tnt

Nevermind, I see the article is referenced and picked up in the committed recruits thread.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/229487/group/Sports/ Lemieux's words on education sound promising. I guess I am an optimist, thinking that UND does not need to take a back seat to anybody, and if kids look into that, they will see that. Sure there will be those that don't end up coming, but when you have seen the atmosphere here, I think that should help a bit. Also, from what I understood, he was tweeting Rocco Grimaldi, and if that is the case I am sure Rocco would encourage him with the benefits of campus life, even though he hasn't even seen the ice much in his first year. Who knows, maybe Hakstol is thinking he will at least get one of the two between him and Wilkie.

I think it becomes a more competitive game the second half of the year with everybody jockeying for playoff position. Also, the fact that Bjugstad scored 4 goals against two of the worst teams in the country doesn't give me reason to think that his 1 more goal than Nelson and 2 more total points is something that distinguishes him from Brock Nelson. Maybe if Bjugstad was putting up the same numbers he was earlier, Minnesota would be distancing themselves from the pack.

After Thanksgiving Bjugstad has 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points in 15 games, while Nelson has 13 goals and 8 assists for 21 points in 17 games, and that was missing Corbin Knight for several games, so he might be at a higher level than you give him credit for.

If the "X" won't lock up the NCHC every year, I certainly would be in favor of the rotation between the "X" and the Target Center. Like someone said, at some point the Target Center will be looking for full scale renovations, and that might make it even more attractive, especially if they include more hockey friendly renovations to the mix.

But people that aren't Sioux fans are of the opinion that Kristo tried to injure Marshall by following through but only managed a glancing blow. That is my point, it is a matter of interpretation of whether the intent to injure is present or not. Perhaps only the player knows their intent. Did Rau try to injure Zucker? Doubt it. I think plays like the Marvin incident where he totally goes out of his way could lead one to believe the intent to injure, but who knows, maybe even he just intended to send a message with a hit. Unlike many fans that have a stake in making players from other teams look like the bad guy, I think for the mostpart the players are good kids that are just a bit overzealous in trying to hit somebody, although there are some players that might have more sinister motives, but I think they are few and far between.

I hate to see any player get hurt, especially when we don't know what his orignial intent was. Do we know what Danny Kristo's intent was when he hit Ben Marshall? I don't think people would be calling it karma if Kristo got hurt shortly thereafter. I do think that Brown's hit was reckless and because of the time of the game and the score at the time can certainly be construed as intentional, depending on your point of view.

It's going to be a wild finish the last three weekends. Omaha has CC, Minnesota and Denver left on their schedule, so a lot of shuffling can still occur. Sioux need to take care of their business.

Obviously, we did misunderstand him, but it wasn't just a few people who were overexpecting from that statement.

Didn't see the hit, but the guy with the maroon and gold colored glasses, Kevin Gorg, said Kyle Rau would learn from it, and you can't leave your feet and hit somebody in the head.

Yeah, I didn't think the hit on Mattson was intentional either. In fact Mattson did turn a bit a second earlier, so I could have even seen them only calling a minor. The fact that Mattson went off the ice may again have played a factor in the decision.

Like I said it could be the Big Sky that jumped the gun. Ultimately Faison's legacy will be how UND comes out of the deal on both conferences. If the NCHC doesn't grow the sport and keep UND a top 4 program in college hockey then the move could deter from that legacy. If UND stays in the Big Sky and prospers, then his legacy could be positive. Time will tell.

Sounds to me exactly like the NDSU/UND rivalry went down. We don't have room for you on your schedule. Why not? Because we scheduled all these other games with teams that fans don't care as much about.

Wonder if Bruce Ciskie will be calling for a suspension for Brown. Obviously decided it was late enough in the game to take the chance at getting away with something. He slashed Blood pretty good to the back of the leg in the first period after Blood checked him hard.

Don't know that the MVFC wasn't an option. If they would have worked with USD and made clear that the two were a package deal to go to one conference or the other there might have been some movement with the Summit working to secure a few more schools with the possible departure of a few. As far as the Spirit Campaign, I said it was a good thing, but even after people were speculating wildly on new football stadiums and such, they continued with the more awesome than the Ralph talk. I know few people who weren't a little disappointed in the way they went about trying to get people to donate more money.

I just question whether they really explored everything with the MVFC. Don't know if being in a league where they don't want you is that desirable. I guess if UND is that undesirable, I wonder why they made the move to begin with. Guess we put one over on the Big Sky though. If anybody has the most egg on their face, it is the powers that be in the Big Sky. They obviously didn't want UND without the package, yet they pulled the trigger without USD's name on the dotted line.

Did the Big Sky ever want UND, or did they just want them as a package with USD? Why did they accept us in the first place when the nickname was still up in the air? You can say that Faison did a good job getting us in the Big Sky, but I believe we became unwanted right after USD fell through. Did Faison have no inkling to wait for South Dakota to sign, or did he have any conversations with USD officials that they could possibly work together to be in the same league be it the Big Sky or Summit/MVFC. Were all options explored with the MVFC? I guess when you jump the gun on new conferences twice and have the UND fan base excited both times only to realize that things weren't going to be as good as first advertised, it kind of makes one wonder if lessons were learned. You could even add the Spirit Campaign to the list of things that got the fan base excited only to leave fans with a sense of disappointment. Sure, all of these things are good in some form, but when you promise the world and need to backtrack, it certainly makes a person wonder if there isn't something learned along the way. "We get to be in a conference with a current rival"!! Guess not. "We get to be in a conference with Notre Dame"!! Guess not. "We as fans are going to be overwhelmed by an announcement that will outshine the Ralph Engelstad Arena"!! Yes, but nothing that is tangible to the fans that they convinced were going to be unbelievably excited for so they take off work early to meet at the Chester Fritz. Like I said, all things are good, but when you oversell, and undeliver, you would think you would learn from that. I only hope that Faison has a plan or something unseen for getting UND hockey on TV across the country after the plug was pulled on fans that once had access to games and now once again are in the dark after all the positives were not as advertised.

The insubordination began with some PC professors at UND. If Hakstol got fired for speaking out, they should have as well.

I would say that the fact that Bjugstad is one of, if not the scoring leader in the WCHA as an underage sophomore would seem to portend well for him in the future. Only more room for him to grow physically and mentally.

Perhaps that is what led to the apparent need for silence on the homefront. Again, I don't disagree that it should be practiced, just not happy that it wasn't part of the philosophy before it ever came to this.

It was done a long time ago in a tribal ceremony. If permission wasn't granted we wouldn't be having this discussion today -- period. We would have had another nickname that we cultivated and branded over the years and wouldn't have to start over 50 years later.

I'm afraid that is how the politcally correct machine of the world runs. Whine and whine until it wears people out into capitulating. What bothers me the most is that it seems by coaches saying they can't comment at this time, that they are being muzzled on the subject. While at this point it is probably best that they don't fan the flame, it really galls me that muzzling people wasn't practiced wisely by the prior administrations at UND. I fully agree with Ralph Engelstad that Professors that were slamming UND about the nickname years ago should have been fired because they worked for the institution. The fact that it now appears to be the other way around is really upsetting. If someone would have had the common sense back then to tell the Professor's to shut their yap if they want to remain employed at UND, then maybe it would never have come to this. Don't know if that same ultimatum has been laid down for the coaches now, but they sure get eerily quiet and on edge any time the nickname is mentioned.

To add insult to injury, Grimaldi and O'Donnell barely played much their freshman seasons, so there will still be a bit of a learning curve next year, beyond the rehabilitation taking up the offseason. Rodwell could have used a little more game experience as well as a sophomore.

Sounds to me like Minnesota is setting it up with the Notre Dame contract and playing all of these games to use the old "we'd like to play UND, but we just don't have the room on the schedule". Of course Bemidji State knows that refrain all too well. Wonder if any of these games will be return games, or home and home.

What does he want upgraded, the stuff that fans don't see or the audio and video stuff, or a combination?