tnt

Really, we don't even know if Bradley might be the guy for the future still. Remember, just last year, the Bison weren't exactly enamored with their quarterbacks. They went back and forth with Mohler and Jensen, then finally settled with Jensen. I'm not so sure Mohler was that great, and early on, neither was Jensen, so lets give Bradley some time to make adjustments to this level before we hand over the position to someone who is equally inexperienced. We really thought we were getting something with Demler with Wisconsin's interest in him, so even though Iowa shows interest in Mollberg, he will have adjustments to make as well. Nonetheless, I am very excited to get the potential he brings.

Yeah, I'm surprised Chambers doesn't start his artcicle "Brad Malone, the guy who broke Jesse Martin's neck, had a goal and an assist"!

I'm sure he would have been more impressed by St. Francis.

Yeah, they now have some good depth. They were picked to finish 4th in the WCHA, but who knows how well they will do, now that the Lamoureux's won't be worn down as much. Looks like they might redshirt most, if not all of the freshmen, if tonight is any indication. The fourth line looked pretty good, and the transfer Monique Weber especially looked like she could help a bit. The Line combos were: 1. Lamoureux - Lamoureux - Karvinen 2. Dahlen - Jakobsen - Wiebe 3. Loken - Ketcher - Dagenais 4. Parizek - Weber - Gilbert They played Margot Miller, who was on the Lamoureux twins line at times last year at defense. The one power play I saw had both the twins at defense with Karvinen, Dahlen and Jakobsen up front. I really like how they can now roll four lines and be aggressive coming at the other team without wearing out. Lamoureux's didn't play much at all in the 3rd period. Be interesting to see if there are changes in the 2nd exhibition game, trying to get Holly Perkins and Madison Kolls in the lineup, or if tonights lineup is in tact. Both those girls saw a lot of action last year, which attests to the depth they have now. Guess we'll find out in the next few weeks how much the depth will help against great teams.

Yeah, I'm sure they would have liked to have him, but I don't think they'll dwell on it. After all, UND has lost numerous recruits to Minnesota in the last 3-4 years, and the Sioux seem to have come out all right. It's what you do with them when they get here that counts.

I would prefer 7 teams with Western Michigan so we have potential to play all our old rivals every year. If St. Cloud is so great, you need to ask yourself why were they not included the first time around?

Maybe someone from the media should also ask them why they would be in a league where the "Fighting Sioux" nickname is still not totally resolved. Who knows, by some miracle they could be in a conference with a hostile and abusive nickname, and how do you continue to protest when you followed them into another league.

I agree that the NCHC made a knee-jerk reaction due to panic. If you truly want to be National, allow for some expansion nationally. Now that you accepted a mediocre school to the mix, the league is not quite as attractive. I liken this to the WCHA accepting Alaska Anchorage years back. The consequences of such action really gave the WCHA problems in travel and everything else, and after it was done, how do you undo it and get rid of them! The same can be said of St. Cloud. At what point do you have buyer's remorse and are stuck with "damaged goods"?

That's twice now Brian Faison has had Sioux fans feeling thrilled with new conferences, only to have it tempered after the initial conceptions are not completely what they were supposed to be. With the Big Sky we needed a conference any which way, but after that blindside, you would have thought they would get their ducks in a row ahead of time instead of having to backtrack embarrassingly. And if it isn't backtracking, why wasn't St. Cloud invited the first time around? Totally agree, much spin to come.

Can you start a ground swell of SCSU fans to protest joining, and threaten state legislation against it!

I personally wouldn't want Gino as commissioner. First, everyone would complain that he plays favorites to UND, and secondly, the probability that he had some sway getting SCSU into the NCHC shows that the good old boys network is alive and well. I was hoping that kind of thing would be left behind in the WCHA with Bruce Mcleod and Gregg Sheppard.

Maybe if Notre Dame falls through, we can get Black Hills State to climb aboard the NCHC express.

This has Gino Gasparini's pull written all over it.

I thought Minnesota couldn't make it work at TCF Bank Stadium with just one event, so I would think that they would have to get pretty creative to make this work.

It all evens out in the long run. I am sure that NDSU got credit for beating Northern Iowa when we were still Division 2.

So you are saying that we don't have much of a chance against South Dakota in the Alerus? The way South Dakota handled EWU, would lead me to believe that if we couldn't beat EWU in the Alerus, we certainly won't be able to beat South Dakota. I personally think that we can beat any FCS team at the Alerus.

UND was competitive in that environment last year without a quarterback. Add a few more weapons and a game plan that will utilize the talent we have and we could be competitve, especially at the Alerus Center if the fans support them in the Big Sky.

Yeah, I thought with his wheels and work ethic he might be a fit with Grimaldi. If I thought the four centers would be Knight, Nelson, Rowney and Lamoureux, I figured either Parks, Rodwell, Odonnell or St. Clair would be an option for that line. Since Rodwell really cycled well on his line last year and Parks and Odonnell were both questions as to what they will add as freshmen as well, I went with St. Clair and his skating ability and work ethic. Maybe they need a bigger player in the corners or a finisher, but you don't know what you're going to get with any freshman and St. Clair has been in the USHL for years. Perhaps Rodwell needs to step into the role on one of the "scoring" lines now since there are more questions with the freshmen and from what it sounds like in Schlossman's assessment, you can tell the freshmen from the veterans. We definitely will have to fill in some "green" players somewhere and since the line #'s after the 1st line are kind of subjective, who knows where they will fit best, and who will have chemistry together.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=565353 I don't know where he'll end up either, but with his skating ability and work ethic I doubt that line would ever get outworked. He may struggle with a couple others of the freshman to stay in the lineup consistently, but with so few spare players, his work ethic might just keep him there. As this article suggests, he does have some good skill to become Fargo's all-time scoring leader, even with such a short existence. Heck, Dave Semenko didn't have much of a skill set to be on a line with Wayne Gretzky, but he fulfilled a role that made that line work.

I don't really like responding on this thread with my dissatisfaction, but I will say that when the transition is so critical and the learning curve great in moving up to the next level, a failed experiment that the coaches didn't think all the way through is something "that is on us" as Mussman so often likes to reference. How much that sets us back will be determined by the rest of this season and the first year in the Big Sky. Suffice it to say, I hope that what they are doing now isn't throwing something to the wall and hoping it sticks, I hope there is a plan for the offense and defense based on the talent they have and the talent they hope to recruit in the future.

He might be switched around with Parks, but to say that any player doesn't have the skill set to skate with other guys on a college team seems a bit of a stretch, especially when good lines often times contain players that complement each other with different skills.

.. and yet nobody was thinking twice to buy packages for $400-$600 for the Frozen Four last year.

I'll give it a go. MacMillan - Knight - Kristo St. Clair - Nelson - Grimaldi Dickin - Lamoureux - Rodwell Odonnell - Rowney - Parks Forbort - Blood MacWilliam - Simpson Gleason - Mattson There will probably be so many different combos at the start of the year to see who has chemistry together, but that's my guess.

What was your alternative when asking these people? I think attendance at the Alerus compared to Memorial Stadium has you outnumbered. Now if your alternative is a new 100+ million stadium, then I would vote for that. Will you and all your friends each chip in $10,000 to help make that happen?

Really, logos on the field is a big concern for you. As for video boards, there are many teams that would love to have video boards period. I've heard fans that come in here and wish they had a facility like it. Is it perfect? No. I can imagine if they do get a new field, then there would be the complaints that it's too cold again, and we go back to the days of 2000-3000 at a playoff game. By the way, have you ever heard of the DakotaDome?