farce poobah

Given that the bookmakers are trying to balance the wagering, and because I don't imagine these games bring in a lot of "professional wagering" money, I would think Michigan and Notre Dame would be natural favorites, since they have more alumni than UMD or UND, In that context, UMD as an underdog is not surprising ... even though KRACH rates them higher. And I'm surprised that North Dakota is that high. Must be all those Gopher / Badger fans wagering on us.

1984, Lake Placid. This was soon after the Miracle on Ice, so it was a thrill just to be in the rink. Also got to ski the slalom runs (took me 45 minutes vs 2 minutes for a real skier, it was like totally because my skis sucked and had nothing to do with my conditioning), sit on the bobsled run (it was slushy but scary even at zero miles per hour), and stand at the bottom of the ski jump (it was steep). Lake Placid itself is a cool little town, kinda Bavarian at the time... I hope it hasn't gotten all chain-store driven. The Frozen Four was four Western schools (UMD, UND, Michigan State and Bowling Green), so the rink was basically half full - 4000 people with 8000 capacity. This was the 4th Sioux appearance in 6 years, and the turnout kept getting better all the time ... distance and lack of nearby airport notwithstanding. I remember strolling down Main Street with the SIoux fans chanting "Where's the East!" (as in the Wendy's Where's the Beef commercial ... if you're under 30 you may not get that one ...). Link to Wendy's commercial: Things I remember about the games: * Jon Casey was amazing in the semifinal, but we couldn't buy a goal. Finally well into overtime, UMD got one to win it 2-1. * Jim Archibald was well behaved. * In the 3rd place game, I think Dean Barsness got a hat trick and the GWG. * Also for 3rd place, as is the case today, every time the SIoux strapped on the pads, they played with intensity. That part of tradition is intact. It could be a game for no stakes at all, and our guys would still play for pride. Part of why I am proud to be a fan. * Talking to Mickey Krampotich in a hotel, and how honored he felt to be assigned jersey #8. The two previous wearers were, Dave Tippett and Doug Smail, who need no further introduction around these parts. Yet another sign of the respect and honor for the program and its tradition, and that was 25 years ago. * The final was an absolute classic. We almost left early - long drive back to MSP - but decided to stick around. Bowling Green tied it late on a fluky goal, and then won it in the 4th overtime. * The first of back-to-back heartbreaks for UMD ... losing in the national semifinals in 1985 in 3OT. All in all, another great road trip. I started learning that Frozen Fours were something to be at, regardless of who was playing.

Michigan is a tough match in a couple ways. First, they are as physical as we are. Second, they have great team speed. If we have an edge, its in goaltending, depth, and disciplined play within our systems. You can bet Red will have looked for a weakness, and will have watched the WCHA Final Five games with an eye for closing a weak spot. I would be surprised if he didn't also watch the tapes of our recent games with BC. Krach notwithstanding, I actually like our odds in the final better than the odds in the semifinal.

That may very well have been the case. In either case, what he did worked.

For 1981 and 1982, I plead impoverishment and work. In 1981 the Sioux were only so-so, having lost 8 guys who turned pro early after the 1980 title. The NHL realized all of a sudden (after the Miracle on Ice) there was not only talent in the college ranks, but fan appeal. So 1981 (Duluth) and 1982 (Providence) are TV memories for me. What I did see in person in 1982 were the events leading up to the title. That included a fantastic sweep of the Badgers in February to win the MacNaughton, with Phil Sykes getting back to back hat tricks at the old Winter Sports Building. It was never louder at the old tin can than that weekend. And the horrific sweep just 3 weeks later by the Badgers 9-0, 3-1. The old tin can had never been quieter. That rolls us up to 1983 in Grand Forks. The games were sold out (nearly a first for the NCAA), but it was SIoux fans of course who had done so. When Wisconsin beat UND in triple overtime in the WCHA playoffs, and the NCAA committee which included UMD AD Bruce McLeod stiffed the conference runnerups UND in favor of lower ranked teams including magically UMD, our season was over. (I've never seen a pairwise for 1982-1983 season, would be interesting to do the math some day.) So the Frozen Four was Wisconsin, Minnesota, Harvard and Providence. By acclamation, also magically enough, Wisconsin became the local favorite. Maybe it was because about 3000 of them descended on Grand Forks and partied their way to the title. (Interestingly enough, there was a pipeline that distributed tickets that went mostly to Madison but not to Minneapolis ... still surprised more Gopher fans didn't come.) The bars were a sea of red, Elroy Hirsch and Carl Miller were dancing on the tables, and I learned a fair number of Wisconsin songs that weekend. Anyway, Wisconsin dominated (and Minnesota lost, which made most local happy because Brad Buetow had been ripping on the Sioux fans in the papers) I also got to see a few hundred Badger fans on the ice dancing one the ice for about 30 minutes after the game, along with the players, which was a unique aspect of the weekend. Somewhere, I still have a "Go Badgers! This Sioux's For You" button. So 1983 was bittersweet because NCAA home ice is so rare for UND, but the Sioux-Badger rivalry became more friendly that weekend. (Remember that previously it had been extraordinarily bitter - pregame brawling bitter - water bottle brawl bitter - think current Denver x 500% bitter.) In fact, I went to the games in Madison the following winter and didn't even get ripped on once. The opposite happened, in that people were welcoming us.

OK, its late but I'll do one more. 1980 (my 2nd) was in Providence. The trip itself was a great adventure too (car, plane, car), and included "defacing" (or at least lampooning) early American history. Imagine our shock when the band was there (remember it was a recession and budgets all over were tight, plus people just didn't fly as much back then ... it was my first flight). Upon further conversation, we realized these were rented imposters from Warwick, Rhode Island high school. Most of them were stunned that we had driven all the way from Boston in just one day, but they were having a blast. As we arrived in our seats for the beginning of warmups (blue line, next to the opposing penalty box and across from the opposing bench), some Dartmouth fans were encouraging their players. "Come on Buddy, get a hat trick!" (Buddy Teevins, all-american captain of Dartmouth) To which a Farce member replied "Your whole TEAM isn't going to get a hat trick." After that the tweedy Dartmouth fans, more of them wearing tweed sportcoats and ties than not, ceded our seats to us referee-shirted helmet-wearing Sioux fans. The evening was like being on a giant stage, because the Providence CIvic Center was so quiet. Every time we fired off a one-liner, we could hear a buzz of laughter behind us. Standup hockey comedy. After two periods, the Sioux trailed Dartmouth 1-0, and a reporter for Hockey News came down. He started with "You guys are obviously crazy." We looked at each other (nobody even smiled) and said in unison "yes". He asked if we were concerned, and again in unison "no, we're a third period team. We'll win this one going away." Of course the SIoux did, hammering in 4 goals in the 3rd period to win, 4-1. During the final game, Mark Taylor (all-time leading scorer at that time) went down with an injury, and Doug Smail ripped in a record 4 goals that night as the Sioux won 5-2. But the final wasn't without a bit of heartstopping tension. Earlier, Smail got checked into the boards right in front of us. He crumpled, and it looked like we'd be forced to continue without his heroics. As we informed the referees to reconsider whether a penalty might have occured right under our noses ("and I can call it if you give me your whistle for a second"), Smail lay on the ice. So we were yelling at everyone on the ice, when Smail looked up at us and winked. After a momentary pause of astonishment, we continued our yelling. A highlight for me was meeting several parents. More than one dad wanted to give us some money, but we were not ready to give up our amateur status, even if it would have enhanced the quality of beer we could then afford to purchase. Ahh Providence. UND's first title in 17 years, and the beginning of a stretch of 5 in just 20 years.

Re the Star Tribune article, it tells the story that we're all familiar with. Its well written, and has a couple quotes from Frattin's dad that I hadn't seen before. Overall, it was a favorable article, and fair if not tilted toward painting a positive portrait of Matt. The writer did not go on about the past, but focused on the change in Matt, and on the kind of person he's become. It doesn't get any fairer than that.

Oh gosh, where to start. This will be my 19th Frozen Four. I guess I should start at the beginning (a very good place to start). For me, that would be Detroit in 1979. Both Sioux and Gophers beat eastern opponents in the semifinals. Sioux vs. Gophers in the championship game. I was there with about 25 Farce members and a few hundred more-normal Sioux fans. Minnesota had several hundred fans, there may have been a couple other thousand, so the old Olympia arena was echoing pretty good that night. It seated maybe 15,000. Our seats were right next to the visitor penalty box, of course. In those days, the side glass was short enought that one could stand on seats in the front row and heckle converse with the players and referees. So during warmups, we were basically reading the public criticisms of Herb Brooks back to his team ... "you bunch of pathetic cakeeaters", "born with the silver spoon in your huge cakehole", and so on. They fired a few pucks at us but it was all pretty civil. Nobody wanted to get kicked out after driving for 24 hours. Just as a Minnesota penalty was expiring, a couple Farce members knocked on the plexiglass next to the Gopher. He looked over, six flashbulbs went off, and then he stumbled heading out onto the ice. It was pretty hilarious. Any advantage we could give Another advantage was when the Sioux could check a Gopher into the boards right in front of us. In those cases, the boards checked back. If you know what I mean. Anyway, we all know how it ended, on a fluky goal that looked like Wheeler's 2007 goal at the final five. They still play it a lot on TV here in the twin cities. After the game, most of the Gophers came over to do a little taunting. Our reaction, universally, was to offer a handshake. Definitely the only time I can remember the winning team shaking hands with the losing team's fans. Most of the Sioux came over too. After the game, we came out to get our cars/vans and were happy to see the barbed wire fence hadn't been clipped, and that our hubcaps were all there still. It was a long drive back, but a great college experience: The Great American Road Trip.

I'm rooting for Scott Sandelin. He's a character guy who devoted 10 years to building Fighting Sioux hockey (4 playing, 6 coaching), and I hope he beats Notre Dame.

To your immediate question, I don't know. I'm guessing $25-30, but that's a wild guess. There may be better choices than light rail to taxi to Xcel. First, If you are comfortable with public transportation, the 94 Express bus (from Downtown Minneapolis to downtown St Paul) is a good choice. http://www.metrotransit.org/Schedules/WebSchedules.aspx?route=94&service=1 If you take the bus, I cannot stress too strongly the importance of the express. (There is a local route that takes over an hour from dntn Mpls to dntn St Paul. Second, if you are comfortable taking public transportation, I would suggest just taking the Route 54 from MOA to Downtown St Paul. http://www.metrotransit.org/Schedules/WebSchedules.aspx?route=54&service=1 Third, if you are taking a taxi, it only saves about 2 miles to go from Downtown Mpls instead of just going from Bloomington. (Plus the light rail savings.) http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl Hope this is helpful. I live on the north side of town, so have not taken those south-side transportation routes personally. ALLOW EXTRA TIME is the general rule.

I second that emotion. Far too young, far too much promise. Simply tragic.

"...they had to sew my ear back on." Let's talk toughness. Let's talk gritty. Let's talk Ryan Johnson. "He [Bertuzzi] came walking right in here and said 'Sorry' as soon as it happened," Johnson said. "I haven't seen it on tape. Now with the new standard, you have to come back and go through the standard tests with the doc(tor) quickly and do some things, and they had to sew my

Realistically, there will be a number of empty seats on Thursday during game 2. Some of the game 1 fans will leave. I've been to 18 frozen fours and there's always open seats Thursday. Saturday is a different story.

I think Davidson will play at the next level. His speed and agility have really improved .... Maybe a career AHL, or a shot at the big time if he keeps improving.

Yup. Section 122 Row 13.

Hostile and Abusive? Only if you're wearing Corn.

THIS would be the year the NCAA could sell 50,000 tickets. * given an arena with unlimited capacity, how many Sioux fans would show this weekend? (Of course, as a ticket holder, I'd prefer to be in the 19,000 seat Xcel.)

Just a quick note to observe that the Sioux penalty kill was -17% during the midwest regional. 12 opportunities, 0 goals allowed, 2 short handers scored ... -2 / 12 = -17%. Michigan should decline the powerplay and just take the yardage instead.

In 1997, we had a player that was drafted by the NHL ... The MOP of the 1997 Frozen Four was a guy named Matt. .....

Double shot of WCHA vs CCHA.

Yup. It was surreal. 17,000 dressed in green and white. 15,000 in stunned silence at getting drubbed. 2,000 going crazy at the awe-inspiring performance by the Hrkac Circus.

Anyone wishing to pass the time can watch the replay of UND - RPI at 1130 CDT on ESPNU. Otherwise, I keep telling myself we have three players in the lineup that we didn't last Saturday (Gregoire, Rodwell, Rowney). I also expect a subtle change in our breakouts, where DU was coming hard after the puck last Saturday and really jumping on that first pass. I don't see DU bottling us up like they did during parts of Saturday's game.

try espn3.com or the radio on fightingsioux.com (or maybe kfgo)

I can excuse ANY emotions Jesse Martin has about North Dakota hockey or players. There is no excuse for Mike Chambers. He's an embarrassment to sportswriters and a disgrace to his profession.