gophers/ncaa

I think it is also a confluence of a various factors that came together to bring about this magical season. WHAT IF Brad Frost had told Noora Raty that there wasn't a spot on the team for her, and she went up to UMD instead? Would we be seeing UMD in the Frozen Four instead? OR, WHAT IF Noora Raty had not been slighted during the All-WCHA team selections last year and had not been voted to the Third Team? Would she still have played with the determination, intensity, fire, and the "I'll show you who should really have been on the First Team!" attitude last year in the post-season? And carried that over into this season? WHAT IF the University of Wisconsin had not been in the middle of winning 4 of 6 NCAA championships when Amanda Kessel was looking at schools to play hockey for? Would she then have decided to stay in her home state to help them win championships? And so would it be Wisconsin possibly talking about an undefeated season? WHAT IF Megan Bozek had decided she wanted to go to a different school, maybe one of the schools out East - Mercyhurst wouldn't have been too much farther away than the Twin Cities - would Mercyhurst now be the prohibitive favorites to win the Frozen Four? And those "What if's" are just for three of the players! Every player on the team has made some type of contribution to the overall success of the Women's Hockey team this season. Example, Amanda Leveille, the Freshman backup goalie has three SHUTOUTS in her three starts! And what about the addition of one of the Women's Gopher Hockey greats, Nadine Muzerall? Is it purely coincidence that the year she joined the coaching staff, they won the NCAA championship after a six year drought? Or that in her second year, the team has gone undefeated during the regular season and are looking to repeat as champions? As I've stated before, I have never been one to believe in coincidences. Point is, to me, it is the coming together of various factors that has the Women Gopher Hockey team on the verge of accomplishing something very rare and wonderful! To the Women Gopher Hockey team, you're making the State of Hockey proud! Good luck, and keep it going!

Bozek is the women's answer to the men's Rau. What a cast of fun characters! They make hockey look like a lot of fun. Maybe Rau is the men's answer to Bozek! Watch both teams if you can. The old maroon and gold look pretty good to me. My 'cup' is more than half full. Congratulations on a fine effort' people!

Not to take anything at all away from the talent on this team, but this wasn't a typical WCHA season. There are realistically three top teams in the league: the Gophers, the Bulldogs and the Badgers. UMD had their worst season ever and Wisconsin didn't get in gear until the second half, and then only marginally. Couple that with a pretty soft out-of-conference schedule and it would've been a bigger story had the Gophers not won. Great players, but it would've been more exciting and maybe more newsworthy if they'd overcome great competition week in and week out.