Goon's World

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The types of hits that need to be eliminated from hockey

Tom Serratore of Minnesota hit UND defenseman Andrew MacWilliam up high in the head area with with the shoulder, this is the types of hits that the NHL is cracking down on, this is also a play needs to be more than a 2 minute minor penalty.This is hit is a text book example of what should be a five minute major and a game misconduct.

With Jenna Privette of Burnsville and Jack Jablonski of Benilde-St. Margaret’s both being paralized with dangerous hits this has got to stop, the players need to show some respect for their fellow competitors.This is a dangerous hit and here is the still shot of the hit as well.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Wally Shaver's call of the Blood dust up.

I don't think anyone can call Tim Hennessy a homer again, listen to this, no attempt to be even remotely objective. [Wally Shaver] Hilarious, none the less.

Classic comment by Wally Shaver, "what a bunch cheap hose heads, just a bunch of hose heads, I am done with these guys, go form your own league." Just for the record Ben Blood is from Plymouth, Minnesota, so he wouldn't be a hose head.

Here is what hose head nation had to say on the incident.

Poll Monday - UND 17th in USCHO Poll

Blood loses the "A" - Ben Blood disciplined for post-game altercation

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota Head Coach Dave Hakstol announced today that he has revoked senior defenseman Ben Blood’s assistant captaincy due to an altercation that occurred during the post-game handshake following Saturday night’s game against Minnesota.

“Regardless of any provocation, Ben’s actions in the post-game handshake were not acceptable,” said Hakstol. “The handshake line is a traditional, gentlemanly part of our game where, at the end of a hard-fought battle, opponents show good sportsmanship and shake hands like men.”

Hakstol added that Blood will be subject to further internal team disciplinary actions.

“I’m not proud of my behavior,” said Blood. “That’s not how I want to represent our program, and that’s not how we handle ourselves here. I understand and respect the punishment, and I’ll move forward and not let my emotions get the best of me in the future.”

UND (12-8-2, 8-8-0 WCHA) travels to St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday.

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More Bad News for UND

This is not good news for the UND Hockey Team. The Injury Ninja has visited UND once again. It you watch the video of Mark Alt's hit on Michael Parks you will see that the hit rocked the UND forward Parks.

INCH Power Rankings

1. Minnesota Duluth
2. Minnesota
3. Merrimack
4. Boston College
5. Notre Dame
6. Union
7. Ohio State
8. Boston University
9. Cornell
10. Colorado College
11. Western Michigan
12. Denver
13. Michigan
14. UMass Lowell
15. Nebraska-Omaha
16. North Dakota 1 Despite losing three of four to Minnesota in the regular season, the North Dakotans beat the Gophers Friday to keep their rivals to the east from earning a four-game season series sweep for the first time since 1991-92. 12-9-2 (8-8-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota, 2-1; L vs. Minnesota, 6-2. THIS WEEK: at St. Cloud State, at St. Cloud State
17. Ferris State
18. Colgate
19. Miami
20. Quinnipiac

Dropped out: Northeastern
Bubble-licious: Lake Superior State, Maine

The weekly Inside College Hockey Power Rankings are out and UND is ranked 16th week.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

One last dance with an old friend.

There has been a lot of discussion about this weekend's series between the Gophers and the Fighting Sioux/UND Hockey team. This was the last regular season series at the REA between UND and UMN. It's only fitting that the series would end in split and a near line brawl between the two teams.

The arena was really electric this weekend and it was very loud at the Ralph on Friday night, especially during the third period.

After Friday's game the Ralph Englestad Arena lobby was still buzzing at about 10:30 pm and as I left the arena after the post game press conference, I thought this is what we are going to miss. One of the best rivalries in college hockey.

I can't see OSU vs. UMN or PSU vs. UMN matching this series in intensity, there is no way. Sure Michigan and Minnesota will be a good rivalry game and I am sure that Miami and UND will have some epic battles, but this is where it's at.

So in a season and a half we are going to no longer be able to see this historic series at the Ralph Englestad Arena again. FireHelmetGuy#26 post on Gopher Puck Live nails it.

As for Ben Blood going nuts this weekend, I would be willing to bet that he probably regrets that move today as he looks back on that incident. Not the smartest move on Blood's part and it didn't portray him in a very positive light. We are all human beings and we all make mistakes. The near brawl at the end of the game also put a damper on an other wise great series. Here is the quote from head coach Dave Hakstol from Brad's gamer.

The last time UND and Minnesota skated off the Ralph Engelstad Arena ice as Western Collegiate Hockey Association rivals, they were unable to make it through the handshake line without a scuffle breaking out.

UND coach Dave Hakstol said he didn’t like that, nor did he like his team’s energy during a 6-2 loss to the rival Gophers in front of 11,964 in Ralph Engelstad Arena. [Grand Forks Herald]

That being said, I am not going to throw Ben Blood under the bus, what good would it do? Blood screwed up and broke a rule and violated tradition. Blood pulled someone out of the hand shake line after the game was over.

I got the impression that some wanted me to eviscerate Blood on my blog because he made a bad decision, he did. I don't think we are going to see Ben Blood do that again, and I am sure most of us would not like to see that again. Finally, there is an old saying, Let Him Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone.

s/t to Puck Daddy for the Link today as Blood's post game reaction when viral around the hockey world.

Mark Alt's CFB on Michael Parks

We have discussed the Kristo hit on Marshall the night before; these are the types of hits that the NHL, NCAA, Jr's and High School hockey want to eliminate from the game of hockey. I don't know why the on ice officials discussed this hit for so long before they decided to toss the Gophers defenseman Mark Alt from the game.

The NCAA needs to go back to the five and a game misconduct for checking from behind plays. According to this article by David La Vaque of the Star Tribune the MSHSL rules just got tougher on hits from behind. It's a very good idea that I applaud.

The Minnesota State High School League will impose tougher penalties for three of hockey's most dangerous infractions after an illegal hit to a Twin Cities high school player.

Beginning with games Monday, players called for a check from behind, boarding or head contact will get at least a five-minute major penalty. The "major" designation puts the player's team at greater risk of being scored on because it must play shorthanded for the duration.

The measure is aimed at making players aware of serious injuries their bigger, faster and stronger bodies can cause or sustain through reckless physical play.

Its approval by the National Federation of State High School Associations comes barely two weeks after Benilde-St. Margaret's sophomore Jack Jablonski was paralyzed from crashing headfirst into the boards after a check from behind. [MN Hockey HUB]

Shot Charts UMN vs. UND game two.

First off s/t to @StatsOnCrack for the shot charts. This is what a 6-2 game looks like on paper, it wasn’t pretty at all. I actually think it could have been worse if Aaron Dell and Brad Eidsness had not played as good as they did… The Gopher forwards were behind the UND defenseman all night long, these games happen and it can be used as a teachable moment going forward.

Last night, North Dakota junior forward Corbin Knight said. “There were some holes in our game right now that were exposed tonight, so we need to work on that and improve on that and just go in with a positive attitude.“

Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 1/15/2012

This is my weekly WCHA Power Rankings for INSIDE HOCKEY, Zack Friedli from Hockey State of Mind and I do a weekly WCHA Power Rankings.

1. Minnesota Duluth – (11-3-2 WCHA, 15-4-3) The Bulldogs split with the UNO Mavericks (6-2 W, 3-1 L) in Omaha, Nebraska. The Bulldogs return home to play the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers.

2. Minnesota – (12-4-0 WCHA, 16-8-1) Minnesota split with North Dakota (1-2 L, W 6-2 W). This weekend the Gophers entertain the Colorado College Tigers at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota is 7-7-1 in their last 15 games.

3. Denver – (8-5-3 WCHA, 13-8-3). This past weekend the Pioneers swept the Bemidji State Beavers (6-3 W, 3-2 W) in Denver Colorado. This weekend the Pioneers are off.

4. Colorado College – (13-8-1 WCHA, 10-6-0) The Tigers split their weekend series with the Saint Cloud State Huskies (3-1 W, 3-4 O.T. L). This weekend the Tigers travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota to play the Gophers.

5. Nebraska-Omaha – (8-5-3 WCHA, 11-9-4) The Mavericks split with top ranked Minnesota Duluth this past weekend in Omaha, Nebraska (2-6 L, 3-1 W). The Mavericks will travel to play the Purple Mavericks of Minnesota State University Minnesota.

6. North Dakota – (8-8-0, 12-9-2) The University of North Dakota split with Minnesota this past weekend (2-1 W, 6-2 L). This weekend, North Dakota travels to Saint Cloud to play their rival the SCSU Huskies. The University of North Dakota has been hit by the Injury Ninja and the following players are “currently out” of the line up for UND, Rocco Grimaldi (knee), Derek Forbort (unknown), Brendan O'Donnell(shoulder)and Derek Rodwell (shoulder, season ending).

7. Michigan Tech – (8-7-1 WCHA, 11-11-1) The Michigan Tech Huskies swept the hapless University of Anchorage Alaska Seawolves (6-2, 6-4) in Houghton, Michigan. This weekend the Michigan Tec Huskies entertain their cross state rivals from Northern Michigan.

8. St. Cloud State – (6-7-3 WCHA, 9-11-4) The Huskies split their weekend series with the Colorado College Tigers (1-3 L, 4-3 O.T. W). The Huskies entertain the North Dakota this weekend at the National Hockey Center.

9. Wisconsin – (5-9-2 WCHA, 10-10-2) The Wisconsin Badgers have an impressive 9-4-1 record at home and after splitting with Minnesota State Mankato on the road this past weekend, the Badgers now have an unimpressive 1-6-1 record away from the Kohl Center. With the weekend split in Mankato, the Badgers have never swept the Minnesota State Mavericks in Mankato. This weekend the Badgers entertain the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.

10. Bemidji State – (5-9-2 WCHA, 11-11-2) The Beavers were swept by Denver University in Denver (3-6 L, 2-3 L). The Beavers are off this weekend.

11. Alaska-Anchorage – (3-12-1 WCHA, 6-12-2) The Seawolves were swept by the Michigan Tech Huskies (2-6 L, 4-6 L) in Houghton Michigan this past weekend. This weekend the Seawolves travel to Madison, Wisconsin to play the Badgers.

12. Minnesota State – (3-12-1 WCHA, 7-16-1) The Minnesota State Mavericks split their series with the Wisconsin Badgers (0-4 L, 3-0 W). With the win the Mavericks broke a 10 game winless streak in WCHA play, dating back to November 11^th, 2011. Extending a streak; after this weekend’s split against the Badgers, the Mavericks have never been swept by Wisconsin Badgers in Mankato, Minnesota. This weekend the Mavericks entertain the Red Mavericks from Nebraska Omaha at the Verizon Wireless Center.

UMN runs past UND 6-2

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota have had some epic battles over the years, and the opening game of this series was no different as UND gutted out a 2-1 win.

The second game of the series would turn out to be a one that the UND Hockey team will want to wipe from their memory bank as soon as possible.

Saturday night’s game was the last time that UND and UMN will play a regular season WCHA game in Ralph Englestad Arena, due to the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and the Big Ten Hockey Conference, both teams will leave the WCHA and go their separate ways. It’s unknown at this time when Minnesota will make a return trip to the Ralph Englestad Arena. It could be some time before the two teams play in the Ralph again.

Due to the fact that this was the last regular season WCHA match-up at the Ralph Englestad Arena, “ever” between North Dakota and Minnesota, tonight’s game should’ve had all of the makings of an instant classic, the game would turn out to be a stinker for the team from North Dakota.

Coming into tonight’s game UND and UMN were teams going in different directions, counting last night’s win against Minnesota UND had gone 10-3-1 in the last 14 games since they were swept by the Gophers at Mariucci Arena back on November 5^th, 2011. Even with the loss in tonight’s game UND has still put together a pretty nice run of 10-4-1 in the last fifteen games.

Not all is lost for the team from Grand Forks.

The Minnesota Gophers had lost three games in a row coming into tonight's game and had gone 6-7-1 in the last 14 games since sweeping North Dakota in Mariucci Arena. Minnesota would break that three game losing streak tonight with an impressive 6-2 win. What was more impressive with Minnesota’s win tonight was that they only scored one goal on the power play four even strength goals and one short handed marker).

The Gophers would come out during the first period with a lot of jump in their step, the Gophers were connecting on their passes and flying through the neutral zone with speed uncontested as the UND defenders didn’t have an answer for the Gophers speed and at times appeared to be standing around flat footed, watching the Gophers make plays.

The Gophers would easily race to a very comfortable 4-0 lead before the game was even 23 minutes old.

The Gopher’s top line of Kyle Rau, Nick Bjugstad and Zach Budish would lead the charge for the Golden Gophers out of the gate. Rau and Bjugstad would add two more points to their already impressive season stats totals before the first period was over. While Zach Budish was the only one on the top line to not get any points during tonight’s game, Nick Bjugstad said that, “ Zach Budish played good and I don’t know if he got any points but he still played very well.“ The moral of the story is, if you don't pay attention to the Rau, Bjugstad, Budish line you could be in for a long night.

After getting beat to the puck and losing a lot of physical battles the night before the Gophers appeared to be a different team on Saturday night. Gopher forward Nick Bjugstad said, “that we played physical, we were blocking shots and doing all the things that we needed to do.”

If there is one positive to take out of tonight’s game, it’s UND’s penalty kill. During the regular season series between UMN and UND; UND killed 19/21 of Minnesota’s power play opportunities. That’s not a small feat considering who the Gophers have in their lineup.

The UND bench called a timeout at the 18:51 mark of the second period to settle the young UND team down, and it appeared to work for a while as UND got two quick goals by Michael Parks and Danny Kristo.
However, shortly thereafter, Minnesota returned to dismantling UND, as the Gophers added four unanswered goals to the score sheet. Six Minnesota Gophers players would finish the night with at least two points.

All around, it was not a good night for North Dakota as they were beat to the loose pucks all night long a
nd just seemed to be a step off. UND had no answer to the Gophers transition game.

After the game, UND head coach Dave Hakstol was asked what his team did differently today.

“I thought we were a step slow. I noticed that the way our team was playing, it was pretty evident early on,” Hakstol said. “We weren’t sharp with pucks in terms of completing passes and pushing pucks up ice, and the simple things, as far as even dumping pucks to good areas that we could forecheck.

“We just weren’t sharp.”

UND travels to St Cloud State next weekend to play the Huskies in a two-game WCHA series.

Box Score

Cross Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

UND vs. UMN game two

UND Forward Lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 27 Carter Rowney – 14 Taylor Dickin
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–15 Michael Parks

UND Defense Paring

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
20 Joe Gleason–22 Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Scratches: Derek Rodwell (shoulder), Roco Grimaldi (Knee) 4 Derek Forbort (undisclosed).

UND Players Stats

UMN Forward Lines

7 Kyle Rau–27 Nick Bjugstad–24 Zach Budish
15 Joe Miller–19 Erik Haula–21 Jake Hansen
16 Nate Condon–9 Taylor Matson–17 Seth Ambroz

14 Tom Serratore–22 Travis Boyd–18 Nick Larson

UMN Defense Parings

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt

UMN Goalies

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

UMN Stats

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

Shot charts from UMN vs. UND game one

First off s/t to @StatsOnCrack, he is the guy that sits in the press box recording shots and he does one hell of a job… Perusing the stats here is what we have on Saturday morning following UND’s grind it out win against the Gophers… UND has killed 17/18 Minnesota power play opportunities in three games.

With Kristo’s major penalty last night UND moved from the 11th in penalty minutes to 10th over all.

One thing that gets lost in the shuffle is how well UND goaltender Aaron Dell has played, he has been stellar in net and has made some game saving saves at the right time. Overall Dell has a 9-7-2 records, a 2.67 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. In WCHA play, Dell is ranked third with a 2.43 goals against average and is ranked 5th with a .911 save percentage.

UMN was 0-4 on the power play. UND was 0-3 on the power play and killed off a 5 minute major penalty to Danny Kristo.

UND went 32-26 in the face off circle last night. Here is how the UND players did in the face off circle.
Corbin Knight 12 – 11
Mark MacMillan 5 – 3
Mario Lamoureux 4 – 2
Stephane Pattyn 4 – 2
Carter Rowney 4 – 7
Brock Nelson 1 – 0
Taylor Dickin 1 – 0
Brendan O’Donnell 1 – 1

North Dakota edges Minnesota 2-1

Grand Forks, ND – North Dakota and Minnesota have played in some epic battles over the years. One could compare UND vs. UMN Hockey to the famous Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud, every game is highly contested and usually has a lot of drama. Tonight was no different, as the UND hockey team beat the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 2-1.

Historically, when the two team’s face off the score sheets tend to fill up with penalty minutes, this game would prove to be highly contested, but not quite as many penalty minutes were called tonight. The games between Minnesota and North Dakota tend to be close games and even series and over 45 seasons of hockey between UND vs. UMN, there have only been five season series sweeps.

Adding to the epic battles over the years, this weekend’s series is also historic; because it will be the last time that UND and UMN will play in a WCHA regular season series in the Ralph Englestad Arena.

After the 2012-13 season, North Dakota will leave the WCHA for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Minnesota will leave the WCHA for the Big Ten Hockey Conference. Starting during the 2013-14 season WCHA will look very different than it does today. With the reshuffling of the hockey conferences its unknown how much the two teams will play each other in the future after next season. The UND and UMN hockey series is one of the best college hockey series.

At the 18:59 mark of the first period the Gophers would get a five minute power play, UND junior forward Danny Kristo hit Gopher defenseman Ben Marshall from behind into the boards with an elbow to the back of the head and Marshall would crumple to the ice.

Coach Hakstol was asked about how his team responded to the Kristo penalty, "we responded as we have to any bit of adversity that we have run into in the last couple of months, you suck it up and find a way to do the job.” “Mike Parks went up with Knight and Nelson and did a solid job and Taylor Dickin stepped into the fourth line role and did a solid job with his line mates and that’s what guys are expected to do.”

UND would kill off the Kristo major penalty as Minnesota was unable to generate any good scoring opportunities on the power play. North Dakota was able to generate a scoring opportunity shorthanded, but Brock Nelson was stopped by Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson.

Minnesota and North Dakota would trade goals in the second period as Minnesota’s Kyle Rau scored on a nice pass from his line mate Zach Budish.

UND answer the Minnesota goal with nine seconds remaining in the second period. UND defenseman Andrew MacWillam would score the first goal of his UND Hockey career, in his 102nd game, with a howitzer from the point Mario Lamoureux drew the assist on MacWilliams goal.

After the game UND captain Mario Lamoureux was asked about Andrew MacWilliam’s goal, “I always knew Mac would come up with a big time [goal]. I was just glad that I was the one that passed it to him and he buried it, and I was pretty ecstatic when it went in, and it couldn’t have came to a better guy, he is a heart and soul guy and he plays on the edge every single night and brings it every 100 percent effort, pretty proud to see him get it especially in game like this.”

Brock Nelson would get the game winning goal at the 16:25 mark of the third period. After the game Brock Nelson was asked about the game winning goal and had this to say, "[Michael] Parks started it off with a one on one battle in the corner, the puck kind of bounced out, I just wanted to get a puck on net, I had a couple of chances earlier in the game that didn’t go in, so I was just trying to create a chance, saw a couple guys out front and luckily it went in."

North Dakota head hockey coach Dave Hakstol had this to say after the game about the win against the rival, “it was a high energy, hard fought hockey game, obviously when you come out on the good side of those, it was a great win for our team, it was an entertaining high paced game”

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia had this to say about the game, “like all three of the games it was hard fought, they made a play tonight late in the game to win it.” “There wasn’t much space on the rink tonight, both teams battled hard and goaltenders played well and made some timely saves and there wasn’t a lot of offensive chances tonight and it became a cautious game.”

When asked about his team’s trouble scoring against UND on the power play. Lucia said, “They’re a good team, their goaltender played well and we didn’t have a lot of rhythm on the power play. “

Both teams play again tomorrow night at 07:07 pm as UND will look to get the series sweep and attempt to tie the season series 2-2.

Box Score

Cross Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Danny Kristo hit on Ben Marshall

UND forward Danny Kristo hit Minnesota defenseman Ben Marshall at the 18:49 mark of the first period with this hit. Kristo was given a five minute major and a game misconduct. UND would go on to kill the Gopher Power play.

UND vs. UMN game one

UND Forward Lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 27 Carter Rowney – 14 Taylor Dickin
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–15 Michael Parks

UND Defense Paring

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
20 Joe Gleason–22 Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Scratches: Derek Rodwell (shoulder), Roco Grimaldi (Knee) 4 Derek Forbort (undisclosed).

UND Players Stats

UMN Forward Lines

16 Nate Condon–9 Taylor Matson–17 Seth Ambroz
14 Tom Serratore–22 Travis Boyd–18 Nick Larson
11 Sam Warning–19 Erik Haula–21 Jake Hansen
7 Kyle Rau–27 Nick Bjugstad–24 Zach Budish

UMN Defense Parings

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt

UMN Goalies

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

UMN Stats

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

UPDATE: Reffing tonight's game between UMN and UND...

UPDATE: reffing this weekends series: Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

Goon's Weekly Picks 1/13 - 1/14

Fri 01/13/12

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech 7:07 p.m. ET
Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha 6:37 p.m. CT (TV-NBCSN)
Minnesota at North Dakota 7:37 p.m. CT (TV-FSSN,FCSc,FSn)
Wisconsin at Minnesota State 7:37 p.m. CT
Bemidji State at Denver 7:37 p.m. MT (TV-Root)
St. Cloud State at Colorado College 7:37 p.m. MT

Sat 01/14/12

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech 7:07 p.m. ET
Minnesota at North Dakota 7:07 p.m. CT (TV-FSSN,FCSc,FSn)
Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha 7:07 p.m. CT (TV-NET-1/NET-HD)
Wisconsin at Minnesota State 7:07 p.m. CT
Bemidji State at Denver 7:07 p.m. MT
St. Cloud State at Colorado College 7:07 p.m. MT

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech – Split
Minnesota at North Dakota – Gophers Sweep
Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha – Split
Wisconsin at Minnesota State – Badgers Sweep
Bemidji State at Denver – Split
St. Cloud State at Colorado College – Split

Last Week 8-4 Record for the season 86-56

Sioux 7 has been really busy but here's his picks...

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech – Split
Minnesota at North Dakota – Split
Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha – Split
Wisconsin at Minnesota State – Split
Bemidji State at Denver – DU 3-pts
St. Cloud State at Colorado College – SCSU 3-pts

UND vs. UMN series notes

Cross Posted @ INSIDE HOCKEY...

The University of North Dakota entertains the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena.

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: TV: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FOX College Sports Central,
FOX Sports North, DirecTV 617 and 668.

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: UNDSports.com

Records and Rankings: UND (11-8-2 overall, 7-7-0 WCHA) UND is ranked 17^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota Beat Clarkson (3-1) in the College Hockey Classic.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-7-1, 10-4-0 WCHA); ranked 5^th in the latest USCHO poll. Minnesota lost to Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame Game (4-3) last weekend.

Series History: UND is 15-11-3 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers since head coach Dave Hastol took over the coaching reigns at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. The Gophers swept UND (2-0 and 3-2) earlier back in November. The Minnesota Gophers lead the all-time series against UND by a 135-128-14 record.

Players to Watch:

For UND: Forwards: Danny Kristo (11-13a—24pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21pts) and Brock Nelson (15g-9a—24pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (5g-8a—13pts), Dillion Simpson, (0g-11a—11pts), Ben Blood (2g-8a—10pts). Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .894 save percentage and a 2.77 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .918 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average.

UND Injuries: Forward Rocco Grimaldi is out, forward Corban Knight and defenseman Derek Forbort are questionable for this weekend, forward Derek Rodwell is out for the season (shoulder surgery).

For the Gophers: Forwards: Kyle Rau (12g-10a—22pts), Nick Bjugstad 17g-11a—28pts), Erik Haula (10g-17a—28pts), Zach Budish (6g-14a—20pts). Defense: Nate Schmidt (1g-23a—24pts), Mark Alt (4g-10a—14pts). Goalie: Kent Patterson .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average.

Key Numbers:

1 – UND goalie Aaron Dell has one shutout so far this season.

1 – UMN forward Kyle Rau is tied for first nationally in game winning goal with 5.

1 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked first in the nation for shutouts with 6.

1 – UMN is ranked first in scoring nationally.

3 – UMN is ranked third in the WCHA for penalty minutes.

4 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked fourth in the nation in goals per game .81.

6 – UMN is ranked sixth nationally in defense.

7 – UMN is ranked seventh on the power play

8 – UND forward Brock Nelson is ranked eight in the nation for goals per game .71.

9 – UND forward Danny Kristo is ranked ninth in the nation for game winning goals with three.

9 – UND forward Brock Nelson has nine power play goals for UND to lead the nation.

10 – UMN has 10 conference wins so far this season.

11 – UND is ranked 11^th in penalty minutes in the WCHA.

11 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked 11^th nationally for points per game.

12 – UND is ranked 12^th on the power play nationally.

13 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 13^th in the nation for assists per game with 0.83.

13 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked 13 nationally in goals against average.

18 – UND is ranked 18^th in the Pairwise Rankings.

21 – UND is ranked 21^st in scoring nationally.

23 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 23^rd nationally for points per game.

25 – UND forwards Danny Kristo and Brock Nelson are ranked nationally for points per game.

29 – UND is ranked 29^th nationally in defense.

Other games in the WCHA: Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech, Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha, Wisconsin at Minnesota State, Bemidji State at Denver, Saint Cloud State at Colorado College

Time for the NHL to throw the book at P.K. Subban for his dirty elbow

First I want to preface this blog post with P.K. Subban is a great defensive talent, but he is a bit of a punk and this video just proves that point quite nicely. Subban is famous for skating around the ice and running his mouth and doing things like this and when he is challenged he turtles in a fashion that would make Claude the Fraud Lemieux blush.

From my vantage point, it appears that Subban leaves his feet to hit David Krecji in the head with a forearm shiver. That is a violation of rule 48 because the head is the principle point of contact.

This is a big test for Brendan Shanahan the NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety, he needs to suspend P.K. Subban for this bush league hit, these are the types of hits that the NHL is trying to eliminate from the game of hockey

That fact that Subban plays for the Montreal Canadians means more than likely Subban will get off with nothing in the way of a suspension. Subban needs to sit 2-5 games minimum.

Goon's World Extras

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

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