jimdahl

If me quoting the Gophers factual conference standing as of today is "myopic", isn't your quoting the Gophers current PWR the same? Those upcoming games that affect the conference standings will also affect PWR. The Gophers tough non-conference schedule will benefit them tremendously, assuring them a better RPI than their close conference competitors. However, many of the Gophers PWR wins are very close and will be decided by shifts in TUC, H2H, and COP over the remainder of their schedule. Every remaining conference opponent of Minnesota is of course an H2H, but also a TUC, and form a web of COPs. The Gophers could easily climb to #1 PWR, or could easily plummet into the teens.

Well, really, who goes to taunt their opponent after a split on home ice, and a season record of 1/4 because the opponent's fans are disputing even the 1? To me, being proud of that record is tacit acknowledgement that GO4-4LIFE thinks UND is the better team.

By the way, the Sioux took 6/8 points from the Gophers this season. Though that final 2 going to the Gophers was on the back of a questionable call, which is interesting message-board fodder for a couple days, most Sioux fans aren't complaining because the Sioux never should have let it come down to that goal against the #5 team in the conference. Mariucci is a tough place to play, the Gophers played great D, and when you're the most visible player on the #1 team in the country, you can't be depending on the breaks going your way. Your arrogance is pretty humorous considering your team is .5 game above .500 in conference play, and considering how close your team came to being swept 4 games straight by the Sioux this year. Think about it.

Keith Smette

Way to bring one home, Gino. Getting events that expose soon-to-be-collegiate players to the splendor that is REA is yet another advantage of the new arena, not to mention the positive economic impact to G.F.

Well, that definition pretty much precludes fans attending ANY road games, so is not particularly germane to the discussion about schools trying to schedule "nearby" road games. In large cities, home games probably wouldn't even be "nearby", by that definition. Back on topic, here's USD. It's not particularly impressive: Aug 28 at Truman State (Stokes Stadium, Kirksville, Mo.) TBA Sep 4 Peru State (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) TBA Sep 11 Minnesota State, Moorhead (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) TBA Sep 18 Wisconsin-LaCrosse (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) TBA Sep 25 at Nebraska-Omaha * (Al F. Caniglia Field, Omaha, Neb.) TBA Oct 2 Augustana * (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) (Dakota Days) 2 p.m. Oct 9 at Minnesota State, Mankato (Blakslee Stadium, Mankato, Minn.) TBA Oct 16 St. Cloud State (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) TBA Oct 22 at Upper Iowa (Eischeid Stadium, Fayette, Iowa) TBA Oct 30 Minnesota-Duluth (DakotaDome, Vermillion, S.D.) TBA Nov 6 at North Dakota (Alerus Center, Grand Forks, N.D.) TBA[/code]

In terms of fan willingness to travel for a sporting event, Minneapolis is incredibly near Fargo. A lot of Sioux fans travel from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, St Cloud, and Mankato for games. Far fewer travel to Houghton or Denver. Personally, I consider a 3 hour drive a trivial trip to watch a sporting event that I want to see. When it starts to break 5-6, then it's something I have to plan for because it probably involves a little more formal time off work, etc...

It's an interesting question. While I suspect almost all of us have lived in Grand Forks or attended UND, that could just be the cause of exposure, while there are other reasons we're fans. For example, I attended UND, but I also attended UMN. I cheer mildly for the Gophers in Big Ten sports, but certainly not in hockey. I chose that I like seeing a small school make it big as the difference in why I cheer for UND, since my interest predates new logo/new arena, and actually started near the end of the worst stretch of Sioux mediocrity in history.

Most of his career was spent at the Penguins. The Penguins traded him in a massive deal about 2 years ago to the Caps, which marked the end of success for both the Penguins and the Caps. Expect the Rangers to continue to wallow in mediocrity as a result of this trade.

Over the last few games we've been well over 30%, which helps the stats a lot. Here's how things look after last night: Power Play: Totals SHA PCT 1 Minnesota 25/ 81 1 30.9 2 Minnesota-Duluth 21/ 82 3 25.6 3 North Dakota 17/ 84 1 20.2 4 Michigan Tech 13/ 66 1 19.7[/code] And: [code]Penalty Kill: Totals SHF PCT 1 North Dakota 80/ 91 2 87.9 2 Colorado College 60/ 70 0 85.7 3 St. Cloud State 74/ 87 4 85.1 4 Minnesota 73/ 87 3 83.9

It's tough to argue that Brandt had a good game, but really so did Briggs; quite a few clutch saves for both goalies. While that may have been the turning point/spark for the team, I thought the difference in power play really came down to the Sioux D, and frankly quite often, Parise. Though Brandt did step up and make saves when the puck came toward the net, I thought the Sioux penalty kill did a great job of preventing shots and clearing the zone; there were a few times I was hoping a for a short-handed. If I had to point to a difference between Briggs and Brandt last night, it would be the rebounds. Briggs gave up quite a few that don't show up on the boxscore because they weren't converted into goals, whereas Brandt did a pretty good job of covering the puck.

As many predicted, the difference between UND's and UMN's power play was the difference tonight, but not in the way Gopher fans expected. UM 1/7 (14% -- 86% kill for UND) UND 2/4 (50% -- 50% kill for UM) As Sioux fans, we know the game isn't over until the 3rd period ends. UND holds up its third period tradition, scoring on 2 of their first 3 shots in the period (both PP) and an empty-netter, while allowing no goals. +3 Unfortunately, UND fell short of its 5 goals/game average, so we'll have to make up for that tomorrow night to keep the average up

GREAT screen. That's the way to run a powerplay.

Uh, oh. Another one.

For UND, anyway, attendance largely followed success. I seem to recall that the gate picked up quite a bit when the team improved in the 90s, and then really spiked for the new stadium/national championship. I suspect that if UND put together a string of < .500 seasons, attendance would drop 25-50%. Start winning and the fans will show up. A new stadium is a perfect time, because the team has the interest of the community already.

Hard to argue that the Gophers owned that period. Fortunately there's one more, and it's one that's been good to the Sioux: +34 so far this season in the 3rd.

DB should offer that the ice at the Ralph is good if they'd like to move it there

A big chunk came out of the ice behind the Sioux goal with about :30 to go in the 1st and they've been repairing it for about 30 minutes.

I'm just watching the t.v. so didn't hear his comment, but I was actually going to say (but didn't for fear of jinxing it), is Vanek even playing? I only see the Gophers play once, maybe twice, a year against the Sioux, so this is admittedly my only exposure. He appeared briefly for that one attempt to scoop the puck over Brandt, but most of the time he's invisible. After seeing Parise's big plays and the influence he's had over the flow of the game in the first, it's hard to believe this is the guy that Gopher fans tout as Parise's equal. I can only give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that was an off period. Watching them work on this ice is crazy.

I think he was just making a joke because you don't quite have the normal set of allegiances for a Sioux fan. Sioux fandom is a big tent -- everyone welcome, even Fargoans.

Goon, you're now famous to Gopher fans everywhere! There are actually a LOT more Gopher fans than Sioux fans. Something about 48,000 vs 13,000. I like to think we make up for it in quality

Ooooooo, correcting grammar -- way to buttress your argument. If you search the board hard enough you might be able to find a misspelled word, too! That would really show the Sioux fans who's got the better hockey team!

Gophers are 12-3-3 when scoring 1st Gophers are 1-5-0 when opponent scores 1st A complete, fun list of such information is in lefthand (pink) column of the 2nd page of the Gophers VERY NICEweekly release.

Wanless has certainly struggled as a pro-football AD. He did great things for UND, bringing our football program back to the top of the NCC and one of the top few in the country, yet struggled and made some enemies because he was a football guy at a hockey school. Now, he's in a bit of a similar situation at Sac State, trying to save football at a basketball school. Sac State can only hope his tenure at their institution produces as much positive growth as did his tenure at UND. WYOBISONMAN - no doubt Lennon dodged a bullet there. I recall reading at the time that the instability in the administration at Sac State was a factor. Edit -- here it is:

I could bump the page size down We bumped it up to 20 posts/pages as a reasonable contrast between page size/number of pages that will contain new posts for an average visitor. I think the default was 10 or 15. Besides, I'm not sure quantity is an admirable goal