Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

Well put, osualum86. I would add that Friday shows what the Buckeyes are capable of, and the Saturday is a reminder of how tough it is beat the top WCHA teams.

That is the point I was attempting to get across on the WCHA thread, that our team has the talent to compete with and defeat any team in this league. Maybe I should have been a tad more diplomatic about it, but reading all the posts all season dissing us and acting like we don't belong on the same ice as the top four has gotten a bit old. One fan actually referred to me as "osama". Yeah, real classy, comparing me to a mass-murderer. I almost reported it but decided to take the high road. I think I am starting to figure out why everyone hates UND fans (LOL)!

One other thing about our season. Yes, ideally, I would love to have seen us get the sweep this past weekend against UND. However, I have to be realistic and remember that we have a first-year coach. Now granted, I will be the first to say the cupboard wasn't bare when Coach Nate Handrahan got here, but the girls had to learn new things and I am sure they are still learning. My hope is that whatever is accomplished this season, Coach Handrahan will bring in another talented recruiting class, and continue to build on whatever is accomplished. Coach has some lofty goals that he believes this program can achieve, and I don't doubt that he will work tirelessly to see that we achieve those goals.

 

[northhockey]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

I think I am starting to figure out why everyone hates UND fans (LOL)!

...and why would that be?

 

[WCHFan]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

Ummm. Have you been to a home game. They're mean! Fans hang over the visiting tunnel and harrass the opposing team. They chant sieve sieve after every goal no matter how bad the score is. They're mean!

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

"And why would that be?"

I don't know, maybe it was the part about referring to me as "osama." Like I said, I took the high road. I shouldn't really say anything, I don't even know if he was a UND fan or not. Let me go back to that thread. Ok, it was on the D1 scores and highlights thread and it was some dude named Chip. Heck, he may not have been a UND fan. He didn't like what I said about the game Friday night. I was at the game and just called it like I saw it. I didn't think they were "bold statements for a relatively new program," as Chip put it. I'll be the first to admit there may have been a little edge to my post, as I said above, due to seeing our team get dissed all season. One guy (no need to mention names) had said after the Minnesota State series that it was probably our last win of the season, then acted like we were a bunch of idiots for disagreeing with him. He's not the only one who has been dissing us all season. Then again, it's just an internet message board.

 

[brookyone]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

Ummm. Have you been to a home game. They're mean! Fans hang over the visiting tunnel and harrass the opposing team. They chant sieve sieve after every goal no matter how bad the score is. They're mean!

You left out when a handful of fans run to the opponents P box after an opposing teams player enters, pounding on the glass and verbally harassing the player including language not repeatable here. It happens ya know...seen it on my two trips to GF. I didn't think highly of the practice but players are pretty good at ignoring...but that just intensified the home fan activity when I was witness.

 

[ARM]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

You left out when a handful of fans run to the opponents P box after an opposing teams player enters, pounding on the glass and verbally harassing the player including language not repeatable here.

The players eat that stuff up, though. I recently asked two seniors for their favorite WCHA road trip, and both said NoDak. West said it was because you can tell that the opposing fans don't want you there. Maybe frosh would be intimidated, but seniors think it's funny.

 

[brookyone]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

The players eat that stuff up, though. I recently asked two seniors for their favorite WCHA road trip, and both said NoDak. West said it was because you can tell that the opposing fans don't want you there. Maybe frosh would be intimidated, but seniors think it's funny.

I saw Bobbi have fun with it. I believe that was the first, or maybe second game for the Sioux as a WCHA member and could have been fans from the men's side where such activity is routine. However, it's still just something I would never consider doing...or think much of, in general.

 

[ARM]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

However, it's still just something I would never consider doing...or think much of, in general.

You could be like the Sin Bin crew in St. Cloud, where you start out harassing the kid, and by the end of the weekend, you wind up Facebook friends.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

There is a difference with what "should" happen and what every coach "wants" to happen. also your "traditional formula for regular season success in college hockey is sweep at home, split on the road" is completely wrong! the formula to a successful season is WINNING. every player and coach, (and fan) should not only want to win, but also believe they can. If that is absent, so is the integrity of your program.

A little new to this, eh?

You're right that coaches and players should go into every game with a plan to win; a plan they believe in. But this is largely beside the point. Nobody is saying that coaches should be devising ways to get a split. Mostly we're talking about how to evaluate results after the fact. Predicting game outcomes and future standings are also reasonable topics for a message board.

To explain a little further: Undefeated seasons are a rarity. Over the course of 30-40 games, teams have their ups and downs. Even the eventual champion is likely to have a slump along the way. Evaluating a series with fairness can be challenging. "Just win every game" is easy to post, but it adds nothing to the conversation.

Oh, and the "traditional formula" certainly isn't original to me. That piece of conventional wisdom has been around for a long time. It's a decent measuring stick -- a reasonable place to start. And that's the point: It's a measuring stick, not a battle plan.

 

[brookyone]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

There is a difference with what "should" happen and what every coach "wants" to happen. also your "traditional formula for regular season success in college hockey is sweep at home, split on the road" is completely wrong! the formula to a successful season is WINNING.

Not exactly. That .750 winning % will most often put you in good position in the standings. It's kinda the winning % you need to hang close with the top teams...with the rarity of opportunities to gain any ground on the top 2-3. Do just a little better and you're at or near the top. Historically speaking anyway.

 

[WCHFan]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

The players eat that stuff up, though. I recently asked two seniors for their favorite WCHA road trip, and both said NoDak. West said it was because you can tell that the opposing fans don't want you there. Maybe frosh would be intimidated, but seniors think it's funny.

Very few female players eat it up. I think the vast majority do not like this kind of crap. I think on the men's side it's the norm. But I tend to think on the girls side you don't have the rowdy fans. I can assure you the opposing goalies do not like it. I would bet a ton that when the gophers were losing it bothered the heck out of Westie. Players love playing in NoDak because it is the best rink to play in. Probably only have one more year after this one to hear it and guess we can handle only three years total of it.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

Not exactly. That .750 winning % will most often put you in good position in the standings. It's kinda the winning % you need to hang close with the top teams...with the rarity of opportunities to gain any ground on the top 2-3. Do just a little better and you're at or near the top. Historically speaking anyway.

Correct. And because northhockey will likely want some proof, I looked up winning percentages from the current season, plus the previous five years. First place and second place for each season are displayed. I did this for league games in both the Women's and the Men's WCHA; we'll play on North Dakota's ice in both cases. It's just a quick look, but I chose the top 2 as those teams almost certainly qualified for the NCAA tournament in their respective years.

Women's WCHA
Current: .864/.773
2011: .893/.679
2010: .714/.750
2009: .875/.839
2008: .857/.786
2007: .893/.732


Men's WCHA
Current: .750/.694
2011: .768/.661
2010: .750/.661
2009: .679/.643
2008: .768/.696
2007: .696/.625


In the Women's WCHA, the power has been concentrated at the top, so .750 won't usually get you a regular season title. But you'd likely be in second place, or in hot pursuit of it.

In the Men's WCHA, .750 will win you a MacNaughton Cup in a typical year. Even in the years with a more dominant champion, you'd be comfortably in second place with .750.

Now if you take the attitude that anything less than a regular season title means you fire the coach, then maybe .750 isn't good enough on the Women's side. But by any reasonable definition, a .750 winning percentage is a successful season in either league.

 

[GloveSave85]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

CanHockGuy, we were there Friday. It was a great performance by the girls. It just may have been the best game they have played all season. The 4-1 win over UMD last November comes to mind in that category, too, but that Friday night game was amazing. We just smothered UND. They really couldn't get anything going, and there was really no point where the game was in doubt. Too bad we couldn't win last night and get six points. I still believe this team can win enough games to stay in the top four and get home ice in the first round. I don't believe for one minute that performances like Friday's are a fluke. I believe we have the talent to win games like that every night out, we just need to be mentally tough and bring that type of game every night.

The main difference between friday's win and sat's loss was that in the first game, OSU really went to net hard and actually won a lot of battles in front of ND net. Not so much in sat's game. ND was the tougher team. But give OSU credit, they came back hard in the 3rd period.

To compete with the top teams, OSU has to bring a lot more "grit" to these games. They don't score many "ugly," Tomas Holmstrom- type goals, that are a result of battling and gaining position in front of opposing nets.

On their PP, there is rarely an OSU player screening and causing a commotion in front of opponent's goaltender. They have great shooters (Langan, Spooner) and passers (McIntosh, Wild). But they need someone who is willing to take some abuse and get the goals from in close and create some screens.

 

[northhockey]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

Ummm. Have you been to a home game. They're mean! Fans hang over the visiting tunnel and harrass the opposing team. They chant sieve sieve after every goal no matter how bad the score is. They're mean!

^^^ im sorry?

 

[northhockey]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

im sorry for the misunderstanding. if osu doesnt want to be labeled an underdog then why are they gung ho about a split? thats my only point. but im done!! as for und hockey fans, i see none of that at the women's games. the men's games are much different and much more "mean" then chanting "seive"

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

im sorry for the misunderstanding.

No worries. I'll admit I was surprised to be challenged on this one; I thought my original take was pretty solid. Hope I wasn't too spirited in my response. In any event, I actually had fun looking up the numbers, and they were a little different than I expected on the Women's side. So all of us have plenty to learn. If you found it worth thinking about, so much the better.

if osu doesnt want to be labeled an underdog then why are they gung ho about a split? thats my only point. but im done!!

In hockey, we ARE an underdog. In football we have lots of advantages, but in hockey there's still some catching up to do. We have ambitious goals; that's one reason we compete in the best league. But nobody's in denial here. We haven't made it to the peak yet. Why not embrace the underdog role?

As for the gung ho thing: Speaking only for myself, last weekend's split is decidedly a mixed bag. Friday was something to be proud of, but it's not time to celebrate. Nor is it time to despair. We're talking gray area here.

 

[D2D]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

...the men's games are much different and much more "mean" then chanting "seive"

Like when they throw dead gophers out onto the ice?

 

[WCHFan]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

No apologies needed. I can understand when college kids are doing it but I've been at 4-5 womens games in UND and what I don't like is the parents and older fans doing it. Men's games it's expected and I'm ok with it. Bands can do it because they're in the band. Womens game is different. Of course the harrassing coming out the tunnel should be stopped or at least let the players whack em with their sticks.

I'm actually a Gophers fan and do like the underdog. I would like to see a BSU, OSU, MSU SCSU etc do well. Sorry can't root for the UNDers. Not a huge fan of the twins allthough I do appreciate their talents.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

im sorry for the misunderstanding. if osu doesnt want to be labeled an underdog then why are they gung ho about a split?

Northhockey, I completely understand your point. We're not gung ho about splitting, but when it's us against a top five team in the country, splitting is not a bad thing. We are obviously not at that level yet. I believe we have the talent to defeat the top teams in the country, but I don't expect us to sweep teams that are in the top five. Now, if Coach Handrahan is able to achieve the lofty goals he has set for our program of getting us to that level, then yes, I will expect us to sweep anyone at home. Right now, though, we'll have to accept that underdog role and use it to motivate ourselves. I swear, I need to start buying powerball tickets so I can donate to OSU to build a new hockey-only facility. It wouldn't be The Ralph, but then, what is?!? Take care, and good luck the rest of the season. Those Lam twins and Karvinen are lethal, I tell you, lethal! We were fortunate to find a way to neutralize them in the Friday night game. That may have been the best game we played this season. We need to find a way to duplicate that moving forward.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State vs North Dakota 1/27 - 1/28

I swear, I need to start buying powerball tickets so I can donate to OSU to build a new hockey-only facility.

I can see it now: The OSU Alumni Arena. An 86 million dollar facility affectionately known as "The 86."