PCM

I tried very hard to stay out of this thread, but I find it truly ridiculous when college hockey fans reflexively scream "It's part of the game!" whenever anyone suggests that the game might be better off without fighting. Do they seriously expect me to believe that they'd stop watching college hockey if they didn't get to see one or two fights a year? Do they seriously expect me to believe that the one or two fights a season in which the Sioux usually engage make any difference whatsoever in how the opposition plays or how the game is officiated? As Andy Murray told me when I interviewed him last month, fighting is part of the NHL game because the NHL chooses to make it so. The NCAA has taken steps to make fighting so costly that a team or player who engages in it too often pays a steep price. If fighting proponents would be honest and say, "I enjoy watching a good hockey fight now and then," I'd have a lot more respect for their position. There is entertainment value in fighting. But the notion that fighting is a vital and necessary part of college hockey flies in the face of reality, and I don't have to be Andy Murray to see that.

Yeah, that's exactly what I said.

Fighting is not part of the college hockey game. That's not only my opinion, but also the opinion of Andy Murray, father of Brady Murray and coach of the NHL Los Angeles Kings. The NCAA has all but eliminated fighting from college hockey. The NHL could, too, if it so desired. Matt Greene admitted that McMahon's fight was an attempt to spark the team. It had nothing to do with lack of officiating, cheap play or using sticks and skates as weapons. In the end, the fight wasn't worth it. It did nothing to change the outcome against Minnesota and McMahon's absence cost the Sioux against Boston College.

Genoway was dominant in the faceoff circle, too. He and McMahon both deserve props because they've stepped up and they're playing like seniors.

Heck, 250 isn't fat by my standards.

The USCHO recap of Saturday night's game has been posted.

I couldn't agree more, kr.

I wasn't aware that the opinions expressed on this board were limited to insiders of the chattering class.

And it's the reason why Gino Gasparini still lives in Grand Forks.

Joe LaPointe, a sportswriter for the New York Times, has written a story about Fighting Sioux hockey and the World Junior tournament called The Little Rink on the Prairie in North Dakota.

From Joe DeMaggio's in beautiful downtown Grand Forks, Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman are the hosts with Sioux hockey coach Dave Hakstol. TH: There

Dale Lennon just announced on the Sioux coaches' show Wednesday night that Chris Belmore will start against the Coyotes.

Register another vote for WHOOSH!

kr, I think you have a lawsuit there.

I'm well aware that private universities exist. That's not the point. Without state aid, who's going to come to UND's rescue and foot all the bills that the state pays? The students? Are they going to turn UND into a privately funded university? Get real. Let me make this simple. UND exists because the voters, the taxpayers and the elected officials of North Dakota deem it to be in the public's best interest. Students would exist with or without UND. As a public university, UND wouldn't exist without the support of the state legislature, alumni contributions and funding from other government agencies.

Didn't that letter also reference poor fan behavior at Sioux football games and complaints from visiting fans who were harrassed by non-student UND fans?

Nobody would pay that much to attend UND. The university would disappear without state support. You know it. I know it. It's assinine to pretend that it would be otherwise, no matter how you try to spin it. I never said that. I said it's silly to believe that UND exists because of the students. It doesn't. Students, like all people, must earn respect. They don't automatically deserve it simply because they're students and they believe the university exists because of them. That attitude is part of the problem. I've said this several times before, but I'll repeat it again: Students are the best part of the atmosphere at hockey games and that's they way it should be. That has always been my position. But it doesn't mean that students get a pass when it comes to behaving in a socially acceptable manner at the games. If students were the only people in the audience at hockey games, how they behaved wouldn't matter. If the games weren't broadcast outside of Grand Forks, it wouldn't matter. But the fact is, there are other people at the games besides students who pay good money and deserve to see them. And whether you like it or not, how students behave at the games does reflect on the university, on the community and on the state.

It's not BS. Take away state government support and see how long UND lasts. If the hockey program was shut down today and the REA was closed forever, UND would continue to exist.

I wonder how much difficulty the players are having in adjusting to Hakstol. I wonder how much trouble Hakstol and Eades are having in adjusting to their new roles. I wonder how the team leaders are handling adversity and whether they're doing enough to instill discipline. Clearly, the team is having trouble adjusting to how penalties are being called. But it's a long season and it's far from over. There's time for all of this to get worked out. There's too much talent on the coaching staff and among the players for me to give up on the Sioux for the season.

It's ridiculous to blame this on the officials. The Sioux shouldn't have been in OT.

True.

It's over. BC gets the empty-netter to make it 5-3.

Sioux pull Parise.

Let's tie this one up, boys!