Yote 53

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".

Phase 1 will start in 2018, if you read the article. Believe it or not USD has a lot of money and many well-heeled donors. The school just never prioritized athletics in the past. That has changed now.

Disappointed I didn't get a chance to see the Aviators when I was up there. Schedule just didn't line up. I wanted to see the best Bantam team in the entire Upper Midwest in person.

Just an FYI, the MWHSHL has been in existence since 1976 when it started as the Iowa High School Hockey League. It was all-Iowa for many years until it expanded into Nebraska and included Omaha. At one time it even included Sioux Falls in the league until they left to go back to the SD league. It now includes teams from Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. If you follow youth hockey at all, or have kids in youth hockey, you will recognize many of the programs as they play often in North Dakota. Sioux City, Omaha, and Des Moines are the programs you might be most familiar with as they venture up quite often. Heck, I've been to Grand Forks twice this year already and usually have gone to Fargo a couple of times a year in the past for my kid's tournaments. Level of play, judging on what I have seen in the youth ranks, is comparable to North Dakota High School Hockey. I don't think there is a team that would topple the GF schools but would match up with the rest of the league very well. The MW league also has the issue of losing its best players to AAA & junior hockey by the time they reach midgets, something I sense a lot of NoDak schools struggle with too. I enjoy reading this thread as it is the only info I can find on NDHS hockey. Yeah, I'm kind of a hockey junkie and enjoy following what's going on in ND, SD, MN, and IA/NE.

The Dakota Dome will only be the smallest for a little while longer as it is about to undergo an upgrade. Upon completion it is expected the building will hold about 16,000 from what I am hearing. http://volanteonline.com/2017/02/plans-30-million-renovation-dakotadome-works/

FWIW, back in those days the most money and jobs for local citizens was in prisons, second most in state hospitals/asylums, last was in Universities. Ag colleges were like tech schools. In South Dakota, Sioux Falls chose the prison, Yankton got the hospital, and Vermillion got the University. Pierre got the capitol due to its central location after Yankton had held the designation of Territorial Capitol. Sioux Falls is obviously doing fine but they do kind of wish they had a do-over there. Let's not forget that USD in Vermillion was the first University in the Dakotas, established by the territorial government. So the true flagship school of the Dakotas resides in Vermillion, not Grand Forks, and certainly not one of those ag schools in Brookings or Fargo.

I feel the same way about Sitting Bull and you are wrong in that USD people aren't interested in getting that back. That trophy belongs to USD as much as UND. Just because you ended up with it last doesn't mean it is yours to keep. It belongs somewhere neutral on display if it is not going to be played for, same as the Nickel. This is akin to taking your ball and going home so nobody else can have it.

You are a bit off on your first statement. In the late 90's there was a proposal put forth to move the entire NCC up to D1/FCS. USD voted in favor of doing so. Once UNC and the XDSU's announced they were moving to D1 USD knew it was inevitable we were as well. We didn't move up at the same time as the rest because we had to get some housekeeping items in order and get the money ramped up to do so.

Welcome back to the family UND. http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4204979-sources-und-set-leave-big-sky-conference#.WIe0OsP1NV4.twitter

Question asked earlier about how a combined GF High School team would do in the Minnesota HS League. I gave a response about judging from how the youth teams fare they would do just fine. Just noticed today the GF Aviators sit at #1 in the Bantam AA NOW rankings at a somewhat popular hockey website in the region. You folks in Grand Forks should be pretty happy and proud of the quality of players your youth programs produce. Of course you are probably already aware of that. My son has gotten to know a couple of boys from up there over the years through camps and playing against them and he says there are some pretty good guys and good players up there.

If you could base anything on how they do in youth hockey a combined GF team would definitely be a top 15 team in Minnesota HS AA class. The Aviators have done very well against that competition. The Aviator Bantam team has beat some of the top programs in MN this year. No reason to think that would not continue in high school.

Congratulations to UND for pulling out the win. I honestly did think that USD was a better team and after the first drive of the third quarter when they went up by 20 I was convinced I was right. USD made too many catastrophic mistakes to win Saturday and showed an inability to put UND away when they had them on the ropes. UND then made the plays they needed to get back in the game and then finish. Best of luck in the Sky this season.

It's been nice chatting with you guys. I didn't expect to have anybody on the UND home board to agree with me. It's your home team for cripes sakes, of course you will be biased towards your school, towards your conference, and towards your place in the FCS world. Exactly the same way USD fans are biased too and we have our reasons for why we think we are the better team from a better conference. Enjoy the game tomorrow.

If you are a gambler then you would also know that the point spread is not a prediction of what the actual score spread will be but is actually used as a tool to even out the money on both sides.

Not trolling because that would imply I am trying to hook you guys into something. There is no hook here. USD is simply a stronger program in a stronger conference at this time. Yeah, MVFC cellar dwellers, who happen to have no problem beating Big Sky teams when we face them. Even the most prestigious program in the BSC, Montana, has barely escaped us twice. UND fans, of all people, should remember that feeling from when you were back in the NCC that when you played OOC it was "no problem, we got this". It's the exact same feelings we have right now. There is nothing intimidating about going to Grand Forks or playing against an opponent from another conference anymore.

I guess the only way I can understand why UND fans are so confident is because you are at home and you are relying on ancient history for your predictions. We haven't played each other in years. None of the coaches or players are even around anymore. What has changed is that UND has been wondering around in the Big Sky wilderness for years. To put it in hockey terms that you all understand, USD has been cutting its teeth in the NCHC and you guys have been hanging around in the WCHA. The conferences are that far apart. Every time you have tangled with another Dakota school since you joined the BSC it hasn't gone well for you. This isn't the same USD program you grew up with anymore guys. I said it on the USD board so I'll say it here, USD is 20+ points better than UND on a neutral field, since it is in GF I'll give you guys 7 more. USD 31 - UND 17.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Football people should be made to share the pain. The hockey team had to give up its identity, time for the football program to pay the price too. I won't sugarcoat it, that new logo is fricking horrible. Congrats, you just went from the best logo in the country to the absolute worst.

Disagree with plenty in this opinion column. First, Minnesota had no choice so Gopher fans should not blame the AD for the move to the BTHC. Conference bylaws state that if 6 schools field a sport that the conference can sponsor the sport. When PSU started hockey they needed a conference and the BTHC provided that conference. What were the other 5 schools supposed to do? Tell PSU to go pound sand? The BIG schools are linked together in so many other ways both athletically and academically that you can't tell a conference member to pound sand over hockey. No, the other Big Ten Hockey fans don't like it and didn't like to lose the WCHA and the CCHA but that's a sacrifice you have to make for the greater good when you are a part of the Big Ten conference. The writer also waxes poetically about the WCHA but fails to mention that half the old WCHA (Michigan, MSU, Wisco, Minn, and ND) make up the BTHC (the other half makes up the NCHC now). The WCHA was great, in the 2000's, with the WCHA Final Five and some of the epic games between the Gophers and the Sioux. That was the pinnacle, the rest of its history is not as glamorous. Really, SCSU and Mankato were not greatly accepted in the beginning. Little brother tag alongs that would take players from the U. Now Gopher fans are crying about losing games against those schools. Don't know why since Goldy is like 1 for the last 20 against in-state schools. The U still plays those schools in non-conference games and has the North Star Cup series so it's not like they never play anymore. You know what sucks about the formation of the BTHC? No more of the Sioux vs Gophers fighting for the WCHA title. That's about the only thing that sucks. Everything else is just piling on and whining. Wisco, scUM, and MSU are historic programs, ND is no slouch, and PSU and OSU are gaining ground. Give the BTHC schools some time to rebuild their programs, have a few nasty episodes on the ice that breeds some contempt, and the conference will take off soon enough. Same thing for the NCHC, once the schools become all-too-familiar with each other the rivalries will blossom. It's just time to get over it and embrace the change as the WCHA is not coming back.

UNO hockey started up in the 90's and look where they are at now. PSU just started their program and that is going pretty well so far. Nobody said it doesn't take time to build a program, but with the money and resources the BIG schools have, they just need to commit to it and it will happen. It takes time to build something long-term and lasting. WCHA schools in 1980: UND, Michigan, MSU, MTU, CC, DU, UM, UMD, UW, ND BIG schools in 2017: Michigan, MSU, UM, UW, ND ------- PSU, OSU Half the former WCHA is now in the BIG. That's a pretty solid core.

I've said this before in this thread, I would be absolutely shocked if UNO gets offered. One needs to understand the politics and the hierarchy in the State of Nebraska, it is Big Red and then everybody else. Creighton gets pub in basketball but there is nothing UN-L can do about Creighton as they are private. UNO though, they have total control over. I just don't see UN-L sharing the Big Ten label with UNO, even if it's only hockey, and at the same time putting a barrier in their place to ever adding a hockey program themselves. I know quite a few people in the Nebraska hockey scene, from youth hockey on up to even UNO, and there have been quite a few of them telling me it is just a matter of time before UN-L starts up a team. UNO is being used to sell the sport to the public, UN-L will come in and make it their own. Any sport that dons the Red N and has any sort of success Nebraskans flock to in droves. I've seen it, obviously with football, but also when they have decent runs in basketball, baseball, and volleyball. Hell, I've had Husker fans brag up their freaking bowling program to me. FWIW, when I wake up in the morning and walk outside my view is the bluffs of the Nebraska border across the Missouri River. I am well accustomed to being around Husker fan, Huskerland, and how these folks think. I just don't see this UNO thing ever happening from a politics standpoint, nothing to do with the quality of UNO's program. If I had a vote, UND to the BTHC would be a no-brainer for both sides, but I'm not a school president, and that is who makes these decisions. Finally, with enough money and resources anything can be built. I think the Big Ten is going to build some programs from scratch before long here.