nodakvindy

Based on the figures from the Herald article quoted above, the two new plans that have figures quotes it will be at least 10 percent more expensive to take 15 credits, and 12 to 30 percent more if you have the initiative to take 18 credits. (and no figures are given if you dare to take more than 18 credits under the news system). The student that can graduate in four years will pay substantially more under either of the new plans. This definitely puts the screws to the students. It creates higher tuition for any student taking more than 12 credits per semester. Admittedly, the Herald article uses the flawed logic of the administration and compares someone graduating in five years under the current plan with some graduating in four years to show "savings", while neglecting to mention that the savings are even greater for someone graduating in four years under the current tuition plan.

This is so true. UND was high in the all sports standings nearly every year under Wanless.

Defenders and Hammers

And the secondary market for Frozen Four tickets just tightened a little more.

UND-BU already confirmed as the evening semifinal. Not a huge shock there. Should be a classic. Hope it goes like our previous Frozen Four matchup.

Looks like Miami may have left their mojo in Minneapolis.

Speak for yourself.

There was also the delay in starting a program at all. If UND had started when Duluth did, I think fortunes would be much different.

I'll go a little outside the box and predict that they put the Miami bracket in South Bend for attendance reasons. I think they will also try to avoid the Denver-St.Cloud matchup in the first round. Ideally I would also flip Minnesota and BC to get the three Hockey East teams spread to different regions, but that isn't a priority of the committee unfortunately. Fargo North Dakota Providence Michigan Tech St. Cloud State Providence Minnesota State RIT Nebraska Omaha Harvard South Bend Miami Yale Denver Minnesota Manchester Boston U Quinnipiac Minnesota Duluth Boston College

If you want BC out, pull for Ferris in the WCHA. That is a lynchpin to knocking them out, as is BU not winning Hockey East and St. Cloud winning at least once (3rd Place game is just fine). Here is one of many options that have both Minnesota and BC on the golf course. http://goo.gl/BWTj14

UND - If Sioux fans travel like they claim to, another 5000 fans able to attend the regional REA - Not sure why this matters.

I'm not sure there is a reason to add a 10th school if ASU joins the NCHC. In that case I would set up scheduling with three pods ASU-DU-CC UND-UMD-SCSU UNO-Miami-WMU You play your own pod home and away every year. And with the other pods you play one at home, one away and one home and away. That keeps you at a 24 game league schedule and keeps travel pretty reasonable (Certainly doesn't make things any worse for the two eastern schools). If you add Bowling Green then I think you have to go to a Divisional setup. West - ASU, DU, CC, UND, UNO East - UMD, SCSU, Miami, WMU, Bowling Green That would give you a 26 game league schedule. OK, but not great. Another option for a ten team league would be either a 24 or 26 game schedule with either one or two protected rivalries. One rivalry DU-CC UND-UNO Miami-Bowling Green UMD-SCSU WMU-ASU Two Rivalries ASU - UNO, CC CC - ASU, DU DU - UND, CC UND - DU, UMD UNO - ASU, SCSU UMD - SCSU, UND SCSU - UMD,UNO BGSU - Miami, WMU Miami - WMU, BGSU WMU - BGSU, Miami

I wouldn't overstate that 7 of 8. Almost All were short swing passes and everything good came on a rollout. It's not like he was picking apart the PSU seconday. In three possessions, only one could be considered marching down the field. The others were a three and out that included a sack when Mollberg didn't get rid of the ball and another was a drive where his lone incompletion came on a third down that killed that drive and hadn't got past midfield. Hardly what one could call "complete control". Mollberg just doesn't look comfortable in the pocket and seems to have no sense of when pressure is coming and he needs to avoid a sack. Bartels appeared much more confident once he got rolling despite what one would assume has been minimal practice time with the 1s. I think Bartels has to be the choice going forward. And for those saying that Bartels was only successful against a weak Portland State defense, remember that UND didn't exactly light it up offensively against Stony Brook or Robert Morris.

What about Atlanta's collapse? They were pushing the Nationals most of the season and definitely were in the Wild Card race, but just went off a cliff the last month. Milwaukee seemed like smoke and mirrors and it only seemed a matter of time before they would be reeled in. They were just able to ride an unbelievably hot start for a long time. St. Louis had at least tied them on multiple occasions. Playoffs should be wide open this year.

District 21 (going north to south, more or less) Max Cossacks Garrison Troopers Riverdale Knights Underwood Comets Turtle-Lake Mercer Trojans Washburn Cardinals Wilton Miners Tourneys rotated between Garrison and Washburn for the most part. All seven schools were also within McLean County (and all but Riverdale are still fielding their own teams, amazing in these times), so there were a ton of pretty heated rivalries. In addition to the District, the County Tournament was a big deal for bragging rights. Other teams in the county were the Butte Spartans (I think played in Region 4 in a district with towns like Drake and Anamoose) and the White Shield Warriors who played in Region 7 with schools like New Town, Parshall and North Shore. Also, the Region 6 tournament was at the Minot Auditorium and that was a great place to see a game. Very old school facility, even now it feels like you are in Hoosiers or something similar when watching a game there. One of my favorite venues in the state.

Agree with this. I actually would have taken Huntsville over St. Cloud, as it would have given more legitimacy to the league's name, it would be a nice trip in the winter time and it would have given the conference a cellar dwellar. The parity of the NCHC is going to be a problem come NCAA tourney time every year unless the league is lights out in non-conference play. I'm not sure I actually want to see expansion, but if it comes I think it will be in a way that cuts travel for Miami and Western. I'd guess MAC-mate Bowling Green will eventually move over, If that happened I would probably make a run at Air Force for the 10th team. I'd then split into Divisions (26 game schedule, 4 games vs Division foes, 2 versus opposite division) West UND-DU-CC-UNO-AFA East UMD-SCSU-Miami-WMU-BGSU NCHC playoff would provide Division Champs byes to the Target Center, while first round would have the twos vs the fives and the threes vs the fours. Frozen faceoff would then have Thursday quarters of 2E-3W (winner facing 1W) and 2W-3E (winner facing 1E)

This superdivision would have to be all sports. There's no way you could only offer those benefits to football players (read: males) and not unleash legal hell on the Title IX front, which not even the BCS schools are immune from. Everything championship wise will remain the same, all schools will be equal, the super 5 will just be more equal. Could be an interesting thing in Hockey, with the Big 10 schools being able to potentially offer more benefits to players than any other hockey schools. Would think Hockey East might be able to prevent BC and Notre Dame from doing so by passing league rules.

I'd love to see this and just rotate it between the four schools home rinks. That way UND could host in both Grand Forks and Denver. Seriously though, I like the idea of it being on campus just for fairness and it keeps the students in play usually creating a better atmosphere. Definitely wouldn't be down with it always in the Cities, although a Denver/Cities rotation would be fine.

I'll be the contrarian. I think baseball can be respectable in the WAC, probably more successful that track or cross country will be competing in a Big Sky where we are the only school not at altitude or in a warm climate. Baseball is popular in North Dakota, and has a pretty rich history. The state has produced more MLB athletes than any other major pro sport in recent years, and several have performed at a high profile level. It's also actually got a small number of scholarship equivalencies, so cutting it isn't going to create a huge windfall. It also has a pretty supportive alumni base as well.

More interesting is that Minot State was able to ride Dale Brown and Josh Duhamel to victory over NDSU in the battle for second place in state.

Let's just get rid of bids completely and let the four #1 seeds host, doesn't matter if it's a big arena like the Ralph or the Kohl Center or a smaller eastern rink like Merrimack or St. Lawrence. If you earn a top seed you should be rewarded. Just imagine how hot a ticket it would be if you had one of those smaller rinks and threw in a couple of western big guns like UND and Michigan. Atmosphere would be incredible.

MSU actually has 15 sports. Both the Montana schools could add men's golf and they would be at 16 sports. With Idaho rejoining the Sky, Men's Golf will be a sponsored sport again, so it wouldn't be a shock to see them add the sport.

UND drops a heartbreaker to Minnesota 3-1. Took an early lead, then Gophs get two PPGs and an empty netter with a minute left. UND had some good chances late. Minnesota should be happy, since the only team that can likely hand with them won't even make the tourney. Too bad Karvinen's career ends this way, barring an NCAA eligibility miracle.

The Twins will be somewhat improved and should be able to ride the bloom of the All-Star Game. One more terrible year wouldn't hurt to help out the farm system. Buxton and Sano are legit future franchise cornerstones. It's easy to forget that the Twins actually made the playoffs the first year at Target Field, but again lost out to the Yankees. The big falloff occurred because Bill Smith was a mediocre GM and Justin Morneau couldn't stay healthy. The other problem was a philosophy of drafting soft-tossing pitch-to-contact types and that has not worked. Now the Twins are drafting big arms and have made some savvy trades to re-establish the farm system. I think 2014 will likely be a 4th or 5th place finish, but by next season the Twins will be back on the upswing. I think Buxton and Sano both see some time in September (Sano probably earlier), but that both will also start 2015 in Triple A at least long enough to ensure an extra season of team control (Unless either is so impressive that they can't be kept down). Also, being a Yankee fan too, I think Phil Hughes was a great signing, he will perform well at Target Field, was signed pretty cheaply and comes in with something to prove. The Twins rotation is light years ahead of last year and the bullpen is respectable. The Tigers will miss Prince Fielder. It will be interesting to see how Cabrera fares without him in the lineup. If the Royals can get the pitching they could be the Indians of 2014, although I think AL playoff teams will be Detroit, Oakland, Texas, New York and Boston.

That USA-Finland game might as well have been a commercial for UND and the Grand Cities. Doc and Pierre clearly have an affinity for us. That publicity is priceless. It's why having women's hockey is smart. Would love to see a rematch for the gold. Hopefully REA bids for a women's worlds soon, as that would be huge for international recruiting and only bid the UND women's program more. It's also great to get any World class event into our community.