ArchyAlum11

They might be holding off on that since the new logo is winning any popularity contests amongst the hockey fans. At the end of the day, they need to sell stuff that people will by and given a choice a lot of people will still buy the interlocking ND logo over the postal hawk logo. So yea my guess is that for now, they might be holding off on retiring the ND logo that Notre Dame appropriated from us.

If 20 million is the price tag, then they should send a group up to Moorhead and out to Minot, not sure about North Dakota's legislature, but I would be you could get a state bonding bill to help pay for something like this in Moorhead. Moorhead state may have shelved plans for D-1 hockey for now, but they haven't scrapped them. Still, if the price tag is that low, this is the kind of thing that could be a boon to schools that are on the fence about expanding. Create an option to replace the Figure skating rink and an Olympic sheet with conference rooms and ballroom space or an auditorium, and you have an attractive convention center.

Are you talking about Orleans Arena in Las Vegas?

Yea the preseason really got it wrong on the WCHA this year, Bemidji was picked to be middle of the pack, and now they are ranked and at the top of the WCHA, Really hope they stay in the top 20 after this weekend.

Listening to the radio broadcast of the U of M and SCSU game, It's really pathetic to listen to these guys try to make excuses for the gophers.

The problem the gopher have that I remember from last year watching them in the North Star cup, the team didn't do any of the basic little things, go and fight in the corners, block shots, finish checks. I didn't see the game tonight against St. Cloud, Did the goofs look like they were starting to do those things?

Even if we ignore the fact that Nanne has some obvious bias, traditionally UND starts slower and gets better as the season goes on, Bemidji will actually be a good test for UND this week, Bitzer has been a very solid goaltender and the Beavers have are 4-0, I doubt they will still have perfect record after this weekend but the beavers have beaten UND in the past. We'll see.

Its really still pretty early in the season, the only games the Minnesota has under its belt is one game against each of the Alaska teams and one game against the US under 18 team. Next week they play Saint Cloud, which will give us a much better idea of where the golphers are at. Then its a Road trip to Clarkson and St. Lawerance before they face off against UND.

So I never realized this but apparently Eastern Washington not only has hockey but they compete in the BCHL , along with simon Fraiser which is another school I have heard metionioned as a potential NCAA hockey school. Any thoughs on Eastern Washington?

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That's a good point about consolidation of the programs, the only problem is that it would require at wavier from the NCAA and from the articles I have read on the situation it seems unlikely that the NCAA would grant such a wavier. Especially considering that both schools are D-II outside of hockey and rifle at UAA, usually the only time the NCAA cares is if the School is a perennial D-I basketball contender or is a D-1 FBS school. However even if they chose to consolidate the programs into one team, its likely that they would they would base the team in Fairbanks for the reasons listed above. Hopefully the University of Alaska can figure out a way to keep hockey at both schools, but from what i have read about the options they are perusing it seems like at least one team will get cut, possibly both. My only point is that if you are going to cut hockey at one of these schools it seems like it would make more sense to keep UAF and cut UAA.

Some non-NCHC things to watch in the 2016-2017 season. 1. How committed is ASU? - While the arena and facilities are a big question mark for the NCHC, I think you also need to look at their coaching staff. I don't want to take away anything from their current coach, because as I understand it, he was instrumental in helping to get the support and funds needed to take the program to D1. However, if you want to recruit top tier talent, you need more than just a great climate and good facilities, you need an experienced coaching staff that can develop players and get them ready for the next level. IF ASU is serious about creating a top tier program, they should consider bringing it a coach with more experience, whether that is someone from the Pros, College hockey or the developmental leagues. 2. How soon will Rebel hockey make the Jump D1 - While UNLV may not be as well know as ASU, regarding a potential prospect hockey school they do have a leg up on ASU. One major advantage they have is that UNLV has several close options for where it can play all of which would be acceptable to the NCHC. However, the Rebels would need to bring in the right coaching staff and have a good showing as an independent team. 3. The great Alaskan crisis - Perhaps one of the saddest notes in college hockey is the situation with the Alaska schools hockey program. Having an uncertain future for your programs makes it hard to recruit especially for Fairbanks which is still dealing with NCAA sanctions from what amounted to a minor paperwork error. Hopefully, a final decision will be made soon, while there is a possibility that hockey will survive at both schools my guess is that one of the programs will be cut. I had to guess it would probably be the Seawolves of UAA, UAA has only recorded one winning season in the last seven seasons, compared to UAF which has had four winning seasons. Another factor is attendance in which UAF completely dominates UAA. The Carlson Center in Fairbanks averages about 70% capacity for games, UAA is closer to 20%. If Alaska can only have one college hockey program, let it be in Fairbanks, and Let them get to work on improving their program. 4. Wake-up call for the WCHA - If the parting comments made by former UAF and current UMD player Peter Kreiger weren't enough of a warning to the league that it needs to change, and its members need to adopt a more skilled style of play, then MNSU application to the NCHC was. While Michigan Tech and Bowling Green did not apply to join NCHC like Minnesota State, I am sure there were some in the coaching staff and athletic departments at all three schools that had thought about it. To the credit of the league they seem to have gotten the message, The three on three overtime and the NHL-sized nets are a good start. However they need to do more to increase competitiveness in the league, that starts with putting an emphasis on developing the weaker programs like Lake Superior State and UAF. The probable loss of UAA maybe a blessing in disguise as it would mean the WCHA would lose one of its consistently worst teams, however right now UAH is probably a bigger drag on the WCHA as a whole that UAA, being consistently ranked the bottom five teams in the NCAA. While adding UAH was a nice thing to do to even the league out to ten teams back during the conference realignment, it may have been a short-sighted move that is now hampering the league as a whole. However the WCHA's options for UAH are quite limited, I am not sure if the WCHA has any bylaws that allow member institutions to vote out a school, the only other option would be for another league to try and recruit UAH, the only conference that might do that would be Atlantic Hockey, which already includes American Internation, Niagra, and Canisius, which are ranked 60th, 58th, and 55th respectively. You could argue that Atlantic Hockey doesn't have a lot to lose by adding UAH or that they would be compounding an existing problem by adding UAH. Of course, this is all hypothetical.

MSUM is Moorhead, MNSU is Minnesota State. Unfortunate for both Minnesota State and ASU but since UAA is probably going to fold its program, this is pretty big win for the WCHA. The question now is whether ASU stays independent and waits in the wings to join the NCHC or join the WCHA and take UAA's place. They only issue with adding ASU for the WCHA is that it makes the leauge even morre geographicaly incoherant.

I will say this out of the options presented Rough Riders, Fighting Hawks, Nodak's, North Stars and Sundogs.. Fighting Hawks wasn't the worst possibility. Out of all the logo we could have gotten this isn't the worst either. That said I'm still not going to run out and buy any hawks stuff this second, but maybe when I need a new hat I'll get a fighting hawks hat.

We should have been the UND Fighting Eastwood's

A lot of teams do Sweet Caroline though, how about for a pause in the actions song we try something different. Here is my suggestions for a break in the action.

I don't know this one is pretty awesome in a super cheesy kind of way.

Get half off your first drink at the restaurunts and bars at the Canada inn with Hawks ticket after a win. Call it the Frankie special.

Clip the bottom and left hand side of the "N" and I would be willing to buy this as a hat. That said I could only see this logo working as shoulder patch it wouldn't look good as the main logo on a hockey jersey.

So hypothetically lets look at the Rockies and the west coast for a second, Schools that have Programs Denver University Colorado College Air Force Academy Arizona State University University of Alaska Anchorage (possibly going to fold) University of Alaska Fairbanks Teams they will almost assuredly add hockey in the next five years University of Nevada Las Vegas Teams Schools that have some interest or are rumored to be interested. University of Washington University of Montana Boise State University Portland State University University of Oregon Stanford University University of California Los Angeles University of Southern California... At what point do we start looking beyond just an expansion of NCHC or WCHA and start talking about a whole new conference or conferences. The article below is where I got the 8 teams that might might be interested in starting hockey. http://herosports.com/news/the-eight-schools-that-can-take-d1-hockey-to-the-west-coast#8

I humbly suggest this.

Its full bowl and on campus, but it hasn't hosted hockey since 1999, I am curious if they still have the equipment for maintaining an ice sheet there, or if it has since been removed or sold. however I think the moral of this is that between Orleans, Thomas and Mack, and T-Mobile arena UNLV has no shortage of venues where it can play.

A lot of speculation but no doubt that a move to MVFC and Sumit would be a decent cost saving measure, The geographical foot print for both those confrences is mostly within bus distance from UND, and having all the Dakota Schools in the same conferance would be good. Would be a lot easier if one of the Minnesota Schools moved up to D1 FCSthat way the conferance is still at an even number.

They need 12 million, but you would think that would be pretty easy for them to get in Vegas if they Can get some exposure, as prospective member they do have some upsides. 1. Travel to Vegas is cheap, there are tons of cheap flights from all over the country. 2. They are FBS in the Moutain West Conferance, but are in a seperate conferance for Mens soccer. So they have shown before that they can do a sperate single sport conferance. 3. They wouldn't need to build an new arena off the bat. While the T-Mobile arena may be getting the hype, the cities old ECHL squad the wranglers folded back in 2014, and there old home Orleans arena is only 4 miles from campus and seats about 7750 people for hockey. Not ideal but it would give them a home untill UNLV could raise the money for an on campus Arena. The building itself is pretty nice, it would just need some UNLV Banners and things and it could work.