NorthDakotaHockey

Aw shucks Cratter and Dagies. You guys are too kind. Poppa should have a statue just like Ralph. Maybe with a cane the way he was hobbling up and down those Final Five stairs. It was hard for Poppa to lose Ralph at such a young age. As my Momma often now correctly remarks, "it's a dying game out there." Let's hope North Dakota hockey, as in the team, does not roll over this weekend in Grand Rapids. Thanks again to all for coming and sharing stories and wares. Sprig's meat was a top shelf score.

Correct. That's what I meant to say. Thanks.

Pittsburgh. All Frozen Four Team. Celebrating the National Championship. Then a stint with Rehab along with a good raft of the rest of us. Then reentering the draft. A disappointing swing at the NHL. Only the very best of the very best make the NHL. No shame in not making the NHL. Then a long illustrious career in Europe. Life will be good for Sir Danny Kristo, a great kid. God Bless all of the boys who have the heart and stones to stay all four years in a program. Kristo will be a legend for years. For many reasons. Not the least of which will be bring the first BIG piece of hardware to The Ralph.

What's with the Nervous Nellie approach to the game here Siouxweet? Skate hard through the final whistle.

Damned straight. Assuming we get by Niagra, and further assuming Chokes slip by Yale (both pretty big assumptions this season), it will be great to blow a hole right through the Gopher plans. Anything can happen any given day. Why not get the Gophers out of the way and to their corn planters as soon as we possibly can? If Yale doesn't do it, either Niagra or North Dakota will. Book it. See y'all in Pittsburgh. Get your Frozen Four tickets now.

In yet more proof that I am a miserable failure at gambling, my cone was on Miami on Saturday and I lost. I hid in the latrines between periods to avoid having to pay Mafia Man off on my wager during the Championship Game. Did not do the double down. No ice cream here Salad Boy.

Solid post Mafia Man. Well said. The NCHC will develop a great tradition and following. The world is ever changing and so too does the world of college hockey change. Alvarez claimed it would expand college hockey. I continue to disagree. No word of the Pig Ten adding anyone and more than a few WCHA schools must be looking at the prospects of dust in the wallet with shrinking gates and big travel budgets. I hope that the WCHA schedules its tournament on an off week from the NCHC. If it does, I'll be there enjoying WCHA hockey with alot of you folks who live in the Cities. I always enjoy when Choker fans automatically assume that we are all from Grand Forks and ask where we are staying and when we are "going home." The merchants love us. The college hockey world love us. Even the good Gopher fans love us. I always like to tell folks when they suggest I "go home" that home is where the heart is and that is wherever North Dakota Hockey is being played. I especially like to tell the Choke fans that I, and many other North Dakotans, were part of a little known social engineering program of Wendell Anderson's from the mid-70's. Wendy was a great hockey fan. He looked around Minnesota and agonized that his subjects did not really know much about the game, or how or what constitutes a penalty. He quietly recruiting many of us to move from North Dakota to Minnesota so that we would raise the collective hockey intelligent quotient in his then, and sadly still, sorry state. I love to tell Choker fans that when I left North Dakota thirty-five years ago as part of that little known program, the IQ levels in BOTH states went up dramatically. Long live the Fighting Sioux. Long live North Dakota Hockey. Raising Number Eight after four more wins.

Thanks to Mafia Man for organizing this gig. Another great time was had by all. Many blessings for my crowd as my parents are still hobbling to and from Sioux hockey whenever and wherever they can. Loved everyone's stories and passion. Great seeing many folks and meeting new ones. Thanks especially to Sprig for laying out his meat for all to see and taste. Always good seeing y'all. If I start naming names, I'll miss a few. Lost the waffle cone to Mafia Man on the Michigan-Miami bet. As YaneA requested, I did double down on Michigan. Maybe that ND-Minnesota match that all good hockey fans wanted to see in The X last Friday will take place this Saturday in Grand Rapids? The Hoggsbreath was great. The only complaints from our crowd is that the proprietor, a North Dakota guy himself as I recall, could take a whole lot of lessons in helping his help, and especially in greeting and thanking his patrons for coming. He'd breeze around mostly with his face in the mirror without saying a word. Almost called him out on it. Next year I just might. Anyway, another blast, thanks to the organizational acumen of The Man. The Mafia Man.

SOLD. Deleted the posts that had me diving south on my price. Some lucky Sioux fans got these for $6.23 each.

Not in Saint Paul Goon. You don't want to know, unless you're willing to hand it over.

You are on for the vanilla waffle cone my friend. Michigan is toast. And one of my posse will again be the beneficiary of my acumen and my largesse. And your foolhardy way.

Miami will end Michigan's season. With an exclamation mark! The standard wager anyone?

Michigan is not going to win the CCHA. They stink. They have sucked all year long and an opening round victory will not a season make. Wow, it also sure will suck for those who will claim to be Big Ten Hockey Conference supporters next year. Some real solid performances in that league this year, save for Minnesota. Cheap tickets outside the door at The John all season long. Don had better load as many Bemidji, Mankato, St. Cloud, and Duluth games at home as he can to offset the poor gates for PSU, OSU, MSU, and maybe even Red's vaulted bums from that old hosebag Ann Arbor.

This gemstone is SOLD.

The Final Five GAMES of the WCHA playoffs.

We will, perhaps reluctantly, free up a block of four tickets, on the rail behind one of the goals, for Thursday night game. Section 224, Row 1. Great view of entire ice sheet and benches. No one in front. Fall protection at end of aisle. If you have not bought packages, as we have, then you pay the piper so I can cover a few games that no one seems to want, e.g. non-North Dakota games. Will sell ALL FOUR tickets for $140. A premium? Yes. Consider it a penalty for being a non-believer, and my need to mitigate some loss for last minute leakers. E-mail me at fortparker911@msn.com if interested. Tickets in Twin Cities. 494/France during day, Roseville in evening. Can meet before game to committed buyer.

Maybe posted elsewhere but see that UNO and the City of Omaha are committing, or are close to committing, $75M for a new on campus hockey facility. Deano must be doing a few things right, even if his boys did end up leaking it down their tired legs as the season kicked into high gear. His time was then. Hak's time is NOW.

Have one complete package for the Final Five. Center ice. Paid the TicketBastard $178.77. Have receipt and hard tickets. Will let go for $170 to a committed buyer.

Sorry MafiaMan. Just finished all of the heavy lifting motivating the boys for last night's game so that they could be sure that North Dakota Hockey would be returning to Saint Paul for a run at another Broadmoor. We will have 8-12 in tow on Friday morning. Tell the Big Cheese there to put another spot or two of help on board for the onslaught that is likely to come. Thanks for the kick. I was sleeping at the wheel on the long drive home last night.

Found TH. 3-0. Smoke House. This one is over.

Is the only way to get the radio off of the UNDSports.com site? Cripes, they pack enough b.s. onto that site? I can't seem to get it to work. Of course, I am also an idiot.

Anything but the prestigious DQ Cup. The inflated dinks from the so-called State of Hockey have already wrapped up that lard-assed and dumb-assed trophy. Last I checked, I think it is held by one of the new WCHA teams whose collective power rankings this year dwarf those of the new Pig 10. Enjoy that brand of hockey for a few years. Wow, sucks to be a Choker fan next year.

Have one, maybe two, single seat tickets for tonight's college hockey game at The John. Why SRO when you can stand between periods and sit amongst the folks itching for their spelling lesson during the action? $65.23. This is a mere $7.23 over what I paid for this unit. No resellers. fortparker911@msn.com

Friday - Jumping Joe Gleason Saturday - The Bonecrusher - Rocco Grimaldi

A regional? The John? I forget. At least you acknowledge that it was you and that it was a stupid idea. Now change your screen name and you will get indulgence for about 243,000 years in purgatory for that classless move. Of course, being a Choker fan, you are already damned to Hades anyway. Your hell on earth will continue this weekend at The John. In the form of North Dakota Hockey.