Rick

The reason the Sioux didn't recruit him is that they already have a player very similar to Gorden in terms of size, skating skills, puck skills, etc. If he had more speed there would have been more interest.

I believe Al is originally from Thunder Bay. UND should put a "Al Pearson Highlite Real" together. They should also have his picture in the arena. Al is the only person who's had to sit out more games than Jim Archibauld. Not only did he have to sit them out, he wasn't even allowed to be in the arena. I believe it was the WCHA that suspended him. Watching the POI Police carry him up the Mariucci steps was classic. Al put up a good fight though, I believe it took 3 of Mariucci's finest to get him out. Now that the WCHA has relaxed it's One, Two, Three strikes your out rules, I don't think we'll see opposing fans taking liberties with any of the small, quick Sioux fans. If they do, they will have to answer to Al.

Potulny did commit to the Gophers a couple of days ago. While I'm sure the Sioux would have liked to get him, they didn't have much to offer in terms of scholarship, and he was never in for a visit. We'll have to wait and see who has a bigger impact (Murray and Porter or Potulny and Irman) because that's what it would have come down to. If the Sioux wouldn't have used the scholarships on Murray and Porter, they would have been able to make offers to the other two. I don't think you'd want to give up Murray though, but time will tell. After what Murray did in the Kings Prospects Camp, maybe we will never see him playing for North Dakota. My guess is that he will be there a couple of years though. ND kids have been playing on other teams for many years; it's not a big deal. Based on team needs and what is available to offer, UND can't sign them all. If Parise and Murray had signed with the Gophers, do you think Minnesota would have been getting commitments from the other two? Not very likely. Blaiser got his commitments quite a while ago, it's not like he missed out on a recruit and then had to go to plan B. Just like with Hirsch, UND could only offer a walk-on position and Minnesota offered a scholarship. Even with that, Hirsch almost took the walk-on position with UND. It was a very difficult decision for him. How would you like to be on the Gopher side of this.....Bochenski (WCHA ROY) goes to UND, Parise signs with UND, Murray commits to UND, Porter commits to UND, Smaby commits UND. If that was happening, you'd have to start asking....why? These were all kids that the Gophers recruited. This type of thing never happened 3 years ago. Despite what you read on message boards, the Gophers were after Smaby hard. There was a time when the Sioux could offer kids like Parise, Murray, Smaby a full ride and the Gophers would offer a third or a half scholarship, and the kid would pick the Gophers. Now, it is reversed. Enjoy it.

Or, as the saying goes: "He's been rode hard, and put away wet".

I hope the kid does real well. It would be nice to see a kid from Devils Lake on the team. I can't think of any other DL kids that have played for the Sioux. Dahlen, is that Norwegian, and does he sound like Jeff Panzer when he does an interview? Jeff is one of my all-time favorite players (along with Goehring and a few others), but Karl didn't have the accent. And who is this James Earl Jones? Does he play hockey and is he a Norwegian? I've always said we need more Norwegians on the team.

dagies, I agree with much of what you were saying, but I disagree with the "not able to do it with the dominant teams" statement.

Murray will be playing for Salmon Arm, BC. His dad (Andy Murray) is a part owner in the Salmon Arm team. Dagies, Murray is too good to play an additional year in juniors. Many people say he is better than Parise. I saw him play quite a bit in youth hockey when he was with the Winnipeg Tuxedo Express. The Express was comprised of former Winnipeg Jets kids (Andy Murray, Randy Carlisle, and several others). They would come down for youth tournaments and clean up on the competition. Scores of 14 to 3 were common.

This will be the first FF since '96 that I'm not planning on going to. However, if quite a few people are planning on getting together at Alarys, I would like to have a drink or two with everyone.

I believe it is a link to Cosmo's swimsuit edition.....it shows Sicatoka in a very revealing thong. Open at your own risk.