happy

Since Broten was a Gopher, he was a gopher fan after all.

One reasons to sign him now is to get him in their system, and take away the possibility of him going free agency. This helps with planning for next season, having players for the AHL team, drafting, etc. A second reason is that once he is in their system, they have control of his development, and can have him start on a development program to improve his weaknesses. an example would be a player with poor skating, being sent to skating school over the summer, etc. they can't do that until he signs or leaves school.

Not likely, since the womens WCHA is made up of 3 Big Ten teams, and another 4 Minnesota based teams. that leaves exactly one team to support such a stupid idea.

it won't work. Do you really think that UMD, St. Cloud, MSU, and BSU are going to boycott Minnesota, or that the other Michigan schools are going to boycott Michigan and MSU, or the Ohio schools are going to boycott Ohio State. Not a chance, for many reasons, not the two least are they are not all independent decision makers, and they need the money.

Well, he is the only player to be arrested twice, and suspended twice this season, so he probably should be front page news over there.

I don't see your point here. Minnesota has the highest ticket prices in college hockey, and every home game is sold out. The season ticket waiting list is untold thousands, and it takes multiple decades to buy a season ticket. and still, almost 18000 watched them play on a Thursday in St. Paul. UND only had a 97% over last weekend. it seems both have the full support of their fans.

I have thought about this for a while now, and I want you guys to keep Hakstool until he is old and gray. (not grey, eh). And, it will save on banner material.

last I heard, Hagemo is trying to get cleaned up. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/oct/07...ective-blades-/

Woog was absolutely savaged by UND fans over the years because, although he made the FF more than 40% of the time, and he had a great winning record against UND, he could not win the big one. He recruited and coached multiple Hobey winners, and All-Americans, but over and over, UND fans dismissed him as a failure. UND fans did this, based, more or less, solely on the fact that his contemporary at UND, although he didn't win against the Gophers, and he did not have the number of Hobey's, etc, did in fact win some Championships. All I can say is, if UND continues with it's Championship drought, all those harsh things said against Woog will also be true against Hak, and other team's fans, like me, will take a great amount of pleasure in pointing this out, probably not here, but on other forums. If in fact, god forbid, MN ever catches up in the number of NCAA Championships, the mocking of UND fans on some forums would become Biblical. Of course, Hak could go on and have a 3 peat, and shut me up, but until he does, he is a Woog without the charm.

Does finley like his draft team? Is he a free agent after August after his senior year?

well, if a player ain't good enough to move up after three years at UND, do you blame it on the coach, or the player.

Wheeler is in a unique position. He is a free agent, but he will be covered by the CBA rookie agreement. As such, his salary and signing bonus is capped, and if he does not earn NHL ice time, he only makes $62,000. If he was a free agent, and his salary and signing bonus were not already artificially set low, I would agree with you, but the new CBA purposefully made rookies get really bad contracts, and that is one reason why the NHL has signed so many college players, it is really, really cheap to sign these guys. Phoenix offered him more money than any other team could, including a much bigger signing bonus, and Wheeler turned it down. The key to rookies signing these bad contracts is two fold, do they get to play in the NHL, or do they make chump change in the AHL. Also, they are not going to make big money until the rookie contract is over, so many want to get a start on it, and get it over with. Sidney Crosby, without incentives, will make $850,000 dollars this year being Captain and leading the Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals. Next year, he will make $9 million. He does not become a free agent until 2013. The business of hockey, and all these things make a lot of difference, even if Wheeler isn't a great player at all.

Wheeler is covered by the current CBA. Every college player has the same opportunity to be a free agent. Just wait 4 years. This is nothing new. and, your comment that a "current NHL 3rd liner with 10 NHL goals/year " deserves to make $6 million a years is too stupid to comment on. try again.

You clearly do not understand the business of NHL hockey. Wheeler is still considered a very good prospect, probably a late first or early second round draft pick. He is now a free agent, who will be signed to a CBA 2 way rookie contract. There is probably not a single NHL team who would not sign him for the rookie max, after all, if he is not good enough to make the roster, he only gets $62 grand, and plays for the AHL. and if he makes the roster, he is a bargain. And, if he really wanted to play some where, he can sign for less than the rookie max, and go to any team he wants. Wheeler went free agent for less money, so he must have a plan where he wants to play, and he will get to chose.

none, the team will face punishment, loss of draft picks, etc.

so, it sure is funny how Vanek, a product of a sucky coach like Lucia, somehow makes more money than any player ever from UND. I guess for every player like Duncan, who regresses every year at UND, Minnesota produces a Vanek, who signs a $50 million dollar contract. and, as far as Wheeler is concerned, anybody who doesn't understand why a NHL player would prefer to be a free agent, and pick his own team, and his own home town, and where he is going to live, and who his coach is, and his teammates, doesn't really understand anything. Wheeler thought these things were more important than money, something you don't usually see from many pro players.

I just saw the other day just that sort of play in a NHL playoff game. The defensemen did an amazing job robbing the other player from behind. and, he managed to do it without a single slash. But, I can see over, and over, a great offensive player making a wcha breakout, and getting slashed about 8 or 10 times in an average wcha game. clearly, the NHL defenseman could have slashed as much as you see in the wcha, but he chose not to, since he knew he would be called. since I see great defense plays all the time in the NHL without slashing, mugging and holding, it could also be done in the wcha. Why would you rather see holding, and slashing by the defense, instead of doing it the right way?

if UND was a division one school , the fans might just realize how expensive all those non-revenue sports are, and how many fairly unpopular decisions will be made to either save money, or make money.

If the BTN makes money, I would think it is only a matter of time before a BTHC happens. Just think of the incentives for a school like Penn State or Illinois to add hockey if the BTN finds a way to form a BTHC. They would immediately be able to move into the big time, with televised games, playing for the Big Ten championship, a great schedule, etc. These new teams would be able to bypass many problems faced by other start up schools, and even though they would get beat in the beginning, so what, they would be playing nothing but rivals, and that is what sells tickets. let us not forget that a big selling point for the Big Ten will be how much money the WCHA FF makes every year, the Big Ten would figure that into the mix, too. Before the BTN, there was no way for a BTHC to succeed, but just as TV has completely changed the NHL, it could change NCAA hockey.

They have shown no loyalty at all when they left before, and I have had many UND fans tell me the MacNaughton Cup isn't very important, anyways. I am sure many UND fans would gladly trade two games against MTU with games against more traditional rivals if they could. Who really wants to go to the UP anyway?

I posted this on uscho, "clearly, the wcha could add a team or two, and then drop the number of 4 game series every year to just one, with just the official wcha rivals. that would then allow the Big Ten teams more non conference games to allow a real Big Ten championships. This only hurts the bottom teams in the wcha, all the top teams can pick and chose who they want for non conference games." now, this doesn't make any sense to a UND fan, but it would to the AD, because it would allow UND to schedule more home non-conference games, which is money in the bank. The reason that it is unlikely that the Big Ten teams would move to their own conference is that now they get to play for two autobids, and two conference championships, and almost every year there are usually 4 teams in the NCAA, if they were all together in the Big Ten, they would just be beating themselves to a pulp, instead of the bottom teams in the wcha and ccha. However, who really knows what the BTN will want, they are the 800 lb gorilla in the room. They may be able to get Iowa, or Penn State to add hockey, or something like that. I expect that the wcha will drop the number of conference games down to 26, and the Big Ten will get it's own championship going again. personally, I would rather get rid of AA, and Mtu, and go to a 8 team wcha. Let those two join the cha.

You haven't won a Championship in a long time, either. UND's recruiting has been forced to change, first when the NCAA ban stopped the use of former Major Junior players and the age limit, the expansion of the NHL signing everyone in sight, and lately, with the inability of UND to get older Canadians due to changes in Major Junior eduction benefits. UND built the majority of it's championship teams on having older more Canadian team than teams like Minnesota, and that brought with it many advantages. those days are gone, and now UND is forced, like all the other upper wcha teams, to try to grab younger and younger talent. Often, this talent is awesome, but it tends to be inconsistent, and, with the NHL willing to sign great NCAA talent earlier and earlier, it's gone before it ever gets to mature. Just think of what Toews would do for you if he had lasted four years. hey, look at it this way, your teams were older back when you won championships, now you are just watching NHL draft picks come and go. At least your players aren't going pro in the middle of the season. and, the reason I am very against the past use of older Canadians was the bad effect it had on developing American hockey, for every Canadian that got a scholarship, that was one less American who could have got a degree, and helped out the expansion of American hockey.

fine, I am sure no players from UND will ever be tempted to going pro early. and, I am sure that now it has happened once, it will never happen again. Of course, if it works out well for Motherwell, and Okposo, I am sure no other family friend will try to talk any other kid into doing it. Heck, Maybe next year und will actually have aplayer good enough for the wjc.

If the NHL does not change the rules, then some college teams will have to worry every year at the wjc that they will not get all their players back. if this starts happening every year, you can bet that UND, with all of its young talent, will be a major target. Signing new talent, at a very low wage, may be just the thing for bottom dwelling NHL teams without much cap room start to do every year. Signing Kyle will take a little bit of the heat off the Islanders for Simon, and that's all they care about. If it works out for the Islanders, look for other teams to do it, too.

You beat my edit, I took it back, something stuck in my head from 10 years ago, but I can't prove it now, so forget it. but, if the ncaa could make a buck by screwing you guys over, they would.