YaneA

I've stayed out of this discussion because I'm not as hockey savvy as the rest of you guys and didn't want to put my ignorance on public display.

Re: women's hockey A season ticket for women's hockey will be $50, according to the flyer I got from the athletic department. Has anyone seen a schedule? When will the games be played? Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon seem to me the mostly likely. Will the women be home when the men are home or on the road? This is important info to have before a person commits to being a season ticket holder for the women's games but nobody tells us nothin'. Anyone know anything?

It pains me to say this but Lucia this year has put the best Minnesota team I've ever seen on the ice--taking into account that I've been a college hockey fan for less than 10 seasons. They have a great deal of talent and are real opportunists, capitalizing on the other teams' miscues. For all of you Sioux fans who think that a national championship win by the Gophers will bring glory to any entity other than the Gophers themselves, I'm going to have to disagree. Should they win, I will tire very quickly of their smack. Lately, it's been only WCHA fans and teams that have had to endure Gopher arrogance; a national championship turns them loose on everybody else. It'll get ugly. That's one of the reasons I'm backing Maine. The other is, I met their late coach Shawn Walsh in April 2000 on the street in Providence after the Sioux beat Maine in the semifinal. He was very gracious and friendly. I think the Black Bears will play with a lot of heart and a lot of emotion and I hope that carries them past the very talented Gophers. The Gophs may be skating for Gopher Pride but the Black Bears will be skating for Walsh. I hope Maine prevails; it makes for a much better story.

The Grand Forks Herald printed a story this morning about the law students' opposition to the resolution and their desire to distance themselves from it. Also note the student concern that their professors are consumed by the logo issue. www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/local/3002115.htm

When you scrape away all the "concern for feelings of marginalization," the real purpose of the law school resolution is to keep its accreditors happy. Every couple of years the accrediting poobahs attack the school for its inability to recruit and retain minority students (particularly North Dakota's natural constituent minority, Native Americans). Who or what to blame for this failure? Oh, it must be the nickname and logo; it can't be Native Americans' lack of interest in law in general or UND Law School in particular. Nor can it be fault of the numerous individuals at the law school who have been delegated the responsibility for making the school more diverse. Nope, gotta be the logo.

Scott: I expect the Dean will hear from a great many disgruntled alums like yourself.

Although the article doesn't mention this fact, there was significant law student opposition to the faculty's resolution and thus the resolution, as approved, speaks only for the "executive committee," not the School of Law. In its initial form, the resolution also purported to dictate to UND student media that it stop using the nickname and logo, which was incredibly presumptuous of the law faculty. I don't think that paragraph appears in the final version, however.

I've already said that I'm for Anyone But the Gophers. Imagine the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks it would be for Sioux fans and all other fans in general if the Gophers actually pull this off and win the title this year. The only high point for me in last weekend's regional was Keith Ballard in the role of the clumsy goat deflecting in a goal for the Tigers. He didn't look so arrogant after that stroke of misfortune. I don't really have a horse in the Frozen Four race. Guess it's time to make like Switzerland and be neutral.

Well, thanks for explaining that. Although, given my attention deficit disorder, it was hard for me to get all the way through your.......................what was I saying?

The REA site has only the home schedule for 2002-03. www.ralphengelstadarena.com/schedule.html And before you guys jump on me, note that the REA site schedule doesn't jibe with what the Herald said either.

Boy, tough crowd! I double checked what I typed with the actual schedule I cut out of the Herald, folded neatly and placed in my wallet.

This could be a new thread but... Bayda's departure definitely sets back the team. I'm sure he made the best choice for Ryan Bayda and I wish him well as much as I wish he weren't going. So, who do you like to step up and fill the void left by Bayda and Tim Skarperud? My picks to "pull a Skarp" and play beyond all expectations next year are Jason Notermann and Kevin ("Smells like TEAM Spirit" --that's for you, forecheck!) Spiewak. I expect the coaches will throw down the challenge and these are the guys who ought to take it up. Our Rookie of the Year, Bochenski, in the last few games decided that his role was to camp out in front of the opponent's net and wait. That seems a different kind of style than he'd played earlier in the year. But, who am I to argue? He's the league ROTY and I'm just some fan with very little hockey knowledge posting her observations on a message board.

Sicatoka-- Yep, I messed it up. I omitted a St. Cloud series but edited the schedule post. If I still don't have it right, forgive me. I only know what I read in the Grand Forks Herald!

Non-conference games & tournaments: Sioux open with Punch Imtach tourny in Buffalo, NY Oct. 11-12 (paper didn't say who's in it)

Next year's Sioux hockey schedule appeared in the GF Herald a couple days ago. I don't like the unbalanced schedule and am prepared to p!ss and moan about it forthwith! Particularly distressing, if only from a money grubbing standpoint, is that the Sioux will not host the Gophers next year but instead will play down at Mariucci only. Gopher-Sioux weekend is always the biggest of the year here in the Grand Cities so the hotels and the restaurants are getting shortchanged by the scheduling. We also play Michigan Tech only twice rather than four times and there will be no road trip to Duluth, as we play the Bulldogs also twice (here) rather than four times (here and there). : (

Sicatoka: Since I brought it up, I of course agree with you that the jersey incident was the epitome of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Maybe, but if Ballard were a member of the Sioux, I'd probably be expending so much energy defending his tactics and antics to other fans, I'd have no energy left for anything else.

I'm a Frank and Woog basher from way back.

When this question has been rasied before, I've always heard the same thing: Blais doesn't want to be a TV star. I don't know how much truth there is to that--it's just what " everybody says."

If you haven't yet heard, Sioux forward Brandon Bochenski was just named WCHA Rookie of the Year.

Yes! A goalie coach!! It hurt us not having someone in that role, I think, this year. While he was backup, Toby Kvalevog had informally coached Schweitzer when Aaron became the number one goalie and I think Toby also returned as a volunteer to help out Karl Goehring. This is great news.

"Fighting Whities"?

I think I'm hypersensitive to any slight of the storied Fighting Sioux hockey dynasty. Virg Foss, I blame you for writing such a great book on the subject! A little knowledge on my part of the Fighting Sioux hockey tradition has become a dangerous thing. Can't believe Jeffy wasn't even nominated by his own school. I'm sure, in their time, all the guys who made the 50 Greatest were indeed worthy of that appellation. But, how come guys who played in the WCHA for only one season (Cujo, for example) made the list? Doesn't seem right to me.

Never had the pleasure of seeing Archibald play. I've been a Sioux fan--####, a hockey fan-- for only 7 or 8 seasons and it was a huge shock to me to see that the most penalized Sioux player in history also put up big offensive numbers. How many points could he have scored in his senior year if he hadn't been in the box for the equivalent of 3+ games? I also started as a fan of the finesse game and couldn't get my head around the necessity/desirability of the enforcer. But I was quickly converted when I saw opponents run our small goalies and pull cheap stuff on the Smurfs. My respect for Commie grew and grew when I noticed how much his skating improved even as his "rep" grew. If Commie and Archie were goons, I'm glad they were OUR goons.

Who'd they let vote on the list--Don Lucia? Where is Jeff Panzer? He had the numbers, the flash and the class. Along with Jason Ulmer, who I thought was always the hardest working player on the ice night in and night out, Jeffy carried the team on his back in his last years of play.