Ralphies Lil Rumble!

5:30 p.m. today: The top-seeded Gophers won the WCHA regular-season title and have been ranked among the top teams all season. They go into the NCAA tournament ranked third or fourth nationally after losing twice in their conference tournament. The Gophers are led on offense by Hobey Baker Award candidate Ryan Potulny (38 goals, 25 assists, 63 points) plus Phil Kessel (17-33—50) and Danny Irmen, above, (16-22—38). Alex Goligoski and Chris Harrington supply leadership on the blue line. The starting goaltender is Kellen Briggs, who has a 17-1-1 record in his past 19 decisions but yielded nine goals in 4½ periods last weekend.

The fourth-seeded Crusaders are making just their second NCAA appearance after winning the Atlantic Conference regular-season title and the conference playoffs. They set a school record for victories in the process. Their scoring leaders are Tyler McGregor (24-26—50) and Pierre Napert-Frenette (15-29—44). The team ranks 12th in the nation in defense, yielding just 2.35 goals a game. Goaltender Tony Quesada, has a team-record 60 victories. Said Crusaders coach Paul Pearl: "We have a quick team, but I imagine Minnesota is going to be faster."


I hardly think that any game in these regionals will be a blowout. Let alone this one! We'll just have to wait til 5:30PM CST to find out. Hey ref, DROP THE PUCK!

I am really looking forward to the SUE vs. Maize! To VERY young aggressive teams. If UM can stay out of the box and not let und get out to a fast start this should be a close tilt!

The next machup is BADgers vs. tBeave. That other MN team has made a nice season for itself. They keep talking about there last regionals when the ALMOST beat Denver(Eventual Nat'l Champs).

Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey. No Grit!