star2city

I-29 is closed all the way to Hillsboro: ND Highway Dept: HW 18 open

So where does the Penn State women's team play? WCHA or more likely CHA. If Penn State goes to the CHA, seems like Ohio State would go there too. Lindenwood is also moving women's hockey from club to DI status next year. They'll likely be independent for at least one year, but where do they go after that? Will Michigan and Michigan State soon sponsor women's hockey? This article on the MSU women's club team isn't hopeful Mich St will start women's hockey, but if Mich and Mich St do, the WCHA for women would be down to five teams. Both leagues really need an eighth team (Lindenwood or Moorhead) to protect itself from a BTWHC. WCHA Women's UND UM (to BTWHC? later) UW (to BTWCH? later) UMD Bemidji St Cloud Mankato CHA Women's Syracuse Mercyhurst Ohio St Penn State Wayne St Robert Morris Niagara

It is simply amazing that likely the 2nd highest flood in Grand Forks history will crest at a predicted 52 ft without much impact, except for the closed bridges and extra driving. A crest of 46 ft in bygone days would have been a major crisis. For those in rural Cass, Clay, and Norman counties near the Red, our hearts and prayers go out to you.

Really, to get the MTU program back on track, it almost has to leave the WCHA for a much more weakened CCHA. In the CCHA, it would have a chance to escape the basement. Escaping the basement in the WCHA would be much more difficult. In the 70's and 80's, coaching could overcome MTU's geographical and demographic issues. Not anymore as Houghton's disadvantages are growing only more pronounced. It's more important now for MTU to maintain annual games with Michigan and Mich State, than with Minnesota and Wisconsin, as Mich and Mich St may be tying up their holiday tournaments that previously included MTU with other CCHA schools. But more than anything, MTU needs a reasonable chance of winning, which will be provided by playing against schools with similar rink/facility situations like NMU, LSSU, Ferris, and WMU. The truth is: MTU leaving the WCHA would be helpful for both. The WCHA then has an open slot to attract another higher profile school, like Iowa State, for example. Michigan Tech would get better attendance from more wins and more games with local rivals NMU and LSSU.

With the BTHC coming up, the WCHA now will lead all conferences in number of schools with championships (5). WCHA - 5 Big Ten - 4 CCHA - 3 HE - 3 ECAC - 3 Just need to work on total championships BTHC -23 WCHA - 20 HE - 11 CCHA - 5 ECAC - 5

Since it was down to just two, made it easier!!

Greatly admire LaPoint and Genoway for their inspirational comebacks from absolutely horrible injuries.

Regarding the whole QB situation, it just seems like very poor strategic planning by the staff. Why would they have recruited Demler and Comes, and then almost immediately after their signing, change the offense to the pistol, which didn't play into Demler's and Comes' strengths? It's that lack of strategic thinking that makes one really wonder about the staff. That said, any QB reports from the scrimmage?

While this board was in mourning about the Sioux losing, another scandal has been brewing within NDSU football. The previous story leads into this one, as the Chicago Tribune is announcing a new scandal from its rooftop. Chicago Tribune: NDSU wide receiver suspended for solicitation of minor In-forum: WR Howard suspended Apparently, there must have been some excessive partying after first home playoff win, in what, 20 years? Probably a lot of partying on Bisonville now after the Sioux hockey loss, so Bisonville better be cautious.

When it was announced that Tim Hennessey wouldn't be in St Paul, my heart sank, as a Sioux victory seemed so much less possible with Tim not there. In '97, BU beat favorite Michigan, and then UND beat BU. If the parallels to 1997 hold, then UMD wins.

Williston is adding softball to partially compensate for hockey scholarships. It's interesting that Minot State now lists their men's and its newly formed women's club hockey teams on their main varsity athletic page: Minot State athletics. That's very unusual, and possibly indicates Minot's intentions. With all the oil money pouring into Minot, wouldn't be at all surprised if they add DI hockey once they gain full DII membership. As far as NDSU hockey, their fans and administration will never go for it because they know they could never get to UND's level. That's fine by me. But what they fail to see is that hockey gives UND major inroads to the Fargo-Moorhead market, even among non-UND alumni. The school-age kids there instantly recognize that UND hockey is really the only top level program around, and want to be part of that. By converting the kids to being Sioux hockey fans, it also opens the door for them to be Sioux fans in everything else. NDSU wouldn't even need to start women's hockey to compensate for Title IX, as they can just move their women's equestrian program to varsity status. With Scheel's Arena, the business potential is better than NDSU admins ever admit, but they have too many problems raising money for basic DI facility needs. I wouldn't mind Moorhead State getting hockey, but only if they get in like a lower-level league (like what's left of the CCHA when Notre Dame likely leaves). Montana and Montana State really don't have a DI hockey facility, so it would take huge amounts of money. To get hockey in the West, it would almost take multiple schools starting hockey simultaneously, which is basically impossible. Maybe if UBC moves to the NCAA, that may be a game changer. The miniscule chance of a Big Sky school ever starting hockey probably lies with Eastern Washington, as they have an on-campus arena and could play home games in Spokane's larger arena.

Guess I was wrong on the previous assumption. Sounds like the SBoHE actually wants the meeting closed. Dalrymple wants open meeting, SBoHE wants closed meeting

For Title IX balancing, looks like Williston St will add softball to offset men's hockey. Williston St adding softball, too

Considering that Mussman was heavily recruiting a QB one season after recruiting two (Comes and Demler), seems Mussman didn't have any expectation that at least one of those QBs would contribute. Hoping that Demler finds a QB spot at a different. level and that football becomes fun for him again.

The NCAA has no intention of participating in an "open" meeting, so that's a major problem. If the meeting is forced into the open, IMHO the NCAA walks out and doesn't participate.

Any school that receives federal funding (such as student loans) has to abide by Title IX, so yes. Minot State's program is currently at the club level, which isn't as strictly regulated. If (or when) Minot State takes hockey to the varsity level, it will have to be serious about Title IX implications.

No word on how they are financing this, but Williston businesses are practically rolling in dough now. Sounds like some major retail is moving into Williston too. For a sport "nobody" cares about, sure shows a lot of commitment. Strange how Williston State can afford this, and even Minot State is considering DI hockey, but NDSU can't.

Best of luck to Ryan! Seems like much of the recruiting success and on-court strategy was due to him.

Terrific hire. Everyone in western ND knows and respects the voice of Jack Michaels. His voice for Sioux football will only help deepen the Sioux football fan base out there. UND vs Montana and UND vs Montana State games are going to become huge events out there. It's also a feather in Faison's cap that Michaels will be the sports director at the bison's flagship station: KFGO. Getting Michaels to go to KFGO as well as be the voice of Sioux football had to take a lot of skillful negotiations. It also couldn't have been cheap getting Michaels on board. Perhaps the guarantee money for opponents had to be cut.

Had intended to respond to this earlier. Honestly, by you defending Kelley, that is an indicment of Kelley's competence. Please answer these questions and observations, and then state that Kelley and the SBoHE had no part in attempting to finish the Sioux name, by using the Summit and Douple as an excuse. 1. When Douple came out with the decree stating the Summit League wouldn't accept UND, why did Kelley just throw up his hands and begin his lobbying to drop the name? Never once did Kelley publicly request Douple to come to UND and discuss the situation. Never once did Kelley state that he was petitioning Summit League presidents and asking them to more closely review the situation. Grant Shaft stated in a radio interview that Kelley had been lobbying the SBoHE to drop the nickname. Never has it ever been revealed that Kelley was lobbying the Summit League to drop their nickname stance. Instead, Kelley just blindly accepts the Summit decree. Why? What would it have hurt for Kelley to lobby the Summit League presidents to allow UND and the SBoHE to continue the nickname process? 2. Why did the SBoHE never direct the Summit nickname question to Chapman or NDSU: when Chapman had to have been part of the original decree? The SBoHE always directed their questions to Douple, with a couple of the SBoHE personnel traveling to Chicago to talk with Douple directly. Are SBoHE personnel really so naive as to not understand that the Presidents of the Summit League are the ones that make expansion decisions? Either the SBoHE is extremely incompetent by not understanding league procedures or some of them were involved in a charade. Douple does not have the power to add a school: only the Presidents do. The SBoHE was either covering for Chapman's original actions, or the SBoHE was incompetent. There's no other answers. 3. When Douple said to the press that he was withholding UND's application from the President's, why didn't the media call that total bull$%!#. Conference commissioners don't have that power: only presidents do. A Summit President is the leader of an expansion committee. The Summit President who was in charge of "evaluating" UND was never ever revealed. Who was that President? Never been answered in the media. Again, the lack of sophistication by the local media was glaring. Douple never had the power to withhold UND's application: only Summit League Presidents. The media just accepted Douple's statements at par value, when they were actually total lies. Somehow, the local media gave Douple all kinds of reverence, when all he was was a blowhard of the worst kind. 4. When the PAC10 accepted Utah, why didn't the media's eyes become open? Utah is the one school other than UND to have issues within a tribe that could render their nickname on the NCAA's list. Yet, the PAC10, with schools like UC-Berkeley, Stanford, and Washington - liberal bastions that they are - had no issue (none was ever reported in the press) about the Utah Utes's nickname. As a result of moving to the PAC10, Utah would receiver more than n$10 million extra a year in comparison with the MWC. If there was ever a time that the PAC10 could make a demand, it was prior to acceptance. Yet Utah had no issue with the PAC10, even though the Uintah reservation has reservations about the name. And yet the Summit League had an "issue" with the Sioux nickname. Absolutely total B.S. that liberal campuses in the Summit League have issues with the Sioux name if the name would have received tribal blessings. The Utah Utes will be routinely playing at the Stanford Cardinal. Hello out there media!! Buy a clue!! 5. When Gene Taylor was on Fargo radio and spouted off about the Summit League having a policy that prevented them from scheduling UND because of the nickname, where did Taylor get that information? It wasn't the Summit League, because Douple at first stated they had no such policy, and then later changed his stance to say they needed to consider it. Where did Taylor hear that policy? From Chapman? 6. When UND took the Big Sky offer, the Summit went into a panic mode. The Summit somehow always thought it had UND as a partner. The whole fiasco with UNO - where UNO was wined and dined at the Summit tournament, then had to suddenly drop wrestling and football on short notice - shows how the Summit had to radically change course in short order in order to compensate for the loss of UND. Kelley most likely had a deal with the Summit (Summit takes blame for the nickname loss, and Kelley/SBoHE get no blame and a home for athletics), and because the Summit couldn't come up with a football home, Kelley went with the Big Sky. Douple, enraged that Kelley broke their gentleman's agreement, went public about the Sioux nickname farce. Don't get me wrong: we are extremely fortunate in how events transpired. But that is in spite of our leadership, not because of our leadership. Kelley didn't even believe we could get in the Big Sky until the last second. Kelley never believed the nickname could be saved and there is no shred of evidence anywhere that he wanted it saved. We are blessed as fans, as a school, and have a blessed future: in spite of our leadership.

Dorgan was brought in to declare amnesty for Kelley and Faison. Since Faison has now been seen wearing a Sioux jersey, I think we know where he personally stands now. Nobody is going to get fired over the issue - unless the SBoHE gets the kabosh from the legislature.

Exactly. If the NCAA feels they are in a strong authoritarian position - like placing schools on probation - they issue those decrees from Indianapolis. When the NCAA feels vulnerability, the President travels to respond personally in an attempt to placate the aggrieved party. Until the North Dakota legislature took a stand, the NCAA nickname policy had never been formally challenged in the political system (challenges in the judiciary weren't sufficiently threatening). Florida State briefly threatened political action, and the NCAA backed away immediately to give Florida State an exemption. The huge majorities in the ND Senate and House were noticed by the NCAA. The massive political support in ND will move force ND politician to bring the nickname issue center stage to Washington if the NCAA doesn't back down - which could snowball into many other grievances against the NCAA. The NCAA simply cannot afford that type of risk - it needs the nickname issue to be settled soon. People like Eunice Davidson and Archie Fool Bear are the real heroes in this. Until the Sioux people really spoke up and allowed their voices and votes to be heard, the legislature didn't feel it had the moral clout to object to the NCAA's decrees.

"Jerk" is coming to mind ...

If they invite Spirit Lake, Standing Rock will probably insist on being there too. More and more, the idea that Emmert is coming to Bismarck indicates that the NCAA has a major concern about the legislature's actions and potential lawsuit. In the previous lawsuit, which wasn't anti-trust, Myles Brand just laughed at ND from his Indianapolis office. An NCAA President would never ever journey to Bismarck unless the NCAA had a major legal and political concern. I wouldn't be surprised if the NCAA extended the lawsuit settlement for 10 or 15 years, just to save face (and hope Standing Rock approves during that time.) The anti-trust lawsuit has to be avoided at practically any cost, as the consequences of losing are just too great, even if the risk of losing is small. The NCAA has accomplished much of it's original goal: wiping out Indian nicknames at NCAA schools. Only a few remain out of the 20 or so original names (Flor St, CMU, Utah, Ms College) remain with feathers removed from others (Bradley Braves).

Understand your point, but in all actuality HBU won and the NCAA lost on it's point. If HBU had been stuck with seven years, they would have stayed NAIA. Settlements are not all equal - and in this case HBU go the much better hand. HBU is also a low budget school athletically that can't afford any extras beyond the very basic NCAA DI requirements, much like Presbyterian. If the NCAA can't stick it to HBU as part of the transition in retribution, I highly doubt they will to UND either.