MafiaMan

Spartans win shoot-out at Penn State. Minnesota fans so thrilled about seeing Michigan that Mariucci is almost half full.

ENG!

That sure looked nasty on the replay.

No class on Monday, right? That explains a lot.

Looks like another shoot-out in the Little 6...

UNH now up 4-2 over BU. Pegula Ice Arena looks like a nice venue for hockey. Sparty ties it at 2.

I'm sure they are. Doesn't your home-monitoring device send an alarm to your PO when you're out of the house, though?

Nike's way of getting even with Sweden for demanding the Tre Kroner on the front of the jersey. Nike really wanted to mess with that, from what I have read (think Finland and Czech flag jerseys).

This is somewhat difficult because you want a very specific answer for a very hypothetical situation. If you define the "status-quo" as ten consecutive 23-30 win seasons, multiple conference and NCHC playoff championships, 10 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, 5-7 trips to the Frozen Four, and 2-4 title game appearances but ZERO national titles, I'd still argue that North Dakota is a premiere college hockey program and that Hakstol is a good coach. Fire him based on that? It'd still be tough to do if I was the AD at UND - and I realize some people may disagree with me on that. The problem with the "Woog" analogy is that Doug Woog's last three years were a rapid decline record-wise. From 27-12-1 and WCHA conference co-champs (2nd place playoff finish) in 1996-1997 to 17-22 the next season and 15-19-9 in his final year. That's a pretty steep drop and the decision to replace Woog was probably inevitable at that point. And don't think for one minute that Dean Blais' 1997 title didn't start swaying the minds of Gopher fans and their "Minnesota's Pride on Ice" mentality - because it did. I think eventually, Hakstol's legacy will go one way or the other. Either he gets over the hump and gets that elusive title - or the team starts declining record-wise, missing some NCAA tournament appearances, and he will be Gino Gasparini'd out the door. And as I stated earlier, should Minnesota win a title this season, you can bet the heat on the Hakstol stove will get turned up by about 50 degrees to 400 farenheit.

All stuff I've pointed out here MANY times, Mariucci.

Did Nike make Sweden ditch their sleeve stripes? Canada...black jerseys...single red arm-band with white borders around it...hmnn...is it just me or does that have "bad idea" written all over it? Finland...stick with the Lion on the front. Switzerland...we needed an ambulance on the ice?

Whew. For a second there, I thought this post would say "Fire Brewster."

Norway should have played to win yesterday...not just to look good in a 3-1 loss to the tournament favorite. What's today's jersey report since I didn't see the games?

I'll take whatever someone wants to dish out today. If the Sioux lose tonight, I'll still be up early tomorrow to watch USA vs Russia. Meanwhile, over at beebs' house, he'll have to gently break the news to the kids that the family cat "ran away" sometime shortly after the Sioux game ended.

You might have missed this earlier, gfhockey...I just wanted to find out what side of each of your arguments previously posted you were on today?

Nice! The Mafia has a fondness for St Valentine's Day...maybe you've heard...

The beer stain and dried puke on his hockey jersey should be a dead give-away...

Rich hockey history...that could define Minnesota, UMD, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Boston University, Boston College, Maine, Lake Superior State, New Hampshire, and any one of about 20 other NCAA hockey programs. Hell, Michigan Tech has rich history too. It's been 30-35 years since they've had a quality program year in and year out, but they do have a rich history. The finest facility...DU's $75 million Magness Arena, Penn State's $88 million Pegula Ice Arena, and BU's $225 million dollar complex (which includes Agganis Arena) are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Neither are Mariucci Arena, Yost Ice Arena, or good old Alfond Arena up in Maine. If best arena or best stadium should guarantee success, can you tell me why the Red Sox are winning World Series' in a dump like Fenway? And don't answer "player salaries" because the Miami Marlins spent a boatload of cash on players in year one of their brand-new stadium and that was a disaster. If anything, the Red Sox cut some big salaries and found cheaper replacements this past season. The most coveted position in college hockey...yet another opinion-oriented philosophy. If Dave Hakstol were fired tomorrow and an offer of a one billion dollar a year salary, an active oil well in Watford City, and being made lifetime Emperor of North Dakota was made to Jerry York, his answer would be "no." Sorry, folks, Grand Forks, ND isn't on the short-list of places to move to. And, as stated above in the facility argument...there are many schools that could claim to be "most-coveted" coaching job. North Dakota's one of them. The "I've spent thousands on this team" argument...love, Love, LOVE this argument. The "because I have invested my time and money watching this team, there should be a return on my personal investment in the form of a national championship" philosophy. When I drop $10 on a movie ticket, I don't walk into the theater thinking "I'd better be watching an Oscar-worthy performance or I'm asking the manager for my money back." If I'm disappointed in the whole movie or just the ending, well, that's how it works. Now, if you want to head down to the locker room area and hang around after the game and wait for the chance to chew out Hakstol, his staff, and the 18-22 year old athletes for not meeting your expectations on the ice, that's your business. I'll just turn off the TV, grumble about the game, then turn it back on the next night and cheer again. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, I guess. Before you retaliate with the "MafiaMan's against national championships" argument, I will ask you to reconsider. Just because I support Dave Hakstol doesn't mean I'm not getting antsy myself. And if Minnesota happens to pull a title out of their hat this season, my guess is that the heat on Hakstol will only be turned up a notch.

So...just so we're on the same page with your thought process in this particular segment of your argument...you're a fan who gets "PISSED when we don't win" and will "EXPECT nothing but the best from this program" and would gladly sit thru seven seasons of THIS... 7-28-4 13-24-3 15-17-6 11-25-4 13-21-5 13-17-6 14-19-5 ...in exchange for one national championship? Call me a skeptic, but I think you'd be pulling your hair out of your head until you're bald or kicking your dog when you arrive home after a loss 17-28 times a season. Sure, it's easy in hind-sight to say "yea, I'd sit thru four consecutive years of 15, 11, 13, and 13 win seasons knowing that three years after that miserable stretch, I'll be watching a banner raising in REA." Now let's assume that you have no clue that a national title is coming up in year seven (which is a much more realistic scenario anyways unless I'm missing something)...my money says that in about year two of that hot mess of losses, you'd be having a colossal meltdown calling for the head coach to be canned immediately. One last comment before moving on...I have never said a word about you or any other "fan" being "less" of a fan than me. Believe it or not, we're even fans of the same team.

Well, you brought "up" the Cialis thing...just remember...if the wife is still awake when you get home and it lasts for four hours, call your doctor. Or your neighbor's wife. Or the hot single 20something across the street that just broke up with her boyfriend. Or the...

Quit trying to "gfhockey-up" your posts. They're getting difficult to read. Good luck tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day, Goon.

Triple not-so-fast my friend! I'm predicting unicorns and glitter this weekend...along with the traditional circle of sticks!

YaneA, bigskyvikes, and neonpelican, hats are on their way to Grand Forks yesterday morning!

Boston U at UNH... Michigan at Minnesota... Michigan State at Penn State... Miami at North Dakota... Cue Carbone's thick crust and the Mountain Dew...I have a big date with my couch and TV Friday night!