PCM

In the Sunday Herald, there's a letter to the editor from Michelle Abernathey, the UND Barnes & Noble bookstore manager, regarding the recent shot glass controversy. It makes everything as clear as mud. She says that while the recent Herald articles were accurate, the only item the bookstore won't sell is the Sioux shot glass. Well, if that's the only thing the bookstore isn't selling, then the stories weren't accurate. The free advertising sales pitch at the end of the letter is the best part.

It makes you wonder what would happen if someone from UND POed Eddy in the middle of a Sioux football broadcast. Would he suddenly become a homer for the other team?

jk, what you might not have seen was Brandt stone Waibel on a breakway just before the Sioux gave the puck away a second straight time, which led to Flemming's score.

Anyone hear Woog between the second and third periods? He was talking about the World Junior Championships and said: "There's nothing better than playing for the red, white...(long pause, blank look)...and blue!" Hey, Doug, I always have trouble with that third color, too.

First, congratulations to the Gophers. They played better than the Sioux and deserved the win tonight. The split doesn't hurt the Sioux and it doesn't really help the Gophers. Second, although losing to the Gophers is never pleasant, it does take some of the pressure off the team. Let someone else be ranked number-one for a change. If this team has the character I believe it does, the Sioux will learn from this loss and use it to their advantage down the stretch and into the playoffs. Overall, I didn't think the Sioux played their game. Friday night was more indicative of their usual level of play. The series at Colorado College will be the next big test. But first, they need a good effort and 4 points from UAA. As Blais said after the game, going to UAA next week will help the team get more accustomed to the big ice before taking on the Tigers in their own building. Getting the week off before CC should help, too. I agree with Tim Hennessy's assessment of Saturday's game that the Sioux had the opportunity to put the Gophers away in the second period and they didn't do it. I think if UND had gone up 3-1, it would have been a different game. Giving up the shorthanded goal to start the third period was the real backbreaker. With the exception of the first goal Jake Brandt gave up Friday night, I thought he played very well. Perhaps the Sioux have finally found a more consistent goalie. I hope Marc Ranfranz gets a start at UAA. He deserves a shot. There's still a lot of hockey to be played and I believe that UND will be in the hunt for the title to the end of the season.

Speez, I agree with everything you said. Other than the first goal Brandt gave up, I didn't think Jake played badly at all. He made some big saves right when the Sioux needed them most. I guess I'm missing something that the Gopher fans are seeing.

dagies, you're right, it was Lundbohm, not Ryan Hale. The best part is that right when that happens, Woog says something like, "That's a special spot on the ice for Ballard." I assume he was referring to it being the spot where Ballard pulled Lundbohm's jersey over his head last season. Well, Lundbohm gave Keith another reason to remember that particular spot.

And I was glad to wear my black Sioux jersey while I was cheering.

I saw the quote from Hirsch in today's Strib. I hope Blais and the captains are using it as bulletin board material for tonight's game.

Tom, Now I'm envious. I'd love to be on that pirate ship in Tampa Bay. I hope that Bucs take apart the Niners, especially after was SF did to my Giants.

Ah, so that's what happened. Sounds like it's worth taking another look at the tape.

Yeah, I thought that was interesting. On Friday, he went on and on about how much better the Gophers were in all positions, how the Sioux had played nobody and how it would be different when they played on the road. And then he predicts...a split? If he thought the Gophers were so good and the Sioux were so bad, you'd think he'd at least predict that the Gophers would take three of four points. Let's hope the Sioux can make his prediction totally wrong.

They didn't say anything about it on the radio, but Ballard got some payback from the Sioux. On TV, they showed him limping off the ice and then grimacing in pain on the bench. I was listening to Hennessy's play-by-play, so I don't know how the TV sportscaster described what happened. It looked like Ballard tried to check Ryan Hale, but Hale sidestepped him and he mostly just hit the boards. He went down and curled up in the fetal postion around Hale's stick and tried to hang on to it. Hale took several very forceful jerks on the stick before Ballard let go. I'm not sure what hurt him worse -- crashing into the boards or Hale's stick.

Let's hope Parise and Co. give the Gopher fans a lot more to boo about Saturday night.

What a pass by Parise. What an effort by Bochenski. What a goal by Spiewak. I think my heart stopped for a bit when the puck went up in the air. I wasn't sure which side of the line it would come down on. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cheer.

Funny thing is, just today I commented to a friend that Prpich is starting to remind me of Bayda, and not because he wears the same jersey number.

He can, but he's too tall.

At first, I thought Ed was joking. But the longer it went on, it became more and more clear that he wasn't.

Did anyone else hear Ed Schulz ripping Dean Blais for standing him up for a 1:30 p.m. interview on the radio today? Schulz was subbing for Dan The Common Man on The Fan and had been promoting the interview. He told a story about the first couple of hockey games he broadcast for the Sioux and was saying nice things about UND. But then Blais committed the unpardonable sin of failing to call in. Schulz went on a diatribe, saying that he was now a Gopher fan and that he hoped Minnesota swept the Sioux. He called Blais an a$$ and said he had made a new enemy. Schulz was completely serious. I thought Schulz's outburst was disgusting and thoroughly unprofessional. He acted as if it were the first time in his life anyone had stood him up. Anyone who throws an on-air trantrum like that doesn't deserve to be in the broadcast business.

I wasn't referring to which players start, but as to how the lines are listed on paper.

I'm not sure it makes much difference to Blais which line is first and which is second. On the official line charts, the Parise-Bochenski-whoever line has always been listed as the second line, even though most consider it the first line.

Wonderful article! I doubt that it will go over big in Gopherville, however.

Here's a link to the article by Foss in today's Grand Forks Herald.

Speaking of Money, I stumbled across this photo of him from his Lincoln Stars days at the Lane Hickenbottom Photography Web site. Put him in a Sioux jersey and it still works.