jpiehl

I guess looking at his numbers I just don't see it. Last save percentage over .900 was as a second year bantam. Thome's numbers weren't much better through juniors. At least Scheel put together a solid season at Pentiction, but it looks to me like we are bringing in a lot of big goalies with sub-par numbers lately.

I don't think the Big 10 name holds a lot of power for recruits, especially recruits north of the border. Was in Calgary this week, and at the bar there was no college basketball on. Wasn't on the local cable station, either. But there were three different hockey games on. And advertisements for the WHL playoffs. So the Big 10 success in basketball this season isn't going to sway too many. Besides, most hockey players aren't exactly basketball fans.

So before this incident, your stance was that if something happened with UND Hockey that there would be no suspensions and it would be dealt with just the same as NDSU dealt with their miscreants. Even after examples such as Oshie and Frattin were pointed out, and Blake with the previous head coach. Now that something did happen, and there are suspensions and it isn't dealt with the same way that NDSU deals with such issues, it is only because NDSU did nothing?

Or maybe a monorail....

I seriously doubt the UND coaches are going to change their style of play to match someone else's if their style of play has been working fine.

I just think it is funny that there are a number of Bison fans on a UND board talking about how the poll thing doesn't bother them and doesn't matter, but they are taking the time to go to an opponent's board, many months later, to point out how it was an error. After a championship season by their own team. And lecturing UND fans about how UND cares more about NDSU while they are on the UND board.

Goalie pads were already mandated to be smaller a few years back. And guess what? The goalies adapted and got better. At all levels. The only players oversized equipment helps are the less talented players with limited mobility. They are generally flushed out of the system by the time NCAA or NHL comes around. Gloves, blockers, chest pads, leg pads, even breezers were reduced in size by the new rules and it hasn't had much effect. The fact is that the goaltenders of today are much more athletic than even 10 years ago. I have no problem with progress in goalie equipment just like there has been exponential improvement in player equipment.

OK, I may be a day late, but a full shield or cage does not make the high sticks and elbows a moot point. An elbow to the cage does just as much damage to a neck, and possible concussion, as without a cage. And a high stick to the neck isn't a moot point even if you have a cage. I never played competitively, it wasn't an option growing up. But my boys do, and one or more of them have been injured in those ways at the youth level. As far as the neck guards, USA hockey mandated them a couple of years back, and have now backed off of it. Their research showed that they did no good, and possibly added harm when a skate blade injury did occur. Nothing like having some Kevlar or carbon fibers that were cut by the skate mixed in to the cut. Skate cuts can be horrific, but neck guards, at least using the current ones, don't do anything to mitigate the damage.

I tried to watch a couple of the games, but I ended up having to change the channel because of the stupid air horns from the stands. First game it gave me a headache just watching on TV. Tried again, in the championship game, and ended up changing the channel in the 2nd because I couldn't take those anymore. I would rather listen to the vuvuzelas from the last World Cup in South Africa....

OK, I couldn't let that go. I have never heard of an NHL GM badmouthing Hakstol and saying he can't develop players. Maybe I missed it...

Unless the gophers are playing Michigan...

No idea who, but the why is pretty easy. Duluth fans were chanting 'Smallpox Blankets' when we played there the last time, so of course a Gopher fan would have to copy that instead of coming up with something original, like 26 year old Canadians or 'There's nothing else to do in Grand Forks, that's why you sell out the arena'.

Yes, you are correct, the addition of SCSU to the league does make it more difficult to compete with Big Ten branding.

Just ask Anthony Grieco how the OHL route worked out for him and the fast track to the NHL. Season Team Lge GP A PIM Min GA EN SO GAA W L T Svs Pct GP A PIM 2005-06 Wellington Dukes OPJHL 26 0 10 2006-07 U. of North Dakota WCHA 8 0 0 378 22 0 0 3.49 3 2 1 168 0.884 2007-08 Mississauga St. Michael's Majors OHL 25 0 18 1276 85 2 0 4.00 5 10 3 639 0.883 - - - 2008-09 Victoria Grizzlies BCHL 40 0 9 2305 97 0 2 2.53 27 11 0 921 0.905 - - - 2009-10 U. of Western Ontario CIS 13 0 0 2010-11 U. of Western Ontario CIS 15 0 2 889 38 0 1 2.57 12 3 0 441 0.921 I believe Brad Schlossman posted a while back that he signed to play somewhere in Europe for the upcoming year.

Yeah, we got a set of Vaughn youth leg pads from Hockey Zone for $20 less than they sell for at GoalieMonkey, plus no shipping charges. I know the Elk River Play It Again has a pretty good selection of used goalie equipment if you ever get there, but I don't remember their prices being too great. If you contact Justin, let him know Jeff sent you, he'll take good care of you.

Well, you aren't too far from St. Cloud, and I can tell you Hockey Zone there has always been good to our association. They give pricing on equipment to associations that is better than I have found at any other place, including the online stores like hockeygiant and goaliemonkey. I have a set of leg pads from my son but it sounds like you are set on that. Justin Schultz is the person I have dealt with there, his email is Justin@hockeyzonemn.com. Otherwise I was in Eau Claire, WI last week and the Play It Again there had a ton of stuff, good prices too. And the Bike and Skate shop there has a lot of good stuff, plus they stock LaPoint Sioux jerseys....

Where are you located? And what size equipment do you need?

Don't count on it. I'm in the north metro, and you'd be surprised at all the kids on opposing teams from Elk River, Blaine, Centennial, Anoka, and St. Cloud that are wearing some sort of Sioux gear when they show up at the rink.

You do understand that the Denver team that played USC was their JV team, though, and USC still lost 6-2. Many programs in the WCHA have JV teams that play in the ACHA, I know off hand that Minnesota, Saint Cloud State, and Minnesota-Duluth have JV teams there. I don't know why UND doesn't have a JV team, but I would suspect it is money. I don't know if an actual NCAA DI hockey team has played an ACHA team or not, but I guess I would rather see Manitoba or U18 than a big name school if the intramural champions at UND are better than the big name school. I don't want to sit through a 22-1 game all that bad.

That's fair enough, I can respect that opinion. I would prefer to support a North Dakota city over Minneapolis as well. I don't think it is as minimal an amount as some would say just based on my previous number of $1500 for me to take the family for a weekend. And I am just one person (with wife and kids, of course). Even when we go to the Xcel Center for a WCHA Final Five game it ends up over $400 without a hotel and only 1 meal out.

So why can't you make the game? Is it too far of a drive? Just curious. I think the real benefit of a game there is in the fact that pretty much anyone that wants tickets will be able to get them. The Metrodome just happens to be the closest large capacity stadium. If I could get tickets, I would drive back up to Grand Forks to see a UND-NDSU game, but the first game there will be sold out faster than UND-MN hockey tickets. Every year after I graduated that the game still occurred I was unable to get tickets. I wish I had been able to get to more games in the 10+ years since I graduated, but I have a hard time justifying the $1500 weekend for the whole family to go up to see Tech or Bemidji in hockey or UMC or equivalent for football. I think a more accurate measure would be to compare the games the Sioux hockey team plays in the WCHA Final 5 at Xcel, which are always well attended by Sioux fans. Keep in mind in your arguement that it is not in the best interests of the people who fund the schools that alumni contributions are a significant figure, granted the alumni residing in the Twin Cities area won't add up to the State's contribution to the University, but it may come close to the state's contributions in athletics alone. I don't know what those numbers are exactly so I could be way off....

Well, I have to say that I am probably more excited than my son about going to the Fighting Sioux hockey camp next month. He is looking forward to it, but I haven't been back to Grand Forks in over ten years.....

This is probably one of the silliest polls I have ever seen. Of course it is going to be nearly 100% keep the name, that's what we all want. Just keep in mind that it is a case of preaching to the choir and not any sort of scientific result before we bask in the glory of the results.

This is exactly the scenario that I feared would come about with UND's lack of a substantive response immediately after the ruling came down. We needed to be a pain to the NCAA like FSU and alongside FSU, not hoping to ride on their coattails when they took the issue to court. FSU has a fine law school and the NCAA, as we all saw, had absolutely no interest in fighting with a big dog. But they are fine and dandy with putting several little dogs in a cage and forget about them. And FSU has no interest in the fight as a whole, just in the part that allows them to keep their name, logo, and mascot intact. Also keep in mind that many of the other instituitions will see no effect whatsoever, since it applies to postseason and the small D-1 schools don't often even get a sniff of the postseason. Once Illinois is granted an exemption on whatever basis the NCAA dreams up to avoid that fight, and probably Utah, there is no more fight. Nobody will care on a national level. There will be no talk on ESPN. No more columns written on this ridiculous and assinine rule. And we will be stuck with generic playoff jerseys that can't even have the name of our school, much less the name of our team. Not that I wanted this, but I saw it coming a mile away when I heard the comments of 'We need to study the issue to decide what our response will be'. If the name goes away, you can count me in on the side that will never donate another dime to UND. And not just because I graduated a Fighting Sioux, but more for the tepid response that resulted in this.

My point exactly. Which is why UND needs to get in right now, because once FSU and Illinois have their exemptions there will no longer be a fight, so we need to be in alongside FSU now and not just try to ride on their coattails. I doubt that FSU is all that interested in the issue as a whole, just in protecting their own name.