NorthDakotaHockey

You have no clue my angry little man. No clue. The Eagle says it well on top of it. Go buy a vowel.

So? I'd rather see a great hockey game on the ice with a pedigreed school with some semblance of tradition than to call my buddies down in the south simply to tell them that I went and saw Bowling Green play hockey last night. We are not playing football or basketball here. We are playing hockey. Most avid college sports fans do not even know a lick about hockey, and they will never care to learn a lick about hockey. It is a regional game. By the way, SCSU's move is big news on the television sports in the Twin Cities market today. Video clips and everything.

Yes, you are right I suppose. I wrote that more out of frustration and anger than anything else. This said, we now know that OSU was good in football because they are blatant cheaters and Wisconsin does well because it plays a creampuff pre-conference slate and then beats up on Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan State, and, in the last few years, a mediocre Michigan team. Impressive. The Big Ten flies more on reputation developed over the years than what it has done on the field. Just look at their bowl game performances. My opinion. I could be wrong. I often am. Thankfully, college basketball could not bore me anymore than it already does so you are correct, I look bad. I am honked at Alvarez for his dumb-assed idea and so too were many fans from the Big Ten hockey schools. What is done is done. I am also frustrated that our boys have not won at least one, if not two or three, NC's in the last decade. I am frustrated that the WCHA has collapsed. I remain amazed at those who think that the recent changes of the landscape in college hockey is going to pan out to be a good thing. What? All of the sudden D-1 schools from around the country see that the BTHC has arrived and they are all going to rush to start a hockey program? Not going to happen. They have not started D-1 programs for years. What makes anyone think that they are going to do so now? Because Penn State is coming on board with a $100M arena funded by a private benefactor? Moorhead State gonna step up? Talk about a school with no commitment or vision to athletics. Let's start a pool. Who will the next D-1 hockey program be? Who? There is no one on that landscape. British Columbia looked and passed. Now all the "big" schools that have done just fine over the years without hockey are going to come on board because they might be televised on the Big Ten Network? Cripes. Let's get a grip and get off the crack pipes. My blood runs as deep in Sioux roots as anyone's does on this board. Not a closet SCSU fan. Hate 'em actually. After all, they are are designated "rival." What I do believe, and firmly, is that SCSU will bring more competition to the ice year in and year out than will BGSU, Notre Dame, Iowa State, Arizona State, Southern Cal, Kentucky, or any other D-1 program, real or imagined. The best players, by and large, still come from north of the border, from across the pond, or out of the Rust Belt. The best hockey is still found where the water freezes in the winter. Hockey always has been, and always will be, a regional sport loved by a solid, but relatively small, core of rabid fans. The college game is not going national, and neither is The National. The big city newspapers are not going to start carrying the standings of the Big Ten, Hockey East, or the NCHC. The "brand" is more of a pipe dream than a reality. The conference will brand itself, just like the WCHA branded itself. It will be one of four or five college hockey conferences. Nothing more. Nothing less. The Big Ten and its brand is not going to attract any more, or better, teams that will the National and its brand. The little programs on the "outside" are going to twist in the wind for a few years before throwing up their arms realizing that they cannot fund their programs and their travel with 1500 or less seats in the building on the weekends. The landscape is changing. I am a pessimist. Maybe because I am a bit old school and do not always believe that change is for the better. I'll still be in my seats at The Ralph, and I'll still be going to a raft of games on the road. St. Cloud included. Say what you will, but it is a much better hockey atmosphere in that town than you will find in South Bend or in the backwoods of Ohio and Kentucky. Bowling Green over Saint Cloud for a hockey conference? You gotta be kidding me.

The Pig Ten has sucked in all major sports for years. Football, basketball, and hockey supremacy has long been in the past and it ain't returning to the national stage anytime real soon. Hockey included. I would rather have the product on the ice more than the brand in the bank. Heck, the Pig Ten cain't even count their numbers very well. It is a national conference for sure. Back in the day it had some respect. Hogs get fat. Pigs get slaughtered. The Big Ten Hockey Conference was a mistake, as are all of the moves that have followed as a result.

The last installment of bag money had not yet been confirmed to Faison's offshore account?

How, pray tell, is St. Cloud an albatross? In any way? Please explain. Too many people want to grind an axe against St. Cloud's hockey program when what they really have is a beef with St. Cloud's administration. A 6-team league in any sport is a joke, except perhaps only for sports in their nascent stage, like the Original Six when all there were was six teams playing professional hockey. Who would you prefer in place of St. Cloud? And how would that choice be any less of a potential albatross than St. Cloud? The best league in college hockey is soon gone. St. Cloud, like it or not, was a reasoned presence in that league. Why would they be any less in the so-called National?

Don't sweat the small stuff. Who cares where they will get the funding? They have supported their D-1 team for the last countless years. Why would that stop now? Times are tough and money is tight. We are not playing them in any other sport so what they do about sports on campus is their problem, not yours, mine, or ours. Gino should be commended big time if he had anything to do with this. Why so many people piss and moan about St. Cloud coming on board is beyond me. You all'd prefer Bowling Green in place of St. Cloud? Really? That makes zero sense in my mind for so many reasons. Gino always has been and always will be a champ. When Notre Dame comes a knocking, and it may well, there is nothing wrong with a 9-team conference. Gives everyone a bye, and the last place team stays home for the conference playoffs.

Hockey is an expensive sport. Those who were thinking that Bowling Green would be a good addition are flatly wrong and not paying attention to the economics. Miami will have a hard time hanging in there on the travel, as will WMU. Those who were thinking that this conference would match its rather stupid name and go "National" now have their answer. There are, save for the Alaska schools who may soon turn to dust in the wind, few schools, if any, that can sustain travel budgets outside of their regional play on a consistent basis. College hockey will never be a national sport. If the NHL cannot do it, college programs across the land already working on thinning dimes will not do it. I said it before and I will say it again. This move will not pan out to be a good move for the overall health of the game that we love. The Pig Ten started it. We followed. Now watch some programs wither rather than to see the landscape grow.

I think that it is great that SCSU will be a part of the new league. The Huskies have, historically, had a greater commitment to hockey than has either Nortre Dame or Bowling Green. The Huskies have a good coach, an improved building, and are a solid geographical fit. Obviously, Miami and the others have no problem with St. Clown or this would not be happening. It's nice to see the league show some early integrity and stop catering to Notre Lousy Dame. Three teams in the league along Highway 2 would have been overkill. I hate to see BSU take the hosing, but it will be fine in the revamped WCHA.

I could hardly not care less, as much as I like PCM. What inquiring minds want to know, at least in my neck of the woods, is when PCM will start photographing Jackrabbit football games again? Those were, perhaps, his halcyon days . . . . Right Sir?

The bell tolls . . . . A sad day. This thing jumped way off track way too long ago. Mistakes were made by many in a position to bring either reason or force to bear on the issue back in the days when there was time to strategize and stand firm. Today, the bell tolls. The NCAA's tyranny prevails in the guise of so-called wisdom.

Thanks for the pep talk Siouxman. Always enjoy seeing you around the arenas.

Thanks for taking me to the woodshed Smoggy. You are correct sir. I stand corrected. The would add nothing to the new conference other than an easy road trip for local fans. The WCHA does need some programs to remain and St. Clown is as good of a clown as any to remain. What was I thinking? I am still just mourning the loss of the good old days, the great pride and power of the WCHA, and the fact that I will likely not be rounding out my set of dvds on the History of the WCHA. Now that it is history.

St. Clown has had its aggravations, what with the political correctness, protests, and general struggles to win big and win often. This said, the Sioux and Huskies were developing a very solid and exciting rivalry. St. Cloud has a solid and devoted, and yes, even knowledgeable fan base, especially among its older fans. Going to games at the Concrete Center has always been a blast. Motzko has built a solid program. I'd love to still be friends with them, and being friends with the drunken trailer trash a block away beats the hell out of being friends with pretentious arrogant trash across town (cue DU) any day in my book. While I do not know the back stories on who was invited and who declined and who said what to whom and when, the NCHC made a big big mistake in not bringing along St. Cloud and one other team into its fold right out of the chute. A six team conference? Really? Thinking that Notre Dame is going to join? Really? I remain in the camp that believes that the piggish moves that were started by the Pig Ten Hockey Conference and now followed by the NCHC are ultimately going to prove bad, not good, for the college hockey world. Fortunately, perhaps, I've a half a step into the old folks home where they will not run buses to the arenas . . . .

Actually, that was me handing out free tickets by the buckets to Detroit Area Yoot Hockey Association. They may have been free to the kids, but they were full price to me. At least I got a tax deduction for my beating.

Because I continue to get inquiries here and there, I suppose it is appropriate to note that this package has been claimed by a solid Sioux fan. No longer available. Hope I was not shortsighted and will soon find out that the Sioux, and the NCHC, have lost, or never had, their BIG national TV deal. I shall believe that when I see that.

Just did a new roof on the old homestead, replacing the sod that has been protecting us for years. I have a FTA satelitte system that I purchased from PSB a few years back. Fixed dish, no motor. Have motor, box, transponder, and everything else needed. Works great, or at least it did all of the last two seasons. FREE to first taker. No delivery. Live in the Twin Cities. I can also have it in Fargo area by late summer. PM me if you wish it to be yours.

Faison is dreaming if he thinks that a national TV deal will put every Sioux game on television. Home games, yes. This is already the case. Away games? Perhaps some, but hardly all of them. The League may get a "Game of the Week" kind of deal, and one or two games every week may be on television (Eastern and Mountain time zones will help with possible double headers, but every Sioux game is not going to be on television. Maybe every league game. Maybe. Fox College Sports is the likely candidate to bite on a deal. Maybe it will be one of the obscure ESPN channels. Once the television networks crunch the numbers on audience size and ad revenues, reality will set in, at least on the perceived many television exposure claims regarding the new venture. The league will still need fans in the stands, and the best way to ensure that is to practice the old blackout game. Wow, Faison has sure made a quick trip from the outhouse to the penthouse, eh? I wonder if Gino Gasperini still has the energy to pick up the Commissioner's role?

Naw, am not a "glass half empty" guy. Just hate to see the other teams in the WCHA take the back stabbing. Best consulting firms? Big media deal? There is no "big media deal" in hockey, especially college hockey. Very few people care, and those that do spend their money at the turnstiles. North Dakota may withstand the travel budgets, at least for awhile, but will the others? If Hockey Least holds things together, it will become the premier college hockey league in the land. Playing the teams in the new league does not wet my whistle anymore than a Gopher fan's whistle is wetted playing a full one-third of the season against OSU, PSU, and MSU.

If a national scope, the travel budgets will begin killing these teams. A "media deal" isn't going to be a long-term panacea for airfare and hotels while half filling mid-sized arenas. Heck, even the NHL cannot sell a big media deal for the Stanley Cup. The number of folks truly interested in college hockey is about ten times the number of members of this board. Get ready for another big price bump at the turnstiles. The big heads are exploding with megalomania. Not going to pan out.

Wow. Truly great news. Makes the big press conference in the hockey world today rather meaningless in the greater view of life. Continued good luck and solid progress to Mr. LeGrand.

Saint Cloud should be a solid contender for admission. Northern Michigan as well. Notre Dame and WMU are nothing programs. The new powers that be could have given some more thought to the new conference name. The National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Really? Pretty damned lame. Of course it is a collegiate conference. No need to so state. And it is hardly national, at least in terms of geographic reach. What is done is done. Now let's just retire the name and the logo and we can start the whole world anew. Thank God I've already a foot and a half out of the canoe. I'll be watching most of what unfolds with Ralph.

Super Conference Schmooper Conference. Who does North Dakota, DU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami think they are? Of course, perhaps it is the fans, and not the coaches and the ADs, calling this collection a "super conference." It my eyes, it is not and it is another greedy shortsighted idea that is a knee jerk reaction to the formation of the Pig Ten Conference. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the remaining WCHA. Solid rivalries. Solid teams. Great history. A local fan's dream for regional travel. Schools that already draw crowds about the same size as the crowds typically drawn by Denver, CC, and, heaven forbid, Notre Dame! What's with the big obsession over Notre Dame? It made one run to the Frozen Four. It has a new building. So, too, does SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji for that matter. What fans here cannot claim that road trips to SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji -not to mention Michigan Tech - were absolute blasts and were almost always highly competitive games. This is hockey for crying out loud. Any D-1 collection of athletes can beat most any other D-1 collection of athletes on most any ice on most any given night. How does the super conference change this fact? This is a sad day for the WCHA, once the greatest conference in all of college hockey. The Final Five, once the greatest tournament in all of sport, is nearly history. North Dakota has pulled itself up to the feeding trough at the expense of other programs, some of which may be in real jeopardy. Established programs that have committed to college hockey for years will be in danger of folding. The Pig Ten and this new arrogant "super conference" are not good for college hockey. Those who believe that it will grow the sport are simply wrong. In ten years or so, there will be less than fifty teams playing college hockey, and most of them will be on the East Coast. What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. The Pig Ten formed. I was thrilled to watch it twist in the wind. Now I will get to watch the Fighting Sioux, PU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami do the same thing. Heck, I even feel mildly bad for Bruce. He took a snookering. Perhaps most importantly, my HISTORY OF THE WCHA dvd collection is now firmly in jeopardy. This was and is a big mistake. Of course, I have been wrong many times before and as we all know, opinions are like arse holes. Everyone has one. These are mine.

Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band. Thursday May 12. We have two extras in 220, Row 2. Just off side of stage. Sit and enjoy rather than stand all night. Two in 107, Row 18. Far corner. Seger was through a few years ago and blew the doors off the joint. $140 for the PAIR of 220 seats. $150 for the PAIR of 107 seats. These prices are below our TicketBastard cost of $168 and are obviously less than what the bloodsucking brokers are selling tickets for, at least right now. I am in the Twin Cities. E-mail me for Seger Tix.

These tickets are sold. Good seats, perhaps not nearly as great as the ones that I just sold, remain in both Fargo and Grand Forks.