First and foremost, congratulations to the University of North Dakota women's hockey team for earning the program's first ever NCAA tournament berth. Head coach Brian Idalski and his seventh seeded Fighting Sioux will head to Minneapolis to take on the second seeded Golden Gophers. Gametime is 4:00 PM Saturday at Ridder Arena, and ticket information can be found here. North Dakota is 2-3 against Minnesota this season.
On the men's side, North Dakota capped their regular season with a sweep of Minnesota State this past weekend. They now look to carry the momentum of a fourth place league finish into the postseason when they open up the first round of the WCHA playoffs this weekend at Engelstad Arena against Bemidji State. Also, be on the lookout for the league bloggers' version of the All-WCHA awards. The ballots went out last night and the results will be posted by the end of the week. I should have my ballot posted by tomorrow evening.
The last two games have not been kind to New Jersey captain Zach Parise, at least not physically. Friday night he received a hard hit from a couple of Washington Capitals, and Sunday afternoon he took a hard stick to the hand. He appears no worse for the wear however, and in Friday's game he managed to notch a hat trick just three minutes into the second period:
Travis Zajac's return to the Devils' lineup is on the horizon. If Zajac can get back into the lineup within the next couple of weeks, he will provide New Jersey with a nice boost heading into the postseason.
Toward the bottom of this article, Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher and all-world sniper Steven Stamkos offer up their praise of new Lightning defensemen Mike Commodore and Brian Lee. Since the deal that sent Commodore to Tampa Bay, Detroit's blue line has suffered a minor rash of injuries, prompting one writer to ask, Where Has Mike Commodore Gone? The same writer, by the way, questioned the Commodore trade even before the injuries hit.
Matt Frattin had a two point game Saturday night in helping Toronto defeat Montreal. Here's the video of his quick snipe off the face-off:
NHL.com recently published a very nice article on former Sioux Dave Tippett, who has the Phoenix Coyotes in the thick of the playoff race. The Coyotes' leading goal scorer Radim Vrbata also had some glowing remarks concerning Tippett and his coaching abilities. Thanks to Mr. Senay for passing the Vrbata article my way.
In transaction news, Michael Forney was recently loaned from Colorado (ECHL) to Texas (AHL), and Corey Fienhage was sent down from Rochester (AHL) to Gwinnett (ECHL).
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