PCM

Oh no, forecheck, you're not resurrecting the "goose-bumpy good" sig, are you?

Live from Lola's Northern Italian Restaurant in beautiful downtown Grand Forks. Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman are the hosts with UND hockey coach Dean Blais. TH begins by noting that the number-one ranked team in the country is coming to Grand Forks to play the Sioux this weekend. Blais says he hopes the Red Sox win in the World Series because all the BC players will be distracted. TH says he talked to David Lundbohm who said he was worried about Zach Parise's knee injury until Zach started winning all the sprints in practice. Blais sounded like he expects Zach to play. TH says that according to Parise, the Eaves brothers and Voce on BC are unbelievable. At this point, Matt Jones is an uncertainty. He has a high ankle sprain that's still bothering him, especially skating backwards. Blais noted that David Hoogsteen had a similar injury that bothered him for much of a season. TH said he was very impressed with Chris Porter and Drew Stafford during the Concordia game. Blais said all the freshmen played well, but Concordia wasn

Based on what Blais said on the UND coaches show tonight, it sounds like Zach will play.

Actually, I don't. I was merely pointing something out.

But it will be NDSU's problem.

I find it ironic that Bison fans have no problem with Pres. Chapman's desire to apply the business concept competition when it comes to duplicating programs at UND. But when it comes to applying the business concept of supply and demand to ticket prices at an athletic event, suddenly they are concerned about the greater good.

I talked to Greene after the Concordia game. Another reporter was giving him a bad time about how he failed to score after his teammates tried to set him up on a Sioux power play. He noted that on that particular opportunity, he completely missed the net. I pointed out that he did have a nice shot on goal earlier in the game. He said his scoring opportunities "come in bunches." I said, "And you remember ever one of them, right?" We both had a good laugh.

I saw the Herald article this morning and it got me to wondering. Yesterday Blais seemed to indicate that Parise wouldn't play against BC. Today, Parise says he plans to play. I'm thinking that if there's a debate, the coach wins in this case. Was anyone else surprised that Parise hasn't had an MRI on his knee?

While I agree that Grand Forks residents are generally very conservative when it comes to spending money on economic development or city improvements, I should point out that millions have also been spent on projects that can legitimately be labeled boondoggles. Those came about because proponents greatly overstated the benefits and payoffs of their project. In addition, some of the "successes" listed have yet to prove that they will indeed be successful over the long term. There was a study several years ago showing that the rate of taxation in Grand Forks was one of the highest in the state. On top of that, the taxpayers of the city are being asked to foot part of the bill for the new dike system. That

I wasn't at the Sioux Boosters meeting in Fargo, but I'm not sure what Blais meant by a young defenseman taking a "too many men" penalty. According to my notes from the game, the penalty on Matt Greene at 13:26 of the third period was for playing without a helmet.

Agreed. At least I have the pleasure of knowing that Pierre-product Jesse Ahlers played a key role in the Jacks' demise. What a game he had.

Ranfranz was cut a couple weeks ago.

After the game, Blais pointed out that two of Bochenski's goals came while he was playing with Lundbohm as the center.

The USCHO recap of the game is now posted. Kevin Figsby, the head coach of Condordia, had some interesting comments. He also said a couple of things that I wasn't able to work into the story. One was that Murray, Parise and Bochenski are "an NHL line." He also said the Stingers were more of a "crash, bang team," but they didn't want to play that way against a classy team like North Dakota. The reason Concordia played here is because the Sioux have agreed to play in a tournament in Montreal next season. Figsby said they were inviting four top university teams from the US and Canada.

Below is a quote from my USCHO recap of the game. Parise said that he would keep the media informed about the injury. He doesn't want a lot of speculation about it.

I talked to Zach after the game. He said he went down the wrong way on his left knee and heard a pop. He tried to go for another shift, but couldn't push off on it. They decided to take him out of the game to avoid further damage. They probably won't know exactly what the problem is until Monday. He looked like he was walking without much trouble and seemed to be in pretty good spirits under the circumstances. He said if they'd been playing BC, he would have stayed in the game. Now I have to write a recap for USCHO.

We're number ONE! We're number ONE!

Call me a nostalgic old geezer if you will (heck, everyone else does), but I sure do miss the days of afternoon games outdoors on grass at SDSU's Coughlin Alumni Stadium. You couldn't ask for better conditions for sports photography. I also like the Jacks' old uniforms much better. Whose idea was it to put fruity yellow facemasks on the helmets? Yuk. Now, seeing the Jacks get thumped repeatedly by UND and NDSU during my four years at SDSU, that's another story.

Gonna be a tad chilly and breezy down in Brookin's. I hope UND's hot-house flowers are up to the challenge.

It's too early in the season. As I recall, the Gophers didn't exactly rocket to a great start last season and look how that turned out.

Findlay? Isn't that one of our holiday tournament cupcakes?

Be careful. You'll be mentioned in Prof. McKenzie's next letter to the editor.

The Potato Bowl?

They also have Patrick Roy. Oh, wait, that's Patrice Roy. Never mind.

Never mind. Diggler's on top of it.