tnt

People want to win National Championships, but the question is what do you propose when we are not, firing Hakstol? I think that if you keep putting yourself in the position, you will sooner or later break through, much like Jerry York did with BC. If BC didn't remain patient with York, they would not be on the run they are on. Remember, if BC wins it this year, they will have followed up winning the Worcester regional into winning the NC for their last four titles. Having those regionals in your backyard all the time gives you that many more opportunities at getting to the Frozen Four, and they have taken full advantage when they get there. Michigan has had the same advantage many times with close regionals, but they haven't taken advantage for quite some time. Do we propose that Michigan fire Berenson? I guess most of us want to have UND win the NC as much as anyone, but constant complaining doesn't do any good, and if you propose firing a coach that has done a good job but just hasn't gotten over the hump, you never know, you might be missing out on a Jerry York type run as well, or possibly get a coach who will revert the program back by taking away the traditions that have kept players supporting this program long after they have left.

I don't know if the outcome of the game is quite that bad if Minnesota slips one in early. In the NCAA tourney, that first goal can be a big boost of confidence, especially for a young underdog team. BC just seems like they have not had goalie breakdowns at the wrong time, and certainly Milner kept them in the game in the first period when Minnesota had a 10 to 3 advantage on scoring chances. Hopefully Milner picks the wrong time to have a bad game on Saturday.

Really Minnesota benefits quite nicely by the regional system, as does BC. But the host situation prevented Minnesota from being in Duluth's shoes and having to play BC in a hostile environment instead of neutral ice. It definitely is time to reward higher seeds by going to campus sites for the regionals.

Really the difference in the series was very early in the year when Minnesota pulled the comeback out of the second game when the Sioux were still trying to adjust to a short lineup with numerous freshmen and walkons trying to find their roles.

Yeah, can you imagine if a Sioux player did what Mattson and Condon did? It amazes me that they think they are absolute saints, when they are just as prone to frustrations as any other player.

Actually, I worry that since it has been a while since UND has won a National Championship, that UND students will try to be cool like the "Big Schools" like Kentucky and Minnesota and pull that kind of crap. They have proven they can be dumb at Springfest, I wouldn't put it past them to mimic the kind of behavior we have seen lately after winning it all. I would hope that when we get to another National Championship game, that the UND administration would be proactive in telling students that kind of behavior will result in severe sanctions.

I guess what I am hearing from a few posters here is that Seth Jones should go the Major Junior route because if they don't think he has put on enough weight and added enough strength or that he is not ready to go, they will bag on him for leaving. Let these kids and their advisors make their own decisions because they are the ones that are inevitably going to have to live with their decision.

Seriously, you can't just wish someone well who stayed a year after the pros came calling the first time. A goaltender basically has to prove himself anyway, so he probably decided to start down the learning path now. It's not like he needs to stay and gain strength or anything. I say thank you to Dell for helping us make two fun runs the last two years.

With all the graduated players and defections from last year, we still were not a one-line team. Do you not think that the freshman could get better like Brock Nelson did? I expect Grimaldi and O'Donnell to being major contributors next year, so you would have the potential for the second line to remain good or improve a lot with all of the freshmen making a step forward. It kind of surprises me how after the Sioux got as far as they did this year, that people still get excited about one or two defections. If we don't have the injury bug again next year, that is already a step forward. Heck, all of the teams in the upper half of the WCHA are probably going to have defections of high-end talent as well, only they don't have the preseason rookie of the year coming back along with a rookie in O'Donnell who was scoring goals when he was in the lineup.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the demotion. I would be concerned if he wasn't playing well with the U17 team, and I have seen his name in the scoring column while playing for them. Let's remember, it's only a one year age difference, and there are a lot of great players on both teams. Remember, Rocco moved up to play for the U18 team and led the team in scoring, so it might be a matter of bringing up some very talented players. I am interested to know if Jack Rowe with Cedar Rapids is injured though. Haven't seen his name in the lineup for quite sometime now.

The ironic part is that by coming back and helping make the gophers relevant again, he is enabling Lucia to stick around as well. I am sure the current administration understands his impact in the turnaround, but who knows how long Lucia sticks around. He kind of seems like he would be content like Red Berenson to be there until his welcome is worn out. Speaking of Berenson, do you think he will ever wear out his welcome at Michigan, or is he the Joe Paterno of college hockey minus the scandal?

Actually, Ralph wanted it built at 15,000 and the other people talked him out of it, thinking it was too big for Grand Forks.

The Alerus Center cost $80 million, but you might want to ask that question to the people of the $105 million Ralph. The Alerus Center seats 13,500 for the secondary sport at UND, while the Ralph seats 12,000 for the big sport in town. While both should have used foresight, I would say the arena that has typically been subject to sellouts should be a little more culpable for lack of foresight, especially since Division 1 football wasn't in the immediate plans at the time and the Big Sky thus a pipe dream.

I will only say that if this person is looking for a family environment, then be an example of the kind of environment you espouse. I don't think airing dirty laundry on a forum is benefitting the family atmosphere you say is lacking.

Once again, I would call that a convenient excuse. Minnesota made no attempt to schedule UND while Wisconsin had already agreed to a deal. When Minnesota was off scheduling Notre Dame, UND was already in the process of going without the nickname. Like I said before, it is like the NDSU rivalry, if you really want to get it done, you get it done. It's not like Minnesota wouldn't be able to schedule anybody if they waited a couple months, especially when they were in no rush to schedule UND when they weren't using the nickname.

Once again, how can it be the fault of Barry Alvarez when you argue there was nothing Wisconsin or Minnesota could do to prevent it? To me that is just two-sided talk. Whether Alvarez was for it and Lucia was against it shouldn't matter if it was a given once there was a 6th team.

I can see them not caring, but if they didn't know, then that would be a direct indictment on those that purported to want to stay in the WCHA.

My point was that if Minnesota and Wisconsin could do nothing about the league forming, then Barry Alvarez wouldn't have been able to do one thing either- one way or the other. According to those arguing "nothing they could do", Barry Alvarez wouldn't have had a say in the league forming, except if he was the one that paid the money to get Penn State hockey going.

I will only say that we discussed that there was a distinct possibility of a so-called "Super League" should the Big Ten decide to form a hockey conference. In effect, I am sure that the powers that be in the Big Ten knew that this was a probability and what the trickle down would be. Knowing that, they still didn't put any backbone behind preventing it from happening. If you know the consequences, yet still decide to go down that road as a conference -- I would say that you share in a large part of the blame. Now, blame could become kudos if it expands the growth of college hockey and draws more casual fans and T.V. exposure, but for those of us that grew up with the natural rivalries we have now it sure doesn't feel like much good can come of it.

If that is the case, then why are gopher fans mad at Barry Alvarez?

Perhaps not, but great goaltending and a timely goal sure can make players a little more confident or less confident depending on which team is getting those. Let's face it, with the elite teams, the talent is there, it's just a matter of when/if it comes through. Just because BC has had UND's number doesn't necessarily mean Minnesota follows suit. Certain teams have a nemesis, Minnesota's has been Denver lately, and ours has been BC. I would imagine that if BC jumped on them early, it could hurt the confidence of Minnesota, however if Minnesota puts one in early, they could ride Patterson's goaltending. It would have been nice for UND to score the first goal against Minnesota in the rematch to see how they responded, but it didn't happen, so I think it will be interesting in this game as well.

Surely, attendance would be better, even if it is in a smaller arena. Oh, and by the way, it would actually give a team incentive to finish as a #1 seed, instead of like Gwoz was saying is that all you want to do is get in. Let's face it, if Minnesota would have squeaked into the tournament the last 2 or 3 years, they never would have had to make a trip like Duluth did this year in Worcester.

It really shows that you can play the college game and still be clueless about anything but the technical side of the game. Michelletti has so many factual errors every week that you wonder if he is just babbling hoping he spits out some information that has some basis in fact. When he said that he thought the gophers were the reason the Sioux weren't having success in the first two periods, then said the gophers quit playing and it was nothing the Sioux did, it kind of just epitomizes his lack of objectivity.

I would watch the arrogance, I remember when gopher fans were giving North Dakota fans what for after the Blake Wheeler goal that gave them the Final Five and seems to me they had their come uppance a week later when the Sioux ended their season in the regionals. I would doubly watch it since the Sioux may indeed have to play the gophers again at the "X" in a similar type situation, only they would basically have home ice.

Right now we don't have the depth of Minnesota, but the Sioux certainly had the heart in the 3rd period. Maybe the Sioux were doing the rope a dope and saved their energy the first two periods to give an amazing effort in the third.