IronFist

There are a few NCAA championship banners hanging from the rafters at Lynah. Sure they may not be recent titles, but they're titles nevertheless. CU has also been fairly competitive against all levels of competition in the modern era. This is indisputable. You can see for yourself, since you don't appear to be the most knowledgeable poster that I've ever come across....... http://www.uscho.com/schedules/team.php/co...r/gender,m.html Apparently your school's athletics department has more respect for our program than you do. Otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to travel over 1,000 miles to play two games at our "measly" 4,000-seat arena. I could see Maine fans talking !@#$ to Saint Lawrence fans after the Black Bears pounded SLU by some ridiculous score like 10-1.......but neither Cornell fans nor UND fans could talk that kind of !@#$ and expect to be taken seriously after this recent series. While I would honestly say that North Dakota was the better team overall this past weekend, it wasn't like an NHL team playing against a Junior B squad. A hypothetical NCAA tournament game between our two teams could go either way, though I would probably predict UND to squeeze out a victory assuming they are working with a healthy lineup.

@LetsGoSioux.......a lot of !@#$-talking from a fan whose team only managed to split their last four games against Cornell. ........which would currently put us one spot ahead of you guys. I have never been to any of those arenas so I can't comment. And quite frankly, I don't care. What does arena capacity have to do with Cornell's place in the WCHA standings? At least Goon was able to come up with the right acronym......"EZAC."

Are you referring to the newspapers? It's tradition at Cornell for students to read newspapers while the visiting team's players are being introduced......and then crumble the newspapers up and throw them onto the ice after the introductions. Georgetown's basketball fans once did that at the Carrier Dome and were subsequently pelted with all sorts of objects.

You can put me in that category. Being an RIT grad myself, I would love to have the Sioux play RIT in Rochester sometime. Our fans are just as passionate as Cornell's and would surely sell out the Blue Cross Arena for any games against premier college hockey teams like North Dakota. After all, even Colgate drew over 7,000! So what's the answer to #5? Specifically, what are some of the creative chants that y'all come up with at the Ralph? I'm sure there are quite a few.

From a CU perspective, I can't complain too much about the outcome because I thought that UND were the better team on both nights. The Sioux do a good job in the neutral zone and in their own end. Cornell never controlled the play for long like they have against other teams, even those from conferences comparable to the WCHA (I'm looking at you, University of No Hardware). After the Sioux jumped out to an early lead last night, they really defended their lead well and gave Cornell's forwards fits. Our top forwards like Gallagher and Nash were trying to generate some offense but just couldn't get their way against that tough UND defense. I expected this to be a tight-checking, low-scoring series and both games lived up to expectations. If these two teams were to meet again in the NCAA tournament, it would be an epic defensive battle. Hope the North Dakota fans in attendance (and there were quite a few considering the distance between Grand Forks and Ithaca) enjoyed the experience. Don't mind the "Section O Sucks" chants......that's just part of the price of admission for any visitor.

I hope you're right. The Lynah is an extremely tough place to play, even for teams used to playing in large WCHA arenas. It will be interesting to see how the Sioux come out after imploding against the Gophers last weekend.

Not to split hairs, but Rochester and Albany aren't really considered CNY out here. Rochester is more WNY and Albany is considered to be in the "Capital District" or Hudson Valley. Friday night's game won't be televised on Time Warner SportsNet - Rochester. Been looking forward to this series for a loooooong time. Hope it lives up to the hype.

The Big East would approve. The entire 16-team conference would have a shot at making it to the big dance then. But then the Big East tournament at MSG would completely lose its meaning. Six OTs between Syracuse and UConn? Who cares?..........it's not like such a game would have any real implications under a 96-team tournament scenario.

FWIW, I would have Cornell barely in the top-ten and UND between 10-15. That will, of course, change depending on how the Big Red fare against the big boys. The polls may not mean much in the early months, but come NCAA tourney selection time, they could influence who gets at-large bids and who sits home.

My original point was that UND is overrated and should be ranked between 10-15. Looking at the RPI on SiouxSports.com, UND is 12th in the country. Wisconsin, BC, UMD and Michigan State are all ahead of UND.......those were the teams that I argued should be ranked higher than UND in the polls. As for Cornell, they may be a little overrated like they were at this point last season.......or they may be perfectly legit. We'll have to see how they fare in their upcoming OOC games in the Florida College Classic and then against UNH and UND. Although Cornell's schedule thus far hasn't been anything to write home about, they haven't disappointed as evidenced by their 7-2-2 record. For them, it is a little too early to gauge their place in the college hockey world because they haven't faced any premier college hockey teams (BU doesn't count because they lost some key seniors after winning the national championship last year). UND, however, has proven to be slightly above-average.......that isn't good enough to be ranked as high as 5th-6th in the country. Maybe 5th or 6th in their own league, but not 5th or 6th in the entire country.

Unless you go something like 0-for-10 or give up a few shorties, that won't happen. RIT went 0-for-7 against NU yet they scored shorthanded after a 5:00 major penalty. Go figure.

Couldn't be any worse than RIT's was last Saturday.

Bemidji State is legit. I used to debate their legitimacy with Millsy (I believe that was his name), a big-time BSU fan. Last year's Frozen Four appearance wowed me and their success so far this season proves to me that they are more than a one-year flash-in-the-pan. They should be a decent team in the WCHA.

1. Fair enough. I did emphasize this in my initial post.........even so, it is baffling that UND would get so much credit for being a 9-6-3 team. And no team should get "handicap points" for having one of their players injured. Should OU be a top-ten team in college football because they lost Sam Bradford early in the season? Surely, OU would have won more games with Bradford behind center.......but polls shouldn't be based on speculation or "what ifs." They should be based on performance. 2. A resurgent Merrimack team? You mean the same Merrimack team that is currently sitting near the basement of the Hockey East standings with eight points, a team that has lost five of its last six games? I'm not impressed. UND's performance in the Subway Holiday Classic was impressive, but the Sioux have too many losses to be ranked 5th or 6th overall. With a 2-5-2 record in your last nine, I would rank the Sioux between 10-15 as of today. Wisconsin and UMD should be ranked higher as should a few teams from outside the WCHA like QU, Ferris State and possibly MSU. Good luck against Niagara! They stole a victory against my RIT Tigers last weekend.......hopefully you put them in their place in the Shillelagh Tournament. All I have to say is that NU won't get away with taking tons of penalties like they did against RIT.

I beg to differ. Cornell would be in the upper-half of any conference in college hockey. Look at how they have performed against teams from the "power conferences" in the NCAA tournament this decade......... 2009 NCAAs: beat Northeastern 2006 NCAAs: beat Colorado College, then lost to UW in triple-overtime 2005 NCAAs: beat Ohio State, then lost to Minnesota in overtime 2003 NCAAs: beat Minnesota State & Boston College, then lost a one-goal game to UNH 2002 NCAAs: lost one-goal game to UNH They have consistently performed well in the tournament. And these weren't games against the Merrimacks or the Bowling Greens of the power conferences. These were games against some of the better teams from the power conferences in those respective years. Over the past two seasons, Cornell has enjoyed an overall record of 4-1-1 against the power conferences (HE, CCHA, WCHA) with their only loss coming to UND.......before the Big Red rebounded to beat the Sioux in the second game. The stats speak for themselves.

It's spelled N-i-a-g-a-r-a. And I hope UND whoops them.

All you've managed to do is come up with a handful of excuses as to why Cornell beat you guys last year, why your team is struggling this season, and even why Harvard won the national championship in 1989. This type of excuse-making is something that I'd expect from fans of Sacred Heart and AIC, not a storied program like North Dakota. Excuses aside, UND better bring their A-game when they come to the Lynah. They will be swept if they underestimate Cornell like you are doing.

Don't worry. This will only give the Bearcats more ammo for their big BCS bowl in a few weeks. Think WVU in the Fiesta Bowl against OU after RichRod abandoned his team.

But that doesn't explain why UND is ranked ahead of other WCHA schools with more impressive resumes this season. Take your blinders off for a minute and look at things more objectively.......then maybe you might understand why UND does not deserve to be ranked so highly. As for the "EZAC" comments, spare me with that crap. The top few teams in the ECAC, including Cornell, can skate with any team in the country. 13-3-1 Quinnipiac swept tOSU and beat a good UMass squad......yet because of the "prestige" factor, they are ranked below a rather unimpressive UND team. Union started off the season by sweeping a rebounding Maine team that's currently 3rd in the Hockey East. Can't speak for the bottom half of the ECAC, but that is not what you will be up against on the 22nd and 23rd of next month. You're only telling half the story. Cornell went into the Ralph and earned a split. This year, UND will have their hands full when they come into the hostile environment at the Lynah. Bet on it.

That would be cute if we were still in the first or second week of the season. But we're not. Historical success aside, the Sioux have been rather unimpressive this season. Why, for instance, should Wisconsin (who has a better record than UND and did well in their recent series against the Sioux) be ranked behind the Sioux? There can be no logical explanation for that. But congrats on your impressive OOC wins over HE powerhouse Merrimack.

I always liked the Sioux jerseys with the classic Blackhawks logo. The newer design that I saw during last year's game against UNH was alright but not as legendary.

Snow games are always fun to watch. I remember earlier this decade when Colgate was making a run for the Div. 1-AA championship and played one of their games in near-blizzard conditions. I agree: that is REAL football weather. Montana has better fan support than a lot of lower-level D-1A ("FBS") programs. They should move up and compete in the WAC or MWC. If that ever came to fruition, the Griz could have a nice little rivalry going with Boise State.

I will be in Ithaca both nights for the Cornell-ND showdown. This series has been marked on my calendar for a LONG time! Could someone please tell me how the Sioux are ranked #3 in all of college hockey when they are currently 6th in their own conference? I realize that rankings should never be taken seriously (especially so early on in the season), but that is a joke of mammoth proportions!

When I said that Cornell "can hang with the elite teams from the Hockey East," I was referring to their come-from-behind win over Northeastern. Of course, I am not writing off Bemidji State, or any team for that matter; I am merely stating that I believe that Cornell, due to their style of play, has the best chance of upsetting BU, which is hands-down the most talented team in all of college hockey.