Re: 2012 West Regional: North Dakota vs Western Michigan; Minnesota vs Boston Univers
O. K. Not to flog a dead, rotting horse but...
1. I think many MN and UND fans are paying too much attention to the outcome of last week's game, rather than looking at how that game went down. Total domination by the Gophers (2 SOG for UND after 30 minutes), followed by a period where nearly everything UND threw at the net went in (it happens sometimes). The Gophers, weirdly, had no pushback whatsoever in the third period, but I think they were in shock. There is a long history between these teams of Dominate/Response/Domination reversal/Response/Domination re-reversal and so on. The Gophers will make adjustments, Lucia is not an idiot (um, or at least he didn't use to be...). As a North Dakota fan, I just don't want to see the Gophers again.
2. I would put the chance at UND/MN rematch at 30%. In other words, barely better than random chance. BU and WMU must be licking their chops, because this is one of those fun opportunities where they are away underdogs, but have a really good chance to win. I would put them at 52-48 type underdogs. If Western starts flying around and has some puck luck and gets a 1-0 or 2-0 lead, UND is going to be in big trouble. I would not view that as a remote possibility. MN is going to have a weird situation where they are supposedly the home team, but might have less than half of the arena rooting for them. I think that is going to energize BU - they're good enough to beat MN on a good night anyway.
