The Sicatoka

All of this, starting with "Jim Delany Television" (aka Big Ten Network) through this new hockey conference, has all been all about the Benjamins. The official announcement of the BTHC was March 21. On March 25 the UNO Regents officially voted to move full DI (and drop football and wrestling). Many things all happened there in rapid-fire succession.

Seriously? Dude needs a map. Notre Dame to ... Oxford, OH 225 miles Omaha, NE 547 miles Duluth, MN 562 miles Grand Forks, ND 816 miles Denver, CO 1080 miles Colorado Springs, CO 1150 miles Burlington, Vermont 817 miles Massachusetts

That would be an interesting twist on the situation. Imagine setting up a league where on Friday and Saturday nights a network could broadcast an early and a late game and have five hours of built-in programming each night.

So we blame the Big Ten (and its Network), Jim Delaney, and ultimately that evil donor that gave Penn State hockey start-up money. I'm good with all that.

There you guys go citing the hypcricy of those other folks. Cut that out.

If this new group is looking to run like a business and actually cut some decent media deals, you have to wonder how some of the eastern powers feel about it. Will BC and BU be pleased to hear that this new conference is negotiating for national (continental?) television deals? How will they respond? Yes, they are trying to lure Notre Dame their direction, but what if they don't get them? How will they respond then?

First grade is tough and he wasn't "promoted" this year so take it easy on him.

The remnants of the WCHA and CCHA are set up fairly well to create their own conference and align it with east and west divisions for ease of scheduling and travel. Add in UAH to boot. And that group won't be as intimidating to a start-up as say the current WCHA but will still have some credibility for calibre of hockey. Assuming the new conference is UND, DU, CC, UNO, UMD, MoOH, NDU, and WMU what is left is: HRC (Hockey Remnants Conference): West - SCSU, MSU-M, BSU, UAA, UAF, (new team here, say MSU-Moorhead) East - BGSU, FSU, NMU, MTU, LSSU, UAH This group is set perfectly to try to get schools to add hockey and split into two separate conferences later. Lindenwood in the west. Who knows, maybe another MAC school in the east.

I was just repeating what Anthony LaPantzme said during his broadcasts this past season. One trip. Oh boy. Check UND playing BSU (home or road) during the same past 11 years. Then tell me who's doing more to help young programs.

UND has done that consistently in the past and I don't expect that philosophy to change. In contrast, Minnesota's first ever trip to BSU was the past season.

I think you missed from about here to present in the Big Ten Hockey Conference thread.

For some reason I always think of him more as a Capital or Blackhawk than Jet.

Even the plus of Genoway will not remove the negative of recently acquired Dany Heatley in a Wild jersey. Between being a Badger and driving drunk and killing a teammate in the process Heatley isn't on my "players I'll pay to watch" list. Go Jets.

In a word, why? Need 3000 to 3500 seats? The Betty. Need 5000-6000 seats? Lower bowl of REA, or ... Need 8000-9000? Alerus Center (in BB config). Need 13000 seats for BB? REA. A 5000-6000 seat arena seems like duplication right now, unless it's an ice rink first (which Grand Forks always seems to need another sheet). Closing thought on this: Multiple events ... can you imagine the parking nightmares ... However, for UND right now the greatest need is an indoor training facility (or an on-campus, domed football stadium with enough seats to allow FBS play in the future).

Seems there was more than one Pattyn on this year's Portage Terriers. There was Stephane, and a Yvan Pattyn. Given that Yvan is 26 months younger than Stephane and they share the same town of birth (Saint Anne, MB), one could speculate that Yvan is a brother. Yvan is a 6'1" 196 pound, right-shooting defenceman (<-- Canadian spelling for the critics out there). http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid%5B%5D=125249&pid%5B%5D=139762

star picked a category and tallied it. If star wanted to tally "total 2010-2011 attendance for schools with left-handed womens basketball point guards that come off the bench that are among attendance leaders in any sport" that's his perogative. As with any statistic it is useful within its context and star provided his context clearly and accurately.

Long speculated on the internet, someone finally said it in a forum of record.

Precisely. To claim otherwise is foolheardy at this point.

http://www.leaderpost.com/Fighting+Sioux+claim+gold+medal/5056966/story.html OK, not the Fighting Sioux you'd expect, but you have to smile that much to the NCAA's angst, somewhere in athletics the Fighting Sioux will live on.

Columbus buys out Mike Commodore (roughly $5 million) to release him. Commodore then signs one-year deal for $1 million with Detroit. Isn't everyone listening to: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=616&id=120032&navid=mod-rr-headlines

It's you. Let's try parsing this: The WCHA can't afford to lose UND after having just lost UMn and UWi. Minnesota and Wisconsin have both stated when they are in the Big Ten they will not play UND if it still has the "Fighting Sioux" moniker. Those are their true colors. The former president of SCSU (Roy Saigo) got the NCAA moniker policy moving through the NCAA. The former head of UM-Duluth also stated her support of the NCAA moniker policy to the NCAA and also publicly. There's not a lot of love showing for the name there, much less in the U of Minn system nor in the MnSCU system. I've never heard McLeod speak about this issue. Given where UMn, UWi, UM-D, and SCSU are, McLeod probably believes silence on topic is best for him.

History says my edit of your statement is closer to reality.

We'd have a better chance if we sent just Ed Schafer. It's not that they're mistreating a "fly-over" state. They've disrespected a US cabinet-level secretary. Not as a UND fan, but as an American, that irks me a bit. Maybe they'd meet with Ed long enough to apologize for Bernard Franklin's behavior.

For the Summit the excuse for "no minutes" is that (private) ORU attended, not that the meeting was outside of ND. It's probably a question for the AG, but if an ND official is working for the state on state business anywhere, isn't that required to be open? Hence the origin of media trying to get Summit minutes (NDSU president = state business).