Yote 53

It's not just the USHL, the Minnesota Wild have their AHL team in Des Moines and their ECHL team in the Quad Cities. If anything you would think all these franchises, at some pretty decent levels of hockey, would encourage them into believing NCAA D1 hockey would work in Iowa too. Iowa is like Nebraska, anything Hawkeyes will be supported. Anybody I have spoken with about the subject believes it would work, it would be supported, and it would be, at worst, revenue neutral. Then you ask why it hasn't happened and the response is either "because" or "it's not even a high school sport here", after just having a conversation about why it would work. Just because they don't have a hockey program in, say, Mt. Pleasant, IA that means hockey can't work in Iowa.

UNO hockey can stand on its own. It will even be enhanced having a UNO vs UNL rivalry akin to the UNL vs Creighton rivalry in basketball. I have talked to many hockey people down in the Omaha & Lincoln areas and have been told that Husker Hockey will happen, not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. There is no way/no how that UN-L will share any of the Big Ten branding with UNO. Just no way they put UNO on the same level by allowing them to share that label. I would love to see hockey at Iowa happen. The biggest issue is the arena. If/when Coralville comes on line that is a big hurdle that has been cleared. An additional $2m per year of BTN money will help in funding a men's program. Iowa has the money to do this, just do they have the desire. That is the question. Publically right now the best political thing would be to say no to adding hockey, privately, I would not be surprised if it is being explored. If I am a BIG hockey school president I am pushing the issue that the BIG either adds UND as an affiliate or some schools better start carrying their weight to provide BTN programming by adding hockey programs.

To me this trade signaled the Wild are in panic mode. The Blackhawks are surging right now, like the usually do this time of year. Chicago has been making a statement these last couple of weeks that they are the team to beat in the West. They've got it all, scoring, defense, goaltending, great mix of veteran leadership and youth. If these two teams meet in the 2nd round it is going to be a great series. I just don't see the Wild getting past the Hawks though.

Sometimes just taking the field (or taking the ice) is the accomplishment. There are some places that don't understand just what that means, and others that know it all too well. I've coached some teams where, after a hard fought loss, I've had to give the locker room message of how proud I was of them because, and they were just too young to understand it, they weren't supposed to be there and be in that position in the first place. It's what makes sports so freaking great.

I always laugh when I hear this. I hope the Hornets lose in sections.

Thanks. I'll see if that works.

Regarding SW MN hockey, it is growing and the programs are getting better. Luverne is hockey crazy right now and they have some great groups coming up through the ranks. Having coached against a good cross section of youth teams this past year, and over the past several years, from SD, and the Midwest, to ND across to Duluth, to the Cities, into Wisconsin, down into southern MN from Rochester across to Luverne I think I have a pretty good feel for what is going on. Some of those southern MN towns, Luverne, New Ulm, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Albert Lea, and Owatonna, in particular, are putting teams on the ice just as good or better than many of the northern and city programs. There is a shift happening and over the next decade you will see that play out in the Class A tournament in St. Paul as the southern schools begin to have some real good showings. Class AA won't change much as the Rochester program has to feed so many schools it dilutes the HS teams. Back to the present, what is the schedule for games today. Stream on WDAY again for us out-of-staters?

4-2 Bismarck. Late 3rd

Is there another stream than WDAY? I cannot get that to go full screen and it is annoying.

Osseo is not a good high school team but Osseo/Maple Grove puts out some good youth teams. Is it because they are feeding two HS programs and might lose some others to privates? I remember reading about a huge dust-up at OMGHA where Maple Grove wanted to split off from Osseo and Osseo would probably end up co-oping with somebody else, maybe North Metro? I don't think there are a ton of Osseo kids at OMGHA.

I do not disagree with you at all. Their top teams are pretty good, damn good, some of the best U18 teams in the country. Their bottom ones, there's some pretty bad ones, downright horrible if you ask me.

The key is in which teams they played. There is a wide variety of teams in Minnesota.

So I have been streaming the games today from my desk at work. I couldn't get the feed to go full screen on my phone, kind of annoying. Tomorrow I will probably be home since we're set to get 16 inches of snow overnight combined with 40 mph winds. Are these games on Midco Sports or a Midco Sports alternate channel.

It has gotten much, much better. Still has a ways to go. Best thing they could do is step out of their shell at the youth level and go play some competition, ND and MN A level competition. Too many of those associations play B2 hockey. Unfortunately they passed a backwards rule and are switching over to birth years for their youth teams. I say backwards because if they though it was hard to compete with ND and MN programs before then try doing it with an age difference. I know, its only 6 months, but that 6 months is huge. I know, my kid plays on a team out of Sioux City, IA and we've been battling it for 6 years. For example, his first year Bantams he played Bantam A, half his team, if we were based in ND/SD/MN would have been PeeWees, and frankly those kids would have torn up most Pee Wee teams they played, A or AA. But throw 12/13 year olds up against 15 yr olds, huge difference.

Ogie, you can say that but you have to respect what they got over there. Personally, I am jealous and wish my kids could play in that state. They got a pretty good thing going.

Is ND HS hockey a varsity sanctioned sport? In SD hockey is not a HS sanctioned sport, it is club and is registered with USA Hockey High School Division. I would love to see this happen though. It would be good for SoDak hockey, though none of the teams here would be able to beat the GF teams either, but would provide more competition for the rest of the schools to play.

This would not shock me as the hockey world is changing fast. Even Sioux Falls is in the AAA game with the Jr. Stampede.

Ogie, my kid's Bantam team played a bunch of NoDak programs this past season and over the past several years. This year we split two good games against Bismarck Red & White, beat Devil's Lake really bad, were tied with the Sugarkings and gave up a GW in the final minute of the game, and have had our share of games with the Fargo teams, West Fargo, and Fargo Angels over the years. Grand Forks is on another level and are going to be loaded going forward the next several years. When I analyze youth programs I go right to the roots, I look at Mite numbers, and the GF program is loaded with numbers of Mite players. GFYHA isn't dropping off anytime soon which means GFC and GFRR aren't dropping off either. Fargo youth numbers will continue to grow but they have to feed several schools.

Given how deep GF is at Bantams right now, the GF schools will be reloading going forward.

There was some hand wringing about Buffalo, MN having to travel 300 miles one way on a school night for a section playoff game this week. MN 8AA is so spread out and there are so few AA teams up in that area that they are pulling teams from St. Cloud and south into that section. Easy fix is to have the GF and Fargo schools play as a part of MN hockey and join Class AA. Would result in more AA teams in that section of MN. I say this knowing full well this probably will not go over to well in both MN and ND. I just look at it from a perspective of "if there were no imaginary line" basis.

Personally, I don't want UND to join the BIG. I think if offered UND should join in a heartbeat but I don't want this to happen. The reason is that if UND joins the BIG it solves the problems for the BIG hockey playing schools. The conference will settle in at 8 and everything will be fine. I want the BIG to stay at 7, or better yet Notre Dame leave for the NCHC and drop it to 6. Why? Because I want those 6 BIG hockey playing schools to put so much pressure on their other conference mates to start programs that it will become unbearable. I want incentives by the BTN for BIG schools to start programs. I want hockey at Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Rutgers, Northwestern, etc. and pressure and incentives from their BIG partners is the best way for it to happen. Whatever happens UND will be fine because as a previous poster mentioned, whatever conference UND belongs to IS the BEST conference.

You guys haven't spent much time down in Lincoln, have you?

I don't see anyway possible the Mighty UN-L, aka. Big Red, would be willing to share any sort of Big Ten spotlight with UNO, aka. Lil Bro. No way, no how Lincoln allows that to happen. UN-L would start a program first before they allow UNO to share the BIG spotlight. I am still not convinced UN-L and/or Iowa are not starting programs. Building a 6,000 seat arena in IC/Coralville for the fun of it? Sure.

Has to be done in stages as tearing apart the Dome to do the whole thing at once would effect the football season. The phases don't all involve seating capacity. Example, Phase 4 involves the pool underneath the east side grand stand. I envision the renovation on the West side to be a little different looking than the east side. I can imagine a lower deck, mezzanine, and then an upper deck. Seating could actually be maximized in that sort of an arrangement.

I was at a tournament a few weeks ago and was talking with the opposing coach as we were waiting for the game before us to finish so we could start the championship game (yes, subtle brag there). It was a game between Stillwater and New Ulm. New Ulm had just scored a goal to seal the win and Stillwater responded by getting a little chippy. This coach tells me "Yeah, not surprised. Those City teams hate losing to outstate teams." I responded by saying "You think they hate losing to outstate teams? They get really pissed when they lose to a team from Iowa." Your post made me think of that conversation. I imagine they do get sore losing to a team from NoDak. I can at least see them having some respect for a team from "up north".