

WCHA

Minnesota 6 at Michigan Tech 4
Minnesota Duluth 6 at Wisconsin 5 OT
St. Cloud State 2 at Alaska Anchorage 3 OT
Bemidji State 1 at Denver 3
North Dakota 6 at Nebraska-Omaha 5

Analysis

Bulldogs 6 Badgers 5 O.T. - Last night the Badgers and the Bulldogs played in a wild one as both teams goalies forgot to show up for the game. The game then ended with a horrid blown call and lot of controversy, one must speculate that WCHA official’s buffoons Brian Thul and Tim Walsh are going to be getting a call from Gregg Shepherd and possibly a reprimand/suspension from the WCHA. Here is what Coach Eaves had to say in the post game presser. s/t Andy Baggot.

Referees Brian Thul and Tim Walsh took their time conferring with the goal judge before confirming the sequence. Eaves said the final moments of the game and the lengthy discussion amounted to “the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“The referee in chief will clearly hear from us and that’s about all I’m going to say about this,” Eaves said, referring to WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd. [Read the rest of the article]

I caught the end of the game in question and it wasn’t pretty. Here is what happened: the Bulldogs forward Mike Connolly blatantly tripped a Badger defenseman Jake Gardiner player in the Badger defensive zone causing a turnover which the loose puck was picked up by Bulldog Defenseman Dylan Olson and passed to Bulldog forward Travis Oleksuk who then smartly put the puck between the legs of Badger goalie sieve Brett Bennett.

I know it’s easy to bag on the officials, yes they do have a tough job, but as an on ice official you have to call Mike Connelly for a trip on that play. A rookie ref in the house league up in Canada could make that call without too much trouble. Seriously, every week there is another controversial call that cost a team the game and makes the refs look like a bunch of bumbling buffoons, which have no business officiating intramural broomball at the high school level. While some will say that you can’t blame the refs for the loss, I am going to say that I disagree, if the refs make the correct call maybe the game ends in a tie.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the fans, teams and players to expect the WCHA officials to at least be competent and be able to officiate a hockey game without screwing it up on a weekly basis. One could make the argument that the Badger’s goalie didn’t stop the puck, but the play should have been called dead when the Bulldog forward touched the puck. The thing that really makes the official look bad was after the game I am sure they realized that they had blown the call so they decided to review the goal and see if there was anyway that they could wave the goal off.

I mean you have to give double kudos for the Bulldog players for continuing the play and scoring the goal in overtime as the Bulldogs continue to get the bounces in overtime.

Denver 3 Bemidji State 1 – I was able to watch the last two periods of the BSU and DU game on Fox College Sports and the Denver University Freshman goalie Sam Brittain was awesome in net for the Denver Pioneers again. In a season where the goaltending in the WCHA hasn’t been all that great, the Pioneers for the most part have found their replacement for Chevy in net.

Alaska Anchorage 3 St. Cloud State 2 OT – The hockey blogger from Delusions of Grandeur must have soiled himself after his beloved UAA Seawolves beat the SCSU Huskies in a midnight hockey game up in Anchorage Alaska. UAA Mitch Bruijsten scored at the 3:34 mark of overtime. Mike Lee from SCSU took the loss in net for the Huskies and his record dropped to 3-4-1 on the season.

North Dakota 6 Nebraska-Omaha 5 – The Fighting Sioux won a game after being down going into the third period. Matt Frattin continued his torrid pace as he scored his 11th and 12 goals of the season and is now tied with Niagara University’s Paul Zanette, both players have 12 goals on the season. That was the 22nd goal in the last 25 games for Frattin.

The game was the first ever match up between the Mavericks and the Sioux. The Maverick’s top line of Broadhurst, Hudson and Ambroz had 5 points on the night. The line of Malone, Trupp and Nelson had 5 points on the night for the Fighting Sioux.

Every week Goal Gophers predicts the series results for each WCHA series, this week Roman's side kick Austin Cumblad from the Minnesota Daily picked the Mavericks to sweep the Sioux. UND is 3-0-0 so far the past two weeks when being picked to be swept by one of the Goal Gophers writers. Personally, I would like them to continue making those predictions. [Click to view the article in question.]

Austin: I remember it clearly, Roman. We were sitting in the press box at Moosh watching UNO bully the Gophers in a two-game sweep [early this season]. "How good are the Mavericks?" we both asked. Well, they're still unbeaten in the WCHA and ranked fourth in the country. We have our answer. UND was impressive against the Badgers last weekend; 16 shots allowed per game? Seriously? That's some defense. But, I'm going with the unbeaten team until it backfires, so I'll say ... UNO sweeps

Minnesota 6 Michigan Tech 4 - Mike Hoeffel scored twice to lead the Minnesota Gophers to a 6-4 victory over the MTU Huskies. Apparently the crew at FSN doesn’t think it’s worth while going to Houghton, Michigan to see the game and broadcast it back to the fans in the Upper Midwest. The Gophers didn’t send their beat writer either.

Live thoughts: Game 1 vs. UNO

Ok, I went to the Qwest Center for my first live Sioux game since I moved to Omaha and I can say... well... we won....

Goaltending

Goon hit it right on. Eidsness isn't a bad goaltender when he's on... but the man's got a self-confidence problem the size of North America. The first goal happened right in front of me. Genoway "sorta" dives and the puck deflects off of his leg right onto the blade of a UNO player and it goes in. Yes, it was weak, but it would have been avoided had Genoway simply dove traditionally instead of the kind of slide one usually sees baserunners do going into second base. Oops! Sorry. Eidsness' fault. Sorry to pick on a fan favorite who can do no wrong. {/off soapbox}

The goals as I saw it? I already spoke about the first goal. The second and fourth goals were weak on Eidsness' fault. The third goal was simply sniped in. There wasn't much of an angle for Montpetit to shoot at and he threaded the needle (at least from my angle it looked like it did). Doesn't excuse Eidsness but... I was lenient on that one. Eidsness' second goal and Dell's lone goal he gave up have one thing in common though: If you had your stick square to the shooter, neither pucks would have gone in.

Funny thing..... UNO's goaltender started to imitate Eidsness as the game wore on. He played ok in the First Period (though UND only managed 6 shots on goal of which 2 were really genuine scoring chances). Genoway's wraparound was a complete joke. Yeah, it counts, but what Faulkner was doing while Genoway was going around the net was anyone's guess. If I were Blais, I would have called a time out right after that goal and yanked him. Seriously, Genoway had an open net to tuck the puck into.

I'd play Dell tomorrow (obviously going to happen but just in case anyone was wondering) and I'd actually play Faulkner's backup as well.

Defense

Andrej Sustr is big. Like, Joe Finley big.... And had he wore UND green, people would hate him. He wasn't physical.... at all.

In any case, UND's bread and butter was supposed to be their defense. Yeah well.... unless we can count on scoring 6 goals per game, defensive "performances" like this won't win us many games. Though goaltending was rather subpar tonight, UNO scored on rebounds. We didn't protect the front of the net and they beat us to the rebounds. The first period was just embarrassing.

Special Teams

Our powerplay sucked. Sorry guys. I don't recall if we ever scored on the powerplay, but I told my friend I went with that we should go down a man more often to produce more offense rather than up a man.

Our shorty was a great goal but it was a greater lapse by UNO's powerplay that made it possible. They simply looked so put out by our PK unit that, when the rush started, they simply seemed to sit back and watch. Boom. Goal.

Our PK was dominant. Funny how well we play defensively when we were down a man but we couldn't handle 5 on 5 defense... or maybe UNO's powerplay simply sucks.

Offense

We played VERY well offensively.... for the last half of the game. The first half of the game we were so squeamish and worried about UNO that, even if there was a slight possibility of UNO taking possession, UND would fall back. We seemed preoccupied rather than confident. Hiccups offensively happen and defense usually picks up the slack. No defense was there to be had so all that was there to pick up the slack was our goaltender and he had no confidence. I guess that's what went down.

Oh, Frattin is great and I'm SUPER happy Kristo finally gets his goal.

UNO was fast... very fast. I actually thought at times they were faster than we were. The UNO fans that sat behind me stated that UNO is typically a Saturday team and...well... Name a Dean Blais team that didn't seem to be better on Saturday than on Friday.

The Experience

Though I was supposedly on the UND side of the arena, I wasn't around many Sioux fans. However, I did get to see the dark side of UND fandom. I witnessed a very passionate UNO fan sitting one row in front of me get verbally abused (albeit very briefly so) by a UND fan after UNO got called for a penalty that shouldn't have been called (more on this later). He was right. He was angry. But his verbal outcry was against the refs, not UND or its fans. It was embarrassing to me. The UNO fans I was sitting around were very nice to me. It didn't seem warranted. Look, I know we've a right to speak our feelings and defend our team, but do it with class... and know your place. We're in Omaha right now and this isn't our home territory. Remember we are guests in the Qwest Center and, though we're not here to cheer UNO to victory, nor should be we expected to be happy if things don't go our way, we need to act with some level of class and civility in our host's "house."

I'm not lucky enough to be sitting with those nice people (UNO fans they may be) tomorrow, but I can't wait to go again.

By the way, no way there was almost 11,500 people there. No way. And their intermission entertainment was mostly good. The No Frills "Let's Make a Deal" spinoff was lame. The races they had were actually kindof fun. The video before the third period was SPECTACULAR. I wish UND had that instead of the stupid Tostito/Cloverdale Meats/Altru commercials... which, by the way, there were NO ads on the Jumbotron pretty much all game.

Getting out of the Qwest sucked though.

The Officiating

I don't know who these bums were but.... They sucked. BIG TIME. The AR's seemed to be out of shape and sluggish. They seemed to always get in the way. They also factored into some pretty bad officiating calls. First, the penalty that shouldn't have been. Yes, UNO's #12 elbowed a UND player (I didn't catch who). Yes, it was a penalty... or was it? No, it wasn't. Why? Because UND was WAY THE HELL offsides. No Call. UND also got a gift icing called when UNO actually had the inside track on the puck (though he was about a half step behind the UND player). There were some BS calls that actually went UND's way (for once). I couldn't believe it. The officiating had the Mavs fan in front of me almost in the state of cardiac arrest. He looked so darned mad it was amazing. Still can't help but wonder what the WCHA would be like if we had quality officiating.

My Three Stars

First Star: Matt Frattin
Second Star: Brad Malone
Third Star: Alex Hudson

UNO had our number and nearly beat us. Tomorrow's game will come down to adjustments. Whoever makes the better adjustments tomorrow will win the game. At this point, I don't know who will win.

Sioux 6 UNO 5

If you had a heart condition you might not want to watch tomorrow night’s game. Tonight’s game was up and down the ice, classic race horse hockey. Personally, I would much rather watch a game like this than a trap feast any day.

As far as the Sioux goaltending goes, I don’t know what happened to junior goalie Brad Eidsness over the summer but he appears to have a serious confidence problem right now, at times it looks like he can't stop a beach ball. I would say that Brad Eidsness would probably like to have the first goal, second goal and third goals back, because those weren't good goals and an Brad Eidsness on his game would have probably would have saved two out of three of those shots. The fourth Maverick goal was a case of the trailing forward picking up the loose change with the defender all over him, it's crashing the net. What do you do? I suppose the goaltender could control the rebound better; I don't know it looks easier from the couch than it does on the ice.

I am sure that Aaron Dell would like to have the fifth Maverick goal back as well as it went through the five hole but it didn't cost the Sioux the game because Dell came up big during the third period.

Road Warriors

The Sioux have won three straight games on the road. The Sioux have a 5-2-1 record on the road and a 2-2 record at home. Of those five wins on the road the Sioux have given up 2 or less goals. During the two losses on the road the Sioux have given four or more goals. This is only the fourth time that UND had given up four or more goals and they have a 1-2-1 record in those games.

Goon's three stars of the game
1.) Matt Frattin 2-1-3
2.) Chay Genoway 1-1-2
3.) Derek Forbort 0-2-2


[Official Box Score]
Period 1
UNO 0 - 1 Rich Purslow Eric Olimb / Joey Martin 02:37 EV
UNO 0 - 2 Joey Martin Matt White / Michael Young 14:43 EV
Period 2
UND 1 - 2 Matt Frattin Evan Trupp / Chay Genoway 01:38 SH
UND 2 - 2 Jake Marto Evan Trupp / Matt Frattin 06:50 EV
UNO 2 - 3 Brock Montpetit 11:24 EV
UND 3 - 3 Mike Cichy Brad Malone / Derek Forbort 17:18 PP
UNO 3 - 4 Terry Broadhurst Alex Hudson / Eric Olimb 18:32 EV
Period 3
UND 4 - 4 Matt Frattin Derek Forbort 07:10 EV
UND 5 - 4 Chay Genoway Brad Malone 13:52 EV
UND 6 - 4 Danny Kristo Derek Rodwell / Brad Malone 14:26 EV
UNO 6 - 5 Alex Hudson Terry Broadhurst / Matt Ambroz 16:56 EV

UND and UNO lines (MacWilliam back tonight)

The lines have been posted for the gameby Brad. First it looks like no additional discipline for Hextall and or Joe Gleason. Brad Eidsness is back in net for the Sioux. Sophomore defenseman Andrew MacWilliam is back after missing 4 games with a illness that was believed to be mono.

Sioux lines

17 Jason Gregoire (4g-6a-10pts)10 Corban Knight (7g-6a-13pts) 26 Brett Hextall (2g-4a-6pts)
11 Derek Rodwell(3g–0a-3pts) 22 Brad Malone(2g-3a-5tps) 7 Danny Kristo (0g-3a-3pts)
19 Evan Trupp (3g-6a-9pts)29 Brock Nelson (1g-3a-4pts) 21 Matt Frattin (10g-2a-12pts)
8 Mike Cichy (1g-1a-2pts)9 Mario Lamoureux (0g-3a-3pts) 20 Joe Gleason (0g-0a-0pts)

Defense

24 Ben Blood (1-0-1) 5 Chay Genoway (1g-8a-9pts)
3 Derrick LaPoint (0g-3a-3pts) 25 Jake Marto (1g-1a-2pts)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (0g-0a-0tps) 4 Derek Forbort (0g-5a-5tps)

Goalies

Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell
[Sioux Stats]

Omaha’s lines

9 Rich Purslow(4g-10a-14pts)14 Joey Martin (2g-9a-11pts) 21 Matt White (6g-5a-11pts)
17 Terry Broad Hurst(4g-7a-11pts)26 Alex Hudson (4g-7a-11pts) 27 Matt Ambroz (7g-4a-11pts)
19 Ryan Walters (4g-3a-7pts)12 Brock Montpetit (2g-4a-6pts)13Zahn Raubenheimer (4g-3a-7pts)
16 Johnnie Searfoss (4g-1a-5pts) 20 Brandon Richardson(0g-1a-1pts)–25 Brent Gwidt (1g-2a-3pts)

Defense

6 Pasko Skarica (0g-3a-3pts) 3 Andrej Sustr (1g-4a-5pts)
7 Mike Young (0-g3a-3pts) 23 Eric Olimbn 0g-8a-8pts)
2 Matt Smith (0g-1a-2pts) 24 Bryce Aneloski (1g-4a-5pts)

Goalies

30 John Faulkner
34 Mike Taffe
35 Fredrik Bergman
[Mavericks' Stats]

UNO - UND series (by Sioux 7)

I found this article over on [Omaha.com].

Blais believes that UND (7-4-1, 6-2-0) is the best team in the country. They were ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls. The Sioux — who traditionally do their most damage during the second half of the season — were the near-unanimous pick to win the WCHA in 2010-11. Few would be surprised if coach Dave Hakstol’s squad claims the school’s eighth NCAA championship in April.

The Sioux should arrive in Omaha as a confident group, too. They swept No. 15 Wisconsin on the road last weekend — only the second time UND has accomplished that feat in the 12-year history of the Badgers’ Kohl Center. North Dakota is off to its best eight-game WCHA start since 2003-04.

“We’ve played some pretty good hockey, but we’re a long way from where we need to be,” Hakstol said prior to UND’s practice Thursday in Omaha. “We’re slowly getting better, and I like that about our team. Coming into the season, I think everybody wanted to stamp us as some kind of finished product. That’s just not the case. Like everyone else, we’re just trying to get better every weekend — and this weekend, we’re probably playing the best team we’ve played so far.”

A couple of things.

This weekends Fighting Sioux hockey games are not FCS/FSSN. The only way you will be able to watch the games is to purchase the web cast from B2tv.com. [Click link to purchase]

For the life of me I can’t understand why these games can't be picked up by FSSN? All they would have to do is broadcast the B2 broadcast over the FSSN. That being said, not all is lost though, just log on to the link provided above and you can hook up an s-video cord from computer to your TV. During October, I watched the Maine Black Bears slaughter/debacle game that way and it worked out pretty well.

Blais not going to Minnesota

Those who like to speculate that Dean Blais is going to be the next coach of the Golden Rodents when Lucia gets fired, you might want to re-think that assessment. Brad Schlossman had this little nugget in his Wednesday update.

Blais again said he plans to coach at Omaha for five years. Then, he said he wants to retire and spend more time with his grandchildren.

“I pretty much have had the best college job in the country already,” he said.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

The Bulldogs are still on top of this week’s league standings followed by the Sioux, UNO and DU. It’s hard to believe we have already completed a quarter of the league games. Looking at the standings and you’ll notice that only 5 points separate 5th place from 12th. Right now it looks to be four team (UMD, UND, UNO, DU) race for the McNaughton Cup, with two teams looking for a top half finish (SCSU & UW). We have the usual suspects in the basement, MTU and UAA, ugh. Yet again, we only have 5 series on the schedule this weekend.


WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. Minnesota-Duluth....6-1-1…13
2. North Dakota………6-2-0…12
3. Nebraska-Omaha…5-0-1…11
3. Denver……………...5-2-1…11
5. Wisconsin…………..3-3-2…8
6. Minnesota…………..3-4-1…7
7. Minnesota State…...2-6-2…6
8. St. Cloud State….....2-3-1…5
8. Bemidji State……….2-5-1…5
10. Colorado College…..2-4-0…4
11. Alaska-Anchorage...1-4-1…3
12. Michigan Tech……..1-4-1…3


Here’s the penalty minutes (WCHA games only) teams have acquired this season.

TEAM………………PEN-for-MIN….MIN/GAME
1 Michigan Tech……….41-for-128….21.33
2 Denver………………..52-for-118….16.86
3 Minnesota State……..65-for-149….16.56
4 Nebraska-Omaha……42-for-95….15.83
5 North Dakota…………39-for-122….15.25
6 Colorado College…….36-for-91….15.17
7 Bemidji State………….51-for-121….15.12
8 Minnesota-Duluth……42-for-103….12.88
9 St. Cloud State……….36-for-72…..12.00
9 Wisconsin…………….48-for-96…..12.00
11 Minnesota……………44-for-88….11.00
12 Alaska-Anchorage…..25-for-61….10.17


If you look at the overall penalty minutes, all games, the Sioux are tied for 1st with 220 minutes (with Northern Michigan). Wisconsin would be 6th with 199 minutes, and Nebraska-Omaha would be 7th with 195 minutes, and it drops off from there.


WCHA


#19 Minnesota @ Michigan Tech
Last weekend the Gophers had a free weekend (maybe they had a snowball fight or built snowmen with all the snow that feel there) and the Huskies were swept by the Bulldogs in Duluth.

The Gophers are off to another ho-hum start at about a five hundred record. Looking at the attendance numbers, it shows that they are not putting as many butts in the seats as usual. The Huskies have but their own butts in seats, the penalty box seats, that is. MTU is averaging the most penalty minutes per game in the league. The Gophers need to get off their butts this weekend and capitalize on their power play. In order to get the power play, the Gophers will need to move their feet and crash net, forcing the Huskies to take some penalties. GOPHERS 3-pts


#8 North Dakota @ #4 Nebraska-Omaha
Last weekend the Sioux swept the Badgers in Madison and the UNO Mavericks took 3-pts from the SCSU Huskies in St. Cloud.

This is the marquee matchup of the weekend. Not just because both teams are ranked, but because the Sioux will be playing against their old coach, Dean Blais. I liked Blais when he coached at UND, he did well and got the Sioux back up to a national powerhouse again. Now he has got his new team, the UNO Mavericks, doing well in their first year in the WCHA. With both teams liking to hit and skate, this should be a humdinger of a weekend in Omaha. UNO is the only WCHA team yet to lose a league game, while the Sioux have dropped two, one to DU and one to UMD. I just hope I can find the games on TV somewhere this weekend, ‘cause I really want to watch these tilts. I’m going to take the easy pick here, SPLIT.


#1 Minnesota-Duluth @ #15 Wisconsin
Last weekend the Bulldogs swept the MTU Huskies in Duluth and the Badgers were swept by the Sioux in Madison.

The Bulldogs have had an easy schedule to this point, excluding UND, and haven’t left many points on the table. It could be a little harder for them this weekend as they visit the Badgers. This will be the first games on the big sheet (Olympic size) of ice for the Bulldogs this year. The Badgers will be looking to avenge last weekend’s lack luster performances. The Badgers will need to pick up the offense this series and put more shots on net, if they want to get some points. The Bulldogs will need to find a way to get quality shots on the Badger net. Wisconsin has a real good set of d-men and could cause problems for the Bulldogs. SPLIT.


Bemidji State @ #13 Denver
Last weekend the Beavers split with the Seawolves in Bemidji and the Pioneers swept the MSUM Mavericks in Denver.

The Beavers will be making their first WCHA appearance in Denver for a pair of games. BSU is off to a rough start in their first WCHA season, of course they have played the top two teams in the league (UMD and UND). The Pioneers got some need points last weekend to keep up with the other league leaders. DU bounced back nicely last weekend after getting drubbed by rival CC the previous Saturday. The Beavers put up 8 goals and the Pioneers put up 9 goals last weekend. If both offenses can put those numbers up this weekend, this could be a fun series. SPLIT.


St. Cloud State @ Alaska Anchorage
Last weekend the Huskies got 1-pt at home against the UNO Mavericks in St. Cloud and the Seawolves split with the Beavers in Bemidji.

The Huskies have yet to live up to the preseason predictions. And if they don’t get their dogsled moving this weekend, they will have a steep trail to mush-up. This really is a must sweep series for SCSU, in my opinon. The Seawolves play hard, but just don’t have the high end talent of other WCHA schools. If SCSU wants to be a top tier team this year, you need to take points from the bottom teams, and I mean at least 3 points. (UMD has got their points from the bottom teams.) SPLIT.


BYE WEEK
Minnesota State University – Mankato – Mavericks
Colorado College – Tigers

If you're looking for a good laugh

I know the only polls that matter are the PWR/RPI on selection Sunday in March and the final poll at the end of the season, however, if you're looking for a good laugh pursue this top 20 from the ECAC hockey writer.
My Top 20
1. Nebraska-Omaha 8-1-1
2. Minnesota Duluth 9-1-2
3. Boston University 6-0-4
4. Maine 6-1-3
5. New Hampshire 5-1-3
6. Yale 5-1-0
7. North Dakota 7-4-1
8. Miami 6-3-3
9. Michigan State
10. Notre Dame 7-3-1
11. Michigan 6-3-3
12. Wisconsin 6-4-2
13. Denver 6-4-2
14. Union 7-2-3
15. Alaska 7-4-1
16. Boston College 6-4-0
17. Colorado College 5-6-1
18. Michigan Tech 3-4-2
19. Western Michigan 6-2-2
20. Robert Morris 7-2-1

Jaroslav Halak scores on himself

Check this out, Halak scores on himself, I am not sure I have ever seen this move. So far this season Halak has been tough to beat, Halak sports a 2.12 GAA and a .918 save percentage with an 8-3-0 record.

A couple of things from the Badgers presser...

There are a few items of interest for Sioux fans from the University of Wisconsin media day press conference. Coach Eaves touches on a Craig Smith snap and also the type of hockey team that UND is.

QUESTION #3: To what extent did the frustrations of the whole weekend kind of boil over in the third period of Saturday's game?

EAVES: Well, you know, it's a 1-0 game and we tie it up in the third period, even though we hadn't played that well. And I think the frustration kind of rose itself through Mr. Smith's actions there. And, you know, that costs us. We had to kill the penalty. And they scored on that power play. And that hurt. And that was a lesson for not only the team but Craig. His virtue sometimes is vice. His great competitiveness is what makes him an excellent hockey player, but when he crosses the line, it hurts him and it hurts our team.

We've seen it in other players we've had here. Ryan McMurchy was that same type of player, Brendan Smith is that same type of player. They've got to learn to handle that and harness that energy, and use it for a positive and not let it run into the negative side. But that's part of our jobs as coaches here is to help these young men understand that.

QUESTION #5: Minnesota-Duluth seemingly has the same type of veteran presence that North Dakota has. What are the different challenges that Duluth will present that perhaps North Dakota did not?

EAVES: Well, I think one of the strengths of North Dakota is their size and physicalness. They play hard like no other in our league. I think Duluth is a little bit different. I think they have better presence and poise with the puck. And so they'll bring that challenge to us. That will be the two differences.

RPI hockey coach suspended for one game by ECAC

Here is a story worth checking out, in fact it's crazy, the head coach of the RPI Engineers Seth Appert was suspended for one game by the ECAC today or showing a video of a controversial call in the post game press conference. I guess that is considered showing up the on ice officials. Check out this story from RPI beat writer Ken Schott.

Parting Shotts ---- The Engineers had a potential tying goal waved off with 7.6 seconds left in the game. Mike Bergin had tipped a Chase Polacek (that is what we were told, although it looks like Nick Bailen did take the shot) past goalie Keith Kinkaid, tying the score at 2-2.

Or so everyone thought. Referee Bryan Hicks immediately waved off he goal and said CJ Lee made contact with Kinkaid.

As we started to question Bailen about the play, Appert, who was off to the side in the media room, interrupted. He brought his laptop to the table, and showed everyone the video.

It was tough to tell, but it didn't appear to be significant contact to warrant the goal being taken away. But give Hicks credit for immediately waving it off.

After Bailen and teammate John Kennedy left the room, it was Appert's turn to talk. The first question I asked was if he is worried about possibly getting fined by ECAC Hockey commissioner Steve Hagwell for showing the video to the media.

Appert was defiant with his response.

"Why? Is there a policy that you can't show video? I think the ref should be concerned about it," Appert said.

Well, it is showing up the officiating.

Here is the link to the act that got the head coach suspended for this weekend's first game. [click to view the video]

This brings me to a point, what’s a coach to do about refs when they blow a call, just sit there and take it with a smile on his face? The fans, bloggers and media can pontificate, pick apart and break down bad calls by the officials till they are blue in the face but in some instances a bad call on the ice, have consequences, bad call can cost a team points and inevitably it could keep that team home from the NCAA playoffs or cause them to lose a chance at hosting a first round series in the league playoffs.

For example; just ask Wisconsin how a few bad calls cost them a few year back. Randy Schmidt is no longer officiating in the WCHA because of a few of his bad calls, one of his bad calls cost Wisconsin points in the standings and probably cost them home ice during the 2008 WCHA playoffs, they finished out of the 5th and final spot by one point. Albeit the Badgers might have lost the tie breaker anyways, but you see where this can go.

I have to admit that if I had been the head coach in Appert's shoes I would have done the same thing because there is little room for error when your season is only 34-38 games long.