MafiaMan

Nah. The only think dorkier than having a blank hockey jersey is having one with some goofy nickname on it and/or the number 69.

CFM, I laughed out loud when I read your comment. Pretty funny stuff. Tongue in cheeck humor it was.

TC...I'm not saying the Sioux are vastly superior in any way, shape, or form. Just saying the crowd, the announcer, the atmosphere...and yet we get to hear Lucia and co. claim "neutral" ice site? I live in the TC's, too, and I love the Final Five being at the X, but it certainly benefits the Gophers more than anyone else. I'd hardly consider it a miracle on ice when a #5 beats a #1 in front of 16,000 of its own fans. The place was jumpin' Saturday night.

Greyeagle...I lost a bet with my buddy wearing the Gopher jersey so I have to WEAR his Gopher jersey for the first game of the tournament next year. Someone buy me a waffle cone and all will be forgiven! CFM...pretty funny comment about the weight room. I'm about 5'10" and 190 lbs so I'd say I can hold my own. Maybe I need to talk to BALCO, though, and bulk up a little more during the off-season?

Another note, streakygopher...credit because they're hot when it counts? If I remember right, UMD was the hottest team in the country last season, yet still managed to watch a St Cloud team go to the NCAA's on the basis of quality victories back in October. #5 seed in the conference gets a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament? Wow. I can hear Goldy fans whining already if Wisconsin had run the table and won the WCHA Final Five and gotten a #1 seed.

streakygopher = typicalgopher. I love how UM fans try to even remotely suggest that Xcel is a 50/50 venue for the Gophers. The noise was deafening in there Saturday night. Oh, by the way, real classy move by the WCHA to have the neutral announcers for every game EXCEPT the title game, which was announced by Minny's guy. Scott Hennen, the UND announcer, sat in front of me during the championship game. He was clearly steamed that they made sure he didn't do any Sioux games, then let Goldy's homer do the title game. Go back to 2001 and you almost see the smirk on Lucia's face when he tells reporters he expected Xcel to be 1/2 full of Maine fans for the title game. GIMME A BREAK!

I'm glad to know SOME Sioux fans had good experiences at the X this past weekend. My entire weekend was ruined by not one or two fans, but four separate Gopher MORONS, which only increases the number of reasons why I hate everything about the U of M. I try to write it off as idiotic, drunken, non-typical fans, but four idiots making a big point to go out of their way to do something stupid was too much for me to handle in one night. I was attending the games this weekend wearing various Russian hockey jerseys, but wore my Sioux Sioux jersey for the UND semi-final and title game. I was with a Gopher friend in his jersey and a non-committed friend wearing a USA jersey on Saturday night. We've been in the same section for three years now, sitting with pretty much the same people every year. When the game ended, I exchanged pleasantries with the Gopher fans around us and wished them all good luck in the tournament. All 8-10 fans around us were courteous and wished the Sioux good luck, too. However... Idiot fan #1 Saturday night: As I'm walking to my seat before the game, a 20something wearing a Gopher jersey changes his course of direction in the concourse and darts over to me, gives me a nice unexplainable jab on the shoulder as he walks by and blurts out "f*** the Sioux" as he chuckles with his buddy about how original and witty he was. Idiot fan #2 Saturday night: After the presentation of the Broadmoor Trophy, my friends and I walked up the steps of section 102. I'm behind the two of them, and much to my astonishment, a guy in an aisle seat (this time, 40-50 years old) reaches out and puts two hands on my jersey and yanks me into his seat and yells "better luck next time a**hole! Sioux suck!". I told him to let go of me and he promptly pushed me back into the aisle. I shoved him back and got in his face to ask him what his problem was and he said "no goal my a**! F*** you." I told him that Gopher fans everywhere were a class act all the way and wished him luck in the tournament, then bolted as fast as I could before things got even worse. Idiot fan #3 Saturday night: My buddies got too far in front of me in the rush to leave so I was wandering out to an exit by myself. Yet another Gopher fan rushes to track me down. He comes up behind me, pats me on the shoulder and says "second place isn't so bad...better luck next time to your SUCK!". His girlfriend grabs him and asks him to stop it and I suggested he listen to her. He goes on to ask what my problem is and why I am taking it so personally that my team sucks. I told him it was nothing personal, but that my team's name was the Sioux, not the Suck, as he had suggested. As his girlfriend is trying to drag him away, he's asking me if I want to take it outside and go a few rounds with him 'cuz he'll knock me out. Winning with class, that's for sure. Idiot "fan" #4 Saturday night: A group of ushers stood about 20 feet from where the incident with fan #3 was going on, yet didn't bother to call security or even come over to do anything about it. Yet when I walked closer to them on my way out of the building, one usher walks over to me, holds out his hand and asks if he can shake my hand. Nice enough gesture, until he says, "Better luck next time...Sioux SUCK!". It was so comical I just laughed and said we would see what happens in the big tournament and left. I came into work yesterday still peeved about everything and mentioned to a co-worker who is dating a UND grad who was also at the game and at Cosetta's between games. She's not a Sioux fan at all, in fact, she's a Gopher fan, but her boyfriend was wearing a Sioux jersey. I was stunned to hear she'd experienced the same thing. At Cosetta's, a Gopher fan came over to her table as she was dining with her boyfriend to announce to that the Sioux sucked and the Gophers were going to kick their a**. She said other fans started coming over once they noticed the Sioux jersey and had similar comments for them. They ended up eating quickly and leaving. Their experience at the arena was the same as mine and she told me she was embarrassed to be a Gopher fan after what happened to them on Saturday. I'll say this much...I've been to games in St Cloud, Duluth, Mankato, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, regionals, Final Fives, and NCAA Frozen Fours, and never have I encountered the complete classless acts that happened this past weekend. And before you start thinking that I'd downed a few beers myself so this is only half of the story, I had nothing but Coca Cola in my system this weekend. Considering that Gopher fans outnumber the Sioux fans in the X by about a 16-1 count, I keep a low-profile, which makes this all the more comical to me. I realize that it was a big game and an even bigger rivalry, but that's no excuse for what happened. I'm not trying to classify all Gopher fans, because there was one Sioux fan in the next section razzing the Gopher fans in front of him all night on Friday. At one point, I turned over to his section and told him to shut his mouth and get off my side. He actually was pretty subdued the rest of the weekend, which was a good thing. Anyways, five awesome hockey games and yet the only thing I could talk about yesterday was the conduct of the fans. I hope it's better next year. Minnesota Fans...Pride in the Stands.

Whine, whine, whine. I played basketball from the third grade until my junior year in high school. 2/3 of the way thru my junior season, the varsity coach called a team meeting of the freshmen, JV, and varsity squads. At that time, he announced "cuts" from each one so he could bump up better 8th graders to the freshman team, freshman to JV, and some JV players to varsity. Despite being one of the better JV players (12 points per game and not on Allen Iverson 6 of 28 shooting either), I was cut in favor of a benchwarmer who happened to be the first cousin of two varsity players. Did I cry about it? Hell yea. Did I learn that the fun things and the things you want out of life aren't necessarily just handed to you? Yep. Did I get over it? NO, I did not. Wait. Yea, I was bummed, but life went on. Life is about lessons and there are bound to be disappointments. That was a big one in my life, but today we're all about coddling kids and telling them they can have anything and everything they want just because that's how it should be. And it's definitely not the best thing to be teaching them. Sports is about winners and losers and so is life. Get over it!

OK, I was at both games this past weekend and asked several staffers at REA and no one had a clue what I was talking about with regard to player cards being given out. HUH?

The Gopher Bar! Ha ha! That's right down the road from where I work. A place I might suggest that is a little further walk than Tom Reid's is a jaunt in the other direction of 7th Street...Wild Tymes.

Coteau, Sorry for mis-spelling your moniker. Thanks for the info. I've seen the 2000 NCAA title banner raising game, the 2000 Broadmoor Trophy championship presentation, the 1997 Broadmoor Trophy championship presentation, and the 1997 NCAA title game and festivities afterward. Looking forward to seeing UND (taking care of business on the ice first) hoisting the MacNaughton Cup for the first time live and in person.

Couteau, Thanks for clarifying for me. I'm looking forward to coming up this weekend, although I don't know how I'll like the weather. We're leaving pretty early tomorrow morning to make sure we get there in plenty of time for the game. Any good hotels/motels in GF with some waterslides?

Couteau, Feel free to tell me where I am sitting. Nowhere on the ticket does it say "general admission." The tickets say STUDENT SECTION right on them, seats 100 and 101 in G something or other. They're at home on my dresser at the moment, so I don't know the exact language. I do know it says "no alcohol in student section." Trust me, I asked the sales clerk about 100 times if I could actually purchase them or if I'd get into trouble at the arena. They were almost $20 apiece.

I purchased two Friday tickets at Ticketmaster in Edina last week and am in the "STUDENT" section. She didn't tell me I needed a student ID to be in that section, so I'm hoping I'm not strong-armed out of there.

102 row 8. One LSSU alum, one Minnesota alum, and one Sioux fan. Let the fun begin!

Thanks for the correction...even MORE of a joke knowing that UMD didn't get in over St Cloud last season. What are the tie-breakers for PRI? Best jersey color? Cutest cheerleaders?

gobig6, I highly doubt your "rumor" is true. Everyone looks for recruiting edges and you won't convince me that UM doesn't mind their prime-time Friday night 7:00 pm game and relegating the UND's, Wisconsin's, UMD's, St Cloud's, etc. to the 2:00 pm NON-TELEVISED game. Everyone wants a piece of the pie so I don't doubt the other 9 votes but I think your rumor is more urban legend than anything.

No offense, but the Pairwise Rankings Index is the BCS of college hockey! What a joke. #6 in the WCHA but #6 in the PRI? That's as ridiculous as St Cloud going to the NCAA's over UMD last year. There should be a reward for who's turned it up a notch at the end of the season and a "thanks but no thanks" to teams who stagger into the conference playoffs and bow out with a one-and-done series (at home no less...I'm talking about YOU, St Cloud!). Put human error back into the mix!

With all due respect (as much as I hate the swapping of games), when the Final Five was in Milwaukee a few years ago, Bucky got prime-time on Friday night even though the Sioux were the #1 seed there as well.

Goon, Wasn't I already pointing out that "freedom of speech" doesn't necessarily mean the freedom to say anything anywhere at any time?

Dagies, You're right...I'm ASSUMING that I'm not coming to Grand Forks to watch the Sioux get swept themselves and see the cup FedEx'd to Madison when UMD clinches. That being said, I think the Sioux have come too far to suffer a let-down now. I'm optimistic they won't disappont.

I wouldn't mind some new blood at the tournament, but maybe I'm the only one who thinks it would be cool to see Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech make it. It's been ages for Tech and I don't think A-A has ever qualified. I wouldn't mind NOT seeing St Cloud there this season (still peeved about the 2001 title game) and it's pretty obvious Mankato won't be making a return trip this year. Give me CC, UMD, North Dakota, Denver, and Wisconsin and I'll be happy. The WCHA would kill me for saying this, but I think it would be interesting to see the attendance figures from a Minnesota-less Final Five held in St Paul.

I know Doug Woog's opinion on the matter since he's not concerned at all about it, but I'm wondering if anyone else is thinking the defending-NCAA champ Gophers might not make the sweet sixteen? Let's imagine a split this coming weekend against SCSU and a first-round one-and-done in the WCHA Final Five playoffs. Could they "husky" their way into the NCAA's the way St Cloud managed to last season? Both Denver and Colorado College are playing well as of late... One thing I will say is that the WCHA has to be fairly happy about Minnesota playing in a 4/5 Thursday night game. Think about it...the potential for a three-game run with 16,000-18,000 fans in Xcel Energy Center? A few years ago (I believe it was 94 or 95) at the old St Paul Civic Center, they had a sellout for a Sioux/Gopher 4/5 game. Unexpected for sure, but it did add some extra $$$ to the WCHA as opposed to a CC/Mankato or Denver/UMD Thursday night game. Not trying to rile up the Gopher fans hanging around here, just curious as to opinions as to their tournament hopes.

Barring any upsets in the first round, the #4 seed would play the #5 seed on Thursday night. Let's say (disaster!) that #10 defeats #1 in the first round and there are no other upsets. That would bump the #4 seed into Friday semi-final action and the #5 seed would play the #10 seed on Thursday in the loser-out game. Let's go one step further and say that #9 defeats #2, leaving both #1 and #2 seeds at home. Your Thursday night Final Five contest becomes a battle between #9 and #10, and the #4 and #5 seeds would both advance to Friday's semi-finals. Capece?

What an awesome weekend to be a Sioux fan. Nice job this past weekend, boys, and nice job Coach Blais! I had my doubts about a sweep at UMD but you pulled it off. I can't wait to make the trip to GF this weekend to see you hoist the MacNaughton Cup. I can't remember what season it was, but UND clinched the cup with either wins at Mankato, St Cloud, or Duluth. I remember being totally disappointed because I expected the cup to be in the building and that I'd get to see the team skate around with it. Turns out the ever-wise commisioner Bruce McLeod decided to let the Sioux hoist the cup the following weekend at home. Thanks, Bruce. It took four or five years, but I'm finally going to get to see the team do it in person. Just a suggestion...when a team wins it (home or away), you should get it presented to you that night. The team can always show it off at the next home series anyways. Go Sioux! Looking forward to this weekend and in seeing you again at the X for the Final Five!