The Sicatoka

Ah, but do those wildly fluctuating graduation rates (because of calculational anomalies, that you admit to, and I will too) allow for players who leave school early to play in the professional ranks? Last I checked, no, they don't. In the past two years UND has lost three players to early departures to the pros (Bryan Lundbohm, Travis Roche, Ryan Bayda). When a hockey recruiting class is a handful of players that is hugely significant. That's why I asked if you really wanted to talk about this. The numbers are so inconsistent because of the (lack of) methodology of the NCAA.

Is that like football should be played outside? Oh, that's right. On the Montana Grizzlies board football should be played indoors is what you said. Then why not hockey indoors? Hey, JBB, by the way, where is the U of Montana located?

Lennon over Rocky Hagar? Lennon over Terry Allen? Lennon over Casey Bradley? Come on, even you must have trouble believing that. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Be careful Jim. If fans of a certain other school read that link it may cause a meltdown.

Marc Ranfranz battles last year's All-American (who has a 92% save percentage) to a 1-1 tie for all but two seconds of a game. A screened shot finds its way in and they lose 2-1, and team defense is the problem? Where's that team that was averaging 4+ goals a game? The mirrors in the Sioux locker room need some serious use this week for soul-searching.

I'm sure others will agree with me that we're spending too high a percentage of our time chewing the fat about a player who left, a player whose commitment to Sioux hockey was well known, and a player who stepped up to the table on many occasions. Chris has moved on. We still miss him, even though he was not very good at checking and he got quite a few bad bounces. I'm sure his current Seawolves teammates think he's just aces. It was certainly good of Coach Hill to take a gamble on him. And I'm sure he

They try to balance the power across the regions. They do the same thing in hoops.

I'd say at least enough to remain eligible for NCAA competition (and that's all fans should really know).

That type of information isn't usually known outside of the players and coaches, much less tossed about in public forums like this. Consider it to be like grades: private, academic information.

Let me paraphrase Tim Hennessy from the radio this morning: Four WCHA league titles, two NCAA titles, but you say he doesn't know how to pick a goalie?

You can read some of the details about the facility here: http://www.theralph.com/building.htm http://www.theralph.com/stats.htm The place has a walk-in humidor to keep the moisture in the sticks perfect so their flex is just right.

" .... a segregated sport ... " sayeth the purveyor of wrestling. PS - JBB, are you sure you want to talk graduation rates?

Let me guess, you'd rather talk about DII football titles won last century.

Well look what's being offered over at FightingSioux.com. http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/mhocke...RELEASE_ID=1818

The Bison are yet to play a game in any activity while classified "Division I." Meanwhile UND has played at least seven Division I games as evidenced by .....

Do I believe everything I've heard? No. But I do believe my source: a TeamMaker who was at the meeting.

You missed two. IF Boston University makes it, they will play in Worcester. IF Providence College makes it, they will play in Providence. (Hosts play at their sites if they make it.)

JBB: Dare I guess that you refer to Scott's posting? 1. Check the time stamp on that. Long before the admin "got tough." 2. Mr. Babich used to wear a cap that said 'SU. That's not a misspelling and I don't see any other. I've seen NDSU's own student newspaper refers to the school as SU. 3. Choose an ad campaign that doesn't make it so easy next time.* I do have to appreciate Mr. Taylor's method for avoiding a decision. He may have a career in politics. *I was told that at TeamMakers last fall a speaker called it one of the three worst disasters in ND history, ranking with the Fargo tornado of '52 and the GF flood of '97.

JBB: DII hockey was shut down within the last decade. Why? The "play up in one sport" rule caused most of the DIIs to go up. That's why Bemidji State moved up. For the record, DI hockey is primarily DI schools: 35 DIs (13 are IAs, 16 are IAAs, 6 are IAAAs), 20 DIIs, 5 DIIIs. You'll see a Division I UND long before you'll see NCAA DII hockey again.

tony, I (gulp) agree with you. Well, up to your last sentence. I'm not as sure as you that they'd do the full evaluation. They have larger and smaller market reports and data points immediately available to compare to. However you still struck upon the crux of the issue: Can it be afforded? Money solves the travel/conferences issues. (Money solves a lot of issues, but we knew that.) You're right, many are waiting to see if UND's "afford it" issues solve themselves and how other fiscal issues regarding DI play out around the region. The new wildcard of the NCAA showing a leaning for "all sports at one level" schools/conferences has to weigh into UND's thoughts. UND might have to make the move just to keep (I'll say it) the hockey cash-cow safe. Does anyone know about the budgets at SCSU, Mankato, Duluth, or Omaha? Are their hockey programs "revenue positive" like at UND? If so, they may have to evaluate the same circumstances.

I agree, and would like to expand. 1. The shot was perfect. (I still swear I saw it off the glass but there it was in the net.) Josh was fundamentally sound on that one. He was out and had the angle. The shooter found the pipe in the far corner. 2. Leinweber? I had an Albany 2001 flashback. He got beat to the outside and deep, again. I had "that feeling" when I saw it forming up. Chris, hit somebody, and be malicious about it please. Outside of that, where were the guys covering the trailers? 3. I hate to say it, but from my angle, the ice was still damp where Greene had his problem. Still, he should have gone up the boards and out of the zone with it when he had the chance a second before. 4. Nick's skates just came out from under him. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. 5. The team was pressing. That happens. Somebody said that you need a goalie to make three big saves per game. I'd argue that Josh made two of them. Look at some of the scrums in front where Tech didn't score. It was Josh that stopped those. The one that he couldn't stop that was really needed, and ended up being the back-breaker, was the miscue by Greene. I can't blame Josh for that. He was hung out. I saw nothing that was not fixable. Used properly, this big mouthful of "losing stinks" just may be a good reminder of how one would choose to not spend the summer.

The NCAA has already moved to fix the hockey auto-bid issue. http://www.uscollegehockey.com/news/2003/0...2/06_006096.php Did you hear that the MAAC conference has had three members (St. John's, Canisius, Fairfield) drop IAA football since the end of the season? Financial issues in each case. Luckily they still have six members remaining (in FB).

It looks like the problem has been noted and dealt with already. "Cabinet Recommends Reprieve For WCHA, CHA" http://www.uscollegehockey.com/news/2003/0...2/06_006096.php

League, wide ice (>90'), North American (90' or less), unknown. HEA: 2, 7, 0 ECAC: 0, 12, 0 MAAC: 0, 10, 1 CCHA: 2, 10, 0 WCHA: 6, 4, 0 CHA: 0, 5, 1 Total: 10, 48, 2 I know what the NCAA says (wide, meaning 100' Olympic, or as close as possible), but those glaciers, like at Mariucci, are the exception in the college game.

Denver is a DI-AAA (no football). Goldie and Bucky are DI-A (85 scholarships football). CC is DIII. The rest are DII. USCHO has fixed their story. (That's the danger of copying and not linking.) Can you believe INCH got it right?