Re: University of North Dakota... the March past March
Given that Denver actually got a challenge in their game, while you guys had it easy, I would give you the nod in tomorrow's game. It'll be a tight one but you'll pull through nonetheless.
DU played the late game yesterday not to mention an extra 2/3 of another and UND rolled 4 lines in a 6-0 rout, physical edge UND. DU lost 2 of 3 games to UND this year including the Broadmoor, psychological edge UND. No excuses for the mighty green and white, roll hard and get it done.
Jason Gregoire. We should have no excuses to not win. Go Sioux!
All irrelevant. It's UND-DU. These teams dislike each other, and DU would be up for this game even if their last game ended one hour before puck drop for this one. Besides, I remember watching NCAA tourney games in years past and thinking that a team might be in trouble because they went to OT the night before, just to watch them win the next night.
There is no psychological edge. DU split with us in Grand Forks, and the F5 championship could have gone either way very easily. DU matches up to us very well, and they know it. They know that one bounce goes their way last week and they have the Broadmoor and the 2/3 season series lead. I'm sure they'd like to exact some revenge for last week. As to winning 2 of 3 from DU, the 2004 UND team didn't lose to DU in 4 regular season meetings. We went 3-0-1, including wins of 8-2, 6-2, and 6-1. Anyone remember what happened in the NCAA tourney that year? I see no psycological edge. And Brittain has the ability to shut a team down the way that Berkhoel did in 2004, he's already shut us out once this year.
Having Gregoire back is fantastic, he should give us a lift. He does improve our chances of winning. But we haven't exactly dominated DU this year even when Gregoire was in the lineup. In fact, DU leads in total goals 8-7 in our match-ups for the season. I want UND to win, I hope we win, but I won't feel confident in getting that win until and unless the game ends with more goals on the UND side of the scoreboard.
Going into the NCAA tourney, the teams I thought had the best chances of knocking off the Sioux, in order, were BC, DU, and Michigan. We don't have to go through BC. But if we're going to play for a national title, we'll have to get through both DU and Michigan.
