MafiaMan

Actually, the "tree" is a pile of rocks at the top of a hill right along Highway 85. When my grandpa was a kid, he used to pile up rocks on high points and my dad and his sister and cousins continued doing so. This is the only one visible from the highway though. If you've ever driven between the Watford City/Belfield area on that route, you've most likely seen the rock pile. For an idea of how high the rocks are, my son is 3 1/2 feet tall in the picture. On the 4th of July every year since I was a baby, my dad would tie a US flag (on a flagpole) around the rock and it would wave proudly throughout the day. I remember as a youngster waking up early on the 4th every year so I could make my way out to the hill with him and salute the USA. If we were lucky, some passers-by would honk their horn at us. I always thought that was the coolest.

Sea Devils? Centurions? Some new teams I see. I still miss the Barcelona Dragons though!

Sorry, I can't help but brag a bit. I got a call from a number of relatives who were watching the news in SW ND in early January when he was on TV...the picture was taken about 20 miles north of Belfield right along Highway 85 (my parents' ranch)...

Hey NDFlyer, perhaps you can write an e-mail to Bobby Clarke and tell him to get rid of those HIDEOUS black jerseys and get back to the Flyers that everyone remembers...the orange-clad ones!

I second that thanks, Tsiouxnami. Sweden sounds like they are on a roll.

I thought it was "vaht....dey got peanuts?".

The last paragraph says it all...Pavel Bure quote

I'm in St Paul MN and out of the loop of ND hockey. Why is Devils Lake moving back to the east region? And where can I get an old-school jersey with the nickname "Satans" on it?

I kid you not, PCM, I sat here for an hour trying to remember the former Gopher involved in the skate-kicking incident. Erik Westrum!

And the size-up-the-opposition's-best-player-and-take-a-50-foot-run-at-him-before-crunching-him-into-the-boards stunt nets Jarrko Ruutu a 5 minute major and that's it?

Given the comments he made to a prominent sports magazine after the Minnesota North Stars left the state, it just burns me whenever I hear people actually cheer Mike Modano at the Excel Energy Center.

Given the number of prop-heads and wing-nuts in Grand Forks, forgive my momentary lapse of reason.

All I can say is "what a big f'ing baby...Mike Modano should be booed soundly in every rink he skates in in the US when he gets back, Dallas included. Modana Skips Final Team Meeting - Leaves Italy W/Out Team

Strange things happen, however. A few years ago, you'll recall, UMD was on a tear near the end of the season, finished right on par with St Cloud State, swept St Cloud in the WCHA playoffs and wound up beating a very good Colorado College team for 3rd place at the final five...only to watch St Cloud, which had finished its season on an 0-6 tailspin, get an NCAA bid. They made it 0-7 the following weekend by getting beat by BU. NCAA logic? St Cloud's strong wins in October.

So who IS your team? I'm a Red Wings guy myself and have to be honest, Chelios I like, but I'm glad that Ken Holland decided one season was enough of Derian Hatcher.

So you were being facetious in which teams you'd like to see Chris Chelios play for?

You're correct...this doesn't just pertain to hockey.

I hope you didn't mind me editing your post a bit. Chellie will retire a Red Wing. Unfortunately for him, though, the hometown hero of Chicago didn't have the honor of retiring as a Black Hawk. Even though I detested that team, it was still unreal watching Eddy, Jeremy, and Chris tear up Chicago Stadium in the early 1990's. What a team that was.

All hail stickboy1956! I couldn't agree more. Youth coaches in the US in ALL SPORTS are so fixated in victory that it gets in the way of teaching kids skills. One only needs to look at basketball to see how bad that problem is there. No one understands the fundamentals of basketball anymore, it's all about who is going to get poster-ized on a dunk on ESPN at 10:00 pm.

Living in the Twin Cities and watching how some of the parents treat their kids when it comes to shuffling them around to schools like Bloomington Jefferson and suddenly the ultra-hot-ticket-school-of-the-past-few-years Holy Angels Academy, not to mention heading to Michigan to school...I'd say there's not a lot of difference between the systems you're comparing.

LOL...the simultaneous posting is causing trouble. I think NDFlyer would be surprised to know that we agree for the most part on things. He is reading too much into the WCHA and college kid thing though. Look at the NBA. Does David Stern want to win the next Olympics? Then send the Detroit Pistons.

1-4-1. My point earlier was what would the difference between 0-6 and 1-4-1? Not much. However, with a younger team, the potential would be there for 2010. Instead, Team USA has to look into its cupboard and replace about a dozen players. Unless you would like to see a 48 year old Chelios, a 39 year old Modano, and other senior citizens in Vancouver in four years.

This backs up NDFlyer's point, Tsiouxnami. Why shouldn't our best 21-23 year old college players be able to compete with 19 year old Malkin? Phil Kessel, anyone? That's laughable. NDFlyer is correct...the rest of the world is churning out better hockey players than we are. That's a fact.

This I agree with 100%.