PCM

For those who took the time to send an e-mail or contribution to hockey mom Jeri Wilcox, who was seriously injured in a Feb. 5 car accident in South Dakota, here's some information I received this morning from one of my classmates. (Bob and Jeri Wilcox's 19-year-old son Tyler, an aspiring hockey player, died last November after a three-year-long battle with cancer.) I want everyone to know that your messages and contributions are tremendously appreciated and are making a difference. So thank you again. Amazingly enough, Jeri's life might have been saved by a quick-thinking passerby with a roll of duct tape.

I remember seeing you. I hope you didn't take it personally when I yelled, "Madano sucks!" There's no center aisle there, right?

I'm tellin' ya, put The Sicatoka and me in charge of the WCHA and we'd have all the problems solved in a few days.

I'm on the lower level normally to the left of the red line (facing the ice). And laptops are for wimps!

It's the best I can do. Asking for autographs jeopardizes my sudo-journalist status, and it's not worth the risk.

I'd be honored to autograph a puck for your 4-year-old. I'll bet he doesn't have a single puck signed by a sudo-journalist. Oh, that's not what you meant...

Heck, I might even be able to slip you a free mineral water out of the press box. Does that sweeten the deal for you?

I'll tell you how I feel. The WCHA should have reviewed tape of both UND-DU games and given both Prpich and Paukovich the game DQs they deserved. That would have been the approptiate way to handle it.

Yeah. I'm ashamed that I don't advocate vigilantism in the form of thuggery and goonism as the ultimate solution for solving problems on the ice in college hockey. What the hell is wrong with me?

And just so you know, I have absolutely no problem with that. I was happy to see the Sioux stand up for each other against MS-Mankato. But fighting out of a sense of team unity and fighting to extract a measure of revenge are two very different things.

I know that CC fans don't like Paukovich. UND fans don't like him for obvious reasons. I know there were concerns about the number of undisciplined penalties he was taking last season. One of the Denver newspapers did a story about it. I don't know how players, coaches and fans from other teams view him. I do know that Paukovich's average number of penalty minutes per game this season is 33 percent lower than it was a year go. He has been called for checking from behind twice this season and for charging a couple of times, so it's not as if some of his questionable play has gone unnoticed and unpunished. Otherwise, there's not much to indicate that he's been gooning it up on a regular basis. Until after Prpich's "love tap" at center ice during the third period of Friday's game, I hadn't seen Paukovich do anything cheap or dirty to any Sioux player in the 3+ games played since the Bina incident Of course, the players on the ice have a totally different perspective of the situation.

I thought the point was to extract a measure of revenge and send a message that nobody on an opposing team should cheap-shot players on your team. If you fight someone on the other team and lose, what kind of message does that send? Why should the other team stop the dirty play if their players know that they can beat up your players?

A) We know what Paukovich did to Bina. B) We have a pretty good idea that what Prpich did to Paukovich was in retaliation for what Paukovich did to Bina. C) No one has provided any evidence to suggest that a Gopher player checked Paukovich from behind in retaliation for something Paukovich did to a Gopher player. You are simply assuming that this is the case. You could be right. You could be wrong. Neither of us knows for sure. You said that Paukovich's hit on Bina was unprovoked. So why isn't it possible that the Gopher hits on Paukovich were unprovoked as well?

And the answer to that question is...?

I'm still reeling from the beat-down she gave me at the Ralph. That's the last time I tell her not to use the "f" word at a hockey game.

Neither you nor I have enough facts to know that. Sorry.

Same here. Mike's leadership was one of the big reasons the Sioux made it all the way to the championship game last season. True. Prpich plays his role well in that part of the game and will undoubtedly go down as one of the favorite Sioux agitators of all time. I have no idea how he would do against three-quarters of the league. I've only seen Prpich fight once against a player of similar size. And there isn't enough fighting in college hockey for me to make any definitive statement about how one player's fighting ability compares to another's.

I like how this argument is always misrepresented as: If you don't like fighting, revenge and cheap shots, you're obviously against all physical contact in hockey.

No, the question is this: Did any Gopher player deliberately go out of his way to check Paukovich from behind in retaliation for something Paukovich did earlier to another Minnesota player? Because unless that's what happened, the two situations aren't even remotely similar.

Last season, Paukovich averaged 3 penalty minutes per game. This season, he's averaging 2 penalty minutes per game. That's a fairly significant drop. Just for comparison's sake, Prpich is averaging 2.6 penalty minutes per game this season. He's running a close second to Smaby in penalty minutes.

I never said that.

The WCHA and Gwozdecky handled Paukovich after the Bina hit. It can certainly be argued that Paukovich should have been punished more than he was, but it's not as if they ignored the situation. The WCHA also punished Don Adam. The NCAA made checking from behind a point of emphasis as a result of Paukovich's hit on Bina. And, as far as I can tell, Gwozdecky reined in Paukovich because of what happened to Bina. However, when Prpich decided to take matters into his own hands and get revenge, all that pretty much fell apart. Thus, the Horton quote: "While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself."

Here's my suggestion: If I were a parent of one of the players who got run from behind by Paukovich, I'd be complaining to UND's coach, the WCHA and and NCAA about it. And I wouldn't stop bugging them until I got their attention and some action. Certainly the NCAA, which made checking from behind a point of emphasis this season, should be concerned that it's still going on. If the WCHA isn't enforcing the rule, I'd think that the NCAA would want to know about it. If neither the NCAA nor WCHA do anything about it, I'd go public with my complaints and get as many parents as possible to complain with me. Of course, I'd be arguing from a much stronger position if a player from my son's team hadn't cheap-shotted Paukovich to begin with, triggering the whole ugly chain of events.

Doing "something" about Paukovich almost caused two more broken necks. And maybe it will the next time the Sioux play Denver. That's the point I've been trying to make here.

While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. - Doug Horton Revenge proves its own executioner. - John Ford An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. - Mahatma Gandhi Revenge... is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion. - Albert Schweitzer Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst. - Walter Weckler Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you. - Austin O'Malley Justice belongs to those who claim it, but let the claimant beware lest he create new injustice by his claim and thus set the bloody pendulum of revenge into its inexorable motion. - Frank Herbert A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. - Francis Bacon Success would be the best revenge. - Lost Prophets