dickgraham

Beer getting dumped on heads, laddies dropping f bombs.....how retro. It made me feel like I was back in the Old Ralph! Terrific stuff. DG

It was unbelieveable that they built the Betty to seat only 3,000 fans! There are area NAIA schools with gyms that big. The Ralph is fine if you have a full house, as they did against Kansas a few years ago, but it is a lousy atmosphere with 4-5,000 fans. Too big. The main basketball arena for a DI school should seat at least 5-6,000. You have to project that your BB programs will improve and, along with it, attendance will go up also. I grew up during the Bill Fitch era at UND and crowds of 6-7,000 were not unheard of. The Phil Jackson led teams, in those years, drew big crowds, as opposed to the 1,500-2,000 that would show up in the pre Fitch years. In those days the Hyslop held more fans . They used high football endzone bleachers on the east and west ends.

So, Brady Murray, Rookie of the Year in the WCHA wasn't good enough to be Rookie of the Year in the end of the year Sioux awards? DG

Perhaps UND's best defensemen, James Patrick, is still strapping them on for the Buffalo Sabers. DG

Vanek and Ballard have a very good reason to sign. They would get not nearly as much under the new collective bargaining agreement as the one that is now in place. I have to believe that was a major consideration for Zach. DG

I stand corrected. Ian Kid only had 60 points in the 86-87 year, not 63. Still more than Zach or Bo. DG

CB took a young, inexperianced team to the top this year. The Mc Naughton cup is nothing to sneeze at , the hardest championship to win in college hockey. Don't forget that we don't hang final 5 banners in the Ralph but we do hang the reg season championsip banners. This team will be a veteran team next year. The youngsters will be another year wiser. On the other hand the "Hrkac Circus" championship team was young also. If you go back in the records you'll see that Ian Kidd, a defensemen for G-d's sake, had 63 points! That's not a misprint. he had 63 points from his blue line position! That is more production than from Parise or Bo, DG

Listening to Chad Hartman's show on the fan about a 1/2 hour ago. He's interviewing Glen Sonmor and in the course of the interview, after talking about Zach leaving UND, Hartman asks Sonmor about the other North Dakota rumor that CB is still being hotly pursued by the Blue Jackets to be their next coach. Sonmor said that is an old rumor but is still alive and that CB would seriously consider it if asked. He said that knowing Dean as well as he does that his competetive nature would drive him to see how he could do at the next level. He went on to say that with the strike looming the Blue Jackets may wait to name a new coach until they know that next season is on or not. My question would be why would CB even want to take his shot at the NHL with the Blue Jackets? I don't think I would. DG

It's too bad Zach and any others who leave early didn't sit down and talk with former Sioux and Black Hawk great, Troy Murray. Between periods of an earlier game this season Tim O'Keefe Troy about what he's doing now that he's out of the NHL. Eventually he got around to talking about his leaving the Sioux early to sign with the Black Hawks. It wasn't till later that he discovered what he was missing by leaving UND prematurely. He said the Sioux hockey "family" was something very special that he could never get back, but at that young age with a pro team waving $$ in a kids face he bit and now he wished he hadn't. For all of you who didn' see Troy play, you missed one of our special players. His years in the NHL prove that out. DG

For some reason Zach's leaving hurts worse than former Sioux players that have left early. Maybe because of the great promise that will now go unfullfilled. Do I blame him? Absolutely not. Any of us would leave in a heart beat. But if you think he won't get the rough treatment in the NHL that he got in the WCHA your kidding yourself. The WCHA stuff will seem like childs play compared to the reception he'll get in the pros. DG

OK, this is our last swipe at Frankie & Dougie's play by play of last Sat's championship game on FSN. How does everyone think they did. Personally, even as a Sioux fan, I think both of them did a pretty even handed job. They stayed focused on the game instead of chuckling over some old joke as game action went by. I even thought that Frank added to the excitement as he got caught up in the intentsity and pace of the game. I know they made some errors like Woogie not knowing how to pronounce DL's last name. But all in all a pretty good job. Your thoughts. DG

All the more reason all of us should be putting the presure on our respective cable companys to get with the program. DG

After reading what Jeff Dubay said about Victory Sports providing NCAA regional coverage to Dish Network and the Metro area cable companies free of charge, it seems that all of us that are living out here in the sticks need to be putting pressure on our cable companies ( Midcontinent and Cable One) to jump on board! DG

This is not the same Don Adam of a few years ago who would just look at Mike Commodore and whistle him for a penalty. The few games that I saw him ref at the Ralph this year where well called. Saturday nights Final Five Championship game was a tough one to officiate, especially the first period. Overall he did a good job. DG

wcha.com will carry live radio feeds of all Final Five games. DG