The Sicatoka

I'll say it now: 1. I hope, sincerely hope, Tyson Jost stays for a sophomore season to build the body and finish polishing the details of his game (ala Toews). Plus, he'd be the immediate favorite for the Hobey. 2. If he stays, hang the "C" on him now simply off his third period on Friday. That is all.

Berry and his staff are there to make decisions and put players in positions to succeed. Motivation comes from leadership, undistracted, laser-focused, consistent, day-in-day-out, leadership. That leadership has to show by word and deed the want to win for yourself and your teammates. I'll say again: this looks like a lack of leadership to me. How else can you explain Friday's third to Saturday's turd. Two-strides and a coast to a puck is not leadership; standing with the puck on your stick and not moving your feet is not leadership; weak-sauce passing off the boards that gets intercepted is not leadership; not getting the puck out of the zone at any cost is not leadership; "look-out!" passes is not leadership; not skating hard to the bench on changes is not leadership.

Well, March 6 is almost here. Kennedy and his staff have to make a move regarding UND Athletics and its budget. Cast your vote to what you expect.

A past Herald article said ... So, the logic says Kennedy better have a plan before he shows up there. I believe they wanted everything defined and done before March 6. That all aligns.

You were off them?

The ND State Board of Higher Education governs the ND University System. You mean to speak to ND Department of Public Education (DPI), Kirsten Baesler, Superintendent.

Data from: http://collegehockeyranked.com/forecast/pwrbywins/ Who's in (9): DU, UMD, Harvard, Minnesota, WMU, UMLowell, BU, Union, Cornell Figure minimal upsets (2, so PWR16 and PWR15 are gone), ... So 10-14 (5) at-large to be filled from the following nine: Team (wins to PWR14) - left - games Vermont(3) - 3 - hosts Maine (not sure how Jim has 3 when only 2 Maine games left, must assume an HEA tourney opener) UNO(1) - 2 - hosts DU UND(1) - 2 - at Miami Ohio State(3) - 4 - hosts Michigan State, at Wisconsin SCSU(2) - 2 - hosts CC Wisconsin(2) - 4 - at Penn State, hosts Ohio State Providence(1) - 2 - hosts UMass Penn State(1) - 4 - host Wisconsin, at Michigan Notre Dame(0) - 0 - no regular season games left, so needs some help I'd say everyone else has to win their conference autobid. Observations: The B1G is going to be doing some self-immolation with that OSU/UW/PSU trifecta. I'd say Wisconsin could do a lot of damage over the next four games. My thoughts on most likely to least likely (first five make PWR14 or better): Penn State, Providence, Notre Dame, SCSU, UW, UND, OSU, UNO, Vermont

Whatever "it" is, I'm yet to see them bring "it" on back-to-back nights.

You assume they'd cut UND in on the hockey part of that. If I were negotiating for UND, that'd have to be part of the deal.

Go to Google maps. Take the earth view of REA. Zoom way in on REA. Find the big window (octagon shaped) over the pro shop. To the immediate west of that you'll see a small, narrow, railed area. From the sky it's concrete surfaced where the north and south of it is white (roofing material). You can reach that easily from the press box.

As much fun as it is to have those big name first round flashy freshmen and sophomores (sorry, Tyson, Brock), college hockey is an upper classman's game. If you don't have a big core, or is it corps, of seniors and juniors that carry the load you (a) don't have an environment for those young stars to do what they do, and (b) you don't have the experience, leadership, maturity, and consist performance to survive a season. Look at last year: that mature defense and group of upperclassmen forwards pushed play to the offensive end and let Boeser and Schmaltz do what they do. This year Boeser and Jost are spending as much time helping in the defensive zone as thinking about offense. Having said that, I'll remind you all of 2-5-11-8. And then I'll point out to two and three years from now, when those big classes will be upperclassmen (even if they suffer some mild attrition). That said, that group needs to start figuring out this concept called "offense". It begins by propelling or carrying the puck toward the blue painted ice with the guy in the big pads and wrong jersey standing on it. <-- Wasn't sure how much they understood of the concept so I gave the detailed description. My best guess: If UND sweeps at Miami they have to at least get to the Final Faceoff to have any hope. If UND splits or worse at Miami, not only do they have to get to the Final Faceoff, but they'll probably have to win a game there (v. DU or UMD).

Now he's just Bob's backup in Columbus ...

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. (But it still makes me want to take a shower.)

Seriously? Curtis McElhinney

Who's in net?

Brian Idelski's record: 2016-17 North Dakota 14 14 6 .500 2015-16 North Dakota 18 12 5 .586 2014-15 North Dakota 22 12 3 .635 2013-14 North Dakota 20 12 4 .611 2012-13 North Dakota 26 12 1 .679 made NCAA tournament 2011-12 North Dakota 22 12 3 .635 made NCAA tournament 2010-11 North Dakota 20 13 3 .597 2009-10 North Dakota 8 22 4 .294 2008-09 North Dakota 13 19 4 .417 2007-08 North Dakota 4 26 6 .194 No conference regular season or post-season titles. Read more: http://www.uscho.com/stats/coach/wid,202/brian-idalski/#ixzz4Zcr5oI00

Correct. To grow, you need space (not land, but buildings) and people to support the growth. There's nothing in the foreseeable State budgets for either of those.

Burn, baby, burn.

Wrong. Eleventybillion - two. OK, really ... SOG were 54-6. http://www.rinkwriter.com/ndstatess/ndboys_17_g1.pdf

1-0 GFC. I believe the UND women's hockey coach's son scored.

To watch: Just hit the GF Herald website. They have a link.

So, $13 to get in. Are the "beverage" stands open?

Academics took hits "over 10%" but (one small, 5% of Athletics, budget line item in) Athletics took a 40% cut! That is world-class spin. And the local media bought it.

No, you're not. Title IX is Federal law. The Feds decide if you're in compliance, not the NCAA.

When I look at Jim's projection/what's it take board, teams that need to better than their "to date" winning percentage are in trouble. UND needs to go 0.750 and is 0.533 overall. That's a problem. http://collegehockeyranked.com/forecast/pwrbywins/