OETKB

This is great news. Now all we need are 3 or 4 goaltenders and we'll be all set!

I'm not saying that the owners don't skim some benefits off the business, but when an auditor as reputable as Levitt says the revenues are right, I believe it. And when he verifies that 70-75% of the costs are for salaries, it kind of kills the notion that somewhere, in the remaining 25%, is the secret savings for the NHL. Not many businesses, no matter how well run, can survive on 25% of revenues for all costs beyond salaries. For instance, in my company, Personnel expense is less than 20% of sales. Net Income is around 7% of sales. Imagine if salaries were 75% of sales...Net Loss would be huge.

The former chair of the SEC is about as credible as you can get. He wasn't going to do the audit for free. Having said that, it is true that owners bid against eachother and overpaid players on their own. The players league has been tough, though. I don't think owners had much choice in the absence of a cap agreement. If you want top talent, you are forced to pay the going rate. Does anybody really NEED to be paid more than a few million to play sports? If they really feel that way, perhaps it is time to move on and let some hungry kid in the door. In case you can't tell, I don't have much sympathy for the players. They seem to be willing to let the league disappear in the name of greed.

Spirko, just to be contrary to all of ya.

In '02-03, the Sioux travelled East to play Princeton & Yale, and they won those games 5-2 & 7-3. Last season ('03-04), Yale came to Grand Forks and got spanked 8-4 & 10-0. UND has not played Army anytime recently. While Princeton may not be a regular opponent, the possibility certainly exists of another trip out East. I like to see UND play those games, because the coach has the opportunity to play some guys who otherwise don't get much ice time.

I remember one season about a dozen years ago when the refs were told to call more obstruction type penalties. UND fans hated the result, because weak penalties were being called on both sides. Too many weak penalties. There has to be a middle ground, where refs do not allow players like Parise to get mugged, yet refs let the game be played. Why don't the refs take better control? Why does the NCAA have to step in at all? Since when do they control the game itself?

Unfinished business. Absolutely. Not a huge deal in MY life, but I'll bet Mr McMahon, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Jones, & Mr. Greene will agree with Sicatoka. I watched the game via Satellite. The Sioux played a great game, but something has been missing the last few years offensively. Can't quite place what it is. Perhaps they are not crashing the net enough. Maybe they need a guy who can camp in front at certain times. They cycle the puck and skate hard and get off plenty of shots, but in the playoffs they've been unable to score. Let's hope this season brings retribution with a trip to the Frozen Four. It's been long enough now that no one on this team has been to the dance. That just aint right!

This year's team: Likely good enough to win the WCHA. This is a very experienced & deep roster, even without Parise & Bochenski. Look for Murray, Stafford & Zajac to battle for the scoring lead. The defense should be the best in the nation. Goaltending should not be a concern. All together, a great team. Coaching changes: Not that much will change, as the two assistants from the past several seasons were promoted. It helps a team to keep the same core around, assuming they are competent, which they are. Plus, we got Cary Eades back as an assistant. He's good enough to be the head coach, but he agreed to come back as an assistant. I was very surprised. Look for him to take over the offensive drills. Look for Sioux players to be just a little more aggressive as a result. Recruiting: Hakstol did a large amount of the recruiting under Blais, didn't he? Also, Eades is a proven recruiter. I'll bet UND continues to land the best of the best. Now, if we can just keep them in Grand Forks for more than 2 years... P.S. I'm going to enjoy watching the Sioux spank the Goofs this year!

I can't speak for others, but the reason I went to UND is because both my parents went to UND. Both of them are huge Sioux sports fans. I grew up with season tickets to hockey, basketball, & football. If not for the love of the school that was instilled in me through pride in the sports programs, I might very well have wanted to go somewhere else. I'm sure that is true for many others as well. By the way, the lack of evidence in hand doesn't mean that no evidence would exist if it was sought with the same vigor these people seem to have for their political agenda. That's a logical fallacy called "Argument from Ignorance."

Except for the first few minutes of the game today, Dataflix has been perfect. UND is playing very well on both sides of the ball, especially offense. I've been very happy to see Belmore step in and play with confidence. Mesa State is not nearly as good as they were last year. What a blowout!

The Broadband company owns Dataflix. In fairness to what I posted above, I have to reference what happened last Saturday during the UND-Delta State fooball game. The streaming was very poor. Choppy or just frozen much of the time. A rep from the Ralph said it was a poor internet connection on UND's end. He also said they would do everything possible to fix it by game 2 (tomorrow). By the end of last season, most of the hockey games were coming in just fine, so last week was a big step backward. We shall see if they really get things fixed tomorrow.

A rep from the Ralph was good enough to get back to me privately. The problem was apparently a poor internet connection on UND's end. I was assured they were going to do everything possible to fix it for this Satruday's game. Since I already bought the full season, I sincerely hope so. When Dataflix is streaming well, it is a great product. When it is skipping or frozen, it is very frustrating.

For about $3, you can go on Dataflix and watch the whole archived game 5 times. At least THAT portion of the game was streaming correctly!

I wish it weren't so, but the webcast of the Delta State game was total garbage. Some brief periods of good streaming interrupted what was otherwise a grueling marathon of frustration. I want someone to get on this thread from the Ralph or Dataflix and explain why these problems are not being solved.

When Delta had scoring position with a minute to go, I thought the Sioux had really tossed the game away. But the defense hurried their QB big time and actually knocked him out of the game. Way to step up in the final minute, defense! Bowenkamp had a poor game. I swear he threw that 4th quarter interception at the Delta player, thinking he was a UND player. It was a perfect pass, to the wrong team! UND gets the win, though. In typical, last minute fashion.

Now that play has stopped for halftime, the damn streaming is perfect. What gives?

How about that UND offense in the 1st half, eh? Great surprise. However, UND's defense has not looked exactly dominant. They've played well, but not great. The Dataflix broadcast today has been garbage. Now that they are in the second season, there is no more excuse for this. Fix it!

From my perspective, Dataflix was great and well worth the moola. Sure, there were points in almost every game where the transmission got choppy, but the vast majority of the time I got functional streaming. You can use any computer with good enough spec's, as long as the proper version of windows media is installed. The game link sign-in is via the Dataflix website. You type in your "base" email and a password, then click on the live event and a special window opens with the streaming video. Camera work: Home games are very nice. Several cameras, with replay capability. Like they put on the Jumbo screen at the games. Road games are a different story. Often just one camera with no replays. But we normally can't see road games at all, so who's going to complain about that?

The full year package and all the smaller packages are available on the Ralph website under "Watch the Sioux" as of today. All inclusive package is $199.

Yes, this is going to be a fun game. At first, when I heard how good Delta was, I was concerned about UND's ability to win. Then, when I started looking into the players listed in the preseason depth chart, that changed. Defensively, I think we have few worries. Tons of talent there. Offensively, can we score? That is the big question. Only time will tell if the O-Line is good enough to give Bowenkamp the time he needs to thread those passes. Also, can they open some holes for Roland? Then there is the issue of WR's. Less concern here. I think Caleb J. and Grossman & crew will step up. How can they not with a passer like Bowenkamp in practice? If UND's offense can get clicking early in the season, this could be another great year. Go Sioux!

Things are a bit uncertain, so here is an attempt with Bo gone: Murray - Zajac - Stafford Porter - Genoway - Spirko Prpich - McMahon - Fylling Fabian/Canady/Marvin - Kaip - Massen I really like these lines. Drop the puck!

By "Academic," I meant the scholarship was not related to hockey. He must be pretty smart. He was a walk-on who was more than good enough to make the roster, but not better than those who would be starters ahead of him. Perhaps when he is a junior/senior, he may play more. At least, that was the story I gathered last year.

I heard he is here on a full-ride academic scholarship. If that is true, he is probably willing to wait and see if he can play as an upperclassman.

It's looking more & more like it really is "Bye, bye." Perhaps it will help the rest of the team to focus if they know that coach Hak is not going to put up with any selfishness, if that is indeed the case.

I've been informed that TheRalph.com will have webcast packages available sometime within "the next few days." Good news for those of us who are out-of-towners. I was starting to worry that they would drop the coverage.