A little while back there was a big uproar over the NCAA Tournament and the possibility that teams would be seeded based on region, rather than "bracket integrity". It was getting tossed around by the "powers" of College Hockey but I hadn't heard much in a while. Well I spottedan article on CHN from December discussing the fact that it's a real possibility, even this season.

The biggest example of this would have been our own Colorado Springs West Regional this past spring. As you remember, the Tigers were partnered with Michigan State, New Hampshire and Notre Dame. A good solid mix of teams from different conferences and different areas of the country. If it were based on regions, it would have been the Tigers, Air Force, DU and North Dakota. Part of me says "wohoo!" for two Colorado Springs teams duking it out with rival DU and conference rival North Dakota. Of course, you would have 3 WCHA teams in the same bracket beating eachother senseless and outside of the Front Range and UND, no one would really care. However, you would have to think that the arena would have been packed to the roof and LOUD with the locals who did care, and you would have had the rival fans going at it as well as the players.

That aspect would definitely be a selling point to me because the WA was pretty quiet last spring. The biggest problem I have with the logic behind this is travel expenses. Ok so planes aren't cheap, so seed them semi-regionally in the "bus league" format that many minor-league teams do. Sure gas could sky rocket again, but I filled up today with premium on a major road for $1.90 for my 5.9L gas hog (bet the red Prius owners right next to me felt dumb for shelling out who-freaking-knows-what for their toxic-battery-tree-hugging-mobile). Unless there's some dramatic turn of events in the UAE (which is never out of the question), then for at least this season go semi regionally. Here's another cost-saving measure. Don't send DU/CC/AFA/UAA (what? they could make it!) to New Hampshire, Boston etc. It's not fair to the players travel, fans, and it's expensive!

Anyway, enough of that. The Tigers take on Mankato in the Springs tonight at 7:37 and tomorrow at 7:07 to resume the season and begin the final race for a second MacNaughton Cup, a first Broadmoor Trophy and a great tournament seeding. Hope you are enjoying viewing the blog the way it was supposed to be viewed, with no blue and purple links!!

Yesterday wasn't a total loss, my Huskers won a ridiculous game over that team from Boulder that no one in this state seems to care about. I'll give em credit though, our guys were dumb talking trash all week and CU played pretty dang well for a beat-up and crappy team. Enough of that, this is hockey so on to the REAL black and gold...

The Tigers' long winning streak against the north-siders came crashing to an end last night and based on the articles and my friends who were lucky enough to get tickets, it wasn't even close. The Tigers again played sloppy and couldn't score on Friday night, a bizarre trend that will hopefully get corrected soon. The Tigers are in a slump, but it might not be a bad thing to get that slump out of the way early and still have most of the season to continue to grow up. We all know what happens when a team goes full throttle the entire season and hits the slump in the post season (see 07-08 Tigers). If you need an inspiration, look at our rivals in Denver. The Pios stunk it up most of last season and ended up winning the Broadmoor Trophy. North Dakota has traditionally been anemic the first half of the season and goes on a tear once the calendar year switches over. So no need for the panic button yet, this should be a great wake up call for our Tigers and hopefully we will see a team with more urgency the second half of the season. Tonight, the Tigers get Colgate who was blasted 6-1 by DU last night. Hopefully the Tigers will bust out full speed looking to rebound in a hurry, and Colgate will still be in it's high altitude daze. The Falcons head up to Denver tonight and will look to keep their undefeated record intact. Remember, last season the Pios were waxed 5-2 by the Falcons, should be an intense game.
Game links follow below. The Gayzette has a stupid headline like usual and David Ramsey goes into drama mode in his article blasting the Tigers crappy play. At least the paper is consistent in sucking huh?

Gazette: 1, 2, 3
USCHO: 1, 2
CC Athletics
College Hockey News

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought the scores were a little odd last night, USCHO's headline article addresses all the odd outcomes last night (posted below). As for the Tigers, they get another chance to bounce back after a loss just like last week, should be good to see. Check out all the links below.

USCHO

CHN

Gazette (with a typical uber-negative headline)