WCHA attendance numbers

Rank -------------Dates-Total---Attnd Average cap.%
1 Wisconsin----------8--99,699--12,462-15,237-81.8
2 North Dakota-------4--46,675--11,669-11,634-100.3
3 Minnesota----------8--75,999--9,500--10,000-95.0
4 Nebraska-Omaha-----6--41,974--6,996--16,680-41.9
5 Colorado College---6--40,102--6,684--7,343--91.0
6 Michigan-----------8--51,978--6,497--6,637--97.9
7 New Hampshire------5--30,837--6,167--6,110--100.9
8 St. Cloud State----8--47,721--5,965--5,763--103.5
9 Boston College-----5--29,401--5,880--7,884--74.6
10 Boston University-6--33,929--5,655--6,221--90.9
11 Denver------------9--48,732--5,415--6,026--89.9
12 Michigan State----9--47,379--5,264--6,470--81.4
13 Minnesota-Duluth--6--29,759--4,960--5,233--94.8
20 Bemidji State-----6--22,698--3,783--4,373--86.5
22 Minnesota State---4--14,345--3,586--4,832--74.2
23 Alaska-Anchorage--6--21,310--3,552--6,206--57.2
31 Michigan Tech-----5--13,294--2,659--4,200--63.3


The WCHA is one of the best attended leagues. UND is ranked second over all again.

Since We're Griping... (RW77)

About Sticks, I might as well start in on the new NHL All Star Format:

The new format is to be a lot like a pickup game where we vote in the players and two captains are "selected" and they choose teams from the list of eligible players voted in... at least that's how I understand it.

Why is this a good thing? It's not... unless you are a fan of Alexander Ovechkin and/or Sidney Crosby. Why? Comon people, do you HONESTLY think that they AREN'T going to be Captains? It's nothing more than a brilliant marketing ploy for the NHL to further um...fellate... Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin, or as I like to say it: Jesus Crosby and Alexander Ovech-Christ. The brilliant part of it is that the NHL can fully claim to NOT have selected the Captains at all! They can "Say" that "we" did it ourselves!

I guess things were like that in the NBA when Jordan was around, and we all know that Bettman is praying for Crosby's fandom to be as epic as Jordan's, but meh.

I think the system is dumb. How it should work is, instead of captains, the COACHES of both teams get a list of the players voted in and they have a draft to select the teams. From there, the 3 forwards, 2 D, and 1 goaltender on each team that garnered the most votes from the fans will be the starting lineup. True, in a traditional hockey sense, this leaves the possibility that there won't be a Center on the ice for the faceoff and any permutation of handed-ness mistakes as well, but that's the breaks. The coach can leave them on for a shift and then mix and match the line makeups to make it work. It's not like this game counts for much anyways. Oh, and who are the coaches? I like MLB's system: The Head Coach of each of the teams that went to the Stanley Cup Finals the season before are the Head Coaches at the All Star Game. OR.... Have the Stanley Cup winning Head Coach vs. the Coach of the Year from last year (if they are different people). The Assistant coaches can be selected however the league sees fit.

Hmmm, I wonder if Crosby and Ovechkin will drop the gloves over who gets to draft Stamkos or Thomas?

In any case, this is just another one of Bettman's inane moves to further try to bring Crosby and Ovechkin fans more time hyperventilating over their dream players. And yeah, it's not fair to either of them.

For the record, I think Crosby and Ovechkin are great players, but their hype is so far beyond what is realistic it's very hard to take for say... 30 seconds or longer at one sitting. Try John Madden talking about Brett Favre annoying.

HERE is a great comparison done by Down Goes Brown blog. It's an awesome blog that follows (for the most part) the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it is downright hilarious and I'll continue to plug it as much as I can.

No more wood sticks in the NHL.

This story depresses me and basically takes that away that nostalgic feeling I once held for wood sticks. As I watch game after game and watch these carbon fiber sticks shatter, I know that we are stuck with them and they are the future. This article also is an accurate illustration of what happens when you farm out your labor to an over seas location.

Actually, not so much. There is no longer a single NHL player wielding the true meaning of the word twig. Like zero. Zilch. Zip.

Even more upsetting is there probably will never be again.

“It’s the end of an era,” said Phoenix Coyotes defenceman Adrian Aucoin, one of the last holdouts, who switched last season. “In my case, Reebok changed factories with their shaft and the wood stick they produce now is a completely different stick. It was just not close to what I used to. I wasn’t so thrilled about it, but times change and you have to move on.”

The same thing happened to Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza when his brand of choice, Sherwood-Drolet, decided to farm out the mass production of wooden sticks to such far-flung places as Estonia and China in order to concentrate on the production of composite models.

Same goes for 24-year-old Paul Stastny, the last of the Luddites. The Colorado Avalanche centre switched from a Sherwood wooden to a Sherwood one-piece at the start of this season.

“Last season I went through a lot of wood sticks – I think what happened was they were being made at different factories so they were never quite the same although they said they were,” said Stastny. “It was still the same company, but in my mind they were completely different sticks than the ones I was using before. The average person may not notice, but when you’ve used the same stick since bantam and you get something a little different you can tell right away. So that also played a factor in me switching over. That, and technology is always getting better so it’s a case of evolving with the times.”

Aucoin’s first game with a composite stick was on Dec. 19, 2009 against the Anaheim Ducks.

“I’d been using the new Reebok wooden ones and the shot wasn’t right and something wasn’t working so I grabbed a Shane Doan pattern, a Robert Lang pattern, a Peter Mueller pattern and one Warrior had made for me when I was in Chicago,” said Aucoin, a former Vancouver Canuck. “I used all four sticks in a game and I scored with the Shane Doan pattern and it just felt better so basically my stick is a Shane Doan pattern with my name on it.”[read the rest of the story]

Marc Staal smokes Matt Stajan

Check out this vicious, legal and violent hit by the New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal on Calgary Flames center Matt Stajan. There was no penalty on the call as it was a legal hit and that was the right .

Moving forward I am afraid that a college hockey official would call that legal check a penalty and give the offending player that made the hit a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. I am also afraid that hitting is becoming less prevalent in college hockey.

The Coming Down the Pipe nails it.

Thank You Guy Flaming for saying what I have been saying for years…

And while we're on the subject of the ECAC, I can accept that Yale is probably a good team this year but their record is bound to be so inflated that they could finish the season with just a couple of losses and a top 5 ranking without any problem at all. Yale plays all of 29 games this year plus an exhibition against the Russian junior team (which is oddly scheduled during the WJC). The Bulldogs only play 4 teams from outside the ECAC and full credit to them for beating Colorado College because I didn't think they would let alone 5-1. But then they lost to Air Force, which has a 4-6-1 record this year, and it hardly affected Yale in the poll. Their other two non-conference games are against Sacred Heart and Vermont.

In all seriousness - could you not give Boston College or Denver or Duluth or Miami... give those teams Yale's schedule and could you not legitimately expect them to run the table?

Yale might actually be a top 10 worthy team this year but you can't honestly tell until the NCAA tournament because they don't play any other top 10 teams until then.

I would add a number of other teams to Guy’s list that could run the tables against the schedule that Yale has played so far to date… If you’re not convinced with the argument, look at the impressive list of teams that Yale has played this season - Dartmouth (2-7-1/14.2116/tied for 3rd), Princeton (4-4-0/ 24.9490/2nd), Quinnipiac (7-4-1/20.6475/ tied for 3rd), Colorado College (5-6-1/33.3698/11th), Air Force (4-6-1/12.3751/6th), Cornell (2-6-0/ 25.4450/tied for 8th)and Colgate (2-7-1/ 14.2116/12th)… So if you still not convinced; break this down further Yale has a strength of schedule of 22.1094... That means they have been feasting on the weak sisters of the poor... One could make the argument that the Yale Bulldogs are the cream of the cupcakes.

Poll Monday (Sioux drop in both polls)

I think these weekly polls/beauty contests are a joke. Seriously! I know I have been accused of being a homer but the Sioux split with the 4th place team in the country and they drop a spot in the polls. It’s a joke. Yale who has played one of the weakest schedules and lost to one of the bottom teams in Division one hockey and they are ranked third in the nation. Yeah! Ok!
USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[November 22, 2010]
1 Minnesota-Duluth (49) 11-1-2 999 1
2 Boston University ( 1) 7-1-4 893 2
3 Yale 7-1-0 856 5
4 Nebraska-Omaha 9-2-1 824 4
5 Miami 8-3-3 808 6
6 New Hampshire 6-2-3 724 7
7 Boston College 8-4-0 648 10
8 Michigan 8-3-3 635 9
9 North Dakota 8-5-1 631 8
10 Maine 6-3-3 612 3
11 Notre Dame 9-3-1 568 11
12 Denver 8-4-2 442 13
13 Union 7-2-3 421 14
14 Alaska 7-5-2 312 12
15 Minnesota 7-4-1 259 19
16 Wisconsin 6-6-2 199 15
17 Rensselaer 5-3-3 191 18
18 Merrimack 4-2-4 154 NR
19 Western Michigan 6-3-3 147 16
20 Ferris State 6-5-3 48 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Quinnipiac 42, Michigan State 39, Robert Morris 12, Dartmouth 9, Colorado College 5, Princeton 5, St. Cloud State 5, Niagara 4, Clarkson 3, Northern Michigan 2, Providence 2, Brown 1
-------------------
USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Nov. 21, 2010]
1 University of Minnesota Duluth 509 (34) 1 11-1-2
2 Boston University 438 2 7-1-4
3 Yale University 421 5 7-1-0
4 University of Nebraska Omaha 389 4 9-2-1
5 Miami University 373 6 8-3-3
6 University of New Hampshire 299 8 6-2-3
7 Boston College 272 9 8-4-0
8 University of Michigan 265 10 8-3-3
9 University of Maine 263 3 6-3-3
10 University of North Dakota 252 7 8-5-1
11 University of Notre Dame 201 11 9-3-1
12 Union College 133 12 7-2-3
13 University of Denver 130 14 8-4-2
14 University of Alaska 55 13 7-5-2
15 University of Minnesota 37 NR 7-4-1
Others receiving votes: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 19, University of Wisconsin 15, Merrimack College 8, Quinnipiac University 1.

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.”