tnt

You could ask Phil Jackson if he would be willing to put up some money to have his "Roughriders" suggestion put into place, especially since they said it would take $750,000 to implement a new name.

Which makes Matt Frattin taking his discipline and going back home and straightening himself out all the more impressive. He could have easily taken the easy way out and played in the minors for the Leafs organization, but he chose to make amends.

Wonder if the Sioux coaches have enough players that can change years to cover that scenario this time. I would assume guys like Gaarder and Pattyn aren't on scholarship, so the Sioux should be able to throw around a little more money for next year to make sure they aren't in the position they are this year. Any late bloomers, let's get that depth in here. Remember when we thought we had too much depth last year, and that depth was a blessing. Hopefully they can be ahead of the game this time should they have any defections. Cross your fingers that it isn't necessary.

Yeah, I guess it is part of the rivalry, but if you get in trouble like Frattin you're an idiot, and if you have a strong sense of morality you're also an idiot. How do you win. I guess I would tend to focus on the Nate Hagemo and Jerrod Reinholz's before I would focus on kids with character.

Just picking up where Mazzocco left off. If he begins using "masterful" in his description, I might just throw up. He acted like a freshman player wouldn't know to set up on the goal mouth on the powerplay to tap in a pass, after Rau scored a wide open goal from a goal-mouth feed. It kind of detracts from the really great plays when every play is unbelievable.

I don't think that UMD cares if anybody was impressed by them. They are hanging a National Championship banner, and really that's all that counts.

All I will say is that confidence is a strange thing. If the gophers sweep Vermont this weekend, as I fully expect them to, I think they will gain even more confidence and will be a team that should finish top four or five. One thing that was characterisic of gopher teams that made the NCAA tourney is scoring on the powerplay, and they sure took advantage of that last weekend. Now as far as Gorg goes, he apparently isn't supposed to be objective because he refers to everything as a "no-brainer" even though most fans could see it called two ways. I like the time when he thought the Bulldogs should get the additional penalty in a scrum, and Lapanta thought the gophers should. Speaks volumes about which one has at least some objectivity.

To whom much is given much is expected. I guess NDSU is given less because they expect less of them, and if this incident is any indication, I guess we know why they expect less of them.

Idalski talked about another possible European recruit that could come to fruition by November sometime. Anybody have a clue about who that would be? I would think if you are going to go through all the NCAA clearing headaches, that it must be a high-end type of talent.

Could also have thrown Cichy in there somewhere. I think we could use his offensive upside this year.

Maybe that is the reason that NDSU has such a problem with athletes shoplifting. Maybe the new case from last week was just an athlete trying to help pay for their own scholarship to help the Athletic Department. Do you really believe the ends justifies the means?

I get worried when I hear players use the "revenge" factor about playing Maine this weekend. There are so many times that the Sioux have "owed" somebody only to come up short. Remember when they owed Denver for the hit to Bina? Denver beat us in the National Championship game after that again. Hopefully they just go about their business at practice and can use the pairwise as motivation, because in reality, that is what is really at stake here. The Sioux definitely can't afford to be swept, and sweeping will help take a bit of the sting out of the BC loss, at least in the pairwise.

Did we just get lucky with Bellmore being as good as he is? You would think that it would be harder to recruit good talent and depth at the beginning of the transition, compared with the end. I realize that experience plays a big role in the schemes and such, but you would think that there should be some talent with a lot of potential to fill that gap, even if it is kind of raw.

I think you can find a lot of examples of teams that have other teams number. Would any of you suggest Dean Blais can't figure things out. His Omaha team couldn't beat an inferior Bemidji State team in 6 games last year with 4 of them in Omaha. You would think it would be easier to make adjustment to playing a team within the same year and with the same players than it would be to make adjustments to different personnel, even though the system is the same. Would anybody say Lucia is a lot better coach than Red Berenson, simply because more times than not, Minnesota has had their number. I think you can look at how much difficulty the Sioux used to have with Mankato under Blais as an example of certain teams just matching up better, or worse in our case. Not saying that gives Hakstol a complete pass, but at least Boston College has been the top program in the country over the past decade. I know the Sioux want to be considered that, but in one-game shots, you can't have one off night from the goalie on out.

Knight-riders. Oh yeah, we don't have to change our nickname yet.

Thank goodness. I was worried about the state of North Dakota having to put up with Rocky Hager again!

I guess we disagree on what constitutes crumbling! So is it your opinion we need a new coach or new players? Was Matt Frattin a choker, or Jason Gregoire? Because both of them had unbelievable point streaks going into the Michigan game. Exactly who do you put the blame on?

Embarrasing for who? You? You're right I'm sure BC fans just laugh when we're on the schedule. That's not overreacting? UND had some lapses that hurt them during a four minute span, that is something that can be corrected, especially when they were coming from players that played integral roles in getting the Sioux to the Frozen Four. Ben Blood led the nation in plus/minus last year, and he made some mistakes. Aaron Dell didn't make a big save when we needed it like he did so often last year. Add to that some bad penalties and freshmen mistakes, and you have a recipe to lose to a very good BC team. I happen to think that all of the things that went wrong in this game can be turned around, but I don't expect it to be overnight. Either you believe in the building process that Hakstol espouses or you don't I happen to believe it, because I have seen it every year.

Wow, people overreacting to an early season loss. Who would have thought. Probably the same ones that freaked out when we got throttled by Maine early last year, then thought there was no possible way the Sioux would lose to Michigan. Doesn't surprise me in the least, because these will be the same ones that are smack talking fans of other teams when things are going well.

I agree, I don't think our fanbase has enough respect for other programs, nor the adjustment necessary to this level of play. I expect to see a rollercoaster first half of the season, which has been the norm under Hakstol, even with teams with more experience. I also expect there will be those insane fire Hakstol threads popping up here and there. Before the game, I would have thought that it was very possible the Sioux could get beat by Air Force. I like our first line, I think the all freshman line will be spotty, but should contribute more consistently by the second half of the game, and when you add Grimaldi to the mix, they may be consistent sooner. Also have lines that are going to succeed by hard work. Lamoureux line is in that category and they really got us going last night. It may get frustrating, but I am going to try and just "enjoy the season", because I think by February sometime, they could become a pretty good team.

As per Brad's blog, add Geoff Crisfield to the defensive recruits. Sounds like he is a true Fighting Sioux character guy. http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/sports/vipers/news/119019689.html

They're no Montana Tech!! Must have a little offensive upside to hammer that vaunted Montana Tech team 55-16.

Have two seats, 4 tickets for all games of the Ice Breaker. $30 per ticket, $120 total. These are great seats in the corner where the Sioux shoot twice, in the 2nd row.

I think the Black Jerseys are the most popular amongst fans. When they had the fire sale, they were the first to go.

Maybe we could use a little luck and get a "Jenny Crouse" on the men's side because of the aviation major. How about finding some large men that are interested in the UAS program? One can hope, can't they?