burd

OK, we're a little punk. The gophs are boys choir, and Don is getting uncomfortable playing in our club.

Looking for two tickets to the Sat night Wisconsin game. email: epmolberg@hotmail.com Will pay extra for Sioux win guarantee Thx

Paint Your Wagon: I was born under a wandering star.

A complimentary copy of "Fight on Sioux" was on every seat the Friday game of the Mankato series after Ralph E died. I don't live in the area and don't catch many games in GF, so I don't know if that was coincidence. My favorite pic is a double across pages 2 & 3 showing the sioux goalie (maskless) from a '59 game in the barn.

In fairness, the Badger fans have fun with that cheer, and I don't see it as mean-spirited. They've never picked me with it, but I wouldn't mind if they did--probably stand up and laugh it off. They have a lot of fun as a group with those cheers, along with the band. I wish the Sioux had a little more of that. But as to Rizzo, you're right that she would chew on that cheer too if it were coming from Sioux fans. Too bad she can't go back in time to the old Ralph. She'd probably have to spend the game outside in the production van listening to Hennessey and Home of Economy ads.

What JFR really needs to know is whether there is a TV show host among them.

What you say is probably true, but facts can seem awfully one-sided until both both versions are told (grant you that they probaby won't be if they negotiate a plea and related civil claims are settled).

It's hard to see how T. Arnason can still be in the game.

OK, we got most of the preliminary fluff out of the way--win/loss record, line compositions, captains, nickname, etc. NOW . . . What about Miller Time?

Don't hold it against Dean that he played for the Gophs. He wasn't that good--who else would take him? Coaching's different--he's damn good. If he ever takes the job with UMinn, it's just proof that he is getting old and demented. To be pitied, not hated.

The Sioux never cycle the puck anymore. or They need to do something other than cycling the puck all the time.

A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.

Good post, but it's a lot simpler than that. "Sioux fan" is defined in Webster's First College Hockey Dictionary as "One who . . . , and hates the Gophers with a holy passion." If you don't hate the gophs, you don't fall within the definition, so you can't be a fan of both. You might want to be a Sioux fan, but you can't be. Sorry, but the world is a hard place sometimes.

Okay, I won't tell you what I'm about to tell you.

We have to be careful not to impose too many limitations on Gopher hatred. If you hated a gopher when he was playing for UM but like him now that he plays for an NHL team you like, that makes sense to me, because he isn't a gopher anymore. If you hated him then and still hate him, even if he plays for an NHL team you like, that makes sense too because he used to be a gopher and that will never change. As long as you hate gophers, it all works. I can speak from personal experience when I say gohper hatred has been good for me. I've always known it didn't make much sense, and that used to bother me to the point where I sought treatment. But I have learned to embrace this hatred, and boy what a difference! I no longer kick the dog. I don't threaten my wife with divorce quite as often, and I don't tell my kids they'll have to go to college in Minnesota. I quit chewing my nails. Even if I like Garrison Keillor or the Vikes, I know I am doing my little bit to maintain the natural balance of things by hating the gophs. I don't like the Badgers, but I feel no sacred duty to hate them, so I don't. If I were Jay Potulny, could I hate the gophs while my sons were playing there? Sure. I would hate hate hate them as gophers, call them names, write them nasty anonymous letters, impune their morals and reputation and still love them as my children. Makes perfect sense. Hate away. It's OK.

I'm glad jk brought that up. Dean is a great coach, and colorful, in his way, but people tend to have amnesia when they imagine what he would have done with Hak's teams. Those 98 and 99 teams were powerful and disappointed in the tourney. Virg Foss once said he thought Dean was better at winning a championship with a team that was not expected to win but that Gino was more likely to win with the favorite. Not that Virg's word is gospel, Parise knows. But I would like to see Hak wear Dean's green jacket.

Plus a little bit of "go-for-the-balls" edge of . . . now what was that guy's name . . . .

I don't want to bring Happy out of his end-of-the-slide hibernation, but what were the combined ages of the Hrkac line compared to Toews, Oshie and Duncan? DOT was awfully young. Greg Johnson was on some lines in 90-91, including Dixon Ward, that could play with the big boys. But they did not have the defensive side that DOT did.

You never know--he might see himself as a regular on Brad Miller Time.

They're vermin. Can't escape your DNA.

True, but I'm fine with that. They might as well think it's the championship game from the get-go.

When is the last time Minnesota, Wisconsin, and BC all missed the NCAAs?

Couple of comments. One thing that has plagued them all year, especially before Finley returned, was their inability to own the boards in their own end. A couple of things contribute to that. First of all, guys like Genoway and Miller are just ill fitted to win the board scums. I love what Miller has done for this team, and he tries his best, but when it comes to controlling possession of the puck along the defensive boards, he is being asked to do something he just is not very equipped to do. He doesn't have Bina's bull strength or Chorney's skill level. Not a knock on Miller--that's just who he is. What bothers me more in some games, including the second two periods today (and a lot of the first, actually) is their tendency to STROLL to the puck in the defensive zone and then make the outlet pass (if they got possession) only after the passing lane has closed. Their only choice then is to either chip it up high on the glass or to have a Dman rush it up ice. I like this team a lot. Frankly, I'd rather have them lose two like this than win and think they can get by not skating hard to every puck. Still fired up for first round of the main event. Maybe Hak needs to pull a Bo Ryan and tell his guys to hustly their arses off but to put a smile on their facesand have some fun out there. They were a little tight this weekend.

Conference tournaments are great fun for both players and fans, but most elite programs probably consider "playoffs" as beginning with the first game of the NCAAs. Teams would view the conf tourney as very important, if, for instance, they absolutely had to make a strong showing to even get in the "playoffs." What's really a shame is when an otherwise strong team has inconsistent goaltending during the regular season and never even gets to show off their playoff goaltender. Kangas is very good--no doubt, and he did play in the playoffs last year, if I remember right. In his last game, he either wasn't such a playoff goaltender or his opponent was just a clearly superior team. I can't remember which.

Lou's slide started with that failed trip to Faribault to talk ZPar out of his commitment to UND.