PCM

USD made it clear that they were staying in Division II for now. As far as I know, their position hasn't changed.

There has to be a better name for UND's top line than the Brady Bunch. Even the guy who thought it up doesn't like it. There's no doubt that, Murray's good, but naming the line after a freshman with players like Parise and Bochenski on it doesn't make much sense. Concordia coach Kevin Figsby referred to it as "that line with 7" and called the trio "an NHL Line." Given the fact that all three players have been drafted by NHL teams, maybe the NHL Line fits, but it is rather arrogant. We can do better. Here are a couple of ideas to the creative juices flowing: The BZB Line - That's an acronym for Brandon, Zach and Brady. BZB could be pronounced "busy bee," given the way the three work together, swarm and buzz the net. But maybe that's not intimidating enough. The Zach Pack - I'd prefer not to name the line after a single player, but it's catchy. Let's here some more ideas!

Did Blais make any post-game comments on TV or radio after the game?

Check the UND Web site under the "Kupchella's 50 Greatest Speeches" link.

I was going to advertise my rummage sale in this thread, but I guess that's out of the question.

Actually, they scored 5 goals against the Gophers, but who's counting?

I know for a fact that Don loves my hair, so that's not an issue.

No coach is required to say anything about the new arena. That's not the point. Lucia bobs and weaves like Sugar Ray Leonard every time the subject comes up. Of course, he's free to do that, but it gets to the point where it borders on the ridiculous. This season and the past two seasons, I've talked to nearly every visiting coach the Sioux have played. If asked, they'll tell you flat out it's the nicest college hockey facility they've ever seen. Most of the time, nobody even asks because the coaches volunteer unsolicited comments. But Lucia is the lone exception. He continues to act like he'll turn into a pillar of salt if he makes any comment the least bit positive about the new REA.

Whenever I've heard him, Lucia is always evasive when asked about the Ralph and never directly answers questions about it. He doesn't have to go out of his way to say anything nice, but when asked a direct question, it'd be nice if he gave a direct answer. He never does. The interviews with him are like this: Interviewer: Don, it's really cold today in Grand Forks, isn't it? Lucia: We play in lots of towns that have cold weather. Sometimes it gets cold in Minneapolis, too. Interviewer: But even for Grand Forks, you have to admit that it's pretty cold for this time of year, right? Lucia: I remember one time when we played in Houghton and it was colder than Grand Forks. Interviewer: Don't you think that it's unseasonably cold here? Lucia: It gets really, really cold in Alaska. Interviewer: Never mind. Who knows? I've never heard anyone ask him about it. As if Lucia would ever say that. Besides, why use a quote from Lucia about the subject when so many other college coaches and NHL coaches have already said it?

Listening to Lucia on PA and Dubay, it's interesting how he avoids every opportunity to say anything complimentary about the new Engelstad Arena or UND fans. If that's not motivation for some great crowd atmosphere tonight, I don't know what is.

Make it three times. They keep blaming North Dakota rubes for sabatoging their show. I wonder what the real reason is. EDIT: Maybe the third time was planned. I thought they re-ran the Dean Blais interview because they were knocked off the air again, but it sounded like that's the way they intended it.

Psssssst...redwing77...you're not supposed to know who Mapletoft is.

I still remember the first time I heard of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. I thought it was a joke. Who in the heck would call their sports teams the Golden Gophers -- on purpose?

That's what the sports editor of the Dakota Student called him. Why, I don't know. I asked Noah if he remembed that nickname and he said he'd never heard it. But he did remember the name of the editor who called him Johnny Apollo.

FYI Signs with dark lettering on brown cardboard are almost impossible to read from the other side of the arena.

I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago doing research on UND hockey in the Special Collections Section at the Chester Fritz Library. Looking back in the old yearbooks and Dakota Student newspapers, it's clear that the Flickertail name was never very popular with students or athletes. American Indian themes were quite common in the university's songs, cheers and graphics long before "Fighting Sioux" was adopted as the official nickname. It's true that the official colors of UND are green and pink. The UND flame logo -- shown below -- uses the school's official colors, although the pink flame seems to have morphed into an orange flame. However, as with the Flickertail nickname, the official school colors were also not popular with athletes and students. Over the years, various combinations of green, white and black have been used instead (thank goodness). John Noah (a.ka. Johnny Apollo), who played at UND in the late-40s and was the school's first All-American player, likes to talk about the pink T-shirts the athletic department issued to UND players.

Assuming David Lundbohm plays (and I hear that he will), the first and second lines will probably be as you have them. I think the third (anti-Vanek) line will be McMahon, Prpich and Fylling. The composition of the fourth line probably depends on whether Hale plays defense or offense. I think it could be Genoway, Hale and Canady. If Lundbohm can't play Genoway would move up to the second line, which would further scramble the composition of the fourth line. The other wild card is whether or not Schneider plays.

For all you know, Yale might turn out to be a powerhouse. The Sioux happened to play the Bulldogs at a time of the season that was very advantageous for UND. Just because a team plays poorly in its first series of the season doesn't mean that it will play poorly all season long. At least, that's what Minnesota fans keep telling us.

Then maybe it's just Swyg's teaching skills.

Live from Lola's Authentic Northern Italian Restaurant in beautiful downtown Grand Forks. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman are the hosts with UND hockey coach Dean Blais. Blais said Minnesota is a tough WCHA opponent to open with. TH jokes that they

Coach Lennon is on first to talk about football. That means Coach Blais won't be on until around 7:15 p.m. Isn't it about time for Lola's to stop running its "welcome back from the summer" commercial? 7:15 p.m. (CT) Lennon is off. Blais is up next.

I'll also agree. I love watching college hockey, no matter who's playing. I especially like watching the Gophers play other WCHA teams because it helps provide a measuring stick on how teams in the league match up against each other. Some might be interested to know that when Minnesota games are televised and the Sioux are playing at home, there's always at least one TV in the REA press box tuned to the Gopher game.

I noticed that, too. There was a play where Brandon Strouth had a good run from deep in UNO territory. It looked like he might have gone all the way if he didn't have to hesitate for a split second to avoid the umpire. Murray also got run over at some point and they had to delay the game for a minute or two because of it. I didn't see what happened there. I also thought there was a fairly blatant hold during the play on which UNO picked up the crucial first down just before half time.

Blais seemed to be pretty happy with Bina's play Saturday. I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of him on the ice.

No, it had nothing to do with that. I believe there were a little over two minutes left in the half when the Sioux called a timeout to stop the clock. They thought they'd get the ball back because UNO was facing a third and seven. Unfortunately, the Mavs converted and went on to score a TD with 14 seconds left in the half. At the time, I was thinking that we should first stop UNO and then worry about trying to score more points. Calling that timeout assured that they had enough time to drive down the field and score a TD. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I didn't think it was a smart move at the time.