NorthDakotaHockey

Lots of wringing of hands and knashing of teeth tonight. BSU has a good squad, and is obviously taking it to us right now. Alot of game yet to be played.

The only thing that comes close is being in the Maroosh watching the Sioux laying a sound beating on the brown and yellow in front of their home town criers . . . . By the way, West Regional tickets are out. Ralph season holders supposedly get a first dig at them for next year's Regional. It'll be bigger than the Worlds, albeit on a different scale.

I am really bumming here. Right about now, I should be about 120 miles or so from Mecca. Instead, I am chained to some desk in a near dead end job. Hoping I get home in time to dial in the Internet Radio. Two weeks ago, living large following the Sioux in the Springs. Tonight, just another widget in the big wheel of life.

We are, for a few, remaining positive in outlook. Even the casual observer could tell this year that Kaip is the real deal, and was well on his way to marking himself as the heart and soul of this team looking forward, much like Micky Prpich has been looking back, and at present.

Oh yes. The Beaver series. I almost forgot. No split here. Sioux take two. Team rallies around coach and captain. Tough series. Good meddle. Bemidji will make their season when they go into Mariucci in March and take a Gopher pelt.

After the licking the Dogs are gonna lay on the Gophers this weekend, I think that the brown and yellow may be a couple of seasons "away from recovery" after the constant pounding that will be inflicted on their fragile psyches. Someone called Tech taking three of four, at least, last weekend. Last Saturday, I called the game right after Scott calmly, and fairly, manhandled two Gophers at a time when Tech was trailing 1-0. This series really is a no brainer. Dogs are the better team. They were last year. They are at this time of this year. I don't think that these games are even going to be close. Especially with the Dogs not getting the Gophers in Duluth this year. Of course, there is a reason why we play the games . . . . So that many of us can take pleasure in watching the much anticipated lickins' on the picture tube.

Why not? It will probably beat your watching the licking the Goofs will be taking to make it six straight conference home losses. Dogs are on a mission, and from a roster glance, are a much better and seasoned team than the Gophers. Good thing that your boys had the early luck. It'll get 'em to Mariucci in March, where anything can happen. Here's guessing it's a beating administered by some team in green to end your season. Eh?

Maybe it's time to put a lock on this topic as it has, in my opinion, already been beaten to death, has no practical value for the purpose of this board -- which as I understand is to discuss the hockey team, the hockey season, hockey in general, and the great state of hockey at the UND --and has the potential to go on forever with sad sad stories of our own experiences and close calls, the tragedies that abound, and the legal wranglings that now will surround. Let's say if we want to pontificate, berate, speculate, or litigate, we should look to book some time on Oprah, Judge Judy, Hannity & Colmes, Larry King Live, POI, or someplace other than here. Glass houses is great things, ain't they? Hak, Matt, and the team will handle this fine, in my humble and final opinion. Git yer West Regional tickets now. They are selling out fast.

I think that he loses his privileges regardless of a conviction or not. There is the civil forfeiture of his driving privileges based on principles of implied consent, and there is the criminal prosecution for driving while intoxicated. Never the twain shall meet. Unless he pays some hack lawyer big money to start an implied consent challenge in the Roseau County District Court (an apparent sure loser lawsuit under the facts here present), he loses his privileges to drive in Minnesota after seven days. He doesn't get them back for 90 days, unless he goes in and pleads guilty to a dwi at his first opportunity. In that case, the Department of Public Safety cuts first timers some slack and returns full driving privileges within 30, rather than 90, days.

No it won't. Ain't a prosecutor around gonna let that one go, and there ain't a defense lawyer around gonna do any better than Matt will going in and telling the judge, and "society," that he is sorry. $5000 to hold a hand? Lawyers. Drunks. And money. Bad combination.

I guess in this day and age this is again a case of hard news finding its way onto the sports page. In the olden days, one would not cross one with the other and that was, perhaps, a bit of an unwritten code between the players and those who report on them. Course, I'm talking pros here mostly. How many DWI's do you think Dino Cicerelli, or Al Secord, had? PCM did a nice job with a story that was bound to break sometime, by someone. Strictly the facts, however few that they are at this time. Just doing his job in this world of new age journalism. It appears that Matt may have refused the breath test. The standard test. These days, this is a misdemeanor offense in and of itself. He either was smashed, which is unlikely, or he just was not sure of the ramnifications of a test and figured he'd be better off not blowing into the Big Horn. Maybe he asked for blood instead of a breath. In that case, he could be hosed. Regardless, as long as it is his first, and as long as there were no children in the car (an enhanceable DWI offense), he'll be ok. He's of solid stock, moral fibre, and is sheer talent on skates. If he refused a test, he'll lose his driving privileges for a year, automatic, and will have a leg up to argue that he was not driving while intoxicated. If he allowed blood, any reading over about .13 will bring him a conviction, probably on a plea, to a DWI. Over .10 and under .13, he'll get a careless, which these days really doesn't mean a hill of beans of difference between the two charges. Here's saying Matt had had a beer or two, but was far from being far over any limit. He's too smart for that, as are we all every night that we drive home after a couple of barley pops. Hell, we ain't drunk then, is we?? I really doubt that Matt was bouncing off the curbs, squeeling the tires, or driving wrecklessly, but for the small to reasonable amount of beverage in his belly of course. Probably a rolling stop. Or a slight speed. Or a tail light out. Or some passenger taking a leak on the side of the highway. Pulled over by a bull with little else to do, probably a Gopher fan to boot. Sees the name on the license, smells a beer or two on the breath, and BOOM, we've got ourselves a situation here. And I'm not saying that driving over the limit isn't a situation. Necessarily. As I always say, obey the rules of the road religiously, make sure that your equipment is working, and drive defensively. We can all drive under those situations. If his handlers have any sense about them, Matt will plea to a careless (or even the Dee-Wee to get his license back quick), Coach will suspend him for a series, hopefully right quick, and the two will join with all the other boys on a wild ride to Columbus. Stupid? Ya, sure. Egregious? Likely not. After all, who among us, other than myself, can rightfully claim that we have never been convicted of, much less arrested for, a misdemeanor charge? How many of you can recite the alphabet, backwards, even while sober? Cut the kid a reasonable degree of slack.

Hopefully a spate of our boys are watching and taking notes. Our talent with Tech desire? Here we come baby. Oops. She's here. I do believe it's time for me to fly . . . .

Not many, but they have to be kinda fancy in order to please this sea hag that I am expecting shortly. She musta got lost, or changed her mind. Great Gophers-Tech game. Git yer West Regional tickets now. They are almost gone.

Geez. No one has started one yet? I've been trying to figure out if my place is clean enough for a lady friend and then figured, to heck with it, there's hockey on TV. Tech-Gophers is a fine game. 1-0 Goophs mid-second. Gophers are chippy. Tech is under their skin, especially my new buddy John Scott. Helped the refs break up a scrum by holding a Gopher in each hand out at arms' length. Really strong. Really funny. So, I figure that before this is over Tech will be going home with four. I been wrong before. Like thinking my place is clean enough for my lady friend to take notice. Back to the game. Be swell folks.

Nor should anyone be scared. It is the best possible matchup for the Sioux to make it to Columbus. The Gophers will be showing more and more that they are really becoming something that is less and less.

That's a big 10-4. People will have read it here first.

First Tech win at Mariucci since November of 1994. Can you say two programs beginning to go in different directions? Gophers stink. Watch them sink.

Took Tech an hour fifteen to bus from its hotel to the arena. Tech came to town after its game with Notre Who in Green Bay earlier this week.

Cratter. I believe that I stand corrected. The ice ads are for television, not the folks in the stands. Silly stupid me. Still living in the days of the all white boards. Great, great table. Put in on e-Bay, and you will reap a fortune.

The Dogs can take CC. Saw the Sioux near totally dominate them last weekend only to come out with nothing to show for it but the realization that effort matters. Just because CC took two in Mariucci does not make them unbeatable. When are folks gonna start realizing that the Gophers are on the downhill side of the season, and really are little to nothing to get excited over. Hope Tech can hang on. They are controlling large stretches of the play, eh?

Lucia is a joke. And a jerk. Both qualities filter down through his so-called program. It'll be another quarter century before the Gophers taste the Big Crown again. Hear me now and listen to me later. Tech takes three of four.

It's top shelf, top drawer, over-the-top all the way Cratter. Never mind that one side of the Farm Bureau / Altru logos are facing the wrong way. Or maybe it is I who is mistaken? I think that they face the crowd on each side of the ice.