PCM

Last season, the Sioux took 3 of 4 points from the Mavs at Mankato, then preceded to stink up the Ralph the very next weekend. Some who have been watching the Sioux far longer than I have said it was the worst they'd ever seen North Dakota play at home. The Mavs aren't as good as they were last season. The Sioux are much better. UND should sweep. However, it would be a mistake to take Mankato lightly. I'm hoping that the desire to atone for last season's debacle, combined with the need to break out of their scoring slump, will be all the motivation UND needs to win two.

Before the new Engelstad Arena opened a little over a year ago, I listened to a Twin Cities journalist on Scott Hennen's Hot Talk program attempt to berate and belittle everyone at UND, in Grand Forks and in North Dakota who supported the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. He claimed that we were all a bunch of backwards hicks who couldn't begin to understand how embarrassing we were to our state and nation. Everyone was laughing at us, he said, and we were simply too stupid and too unenlightened to realize it. I have to admit that I almost bought it. The volume of negative press this issue generated almost had me believing that for the sake of our fine university and our state's image, perhaps we should consider dropping the Sioux name. It just wasn

I agree, Scott, that the Sioux need to start burying some of their opportunities. But the opposing goalies the last four games have played unbelievably well. For example, last night after the Badgers came back to make it 3-2, Fylling and another player (Canady?) had a 2-on-1 rush. They played the give-and-go perfectly, yet Kabotoff made an amazing save that kept Wisconsin within 1. What can you do? I think seniors Jason Notermann and Chris Leinweber deserve a share of the credit for North Dakota's turnaround. Although Notermann doesn't wear a letter, I know that he's a leader on and off the ice. He's certainly elevated his level of play, too. Leinweber has really impressed me with his smart play. You can tell that he's an experienced senior. And even though he's the smallest D-man on the team, he's not afraid to get physical when he has to. He has to be considered one of the pleasant surprises of the season thus far. I've been hard on the Sioux goalies, so I should give kudos to Jake Brandt, too. Even though the Badgers got two past him Saturday, he didn't let in any goals that he shouldn't have. Let's hope this is a trend.

It's all part of the Vast Fighting Sioux Conspiracy.

True story. At a place where I once worked, we were involved in projects with various tribal organizations. The people we worked with told us that they wanted to be referred to as "American Indians," not "Native Americans." Therefore, when we wrote about our activities with the tribes in news releases and on the Web, we used the term "American Indians." We got calls and e-mails from people saying that we were being insensitive for not using the policially correct term, "Native Americans." Even when you call them what they say they want to be called, you get in trouble. You can't win.

Thanks! I couldn't have done it without your faithful SiouxSports.com moderator GDM watching my back and taking notes for me while I shot pictures. Of course, it also helps to have Zach Parise and Bernd Buckler explain what happened on the Sioux goal that I didn't see. After nearly two seasons of no hockey photography, shooting in the Ralph for the first time and using a digital camera for the first time, I was a bit rusty. I'll get better with practice. By the way, for some reason, the game recap link goes to the USCHO ECAC page. Try this one. There's a link to the UW-UND game on USCHO's front page.

Wrong question. The correct question is: Why do some Native Americans choose to object to some names, but not to others?

You had butt surgery?

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. (Walks away whistling nonchalantly.)

If I remember correctly, forecheck had her tonsils removed.

I always look forward to reading Ice Time in Friday's Herald. Virg Foss does a great job with that page. I wonder how many other newspapers with college hockey teams provide that much game day coverage? It is a shame that people can't access it online. Before Knight Ridder forced all its newspapers into that horrid Real Cities design referenced in the link Jim Dahl posted, the Herald did post nearly all of the Ice Time stories and information to its Web site. They also kept a running tally of links to game recaps and, I believe, box score information. It was great.

I can think of one "little" Greene man who would be only to happy to dash that Badger fan's hopes again.

Compared to what she's discussed at the USCHO Cafe, this is pretty mild stuff.

One thing I fogot to mention from last night's show is that Hennessy asked Blais about Tyler Palmiscno. Blais said that Tyler had been cleared to play again, but when he tried practicing yesterday, his headache came back. They don't know how long it will take him to recover. Blais sounded very concerned.

You're very welcome. It's such a fun job that I don't think anyone needs to thank me for doing it. Now if only it paid something.... After saying that I couldn't take pictures and cover games at the same time, USCHO now wants me to try shooting some pictures for them. I'm going to give it a try to see how it goes. With any luck, there will be a photo or two to go along with my recaps starting this weekend.

First, get well, forecheck, so I don't have to do this again. Second, U2Bad1, get a freakin' radio already! I listened to the show while walking my dog. For the past two weeks, she has decided that she needed to go out when the show was on, preventing me from taking notes. I'll try to recount the show from memory, which is always dangerous. Blais was pretty loose again. Dare I say squirrely? Some of his comments were quite funny, but I won't post them here because I don't want to provide bulletin board material for Sioux opponents. Hennessy opened the show by mentioning that UAA goalie Kevin Reiter was WCHA defensive player of the week, even though the Sioux swept the Seawolves. He noted that last season, the Sioux made several WCHA goalies defensive players of the week in losses. Blais said he was very impressed with Reiter and that he deserved the honor. He commented on how big Reiter was and how agile he is for his size. They talked about the two games against UAA with Blais mentioning again that he never felt like they were in any danger of losing the Saturday game, even though it was a one-goal game. He thought both teams played better Saturday night, but that UND was clearly the better team. Hennessy said Andy Schneider told him the games were almost boring at times because all the defensemen had to do was stand around and watch the forwards cycle the puck. That led to a discussion about the Sioux defenseman. Blais said they had all been performing as well as he predicted before the season started. He credited the low number of shots on goal to the outstanding job by the defensemen. Hennessy said he thought David Hale had a monster weekend and asked Blais what Hale's chances were of making All American. Blais said he thought that Hale might be one of the few defensemen to do it without putting up great offensive stats, especially if the Sioux win a national championship. (I thought this was an interesting comment. It's the first time I've heard Blais mention the possiblity of a national title with this team.) Blais said that he would rather have the type of defensive corps the Sioux have this year instead of defensemen who are good offensively, but play average defense. He said they are so physical that after a while, the other team's forwards don't want to come down the ice any more. Overall, Blais is happy with the forwards, particularly Jason Notermann, who will probably be playing with Parise and Bochenski this weekend. He said that in the coaches' post-game ratings, Notermann has been at or near Parise's level the last several games. He is also happy with Mike Prpich, who's been playing with Ryan Hale and Rory McMahon. He likes the way Massen and Lundbohm play together, but didn't say who else would be on that line. (Fylling? Spiewak?) Blais said he thinks the Sioux are much deeper and stronger at the center position. Last season, that was one of their weak points. Despite Jake Brandt's shutout against UAA Saturday, Blais said he thinks the team will only go as far as the goalies take them. He said the reason Brandt played so well was because he spoke to his father who told him to keep it simple and try not to do too much. Right now, the plan against Wisconsin is to play Brandt one night and Siembida the other night, but Blais said that could change between now and Friday. They talked quite a bit about Marc Ranfranz. Blais really likes his attitude and work ethic. He said that Marc had been playing very well in practice. Hennessy reminded him that this is third week in a row that he's said that. The discussion turned to talk of team chemistry and how this season, the players like each other and hang out together. Last season, he said there were cliques between the classes, which wasn't good. They actually didn't spend a lot of time talking about Wisconsin. Blais said he expects Eades' team to play a more disciplined style of hockey than Sauer's teams. I probably left out some interesting comments. Others will fill in the gaps, I'm sure.

Ward was with the Rangers earlier in the season.

Here's a good column by Jeff Jacoby on just how far the PC crowd has gone in its effort to drown out conservative voices on campus. I guess we should be glad that we don't live on the east coast.

Man, Greyeagle, you sure nailed that.

A friend of mine who lives in Gopherville just sent me this.

I'm not saying J.P. Parise is wrong. In fact, I'm sure he's right. After all, he should know. But for the purpose of determining what Brooks said to Foss, it's totally irrelevant because J.P. wasn't there. Just because Brooks didn't really talk to Zach about going to UND doesn't preclude him from saying that he did. I can see a number of possible scenarios: A) Brooks intended his comment as a joke, but Foss took it seriously. B) Brooks was shooting off his mouth, bragging and trying to claim more credit than he was due, not expecting to see himself quoted in a newspaper. Oops. C) Foss misinterpreted or misunderstood what Brooks said or meant. D) The quote was 100 percent accurate and Brooks, now seeing the damage, is backpedaling like crazy. I certainly don't know Foss well enough to say that your scenario is out of the realm of possibility. However, in my experience, it is extremely unlikely that an experienced journalist would use information he received secondhand as a direct quote. You just don't do that because it only leads to trouble and makes you look stupid when the truth comes out. It's never worth the risk.

Jim, I sincerely doubt that Foss would have reported a secondhand comment from Brooks. There's no faster way for a journalist to lose credibility with his readers. Foss has been around long enough to know that.

For those who don't know, Sioux goalie Marc Ranfranz is the son of Tom Ranfranz, president of the Flandreau-Santee Sioux tribe in South Dakota. In my USCHO story about him, he discusses his thoughts on UND's use of the Sioux name and logo. The photo below shows you where he stands on the issue.

That's what everyone wants to know. That's fine, but I wouldn't expect too many Sioux fans of the male persuasion to share that sentiment. Not in public, at least.

Those interested in North Dakota goalie Marc Ranfranz might want to check out this USCHO story about him.