The Sicatoka

Only one defenseman played in every game this year. It wasn't Mazurak or Schneekloth. They both missed time with injuries. It wasn't David Hale. He missed a few. Andy Schneider duked up a Manitoba Bison and missed the opener plus a game at CC. Nick Fuher didn't solidify his line-up position until the second half. Leinweber was in and out of the line-up also. Only Matt Jones played all 37 games this year. Except no one really noticed him out there. But isn't that the way it is supposed to be with a defensive minded defenseman?

Random ramblings and bits of info passed my way. Four NCC teams talk going D-I (IAA football): NDSU, SDSU, USD, UNC. Four NCC teams are not interested in full D-I: UND, SCSU, MnSU-Mankato, UNO. Notice that the teams with some D-I experience (hockey) have no interest in going D-I. Currently $1.8M of UND's $5.8M athletic budget supports just D-I hockey. That's about one third of the budget for just one program. If you are D-I you have to play other D-I teams. To get an idea of D-I travel costs look at UND hockey. Minnesota lost $7,000,000.00 in athletics this year. They project to lose $55,000,000.00 over the next five years. That's an average of $11,000,000.00 lost per year. It so bad that Lucia's team, by Athletic Department decree, can not schedule road non-conference games because they can't affort the travel. I am yet to have someone explain to me how D-I status in the National Collegiate ATHLETIC Association will improve ACADEMICS at The UNIVERSITY of North Dakota or North Dakota State UNIVERSITY. Their primary missions are still academic, yes? Losing money in athletics hurts the total budget. What gets nailed to cover the losses? And D-I (IAA football) newbie Portland State is cutting programs to make the books balance. Uh, how would doing that (because it would happen) at UND or NDSU provide 'opportunities' to North Dakota kids? This is about NDSU's ego. They are POed that UND shows up in the Boston Globe sports page all winter under 'college hockey.' This is about Dr. Chapman wanting to leave his legacy at NDSU. I'm guessing it will be a legacy of red ink.

The following is an excerpt from the March 4, 2002 Sport Illustrated article. All rights to the work and study results belong to Sport Illustrated and the author (SL Price): "Indeed, a recent SI poll suggests that although Native American activists are virtually united in opposition to the use of Indian nicknames and mascots, the Native American population sees the issue far differently. Asked if high school and college teams should stop using Indian nicknames, 81% of Native Americans respondents said no. As for pro sports, 83% of Native American respondents said teams should not stop using Indian nicknames, mascots, characters and symbols. Opinion is far more divided on reservations, yet a majority (67%) there said the usage by pro teams should not cease ... "

The contract (from what I've been told) says that KFYR has to run The Fighting Sioux Hockey Radio Network and anything else has to go on Y-93 (KYYY-FM in Bismarck). If you don't hear The Fighting Sioux Hockey Radio Network on KFYR this weekend I'd post it here and let Roger Thomas know also.

Exclusive broadcast rights to The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux Athletics belong to Clear Channel North Dakota for the rest of this season and for the next two (and for an option of two additional years beyond that). Put another way this is year one of a three year CCND/UND deal. The deal has an option for two additional years at the end. Clear Channel North Dakota Stations of the Fighting Sioux Hockey Radio Network: KFGO 790 AM Fargo KFYR 550 AM Bismarck 96.1 FM Grand Forks I believe CCND stations in Minot and Dickinson are also carrying it. I'm pretty sure there's a station in NW Minnesota also and they are probably selling broadcast rights to other stations. But hey, if you're in ND and can't get KFYR ... you don't have a radio.

Fargo: The Mighty 790 KFGO (790 AM) Grand Forks: 96.1 FM Bismarck: KFYR 550 AM The games should be on Fox Sports as they are "Gopher Hockey" games.

First, http://www.UND.nodak.edu/news/symbol.html Next, point out that if the logo is so offensive, why'd the American Indian artist who made it sign it? Look at the right most feather in that link. If you rotate the logo so that feather is at the top you can see "B BRIEN" in quilling of that feather. That "N," that's no anomaly. That's his signing the work. It's carried over in both the Gemini jerseys and the granite in REA. Look for yourself. And pick up a copy of this week's Sports Illustrated (with the skater on the cover). Nice article pointing out how 81% of non-reservation American Indians do NOT believe that monikers like Seminoles and Sioux are a source or basis of discrimination. If they don't know, who does?

Friday I only saw nine forwards on the ice for UND: Skarp, Bayda, Money Spie, Notes, Ryan Hale Fournier, Lundbohm, Massen Saturday it was: Skarp, Bayda, Money Spie, Notes, Lundbohm McMahon, Canady, Ryan Hale Fournier, Palmiscno, Massen At defense Leinweber didn't play this weekend. Brandt was the other goaltender dressed on Saturday.

From FightingSioux.com: The coordinates are: KU Band, SBS6, Transponder 5.

40 shots against a guy with Dubielewicz's save percentage is still only 2 goals. Ouch. (Wade Dubielewicz has a 0.949 save percentage in the WCHA.)

Well if we're going to tally the NHL stuff .... Ed has a Calder and a couple of Vezina Trophies.

Jim: If the US would have won, Drury (Hobey 1998) would have matched Broten. And wouldn't Ed get any credit for losing the Hobey to a teammate? (Hrkac 1987)

Anyone else heard of the Winona State .... Warriors? That's a MnSCU school. But they're OK, because their warrior logo is of a "Spartan"-looking fellow. You see, white guys can be mascots because they obviously aren't worthy the same protections under the veil of "human rights" as other minorities. The Greek-American minority should be equally protected and should be outraged over this travesty.

Congratulations to Ed Belfour! He has become just the second man ever to complete the hockey Trifecta! What is that? An NCAA title, a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal. Ed Belfour: 2002 Olympic gold medal (Canada) 1999 Stanley Cup (Dallas) 1987 NCAA D-I Championship (U of North Dakota) The only other to do this? Neil Broten 1995 Stanley Cup (New Jersey) 1980 Olympic gold medal (USA) 1979 NCAA D-I Championship (U of Minnesota) On a side note, if Team USA had won Chris Drury (1995 at Boston U, Colorado Stanley Cup) would have the Trifecta. But alas, silver for Drury, Trifecta for Eddie!

There was a yutz on In-Forum spewing sewage. The Forum couldn't manage their own house. It's called a 'moderator'. Geez. Prune the dead wood or cut down the whole tree? As for 'GG', he just couldn't handle questions asked on the simplest of levels. And it's really hard when someone (like me) takes your (GG's) best argument and asks why it only applies to a select few and not to all. The Sicatoka in a thong? Stephen King couldn't come up with anything that scary. The second link was UND's release stating that Parise had signed a letter of intent.

Sports Illustrated Old Spice Athlete of the Month: Zach Parise. http://161.58.199.17/b2.jsp And more importantly: http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports...?RELEASE_ID=835

I believe the "last weekend" 'forecheck' was mentioning was the Saturday game versus Minnesota, not the Tech games. And yes, in that game, Faul was causing much misery for Gophers along the boards and at the faceoff dots.

"Stick Down, Head Up!" Rest in peace, Nancy Berggraf.

The Hurled has reported that LA Kings coach Andy Murray's son has verballed to UND. He'll be there in 2003. Knowing this I vote for "Zach Attack" because I think it'll catch on and if it doesn't I fear they'll be called "The Brady Bunch" (for Brady Murray). (Ba-dump-bump .... ting)

Jeff McLean did what Quinn Fylling is doing now. He played 1987-88 at UND, went back to Canada for 1988-89, and then did three more years at UND from 1989-1992. He came back after a year in Canada for the better. I'm hoping Quinn Fylling follows suit. Layne Sedevie is finally healthy. I wish he'd have seen more pucks this year but you can't have it all. Next fall should provide some strong competition for goaltending time. Earlier this year UND had a forward at the point on the second powerplay unit: Chris Fournier. The problem is that Chris hasn't been right physically from day one except for maybe one weekend. I like him up there because he's patient, has good vision, and makes good passes.

The Gophs in 2002: 0-3-1 on Friday 0-4-1 in WCHA weekend series game ones The Gophs are walking around with the "Friday night" (I like to think of it was "first game of the weekend") jinx on their minds. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Sioux come out and bang in a couple early and get them thinking about it even more.

Remember, the line in Vegas is set not by what the odds-makers think reality is, but by what the odds have to be to cause the books to be 'balanced' no matter who wins. To understand better, look at Nebraska football. Everybody in that state (and the nation) likes to put money on Big Red. What Vegas does is offer points so people take the other side so that no matter who wins the game the Vegas payout is equal and they don't have to cover payouts with house money. Same thing in hockey. Offering weak odds for Minnesota will cause some fans to shy away from placing a bet because it won't be worth it. Also those shy odds are based on the number of people looking to put money on UMn versus anyone/everyone else. Looking at the numbers: UA-Fairbanks and UND should both be "Field". Minnesota, SCSU, and DU appear to have either hit a swoon or peaked early. I wouldn't be surprised if only one WCHA team makes it to St. Paul. If CC maintains its pace it could easily be them. Don't forget that Ron Mason is retiring from MSU and they play on a lot of 200x85 ice (like the XCel) in the CCHA. But my gut says one of the eastern teams that's been consistent all year (UNH or BU) might be the one to pick.

No, no one has come out and said, "It's all the ice's fault!" but statements about how the ice doesn't favor the game they want to play, especially by Coach Blais, say a lot. UND's record on road NHL-sized rinks (assumably with good ice) is 4-0. (The GLI and at MTU.) Believe it or not, arena ice is more art than science. Figure all of the numbers and models you want, but it's not right until you adjust it to in-place physical reality. If Denny couldn't get that ice right, there was something wrong. Well, it sounds like they've got a good lead on the problem. Now just let the unsung member of that team, Denny G., work his magic. Just a random opinion: We know that young teams take their lumps. We see that teams with new ice (UMn, UW, DU) take lumps the first year. Personally, I'd rather take all of the lumps at once, and then return them all at once.

In the past (before going to Minnesota) Blais had commented on how well the team had practiced on the side (Olympic) rink. Apparently the ice in there is firm. Also this morning Coach Blais had made the point that their game is dependent on the ability to be quick, make sharp moves, and capitalize on the other guy's mistakes. (Soft ice doesn't support that.) The main rink had better be right soon. Mr. E spent some serious money for ice, not slush. Also with six of the next eight games at home and the other two at (190 x 85) The DECC in Duluth the main rink is rink to practice on. Mr. Hennessy (ya gotta love Tim) commented on how he "doesn't like those guys" (meaning Minnesota). His belief is that they tend to hit after the whistle and seem to like to put gloves up into faces. He also put forth his thoughts that this is a result of a number of them coming straight from HS and never having had the tar beat out of them for doing such things.