jimdahl

This is the attitude that has always bothered me about Grand Forks government. The convention center is losing $100-$250k/year. However, what is the economic impact to the tax base of having the conventions/events that come to town only becuase the center exists? If the convention center were breaking even on the basis of UND football games alone, it wouldn't matter a lick to the local economy because the football games would've been played in G.F. anyway. Yet that scenario would probably make much of Grand Forks happier. I honestly suspect that the tax revenue from convention dollars exceeds the amount the city has to pump into the center to keep it running. In that case, it's still a boon to the city! If that's not the case, they need to reexamine their revenue model (including possibly licensing a hotel, etc...) and quit whining that concerts are going to competing venues (though it's worth mentioning that the city still gets the benefit of taxes on the money spent by visitors to the city for concerts held at REA).

From Nathan Hampton on Hockey-L: As of 1/08/03 the favorite (Top 24) teams are: Maine @ 3/1 Boston College @ 7/2 North Dakota @ 7/2 New Hampshire @ 4/1 Michigan @ 9/2 Colorado College @ 5/1 Minnesota @ 5/1 Denver @ 6/1 Cornell @ 7/1 Boston U @ 10/1 Northern Michigan @ 20/1 Harvard @ 22/1 Ohio St. @ 25/1 St. Cloud State @ 40/1 Michigan St. @ 40/1 Providence @ 50/1 Western Michigan @ 50/1 Wisconsin @ 60/1 Notre Dame @ 75/1 Alaska Fairbanks @ 75/1 Clarkson @ 75/1 Nebraska Omaha @ 80/1 Rensselear @ 150/1 Mercyurst @ 200/1 and the Field @ 30/1

I received the following updates from Gordon Stafford (much appreciated!) I know the Macs Tourney has been mentioned here briefly: * Drew has accepted an invitation to the 5 Nations Cup tournament in The Czech Republic, Feb 2-9, 2003, by the US Under 18 National Team. * Drew was named to the All tournament team at the Macs Tournament in Calgary over Christmas break.

For the stats junkies: Distribution of predictions for the coming weekend's games: http://siouxsports.com/hockey/whatif/thisweek.php A few aggregate picks stats: http://siouxsports.com/hockey/whatif/analysis.php Disclaimer: since no pre-registration is required, the stats could very easily be manipulated and are drawn from the picks of a very biased and non-representative group of hockey fans.

Since I can't even hope to do it from memory, the #1's that I could look up: Mar 18 2002 UNH (also #1 in Mar. 4 poll, before WCHA play-in) Mar 19 2001 Mich St. (also #1 in Mar. 5 poll, before WCHA play-in) Mar 20 2000 Wisconsin (also #1 in Mar. 6 poll, before WCHA play-in) Mar 22 1999 UND (also #1 in Mar. 8 poll, before WCHA play-in) Mar 16 1998 UND (also #1 in Mar. 9 poll, before WCHA play-in)

Added a "save" feature so you don't have to reenter your predictions each week to incorporate the actual results into your prediction. Your message board ID is reserved for you with your message board password. If you're not registered for the message board or want to save multiple scenarios, you can save picks by picking a unique username. http://siouxsports.com/hockey/wchawhatif.php Sorry it took so long to get this feature in place, but it required completely redoing the way the page dynamically updates itself.

Thanks to a couple people who pointed this out: http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Job...r=cbcb_gf&ch=al I don't know if they had a full time person doing web design before or if this is an expansion of that position. If REA is trying to increase its web presence, that would be good news for Sioux fans. If anyone has these skills and is looking for a gig, this could be a good one.

Not to try to prolong the dwelling on this, because as Sicatoka said, "it's over", but the NCC released its findings: http://www.northcentralconference.org/more.php?id=289 Essentially, they said the timing was inconclusive. Their rules dictate that it is not possible to score with 0.3s, but is with 0.4s. It appears that the shot was from inside the 3-pt line, but the line was obscured by spectators from the camera's angle. They reiterated that the NCC and NCAA do not allow changing the outcome of contests, the review is just to better educate officials and improve games in the future.

I was just thinking, there's a way everyone can leave this weekend happy. The Sioux can sweep and get 4 pts, and the Gophers can get two of those "moral victories" they treasure (and the accompanying 4 "moral points"). That should make everyone happy, n'est pas?

This actually clears things up a bit for me. I honestly didn't understand how the sweatpants were offensive. If this group of people used to sew flags on their pants' rear ends as a way to denegrate the flag and America, it's understandable that they view anything else on the rear end of pants as being denegrated (despite a wave of change in fashion that they failed to notice). Lacking the historical context, I'm just used to seeing team names sewn on the rear-end of sweat pants and exercise shorts. The coeds who wear such items are people who are "behind" the team, not people who are against it.

Yeah, it dynamically generates itself from a copy of the same database that generates the rest of the site (box scores, schedules, etc...). It doesn't deal well with conference games not being in pairs, so will probably only be updated on Sunday after all games for a weekend have been played.

Check out my new handy "what-if" calculomatic. http://siouxsports.com/hockey/wchawhatif.php Definitely easier than using an envelope back. It's a bit onerous with so many games remaining, but that will get easier. You can also save a little time by focusing only on those teams in contention, if you so choose. (Works best with IE6, but I'm working on that) I came up with CC beating UND by 2 points in the final standings, but UND a strong 2nd.

Don't get me wrong, the campaign against shot glasses and beer mugs is crazy and racist. But what's up with attacking the sweatpants (the word is too near your behind? you sit on it?) Wait until they discover the offense of boxer shorts with logos!

Awkward plug: Or buy stuff online to help keep SiouxSports.com alive (http://siouxsports.com/hockey/merchandise.htm) Seriously, though, this is a very dangerous precedent. If outsiders perceive the bookstore as a UND institution, it changes the situation from a small minority opposing the Sioux logo to a school institution taking the stance that the logo needs to be hidden away. While it's true that REA next door will pick up any slack in availability of merchandise, further moves in this direction could send very dangerous signals if they're perceived as coming from a UND institution. I now the bookstore is private, so can do whatever it wants, but that's not how a lot of people will perceive it.

I don't think the question is will a Gopher take a cheap shot at Parise, but rather when will DeMarchi take what cheap-shot? Perhaps we should start a pool. I'll take DeMarchi with a spear at 4:37 in the 1st (should DeMarchi somehow find himself ineligible for the game because he beat up some old lady on the way to Mariucci, I'll take Ballard). For bonus points, what will Greene do to DeMarchi after he returns to the ice?

Same mistake you always make JBB. You think there's a collective mind of "UND folks". Your ability to demonstrate inconsistencies between things I say and things other fans/the Herald/UND says is not surprising, we don't all agree. I know it's hard for you to comprehend because you so religiously tow the pro-NDSU/anti-UND line. As far as I can tell reading your "rebuttals", you actually agreed with me on points #1 and #2. #3 just seemed to be "NDSU has always ruled and always will" chest-thumping that failed to address the quote you chose (correlation between home ticket sales and playing pay-to-get-beat-up-on-the-road games). Hah, you've got to get a shot on net before you can get a goal. I'm not even sure you have your pads on right.

Blais just said that Ranfranz earned himself a Saturday start in Minnesota. Looks like your wish could be coming true. You never know if that promise will really hold up, but sounds good for Ranfranz.

There's little doubt Ranfranz saved this game. Probably doesn't mean much for his playing time going forward, but gotta make him feel good against what should arguably be the #1 team in the country.

Though I take no pleasure in being right, gotta point to my prediction that we'd be unable to repeat the special teams performance that made the difference last night. CC 3/3 on the PP so far. That's definitely been the difference. Update: I guess they heard me doubting. The Sioux have killed 2 power plays and scored on a late PP goal and the tying goal with the man advantage with the netminder pulled.

Tonight Eddie Belfour stopped 50 shots against the Devils, setting an NHL record for the season. That gave him a .980 SV% for the night on 1 goal allowed He's really having a stellar season, with 5 shutouts already, a .930 SV%, and a 2.01 GAA.

Though UND has had a friendly schedule to date, we might be letting rivals' chatter mask the teams' success in that schedule a little too much. What's happened so far At 18-1-2, here is the breakdown of UND's success: Opponents .500 or under: 13-0-1 Opponents over .500: 5-1-1 Not only has UND won the games it should have won, but it has done quite well when tested. Compare that with Minnesota who is nipping at UND's heels in the WCHA (and whose fans and media are the loudest detractors of UND's schedule): Opponents .500 or under: 6-1-2 Opponents over .500: 5-4-2 Sure they've had fewer sub-.500 opponents, but they've performed MUCH worse against those opponents. Also, Minnesota has had more opponents >.500, but the comparative success against those opponents speaks for itself. Looking to the 2nd half The '97 championship team had 10 losses, '00 had 8. Starting from the current base of 1 loss, use whatever optimism or pessism you want to count your own projection of the losses in the remaining contests: CC (1 game) @UMN @AA @CC Tech @Denver @Mankato Duluth @Wisconsin Hard to picture this team finishing outside of that championship range, isn't it? Even if we split out, that will be only 10 losses on the season. Be patient -- opponents' grousing now doesn't affect the outcome of our games. This is a team that has won ALL of the games it was supposed to win and done incredibly well against tougher opponents.

Well, this isn't really fair. Sure a team has it's ups and downs, but there's a much higher chance that a school that makes the D-IAA transition to a decent conference will have a worse record over the next 20 years than if they hadn't moved. When all the plans for such a transition assume growing attendance, this could be an issue when combined with my conference concerns... We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I think the average NDSU fan gets more excited right now to watch UNC, UNO, UND, SDSU come to town than they would be to see Idaho St, Eastern Washington, Portland St, etc... At first playing D-IAA teams may be exciting and draw a crowd and eventually many of those teams will be well-known rivals like the teams I named above. However, in between I think there's a lag-time in which fans wonder why they're paying to watch their school lose to a bunch of crappy teams they've never heard of. The problem gets a lot worse if NDSU doesn't hit the dream of Big Sky and plays even lesser known (in the Dakotas) teams. That's the likely situation UND faces. I really don't think those get-paid-to-get-beat-up games generate a lot of fan interest back home. I think the die-hard fans love to see them, but I'm not sure they convince anyone new to buy season tickets. I remember hearing much less about the away game in our home/away 2-year series with Kansas basketball. I do understand the allure of the big name opponents, I'm on record as saying that I think a single win in the NCAA basketball tournament would be more meaningful as a fan than a D-II championship. I just think way too many fans think they're going to start flying in Minnesota for wrestling and Duke for basketball if they move to D-IAA. (Disclaimer -- it's no coincidence that 2-3 of the NCC teams I named as interesting are leaving the NCC).

Perhaps most impressive for the Sioux was giving up only 2 power plays and allowing 0 PP goals. Had you told me that would be the stat before the game, I would've predicted that the Sioux would have won 7-3 or so. Worries me a little because I'm not sure we can play so mistake-free tomorrow night, so we need to improve the goaltending or defense a bit to get the same result.

It seems to only show the top nominees -- no way to see players below that. I find it interesting that they're doing it themselves this year instead of through USCHO (sorry if this has been beat to death on USCHO, I haven't been there in a while).

I've tried to make this point a few times as a potential negative for a move that doesn't involve recreating the NCC. I'll use UND moving alone as an example so fans of other schools don't think I'm criticizing their school. UND's best case dream: Big Sky conference After the novelty of playing Montana wears off, is a football game against Montana (and especially Sac St., Weber St., Northern Arizona, Portland St.) really going to be a better draw than playing NDSU (and UNC, UNO, SDSU)? Even further, fan bases can drop dramatically when a team puts together a few sub-.500 seasons (look at NDSU attendance this year). Other possibilities: MidContinent, new conference? Where's the draw in playing D-IAA schools that are worse than the current NCC teams but that don't have the name recognition as rivals in Grand Forks? I can't imagine in-conference attendance going up in this situation. I think a move to D-IAA without any natural rivals and that leads to sub-.500 seasons could result in an actual decrease in attendance, whereas the plans that make such a move economically feasible tend to figure in an increase. An annual non-conference game against a D-IA team could help fill some of that revenue, but does little to generate local interest. That's why I thought the NCC moving (if they could rally enough support) was a no-brainer, whereas moving alone is a lot riskier. We're now in a bit of a hybrid situation in which some of the traditional rivals would leave us if we stayed, but may not be there if we jumped anyway. Disclaimer: I intentionally ignored stadium size because I was focusing on the possibility of attendance actually decreasing instead of increasing