NCAA Men's Hockey tourney talk for non NHL fans

[RU Crazy]

Hey, saw you lost. Sorry man, that Michigan team is tough. They could easily win it all this year.

Sorry for the delayed response. I was at the game last night and wasn't too happy with the result. We did make it an exciting 3rd period until we pulled our goalie (4-3 at the time). Our coach tends to be very aggressive when behind. I've seen him do it as early as 8-9 minutes remaining in the game (and he has been pretty successful when doing so). However, last night pulling the goalie with 4:14 to go in the 3rd against Michigan was a big mistake (in my opinion). We had the momentum and our power play hasn't been so great this year. We were better off playing 5 on 5 with an offensive zone face off. However, he's taken the program this far so who am I to judge. Something was slightly off with the team since the break but still a season to remember.

The Frozen Four should be a great one. I will be pulling for you guys. You are correct that Michigan team is very good. I was just hoping to catch a break last night and play them similar to how Notre Dame played them. Too bad the Minnesota teams face off against each other in the semis. Would have been fun to see an all Minnesota final. Good luck!

 

[tabascojet]

Wow!! Down goes michigan....

 

[RU Crazy]

Wow!! Down goes michigan....

Always a good day when Michigan loses. Just wish my team would have beaten them last game.

 

[tabascojet]

Always a good day when Michigan loses. Just wish my team would have beaten them last game.

Clemson has a hockey team?

 

[tabascojet]

Michigan state is still the last big10 team to win a title in basketball or hockey....

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Michigan state is still the last big10 team to win a title in basketball or hockey....

Hopefully the Gophers change that?

 

[tabascojet]

Hopefully the Gophers change that?

Go mavericks!

 

[RU Crazy]

Clemson has a hockey team?

Quinnipiac. Amazing that a small school in Connecticut can be a power.

 

[tabascojet]

Ballgame!

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Well, many of my high school buddies went to Mankato St, as well as one of my ex-gfs and my biggest hs crush as well, so for them and it being a Minnesota based team, I'm not as bummed as I otherwise would be. I just need Mankato to beat the evil Denver team now.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Go mavericks!

Well, that's fair, I cheered against Cincy in fb, lol.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Go mavericks!

Well, since Cincy has mostly been a bb school it's whole existence, did you see that not 1, but TWO former Gophers got into the Naismith Hall of Fame? Now UMn's got 6 in there. Cincy's still at 2 or 3, right? lol

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

NCAA tourney's over. So now, on to the NHL playoffs. Any prominent NCAAers from this season moving up into the Big Boy League that are worthy of talking about?


Rank of NCAA schools at producing NHL players All-Time

1. 117 - Minnesota
2. 107 - North Dakota
3. 102 - Michigan
t4. 90 - Wisconsin Way to go B1G, snagging 3 of the top 4 spots.
t4. 90 - Boston U
6. 84 - Boston College
7. 79 - Denver
8. 77 - Michigan St. - Not sure if MSU should be included in with the Top 7 as "official blue bloods" or not? They did win their 3rd natty the year after UW won their last natty, so...?

9. 66 - UMn-Duluth - Was so surprised to see one of my alma maters ranked this high?! With 3 titles now since 2011, can they legitimately be considered to be the newest blue blood?
10. 58 - Maine

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

UMn's incoming class has 6 NHL draftees

#171 in Round 6 of the 2021 draft Cal Thomas
#104 in Round 4 of the 2021 draft Brody Lamb
#192 in Round 6 of the 2022 draft Conner Kurth
#37 in Round 2 of the 2022 draft Ryan Chesley
#23 in Round 1 of the 2022 draft Jimmy Snuggerud
#3 in Round 1 of the 2022 draft Logan Cooley

Can't wait to watch this group of young men the next 2-4 years. I'm hoping Cooley will stick around for 2 years and not just one, an the rest for 3-4 years. I think all 6 are from Minnesota, too.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Gopher women's team rank #2 in the pre-season poll that just came out today.

Gophers also just got 2 more into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

All is good hockey wise in the state of hockey!!!

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Men's hockey team gets ranked #2 in both pre-season polls. The B1G picks them to win the Conf and puts 2 on it's preseason B1G All-Conf 1st team and 2 on the 2nd team.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Logan Cooley with 2 goals and an assist in his first game last night. So he was in on 3 of the 4 goals scored on the night. One of the other goals was scored by Soph Knies who also had an assist. So two freshman & 1 soph scored goals and 2 freshman got credit for 2 assists and 2 sophs were credited with 3 assists. Like to see the young guys in on so many of the goals right off in their first game of their 1st and 2nd seasons. Granted it was a nobody of a team, so I was hoping for more than a 4-0 score. Maybe tonight's game will see more scoring?

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Well, 2 and a half weekends of Gopher hockey as they didn't play last weekend, and they are 4-1 so far. Their 2nd weekend opponents were much tougher, and Minnesota State actually moved up to #2 in the nation after getting a split last weekend. But I liked that the Gophers would have won the 2 game series back in the old NCAA tourney format where they only played 2 games and the team with the most goals scored advanced to the next round of the playoffs. And I highlighted how the young guys thrived in weekend one, well another frosh did well in the series vs Minnesota State getting the first hat trick in the nation so far this season, and this time it was Snuggerud, another NHL first rounder.

Now in last night's game, sh1t, the Gophers were behind by 1 goal with 2 minutes left despite outplaying North Dakota and I'm a little superstitious when it comes to sports so I had to go out to my vehicle and get something, and hoped that by doing so, things would change in the game while I was gone. And coming back to find out they lost would spare me the agony of listening to them lose for another 2 minutes, and my going out to my vehicle did work, apparently seconds after I walked out the door the Gophers scored the tying goal and just 23 seconds into OT they scored the game winning goal, and it was a pair of Sophomores who were the heroes last night. Now with one win vs UND already, there is less pressure tonight. Another win would be awesome of course, but just being guaranteed a split is a good result of a weekend vs the #7 ranked team in the country. It's also great to see the B1G as a whole doing well and the Nacho conference doing not so well, lol. The B1G went 7-0 last night. Nacho went 2-5 I think, with only Denver and SCSU winning with 3 of those losses coming at the hands of B1G opponents. Another night like that and the B1G teams should all rise in the rankings with corresponding drops of Nacho(NCHC) teams.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

22 NHL draft picks between the 2 teams tonight, #2 ranked Minnesota visiting #3 ranked Michigan, the 2 youngest teams in the country.

Refs are picking on the Gophers tonight, might be justified, not claiming they have been bad calls, just 3 PP opps for Michigan so far vs zero for Minnesota, 2 minors and 1 major. So far Michigan scored on the 2nd minor and have 1 minute left on their 5 minute major, score of the game is 2-1 in favor of the Gophers who have outshot the Wolverines 21-13 so far in the 1st period. AND Michigan scores to tie it up. They are the #2 ranked team in the country on the PP. Might be #1 after tonight?

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

3 B1G teams ranked Top 6 right now, 6 B1G teams ranked in the Top 20. More importantly, 4 ranked in the Top 12, as Top 12-14 is the goal come tourney time to leave room for automatic bids. Need a Title this year, can't let Denver win again.