Good Luck Pohl

Here's a link to a follow-up on Tom Pohl. Sounds like things are good and he should make a full recovery.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/17002976.html

WTFO

And CC goes down in flames. How can the big ice and altitude have no impact on MSU? CC could not play their game, it was pretty bad. Bachman played as well as could be expected but their offense could not put up the points to help him. I'll give credit to MSUs defense. They blocked a lot of shots and passes last night. Not the most interesting game to watch, but it worked.

On to today's predictions. I've already provided my first round picks, so I won't repeat those.

Michigan vs. Clarkson
It has to be Michigan. They looked really solid yesterday. While Clarkson's goalie played well yesterday, I think Michingan's speed will eat them alive.

Notre Dame vs. Michigan State
I was surprised by NDs offense, but the way MSU played yesterday should slow them down. Lerg can handle the easy shots from the outside. The only way for ND to win this one is to crash the net and hope for rebounds. They have to make short passes and carry the puck into the zone with speed. You can beat the 3 back system by getting around the corner. I'm still going to have to go with MSU on this one, even though I don't want to see 2 CCHA teams in the Frozen Four.

So much for my brackets

I think I'm learning that I have no business predicting games. With 3 of the 8 games complete, I have just 1 right. I'm guessing I should have expected some upsets, but wow. I'm still a bit in awe that UNH went down so easily. The game was a lot closer than the score shows since there were a couple empty-netters at the end. The coach knew it was all or nothing, go big or go home. I'm hoping the WCHA fairs a bit better tonight and tomorrow. I really don't want to see them go down like SCSU, except maybe Minnesota. :D I think they are just one of those teams that people love to hate.

Another irritant....how is it that the east teams get the ESPNU coverage? It's really frustrating that if they aren't going to cover all the games, that they can't share it with someone else. What's the point of watching UND on tape delay at 3:30 on Sunday, when the regional final is at 7 that night? I just don't get it. I guess it's really hard to compete with all the college basketball at this time of year, but still. If you don't want to cover it, then give it up to FSN or some other broadcaster.

On another note....I still haven't gotten a chance to go through the hundreds of pictures from the WCHA Final Five, but hopefully that will happen Sunday.

Way to snatch a loss from the jaws of victory

Damnit St. Cloud. Way to take a page from the book of the Sioux. Learn to shoot the f'in puck. 3 shots on net in the 3rd with 5 minutes left. Are you kidding me? Quit looking for the pretty play and just shoot. They didn't play like they wanted it until those last few minutes. Too many lazy passes, too many missed opportunities to shoot. They just didn't deserve to win that game, but it just upsets me. They should be ashamed of the way they represented their school and the WCHA.

My bracket

Albany (East)
No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Niagara
This is a gimme. Michigan should have an easy time with Niagara.

No. 2 St. Cloud State vs. No. 3 Clarkson
I'm betting on SCSU. They've been in a bit of a slump lately, but should turn it around at tournament time. Solid goaltending and good scoring should overpower Clarkson.

Colorado Springs (West)
No. 1 New Hampshire vs. No. 4 Notre Dame
UNH hands down. ND hasn't played well lately and haven't been consistent enough to hang with UNH.

No. 2 Colorado College vs. No. 3 Michigan State
CC is the winner here. With hot goaltending and solid scoring going up against a midget goaltender and a mediocre team of late, CC should win easily.

Madison (Midwest)
No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 4 Princeton
The Fighting Sioux win in big fashion. Does Princeton even have a hockey team? How'd they do this year?

No. 2 Denver vs. No. 3 Wisconsin
This should be a good game....too bad it's on tape delay so east teams can be on. DU will win out over the home team as WI barely made the tourney.

Worcester (Northeast)
No. 1 Miami vs. No. 4 Air Force
Miami will win this one. Even though they've had the cupcake schedule, they're still better than AF.

No. 2 Boston College vs. No. 3 Minnesota
BC should manhandle Minnesota. UM has been hit or miss every game of the year. Goaltending is shaky and gives up too many rebounds to a good offense.

Holy Upsets Batman

Well....I'm not sure anyone predicted the games to go like this. SCSU losing to the Gophers. UND losing to DU. And then CC losing to the Gophers in OT. What's up with this?

I'm not going to make any predictions for the last 2 games since I couldn't get any of the other games right. Although I am going to hope that UND can get back on their game against CC this afternoon in the consolation game. And I really don't want to see the Goofers win the title. I'd rather see them trounced by Denver.

That's it for now...have to start getting primed for the games.

Final Five Predictions...at least the first 2 games

Ok, here we go, it's just about that time.

For the first "play-in" game it's SCSU vs. U of M.

With the Gophers coming from behind in dramatic style, the injury to Tom Pohl, and them still trying to prove that they should be in the national tourney, the Gophers are going to come out hard. They've definitely got some potent offense, but are rarely scoring a lot of goals. I also think Kangas is mediocre in net. He seems to make a lot of initial saves but gives up some juicy rebounds. With both Saturday and Sunday games going almost 2 extra periods each, they are going to be tired.

SCSU is coming in off a sweep over the weekend, but they played for their life against the Sioux in the last weekend of regular season. They too have a potent offense and also having been scoring in big numbers. Again, they also have some great netminders. Weslosky has been solid lately with a good defense in front of him. With the longer rest, the Huskies should come in hungry.

This is a tough one. I'd have to go with SCSU. They're playing better hockey lately and I think their offense is going to be just too much for the Gophers. That is unless the referees decide to let all the clutching/grabbing/obstruction go.

Next game will be Friday afternoon with UND vs. DU.

Denver has been mediocre in the second half of the season, but usually firm up for the playoffs. They swept their first round of playoffs, so they may have a bit of momentum coming in. Goaltending has been good enough to keep them in the close games. Even though nobody is in the top 50 of the nation in scoring, they have a pretty balanced attack. The only concern is that their top 4 scorers are underclassmen, so how they handle the playoff pressure should be interesting.

The Fighting Sioux have been nothing short of amazing in the second half of the season. Their offense has been potent and goaltending has been great. One concern lately has been the play of their defense. With the defensemen constantly jumping up into the play, they have been allowing odd-man rushes the other way. As long as JPL can handle that, they should be okay. Big Joe Finley has been anything but stellar lately. He's been lazy on the backcheck and making bad decisions with the puck. If coach Hakstol can get him straightened out, that should help out a bit.

I'm going to have to go with my Fighting Sioux in this one. Even though both have great goaltenders, I think the Sioux having been crashing the net and following shots really well lately. I don't think Denver has what it takes to stop this train right now.

Weekend Wrapup

Thank the stars....UND made it to Final Five. So the weekend will be that much more enjoyable. So the field is set with CC coming in as the top seed, UND at #2, DU at #3, SCSU at #4 and UM at #5.

Thursday nights game should be an interesting one. Another big in-state rivalry. I don't do quite as much research as some out there, so I can't tell you how the games this season ended up between the two. Either way it'll be interesting since the Gophers are still fighting to go into the national tournament.

On a sad note from last night, the gophers Pohl experienced a hit that caused serious injury. His helmet came off and his head hit against the dasher and boards on the way to the ice. Last I heard he was in the ICU of St. Marys hospital (Mayo Clinic) in Rochester. Even though I'm no gophers fan, you never want to see that happen to any player. Our thoughts go out to him, his family, the team and the doctors/nurses.

Wake-up Time

I'm still debating whether last night's loss was a good thing or not. I really don't like the stress of having to play another game to make the Final Five. But on the other hand, the Sioux have been riding a long undefeated streak and may have gotten flat. There's no question that MTU played a better game last night. They deserved to win that game, bad reffing or not. Thul had a bad game last night and that'll happen, at least it's not as consistently bad as most of the refs in this league. He was constantly in the path of the puck, that may be why he couldn't see the blatant calls in front of him. He was too busy skating away from people.

So which team will show up tonight? Will it be the team with new motivation ready to make a run at the title? Or will it be the team sullen with defeat and ready to pack it in for the season?

Final Five is coming!!!!

This has been a bit of a tradition for me, considering I think this is the 12th year, and one of the few times I actually take a vacation. I have even had the joy of attending when my favorite team, the Fighting Sioux, didn't make it. This is one of the premier college hockey tourneys and has always been a good time. The facilities have been great, the best hockey teams are there, etc. The only downside is some of the fans. Now I know every team has "those fans" that they don't like to claim, but for some reason during this tourney all the Goofer fans seem to be them. I can't even count how many times I hear "Sioux Suck" and I've pretty much learned to ignore it, although one year I did have my response ready. "Sioux suck"..."So does your mom, but I don't advertise it." That one basically dumbfounded the guys and I think may have upset them a bit. The best though was the expression on the usher's face. His jaw just dropped in awe as to say "I can't believe you just said that", then after what seemed an eternity it changed to just a huge grin. I have had the good experience with some of the guys, who are Goofer fans, of sitting behind us during the last few tourneys. We've enjoyed taking jabs at each others teams all in fun. They even join in on harassing a friend of mine who insists on wearing his "Ohio hockey" gear. Now this isn't Ohio State, this is Ohio University. I think they have a club team or something.

Anyways....I'll wrap this up with a few requests.
1. Attend your conference tournaments, even if your team doesn't make it.
2. Support your team without having to insult the others.
3. Enjoy the company of the other fans.