I can’t wait for Thursday. I was glad to see the Gophers come out and show that they deserved the number 1 seed. Parise better bring his “A” game because the last two goalies the Gophers played were standing on their heads the whole game. If Hirsch comes back that will be big. We also need Potulny to light the lamp atleast once.
As for next year, don’t forget that we also get to see Blake Wheeler in a Gophers uniform. 
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rmartin – and your point is? Don’t tell me you think winning 2 games in overtime is a home ice advantage…. I’m not buying it, they earned their wins fair and square. How bad did they out shoot Cornell and it still went to overtime… Think before you type…..
And you think they would have won these games in less favorable surroundings?
Here’s the answer straight from the Don’s mouth:
John (St. Paul): How much do you think that playing in Marriucci this past weekend contributed to your success?
Coach Lucia: At the end of the year, the teams that are playing the best usually advance, no matter what the venue. Colorado College beat Michigan in Michigan. North Dakota went to Worcester and beat BU and BC and Denver beat UNH in their backyard. At the same time, the biggest advantage Mariucci gave us was playing on the big rink and, with a young team, gave us a home crowd advantage. To our team’s credit, we took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself to play a regional in our home rink.
So it’s a little of both.
Here’s a link to the entire chat with Coach Lucia:
Chat with Coach Lucia.
I completely respect Lucia’s opinion, and everyone elses for that matter, that’s how he sees it from behind the bench. To me the Gophers played right with 2 great teams and outshot both of them fairly considerably. Not that shots are the all-inclusive indicator of a game but I sure thought they were great games and anybody could have won. Wished I would have been there! 
Kurt
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So it’s a little of both
So we are somewhat agreed. As someone who is on the outside, it seems like the Gophers are somewhat catered to by the NCAA and WCHA (used to be Michigan). True, a lot of talent comes from the Minn High schools. It just seems that MN gets more than their fair share of home ice during tournament time.
North Dakota, CC and Denver fans, wouldn’t it be nice to have a few tourney games in your neck of the woods once and a while? Come on, all the WCHA Final 5 at St. Paul every year? Winner gets an automatic NCAA bid.
As for Lucia, this is a very good example of diplomacy. You cannot disagree with anything he said and it takes the heat off of him and the team.
I do not disagree that it is usually the better team that can overcome the home ice advantage, but it is a considerable advantage to be skating on the same ice you play most of you home games on and have the home town crowd during tournament time. Near your backyard is not the same as the exact same ice. Besides MN, only BU had that and they were a lower seed.
Well we will see what happens this weekend, if the Gophs can pull the upset and win it all on neutral ice, I will give them credit. But since MN, Denver and ND have all had NCAA championships recently, I will be pulling for CC. Shame that Denver or CC will be eliminated in the 1st round, usually #1 plays #4 and 2 plays 3. But scenarios like this happen a lot in sports.
rmartin,
I understand exactly what your reasoning is, but the NCAA has to take this as a business decision. The Excel Energy Center is one of the top, if not the top, hockey venues in the country. It seats over 18,000 people, and is always sold out for the tournaments. From a purely business like point of veiw, there isn’t a more logical choice anywhere in the WCHA.
Like Micheal said in “The Godfather”,….”its not personal, its business”!
well I sure wish that I could be catching some of them games. sounds like it is going to be a great tourney, although I am rooting for the Gophs. I can’t wait for the first mon of April, my hockey league starts and looking forward to hitting the ice and shooting some pucks at the goalies.
shane 
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North Dakota, CC and Denver fans, wouldn’t it be nice to have a few tourney games in your neck of the woods once and a while? Come on, all the WCHA Final 5 at St. Paul every year? Winner gets an automatic NCAA bid.
Here’s a quote from WCHA Chairman Bruce McLeod:
Kevin (Milwaukee): Do you have any plans to have the Final Five rotate out of Minneapolis/St. paul?
Bruce McLeod: We are in the fourth year of a five year contract and are actually renegotiating the contract right now. We have had contact from other sites, such as the Pepsi Center in Denver, the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and the Target Center in Minneapolis, but to be honest, when they see the scope of the tournament and the dollars now involved, it gets difficult for them to compete. So, I fully expect that later this spring, we’ll have a new five year contract at the Xcel Center to announce.
Sorry rmartin, but it doesn’t look the Final Five is going anywhere, anytime soon.
Well, The Ralph is the best college hockey building on the planet. As for Grand Forks, I agree, I did four years hard time over there. Trust me, it’s the coldest $%#@&%! place in the US. I spent a lot of my time out west shooting stuff and on Devils Lake catching perch. 
GOPHER hunts were always fun…a bunch in the freezer you were set for the season. 
JC
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Seriously! Would anyone really WANT to go to Grand Forks? I mean really! I suppose if you could combine it with spring snow goose hunting, and walleye fishing on Devils Lake. But just to go there to watch hockey? Hockey is better here. It’s at the Ex anyway, right?
That was always funny! To bad we only played once this year! 
I grew up in ND and would be the first to admit that the winters are horrible, but there’s a lot of good things about living there too. I still cheer for Sioux hockey having grown up watching them. UND is a small school in a small town and competes very well against the “Yankees” of the WCHA – the Gophers (largest market, TV contract, largest school, Final Five in St Paul, etc.)
If the Sioux can keep Greene out of the penalty box they should win. If the Gophs take advantage of the PP, they will probably win (but they certainly need to improve from an 0-15 run).
The Sioux won fairly easily against two solid teams (with good goaltending) while on the road. The Gophs struggled to get a goal and played against few offensive threats – all while at home. Of course, none of that matters know . . .
Regardless, the winner of Thursday night’s game will have to work extremely hard vs CC or Denver. You can make an easy agruement for any remaining team to win it all – especially with a single game format.
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