farce poobah

I didn't see anyone who played a decent game for USA. It looked like they were playing an NHL all star game; half-speed no-hits; not even a stick check. Time for USA Hockey to start up a conversation with USA Basketball about how to re-engineer everything - they've done a great job with NBA players. Its time to bring some pride back into playing ice hockey for United States of America.

And ... even two wins doesn't guarantee advancing. Tough spot to be in.

As long as we're not being spurious here, I'll note that the Crossroads Mall is a gun free zone. I am damn glad the off duty officer stuck with his gun. If he faces charges for it, I'll be first in line to pay defense costs. ============================ PS: An older article discussing the cruelty of gun free zones. People are dying because of them: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/370014/cruelty-gun-free-zones-john-r-lott-jr

Europe 2, Czechs 1 early in the 3rd. If I'm rooting for USA to get through, would say we need Czechs to prevail...

I sure wouldn't want to be the visitors locker room at the Alerus today.

Neon Deon Harris AGAIN! WOW!

Listless by USA. No energy, and less than that after they got down 2-0. Kinda reminds me of USA Basketball before it got re-engineered by Jerry Colangelo and Coach K.

Had the pleasure of watching tonight's match UND-MN in person. Excellent crowd (4271 to start the match; as with football, a lot of fans left at 'halftime'). After a tough start in set one, UND made a lot of clear adjustments in set two, and with it 15-15 in set three, I started to think this was possible. If the girls take anything from tonight, I hope its that they can play with anyone. As others have noted above, UND's first pass was often not as good as one would hope, leaving the setter fewer choices. (Of course, giving credit to Minnesota's servers is also appropriate, and they did an outstanding job putting serves in tough spots.) Minnesota's block took advantage of UND's relative offensive predictability. Most of the night they had two or even three set up to block. Moser was simply outstanding. 13-24 and zero hitting errors. Most of the 13 kills were off one or two blockers. All in all, it was a solid performance and something I hope the team builds on from here. And Minnesota is impressive, with a lot of strong rookies and McCutcheon coaching, they are poised for a strong run in the NCAA's.

This may be why Kennedy moved the Finance person out from the Athletic Department ...

Interesting perspective from the Philly press about Wentz's debut: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20160912_Sielski__Keep_Wentz_s_terrific_debut_in_perspective.html

Neon Deon Harris! Sweet runback.

In the Twin Cities, CW Network is showing the game also (channel 8 for Comcast in the north suburbs). A pleasant surprise.

On the issue of east-west "balance of power", the Atlantic Hockey increases scholarships to maximum 18 allowed: http://atlantichockeyonline.com/news/2016/9/7/MHOCKEY_0907163448.aspx This will most likely impact Hockey East and ECAC, if only a little, as guys who might have otherwise taken a 75%-ride at a BC/BU/New Hampshire will more likely have a full ride at Atlantic Hockey on the table to consider.

Yeah, and now that I think about it, most of this year's nonconference has been set up for a while now. (doh)

Agree with most, especially the bolded portion. The next time the Big Easy pulls a fast one on the rest of college hockey, at least Arizona State via Pac-12 has a seat at the P5 table. If it was me, I would have told Arizona State that the NCHC agrees to a scheduling agreement for the next 2 years. Each NCHC to play 2 nonconference games vs. ASU. Gives us a foot in the door. Gives them time to get their arena done.

Schlossman, as he usually does, hits it out of the park. http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4103211-brad-schlossman-unds-athletics-committee-problematic

We can talk about this, and its fun, but what will get Bresciani to resign is a critical mass of large donors expressing their displeasure. Whoever you are, the ball is in your court.

One small tweak ...

Which, thanks to Big Ten gametime scheduling, means we won't miss UND games.

And its so embarrassing when they don't.

There's always that little thing about classes and grades...

That might be the holdup on announcing Arizona State (that has been rumored / half-announced for a while).

I saw several MSU Mankato games last year. They have definitely changed since the Jutting years. Higher tempo, faster defensemen. They haven't gotten first-round draft choices, but there is a lot more talent than in previous years. Their incoming class is on par with the NCHC rookies.

The central question I have is whether : (a) the NCHC has decided to admit MSU Mankato provided all the paperwork in order, or (b) the NCHC is still information-gathering and due to some astute journalism by Brad Schlossman their application became public earlier than desired (note MSU's president requests that NCHC's Fenton keep it confidential). Seems to me that this is (b) and the NCHC hasn't yet decided to take MSU. But I'm interested in what other people think.

"There's a fine line between wrong and visionary. Unfortunately, you have to be a visionary to see it." -- Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory