PCM

Perhaps everyone know this, but the official IIHF stats for the tournament can be found here.

I don't remember anyone saying that they expected to sell out every game.

They're IIHF licensed officials from all over the world.

I think it's too early to know whether the tournament will live up to economic expectations. If the gold medal game is between Canada and the US, you can bet that Grand Forks will be flooded with Canadian and American fans. If it's between two other teams, all bets are off.

Sioux fans and Team USA fans could learn something from Team Canada fans. Even though they didn't fill the Ralph for Monday's game with Sweden, they were LOUD! They might have been louder than any packed house I've seen for a Sioux game. The Canadian fans had coordinated cheers -- none of which were obscene (as far as I could tell). When they cheered, it was deafening. (The booing of every penalty on a Canadian player got a bit old, however.) They wore their team's colors to create a sea of red. They painted their faces. They carried signs. They wore costumes. They sang their national anthem with gusto. And they continued to cheer their team well after the game ended. It was one of the most impressive displays of fan support that I've ever seen. Apparently someone forgot to tell the Canadian hockey fans about the "bad atmosphere" at the Ralph. Maybe they're not as easily distracted by shiny objects as some American fans. Maybe they just know a lot more about hockey. Whatever the case, the lesson is clear: The atmosphere at the Ralph is what the fans make it. There's no point in blaming it on somone or something else. The Canadians proved that wherever they go, they bring their "atmosphere" with them. Watch, listen and learn, Sioux fans.

Do you mean hottest before, during or after a practice/game? Do you count sick players? Any guy with a fever would have an unfair advantage.

No problem, Ponch. I enjoyed your post about the WJC. Good comments.

The USA-Russia game was one of the most exciting games I've ever witnessed. It had a little of something for everyone. Stafford was fantastic. Did anyone notice Alexander Ovechkin (8), the Russian captain, skating in the US zone before the start of the third period and acting like he was shooting at Montoya? No sooner had the linesman pushed him back to his own side than Enver Lisin (26) came into the US zone and started doing the same thing. A linesman grabbed him and pushed him back across the red line, too. I've never seen a player do something that arrogant before.

Merry Christmas to all the posters and lurkers on SiouxSports.com. I also want to send special holiday greetings to the UND athletes, their parents and their coaches for making us proud and giving us so much to talk about.

We are in agreement on this. I don't mind seeing score updates from other games in progress in a Sioux game thread, even though they could be considered off-topic. I can handle that. It's mainly the play-by-play and, as you said, the commentary and discussion about other games that make the threads confusing and needlessly long.

Yes, but there's more to it. Both teams came out in their white jerseys for warmups. It was immediately clear that this would pose problems because the white uniforms are very similar. When the Belarus team came out for the start of the game, they were wearing maroon and gold Grafton Spoilers jerseys, some of which didn't fit very well. However, when Belarus came out for the third period, the players were wearing their official red jerseys. How did they get them? The North Dakota Highway Patrol was contacted. A patrolman was sent to pick up the red jerseys and he rushed them from Grand Forks to Grafton in time for the final period. Only in North Dakota...

I saw the Belarus player who was on the receiving end after the game. He looked like he got hit by a truck.

What about June? I know she can keep Poncho under control, but I don't know if she can handle Lefty, too.

I never said I was anything else or pretended to be anything else. But apparently when I express an opinion, some people get their panties in a bunch because they think I have some authority to tell them what to do. I don't. However, I'm not going to stop expressing my opinion just because some of you don't like what I have to say. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I wasn't the person who brought up the issue of off-topic posts by Duluth fans, and I wasn't the only one to agree with the poster who who did. And whether you like it or not, there is such a thing as "netiquette." Ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, it's been considered rude and inconsiderate to invade threads with off-topic posts.

Now that's a good idea!

This isn't about me getting me getting what I want. I have absolutely nothing to do with how this board is run. I can't control anything that anyone does here. All I can do is state my opinion, just as you're doing now and others have done.

Great minds, forecheck.

Slovakia won the game in Grafton against Belarus 3-1. It was very chippy affair in the third period. The Slovak captain took a stick to the face and had to leave the game. I've never seen so much blood on the ice. One of the Slovaks then beat the hell out of a Belarusian who'd slashed him. Overall, I thought Slovakia was a much better team.

The Sioux are the area's favorite team. But even allowing for that, attendance at Sioux games typically rises and falls depending on the opponent. How do you explain the fact that NHL exhibition games aren't nearly as well attended at the REA compared to UND games? There were near-blizzard conditions in Winnipeg last night? Actually, it was the first Sioux game my wife and kids have seen this season. But my real point is that hockey fans around here typically attend games on Friday and Saturday nights. People often plan to do other things on Sunday afternoons, especially this close to Christmas. Doesn't matter. I know people who stayed home to watch the Vikings who rarely miss a Sioux game. Hockey is practically a national religion in Canada. Canadians follow their national teams very closely. Most American hockey fans probably don't even know what the World Junior Championships are. Students typically comprise a significant proportion of the attendance at Sioux games. Between most of them being gone for the holidays and the Sioux playing a weak nonconference opponenent, attendance was bound to suffer. It was meanigless in terms of conference standings, PWR and the national polls.

According to the now-working WJC Web site, the results of last night's exhibition games were: Sweden 6, Belarus 0 (Thief River Falls) Czech Republic 3, Germany 3 (Warroad) I talked to someone who was at the Warroad game. He said that when the Germans tied the Czechs, they celebrated like they won the tournament.

Which is much different than saying there will be 250,000 people in Grand Forks for the tournament.

Great! I'm off the hook!

I'll be in Grafton tonight at WJC exhibition game between Slovakia and Belarus. Therefore, I won't be able to do a recap of the Fighting Sioux coaches' show. If someone else could fill in, it would be greatly appreciated.