NCAA Hockey Tournament: Open Thread
I'm not the only one watching, right?
(1)BU tops (4) Yale, 3-2 in OT
(2) Michigan Tech chokes, gives up a goal to (3) SCSU with under a minute in regulation and then loses 3-2 in OT
(2) Duluth appears to be moving on, being up 4-1 on (3) Minnesota late in the 3rd
(1) NoDak vs. (4) Quinnipiac upcoming
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Had BU winning at least. That's why you can never pick a bracket with any sort of logic. I had Tech winning and they probably should've but they had a brain fart and there you go
I was pulling for them to be a Cinderella. Pissed they lost - they were the only team I cared about.
I suppose I'll just pull for someone to win their 1st title this year then. Most likely for that is probably Mankato
There's about a hundred people at this Minnesota-UMD game
Huge indictment on the current format. NH is not dense in terms of population, but it's a fairly hockey minded state and the NE is pretty big on hockey. Minny and UMD are big time programs and so is Boston and it's only a few hour drive. And they can't get anyone at the games. CAMPUS REGIONALS at the very least please.
Bad hockey night in the state of Michigan in general. Adrian loses in the D-3 semis as well.
Sounds like Minnesota got drubbed from the get go.
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I know North Dakota is prone to underperforming, but I'd be surprised if they won by less than 3 tonight. I'm guessing it'll be 5-1
Kind of fascinating that, for how obscure North Dakota is outside of the sports and oil drilling world, that of their two main state schools one is a power in football and another in hockey
Go Quinnipiac
Historically North Dakota has done very well drawing from Canada where I think other schools have started to fail and/or go a different direction. NoDak always has a lot of guys from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I don't think the WHL or OHL has a strong pull there on the same level we fight with the OHL for Toronto-area recruits.
The downside to that, is I don't think anyone suffers more defections than North Dakota. They get burned often, but also hit often enough that they're solid year in and year out
March 28th, 2015 at 12:09 AM ^
March 28th, 2015 at 10:23 AM ^
I get the impression that back in the day the prairie provinces were huge for a number of colleges at certain times. Red was the start of the 'Regina Regiment' at Michigan, no? I think Denver and CC have historically been built on guys from that region too, but I get the impression no one is as successful out there anymore
North Dakota will choke. Hakstol never fails. Maybe not be against Quinny, but they will choke somewhere.
They were the best team in the country in 2011 and lost, they lost to Minnesota with 0.6 seconds or whatever it was last year in regulation.
Saw UMD beating UMTC all the way.
The contrast between the environments for this North Dakota game vs the Minnesota-UMD game we just saw is a big reason why regions should go to the 1-seeds home site
Great atmosphere, sold out arena, and some actual advantage for the higher seed? Or stale library atmosphere in front of 100 people
Not sure what the NCAA is gaining financially by doing this with regionals.
THREE sports, THREE, can get away with non-campus sites and fill the house. Football, Men's Basketball and Wrestling. That goes for conference tournaments and NCAA games.
The B1G and the NCAA are both in denial having WBB and Hockey tournaments anywhere but campus sites unless it's the Final/Frozen Four.
but the Frozen Four is enough of an attraction that it'll do well anywhere. I don't see any reason to restrict it to those cities. Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, NYC, etc. Any of them would sell out.
My favorite format right now would be best-of-3, so probably hosted by the top 8 teams (being hosted by the 1-seeds in a best-of-3 would mean your 2 and 3 seeds are flying to the same city in back-to-back weekends). No reseeding after that but let the top seed in each remaining match-up host. Then Frozen Four as usual or best-of-3 if at all possible, though I have a hard time seeing how you do that without home sites again
March 28th, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^
And the 1 seed hosts both weekends even if they lose the first weekend? You don't see attendance being subpar for a 2 vs 4 series that stretches 3 days?
I did say all top 8 seeds should host
And I said the top remaining seed of the two teams left
North Dakota fans are probably fighting back flashbacks of our 2011 game with them. They should be a bit nervous that they haven't scored yet
I wish
March 27th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^
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March 27th, 2015 at 11:22 PM ^
I wish it could've been done within the confines of the old arrangement, but it just wasn't so. The sport had been shrinking prior to that and PSU/ASU are the first major schools to join D1 hockey in a long time. I forget the exact number
The refs might want to get a security detail for their exit from the arena tonight. Sioux fans are going to be displeased with them
March 27th, 2015 at 10:10 PM ^
That is every North Dakota game. They're like Kentucky basketball fans.
March 27th, 2015 at 11:05 PM ^
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March 27th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
North Dakota hockey fans, Kentucky basketball fans, Ohio State football fans. Just mindless mouth breathing super-trolls. Would be ok with Hitler being their team captain as long as it got them a national title
That should do it now that they've broken the seal
I always root against Denver and North Dakota. Don't want them getting any closer to our record 9 national titles.
Seriously, this regional environment in North Dakota is excellent. Top seeds need to start hosting.
Calling a penalty on them is some sort of violation of the Geneva Convention
March 27th, 2015 at 11:15 PM ^
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March 28th, 2015 at 12:19 AM ^
March 27th, 2015 at 10:01 PM ^
3-0. Game ova.
March 27th, 2015 at 10:29 PM ^
March 27th, 2015 at 10:38 PM ^