Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The 07-08 NCAA Bracket...
This will be interesting to fill out.
For instance, SCSU is playing Clarkson. The two teams split in a non-con series during the regular season. Clarkson has only won a single NCAA game in the past 17 years, but do I go ahead and pick St. Cloud to chalk up their 7th first round loss anyway?
Wisconsin snuck into the field with a losing record, but will be playing on home ice in the Madison regional, with a majority friendly crowd and a clean slate. Could they make an improbable run? Two wins puts you in the Frozen Four.
The Colorado Springs regional looks rough, with UNH, CC, MSU, and Notre Dame. Between Regan, Bachman, Lerg, and Pearce, any of those goaltenders could catch fire. CC has home ice, but faces tough opponents.
Air Force, Princeton, and Niagara are in the mix, thanks to autobids. They will face Miami, North Dakota, and Michigan, respectively. Could any of them pull off the upset?
Minnesota may not score a lot, but Kangas has really saved their bacon in the second half. Can he keep up his strong play in net long enough for the Gophers to grind out some close wins?
These questions, and many more, to be answered soon.
For instance, SCSU is playing Clarkson. The two teams split in a non-con series during the regular season. Clarkson has only won a single NCAA game in the past 17 years, but do I go ahead and pick St. Cloud to chalk up their 7th first round loss anyway?
Wisconsin snuck into the field with a losing record, but will be playing on home ice in the Madison regional, with a majority friendly crowd and a clean slate. Could they make an improbable run? Two wins puts you in the Frozen Four.
The Colorado Springs regional looks rough, with UNH, CC, MSU, and Notre Dame. Between Regan, Bachman, Lerg, and Pearce, any of those goaltenders could catch fire. CC has home ice, but faces tough opponents.
Air Force, Princeton, and Niagara are in the mix, thanks to autobids. They will face Miami, North Dakota, and Michigan, respectively. Could any of them pull off the upset?
Minnesota may not score a lot, but Kangas has really saved their bacon in the second half. Can he keep up his strong play in net long enough for the Gophers to grind out some close wins?
These questions, and many more, to be answered soon.
Friday, March 21, 2008
A Look Back
Way back in September, I took a stab at predicting the WCHA final standings for the 07-08 season. My predictions were:
1. North Dakota
2. Minnesota
3. St. Cloud State
4. Michigan Tech
5. Wisconsin
6. Colorado College
7. Denver
8. Minnesota State
9. Alaska-Anchorage
10. Minnesota-Duluth
Here's how things actually turned out...
1. CC (+5)
2. UND (-1)
3. DU (+4)
4. MSU-M (+4)
5. SCSU (-2)
6. Wisconsin (-1)
7. Minnesota (-5)
8. Minnesota-Duluth (+2)
9. Michigan Tech (-5)
10. Alaska-Anchorage (-1)
So, it appears I underestimated a few teams and drank a little too much Kool-Aid when placing a couple others. While I don't think anyone saw Richard Bachman having the freshman season that he did (undoubtedly the biggest reason why CC won the MacNaughton Cup), here's what I had to say about the Tigers roughly six months ago, when summarizing my pre-season observations:
6. Colorado College
I considered placing CC higher, until it was announced that Jimmy Kilpatrick will be out until Thanksgiving to recover from surgery. Since they will be missing the guy who appears to be their top playmaker for the majority of the first-half, they will be more vulnerable. With a large question mark in goal, CC will need to rely on their defense heavily, and hope someone can fill Kilpatrick's skates while he is out. A first-half schedule that includes Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota in their first six games, plus St. Cloud State in December could make for a rough start.
So, I was obviously wrong about Kilpatrick, since Rau was able to really step in and fill that role. The question mark in net turned out to be a brick wall, although I was correct about that tough first-half schedule (even if Minnesota wasn't all that great this year). In fact, discussing CC in greater detail in an earlier post, this is also what I mentioned:
If the Tigers can hammer out their goaltending issues early on, they could be pretty good this year. Assuming they get past a seemingly-suicidal opening stretch againstMinnesota New Hampshire North Dakota
Their record in those first six games? 3-3
A few other anomalies in my predictions this season:
2. Minnesota
Lots of people say they are too young on defense, but let's be honest - they are the Gophers. They have strong recruits and will adapt quickly, I'm sure. Their offensive depth is top-notch and I'm sure Frazee will be fine, in spite of the occasional meltdown.
You have no idea how amusing I find those two calls right now. Turns out, freshman netminder Alex Kangas had to get to work saving the Gophers from complete embarrassment for most of the regular season.
4. Michigan Tech
On paper, Tech returns almost all of the defense that propelled them to last year's results, plus both of their goalies. With a decent recruiting class, the question is - who will step into the leadership roles left behind by Helminen, Batovanja, and Skworchinski? The Huskies' schedule is pretty well-balanced, so they could get burned if they don't find their legs quickly.
OK, so call me a homer. I really think this team suffered with the loss of senior defensemen Jake Wilkens to injury right at the beginning of the year, coupled with the graduations of big leaders like Helminen and Batty the previous season. Combine that with captain Jimmy Kerr leading the team in penalty minutes, and apparently I was right to suspect leadership might be a problem for the 07-08 Huskies.
8. Minnesota State-Mankato
Now that their top goaltender has recovered from an injury, he will need to work his way back into top form for the Mavericks to have a chance at moving up in the world. Without Steve Wagner and Travis Morin to lead MSU-M, they will need to rely on players like Kalinski and Berge to step into those roles.
Step into those roles they did, and Zacharias did a great job in net to vault the Mavs into the top-half of the league this season, after a tough start.
9. Alaska-Anchorage
With a large class containing some surprisingly decent recruits, it seems that Dave Shyiak could be laying the foundations for the Seawolves. They've got a ways to go however, and this year they will need to find players into step into the voids left by Jay Beagle and Justin Borune. Still, they should be good enough to avoid rock bottom.
Not quite. However, this year's did UAA look better than Seawolf teams from the last several seasons.
So, it's been an interesting year. I can only hope to improve from here.
1. North Dakota
2. Minnesota
3. St. Cloud State
4. Michigan Tech
5. Wisconsin
6. Colorado College
7. Denver
8. Minnesota State
9. Alaska-Anchorage
10. Minnesota-Duluth
Here's how things actually turned out...
1. CC (+5)
2. UND (-1)
3. DU (+4)
4. MSU-M (+4)
5. SCSU (-2)
6. Wisconsin (-1)
7. Minnesota (-5)
8. Minnesota-Duluth (+2)
9. Michigan Tech (-5)
10. Alaska-Anchorage (-1)
So, it appears I underestimated a few teams and drank a little too much Kool-Aid when placing a couple others. While I don't think anyone saw Richard Bachman having the freshman season that he did (undoubtedly the biggest reason why CC won the MacNaughton Cup), here's what I had to say about the Tigers roughly six months ago, when summarizing my pre-season observations:
6. Colorado College
I considered placing CC higher, until it was announced that Jimmy Kilpatrick will be out until Thanksgiving to recover from surgery. Since they will be missing the guy who appears to be their top playmaker for the majority of the first-half, they will be more vulnerable. With a large question mark in goal, CC will need to rely on their defense heavily, and hope someone can fill Kilpatrick's skates while he is out. A first-half schedule that includes Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota in their first six games, plus St. Cloud State in December could make for a rough start.
So, I was obviously wrong about Kilpatrick, since Rau was able to really step in and fill that role. The question mark in net turned out to be a brick wall, although I was correct about that tough first-half schedule (even if Minnesota wasn't all that great this year). In fact, discussing CC in greater detail in an earlier post, this is also what I mentioned:
If the Tigers can hammer out their goaltending issues early on, they could be pretty good this year. Assuming they get past a seemingly-suicidal opening stretch against
Their record in those first six games? 3-3
A few other anomalies in my predictions this season:
2. Minnesota
Lots of people say they are too young on defense, but let's be honest - they are the Gophers. They have strong recruits and will adapt quickly, I'm sure. Their offensive depth is top-notch and I'm sure Frazee will be fine, in spite of the occasional meltdown.
You have no idea how amusing I find those two calls right now. Turns out, freshman netminder Alex Kangas had to get to work saving the Gophers from complete embarrassment for most of the regular season.
4. Michigan Tech
On paper, Tech returns almost all of the defense that propelled them to last year's results, plus both of their goalies. With a decent recruiting class, the question is - who will step into the leadership roles left behind by Helminen, Batovanja, and Skworchinski? The Huskies' schedule is pretty well-balanced, so they could get burned if they don't find their legs quickly.
OK, so call me a homer. I really think this team suffered with the loss of senior defensemen Jake Wilkens to injury right at the beginning of the year, coupled with the graduations of big leaders like Helminen and Batty the previous season. Combine that with captain Jimmy Kerr leading the team in penalty minutes, and apparently I was right to suspect leadership might be a problem for the 07-08 Huskies.
8. Minnesota State-Mankato
Now that their top goaltender has recovered from an injury, he will need to work his way back into top form for the Mavericks to have a chance at moving up in the world. Without Steve Wagner and Travis Morin to lead MSU-M, they will need to rely on players like Kalinski and Berge to step into those roles.
Step into those roles they did, and Zacharias did a great job in net to vault the Mavs into the top-half of the league this season, after a tough start.
9. Alaska-Anchorage
With a large class containing some surprisingly decent recruits, it seems that Dave Shyiak could be laying the foundations for the Seawolves. They've got a ways to go however, and this year they will need to find players into step into the voids left by Jay Beagle and Justin Borune. Still, they should be good enough to avoid rock bottom.
Not quite. However, this year's did UAA look better than Seawolf teams from the last several seasons.
So, it's been an interesting year. I can only hope to improve from here.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
To the Lady Seated in Section G, Row 13, Seat 2...
OK, so I promised myself that I'd rant about this incident here rather than at THB. Here we go.
Let's set the scene - last Saturday, my friend (wrapped in duct tape - don't ask) and I spent the third period in a couple of empty seats about 2/3 of the way up Section G at the JMSIA.
The Pep Band began playing "No Beer" and my friend and I started singing along. This is, of course, the infamous "other side" of the JMSIA, where most people (with a few notable exceptions) can't be bothered to get off their ass and make some noise. With such intelligent people as the lady I'm about to discuss seated over there, it's little wonder why they don't. She'd probably squawk if they so much as raised their arm to join in a "Sieve!" chant.
We got to the "Refs" verse, and by that point Campion had started going on his rampage of shitty ass calls against MTU, so my friend and I were singing it extra loud for his listening pleasure. All the while, this woman (who was probably between 40 and 50) was giving us a dirty look and I could tell she was going to say something if we started in on the "Sex" verse.
So sure enough, we start in with "In heaven there is no sex, that's why we use Brand X (latex!)" No sooner did my friend shout "Latex!" when she stretched across her husband, grabbed his arm, and (from what I could hear over the band) told him, "If you want to use that kind of language, go over with the band or the student section. There are kids over here!"
So, let's analyze the situation. You're objecting to the use of the words 'sex' and 'latex' around children. First of all, do you really think that the average person under the age of 12 has any clue what is implied by the word 'latex'? I think not. Secondly, even if we were to head over to the student section, don't you think your precious little children could still hear the Misfits and the band singing along from across the arena? The answer here is a resounding yes! So basically, this isn't about children at all, is it? This is about you being a prude and how you are somehow embarrassed or annoyed at having to sit next to a couple of loud people, isn't it? Congratulations lady, I've called your bluff.
If I may make a suggestion, you should've taken your kids to a high school game, an Ojibwa Eagles game, or even a Finlandia game. Any of those would be reasonably quiet and peaceful for you, and maybe they'll even host a nice, friendly ice cream social for everyone afterwards.
Of course, I was there to watch hockey and cheer for my team. So as much as I would've LOVED to have this little discussion with her, I knew where my priorities were. I was so mad, I actually didn't think until afterwards to ask if her name happened to be Judy Szyysyzkjdfjddkoski (or however that particular woman's last name was spelled), but I'm sure there are more 'other siders' like her anyway. Frankly, I wish they'd just leave us to our antics if they're so "offended".
I will say though, I was proud that the BS band that came over behind Mannino during the second period had the courage to use 'balls' during the S-H-A-V-E taunt instead of toeing the $uzanne line. Thank you.
Let's set the scene - last Saturday, my friend (wrapped in duct tape - don't ask) and I spent the third period in a couple of empty seats about 2/3 of the way up Section G at the JMSIA.
The Pep Band began playing "No Beer" and my friend and I started singing along. This is, of course, the infamous "other side" of the JMSIA, where most people (with a few notable exceptions) can't be bothered to get off their ass and make some noise. With such intelligent people as the lady I'm about to discuss seated over there, it's little wonder why they don't. She'd probably squawk if they so much as raised their arm to join in a "Sieve!" chant.
We got to the "Refs" verse, and by that point Campion had started going on his rampage of shitty ass calls against MTU, so my friend and I were singing it extra loud for his listening pleasure. All the while, this woman (who was probably between 40 and 50) was giving us a dirty look and I could tell she was going to say something if we started in on the "Sex" verse.
So sure enough, we start in with "In heaven there is no sex, that's why we use Brand X (latex!)" No sooner did my friend shout "Latex!" when she stretched across her husband, grabbed his arm, and (from what I could hear over the band) told him, "If you want to use that kind of language, go over with the band or the student section. There are kids over here!"
So, let's analyze the situation. You're objecting to the use of the words 'sex' and 'latex' around children. First of all, do you really think that the average person under the age of 12 has any clue what is implied by the word 'latex'? I think not. Secondly, even if we were to head over to the student section, don't you think your precious little children could still hear the Misfits and the band singing along from across the arena? The answer here is a resounding yes! So basically, this isn't about children at all, is it? This is about you being a prude and how you are somehow embarrassed or annoyed at having to sit next to a couple of loud people, isn't it? Congratulations lady, I've called your bluff.
If I may make a suggestion, you should've taken your kids to a high school game, an Ojibwa Eagles game, or even a Finlandia game. Any of those would be reasonably quiet and peaceful for you, and maybe they'll even host a nice, friendly ice cream social for everyone afterwards.
Of course, I was there to watch hockey and cheer for my team. So as much as I would've LOVED to have this little discussion with her, I knew where my priorities were. I was so mad, I actually didn't think until afterwards to ask if her name happened to be Judy Szyysyzkjdfjddkoski (or however that particular woman's last name was spelled), but I'm sure there are more 'other siders' like her anyway. Frankly, I wish they'd just leave us to our antics if they're so "offended".
I will say though, I was proud that the BS band that came over behind Mannino during the second period had the courage to use 'balls' during the S-H-A-V-E taunt instead of toeing the $uzanne line. Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
