tnt

... and Grimaldi will be a Junior, right!!

But you will be playing those schools in the XCEL tournament they are working on. I for one would not be happy if UND agreed to playing in Minneapolis without a return game promised. I think the NCAA needs to start factoring things like home games played into the pairwise rankings. Teams that get to play a lot more games at home than on the road have a distinct advantage over those that are filling their coffers by playing in bigger schools rinks, especially the way officials tend to officiate to the benefit of the home team.

How good would the roster look next year under the best circumstances: Kristo - Knight - Nelson Parks - Grimaldi - O'Donnell Chyzyk - Rowney - Rodwell MacMillan - MacMillan - Koules Gaarder - St. Clair - Pattyn Tambellini - Caggiula - Dickin MacWilliam - Mattson Forbort - Simpson Gleason - Schmaltz Panzarella - Senkbeil Dell - Gothberg - Saunders Of course if everybody did stick around, guys like Tambellini and Caggiula might wait another year. At the least, hopefully we wouldn't have to suffer through being as shorthanded as we are this year. Also would be nice to add another defenseman. Who could we get to add a little depth at that position?

Don't know if you are trying to dig the gophers or not, but I was referring to them as a player in recruiting Tambellini.

I would say no to that. Don't want to be playing more games when we will have a hard enough time trying to schedule Minnesota, Wisconsin, and possibly Bemidji State. Not only that, but you don't want to have a full league if an attractive team starts up hockey or wants to change leagues. Keep it the way it is until you find some school that really adds to the league. At that point you might as well add Bemidji State and Mankato which would be closer teams which draw more excitement from our fans.

I think you'll be able to add Gardiner and possibly McDonough to that group in a couple years as well. The Sioux seem to develop defensive defenseman better than offensive defensemen like Minnesota.

Wouldn't doubt that the atmosphere during the Minnesota series helped in the recruitment of Tambellini. See, the sky is not falling, the gophers lose a guy they recruited too, and I'm sure they are not in despair.

Nevermind, found this article. http://www.pittsburghaviators.com/news_article/show/113950?referrer_id=356610

Did I miss a women's hockey recruit somewhere along the line. I see the name Gracen Hirschy listed as a defensive recruit, and don't remember hearing that name before. Anybody have any info?

One only needs to look at the fans reaction to fighting in every arena across the country to know why it is still a part of the game. I probably agree that those who fight all the time might have physical problems, but just like smoking, they choose to do it. There are things that cause greater ills in society, yet I don't call for a ban on the internet, smoking, alcohol, television. What about Facebook, people are bullied on there. But that is what parents are for, to explain right from wrong and give their kids a sense of self esteem. As for fighting in college, it happens so infrequently anyway, and it is not staged like it is in the NHL. There will come a time when fighting is no longer part of the game, because of somebody getting cut by a skate or banging their head on the ice, resulting in serious injury. There will also come a time when people want some sort of ban on checking hard. Remember when you could love a good open ice hit? I fear that we are moving to a place where you will be considered barbaric for liking the hitting part of the game, and I am not talking about cheap hits here.

I guess I would disagree with that. Don't see near as much of the checking from behind in the NHL. Don't think fighting helps in that regard either, because the USHL has a lot of cfb. I actually think that the bad hits are a bigger instigator between fans than fighting is. Just look at the threads from the last Sioux/gopher series and it was still all about the hits and yapping.

If you're going to eliminate fighting even more in college, then you need to find a way to eliminate it in the USHL, which if you are looking to develop players for the next level, it would start with the USHL. If you start removing it all the way around, perhaps Major Juniors will be the answer for a lot more players than are leaving college already. I don't care one way or the other about fighting, but what bothers me is the crowd that tells people what is good and what is not good in entertainment value, especially when it doesn't effect society as a whole. Just as I don't believe people have the right to tell me that I am hostile and abusive because I like a sports logo and nickname. I don't think people are out beating up other people because they see it in a hockey game, no more than it does if you watch boxing. I think the World Juniors cleaned up a bit after the brawl where they had to shut out the lights to try and stop the fighting. College hockey is getting harder and harder to watch because of all of the after the whistle pushing. This weekend against Wisconsin was brutal watching fake tough guys pushing and then somebody pushing back. I guess face-washing and chattering doesn't really do it for me either.

You and PETA seem to know what is best for everyone in society, and soon if there are more bad injuries in hockey I am sure there will be a fringe crowd that will want hitting banned in hockey too.

Exactly, you didn't even see the incident, yet you are spouting off like you are an expert. You said that in society if somebody slapped you, you could respond in self defense, yet you think because you are in a game you shouldn't be allowed to do so. I think everybody can see where you are coming from now since you think boxing should be banned.

I don't think that was deemed to be a fight and a lengthy suspension proves that you will be punished for attacking somebody like that. Like I said, if you have a problem with hockey as it stands now, maybe you should boycott it to effect change. By the way, have you ever watched boxing, and do you advocate that sport be banned?

So you're saying that Commodore was being assaulted, so he had the right to fight back? Or is self defense only acceptable outside of the game?

Rightly or wrongly, fighting has been a part of hockey and some fan's entertainment forever. Is boxing any different? The fact that there is more trauma in boxing because it is a cumulative effect should mean that boxing is a more brutal affair. We have had deaths in boxing. Everybody knows that hitting in hockey results in much more injury than fighting, in fact you would be hard pressed to find many bad injuries from fighting. Does that make it right? No! But let's not be naive, it is part of the entertainment value for some fans, much as boxing is. The thing about hockey is you don't have to fight if you don't want to, it is up to the individual, and we see some that instigate, then get the heck out of there. What happened to Brooks is an example of somebody who chose to instigate but chose to engage also. Is what happened to him regrettable? Definitely! But he knew what the consequences could be when he chose to engage, just as a boxer knows from examples like Muhammed Ali what the consequences could be if he chooses that as a career path.

Self defense, so a slap would constitute a reason to retaliate? What about several crosschecks? I believe you rule out words and gestures, because that is what you do, you taunt people, then wonder why people retaliate in kind.

Jack Rowe was 2nd star of the game with 4 assists in a 6-5 shootout loss to Waterloo.

I can't respect somebody that obviously has problems with the game of hockey such as it is, yet continues to watch the sport. I would think you should boycott the sport and if you and enough people do that, then the game will get cleaned up. Put your money where your mouth is.

So if somebody comes up to you and slaps you several times, or if somebody slaps your kid several times, you will always turn the other cheek?

No, it is not a necessity, but if you watch that tape, Brooks almost was taunting Commodore to do something. Not smart.

Exactly, the WCHA refs do what WCHA refs do, they officiate the scoreboard. Since they didn't think it would lead to anything, they didn't want to penalize the Badgers when they had already just gone behind. Too bad the head of officials wasn't here tonight ... wait, he is the biggest part of the problem. OFFICIATE THE GAME, NOT THE SCOREBOARD! The Sioux work hard the whole first period to get that slim lead, only to lose it 10 seconds later from a call that they just refused to call can be very disheartening. Let's hope it doesn't take the wind out of the sails.

Hopefully the Sioux tell him there is a chance they could play another game in his home province at the MTS Centre during his tenure here. If all the other great things about UND don't attract him, don't know if that would add enough, but worth the breath to tell him.

The difference was that we had most of the horses in the stable during those runs. Be interesting to see if they can still make a run without some of the thoroughbreds.