mikejm

The downtown rink proposal has nothing to do with hockey. Cityscapes could care less who uses the facility, 'cause they ain't going to have to pay for it. This whole deal is only a way for them to get control of a block of downtown they don't own, and won't pay market value for. If they didn't think the hockey parents would vote in enough numbers to ensure victory, it would be a basketball court proposal. If that scenario didn't work, it would be an arts facility. The 3 May vote is to hijack public money to use for what should be a purely private undertaking. There is no public "need" being addressed by the arena as proposed. This is a scam that will financially benefit a few monied folk in Fargo and strap the taxpayers with a lot of hidden expenses for a long, long time.

I will vote against the project. A 7500 seat downtown arena is not a good investment when there are likely only two tenants who'll come close to filling the place: SU basketball (m/w). IMO the entire development is not about providing a venue for sporting events, etc. It is to bring public funds into a project that would not work if it had to pay for the land acquisiton on its own. There has been a pretty remarkable (relatively speaking) number of very high-priced condominiums built and sold in downtown Fargo the last few years, and Cityscapes wants in on the deal. They only own a tiny corner of the block they want to build on, and most of the rest of the land owners there don't want to sell. By bringing in a public facility, they can get the public to not only help buy down their development costs, but also use eminent domain to force owners who don't want to sell out. One of Fargo's city commissioners has suggested spending $5 million or so to install big-time ice making equipment in the FargoDome. If I'm going to pay for a hockey rink that will rarely sell-out, I'd much rather have the tab at $5 mil than the $40 their asking for. There are many other problems with the Cityscapes proposal that should kill it: parking is a huge deficiency; as is traffic flow into and out of downtown if they ever did sell out 7500 seats. Downtown Fargo has quiety undergone a fairly impressive re-birth over the last 10 years or so without a public "investment" of this scope. I will be voting "no" early and often Tuesday. As to Fargo's ability to attract and then support a USHL team, take a look at the average attendance for Gino's league, and compare it to the NAHL. The F-M Jets are a fun little team, but they averaged less than 800 attendance (in what is admitedly a crappy building). I've heard that somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the season ticket holders at REA are from Fargo, which I believe because I-29 traffic on game nights is pretty heavy between F-m and GF. If the Jets can't pull 1000 fans from a market of this size, what makes anyone think the USHL will do twice that? And that would still put the F-M team at the bottom of the USHL attendance! I've lived in F-M for almost 20 years now, and I am not convinced this town will ever support a big-time hockey program, be it Juniors or DI. And from what I know from personal conversations with SU athletic administrators, hockey isn't even a blip on their radar screen. USHL Attendance Lincoln 4,425 Indiana 4,045 Tri-City 4,032 Green Bay 3,690 Omaha 3,545 Sioux Falls 3,430 Cedar Rapids 2,729 Waterloo 2,633 Des Moines 2,581 Sioux City 2,303 Chicago 1,962 League Average: 3,216 NAHL Attendance Texas 3,709 Wichita Falls 1,948 Bozeman 1,870 Fairbanks 1,828 Billings 1,761 Texarkana 1,412 Springfield (IL) 1,089 Helena 992 Soo 978 Bismarck 885 Fargo-Moorhead 782 Springfield (MO) 608 Minnesota 597 Youngstown 533 Toledo 495 Cleveland 469 Santa Fe 438 Central Texas 378 US National 255 League Average: 1,087 Sorry for the long-winded post, but this arena proposal is a bad deal. Leave big time hockey to the Sioux and REA and good old Grand Forks.

I've not seen either Chorney or Jones the younger play, but having watched Brian Lee several times over the last couple of years, I am pretty confident that once he gets used to the speed in the WCHA he will be a pretty physical player. This kid is ripped. He put himself on a weight program specifically designed to begin bulking up his frame, and has been quite successful. I don't think he has an ounce of fat on his body. And he just turned 18 exactly a month ago, so there is a lot of upside potential as to filling out even more. The most exciting thing about him is his two-way play ability: I've seen Lee absolutely level an opposing forward (SportsCenter kind of hit!), control the puck, spin up ice and start one of the Spud's copyrighted four-man rushes dozens of times. I, too, hope Mr. Greene returns. I think the NHL is going to settle with the players pretty quickly now, so the chances of that diminish daily. If he comes back he and Smaby can play smash-mouth and teach the youngsters the "truth". Marto coming in '06 will be a nice story. He does need to fill out, but he's a talented kid.

Who's father told you, Fetch?

I thought you said size doesn't matter?

Can you say "Englestad Cup"?

Hey, hey...well, er, ummmmmmmmmmmmm................ Guilty.

I'd like to suggest the WCHA add both Bemidji and the University of Kentucky. UK's annual hockey posters are legendary: http://www.ukhockey.com/posters.html

I have spoken to pretty high-ranking administrators at NDSU's athletic department about hockey in Bisonville. I've been told in no uncertain terms that adding hockey is not even a dot on the horizon. The downtown arena backers are grasping for straws and support with the special election less than two weeks. The began this mess with a 4000 seat bowl for basketball but when NDSU balked at that they increased the size to 7000 or so. I think Bison bosses would rather stay on campus than move downtown. My two predictions: No Bison hockey, now or for the foreseeable future; and unless election day brings a freak snowstorm that keeps voters away from the polls, the arena will go down in flames.

Dagies, I appreciate all your insight in this. My only comment (and thus my quote) is that no team knows the impact their incoming freshmen will have...including the Sioux. Barry Tallackson was spoken of in not-quite-Kessel-like terminology for a long time before he joined the Gophers. Barry is an immensely talented kid who maybe had things come a little too easily for him in youth hockey. He was a star on every team he ever played, although to a slightly diminishing degree each step he took upward. He couldn't consistently hold his game at the high level his natural talent would indicate he should. Barry is a very nice kid, humble and appreciative of everything that's happened to him, so I'm not comparing him to an unquestionably talented but just lazy skater like Tomas Vanek. Don't get me wrong, the Gopher's incoming class is a huge talent pool, as is UND's. The question always remains how well any of these young men will mature as the competition gets better and better. On paper the Sioux freshmen are a top two or three class in the country. If they can score goals the way they have to this point in their collective careers, I'm picking UND at third in the WCHA, in spite of having a very young blueline. If the leap to what has become the biggest, baddest college hockey league anywhere is too much for our frosh, we might be fighting for home ice again...or worse.

The ECHL has a west division, so the Atlantic City franchise is simply re-locating. West division teams are: Alaska, Long Beach, Idaho, Bakersfield, Fresno, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Victoria

I had a conversation recently with a friend who's spent a great deal of time with both Sioux coaching staff and NHL players, GMs and agents. A couple of interesting points, paraphrasing: 1. The current state of flux regarding the NHL and the (lack of) CBA probably puts Matt Greene's probability of signing a pro contract and not coming back for his senior year at less than 50/50. With no CBA in place, it is impossible for anyone to sign an NHL contract, or even to negotiate an NHL salary through a two-way contract. Even contracted players like Zach have no idea what kind of money they'll make if and when the NHL plays again. 2. Sioux coaches are absolutely giddy about their incoming freshmen! "An unbelievable collection of talent" is what I was told. 3. Further, the coaching staff is not really worried about the possibility of having just a handful of returning d-men. "We have a system in place; it works, and it will continue to work." 4. The offense that I have been crediting to Eades all season is really the brainchild of Hak. He has been the driving force behind designing, implementing and perfecting the grinding, cycling style that Bill Clement raved about in the Regional. Can't wait for October!

Not to upstage you or anything, but (modestly pawing the ground) I was tossed out of the old Englestad (nee Winter Sports Building) four times during one game. It probably would've only been three times, but I mistakenly sat down next to the head of campus security on my fourth trip into the arena. Welcome to SS.com. Siouxman

Amen.

No, this is Gwoz's senior pix.

Now don't go calling Ballard a punk. Taffe maybe, but not Ballard.

The Sioux played 45 games this year. http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/mhockey/stats.asp

From the "fun with meaningless numbers" department in Wahoo, Nebraska: Ran some year-end numbers through Excel today and found out our beloved Matt Greene isn't the baddest of the WCHA bad boys, at least when it comes to his PIMs as a percentage of the team total. Guess who wins? These are team "leader" numbers only. Name School Penalties PIM T Pens Team PIM % of Team Paukovich DU 48 120 349 754 15.9151% Greene UND 63 126 370 800 15.7500% Scott MTU 37 101 304 708 14.2655% Rosehill UMD 42 103 344 759 13.5705% Harrington UM 42 100 336 745 13.4228% MacMurchy UW 40 88 333 701 12.5535% Stuart CC 39 94 353 752 12.5000% Fletcher SCSU 39 86 338 700 12.2857% Rankin MSUM 38 84 353 787 10.6734% Parez UAA 22 60 279 631 9.5087% Interesting that our pal from Denver racked up nearly as many PIMs as Mr. Greene, with 25% less trips to the box. I haven't dug deep enough into College Hockey Stats to see how the WCHA stacks up against the rest of D1 hockey. Discuss. (Sorry about the columns. I don't know how to override the board's formatting.)

I don't think you have to worry about anyone who wears a pink tie beating anyone up, even an old fossil like you.

All during the Frozen Four, I kept hoping Thorne or Clement would mention the "Red Pepper" line. I wonder what the Tellmanns would've done to hear their restaurant name on national television?

Especially a rookie with, apparently, only one leg!

Wow, Rick, what a great insight. I like Matt a bunch, but never really thought about him in the "human" light you've portrayed. I'm happy to hear his parents are supportive of his staying in Grand Forks. I sincerely hope he listens to them.

IF the Matt's both leave (I'm guessing one does, the other stays), the incoming freshman class will have to carry over their torrid scoring from SSM and the BCHL. With such a young d-corps, the 05-06 Sioux will have to win a bunch of 7-6 games. I am hoping against hope that Smaby gives the Sioux one more year; I can't imagine how the AHL or ECHL could be any more physical than 28 WCHA games.

Quick thank you to an under-appreciated group of seniors. When I saw Matt Jones on the news last night, clearly having just cried his eyes out, talking about how he'll never again be able to call "these guys teammates", I wanted to call Hockey Mom and tell her to go give them all a big SiouxSports.com hug. Here's to a great bunch of young men who worked their tails off to makes this a lot longer season than most folks would've thought possible: Thanks Jake, Brian, Nick, Quinn, Colby, Matt, James, Rory and Andy. May life bring you as much joy as you've allowed me over the four years of your Fighting Sioux careers.