The Sicatoka

And I'm going to say it again: As long as UND brings the "S word" to their showcase*, UND will receive the "Marco Hunt" treatment from the NCAA. http://forum.siouxsports.com/topic/20534-closing-in-on-epic-title-drought/?p=783655 *By not subscribing to something new.

Four teams go to a Frozen Four (Capt. Obvious moment). One of those four wins it; statistically, you should win 25% of those you attend. UND has seven titles. Has UND been to 28 Frozen Fours? Early franchise enormous success is meeting up with statistics. See: Central Limit Theorem or Regression to the Mean

I'd say Omaha looked terrible, but they would have had to show up for me to look at them. The only reason I have to believe Omaha was there at all is I saw Dean Blais in the upper concourse between games.

PC was the aggressor for the entire Omaha game, both ends of the ice.

Source: http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?p=100472 My comment: Every time we're on the NCAA's national stage (not a regional, the ESPN/NCAA national stage) after August 5, 2005, and the NCAA has to listen to "that word" from the UND crowd, it's a stick in their eye from us and we'll get the "Marco Hunt" treatment for it. Don't believe me? Look at history. Hak made the April 2005 title game. Not a semis win since including "helpers" to ensure that (like the phantom calls of elbow to head on Finley or the "what'd he do?" call on Pattyn courtesy Marco Hunt/CJ Beaurline). Yes, the greatest conspiracy is that there really is no conspiracy; but, there are just too many coincidences or strange (assign Marco Hunt?) choices to not make a guy wonder.

... with hair.

My thoughts for flight risk in order: 1. McIntyre - What more does he have to prove at this level? See: Mike Richter Award. Then again, let's see what BOS decides to do with Rask and Subban and trades around draft day. That said, I'll be surprised if Zane is back. 2. Schmaltz, J - Most expect this. I really don't. He controlled games this year at times, but didn't dominate them. STL knows it's max money for a first rounder either way (now or next summer). They can hedge their bet by waiting and if Jordan doesn't dominate next year maybe they let him test the free agent waters (and save a few bucks). Risky, but who knows. However, put him in the "probably gone" category based on all the speculation from others. 3. LaDue, P - The Voynov situation with LAK makes this murky as do LAK's cap issues. Do the LAK want to keep Sekera? Also, LAK have a guy named "Derek Forbort" ready to move up into the spot Robin Regehr just retired from. Flip a coin here. I guess I'll be surprised if any of the others go early, Stetcher because of his size, Caggiula because there are lots of other FA's out there like him in the CHL, and Nick Schmaltz isn't physically ready yet*. * "Nick, meet Mark Poolman. Mark, Nick Schmaltz."

C'mon people. PC had the Dominicans back in Providence doing rosaries and novenas and the one force more powerful than the NCAA broke the NCAA's script.

The best (unfortunately) comparison is Doug Woog. But Hak can still fix that. And he will.

My version of the 2015 NHL Playoffs Game: You pick six forwards, four defensemen, and one goalie, now, before first game Wednesday, and you don't get to change that roster. List your roster in this thread. Scoring: You get the total points from all playoff games from all your forwards plus You get the total points from all playoff games from all your defensemen plus You get one point per penalty (penalty, not PIM) from all playoff games from all your defensemen minus All the goals your goalie lets in. Details: Your goalie must start at least four 2015 NHL playoff games. If this criteria is not met, you are assigned the goalie meeting the criteria who lets the most goals in during the entire 2015 NHL playoff. You get a point for a defenseman penalty because, normally, this time of year defenders are taking penalties to save scoring chances. You are responsible for tracking you team's score here yourself. This realm of critics will surely point out any errors. Think carefully about the scoring criteria before selecting players. The winner receives ...

If you're going crazy talk: Are you sure the Ben Brien logo isn't what's cursed.

IALTO!

I like the Ghost Riders idea. There's one out front of REA already.

We take so many phantom calls we should be ... Ghostbusters.

I think this bears repeating. (Applause to the author in pointing out that context does matter.)

But it sure would be nice to have something that isn't confused for "Our Lady of South Bend" all the time.

They tend not to use the "devil in the D logo" on small presentations (like on that hat) because it's difficult to manufacture and recognize at that size. (The same could be said of the old Ben Brien logo.)

From the link above: Whoever said, "There is no room for error from this committee when they announce their finalists", that sentiment is exactly in "Second, ... " above.

The greatest marketeer in the world could not market the image on this canvas. That's what UND is trying to market right now.

Last night Duke played basketball. Everyone knows Duke. The announcers say Duke. Fans say Duke. Yet, they have the "Blue Devils" nickname and logo. They could run as just "Duke", but they don't. Now why is that? Marketing and Merchandising.

I always thought they blew it going to Eagles. Their answer was obvious: The Eastern Michigan University Emus. Yes, the EMU Emus! Logo.

That's why I mentioned the Washington Wizards. That's probably the best example from the pro sports realm (same franchise rebranded). The next couple would probably be Baltimore (Ravens) and Houston (Texans), but those were different franchises. Then again, the name changes in the college realm are vast. Sure, there are UMass Redmen fans out there, but UMass is now the Minutemen.

Yup. And that's not the way North Dakotans (other than "try to renege on the settlement agreement" Al Carlson) do business. Yup.