Chewey

Another typical Minot year. I think I'd call it the "Samson Curse" rather than the "Philion Curse" because Samson won the state tournament with players that Olson was head coach for. Minot hockey has sunk to a very sad level.

What Minot radio station is the game on? I suspect it would be KRRZ but I can't seem to find an online link there. Perhaps they don't have one.

With regard to the last point, I think a trial and jury verdict, or at least some sort of Court Approved settlement, is a necessity. I would rather have some form of binding legal precedent rather than a tea drinking session through which a pact is agreed that would only be temporary. Given the pathology of the "PC infrastructure," as "Old Pio" puts it, the bed-wetters would only be sharpening their blades for some future engagement. When that time comes, perhaps we have a weenie as an AG, like the fool that ran against Wayne this past year. Perhaps we have weenies in the State Board of Higher Education. Even if we don't have any weenies, it would take some effort to arrange the resources and machinery that has now been arranged. In the end, it will be much easier to go forward with legal precedent and fight the next step/stage than it would be to simply walk away with an "agreement." Let the NCAA try to put the matter through a member-wide vote, like it should have done. Make the NCAA "change its policy" like Brand threatened. The only reason that the NC$$ ran the policy through Brand's Star Chamber was to allow the higher ups at some universities to wash their hands of the policy or claim an inability to do anything when questioned by alumni. If the policy is brought to a member vote, the higher ups at each university that votes in favor of it will be held accountable by the respective alumni groups. The "cushy job" (A Flintstones image) of each admin official who would conceivably vote in favor of the policy would be too precious to risk that. If too many of the effete, pharisaic PC wonks were held to account to various alumni groups and replaced by more sensible types, the NC$$ power structure would be in danger. I see your point, but I don't think a settlement is the appropriate way to go when the opposing side is so intricately connected with the PC absolutists.

1. Don't walk around their multi-storied dorms because kegs of beer, both full and empty, may fall from on high. 2. If you're Jewish, don't tell anyone. Anti-semitism doesn't seem to bother the PC faithful there. 3. Wear a hard hat because they will throw batteries and other materials at you and your players. 4. Make sure you go with friends so that you have someone who can verify that you were not at one of the many mini-riots on campus when the St. Cloud police are called to randomly arrest multiple offenders. 5. Make sure you give the appropriate signal of appreciation when the PC protesting idiots who've been bused in from afar welcome you to the arena. 6. Go to Sugar Daddies (it's not a gay bar) get drunk and stay at the Holiday Inn. It has a late check out time that will help if recovering from a hang over or from brain trauma suffered via Jan Brady stupids' battery throwing.

I see where our friend Nick Coleman had another moving piece in the Star Tribune (otherwise knowns as the Star and Sickle). What a tool.

What exactly is the "Philion Curse"? I know that they had a great team when he was a senior and choked big time at state and wound up beating Bottineau for the Consolation Championship. They should have won state that year. Perhaps that's it? If yes, why would it be attributed to Philion?

"The only nickname which Brand stated is certainly

I'll always cheer for the west. I think it will be another year of losing in the first round though. I hope I'm wrong. I see Williston getting absolutely spanked by RR. Bismarck may beat the "Satans" and make it out of the first round. Century will be a sacrificial lamb. If Minot pulls its head out, it could beat GF/PR but I will not be holding my breath. It's not like the old days, unfortunately, when the west beat the east in the first round at state 30% to 40% of the time. DL will always be the "Satans." I can't get used to that "Firebirds" foolishness. Talk about religious paranoia.

I sure hope you both are right. Thanks for the clarification. I'd love to see hockey grow in Fargo and in NOrth Dakota. The big question is: How does the west catch up to the east or even come close to the east?

Personally, I see Blais in Mankato. At least, I'd sure like to see him there. Is the NAHL better or worse or the same as the USHL? It seems as if a lot of players come from both leagues. Is there a consensus as to which is better? Do players start in the NAHL and then trade up to the USHL? It's too bad that the Ice Sharks did not make it in Fargo. I thought that they went to Sioux Falls but I could be mistaken. Aren't they the Sioux Falls Stampede now? Fargo never really has been a hockey town. It will be interesting to see how the new team does there. I mean, my God, a metro area of 160,000 and the nicest place it has for hockey is that old bomb next to Fargo North? The fact that it has taken this long for Fargo to even consider a new arean does not bode well for hockey, in my opinion. Fargo's always been a basketball/football town.

Strangely similar to the NC00 don't you think?

Is UNOmaha a consideration even? Has he been offered anything from any schools but just not yet committed?

My own take on it is to monitor those kids who may have a chance at playing in the USHL and NAHL and hope that they will move on to D-1 programs, particularly UND. That hope may translate into unrealistic overconfidence, I think, sometimes. There is a big jump from high school to junior hockey that many of us don't realize too much. I think those ND kids mentioned have a fair chance of doing ok there but only time will tell if they adopt the work ethic needed. Some good players to play d-3 like Bliss Littler from Minot several years ago who played at uw = river falls. He should have been playing at the Sioux but Gino probably thought he was too small. Gino always did have a bias against american kids and ND kids particularly.

Wow. That is definitely the same old trip trap advocated by the name changers. You have a right to your opinion but I think lack of familiarity with the realities of the issues has more to do with your statements than anything to do with being a poly sci major. If you are a poly sci major, you should know enough to look at both sides of an issue objectively. In the good ol' days, that was what politicians were supposed to do before being slimed with money from lobbying groups. A law suit challenging a policy that treats similarly situated institutions differently to the financial detriment of those institutions that are affected is stupid? A lawsuit designed to get the NC$$ adhere to its CONTRACTUAL obligations with UND as it does with other institutions is stupid? A lawsuit designed to reveal the NC$$'s allegations against UND for what they are -- a bunch of baseless B.S. -- is stupid? What should be stupid is the attempted "enforcement" by the NC$$ of an illegitimate and arbitrary and capricious policy. What should be stupid are the baseless accusations of racism by the NC$$ against UND. What should be stupid is the NC$$ wasting its money, part of which is UND's money, to enforce its illegitimate "policy." What should be stupid is that brain fried, creatively lethargic and intellectually atrophied "educators" giving extra credit to students to "protest" and wasting tax payer money to "protest" themselves when they should be educating. What should be stupid is that the NC$$ conjoured up a "policy" at the whim of a minority of a minority of PC bed-wetters when a majority of the supposedly ill-affected group either supports indian nicknames or does not care. What should be stupid is the NC$$'s and the PC bet-wetters' attempted derogation of UND's legally protected trademark rights. What should be stupid is that the same NC$$ thugs and PC gauleiters are astonished, incensed and indignant when UND fights back against such attempted derogation. I really get a kick out of the "waste of money" tripe that the name changes spout off. Anytime there is opposition to their antics, the people opposing them are "bigots" and the resources used to fight them are being "wasted." The types that you are apparently aligning yourself with like to squawk about "rights" and using the legal system to get a measure of "justice" against "wrongdoing." Those same claims are, apparently, not rightfully asserted by people outside of that group which only serves to accentuate the hypocrisy that both impugns and eviscerates any claim to logic or sense that the PC side tenders. It's early in the semester. How many extra points are you getting? You have every right to your opinion and you have every right to state it here. These are things denied by the PCers to any side that opposes them. At least don't pass yourself off as someone whose objectivity may be jaded by poly sci studies. That's pretty transparent, my friend.

I too agree with Wilbur's assessment. If there are going to be d-1 players coming out of ND in the next couple of years, they will likely be from GFRR, Grafton and FS programs. I suppose the goalie from Bismarck and Nathan Stremick from Minot and that one kid from Devils Lake could be thrown in the mix too. Herbel from Bottineau may be one too. I agree though that they all will need 1 or 2 years of USHL development. I think the last ND players to come right out of high school were Mike LaMoine (1985) from GFRR, Quinn Fylling from Minot (US Development program -- although he went to Sioux Falls after one year with the Sioux) and probably Dean French (1985) from Grafton who played for CC. Maybe Jim Kropp (1985) went right from Jamestown to RPI too. It doesn't happen very often for MN kids let alone ND kids.

Those are all very good, lucid points. I would like to see ND make some more strides to step even closer to the level of competition in MN. I think the top teams in ND like GFRR, FS and GPR could compete pretty well with most of the teams in MN except Shattuck and Holy Angels. Maybe that's naive but I like to think it. I never thought Wisconsin as a hockey state but they are making strides too. A lot of the WI players are from WI. I'd like to see that for ND some day. I always thought of ND as more of a hockey state than WI, which is, or at least was, primarily a basketball state. How does a state do it? More money, more ice sheets, more "elite" camps? The exodus of ND's younger people to MT, MN, CO does not help. I am interested in hearing what the Dittus family says. My Neb. friend is on a lot but he has been off too. UNO playes Mankato twice each year and it would be nice to see two Minot kids out on the ice...or three depending on Stremick for Mankato. Is there any word on if anyone is interested in Rody Selk even though he has not committed anywhere or is he just not that good yet?

This is not intended to be a slam but, after reading your post, the French and Maginot Line came to mind for me. My point is that UND is in a fight and you don't back down just because some predictable obstacles come up. UND needs to continue that fight and stuff like antics from MN, WI and UI (pink locker room for visiting FB team and all) should only firm up UND's resolve. Winston Churchill and FDR and Abraham Lincoln would be lost in today's world. Personally, I think the press for UND is a good thing because it shows just how stupid and ridiculous the NCAA and PC elites are to the whole country. The more exposure this issue gets, the more the baseless and scurrilous and racist accusations against UND are seen for what they are -- trite, hackeneyed PC trip trap. The more exposure UND gets on this issue, the more people see how the PC radicals and the NCAA are the racists and the more people see just how such interests persecute and victimize UND and the good people who founded it and support it. The more press that is obtained, the more people see just how out of control the NC00 has become and they see how it needs to be reigned in severely. Personally, I think UND should play, as some have suggested, the Big-12 schools or the WAC or the Mountain West. There's not that much difference mile-wise between Grand Forks and the Montana schools vs. Grand Forks and Wisconsin or Iowa. The only reason I'd like to go to the Peoples Republic of Madison is to laugh at the inhabitants.

I understand where you're coming from UND22 concerning the year-to-year thing with Minot. The history is very odd and not supportive when arguing from my standpoint. I don't think McBain is getting shafted but I do think that he's not getting playing time because a lot of players are better than he is. My point is that he would have gotten more playing time staying where he was even though he would have been playing against, in large part, less skilled teams. He probably did a disservice to himself by moving to Fargo. Without a lot of real game time in, he is probably going not going to develop as much as he would have continued to develop by staying in Hazen. Hopefully, he'll be more motivated around better talent and work harder, like you say, and continue to develop rather than get discouraged. I agree with the skill level of the USHL/SJHL being higher than the high school level and that many would be lost if they made the leap. But I think some of the top players from years past have made the jump ok haven't they like those two from Fargo South last year? I thought that they jumped right in to playing for the Fargo NAHL team. Some of the top kids from Minot have gone the SJHL route in years past rather than stay in high school.

I'd like to know if my source in Omaha is wrong so let me know what Dittus family says. The attorney friend of mine is a Gustavus Adolphus grad and gradutated with coach Kemp from there. It's well known that Jutting and Means believe that it's tough recruiting against the bigs like ND, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc and that they either have to find good players in places not usually tapped by the bigs, like Minot or other places, or they have to rely on getting good players like David BAckes and Travis Morin who want to get a lot of playing time or at least more playing time than they would get at the bigs. Lake Superior State's past coaches -- I forget their names right now but the one that won the national tournament a few times and the one right after him --have said that "we'll take 'em" when referring to North Dakota players like Ness from Grand Forks and Keup from Minot. St. Cloud had the "Backes" thing going with Mark Parrish and Matt Cullen a few years back; they did not want to play for Woog at Minnesota. Stremick may or may not be a diamond in the rough for a team but Mankato, from what I understand, at least knows about him. I agree with you and Wilbur that Minot has been simply outclassed some years at state but not every year. I don't know if you remember but the 1992 Bismarck team was considered to be unbeatable with Mike Peluso, Justin Theel (a transfer from Bottineau), Jeremy Asheim, Mitch Vig, and a few others. I actually think that that team was one of the best, or even the best, that North Dakota ever put together. They pounded Minot both times that year and one time beat them 11-1 I think.....Maybe that was 1991 Minot team that got pounded. At state, Minot beat them somehow and Bismarck had a lot more talent even though Minot had Philion and Dan Hanson. Bismarck choked that year. The 2005 Minot team may have been like that 1992 Bismarck team. The Jamestown team of 1986 was "the best in the state" but got "upset" by Red River. The 1985 Red River team was unstoppable and got beaten by Minot at state when Freddy Anderson got hot in goal. Red River had beaten us 6-0 earlier in the year. Off topic, does Tyrel McBain even get any playing time at South? It looks as if that was a very poor decision. He could have just as well entered the USHL or SJHL. I'm sure languishing on the South bench does nothing for his confidence.

Andy Dittus -- I believe he's going to UN-Omaha if my attorney friend down there has his information right. It makes sense since Willert is already going there. I don't know if the two are friends but I would imagine that Bliss LIttler has connections with UNO's Kemp as Littler is the head coach of the Tri-City Storm; he still has connections to Minot hockey (I wish he'd coach the H.S. team). Dittus plays for Green Bay and Willert plays for Tri-City. UNO has had other Minot players like Mike Hanson and Brian Haaland. Nathan Stremick has had some people looking at him, including Mankato. I thought some teams were interested in the goalie from the 2005 team (I forget his name) too. I know for a fact that Jutting or Eric Means, Mankato's head coach and assistant coach (for now), attends the North Dakota High School hockey tournament every year and that they were impressed with Stremick and Dittus last year. Actually, I'm surprised that Lake Superior State has not had a western ND kid for awhile. They've had some of them with Ben Keup and Dan Hanson and Chad Dahlen (I guess he'd be from the East as he's a Devils Lake kid).

Thanks Wilbur. Morrelli loves to be called "boat" (not really but that was his nickname at one time) and we all called him that when he was about a sophomore/junior. Fiske played after I did but he was a great goalie for Bottineau. I don't know if he played any d-1 (I thought he did but maybe he just played for the Jacks) but I know that a goalie around his time went on to play at SCSU. DAvid Vad, BRice BErgeron, Pat Irey are Bottineau names that come to mind for me. I do think, UND22, that some the top teams in the east may be more talented than Minot some years but my point is that it is not every year and that many Minot teams have been as good or better than the east, namely, the 2005 squad. A team with 5 or 6 d-1 recruits that beat the east and some Minnesota schools (at least EGF) does not simply get outclassed by an average GRand Forks Central team and lose 6-2. That was the case in 1993 and in 1998 too. Those are chokes and I return to my Cubs/Red Sox analogy. One person said some time ago that an overall weaker schedule out west may have something to do with getting complacent or overconfident when it comes to state as the team is not as "battle hardened" as some of the east schools who play, game-in/game-out, a tougher conference schedule. I agree with Wilbur that the State should go back to the East/West playoffs where the top West/East teams get to play-in to the tournament against the bottom teams from the opposing conference. I still remember ins 1984 when a very good Bottineau team with Gary Belbeck, David Vad (an outstanding player), Brice Bergeron and Pat Irey beat a very cocky Fargo North team in little Bottineau (probably the best and fastest ice in the state). I bet the bus ride to Fargo that night was a blast. Better still, the state should be divided into North/South regions instead of East/West regions. If the persons involved really cared about the development of ND high school hockey, they'd probably do this but the east powers that be don't want it that way and are, in my opinion, self-absorbed and myopic. In Minnesota for instance, some realigning has taken place with Rochester Lourdes and the other Rochester teams, all very good teams, playing Mankato East/West, Marshall and New Ulm and even Luverne out west. These are established programs that have been scheduling "weaker" teams for several years now. The purpose: To facilitate the development of hockey in places that used to be (and still are in large part) wrestling bastions.

I can never find this thread in the "Community" section of SS.com. I post to it whe it comes up on the "forums" part of the site. Is it just not displayed because there is another thread dealing with ND High School Hockey and it is deemed repetitive? Perhaps I'm just blind which is more likely the case.

Thanks for the feedback, Wilbur. I forgot that Cartier's first name was Josh. Did he ever play D-I anywhere? I know that he played for Notre Dame in Wilcox and I think he played while Ben Keup was there but he may have been after. I agree with you. I don't know what happens but the kids just seem to lose focus or something. Back when I played, Minot was considered the hockey town of the West and GF was considered the hockey town of the East. Minot had the Minot raiders and the Minot Americans. I think the whole scandal involving the Americans' predecessor, the Minot ??, soured a lot of people and that attitude passed down to being sour towards the H.S. team too. A lot of people invested in that junior team and the owner took the money and left. I don't think he was ever apprehended. Lee Goren and a few other UND players came from the Minot Americans program. When I played, I think hockey was as popular as basketball and a lot more popular than wrestling. I think Minot likes basketball more now and I don't think that the antics of some hockey players past and present have helped alleviate the sour attitude that many may have against hockey. It's too bad. Minot and the west generally have had some great players like Jeff Bredahl, Tim McIver, the Zimmerman brothers, Matt Morrelli, Bliss Littler, Jarrod Olson, Danny Hanson, PHilion, Mike Hanson, Brian Haaland, John Grubb, Quinn Fylling, Jim Kropp (jamestown -- I am not as familiar with that program but I know they've had others go D-1), Mitch Vig, MIke Peluso, Jeremy Asheim, Justin Theel (Bismarck -- and I know they've had others too) etc so I don't know where the east gets off saying that the west teams are bad when those same teams have had a lot of talent throughout the years. Let's hope Minot can get motivated and upset GFRR and maybe do something at state this year.

Perhaps I should attend wearing a UND hockey jersey?