Please remember that I didn't actually see any games this weekend.
So take all my game comments with a grain of salt.
 
1.  How does Wisconsin manage to make it to the phinal phour so
often even though they rarely manage to win the WCHA?  Wisconsin
has won 5 NCAA championships(don't know how often they made the
final four, 8 or 9) but Wisc. has only won the WCHA twice.  Is it
luck?  Certainly Wisconsin's path this year appears to have been much
easier than any other team's.  Or is it some uncanny ability to
improve their game when the playoffs start?
 
2.  I am a firm believer in the basic duality of nature.  The dual counterpart
to Wisc. is unfortunately Minnesota.  Why do they always have so much pop
and fizz in the regular season only to taste like last week's champagne
in the postseason?   They have won the WCHA championship a zillion times
yet they haven't won a NCAA championship since 1979.
     I have an awful secret to confide here but please promise not to
mention it anywhere off this mailing list.  I like the way Minnesota
plays hockey.  They skate well, they don't depend on one big scorer,
and they play a relatively open style i.e. not clutch and grab.
Is this style simply not suited to the playoffs?
 
3.  Why do people place some of the blame for their team losing on the
single elimination format?  Sure, with the best-of-three format the better
team should have a slightly higher chance of advancing.  Next year your
team might be the lower ranked team and then the single elimination will
be advantageous for your team.  If you want the better team to always win maybe
you should advocate the playoffs be abolished.  A balanced round-robin schedule
is the way to go.  See Maine.  Also see #2.
 
4.  Why didn't more people show up for the games at Detroit?  How far is
it from Ann Arbor to Detroit?
 
5.  What does it mean when people say they "route for team X?"
This phrase has popped up in this space and also in the USENET
rec.sport.* newsgroups regularly.  Does this mean these people are
some sort of team navigator plotting the best route from team X to
highway Y?  I'm surprised these people don't spend more time ROOTing
for their team or checking their spelling dictionary.  (Add multiple :-)'s)
 
6.  Why do people woof?  Woof is slang for obnoxiously pointing out MY
TEAM won and YOUR TEAM lost thus the woofer is a member of a superior caste of
the human race.  Haven't these people heard of the Oliver Woofing Theorem
or Robert Fulgrum?
 
99.  Thanks to Mike M and the people at Providence for the detailed stats
sheets.
 
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mark grassl