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When I looked at our early schedule before the season started my first thought was that I would be happy if we were sitting at .500 after the Wisconsin series. We are now 5-3-2 and look who we have played so far: Maine away: Picked as a top 2 team before season started. (won 2) Mankato away: Mankato always gives us fits (3 points) Minnesota at home: In top 10 and toughest rival (split) BC away: in top 3 (loss) Northeastern away: beat Michigan earlier (tie) Colorado College at home: undefeated and picked to finish in top 3 of WCHA( split) So we've played 10 games and 6 have been away. Four of the six teams we've played are in the top 10 in the country. We now have to go to Wisconsin who is again in the top 10 in the country. Of all the games we've played the only one that I expected to win and we didn't was Northeastern and we still tied. With Parise and Bochenski leaving plus Hakstol as the new head coach this team had a lot of adjustments to make. So here we are after 10 games and I'm feeling OK. It bothers me that we've been outshot a number of games but I feel that this is mainly because of the new penalty calling practice. It's tough to outshoot your opponent when he has three or four 5 on 3s during the game. So we have 12 games before Xmas. I'm predicting that we go 9-3 or 8-4 the rest of this calendar year. I'd be happy with that too since we play Wisconsin and Duluth on the road. Thoughts?

Where are the Gopher players? Not good enough this year? It's also nice that Stafford may not miss a UND game because of this comittment. Pretty nice to not schedule any games during the Juniors.

I posted this at USCHO. Thought it belonged here too. Random thoughts after this weekend 1. Sioux forwards look like they've never played defense before. Can someone say backcheck. Heck can someone say forecheck. 2. Sioux defensemen looked like they were afraid to touch anyone on Saturday and continue to have a tough time with the breakout pass. 3. Ryan Potulny is a stud. 4. The young Minnesota defense didn't look like freshman. I kept wondering who this Peltier guy was. 5. Tallackson's tip-in to start the second game was a great deflection. 6. Briggs looked much better than I remember him from last year. 7. Now I know why I have started to dislike Lucia more and more: After this quote in the Star Tribune: "Isn't it funny that whenever there is a fight North Dakota is one of the teams involved?" Lucia said. I think Don should meet Brad Berry in the alley. 8. I hate the scheduling with 10 teams. Heck Duluth only plays North Dakota twice and Minnesota twice. That sucks. 9. Is Wisconsin really this good? Oh that's right. Mercyhurst and Tech. Never Mind. 10. Does all of the pessimistic UND talk end if they were to beat BC and Northeastern this weekend? 11. That was a good old fashion butt kicking on Saturday night. Minnesota kicked North Dakota's ass.

Rivalry? I just know when we play Minnesota I want to beat them worse than any other team. I'm guessing this comes from heated games in the past but also from the many condescending conversations I had with Gopher hockey fans when I lived in the Twin Cities. Back then it was always the "Yeah but we have all Minnesota players" and "yeah but you have 25 year-old canadians." In general it was simply that UND was second class in comparison to the Gophers. That's why it pained me so much to see them win back-to-back championships. For me I like beating the Gophers more than anyone else. My second closest rival depends on who is closer to us in the standings when we play them. So no one in particular. It is a lot of fun beating Hockey East schools though.

The way they had it a couple of years ago, only those Fighting Sioux Club memebers that were at the Coaches or above could get into the bars before games but all FSC members could get in after the game started. This pissed off a lot of Century, Captain, and Varsity level FSC members. Most of these guys bought 2 season tickets the first year and then decided they'd like a couple more. But since they can't get any more seats why increase your FSC memberships. Heck the only time I frequented the bar was after the game to let the traffic clear out. I hope they at least open it up afterwards.

When I started looking at these guys I couldn't figure out who the centermen would be this year. Then I realized that Zajac and Kaip were centers. So here's how I think they will start out and then adjust as the year goes on: Genoway centering Bochenski and Murray McMahon centering Stafford and Fylling Zajac centering Porter and Prpich Kaip centering Spirko and Fabian That leave Massen (Sr.), Cannady (Sr.), Marvin (jr) sitting in the stands. With this team being so senior laden they definitely need to work in 2 of the 3 new forwards at least. I think you'll see a lot of juggling at first to see if Massen or Cannady can play this year and also to see how Spirko,Kaip, and Zajac perform at the next level. Greene/Jones Schneider/Radke Smaby/Fuher Bina/Marvin/Foyt/anyone else This is the year that Blais said he thought he'd win a national championship when he recruited all of these seniors. Here's hoping he's right.

From the St Paul Pioneer Press:

Mike Burgraff: The nicest guy off the nice but on the ice was questionable. Always hustled, usually on the penalty kill, and whenever the whistle blew you had to find him if he was on the ice because he usualy did something. A fan favorite from the 70's.

After Fargo just voted down non-smoking in restaurants it reminded me of my Boston Experience. We hit almost every bar between Fanueil Hall and the Fleet Center at one time or another and also ate at various places. The coolest thing was that even after doing this I could actually wear the same pair of jeans the next day because they don't allow smoking in public faciltiies. Talk about nice! But now I'm back in Fargo and there is only one bar in town that doesn't allow smoking. I guess I'll just have to eat and drink at home more often. In general Boston was a great city. Everything was within walking distance except the day we went to Harvard. We did the normal stuff like going to both Cheers Bars, walking through Boston Common, antiquing on Charles Street, and having dinner at an Italian Restaurant on the North End. On Friday we ate an early dinner at the Barking Crab restaurant and then took a water taxi back to Long Wharf. That was cool. We only made one mistake. The first night we decided to wait for the Irish music to start at the Black Rose and after drinking until they started it was a tough walk to the hotel. We met some Sioux fans from a small town in New York. After extolling the comforts of the Ralph we convinced them to make the Mecca to Grand Forks this year for a hockey game. I met a lot of fans from other teams who kept saying they wished North Dakota was there because they like the way we play the game. Most of these fans complained about the style of Maine and Denver but acknowledeged that they deserved to be there. In all a very fun time. Now what the heck is there to do in Columbus?

At a recent Sioux Booster luncheon Dean Blais spoke on this topic. He mentioned that half of the recent additions to the hockey program did not have an ACT score of 21 or highter. But he also said that for example one player came in with an ACT score of 19 and now had a GPA of 3.8. Plus all of these players had GPas over 3.0. Blais's concern is that he'll miss out on players because of a higher standard than what some other schools may have. With the athletic department's commitment to academics (leading the conference with number of athlethes named to the all whateve academic team) I thinkt he coaches feel that given a chance they can get this athlete to get decent grades and to graduate from college. If there is some leeway when it comes to this standard I think we'll be OK, BUT....

Saviano over Bochenski? I don't think so.

From the CC web site: Schedule of Events The following is a schedule of events, pertinent to the media, for the West Regional: Thursday, March 25 12:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Holy Cross practice 1:45 p.m.: Holy Cross press conference 1:45-2:45 p.m.: North Dakota practice 2:45 p.m.: North Dakota press conference 3:00-4:00 p.m.: Miami (Ohio) practice 4:15 p.m.: Miami (Ohio) press conference 4:15-5:15 p.m.: Denver practice 5:30 p.m.: Denver press conference 5:45 p.m.: Tournament meeting in Wigand Room Friday, March 26 8:30-9:30 a.m.: Officials skate 9:45-10:45 a.m.: Holy Cross practice 11:00 a.m.-Noon: North Dakota practice 12:15-1:15 p.m.: Miami (Ohio) practice 1:30-2:30 p.m.: Denver practice 4:00-5:30 p.m.: Media/VIP buffet at Arcade Room 5:30 p.m. Regional Semifinal Game 1: Holy Cross vs. North Dakota 7:30-9:00 p.m.: Media meal at Arcade Room 9:00 p.m. Regional Semifinal Game 2: Miami (Ohio) vs. Denver Saturday, March 27 10:00-11:00: Officials skate 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Game 3 visiting team practice 12:30-1:30 p.m.: Game 3 home team practice 5:30-7:00 p.m.: Media/VIP buffet at Arcade Room 7:00 p.m.: Regional Championship Game

I'll be there. Taking the charter out of Fargo.

My first thought was : Holy smokes that's a killer October. With games at Maine, Northeastern, Boston College and Mankato in October and a home series against Minnesota we could be lucky to be .500 after October. Ohter thoughts: - For the second time in two years we don't play Minnesota twice. That's just plain stupid for the WCHA especially if they are so concerned about money. - Much more balanced with home and away series just about every other weekend in the WCHA. - Just think, two years ago we'd never heard of Canisius and now we'll be playing them for the 3rd time in 3 years. Weird. Overall a good schedule except for that killer October and no trip to Minnesota.

All I know is that after UND wins on Friday afternoon and we go have some beers, that the 6 Gopher fans that sit in front of us will not be happy we had the extra time to prime ourselves to root for the Bulldogs.

I'm sure that whatever happens the PWR will figure out a way with the bonus points to make sure that the top West teams will be in the same bracket so that they can once again be assured that there is an eastern team in the NCAA Final game. So that means if UND stays at Number 1 and Duluth is a Nmber 1 seed that they'll do the bonus to make sure Duluth is the 4th Number 1 seed so if we both make it to Boston we'd have to play each other in the semis. Damn eastern bias

I was just going to say the same thing. There are plenty of seats and the roads are good. Drive up there Jerseychaser1!

I will definitely make sure to say hi. When we first started going in 1988 we always got together with 2 Gopher fans and 2 Duluth fans between every period. It was a tradition that the UND and Duluth fans gave the Gopher fans crap constantly and vice versa. The only consensus that we all had in those years is we hated Wisconsin. Since then people have drifted and even passed away, and we go with a different group now (all UND fans). We're also headed to Boston for the Frozen Four. So if Duluth makes it to Boston we'll be rooting for you guys. Except of course if you're playing the Sioux.

Friday: Same lines as last week with Brandt in goal. If we win Friday, Parise in goal, Palmo plays and then who knows. He could rest Parise, Bochenski, etc. No sense getting them hurt. If we lose Friday: Parise in goal, Palmo plays instead of Fabian and everyone else is the same. We're going to win Friday so except for Parise in goal and Palmiscino playing Saturday who knows.

We have six seats in section 116 row 10 right on the aisle between sections 116 and 115. I've had tickets since the inception of the WCHA Final Four in St. Paul in 1988.

Saturday's game is also on WDAY channel 6

I just spoke to the programming director at WDAY TV in Fargo and she said that they will be broadcasting the game also. So anyone from the Fargo area does not need to go to Grand Forks or at least to Buxton to watch Saturday's game on TV.

To top it off last week all of a sudden I see McMahon on a line centered by Lundbohm. Hey I know that McMahon needs to be on the ice but as a wing? Here are the lines I'd like to see us put on the ice this weekend and if they perform decently stick with them for the rest of the year: First line: Bochenski - Parise- Murray Second Line: Stafford - Genoway - Porter Third Line: Fylling - Lundbohm - PrPich Fourth Line: Hale - McMahon- Massen (then move guys around based upon how they are playing. So if Massen isn't skating use Fabian, or if you want some more speed on the second line you switch Fylling and Porter, etc.) I know that Blais is mad at Smaby but he has such a bigger upside right now than Marvin does. I'd like to see him stick with these D pairings: Schnedier - Bina Greene - Jones Smaby - Fuher I think it's time that Blais stabilizes the team and the best way to do this is put these guys on the ice and let them perform.

He really started rolling 3 lines on Friday night against CC. He did this because the first time he stuck ou the 4th line CC scored. Palmiscino and Cannady didn't see the ice until the last 2 minutes of the game. He also set Smaby down after a couple of misplays and played Marvin as a defenseman instead about half way through the first period. So what happens Saturday? He puts the fourth line out and one their second shift CC scores again. So he has very valid reasons to only roll 3 lines. If these guys can't be an asset they're not going to play. We just need those 4th line guys to play hard and not cost the team. The past couple of weeks that hasn't happened.

When I was in Florence this year the number one obstacle I as a UND fan had to overcome was the issues that our fans had harrassed their fans in a vulgar and racist manner two weeks prior. We can all sit here and say "Yeah but that wasn't me, it was just some drunks". The reality is that school administration as well as the NCAA administration views this as being a student problem and they will correct it. I believe the choice is simple: either we clean it up or they will do it for us. Things that have been done at other schools to force this cleanup: 1. Giving breathalyzers at the doors to all underage attendees and arresting any that have a trace of alcohol on their breath. The idea here is to keep out the drunk students. 2. Immediately remove any person in attendance that swears during the game. Some arenas have placed people amongst the fans to act as stool pigeons during the game and report all instances. 3. Move the student section completely to the top section so that their chants are not heard on the ice. These are some things that have been tried and have usually failed because they have generated so much animosity from the students. The reality is that we want the students to yell their heads off especially since the old folk are reluctant to. But in a manner that is not offensive to other people. Until this happens be prepared for just about anything. I guess the best way is for each of us to monitor our own behavior and with peer pressure we can reduce the vulgarity and racist comments. Enjoy the game without being a jerk. If not they'll just start kicking people out. I truly believe they are willing to have a student section sit empty rather than have this atmosphere at the arenas. Whether you feel it's right or not, the Unversity views this as a student problem and not an overall fan problem.