WCHA Thread V

[Timothy A]

Re: WCHA Thread V

I think the cardinal and white would trade WCHA banners for the Gopher's National Championship banner.

I gotta hang my hat on something. I can't keep wallowing in despair. I'm not sure if I can call this last year a success the way it ended. I agree UW was ahead of schedule, but them being better than I thought they'd be doesn't mean getting so close and losing is ok. No one wants to make the F4 and not seal the deal. It's hard to get there in the first place.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: WCHA Thread V

I don't think anyone but maybe a few rodent fans counted the rodents out. I sure did not.

at least you can have more optimism than BEagle fans,
their best players graduate
and I'd say taking the WCHA reg season/tourney title is a greater accomplishment than the Hockey Easy version

you are correct there, it was mostly girlie Gopher fans who didn't believe

well I suppose somebody's little sis could be said to be another reason for optimism
#23 wasn't available for the playoffs, and seemed to be coming on strong before she was injured

both Darwitz & Wendell do have a year of eligibilty left, although I'm pretty sure they are past the 6 year rule
although the last one does have something of a connection to whom I am referring to

 

[bluffrinkrat]

Re: WCHA Thread V

at least you can have more optimism than BEagle fans,
their best players graduate
and I'd say taking the WCHA reg season/tourney title is a greater accomplishment than the Hockey Easy version

you are correct there, it was mostly girlie Gopher fans who didn't believe

well I suppose somebody's little sis could be said to be another reason for optimism
#23 wasn't available for the playoffs, and seemed to be coming on strong before she was injured

both Darwitz & Wendell do have a year of eligibilty left, although I'm pretty sure they are past the 6 year rule
although the last one does have something of a connection to whom I am referring to

Red Wing High School? Johnny Pohl's school.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: WCHA Thread V

I don't think anyone but maybe a few rodent fans counted the rodents out. I sure did not.

Player to be named later.....so Kessel gets yet another year of eligibility?! It's Potomak's little sis, isn't it? I don't care who the stinkin rodents bring in. BRING IT! You have to beat the best to be the best.

Agreed. MN beat the best in the semi final. The winner of that game was going to be the national champion. As for my picking the Badgers it really was all about superstition. If you listened to Garrison Keillor you know that Minnesotans are trained from an early age to believe anything they want badly enough will be denied them. I have to pick against the Gophers.
Had it been reversed & MN won the season & the WCHA tourney but lost the semi I would have been upset too but that is a great season, not the greatest but great none the less. Don't feel too bad, the badgers beat the Gophers 3 times & I don't thing the Eagles could do that in 10 trys let alone 6. there were not 7 losers and only one winner, many teams should be proud of the season they had including Wisconsin.

 

[ARM]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Yes, understandable but [the Mavericks] may be on rise with the arrival of JH and the great upgrades in facility.

Moving this discussion from a commitments thread.

I agree that MSU will be improving. The problem for any of these WCHA teams looking to make a push up the standings is what team can be passed in the standings? For the Mavericks, Ohio State is closest. Is MSU better? SCSU may be more vulnerable, having just graduated its goalie and top scorer, but the Huskies are a year farther along under a new coach who also seems to understand what needs to be done to improve his team. Bemidji State also gets hit hard by graduation, and I wouldn't be surprised if they regressed a bit from the past two seasons, but the Beavers had 17 more conference wins than the Mavericks did last season, so that's a lot of ground to close. So definitely, MSU improves, but will that improvement translate into a higher seed in the tournament in the short term?

 

[agfire]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Moving this discussion from a commitments thread.

I agree that MSU will be improving. The problem for any of these WCHA teams looking to make a push up the standings is what team can be passed in the standings? For the Mavericks, Ohio State is closest. Is MSU better? SCSU may be more vulnerable, having just graduated its goalie and top scorer, but the Huskies are a year farther along under a new coach who also seems to understand what needs to be done to improve his team. Bemidji State also gets hit hard by graduation, and I wouldn't be surprised if they regressed a bit from the past two seasons, but the Beavers had 17 more conference wins than the Mavericks did last season, so that's a lot of ground to close. So definitely, MSU improves, but will that improvement translate into a higher seed in the tournament in the short term?

Good points all around. But I think if you take a closer look at the scores you will see there is much improvement at MSU. When you have one senior and put 17 freshmen/sophomores on the ice in the WCHA, everyone will agree that is a tall order. SCSU showed some improvement an Bemidji is going through a transition as well. I just think we may see some great things out of Mankato in the upcoming years. While we all would love to see some of these schools turn it around immediately, slow and steady wins the race and also provides sustainability.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Good points all around. But I think if you take a closer look at the scores you will see there is much improvement at MSU. When you have one senior and put 17 freshmen/sophomores on the ice in the WCHA, everyone will agree that is a tall order. SCSU showed some improvement an Bemidji is going through a transition as well. I just think we may see some great things out of Mankato in the upcoming years. While we all would love to see some of these schools turn it around immediately, slow and steady wins the race and also provides sustainability.

Just to piggyback on your thoughts a bit, the slow and steady should be about first becoming more competitive within the league. The bottom half of the league has a tall task of trying to move up in the standings and maybe it starts with being a difficult team for Minnesota and Wisconsin to play 4 times during the regular season. I think Mankato did that after the first game this past year losing three one goal games to Minnesota.

 

[rangersrule]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Just to piggyback on your thoughts a bit, the slow and steady should be about first becoming more competitive within the league. The bottom half of the league has a tall task of trying to move up in the standings and maybe it starts with being a difficult team for Minnesota and Wisconsin to play 4 times during the regular season. I think Mankato did that after the first game this past year losing three one goal games to Minnesota.

Didn't Minnesota State graduate their leading scorer and their starting goaltender? I realize the bulk of their team was underclassmen last season, but those are still pretty big losses-- especially Quade in net..

 

[pokechecker]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Didn't Minnesota State graduate their leading scorer and their starting goaltender? I realize the bulk of their team was underclassmen last season, but those are still pretty big losses-- especially Quade in net..

I thought she had one more year left website shows her to be JR last year.

When you look at the returning goals, MSU-M & OSU in an ordinary year would be best described as anemic. How then, to describe UND, BSU, & SCSU?
Dead?
At least BSU can rely on their goalie, and UND can be optimistic Shaw can fill A-B’s skates, … but SCSU?
MN & WI will fight for #1
UMD should be a distant 3rd
With everyone else fighting to avoid playing MN or WI in the first round of the tournament.
I could see MSU-M or OSU moving up ahead of SCSU or even UND or BSU if they stumble, while themselves having a good year.

 

[agfire]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Didn't Minnesota State graduate their leading scorer and their starting goaltender? I realize the bulk of their team was underclassmen last season, but those are still pretty big losses-- especially Quade in net..

Yes and Yes. But leading scorer by 4 points. The underclassmen make up much of their scoring. Goaltending is a loss. But I think there are some new additions to pick up the slack. Tough indeed to play the W and the M so much in one season. But if the bottom half of last years standings make a move, the WCHA will just get stronger...good for all

 

[pokechecker]

Re: WCHA Thread V

Goaltending is a loss.

whomever is the paid staff around here has some work to do, multiple places says she was a freshman redshirt, and since the WCHA & Mav website lists her as a junior, I'm thinking she returns
...unless she graduated and has decided not to return

in any event, I'm picking the Mavs and UMD as the teams most likely to ascend in the standings

 

[ne7minder]

Re: WCHA Thread V

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that my reading comprehension is not what it should be. The stories are released every weekDAY not every week. Additionally I figured out that the folks running the WCHA website don't really want you to be able to find these stories and have made getting to one page to find all of them is not intuitively obvious to the casual observer. They technically are press releases so you have to go to that page to find them: WCHA PRESS RELEASE

the wcha has started a weekly thing where they list 12 highlights from this past season
here is the first one: Trio of New Coaches Join WCHA
second: Husky Pride
third: Record-Setting Year in Bemidji
fourth: The Next Level

you can go to the wcha web site every week to see the rest as the appear