PCM

JBB, you seem to think that NDSU is dog and UND is the tail. In fact, I think the opposite is true. After UND eclipsed NDSU as a premier power in Division II football and womens basketball, the Bison suddenly became interested in hockey. When that proved infeasible, NDSU's attention turned toward moving up to D1AA. The truth is, NDSU/Fargo can't stand being second best to UND/Grand Forks. They envy the attention that UND gets from the seven D1 NCAA hockey championships and all the players UND puts in the NHL. They can't stand that fact that not only did Grand Forks build a facility that competes with the Fargodome, but went an order of magnitude better by building one of the world's finest hockey arenas. You can spin it any way you want, but the truth is, NDSU would rather be an also-ran in another division than play second fiddle to UND.

Here's a breakdown on schools with Division I hockey programs. D-IA (big time FB): 13 Boston College, UConn, Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Western Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Air Force, Army. D-IAA (small time FB): 16 Maine, UMass, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Canisius, Fairfield, Holy Cross, Iona, Sacred Heart. D-IAAA (D-I but no FB): 6 Boston U, Providence, Vermont, Quinnipiac, Denver, Niagara. D-II: 20 North Dakota, Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage, Northern Michigan, UN-Omaha, St. Cloud, Minnesota State-Mankato, UM-Duluth, Wayne State, Findlay, Bemidji State, Alabama-Huntsville, Lake Superior State, Mercyhurst, Bentley, American International, Merrimack, Ferris State, Alaska-Fairbanks, UMass-Lowell. D-III: 5 Clarkson, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Union College, Colorado College. Summary: There are more wimpy D-Is (no FB) than D-IIIs in college hockey.

Well, there's goes the only reason that I watch the Vikings.

Before anyone gets too excited about UND making the jump to Division 1 or potentially joining the Gateway Conference with Northern Iowa, they might want to take a look at the article by Virg Foss in Sunday's Grand Forks Herald.

SockeyeSioux, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian after one of the Sioux home games. He struck me as a very intelligent, articulate young man. I could see why Dean Blais considers him a future Sioux captain. Thanks for sharing your insights and knowledge with us.

I found out that practice doesn't officially start until Sept. 24. I'm working on getting permission to observe a practice and shoot some photos.

Maybe. Maybe not. Guess I'll find out.

Unbiased journalist? I haven't seen one of them for...well...er...um...ever. I'll see what I can do. Unfortunately, the practices happen to coincide with this thing called "work." Plus, I'd have to walk like three whole blocks to get over to the REA. Maybe I can grab Doc Nodak and we can make a house call. If I get over there, I'll take my shiny new digital camera and post some shots on my Web site.

I can count forwards. It's counting backwards where I run into trouble.

That should be enough punishment for anyone, shouldn't it?

Don't you know? I have a special pass that enables me to to bash SDSU fans whenever I feel they deserve it. In any case, it's too early to write off the Sioux. Two years ago when SDSU shocked UND in Brookings at Hobo Day, the Sioux weren't as bad as they played and the Jacks weren't as good as they played. Sometimes a team has one of those days when nothing goes right. If the Sioux had to get blown out, I'm glad it was early in the season against a non-conference opponent. I'll withhold judgement on how good the team is until it starts playing NCC teams on the road.

Just curious: Does anyone remember Goren getting into a fight while he was a Sioux player? I can't. I know he could be very intense and physical, but I don't remember a time where he even came close to dropping the gloves.

The three-step drop has also worked for Augustana against the Sioux. I wasn't surprised that Central Washington put up some points against UND's defense, but I was surprised at how many they scored. I was also surprised at the ineffectiveness of UND's offense.

In that series, Mankato the night before came from three goals down in the third period to tie the Sioux 3-3. Before the game the second night while the players were waiting in the tunnel to come out on the ice, the Maverick players started dropping the F-bomb in unison. Turned out to be a real bad idea. Mankato tried to play rough, but the Sioux were up to the task and made the Mavs pay with four power play goals. The Sioux won 5-1. Panzer notched the hat trick and Roche had five assists. Another thing I remember about that game is Panzer getting checked into the Mankato net right before a period ended and Pateman taking the opportunity to get a few licks in on him. Again, bad idea.

Hey, SDSUFAN, how long have you been waiting to make that post? I'm sure Kelby is sorry he came to UND to win a national championship when no D2 team in South Dakota has even come close to making the playoffs during the time he's been here. And I'm sure Dan Graff and Jesse Ahlers feel the same way. By the way, when is SDSU going to switch from being a D2 doormat to being a D1 urinal cake?

I wish Chris luck, but not when he plays against the Sioux.

I nominate the guy still wearing his jersey.

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I thought that Fournier last season saw as much ice time as could be expected under the circumstances. Considering that he was a freshman, lost a lot of weight after being ill early in the season and was then injured, playing in 28 games isn't too shabby. I also thought that Fournier was starting to show improvemet near the end of the season, which made me think that he would be a key player for the Sioux during the upcoming season. In my mind, this a more likely scenario: After Fournier came to school overweight and out of shape and the captains informed Blais of Fournier's absence from their practices, he had a talk with Chris about how much ice time he could expect to see if his work ethic and attitude didn't improve. Between the words of warning from Blais and the pressure from other players, he probably decided to leave UND. When a sports reporter calls Fournier to ask why he left, he's probably not going to say, "Because I was lazy and screwed up." Saying that he left because Blais was going to reduce his ice time is a convenient excuse and probably true. But my guess is that Blais probably made that statement based on what Fournier had done (or hadn't done) recently, not on his performance last season. I find it hard to believe that Blais would be talking to Fournier about a reduced role before the season even began unless Fournier had done something to warrant it.

Here's a story from the Lincoln Star Jounral about why Fournier says he left and what he'll be doing in the the upcoming season. Is there a chance that because Fournier will be playing for the Lincoln Stars, he'll make a Fylling-like move and return to the Sioux next season?

I didn't read carefully enough. I see now that the story is saying that Goren got three points off the three third period goals. But the way it's written, it could also be interpreted as him scoring all three of the goals. My bad.

From the same uschm.com article quoted by dagies: Goren scored three goals in that game? I only remember two. Oh well, after the game, ESPN gave him credit for scoring the game-winning goal, which was also incorrect. I guess that's how legends are born.

Dagies is right about Commodore. He did have a tendency to take some bad penalites that landed him in Blais' doghouse. I remember Blais sitting him for an extra game after one of his game DQs. I also think that because of his reputation, he had a fair number of non-penalties called on him. There were times during the 2000 NCAA playoffs when I was darn glad that Commodore was there, such as when a Niagara player ran Kollar and a BC player slashed Goehring in the head during the championship game. Opposing teams knew that with Commodore around, there would be a higher price to pay than a trip to the penalty box. But it's also true that bad or untimely penalties can cost the team. During the 1999-2000 season, Commodore took a penalty late in third period against Mankato that cost the Sioux the game. We all know that players who develop bad reputations can become "penalty magnets," which can also hurt. For example, after watching replays of the 2000 Frozen Four, I believe that at least two of the penalties called against Commodore in the Maine and BC games were totally bogus. Fortunatley, the Sioux won the championship in spite of those calls. But I doubt that we'd have such fond memories of Mike if UND had lost the championship because of them. Prpich could be a great asset to this season's Sioux team. I hope he will because I thought last season's team took much more than it dished out. But I also think that unless Prpich cuts down his penalty minutes, we won't see him in the starting lineup very often.

I'd put Fylling ahead of Prpich in my lineup. It's not that I don't think Prpich could be an asset to the team, but his penalty minutes concern me. I doubt that Blais will have much tolerance for a freshman who takes a lot of dumb penalties. Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this, but one player who could be on the bubble is David Lundbohm. As a junior, I suspect that Blais will expect more consistency out of him this season. If Parise and Genoway turn out to be the real deals, watch out. The Sioux will be among the top offensive teams in the nation.

Well, Palmiscno is definitely local talent, but the UND roster lists his home town as East Grand Forks.

I don't think Sioux fans should get in a Gopher-like uproar when not every good North Dakota hockey player ends up at UND. Heck, why not accept it as a compliment to the quality of players being produced by the state? Would I prefer that every good North Dakota player play at UND? Of course. But next season's roster will contain a fair sample of North Dakota players (Fylling, Massen, Schneider and Fuher). We also know that Blais will go after every North Dakotan that he thinks can help the team, although that doesn't mean that he'll get them all. The bottom line is that if the Sioux are going to compete at the national level, they have to pursue the best players available, no matter where they're from.