Crossing Jordan

A couple of e-mailers suggest that I was being a bit harsh in my assessment of the performance of North Dakota netminder Jordan Parise in yesterday's 6-5 loss to BC.

We start with Pat:

Fine. Parise wasn't himself. But he might have had a better night if he had gotten a little help in front of the net. Sioux defense were coughing the puck up right in front of him all night. They looked like...the Gophers.

If BC is as formidable as North Dakota made them look, they will give Bucky fits.

Still, I hope Wisconsin wins big. I want to hear another two and a half hours of Barry Melrose making excuses for Hockey East. I'm not sure he's convinced yet that Wisconsin is up to snuff, but we know for sure he loves Maine.

It's so bad that Gary Thorne, the Maine graduate, looked like the straight guy tonight.

What I wouldn't give for Frank and Doug, just one more time. Guys that know college hockey instead two east coast NHL announcers picking up a couple of extra bucks over the weekend.

You know it's bad when Gary "Thorne In My Side" is the less annoying member of the broadcasting team. Melrose's lack of college hockey knowledge was evidenced by his need to dredge up every hoary hockey cliché in the book last night, although I have to give him credit for one good line in reference to a group of shirtless male Maine students, "You have to have a chest to take off your shirt."

Next up, is Folsom (or it fulsome?) James reporting live from Milwaukee:

Even thought the final score was 6-5, it felt like BC was in control the entire game. And Parise gave up a lot of break-aways and goals after turn-overs. UND looked like the Gopher "D" on a bad day.

As for the Lesser of two Evils Semi-Final, yuck. I was hoping for a quadruple overtime or more just so the winner would be exhausted. No such luck.

But seriously, what's with the Badger fans and their two cheers? "Sieve! Sieve! Sieve!" and "We Want More!" when they score a goal. That's it! No creativity. Except for the old guy with the white shirt and tennis shoes who leads them in the dramatic and terribly annoying "We Want More!" Kidding.

Oh well, who to root for. Not sure I can root for the stinking badgers, as Glen Sonmor would say.

To borrow a line from The Rolling Stones, you're not the only one with mixed emotions James. On the one hand, I would love to see the WCHA once again reinforce its superiority by having a squad from the conference take the national championship for the fifth straight year. On the other hand, Wisconsin. Wisconsin?

Go Eagles.