MafiaMan

Not much for bells and whistles, but man that old barn would rock when the fans made noise!

Patrick Ruesse should really just refrain from making any comments at all involving the sport of hockey. "Grandfather" in SCSU and UMD for what reason? Just because? Unbelievable. And, you're correct - it really is amazing how few people in the TC media truly understand things related to hockey.

Thanks for the information - and thanks Mariucci, too.

I'm aware that that's a major issue but it's too bad it couldn't work out.

Mariucci, you never answered my question (and it was a serious one - perhaps you didn't see it earlier on this thread) about the North Star tournament...do you have any insight as to how the rotation system was set up and how the schedule worked out? I know the system is set up where one of the three schools not named Minnesota "falls off" the rotation for the yearly tournament. In a perfect system, my thought is that the team that went 0-2 would be the team that should be replaced the following year, but that's just my opinion.

I have not seen a game there, that's why I was curious. Thanks for the insight.

Thursday night regular season hockey...good call, Big 10. NOT.

Isn't that when they start arriving to the game?

I find myself rooting for Penn State in hockey. Hockey Valley...that's a pretty cool theme.

Revenge of the Nerds V: Nerds in Sochi

Easy, smokey, let's see how this plays out tomorrow afternoon/early evening.

No Yost Arena? This list is a farce!

I think even the biggest Gopher-haters among us know that the X will have 10,000+ Minnesota fans in the rink on Friday night.

Let's get to the bigger question about why Michigan Tech, Northeastern, and Quinnipiac are on the list. I've been to MacInnes but it's nothing special. Tech vs North Dakota...about 3,000 fans there...pretty quiet place. I know during Winter Carnival it is a riot, but in general?

I agree that it's a great experience...but there are things that detract from it.

Ushers at the X will hold you back from trying to get back to your seat while the puck is in play. Ushers at REA...couldn't care less what you do while the puck is in play.

I don't recall ever disagreeing with you previously on that issue. I used to have season tickets thru about the 2007 or 2008 season. Simply couldn't make every home weekend but also frustrated with having to get out of my seat 75 times a game so the folks around me could run and go grab another beer.

I completely agree on both counts. But that's been my analysis since the place opened - too many people there "to be seen" as opposed to actually watch hockey.

So you're saying there are only a couple of thousand tickets left for a Gopher/Huskie game in St Paul on Friday night? Kudos!

That's funny...in 13 years of being at the WCHA Final Five, I never ONCE saw anyone wearing anything with a Bison or NDSU on it. And despite a 16-19-2 season in the year it opened, including a 7-9-1 record at home, you're saying REA was rockin' back in the good old days as opposed to today?

And that's a shame. I'm probably in the minority on this but I'd personally be in favor of all rinks moving to the bigger surface. The Olympic ice sheet gives players more room to make plays. Today's hockey player is simply much larger in size than players in the 1940's and 1950's. Sometimes the 5 on 5 game in the NHL is like watching 10 kids playing in a sandbox.

As Lt. Frank Drebin would say: "There's a 50/50 shot. Although there's only a 33% chance of that."

I just checked Wilbur's Pairwise formula and according to him, UND stands a very good chance of making the NCAA tournament if they win every game here on out thru the NCHC tournament.

Any insight as to how the pairings were made? Mariucci?

Tehran? What, did Pyongyang withdraw its bid?