Siouxtimestwo

Best possible way to get it too. The powerplay needs some momentum and confidence. Keep peppering that donkey with pucks.

I said last year that the Sioux were going to take a step back in 2008-2009 and was skewered by the Positivity Police. We brought in some very talented players, but rarely do guys just jump in as freshmen and dominate. The fact is our upperclassmen just aren't as talented as they have been in the past. I respect the heck out of guys like Duncan, Kozek, and VV and the talent they do possess, but they simply aren't talented enough to carry this team offensively. And let's face it, despite all the depth we've had, the Sioux go as their best players go. With our lead-skated D corps and uncertainty in net, it's most likely gonna take 4-5 goals every game to win this year, which means we need 3 goals from our top 2 lines and hope to get 1-2 elsewhere. That's a lot to ask.

Which is a sign the team is playing well. Of course that means nothing if they can't put the puck in the net. There are 3 things you can count on in life 1. Death 2. Taxes 3. Sioux running into hot goalies I don't think it's a coincidence anymore after 5 years.

Well at least they're putting the puck on net today.

Have they said how many shots on goal UND has today?

Maybe it's because you're not really allowed to have an opinion anymore. Members are just supposed to be robots who only care about games played after Christmas.

I wasn't able to see the game and in general am not too terribly concerned about one game, save one stat I saw. How in the hell did we only manage 5 shots on 8 power plays? Again, I never played hockey, so I've never understood this philosophy, so since it's a new year, I'll open up the floor for those members who have played hockey to see if they can answer this question for me: how is not shooting the puck on a power play a better strategy for scoring goals than shooting the puck? All these years watching UND hockey and the best explanation I can come up with is it must have to do with hockey's roots in Canada and the metric system. Oh well, turn that score around against UMass and all will be well in Siouxland.

This was on the front page of ESPN.com today. Nice to see Toews getting not only attention in the hockey world, but also the sports world in general. Too young to lead the Blackhawks? Toews says: Bring it on!

Kozek Friday night, Genoway Saturday God, it's great to be doing this again.

I know we're supposed to be on the same side since we're arguing with a Gophers fan, but this has to be one of the most insane things I have ever seen posted here! UND is now comparing itself to Anchorage! So any season in which UND finishes higher than Anchorage is now considered a roaring success? We are the Fighting Sioux, I know that doesn't mean much to some fans anymore, but the only school UND's hockey team has to measure up against is UND. We have long ago set a standard for what makes a great hockey program. It doesn't matter how we finish compared to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, BC, or especially Alaska fricken' Anchorage. The boys that put on that Sioux jersey next year need to measure up to UND standards, which is winning conference titles and national championships. Who cares about anyone else? WE ARE THE FIGHTING SIOUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Texas Tech game is fantastic news for the football program! A game like this is certainly more than I had hoped for by year 2 of our transition. That said, it's only step 1. Step 2 includes stepping out on the field and performing. Of course, I'm hoping for a win, but I'm not holding my breath. After all, we're not playing against the team with the worst defense in all of 1-A. The main thing is we show other schools we belong, and hopefully this will be just the beginning of games like this. GO SIOUX!

Thanks to both you and mikejm. I can't wait!

No doubt. Evidently, some people forget what it's like to be a student the day they graduate or, in some instances, never went to UND in the first place so they have no idea what they're talking about. This is a pure shot in the dark, but I don't feel like starting a new thread and this does pertain to UND's schedule. Does anyone know when tickets for the Great Lakes Invitational go on sale? It would be great to see the Sioux play out here in Michigan, but it's over the holidays, so if I can't get tickets to the games, I'd like to get my flights home booked before the last minute.

Lee Goren

Captain Chris Porter Wraparound

GO SIOUX!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Looks around confused) Wait, this is still a Fighting Sioux message board right? Did this guy play for us? I don't remember him. Did he play on Parise's line? (Walls start closing in) I used to get such great news concerning UND here, now I can only find info about the Gophers, Bison, Packers, and Vikings. Did we change the nickname in the middle of the night. Should I be going to FlickertailSports.com now for UND athletics? Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

I'm not suffering from selective memory, nor was I oblivious to the jerks. As you say, there's always jerks in any fan base, but they're usually jerks to rival fans, which has been going on for years. That's what created the rivalries of today. If this is how today's generation of jerks treat their comrades, I'd hate to see how today's Sioux fans treat rival fans. Also, this is the only message board I belong to, so maybe that's it. Back then, there weren't message boards, so I'm just going by how fellow Sioux fans treated each other in the crowd at sporting events compared to how people treat each other on this message board. While I'm sure most of the people that like to disrespect their fellow fans on here are pimply-faced teenagers emboldened by the cloak of anonymity that the internet provides, it's still disheartening.

I agree about the FSSN. The only reason basketball games aren't currently shown is money. WDAZ used to televise men's and women's basketball games once in awhile back in the 90s when both programs were successful, but UND just doesn't think it can get enough people to tune in to cover the cost of the broadcast. Some of you are probably students or new to the area, so it's difficult to understand if you come from a part of the state or country where no one cares about hockey compared to basketball. The fact of the matter is the Red River Valley is hockey country. It has been for years and years and will continue to be 50 years from now. Hockey is more popular than basketball in Grand Forks/Fargo and Grand Forks/Fargo is UND's target audience because that's where all the people are and those people have the ability to buy tickets on a consistent basis. UND has done a good job marketing football, just as much as hockey in years past when I was back in North Dakota, though I can't speak to this past year. Men's basketball is a difficult thing to market right now. How many NAIA schools has UND lost to the last 5 years? No amount of marketing will be greater than a couple of wins against good Div. I programs in the next couple of years. If UND goes out and beats a name school, that's all the marketing it needs. If UND goes out and continues to lose to Minot State and gets hammered by the big name DI schools on the schedule, then no amount of marketing is going to overcome what happens on the court. Good programs market themselves. Look at NDSU. Ten years ago, men's basketball in Fargo was in the same situation as UND. The women's program was good and the men weren't that great. Now, basketball is nearly as popular as football. That turnaround had nothing to do with marketing, it had to do with better teams. In ten years, they could just as easily be in a downswing and NDSU will go right back to caring only about football and not about basketball. That's why it's a football school. When UND's men have increased success, it will rise in popularity, then will come right back down to Earth when it ceases to have success. That's why UND is a hockey school. We're not the only school that has this problem. Every campus in the country has this problem with some of its programs. Trust me, I hear your pain. One poster mentioned people going to hockey games because it was the thing to do, and he/she is partially right. I was a basketball player in high school who had never played hockey, but when I attended UND I was at the hockey games, and that was in the old Engelstad, before the thrill of the new stadium really did attract non-fans, but now that affect has minimized, or so I hear. I'm sure the same thing happened at the Betty for a few years. I think it has more to do with the success of the program though. More people did go in the past, and would go now to basketball games if the team was more successful. Nobody has any fun going to a game and seeing your alma mater get beat by 20. That voice in the Iowa cornfield was only half-right. If you build it they will come, but if you win they will come back again.

I hope everything turns out alright for you and your family. You will be in our thoughts and prayers.

I've been to plenty of UND hockey and basketball games through the years. Most schools can be classified as one-sport schools no matter how much success other programs have. I currently live in Michigan, and the Wolverines have always and will always be a football school. Even when they won the NCAA men's basketball title in 1989 and the Fab Five subsequently followed, men's basketball at its peak paled in comparison to football. Once the basketball team sunk into mediocrity, it has become nearly insignificant in the state and will continue to be until it experiences success again. Florida is another example. They won consecutive basketball titles, yet will always be a football school. Once Florida's basketball teams dip in talent, they will be nearly forgotten by the majority of fans. UND is a hockey school plain and simple. Football is a close second because of its continuous success and the fact that football is such a popular sport in general. The women's team is popular because of the success it has enjoyed, but once that ends, unfortunately so will its popularity. Men's basketball just hasn't been successful. I love basketball and check UND's scores when I get the chance, but I am the exception when it comes to UND alumni and always will be. It sucks that's the way sports fans are these days, but it's a reality. If the coaches don't understand that, then they are the ignorant ones. If any coach thinks he's going to come to UND and unseat hockey and football, he's kidding himself. Coach Jones knew the score when he took the job. If he thinks he's going to get more support at a small NAIA school, then he's going to be disappointed yet again. Those schools take a backseat to the local high school programs, so if he has a problem playing second fiddle to a powerhouse Div. I program, it's going to be a long tenure in Sioux Falls. I obviously wasn't at the press conference, I read the quote the way it was printed and thought it was a immature shot at the hockey program and UND fans. If he was misquoted or he said it as a joke, then I'm the first to admit it was a very funny one and wish him the best of luck. If it was the potshot it appeared to be, then I stand by what I've posted.

Why should we worry about it when we have Bison fans like you to worry for us.

Oh to be young and ignorant again! NDSU also had about 5,000 fewer students back then and the town had god knows how many fewer people. I wouldn't expect you to know that though since you probably weren't even conceived yet, nor would you even know who these NDSU players I've spoken of are. People didn't stay home on Saturday afternoons because NDSU only had Division II football and they aren't coming out in droves merely because NDSU is now D1. There weren't as many students or people around the area so not as many were able to attend, even though they had great teams. Which is exactly the reason why your idea to play in Minneapolis is so insanely idiotic. Please go back to your sheep now. She misses you. BTW, don't worry other NDSU fans whom have proven themselves intelligent and decent previously. I'm not going to make blanket statements about NDSU fans merely because of one moron.

Nor would I wish any harm to any posters here. I brought up parenting because there's a difference between telling your child to go play in traffic when he's smearing ice cream all over the walls and sitting him down and explaining to him why that's wrong and why he shouldn't do it anymore. If someone is saying constantly rips UND players and coaches for no reason, then the poster is simply flaming a guy for no reason. If a poster is giving you a reason why he or she thinks player X didn't play well in the last game, that's not flaming, it's constructive criticism. We're all Sioux fans for crying out loud! You'd think this board is a battlefield sometime. I already said the people who wish harm or want the players to leave school are idiots. What I hate is when a poster (and it doesn't even have to be myself) offers constructive criticism about a game or an individual player and is told they are terrible fans and get flamed by people who supposedly make up the same fan base. We're supposed to be in this together. If someone offers a different opinion and intelligently states why he or she disagrees with the criticism, then that's great. It not only makes for great discussion, it also educates fellow fans who might not know as much about hockey. I just can't stand it when everyone gets lumped together. Finley is all of a sudden off limits to talk about because you're automatically a terrible fan if you say anything negative about him. Anyone who doesn't think Hakstol is the greatest coach of all time is automatically ripped to shreds. I can't understand why NDSU or Minnesota fans would join a Fighting Sioux message board, but most those guys treat people with more respect on these boards then fellow UND fans treat each other. It's ridiculous, it's getting out of hand, and it's not even hockey season right now. I can't imagine how it's going to be once the puck drops. For years UND and it's alumni were looked at as arrogant pricks by others. I haven't heard comments like that in years. After hanging out here for the past year, I guess either it's back or it never went away and I was just blind to it. If this is how most of UND alumni and students act towards their fellow fans and friends, I can see why someone from the U of M or NDSU would hate our guts and think we're jerks. Is it like this in the stands at games now? I know it wasn't when I was in school, but I guess times have changed.

I don't know if you were around back in NDSU's last days of being DII, but the reason attendance jumped was because the team got better. Do you even know who Bob Babich is? Were you in North Dakota during those days? Were you out of diapers yet? Do you realize how many NDSU fans quit following the team or going to games because of how terrible of a coach he was? Of course attendance went up when they brought Bohl in. It would have whether NDSU was D1 or DII. God this is pathetic. I'm a UND alumni on a UND message board and I have to educate NDSU fans about their own damn program.

So nobody's got anything to say. Of course the people who want Finley to leave are idiots. That doesn't mean anyone who discusses a player's mistakes intelligently should be lumped in with the idiots. Anyone who blindly defends a player and claim them to be flawless are just as moronic as the people who blindly hate them. Against BC, no one played well. People who blame that solely on Finley are idiots. People that think Finley is the best player on the ice merely because he was a first round draft pick are idiots as well. I want Finley to stay, but I want us as a team to quit trying to be Mini-Wisconsin and open up the game a little bit. I'm old enough to remember when merely good enough wasn't acceptable at UND. You had to be exceptional to play for the Fighting Sioux. We didn't roll out 2 scoring lines and 2 forward lines who were just out there to give the other guys a break. Finley will be better next year and we'll support him no matter what. Supporting a player doesn't mean you can't call an apple an apple when they make a bad play or have a bad game. Are any of you parents? Do you consider yourself or other parents to be poor parents if you get after or reprimand your children when they make mistakes, or do you just blindly ignore any issues or problems and hope they will magically go away? Then why do some of you treat other fans that way? Just because someone says something critical of a player when he makes a mistake doesn't mean they're terrible fans. People on both sides of the Finley argument need to grow up. If you think you're so much better than everyone else that you take pleasure in ripping your fellow fans, I'm sure the Gophers would gladly accept you on their bandwagon.