johndahl

Part of the problem here is that the "Redskins" marks still have state and common law trademark protection, enabling the Redskins to continue to use and defend the marks even without federal registration. There's also a reasonable chance that the Redskins organization wins on appeal, in part because the test is not whether the mark is currently considered disparaging, but whether the mark was considered disparaging at the time of registration. If I had to place a bet, I would bet that the CAFC overturns cancellation of the marks, and the USPTO no longer has to face an onslaught of people petitioning to have the mark cancelled (sort of a win/win, unless you're one of the protester-types). John

/allcaps Thank goodness for that. Hockey is a premier sport at most NCHC schools, not a third-rate afterthought for people who can't get football or basketball tickets. I think the NCHC has every chance to be the powerhouse that the WCHA was, and for decades to come.

I think this may be a little more in question now. The recent kerfuffle over the off-campus t-shirts resulted in tribe officials as much as saying they recognize the t-shirts are likely protected speech and that it occurred off campus, but they want the university to suspend the students anyway. Not sure how they think that is a reasonable, or even legal, outcome to what should be a relatively minor issue, and they seem to be working to build ill will between the tribes and the students. There will be a proud history of athletic achievement under the Sioux name, but I can foresee goodwill toward the name in general continuing to deteriorate.

Nope. I can only assume the Bison faithful are all abuzz about being featured on a national TV show. I don't know for certain, because I don't troll their message boards or have any other use for Fargo in general.

You seem to be confused. UND never had a mascot, and hasn't even had a nickname for years now, while NDSU has a mascot closely associated with Indian culture. UND has the word "University" before "Dakota", while NDSU has them in the opposite order as drunkie recited. The father also clearly states it's a "state college", which strongly suggests he's referring to NDSU rather than UND.

Oops, they said "state college" - probably more apt to call it NDSC than NDSU anyway.

They're clearly making fun of NDSU. UND isn't "state university", and doesn't have a mascot.

I don't think there's any obvious candidate after Notre Dame went east - nothing wrong with waiting until another team or two proves itself as a traditional power before making invitations. Eight teams is a respectable conference size, and I'd rather be a good eight team conference than a ten team conference with a couple perennial underdogs who never have the resources to be competitive.

I don't think we'll see any change for next year, and hopefully it will remain the best four teams until the NCHC expands to 10 or more teams. The third place game is a bit of an oddity, and was dropped from the WCHA tournament after they had enough teams to have the Thursday play-in game between 4 and 5; I suspect the NCHC will eventually go down that road as well, while the big six are stuck having the few "haves" push around the few "have nots" every year.

"Would have", not "would of". And, I think ND would have been soundly beaten, much as Minnesota was.

I wish. I was, however, promised a hat as a prize - we'll see.

Score updates with your posts would be great for those who can't see the game.

Target Center is a little more challenging than Xcel, but photos are up for those who didn't see the games. Saturday's 5-0 win against Western: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32819299@N06/sets/72157642792411654/ Friday's loss 0-3 v. Miami: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32819299@N06/sets/72157642742484793/ John

Well, it's good old Flash video, so doesn't show up on an ipad. Way to embrace 90s technology, NCHC.

Where's the streaming link on the nchchockey.com site?

Any score yet? Thanks, John

Mafia, not a bad idea. I still have the 1980 game on DVD around here someplace...

Ray - thanks. I hate the !@#$% replays that don't say "replay" in the corner, and all the time-shifting so that they can give us 2.5 hours of "human interest" and .5 hours of actual competition during prime time. Makes sense to play the bronze medal game before gold - don't know why I didn't catch that. Anyway, nice work by the US men hanging in a game that I'm 99% sure just finished, allowing only one goal all game and generating quality scoring chances throughout. They may not have won, but they look like the gap between them and Canada is not the chasm it was not too many years ago. John

The Swiss put in an empyt netter to go ahead 4-2, but the Swedes score with a minute left to make it 4-3. Another great game. Edit: and the Swiss women win their first hockey medal, taking the Bronze 4-3. All four goals in the third period.

Wow, the Swiss were down 0-2 to Sweden, and now lead 3-2 with five minutes left in the third. Crazy games today, showing you can't sit on a lead.

Not hard to predict when it's 2-2 in overtime, and one team is standing around waiting for pucks to come to them while the other is playing their hearts out.

I think the real reason we're required to pick a new nickname is so that "Sioux" doesn't remain an unofficial, de facto school nickname. Roughriders and Cavalry are nice, and Norse, Nordics, whatever are OK by me as well. I'm convinced the Wild are hindered in part by their poor choice of nickname, and would hate to see us be the Freeze, Blizzard, or some other modernist abstract nonsense. John

Please feel free to post scores every once in a while, especially when someone scores or at the end of a period. Many people following online aren't able to follow the game on streaming media. Thanks guys, John

Anyone have a score update?

Biggest difference is perhaps that the NCHC had a few Elite Eight teams this year, while the Big 10 had none.