PCM

At least Lucia doesn't run practices while wearing gardening gloves. Or does he?

So that's what's lighting up your basement. I thought you were storing nuclear waste for Xcel Energy.

I knew Henry Clay. Henry Clay was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Henry Clay!

I miss the perms.

Henry Clay you're not.

So let me get this straight. When Ryan Miller gets the Hobey over Jeff Panzer, people say Miller didn't deserve it because of the system he played in. But it doesn't matter that under Dean Blais, Panzer played under a coach who believed in high-octane offense and gave his forwards a lot of freedom? So how is it that when people point out that Duncan plays with two first-round NHL draft choices, it's not supposed to be a factor in how people vote? Don't get me wrong. I'd like to see Duncan win the WCHA MVP award. He deserves it. Unfortunately, most people either don't realize or have forgotten that despite the fact that Oshie and Toews were injured for much of the first half of the season and he didn't always play with both of them, Duncan continued to score goals throughout the year. However, you can't have it both ways. A player can only play with who the coach pairs him with, under the system the coach plays and against the teams the league tells him to play. He has no control over any of that. All he can do is excel to the best of his ability under whatever circumstances he faces. If you're going to hold such factors against players on opposing teams, you shouldn't be surprised when the same reasoning is applied to players on your favorite team.

I'm told that it's quite common in civil suits for judges to urge both sides to settle out of court. I don't think you should take that as the judge telling UND it should settle on the NCAA's terms. Who knows? If Jahnke rules that the records must remain open, it might be just the incentive the NCAA needs to get serious about reaching a compromise.

From the Green Mill, it's the Fighting Sioux Coaches' Show with UND hockey coach Dave Hakstol and hosts Tim Hennessy and Scott Swygman. TH: This weekend, the Sioux hockey team is in the first round of a best-of-three series against Minnesota State-Mankato. Jess Meyers of Inside College Hockey told me that he was with Bruce McLeod and Greg Shepherd while they waited to see how all the games ended. When they figured out that Mankato would be at UND, Greg said

In that case, I apologize. But this has been such a strange year that nothing would surprise me. I never thought I'd see the Sioux be swept by UAA, MTU and a mediocre Wisconsin team, finish in third place and be undefeated against the two teams that finished above them. I don't think anyone expected the Sioux to sweep the Gophers in their own barn, but it happened. I think the Gophers will win their series against UAA. Would I be shocked if they dropped a game? Not at all.

It's not just stats. He set some NCAA records that season that will be very hard to break.

I agree. However, in this case, if the NCAA's own bylaws and constitution clearly spell out which of the organization's information is public and which isn't, then I don't think the organization has much of a leg to stand on. Jahnke's suggestion to settle out of court might have been his way of telling the NCAA that if it didn't want the information to be public, it better figure out a way to cut a deal with UND.

You're trying to provoke me, aren't you?

And apparently like throwing up.

WDAZ says that Jahnke will make a decison on whether or not the NCAA's records are confidential in about a week. It also reported that Jahnke again encouraged both sides to settle out of court. There was little information on the arguments made by the two sides. The NCAA attorney said the records were confedential. The North Dakota attorney (Tag Anderson, I believe) said that the records weren't covered under the NCAA's constitution and bylaws.

Nor do I. But if I were a Gopher fan, I wouldn't go around making public predictions about such things.

It's probably on a 45.

I know that. It's just that "never" is a very concrete word. And the way the WCHA has been this season, I wouldn't be so certain that something is never going to happen. Because things that never happen have a way of happening. That was my point.

This time of year, I don't think any Gopher fan should be talking about games Minnesota never loses.

Darn right. We put the "low" in "shallow."

I've got to head out east sometime to visit JFR and his women.

Heck no! It was an eight-track tape.

Or Apollonia. She has no fear of skinny dipping in cold Minnesota lakes, even with Prince watching.

Just don't let Kyle Radke show you how to adjust the strap.

This provides clear evidence that the big city snobs are already gearing up for the 2007 WCHA Final Five poster scam.

I can imagine that it's difficult to find skates that fit over flippers.