2026 Regionals

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1-0 UConn over Michigan State, about 4 minutes left in 1st.
 



Regional weekend when the Gophers aren't in it... You just pray North Dakota and uw lose.
 








i'm with bonin. those 2 and then the rest is gravy. will make the FF a lot calmer if neither of those 2 is there
 

I’m one of the few that has no problem with UND. My daughter went there so I’ve been to a dozen of their games over the years since it’s a short drive for me. I’ve never had a problem with their fans even when the gophers are there and I have my Gopher jersey on.

Augustine plays like he did today they could go all the way. The guy is an absolute wall
 

Quinnipiac in full control of this one. 3-0 with 2 to go in the second
 

Providence making a late push. 3-2 with 4 to go
 



TRF Guy said:
Augustine plays like he did today they could go all the way. The guy is an absolute wall
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Been the best goalie in the country since about November of his freshman year
 

Q wins

Dartmouth looks like ass and Wisconsin trap should be More than enough to win up 3-1 late
 

Bucky up 5-1 now. Oh how I despise them
 

TRF Guy said:
I’m one of the few that has no problem with UND. My daughter went there so I’ve been to a dozen of their games over the years since it’s a short drive for me. I’ve never had a problem with their fans even when the gophers are there and I have my Gopher jersey on.

Augustine plays like he did today they could go all the way. The guy is an absolute wall
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Having no problem with UND winning truly does not make you a Gopher fan lol. I know and like many of their fans but that doesn’t have anything to do with despising the team
 


cheeseburgerphil26 said:
Having no problem with UND winning truly does not make you a Gopher fan lol. I know and like many of their fans but that doesn’t have anything to do with despising the team
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Whatever bud. I don’t have that much hate in my body. I coached this game for 40 years and obviously love the game. I bleed maroon and gold. I have many UND friends and like I said my daughter went there and know more because of it. And I never said I don’t mind them winning. I don’t care if they win or lose. Believe what you want. Go Gophers!!!
 
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I laugh when North Dakota loses, but honestly, since the Big 10/WCHA changeover, I really don't think about them that much.

Maybe not the first few years, but since about 2018/2019, pretty much an afterthought.
 

I can't tell you how much I hate watching this tournament when the Gophers aren't in it. But I still do it.
 

The ice in Sioux Falls was atrocious. All 4 teams have commented on it. Watching the games the puck was bouncing everywhere. That arena has had issues in the past yet still get a regional. Don’t get it
 

TRF Guy said:
The ice in Sioux Falls was atrocious. All 4 teams have commented on it. Watching the games the puck was bouncing everywhere. That arena has had issues in the past yet still get a regional. Don’t get it
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Joy of the way they allow bidding. Just not a lot of sites in the area that can and will bid. To me definitely another reason to advocate for campus sites
 

I think the parity we saw grow over the last 20 years is now going to go the other way. You will likely have 7 NCHC/Big Ten and one ECAC in the final eight.

If we say there are like 10 teams that will make up 75% of the final eight most years, the Gophers are likely in the bottom half of those 10 teams right now because of the lack of NIL and slow CHL adoption setting us back two to three years. Gonna be tough but I think unfortunately for fans of the other teams it's gonna be much worse come tourney time.

Let's see if Kato can prove me wrong today.
 

upnorthkid said:
Joy of the way they allow bidding. Just not a lot of sites in the area that can and will bid. To me definitely another reason to advocate for campus sites
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Remember when Scheels Arena hosted I believe their first ever regional and St Cloud played AIC. SCSU had a bunch of speedsters on that team and on paper should have won fairly easily. The ice conditions negated that speed and AIC won a very boring game. I thought for sure after that debacle Scheels would never host one again it was that bad
 

Gosh it's almost like having the regionals on campus would help that, too. What a fucking joke that we're still doing this.
 

bonin21 said:
I think the parity we saw grow over the last 20 years is now going to go the other way. You will likely have 7 NCHC/Big Ten and one ECAC in the final eight.

If we say there are like 10 teams that will make up 75% of the final eight most years, the Gophers are likely in the bottom half of those 10 teams right now because of the lack of NIL and slow CHL adoption setting us back two to three years. Gonna be tough but I think unfortunately for fans of the other teams it's gonna be much worse come tourney time.

Let's see if Kato can prove me wrong today.
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can't say i agree. There will be some of them on a year-to-year basis, but there's too much talent in the game now with both young and older CHL players.

UMD is not swimming in NIL. Wisco is not either. WMU has a little. Providence took McQueen but got dunked on by QU who has a handful of midround picks.

We saw BU and BC look mediocre despite their budgets. UConn outplayed MSU pretty badly for a large part of the game yesterday. Merrimack outplayed UND for the entire 3rd and a chunk of the 2nd.

There's a reason the 18-19 year old BU kids struggled against older grinding teams. I don't think it's going to change much of the parity side, but you're going to further incentivize the shitty hockey none of us want to see with heavy clutch and grab and trap

Nothing has really changed the last 5 or so years. the 2021 post COVID year is really the last time you saw plentiful dogs make it (UMD, UMass, Kato, SCSU). 2022 had Kato, MN, DU, Mich, 23 had MN, BU, Mich, QU, 24 had Mich, DU, BU, BC, 25 BU PSU, WMU, DU.

There was that little run in 13-15 where we had some weird teams (particularly 13). But the 14 year was Union with MN, ND, and BC with 15 being Providence with BU, UND, and Omaha (super strange regional for Omaha with Harvard, Kato, and RIT and then they got drilled by Providence at the FF)

There's typically 1-2 non blue bloods who are pretty good every year and generally you get maybe one who sneaks through. Just a matter of if they win the games when they're there knowing their cycles are not going to be every year. Your title winners are still by and large going the same. Just have added some teams to the regular cycling you didn't have more recently (MSU, PSU) coupled with the non-blue bloods who have currently really good coaches (WMU, QU).

Same as college hockey has always been. The lower tier will still team build in the same ways. I get what you're saying about some top teams clustering more talent, but I think it may just change the names slightly rather than skew to the top any more than it has in the past.
 

bonin21 said:
Gosh it's almost like having the regionals on campus would help that, too. What a fucking joke that we're still doing this.
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you're going to upset Wodon talking like this. The Worcester attendance looked horrible yesterday on TV as well. certainly does not help the product putting that on TV coupled with some terrible broadcast analysis
 

upnorthkid said:
can't say i agree. There will be some of them on a year-to-year basis, but there's too much talent in the game now with both young and older CHL players.

Same as college hockey has always been. The lower tier will still team build in the same ways.
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Maybe what I'm sensing is not the NIL component but more this: I wonder if the NCHC and the Big Ten will dominate more than ever. And it's a combination of NIL (for teams like MSU/PSU/UM and a bit UND) and the other teams just being really good picking up players that want to play in the clear best two conferences to prepare for the NHL.

It will be VERY interesting to see who gets number 6 first between UMN, BC, BU, and MSU.
 

bonin21 said:
Maybe what I'm sensing is not the NIL component but more this: I wonder if the NCHC and the Big Ten will dominate more than ever. And it's a combination of NIL (for teams like MSU/PSU/UM and a bit UND) and the other teams just being really good picking up players that want to play in the clear best two conferences to prepare for the NHL.

It will be VERY interesting to see who gets number 6 first between UMN, BC, BU, and MSU.
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that part i agree with 100%. Brand of hockey and competition level is far better in the NCHC and B10 for dev for the next level. Much faster, more open, focus on playmaking. Think that, on top of the money, is why you see guys steered there and then BC/BU because they play that style as well

On the who gets 6, percentages would say strongly skewed to one of the first 3 (obviously MSU may get #4 this year and has some fun pieces coming in). Some guys have looked the part as they've come in, but its the same deal as it always has been. For every Martone you have a Lindstrom who looks lost out there and BU showed this year its really hard to win with a ton of young guys unless you've got vets who are good enough to supplement (same thing we kind of talked about at the beginning of the year that UM, MSU and PSU would need their Jrs and Srs to show up and they were probably more the key than a 1 man show). Certainly makes your floor much higher with the 1st round talent, but I think the days of a Paul Kariya coming in and just dummying college hockey are long gone
 
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