tnt

You are delusional. Don't think I've ever seen anybody camp over night to get tickets to other sports as was the case frequently in the old hockey arena. You can try diminish the hockey program all you want, but it isn't going to change the popularity of the sport, especially in a hockey city. There is a reason Grand Forks has been so good at hockey in high school, while lacking in other sports -- because a lot of the better athletes have chosen to focus more on hockey.

UND had two of the top 3. Housley was one of the three, but he ended up not playing for Minnesota after he committed like Christian and Parise did for UND.

Don't understand why either team has such poor attendance. How many times were Hakstol's teams at about .500 after Christmas, and attendance remained constant. I know we are at a time where attendance at all athletics is down, but the malaise at some of college hockey's great programs still baffles and concerns me a bit.

Attendance at Mariucci tonight looks about what it has been in all the games I've seen, and no way is that 75 percent full.

No Valley Dairy? Where would we get our hockey sticks from?

Agree, in fact I think that most of the response from gopher fans with the .6 is because of the constant ringing of Holy Cross in their ears.

Those looked like they were stats for the 2014-2015 season, not 2015-2016.

Where do you get that figure. Just about every game I've seen has been pretty sparse. I was shocked at how many empty seats there were against Duluth early in the season.

Book smarts and common sense are two different things. I work with people that have Master's Degrees and they can't grasp simple principles like the bottom line. A lot of times people are taught the bureaucracy that is so prevalent in government, but is the root of a lot of our money problems.

Would love to see figures for actual butts in the seats, as Wisconsin and Minnesota don't have near the number as the paid attendance figures.

Football Bubba said that he appreciates Berry talking to him about the culture in the hockey locker room and the behind the scenes things that go on to create that culture, so it seems the two Bubba's have a pretty good relationship.

Bet that the games against UND will be full next year. To go from UND needing Minnesota to the UND games being the only games Minnesota will have with a full arena is quite ironic.

Let's see, Michigan has a 110,000 plus football stadium that they just upgraded, but have an old arena that seats 6000 for hockey. Duluth and St. Cloud have upgraded much better than Michigan.

Not that this would happen, but the other sports wouldn't happen anymore than they would if we stayed put. You didn't happen to go to the Michigan State game did you? Perfect example of why our current league is better -- great atmosphere at Western Michigan, dead arena at Michigan State.

What isn't hypothetical is the state of these two leagues in hockey right now. Yes, the Big Ten will get better, but if nobody is watching does it really matter?

O.k., then what about the scenario that someone else mentioned, where we accept, then a whole bunch of Big Ten programs start hockey and they decide they want like-minded institutions --- Now where do you go? You just pissed off all the other programs. Remember, some Big Ten schools said they didn't have a choice but to capitulate to the hockey conference no matter how they wanted to stay where they were.

So to go with your sentiment, why would the Big Ten want to hang around with someone as lowly as UND who can't even pick a decent nickname?

Enough Said!

You trying to convince everyone how great it would be, reminds me of how all the constituents were told how great the Big Ten would be for their hockey programs. We have been shown that unlike the NCHC where hockey is the king for most of the institutions, the Big Ten treats hockey like a red-headed stepchild. Maybe we should see if we can hire Barry Alvarez as our Athletic Director too!

No I don't think they will stay down, but that doesn't change the fact that, like Minnesota, our fans love having traditional rivals that you don't necessarily have to fly to if you want to attend a road game. Minnesota has been winning Big Ten Championships, yet their attendance has been horrible.

Thank You for making my argument for me by saying "Imagine UND hockey being forced into a conference they didn't want to be in with No teams near them." UND fans, like Minnesota fans are fine playing the teams they play now, as evidenced by our full attendance compared to a half full arena at Mariucci. Your argument isn't about how great the Big Ten is, but how great it would be to have our rivalry again. Agree with that, but that is the extent of the argument for the Big Ten. No thank you!

Your own fan base has already said how disconnected they have become from gopher hockey because they aren't planning their annual trips to Duluth, St. Cloud, etc.. Don't know how thrilling it would be to go to Joe Louis Arena and have the arena staff outnumber the fans. The Target Center wasn't great, but tons better than the Big Ten tourney, and that was with only two area teams.

Pretty simple answer... No! UND is a traveling fan base, but why make it more difficult for most of your fan base to go to road games. A good deal of alumni are out west, not east, that is why Denver is always packed.

Would be interesting to see their overall record in Amsoil itself.

I'll bet Stecher, Ladue, Thompson, Caggiula, etc. would like to return the favor of ending their season a few years ago, and if they happen not to make it, that would be o.k. too!