YaneA

Mr. Saigo is forgetting what many a smug moralist also forgets: that it's much easier to claim the moral high ground than it is to hold it. He's like a politician beating the drum for family values only to have skeletons come tumbling out of his own closet. Not naming names, but you know who you are!

The "running the table" quote came from Blais either in the radio pregame on Saturday or the postgame--can't remember which. I think he's labelled that as an aspiration, rather than a goal, the goal remaining home ice for the playoffs. As many have pointed out, here and elsewhere, maybe home ice is no advantage to us this year.

I am cheered to hear Blais talk about the Sioux "running the table" over the remainder of the season.

Dear Mr. or Ms. Administrator-- I'm being asked to log in every time I want to add a reply. Why am I being singled out for such ill-treatment?

Let me be the first to suggest that Bochenski throw a penalized Finger a roll of currency-printed toilet paper.

Aw, this is priceless! Finger in over his head in airport potty! Very funny thread over on USCHO. I highly recommend the movie linked there.

I'm still posting. Count me in as one who thinks the Sioux will finish with a winning record. As for next year, we'll be tanned and rested and the team to beat. Thought the boys skated hard in Colorado Springs. With a little more puck luck they could have pulled out a win both nights. Is it just me or does Siembida stay down a long time when he stops a low shot? We're still not clearing those rebounds and that's killing us, especially when Josh is face down on the ice after stopping a flurry of shots. My hat's off to Tim Skarperud who has been a real work horse. Faced with only a year of eligibility and unseasoned teammates, he took up the challenge and has played with heart and with smarts. He's been the best player on the ice some nights. Mark my words: if the Sioux can make it into the Final Five, Skarp will make the all tournament team.

Thank you for the kind advice. I will still put the hat up for grabs--I can always make another if I feel frisky enough to wear it. If someone can give this hat a good home, e-mail me and I'll give it to you.

I have a rally hat that I made a couple of years ago and would like to give away to a deserving Sioux fan for the next home series, The hat band says "Gophers Suck" and the hat is decorated with little plastic pacifiers. I'd wear it myself but my 50th birthday is the day before the first game of the series and I will then be officially middle-aged (assuming I live to be 100) and some in the crowd might think that choice of chapeau on a person my age unseemly. I know that the powers that be are trying to promote sportsmanship within the ranks of fans, but, come on, it's the Gophers! If you can hate and demean the Gophers, what joy is left in life? If you want the hat, e-mail me at yaneusa@netscape.net

Huge discussion on Title IX over on the USCHO website message board reminds me that once again I don't know what the #### I'm talking about. People associated with men's sports--mostly wrestling--have filed a Title IX suit indicating that schools are discriminating on the basis of sex by cutting the less glamourous MEN'S programs rather than adding woman's sports. These anecdotes make my argument that schools will keep financially weak programs of whatever gender because there's non-monetary value in having them seem kinda weak.

I think Hennessey was warning against the dangers of insistence upon "formal equality" between the men's and women's program. No expert, mind you, but the formal equality philosophy deals with, as you said, complaints like "the men's locker room is 4 square feet larger than the women's; thus, it's not equal; the men get X number of scholarships, the women get X - 1, therefore it's not equal, etc."

What do you guys know about plans to take the women's team to Division I next season? I asked the question in the women's hockey forum on USCHO and nobody knew much. I've heard Tim Hennessey say that it's too much too soon and that lawyers are already in position to make a Title IX test case out of what will surely be, compared with the men, an under-funded, under-resourced women's program. I know the school is looking for a coach for the women's team. Women's hockey in general will certainly get another bounce of enthusiasm if the USA team kicks ice in Salt Lake. I haven't watched the club team play but I'd be interested in supporting a varsity squad. Would it be a good idea or a bad one for the women's home games to be played at 5 p.m. on the same day as the men, just for the exposure? Could the women's team use the Olympic sheet at Engelstad as home ice? Would they need more than 500 seats? Anyone know many fans the club team has drawn?

I thought the team played much better Saturday night than Friday. For the first game, they had zero intensity. Most of the shots on goal were really just dump ins or floaters, or so it looked to me. That night, we buried the only hard shot we had (Ryan Connelly's goal). Anyone else surprise that Blais didn't take a timeout? Saturday, the boys showed some fire. By all rights we should have buried that road team, especially THAT road team, given the length of the road from Anchorage to Grand Forks. Historically, the Seawolves had never won in Grand Forks, a much publicized statistic which you just knew was gonna bite us in the butt. I remember their legs turning to jelly by the third period almost every game I'd seen them play here. Clearly, this isn't your father's Anchorage team. That little speed demon Cygan reminded me of David Hoogsteen, darting around and skating in and out of the big boys like they were redwood trees. We have to give that team its due; Anchorage deserved the three points they took from us.

That Mankato series was the lowest point for not just the effort of the team but the support of the fans who started booing the Sioux in the final moments. Never saw that happen before, hope never to see it again. I'm with you: home ice advantage should MEAN something.

I know, I know, I know. My point is that what the team should SHOOT FOR is something better than what they are likely to hit--, i.e., 5th place and home ice for the playoffs. Even that ranking is moot, however, if the Sioux don't take care of business in their own games. That's really the only thing over which they have any measure of control. P.S. Slumps happen, even to top 3 teams.

Oh, I don't think it's that great a chance either but a girl can dream, can't she? I'm going to cling to that hope until somebody tells me--and somebody would have to because I sure as #### couldn't figure it out myself--that the Sioux have been mathematically eliminated from contention for the top spot.

You guys are so much better at this math stuff than I am. I wouldn't trust my math skills to balance a piggy bank but isn't it true that the Sioux could win this thing? I'm asking if it's mathematically possible. The Sioux could win games while all the teams ahead of them are being swept (or splitting or taking only a point from the weekend). The right combination of points taken by the Sioux vis a vis points lost out on by the teams ahead of us and... the sky is sure a pretty color in my world.

Boy, if you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes. This is the first time in recent memory when the Sioux are not battling for the league championship. I still have faith that the boys have turned the corner and are now turnin' it on. Can't wait to see Siembida in goal Friday. The Anchorage series is crucial but, from here on out, they all are. We'll see what we see.

Please tell me there's NO possibility Sioux assistant coaches Berry and Hakstol would be interested in the Wisconsin spot!

Thanks. I will take you up on the offer. I'm going on a long vavation starting tomorrow but you can leave the tape with my assistant, Eileen and she'll copy it for me. Drop it by my office--room 106, O'Kelly. Thanks so much.

Did anybody tape the game? I thought I had but wound up with 3 1/2 hours of static because my VCR wasn't set to the right "band" of channels. If someone hasa tape, could they copy it for meor lend it to me for same? I live in Grand Forks. Happy to pay for the service.

Okay, but this is REALLY last call! I still have some decorations left or will have once I make them this weekend. Now's your chance: if you want one or one of each kind, e-mail me before 4 p.m. Central time. I will put them in a padded envelope and mail them on Monday or if you're in Grand Forks, I will get them to you. No charge, no strings, just my Christmas gift to you, Sioux fan to Sioux fan. yaneusa@netcape.net

Last call! E-mail me today if you want one of these free decorations to add to your tree. Happy Holidays. Or, as the goalie says, Merry Creasemas. yaneusa@netscape.net

Okay, first of all this is totally free to any Sioux fan who would like one.

Too often of late the Bad Andy has shown up and started in goal. We DO owe him a debt of gratitude for the way be backed-up Karl the last couple of years, both during and post-season. But I have to agree with Blais the integrity of the program comes before loyalty to any one player. It's the job of the goalie to keep a team in position to win the game and the job of the other five guys on the ice to put the puck in the opponent's net. Way too many rebounds are not being cleared after the Sioux goalie makes the initial stop on the puck. A team wins as a team and loses as a team. I don't think it's ever a good idea to start casting blame on a single scapegoat. There's plenty of responsibility (a word I prefer to "blame") to go around for the Sioux having a below .500 record.