FIRE HELMET GUY #26

Hello fellow hockey fans! A group of 4 of us DID end up finding tickets and will be making the trek to Grand Forks to watch the Sioux vs. Gophers series!!!! We were just kind of wondering the fun places to go for pre-game and post game food and drinks. What I would REALLY like to know is what is a "Grinder" from the Red Pepper? I have heard about these for years but have no idea what they are, can anyone fill me in? Also, is there anything fun to do during the day in GF, any malls or anything. I know we are going to check out Cabela's when we are up there but were just wondering some other things to do while we are waiting for the Saturday pre-game booze time and game. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

Madison, Great town to visit....PLENTY OF BARS! The fans REALLY get into the games and try to intimidate the heck out of opposing goalies. They can get kind of evil for no reason though. Myself and Bertibm were leaving the bar last year.....I believe it was Brothers, and as we're walking out the door two guys come out of nowhere and say they are going to "beat the **** out of us in the alley", we didn't even do anything. FHG's Grade= B- SCSU, Kind of a dumpy town but some really fun bars.....The Red Carpet RULES! The arena is kind of a dive, the fans are pretty much always hammered and I don't know how many new swear words I have learned just for visiting that place a couple times. Half the students I don't think even know hockey, it's just a social event to show their buds how hammered they are. FHG's Grade= A- Duluth, GREATEST ROAD TRIP EVER, most people that know me find this shocking I know! Grandma's Sports Garden before and after games is a great time to meet up with fans and even the UMD Penatly Box guys, which treated us Gopher fans very nicely this past season. The arena is a DUMP but it has history which makes it a decent place to watch hockey.....if it wasn't for the DAMN nettting! Of course this past seasons trip was tarnished because the big group of Gopher fans didn't get our typical section together....but fun was still had. FHG's Grade= A++ Mankato, I have some to the conclusion that Mankato fans know absolutely NOTHING about the sport of hockey. The arena is a ghost town, and kind of dumpy! It has some good bars to visit.....I dont' know the name of the Irish Pub in town but if you ever go there ask for a Diamond Cutter, VERY VERY TASTY! FHG's Grade= B Mariucci arena could be one of the GREATEST places to watch hockey if they would get the dang corpies to start cheering!!! Yes, I know my post is long but I miss hockey season and I can't wait for this years roadtrips!!!

Lesson #2: How to put your stick up to knock down a player trying to skate around your net! (ala 2002 Championship Game) How Hauser was not called for that, or the other little "incident" is beyond me, of course I'm not complaing either!

Thanks to everyone for your help. Hopefully if all goes well I'll be able to see the new Ralph come October. Or if all else fails I guess I could just watch the game at one of the many cool bars in Grand Forks.....which doesn't sound all bad either!

Yeah, I read that post and thats what kind of worried me, I heard the SRO seats are not the greatest. I REALLY want to make the trip up there but if I could not get into the arena to see it I would not want to make the drive then. Even though watching the game at one of the bars in town woud be o.k. too I would really like to see the new Ralph. Thanks for the info though Airmail.

Some friends and I were interested in making the trek to NoDak in October to watch the series but heard that tickets are VERY hard to come by at the new Ralph. Does a person have a chance of getting tickets at all up there, even SRO? I know that I'm a Gopher fan but any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks! 4 months till hockey starts again!

Just wanna wish all the Sioux faithful that are coming for the series a safe trip to the cities, and the trip back for that matter. A lot of us Gopher fans hang out at Sallys before the game so stop by and say hi if you get a chance. Should be a great weekend of hockey.

As heard on the PA and Dubay show: "Thank you Kentucky"! Amy Hayes= WOW!!!!!!

Now THAT is funny as hell! I may be a Gopher fan but I even got a chuckle out of that!

I'm just glad that college hockey is starting up again, even if the Gophers aren't playing tonight at least this will be a good game to watch, or listen too for me I guess. This won't make a lot of Sioux fans happy but this is what I think: UMD- 5 UND- 2 (I think Reichsmuth(sp) is gonna stand on his head even if it is the first game of the year). Good luck to both teams and here's to another great year of college hockey!

I don't think I could ever sky dive either, I'll stick to running into burning buildings instead, thats my adrenaline booster!

Actually according to Pride On Ice.com a couple of the Gopher cheerleaders WILL be showing up!

I don't think I'm gonna wear the helmet to the game but I am thinking about bringing it to the wedding! All I know is that once the damn dinner and other crap is over I'm going to find a t.v. My bud would REALLY like that. Any friend who would schedule a wedding during hockey season (especially the Final Five) should be reconsidered as being a friend.

POI vs. UND. I will most definetly have to check this out! That will be the only live hockey I'll get to see the whole weekend seeing I have to miss the Final Five! Damn weddings!

Actually Greyeagle I'm leaving the helmet home tonight. Can't wear it to every game or my head will fall off one of these times. And your right, better to be a Sioux fan then a Badger or Husky fan.

Yeah, I don't know about Greyeagle sometimes. I think down deep he is a closet Sioux fan! He just won't admit it.

No thats all right kr, no big deal. I don't think I mentioned anything bad about this board ever but like I said, it would not surprise me if I did. But if I did it was purely just to poke fun, nothing personl.I know what you are talking about with the board though, alot of us are proud of what we have with Prideonice.com and this board is of the same calibur. As far as turning me into a Sioux fan, I don't think so. At least we can all agree that we hate the SCCC Huskies and we love hockey!

In reply to kr's post I just had to come on here and defend myself. I admit that I do rip on Sioux fans but I think thats only natural, we are rivals you know. And believe me it is all in good fun and meant to be humorous more then anything. I don't really think this board sucks either, pretty decent actually ( I personally don't rememeber ever ripping on this board but I may have and probably did). Alot of nice features on here. I hope you don't mind a Gopher fan posting on here but I had to come over and check it out, I know a lot of friendly UND fans that post on POI. Anyways, here's to another great weekend of college hockey!