The Sicatoka

Hammy: I'll answer for Goon. Same logic does apply for Parise; however, the catch is, as in any business deal there must be a buyer and a seller. "The buyers" all know that Parise is smaller and needs to add mass. They'll want to see how he plays in that frame before they "buy." sagard: I really can't find a hole in your analysis. Paul Martin, Ballard, Harrington, and Stevens scares me much more than (pick one) PM/KB, Harrington, Stevens, and ____? (Atherton? MacKinnon? Vanelli?)

Hammy: Very true. No Runkel and no Bourne won't help them. But we are yet to know all of the off-season changes for all the teams.

I go by Heisenberg because I'm not sure where else to look. If I was Howe I'd stay away or buy a lot of ties. I'm looking at who's returning what because to be the best you have to beat what all the other guys have. Here's one eye-opener tossed my way already this morning: Believe it or not, as it stands right now, Minnesota does not return the most conference goals, assists, or points next season. That designation goes to Mankato. It's not by much, but it's there.

Greyeagle: Oops. One of those A's. Let's put the rubber on the road right here. The over and under for Minnesota players with eligibility remaining to leave for the pros right now is set at 2.5. Who's taking which side (over or under)?

Anyone else notice the conference Mike McFeely (Fargo Forum) proposed for NDSU in his column Sunday?

Let's think about that for a second: Minuses: DeMarchi, Angell, Roberg (?), Mike Erickson, Dan Welch. The last two have been gone a semester already. Roberg? No comment. Angell wasn't breaking the line-up down the stretch. The only loss is DeMarchi. Recruiting class? Goalie Briggs. Defensemen Vanelli and Taylor. Forwards Potulny, Irmen, and Howe. Goldie's Roster. Adding Briggs takes some of the practice load off the other two. That makes sense. Only losing one defenseman but bringing in two when there are 9 on the roster already? Ten defensemen on the roster? That tells me that Lucia expects to lose one, maybe two, to the pros. Normally teams carry 8 or 9 defensemen. Fifteen forwards on the current roster. However, that counts Welch (gone already) and Erickson (already back to USHL). Anthony (didn't play down the stretch) is a senior. That would be trading three for three even up. However, as mentioned, the potential exists for guys who've played the last two seasons to be wearing ties during games. I think the jury is still out on Vanek, Ballard, Paul Martin, and probably Tallackson's (did his stock rise the weekend or what?) status for next year. A guy like Vanek or Ballard (high draft picks), teams may want to get them into the fold now, before the new CBA a year from now. I won't guess at where teams will be for about three months. I want to see who stays and who goes because anyone who believes all the going is already (around the whole league) done is reality challenged.

Home ice more than 90 feet wide in the NCAA: HEA: UNH, UMass-Amherst CCHA: UAF, NMU WCHA: Minnesota, UAA, CC, MSU-M, SCSU, UW CHA: None ECAC: None MAAC: None That's 10 wide and 50 (or now 48) on 90' or less.

Look in here: http://siouxshop.com/catalog/ or maybe just contact them to see if they can recommend a vendor.

FSU/Minnesota was on the glacier called Mariucci. This will be on NHL ice. That might actually work in UNH's favor more than Minnesota's. Still, I'm not sure UNH has the depth. Add on no Gare (shoulder) and a dinged Ayers and Minnesota seems to have things leaning their way.

Having watched both semis, they should have re-seeded the tournament. (Highest PWR Cornell vs lowest Michigan; UNH vs Minnesota) I believe I watched a championship game in National Semifinal #2. I believe Saturday night will bear that out. CC at their peak this year probably would have gotten all of them, but you need to peak in March and April, not February.

Two questions: 1. Did the NCAA get the cash for admission from Red after the game? The way his team was standing and watching at the end of OT I figure they should be charged as spectators. 2. Did someone leave a wake-up call for Montoya? It was nice of Thomas to not hit him with the puck and arouse him from his slumber. Congrats to Minnesota to be peaking at the right time. (I don't think the Wildcats have enough. And losing to the Wildcats would be almost like losing to SCSU. )

Swipe card = horrible idea. I couldn't make a couple of games so I gave those tickets away. I can't imagine the logistics of giving someone my card to use on Friday and then having to get it back so I can go Saturday. And what about folks that split costs and share seats (Friday/Saturday)? Swipe cards will lower the number of people in the arena. People in the arena equals concessions revenues. You can figure out the correct answer from here.

So shouting @#$%&! affects whether or not that saucer-pass gets through? ..... Put another way, you are admitting that you willfully violated an agreement. That'll garner a lot of sympathy. PS - Like your mom said, "Just because every other fan in the league jumped off a bridge ...." So you want to be just like SCSU fans?

I have an idea: Why not approach Roger Thomas and try one more time at both sides living to the original agreement (from when the line-of-site controversy started last year). Students: You have failed. How do I know? I see you standing. That'd be "guilty." Oops. Plus, wasn't there supposed to be some effort on cleaning up the verbage? REA/UND: You have failed. Where's the lyrics on the displays? The "sieve dot" on the ring? (U2Bad1, Dirty, forecheck, help me with others.) That'd be "guilty." Oops. Season ticket holders: When you aren't going to use your seats, please make sure someone is in it. I don't care if they are rabid and cheer for UND or just sit there like a statue. (Cheering for opponents is unacceptable. ) Give the old agreement, which must have been workable because both sides agreed to it, a real effort this time by having both sides actually live to it.

Come on, it was real because it was on the script. - First goal will be scored by UNH. Done. - If someone goes up 3, call penalties to get it back under 3. Done. - If UNH only leads by one late and CU is pressing, call one late to slow down Cornell. Done. It's all right there on the script Donny was given!

REA didn't ask for the crap-burger to be put in front of them. They just have to eat it. Here's what REA is doing with profits from operations, those rotten people. http://www.ralphengelstadarena.com/ralphsgift.html Welcome to economic reality of collegiate athletics: No money, no hockey team. PS - REA's Board of Directors includes Tom Clifford (President Emeritus of UND) and Earl Strinden (Executive VP Emeritus, UND Alumni Association and Foundation). If you believe either of those two would do anything to harm any aspect of UND (from campus, to students, to alumni, to finances) you need to re-examine your understanding of the situation.

Folks really need to learn how to use a search engine. The Story. His two-year diversion agreement is about over. I believe completing that with no offenses expunges his record. (Someone correct me if that is in error.) And let me restate my position on this clearly: It's not the mistake in judgement, it's how you take responsibility for it and your actions afterwards.

The ND Legislature, as a condition to allow the publicly owned land to be built on and to allow such a building to be built there, passed a law that required REA to show an operating profit before it could be turned over to UND or a UND foundation. Don't blame REA. Blame your state legislator for passing the law. REA just has to live within it, thus, it has to make sure it shows a profit. And remember, as previously stated, profits from REA end up going back into UND Athletics. (Remember the $500,000.00 to fund the womens hockey team this season?)

All of the above is from: http://msn.espn.go.com/ncb/s/2003/0403/1533643.html Thoughts?

Here's another piece of the article:

An unnamed Sioux fan poster posts a fact (as evidenced by Chad Roberg not showing up in official stats) on POI and gets banned from POI. An unnamed Sioux fan posts things like this "intelligent post" (scroll a little, first post) and Gopher fans are in an uproar over banning them (from the SiouxSports board no less)? Me thinks you doth protest too much.

The view of a game from the upper at The Ralph is, in my opinion, far better than the view from the lower. Of course, as I've groused about here before, sadly, too many student have become like season ticket holders: There for the social event, not the game. I'm all for "social eventers" being in the upper (except where I sit). The knock I'd put on this is that they put the students into 111, down by UND's goalie for 2/3 of the game rather than in 106 (by the visitor for 2/3).

In a story titled, "Bison struggling to be one of D-I," the Fargo Forum has written a special report article on the actions and activities that NDSU has undertaken in pursuit of a DI conference. Some interesting excerpts:

From the GF Herald: Hale gets a New Jersey

My point isn't a "Oh yeah!"-fest. (And I don't know if you'd count the GF ChannelCats as "minor league" because it was NorthWoods League ball where the players were all collegians who retained amateur status because they weren't paid.) My point: I'm surprised the (not overly fiscally stable) AWHL would be going into a city where the (more stable) USHL has not been able to succeed. The AWHL has tended to pick cities where they don't have to go head-to-head with other established fan bases. (Bismarck, Billings, Great Falls, Fernie, etc.)