MafiaMan

'Effin' Badgers.

OK, the WCHA Final Five schedule has been hammered out and I think the best route this year is to go with Friday the 16th at 11:00 am. You would have no problem leaving the bar/restaurant as late as 1:00 pm and make it in plenty of time to be in your seat at the X for the 2:00 pm semi-final game. The Hoggsbreath is located at 2504 Rice Street in Little Canada. There will be a sign on the marquee out front welcoming Sioux fans. Please post here the # in your party so I can give Tom and Jossie a guess-timate of the # of people by Wednesday evening so they can be prepared. Thank you!

I was thinking more along the lines of THIS... cue the scene from "The Three Amigos" movie... Lucky Day: Reading telegram: "Three Amigos, Hollywood, California. You are very great. 100,000 pesos. Come to Santa Poco put on show, stop. The In-famous El Guapo." Dusty Bottoms: What does that mean, in-famous? Ned Nederlander: Oh, Dusty. In-famous is when you're MORE than famous. This man El Guapo, he's not just famous, he's IN-famous. Lucky Day: 100,000 pesos to perform with this El Guapo, who's probably the biggest actor to come out of Mexico! Dusty Bottoms: Wow, in-famous? In-famous? That's Goon...he's so famous, he's IN-FAMOUS!

Of course it's OK to bring those!

I have seen Michigan a couple of times this year on BTN and anyone thinking that the Wolverines will be a cakewalk in the tournament is sadly mistaken.

I think I'll just close the poll now if it means an opportunity to meet Goon on Friday. I'd like to lean that way myself...we'll see how it plays out. The Hogg can accomodate either day. NorthDakotaHockey and I thought a Friday gig this year might boost attendance a bit. We had somewhere around 20-25 people at last year's event.

We had a great crowd at last year's Final Five brunch at the Hoggsbreath and I'm throwing out two options this year to see if we can boost the numbers. I'll finalize the numbers by mid next-week and let the folks on Rice Street know that Sioux fans are back in town...

100% agree. People who think Michigan Tech is a joke of a program that should be relegated to the back-pages of NCAA hockey history need to do two things: #1) Take a trip to Houghton and see a series at MTU. #2) Look up the history of the MacNaughton Cup and Michigan Tech's storied history in the conference. TE-CH-NO-LO-GI-C-A-L...TECHNOLOGICAL!

You mean known uber-lib...whoops...nevermind.

Try Roseville or Shoreview in the north or Eagan in the south. Bloomington is a bit further south and west, but also decent.

Michigan Tech is a program with a lot of pride and history. I realize it hasn't been a national power since the mid-1970's, but the fans in Houghton are a fun and knowledgeable bunch and I think the program has made some strides in improvement this season. This team could give UND fits this weekend.

Politics has a lot to do with this, so I guess we agree to disagree on that point. I probably could have left out the "uber-liberal" comment with respect to Phil, though, so point taken.

Hey, let's leave politics out of this!

He might have to dump Jeanie Buss if she doesn't want to come along with him though.

LOL...known uber-liberal Phil Jackson, who can't even admit he is from North Dakota, is on the list? Well I'm on-board now, the nickname must go!

I still think Gino was a good coach, much like I still think Jeff Sauer and Doug Woog were good coaches. I concur that after Dean left in 1989, the Sioux program steadily declined. That 1988-89 freshman class had a lot of unfilled potential. Throw in Brent Bobyck, Dixon Ward, and others, I am still stunned at the lack of tournament success for that bunch.

Time heals all wounds...I remember people screaming for Gino's head during the decline of the program from about 1990-1995 and the complaints about Dean when the 1998 and 1999 teams fell short of expectations.

And the 1998 and 1999 teams had talent level similar to last year's team as well...are you criticizing Blais for not 'getting it done'? What's your point?

Tell me what program wouldn't be proud of a 7 year history that included: 2 regular season championships 3 playoff championships 5 Frozen Fours If Dave Hakstol coached at St Cloud, they'd be building a statue of him in front of the St Cloud National Concrete Center.

Your words, not mine. Since I incorrectly assumed you had "met" several or perhaps many hockey coaches, I thought you had some unique perspective that others do not.

Montgomery Gentry? I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about!

I was at the game and concur that Hakstol appeared to be outcoached by Red. Red's "delay-the-game" tactics clearly worked and slowed down the Fighting Sioux. The shots on goal by the Sioux were hardly scoring-chance worthy...plenty of easy saves. You could feel the frustration with the crowd every time UND dumped the puck in the zone on the power play only to watch Michigan promptly swat it back down the ice. Two days later, the frustration was even moreso when it was obvious that Scott Sandelin had watched the semi-final game. UMD carried the puck into the zone on every power play...and it worked. Outcoached in one game? Yes. Deserving of continuing bashing because of it? No.

I completely understand that, Sicatoka. My point is that even if Florida State WAS under sanction by the NCAA at the time of the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl, somehow, someway, Wisconsin would have finnagled around that policy and played that game. There was far too much money to be lost if they didn't play it. (note: The Badgers were waxed by FSU anyways). Do you think Wisconsin officials had enough backbone to stand upon their principle belief with thousands of dollars in bowl revenue at stake? No way.

No way that happens. When the nickname is gone, it's gone.

Big words...please, enlighten us all with your coaching expertise and how you would do more with such talent.