It's Only Fitting

My Denver-based brother and I have been trash talking via email about tonight's game. Worse, we've been copying our sister and parents on the thread. But I'm going to clean it up for the blog.

It's fitting that Denver University and the University of North Dakota are squaring off in tonight's championship game. Hardware-wise, these are historically the top two programs in the WCHA. The numbers:

1) National championships - UND #1 with seven, DU #2 with six.

2) Regular season championships - UND #1 with twelve, DU #2 with ten.

The two teams have a at-times nasty rivalry that dates back to the fifties. This is the fourth time that they have met in the title game, with DU winning in 1958 and 1968 and UND winning in 1959. (I'm still heartbroken about that '68 game ...)

My stab at an analyis:

1) Why DU will win - Peter Mannino is playing outstanding in goal, are the defending national champions, are 3-0 against UND this season, power-play was awesome in the semifinal game, they play better and better as the games go on, Gabe Gauthier.

2) Why UND will win - Jordan Parise is playing outstanding in goal, they took DU to overtime in the WCHA semifinals on short rest and with their #2 goalie, they will win the physical battles, the Bina factor.

This could be a classic ending to the WCHA invitational. I have no bets on tonight's game - I'm still riding high with winning a case of Summit Pale Ale on Thursday's game.