jdub27

He definitely needs his confidence back on the offensive end and when it comes, I agree that he'll have a huge game. Despite his struggles, he's still shooting over 50% from the field. On the other end, it seems like there is some agreement between him and refs that he'll get called for two fouls in the first few minutes of a game and at least one of them will be questionable. I thought he played really solid, disciplined defense the second half of the PSU game, staying on his feet and not picking up an unnecessary foul and it was something that was needed because Drick was also in foul trouble and Avants turned his ankle.

I was just thinking that unless it is Thursday or Saturday, there isn't a game.

You mean the guy who fans want benched despite being top 6 in goals on a team that lacks secondary scoring and the staff trusts the most to take face-offs has replaced the guy who became the fan whipping boy mainly because he got hung out to dry all the time by his defensive partner?

How is that spin? You stated there is a lot going on behind the scenes and their presentation was terrible meaning there's really only two options: 1)Either you're full of it and trying to defend the inadequacies they were showing or 2)There really is "a lot going on behind the scenes" and the athletic department representatives willingly and knowingly didn't share the real reasons for their request and instead poorly presented some lame and vague excuses with no substance for why they needed the huge increases 2 years into a 5 year agreement.

So your saying they asked for money but knowingly didn't disclose the actual reasons they need it?

The explanation were they didn't know their travel costs were going to almost triple but now they need more money 2 years into a 5 year deal. Real quality and in-depth. From the half-ass presentation and lack of actual explanations, it didn't look like the athletic department reps thought the students would pitch a fit about it either.

Of course they change year to year depending on where/who you are playing, but they don't just randomly go from $1.4 million (budgeted) to just short of $4 million (projected) in 3 years. Also, the WSB gets travel offsets from the big schools to come play those games, they don't foot the whole bill.

The gate was $30,000 higher in Fargo than the previous year in Grand Forks, the cost of the rinks were only $10,000 less. The attendance issue is bigger than the facilities cost issue at this point but the article did state they were working with the REA to bring facilities cost down.

Q was an absolute beast last night, both passing and shooting. His bounce pass that threaded the needle and went over half the court was an absolute thing of beauty. The rest of the team was off last night and he carried them and that's why he's in POY talk. I can only think of one shot he forced, an early heat check fade-away three, other than that it was all within the offense. Can't believe people are knocking him or the team, he stepped up when he needed to, that's what your best players are supposed to do. When they are on, just keep feeding them. 1-11 from 3 pointers outside of Q, not good. Baldwin and McDermott were way off in the first half and their confidence was gone in the second. Officiating was brutal across the board. Players didn't know what to expect. Refs were absolutely clueless. I'd guess close to a dozen uncalled travels both ways. The play where UND sent in a sub, the horn buzzed and then the refs decided to hand the ball to PSU to inbound while everyone stopped to look and see what the horn was about was particularly ridiculous. Didn't have a great view of it but the foul on Q with 10 seconds to go was questionable particularly with Drick trying to call a timeout at the exact same time. Forte is an all-around very solid player for PSU. Not sure why Parson's didn't play much the middle part of the season for them but he was good as well. Overall, UND won a game where they didn't play well outside of one guy. They stayed pretty tough on defense despite the mess on the other end. Nice to see them win one like that instead of letting it slip away. Also want to point out that this is the second game in a row they've been down by more than 5 points at some point and come back to win....

Someone already did by reporting it to NDSU and Bresciani gave them what they wanted with his semi-public acknowledgement and reaction.

Interesting theory/thought process and some pretty decent designs. I don't disagree that it will be tough for SME (or whoever else would have got the contract) to come up with something, that is just a given but I'm not really following the part where a firm just does something like this "just because" and then releases. I'm also pretty curious on where you are getting the 73% disapproval figure from.

So your issue is that boys hockey plays a game at 10am, something they have done in the past despite your insistence that they haven't? And the REA, home of UND hockey, is going to give their own team a little priority, despite clearing it with all parties and is somehow going to cause the tournament to be moved permanently to Fargo?

The scheduling has nothing to do with it, I've already pointed that out. It's cheaper to hold in Fargo but attendance is worse. The NDHSAA is aware of all possibilities when they schedule and that includes UND athletics having priority of the REA, which was the purpose of the gift. If you disagree, Jody Hodgson and his bosses (the REA Foundation, which Ralph's wife and daughter sit on) would be the ones to take it up with. Them you bring up Title IX concerns in Duluth but would prefer UND unfairly moves the women's hockey games to somewhere else so you can sleep in an extra hour or two.

Guess what, there will still be the same amount of fans at state hockey and without the added cost of UND having to pay to rent the Purpur for two or three games like 2011.

Never before noon? Try again. The boys have at least twice the previous 5 tournaments and the girls have every year. Thursday, February 26th, 2015 - 11:00 a.m. Bismarck High/Dickson - Veterans Arena (girls) Thursday, February 20th, 2014 - 11:00 a.m. Bismarck/Mandan - Olympic Arena (girls) Thursday, February 21st, 2013 - 11:00 a.m. West Fargo/Williston - Olympic Arena (girls) Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 - 10:00 a.m. Bismarck High/Fargo Davies - Ralph Engelstad Arena (boys), Fargo South/Williston - Olympic Arena (girls) Thursday, February 24th, 2011 - 11:00 a.m. Bismarck Century/GF Central - Ralph Engelstad Arena (boys), West Fargo/Williston - Olympic Arena (girls) The first round on the boys side is set up exactly like 2012. The girls side starts an hour later and plays at the Purpur (why that is, I don't know). How exactly is that becoming progressively more of an inconvenience when its the same as it has been before? I'm well aware of what is going on in Duluth. I can't find the game you're talking about and it didn't happen in the last three seasons (if you could point me to it, that'd be great). There is also no mention of the scheduling of men's and women's hockey in the lawsuit your citing, though there is a laundry list of things. Is your whole point that the women are getting to play at the REA because its unfair to make them play somewhere else? If so, I'd agree, so I'm not sure why the impact on the NDHSAA (which is minimal) is an issue. That is still a huge jump to claim that its the first step to getting night games over the men.

But it isn't new and they have played games that early before (and its happened many times if you look past the first round). On top of that, this exact scenario happened in 2012 except for the NDHS girls used the Olympic instead of the Purpur. UND women had WCHA 1st round games that were played in the afternoon in between the two sessions of hockey. Kind of throws a wrench in whatever point you're trying to make? As for what's going on in Duluth, it wasn't in the last 3 years that they provide on their site, so you'll have fill me in on the year. But then it would pre-date any lawsuit, so I'm not sure how that would be relevant?

Its like they didn't want to the play the state hockey games on different size rinks or something. Again, the 10am time is no different than any other sport, it was approved by the NDHSAA and is only an issue to those who don't want to get up a little earlier in the morning. I guess I'm not following you on the Duluth comparison, however I their schedule doesn't show a single home game in the last 3 years that the men have played an afternoon game. I put the chance that it would happen in Grand Forks (strictly because of women's hockey) right around 0%.

Both UND and NDSU football almost exclusively practice on the kind of field (grass/turf) and either indoor or outdoor, as close to game conditions as much as they can during the week. As for hockey, if it doesn't matter, I'm confused why the men's team exclusively practices in the Olympic arena before heading to CC or St. Cloud. The UND men's team works with the NCHC to make sure they are out of town for state hockey when it's going to be held in Grand Forks. As for playing Saturday/Sunday, what is the answer for a potential game 3? I seem to remember the exact opposite reaction in 2011 about how ridiculous it was when the women's team played their playoff series at the Purpur. The REA was built to serve the student athletes of UND first and everything else second. Feel free to ask the GM or staff where the priorities are and where they received that directive from. The 10am complaint is pretty weak when you look at any of the other NDHS sports. Volleyball had consolation games starting at 10am, Class A has a consolation game that started at 9:30, Football had a game start at 9:10am. Early morning games aren't something new and they aren't limited to hockey. Sounds like a lot of pointless whining. You think having a 10am game (which almost all other NDHS sports do) is somehow jeopardizing the tournament being in Grand Forks. Wow. Please, pass your concerns on to Jody Hodgson, who is almost definitely the one who made the final call on this, and let us know what he says.

But it was coordinated, someone is just pissy they have to get up earlier. Don't hear this outage when football is played in the early morning at the fargodome.

End of next season (2016-2017).

I'd actually be surprised if there were any that made a profit, though with how accounting works in college athletics, who knows what that actual definition is. My only point is adding on the cost of the buyout of a coach to what is already a money pit at UND is a bad idea, two years would be even worse. Having to go into the last year of a contract with no extension would send a pretty clear message.

Because I really can't think that there is actually any women's hockey who would pay a buyout nor do I think throwing another 6 figures at the women's hockey team is a good idea regardless of how they are doing, I believe that as it sits right now, 2016-2017 is Idalski's final year under his most recent contract extension.

So are you insinuating that the culture has been dependent on an inanimate object all this time? Seems to me you're selling the program short by claiming "Sioux hockey" and its success was somehow attributed to a logo (which has been changed multiple times) or a nickname rather than the time and effort countless players and staff have put in over the last how many decades. While I get what you're trying to say about the idea of "Sioux hockey", you would have to also claim to believe that if UND had remained the Flickertails or picked some other nickname instead of Sioux (before being changed to Fighting Sioux), the program would have been less successful.

I'd tell you that you're wrong but you would know that if you looked at student-athletes that aren't men's hockey players. But that might prevent you from being able to play the victim card since you are being "shamed" so that's understandably inconvenient. Also, I'm not sure how most of the student-athletes could even be all about the Sioux name since I'm pretty sure there isn't a single one left on campus who wore the Sioux name/logo in competition.

I actually like Drick inbounding because of his height and he's a good passer. Short of that, he shouldn't be touching the ball in that situation. Probably safe to guess Geno was rattled from missing the previous free throws but if that is the case, pull yourself, don't give the ball to someone who's a bad free throw shooter. Wonder if UNC wasn't even planning on fouling until Drick got the ball. It becomes a no brainer for them at that point.