The Sicatoka

I'm feeling kind this morning. Add up the number of conference regular season championships, plus conference post season championships, plus national championships, that UND WIH has won, and I personally will pay for that many more seasons of UND WIH play. As a reader's aid, here's a resource to help you calculate what I'm buying with my bold and gracious offer.

That bucket of cold water guy brought the garden hose to USCHO this morning already.

Mentioning Pekka, I believe next year we'll be going with a 9-6-1 roster. 9F, 6D, and a goalie. Skaters will be straight points (like this year). Goalies are 1 pt for a win plus 1 bonus pt for a shutout (plus any actual points scored). If that system was this year, Pekka would be ... (wait for it) ... YUUUUUUGGEEE ... to have on your roster. 4 wins, 2 SO, 2 assists for 8 points. That's ahead of Crosby right now; tied with Kessel.

Honestly, the old school folks remember the MVC as the precursor to the Big 8. Schools like Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska were MVC founders in the 1920s. Schools like Houston, Cincy, Louisville, Memphis State built it post-WWII. They hear MVC and remember those glory days and believe the MVC name still has panache in a Snapchat world. Hint: It's not your great-grandpappy's or even your grandpappy's MVC any more.

The Summit, right now, because of Wichita's move and the fallout from it, even with UND lined up to come in, is less stable than it was 12 months ago. Why? It could easily be hit directly, secondarily, or tertiarily, when the MVC acts.

Flames ... extinguished Blue Jackets ... faded Blackhawks ... whitewashed

Morning of Fri Apr 21 (please validate): 36 - Engineer 33 - KoolGuy2K32- sioux rube30- stoneySIOUX29 - George M. Bluth28- The Sicatoka24- Shawn-O23- Ray7723- 90siouxfan13* - siouxforcefans

Ray had CHI in 5; I had CHI in 6. It is NAS in ... 4. CHI 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 NAS Ray missed by six slots and had the wrong team so points double: 12. Add is prior 2 for 14. I missed by five slot and had wrong team: 10 points. Add my prior 3 for 13. So through three "holes" in this "Masters" Ray has 14 strokes to my 13 strokes.

Well PIT dispatched CBJ in 5. Ray had PIT in 6; I had PIT in 7. PIT 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 CBJ Ray missed by one slot so he takes a stroke plus his prior for 2 total. I missed by two slots so I take two strokes plus my prior makes 3 total for me.

If this "NDSU to MVC" noise it real, does it give UND carte blanche to relook at conferences and affiliations? A scenario with NDSU jumping eliminates about 1/3 of the good reasons of the move to the Summit/MVFC.

< now serving pancakes >

Oh, I'm in full "Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" mode over there.

Back to point: There's 13 pages on this over at USCHO. I'd say about 1.5 pages of truth and facts and the remainder is emotion and general "SMH". http://board.uscho.com/showthread.php?119842-REPORT-North-Dakota-cutting-women-s-hockey PS - About page 13 (post 250-ish) some bucket of cold water guy shows up with mean, objective, factual realities.

Some music for your road trip ...

Not to get all Jeffersonian, but, we've lost our virtue. Incremental changes can't restore that. "[In a republic, according to Montesquieu in Spirit of the Laws, IV,ch.5,] 'virtue may be defined as the love of the laws and of our country. ... Everything, therefore, depends on establishing this love in a republic; and to inspire it ought to be the principal business of education; ... " -- Thomas Jefferson

You must've missed where I said "precluded the fall of Rome." As I've said to PCM at times: "Welcome to Rome, stand by for the fall."

Reading between the lines, all he's saying is if he went to FLA Borgstrom (FLA draftee) would follow. < shrug >

That's a "player" game like this one here: pick a roster, get their points. (Commy does +/- not points.) This is a based on team/series/games picks.

Your first look at scoring given that ANA over CGY in 5 ANA 4 5 6 7 7 6 5 4 CGY Ray picked ANA in 5; it was ANA in 4; he's off by one slot in that number line so Ray picked up 1 stroke. I picked ANA in 5 also, so I too have 1 stroke. As other series close we'll explain scoring further.

Ray77 and I have been collaborating (conniving?) another game for the SC playoffs for 2018. We're prototyping it this year. Watch and see Ray kick my < bleep >. We'll explain scoring as we go, but here's our opening round picks.

What you are describing is the "bread and circuses" that precluded the fall of Rome. It's been explored more recently as well here: "Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education"

Undeniably you are thinking about and understand the concept. That's what I'm looking for, 'cause thinkin' is good! What this may drive is regional teams to band together and pick the regional sites that make most sense to them ... and not some NCAA committee. And gee, that might actually fill out all the sites. And, as some speculated, a conference may declare together. By the time the "banding together" is done you may end up with only 7-9 possible sites at the start of the season and only 4 ultimately used.

So the Vees have picked their poison, but it's not been detrimental. Nice.

You'd think the other team would figure out to start shadowing him. < facepalm >