dakotadan

For a short while they had a billboard NW of the Engelstad when fb season tickets went on sale. I don't know if it is still up or not. Other than that I have not seen any around GF at all. I also haven't really been out on interstate or US-2 lately so I don't know if there are any by the highways. The only other thing I can think of is that the video billboards at REA and the ALERUS have been advertising fb alot lately, but that is it. Has anyone else seen anything around town or know what their plans are? Maybe I have just completely been blind and not noticed anything.

The season is getting closer!!!!! October is going to come real soon. I can't wait for that first Minnesota game. We need to get everybody that we know to show up!!!!! I think that the women are going to be a surprise to everyone this year. Does anyone know when their practice starts or has it already?

If you asked most Minnesota fans who their biggest rival was in hockey I am sure that most would say Wisconsin. But if you asked people who are actual gopher hockey fans, I would think alot would say UND. Especially after these last couple of years. I have never been to a wcha game outside of the ralph or xcel center so I don't know what the atmosphere is like at gopher games. It is good to see these guys getting some exposure though!

I disagree with SiouxMeNow. I have spent the last two years living in williston and every year the Bison/Sioux game was a big deal. All of the bars had big events for the game. And quite often you could watch Sioux hockey and other football games at the bars. They would play the Sioux Sports Network on their big screens. THe SSN is turning out to be quite the fan generator. I sure loved it while I was living in williston. It saved me a lot of miles in driving to GF every weekend for sports games!!!!!!

Even at the NCC spot he would be dealing with Kupchella and all of the other Presidents. Basically it would be his role to be their little puppet while trying to keep things together. I think it would be almost(not quite) as stressful working the NCC as it is here. He would even still be stuck dealing with REA officials. I am sure there is going to be more tourneys ending up at the Ralph such as bball and etc.

I could not agree anymore. Hopefully this is a facility that will be around for quite some time. With Grand Forks and UND growing, I just fell that in the future it is going to be too small. And I highly doubt that Ralph envisioned his beautiful hockey arena being shared with the basketball teams, and having it only a quarter full for basketball games. Look at the MSU Dome in Minot. We don't need something that big but there is no reason they had to build the betty so small.

What is the story on the new coach? I haven't heard anything about this. Who is he, where is he from, what qualifications does he have? Just would like the scoop on him.

A few years ago I graduated from Grenora, ND (by Crosby). There are plenty of big sioux fans in northwest ND. I know you bison fans hate to admit it but hockey is one of the fastest growing sports right now and there are lots of hockey fans in the nw part of the state. Naturally, they tend to follow the sioux. It also doesn't hurt that we have a great football team. This whole west is envious of east/rivalry thing is something that Fargonians have made up in their head to think everyone is jelous of them.

Last I heard, Big Sky was talking with UMary and Minot State about joining! I guess UND and USD turned down their invitations.

The ralph is a hockey arena. Get over it people. I don't want to hear one more person say that for the big games they have the lower bowl of the ralph. Also, the Betty is not a practice facility. It is the home of fighting sioux basketball and vball. I have never tried to compare the hyslop to betty. I just don't understand why they didn't just make it 5-6,000 and then they wouldn't even have to worry about "the lower bowl" A new arena is bound to strike up a little bit more interest. I would be happy if they announced there will never be another basketball game in the Ralph, except if it was against Kansas again!

There bisonguy. I changed that part of my post. Does that make you happy?

So it really sounds like the Betty is beautiful. I just wish they had built it a little bit bigger. 3,000 seems extremely small. Especially considering the fact that it is smaller than the Hyslop. Even though it sounds like it is going to be a lot nicer LOOKING, it is almost as though we are taking a step back.

If someone can honestly tell me that RT does not have a DI plan in his pocket and mean it, I will be impressed. So NDSU went DI(AA). The only reason that RT did not want to go at the same time is the fact that right now UND teams are challenging for DII NCs. If anyone can tell me RT is honestly not sitting back watching every single move NDSU is makeing and not taking notes, I will laugh. The only reason UND did not also push for the NCC to move to DI is the fact that in the next couple of years we have some prettty good chances of winning a national championship in a few sports. Why pass that up? Roger is going to watch every single thing that happens to NDSU, take note, and hope that we win NCs in a few sports real quick. When we are moving to DI what looks better than a hand full of national championships? With all of our new arenas, our alumni association pushing for more money in the bank to sponsor scholorships, hopefully a few more national championships, and NDSU now officially DI, can anyone honestly tell me that UND will not be completely DI in the future? These are some quotes from the May 26, 2004 IAC meeting. Schedules: John Sirignano passed out proposed schedules for soccer and volleyball. Elizabeth Nichols asked if it was normal for such a high percentage of soccer games to be road games. John Sirignano said it was difficult to get teams to travel to Grand Forks for a single game. Previously, teams could schedule NDSU on the same road trip. Ray Diez moved to approve the volleyball and soccer schedules for 2004-05. Bruce Smith seconded. Motion carried. NCC Meetings: Roger Thomas reported that the NCC spring meetings were held in Alexandria, MN, May 17 and 18. NDSU and SDSU were recognized at the opening but were not participants in the meetings that followed. Minnesota Duluth took part as a full member for the first time. There are currently 7 league members and no other school is actively pursuing admission into the NCC. Fewer teams in the league impacts budgets because of more non-conference games, higher travel costs and larger game guarantees.There was also discussion of having affiliated members, such as Moorhead State for swimming. I am sure that UND is going to sit around and watch NDSU play DI while we go swimming with Moorhead!!!!!

Who is your favorite women's hockey player. Mine is Aynsley Allen. She is awesome. Best forward we have.

Women's hockey schedule. What do you all think? DATE OPPONENT TIME Oct. 3 Regina (Exh.) Oct. 8/9 Minnesota* Oct. 15/16 at Minnesota-Duluth* Oct. 22/23 at St. Cloud State* Oct. 29/30 Ohio State* Nov. 6/7 Bemidji State* Nov. 12/13 at Connecticut Nov. 20/21 Wisconsin* Nov. 26/27 at Quinnipiac Dec. 4/5 Minnesota State, Mankato* Dec. 11/12 at Ohio State* Jan. 8/9 Vermont Jan. 14/15 at Minnesota State, Mankato* Jan. 21/22 at Wisconsin* Feb. 5/6 Minnesota-Duluth* Feb. 12/13 at Minnesota* Feb. 19/20 St. Cloud State* Feb. 25/26 at Bemidji State* * - Denotes WCHA game

That was my point. DSU has nothing certain in progress right now. But from the sounds of it, UMary is taking a close look at DII right now.

The statement from DSU is obviously just what it says. DII could be a possibility in their future. The statement from Mary however shows that they are already talking to the NCAA and are in the process of taking a close look at DII. From what I found online UMary has about 2,500 students. DSU has 2,200. I checked out Minot State just to see how they compared and MSU had 3,825 in the fall of 2003. Considering that MSU has about 4000 students and what they have for facilities available, such as the MSUDome, I would think that Minot would be the most likely, yet I haven't heard much talk about them as a possibility.

These are just some statements I pulled off of d2football.com. Posted: July 12 2004,10:08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is my first time on the site. Great so far. Well, as a new contributor, I will drop the first bomb shell to the U-Mary Marauders D-II discussion. In a memorandum released today, Monday, July 12, 2004 president, Sister Thomas Welder said the University of Mary has asked the NCAA, and was granted permission, to research for one year the possiblity of going to NCAA Div II. The University of Mary is now on the proverbial one-year clock. Posted: July 11 2004,2:19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't know how much more D-II is going to be able to take. Here is an excerpt form former head coach Gene Wockenfuss on June 23, 2004 as accepts AD job and hands football reins to O.C. Nate Holtz. 2,000 students and lower third of the same conference Mary plays in. ***"Wockenfuss, a 1983 graduate of DSU and an offensive lineman for the football Trojans, had been the head football coach for the Trojans the past two seasons. Prior to that, he held a number of college and high school coaching positions in Nebraska. Fielding questions from the media, Wockenfuss admitted that the possibility of DSU entering NCAA Division II competition is a future consideration for the newly-instituted planning committee. Former DSU athletic director and current associate professor of physical education Judy Dittman will chair that committee."****

I am surprised that no one has posted anything yet, it is already up at bisonville. The University of Mary and Dakota State University have both publically stated that they are looking at moving to DII. There are forums on D2FOOTBALL that tells about this in the NCC section. Is this really the future of the NCC?

I believe that the women's program could become successful very quickly, especially as scholarships are added. Once the program starts showing some success, the fans will start showing up and getting behind the ladies. Hey, another Gopher/Sioux series a year is bound to get some attention from fans.

I definately agree that this tourney could some day become a premiere holiday tourney. But until then we need to do something that is going to draw fans and keep it entertaining. So even if this isn't an NCC tourney, which I think would be kind of fun, I would still like to see UND play UNO. We play them in all of our other sports, why not hockey. If UNO played the first game, and UND the second, it may create more of an interest in the first game and set up the chance of a UND/UNO championship.

I love the fact that even when we are talking about soccer, we end up talking about hockey. It is a good point though. As far as a soccer field, I have been hearing for a while that they were going to build a permanent soccer field. The last I heard was something about turning the ROTC field behind the coule into a soccer field. It would definately be an investment in the program if they could get a decent place to play. Couldn't they get some sort of artificial turf that they could just throw down in memorial stadium for soccer games and then just roll back up? Something like what they do at the alerus. Just roll it out for soccer games and then roll it back up.

With the women's hockey team entering the WCHA for the first year, how do you think they will do. Will we have a chance for a wcha title any time soon? How long before we are making room for a women's national championship banner?

With Duluth in the NCC now, and considering basically all of the NCC schools have hockey, when will we see something like a NCC hockey tournament? Maybe the Subway CLassic tourney over christmas break could be extended a day or two and include only NCC teams.

What about Nebraska-Omaha? We have been going head to head with them for years. And they look like they are going to be our biggest competition in most sports. I know they aren't exactly next door, but I think we could get a pretty heated rivalry going. We will have to see how things go for Duluth this year.