PCM

No. That honor would go to Mark Kauk.

The Herald calls letter writers and verifys their identity before publication. There are Petrys in Bismarck, too, but I can only find one N. Petry.

C'mon now, that's hardly fair. Newspapers love controversy, and that's one reason they publish letters to the editor. Look at how much chatter it generated here. Just because the Herald published the letter doesn't mean the paper agrees with it. Besides, my educated guess tells me that the letter writer was a "she" and a Bison fan. Read it in that context, and it begins to make more sense.

Note that I wasn't addressing that comment. I was addressing your "grain of salt" comment. Maybe you wouldn't and maybe bucksucks wouldn't, but you have to admit that you two would be a small minority among Gopher fans. And I would absolutely, positively guarantee that if Potulny were leading the nation in this stat, the U of M would be trumpeting it far and wide while hyping him as a Hobey candidate. I have a point, too, which is that who scores a goal, who gets a first assist and who gets a second assist doesn't necessarily tell the story of which player on the ice was most instrumental in creating the play that resulted in the goal. For example, on North Dakota's first goal Friday, Zajac got credit for the goal, Spirko got the first assist and Chorney got the second assist. Yet the play would never have happened if Oshie hadn't alertly jumped on an MSU outlet pass, tossed the puck over to Chorney, who dished it to Spirko who centered it to Zajac who put it in the back door. Oshie doesn't even show up in the stats, even though he probably played the greatest role in setting up the goal. I'm not citing this to toot Oshie's horn, only to demonstrate that the importance of what happens on the ice doesn't always show up in the stats. Unless you were there to see what happened, you'd have no clue whatsoever that some player other than three who got the goal and the assists was involved in setting up the scoring opportunity. We don't put an asterisk or some other symbol by every goal or assist to indicate each player's relative importance in the goal being scored or the relative importance of when the goal was scored in the game. Second assists count just as much as first assists, even though there are times when one is more important than the other. All goals (except one) scored in an 10-0 blowout in a meaningless game count just as much as all goals (except one) scored in a 2-1 overtime game when the league championship is on the line. So do me a favor. Get a copy of the Minnesota men's ice hockey media guide and check to see if that "grain of salt" statistic is included in the team records section. If it is (and I'd bet money that it is), tell me what long-forgotten-nobody-remembers-their-names Gopher players are on that list. Because I'm sure that when Aaron Broten in 1981 tied the NCAA record for game-winning goals in a season, 90 percent of the Gopher fans in Minnesota merely shrugged and said, "So what?"

I wouldn't be holding my breath.

I'm even older than the last time you saw me.

Pee! Pie! Poe! Pan! I smell the work of an Bison fan!

Perhaps. But you know darn well that if Potulny or some other Minnesota player (especially a freshman) led the nation in this stat, most Gopher fans wouldn't be so quick to toss it into the saltshaker.

Yes, I can tell you that. Because if the Sioux had scored no more goals in Sunday's MSU game, it would have been the game-winner regardless of the time at which it was scored. If Shepherd had waved off one Zajac goal and Tormey had reacted slightly quicker to another, Porter's goal 47 seconds into the game would have been huge. Assist statistics can be extremely misleading as well. Sometimes players get credit for an assist when the goal scored was almost completely the effort and determination of the player scoring the goal. Sometimes the second assist is more important than the first assist. Sometimes the assist is the most important part of the play that led to the goal being scored. But nobody keeps track of the circumstances under which an assist occurred, just as nobody keeps track of the relative importance of when game-winning goals are scored. If the game-winning goals statistic was "meaningless," we wouldn't bother to keep track of it.

Wait a minute. Maybe Diggler wrote it.

Nationally, Oshie is tied with CC's Brett Sterling for the lead in game-winning goals with 8 each. Who's not far behind them? DU's Ryan Dingle (7), UW's Joe Pavalski (5) and UM's Ryan Potulny (5). It's interesting that so many of the top players in the country end up near the top of this list. My guess is that if Hobey candidate Potulny was leading the nation in game-winning goals, Gopher fans wouldn't consider it "meaningless."

I agree. This person sounds as if he or she has never been to a hockey game before. And I'm someone who has been down on Sioux fans for their poor behavior. It's also a mistake to assume that what happened at that game happens at all games.

Make it four. I'll be bringing a fellow Sioux fan with me.

I'm told that our seats (3 and 4) are in Row 1 of Section C37, which is behind section 124 and in front of sections 227 and 228.

I'm up for it. Whatever day works for the most people will work for me. Thanks for setting this up, MafiaMan.

The report that was discussed here before the thread was shut down.

So enjoy staring at the ESPN ticker waiting for an NDSU score to scroll past.

Do we know for certain that the Gophers will be playing in the West Regional? I don't think we do.

I'll be in the X for alll five games. I'm not sure where I'll be sitting. When my buddy who bought the tickets tells me, I'll post the location.

Actually, it was posted shortly after midnight, which is about an hour earlier than it's usually posted.

Remind me: Which school has two teams playing for potential national championships?

Here's my favorite shot.

People named Patrick are required by law to take that day off. I'll be there cheering on the Sioux.

Look out! It's the much-anticipated USCHO recap!

Absolutely amazing! Congratulations to Scott Sandelin and the Bulldogs! No three-peat for DU. I'm lovin' it.