fightingsiouxfan86

WORD!!! Murphy is the man!! Sioux Yeah Yeah!!!

Charlie Murphy on top by a lot C Murph 833 RhHiT 505 5 of 8 precincts reporting

I recently had the opportunity to chat with a member of the Spirit Lake Tribe and he gave me some of the best news I have heard in a very long time!!! His name is Frank Black Cloud and he works for Spirit Lake and is not only an active member of the pro-nickname group but is also one of the founding members. He was largely involved in pushing the ballot through to vote on the nickname issue and is currently working with members of the Standing Rock Tribe to get a ballot pushed through there as well. He told me that he is confident that a ballot just like the one done at the Spirit Lake Tribe will be pushed through in the very near future, he believes it will be done before the elections take place on the 30th of September. He says that there are many supporters of the nickname that want to ensure that the outcome of this issue reflect the opinions of the majority Native American population. We also discussed the odds of the Tribal Council approving a 30-year committment and he was adamant that if the vote returns with majority support the Tribal Council will approve the contract. I understand his word is not set in stone and I don't have any additional confirmation on this information but what the hell, it sure give me some real hope! This guy seems very legit and I for one am glad to have him on our side!

4winds I'm not sure how much you know about the history of democracy but if you do a little research you would find that no issue, large or small, is exempt from the democratic process. And how can you say that changing the nickname wouldn't have a cultural or economic impact? Are you kidding me 4winds? Do you realize that college athletics are the only major source for sports entertainment in the state? Do you know how much tourism money comes from the colleges and their athletics? And the cultural impact is pretty much impossible to miss, the entire town of Grand Forks and much of the surrounding area is flooded with Sioux and Bison logos and such. I'm not even talking about the inevitable collapse of UND Alumni support and donations which bring a hell of a lot of money into the school and the greater Grand Forks area. Even if you think the nickname issue is trivial, the fact remains that a change like that would have a huge impact on the whole community. And as for an example of something like this happening elsewhere in the US... um how about pretty much the exact same situation with the Florida Seminoles that took place a few years ago. The two major Seminole tribes in the nation backed the nickname and Florida got to keep it. If you need a few more examples to completely demolish that point I am sure I can find some. You of course have the right to form your own opinion but I would suggest you find a more intelligent way to make your points clear because your current method just makes you sound ignorant, naive, and boorish.

Official primary election results are in at standingrock.org! Charles W Murphey with the highest came in at 565 votes, Ron His Horse Is Thunder at 220 votes, and Avis Little Eagle at 219 votes! According to the Grand Forks Herald (which is rarely a reliable source) in theory a ballot could be put into circulation on the 30th of September by the winner of the election and if it passed then the tribe could approve a 30 year contract on the 1st of October. I hope it doesn't come down to that sort of time crunch though and judging by the email from Grant Shaft it should be possible to have that deadline extended in order to give the tribes time to make a final decision on the issue. Either way this all sounds good and gives us a least a little bit of hope! Go Sioux!

I agree that you really cannot blaim one player for a win or loss because it takes a team to make or break a game. No one persons mistake can be held responsible for the outcome. That being said, I do not believe it's a bad habbit to point out weak spots in the game or player. Acknowleding those mistakes is what makes you realize where improvements need to be made.

Thanks Goon! I've watched that final UNH overtime goal about a million times and everytime I see it I just feel like it was a complete breakdown of our defense... and I feel like I saw a lot of the same kind of thing happening in the semi-final frozen 4 game last year against BC?

I'm not positive but isn't there a general rule of thumb when it comes to covering 2 on 1 rushes? I have heard this before but I'm not positive if it really exists. My understanding of it was that on a 2 man rush the D-man is supposed to cover the man without the puck and the goalie is supposed to focus on the guy with the puck... or is it the other way around? All I know is I have heard many people discuss this rule or whatever you wanna call it in regards to Finley doing a pretty bad job at following this guideline. I know for sure the UNH overtime goal was a good example of this... people kept saying he was covering the wrong guy. I never played hockey, I'm just an avid hockey fan so can someone who has played or knows about this idea fill me in?

I didn't mean to compare offense to defense in any of that. What I was trying to say is that I think Miller did better as a D-man overall. Finley and Jones were great D-men, I cannot argue that at all. But miller brought something more to his position and that is that he does decent with defense but even as a D-man he still puts out some great offense- similar to how Genoway plays. I don't actually watch miller time but I have heard good things. Genoway made mistakes from time to time but his were small in scale when compared to Finley's. Take the game against UNH for example, I think BE should have probably made the save on that overtime goal, but at the same time Finley was covering the wrong guy! In a game that crucial you really cannot afford to make mistakes like that. That is just one example but Finley has made many mistakes like that before and the ones that stick with you are the games that end our season. Last years Frozen 4 semi-final embarassment is another example. It didn't really matter cuz we were already losing by so much but Finley made some very poor defensive decisions that cost us goals. The kid just doesn't perform the greatest under pressure. There are a lot of Finley haters out there and I can say I am not one of them. My girlfriend hates him with a passion and I am constantly sticking up for the guy haha On the other hand it is easy to get frustrated with a player who makes dumb mistakes like that. I don't know nearly as much about Jones as I should, I wish I knew more but he just never really stood out for me last season. We had a lot of other players who stole the show on D such as Genoway. The one thing I remember about Jones is his temper, you are probably right that he toned it down though. Either way though I think every team needs a guy with a temper so he will be missed.

I think miller was a bigger loss than Jones and Finley. I know a lot of people rip on Finley and I am not trying to do that. Finley was a great player for the Sioux but I do not think he was one of the stars. Look at his stats for the 08-09 season, I believe he played only 27 games and managed 10 points but combine that with his 56 penalty minutes (the 4th highest on the team) and his knack for blowing some of the most crucial moments in games and I would say he is a loss but we'll do fine without him and the talent replacing him is of a much higher caliber. The kid was an enforcer on the ice, I'll give you that. His gi-normously huge stature made for a pretty intimidating image. But the fact is that he lacks the ability to perform under pressure, he fails when it comes to making crucial decisions that could make or break the game. I'm not a Finley hater, I'm gonna miss the kid but I feel like he needs some serious work before he reaches his full potential. Jones was a mediocre player. His stats are less than spectacular but better than above average. I think his biggest downfall was his temper, he had poor control of it. His incident this year where he was literally dragged off the ice by the officials and then proceeded to tear down the stick rack on his way back to the locker room was piss-poor sportsmanship. Everybody loves a good hockey fight and I don't see anything wrong with his actions up until the point where he should have known the fight was over. When 2 officials are dragging you off the ice and you're fighting both of them its probably time to give up. But hell, I can get past that cuz I don't know what sort of taunting from the opposing player he was recieving. But tearing down the stick rack in a fit of rage just makes you look like a little kid stomping his feet and screaming at Wal-mart (or basically pulling a Sydney Crosby) and that reflects poorly on the team and the coaches. As far as Miller not being considered a real d-man I strongly dissagree. This kid has talent by the *@#%-load! Moving him to D has only seemed to improve his play. He did wonders for this team last season and I for one a really gonna miss watching this kid play, he put on one hell of a show in almost every game! Either way though we have some strong players returning and some real potential coming in so I'm excited to see what next season will bring... GO SIOUX!

INCH is a JOKE!!! Okay I know we failed in the WCHA tourney as well as the NCAA (even though I think the game against UNH was played very well on our part. We had some great plays and I think defence did relatively well up until the OT.) But UND's second half surge was pretty exceptional, going from the bottom of the WCHA to the #1 spot takes talent and determination, something only a great team can produce. I think to not even include the WCHA regular season champs (considering WCHA is probably one of the toughest leagues in the country) is just rediculous! You could easily take out Prinston or Cornell! I'm not gonna say they didn't have a good record last year (except Prinston's failed final game against UMD) but you need to take into consideration the other teams in their league, none are particulary exceptional so I am not surprised they posted the records they did. As far as Minnesota being #3 I think that is a prediction with hopes far too high. "when he's on his game, Kangas can be a difference maker" I cannot believe any serious hockey fan would ever even make a statement like that! That can be said for just about any golie out there, when they're good they're good... big deal! When they're not good, they SUCK! Kangas may have had a good '07-'08 season and a decent first half of last season but if you look at his career stats I would not say he is an exceptional golie, I would instead say he can sometimes have the potential to play very well, in fact he has basically carried the goofs through many games but that doesn't make him exceptional. I kind of get the feeling UND is hated by INCH. Even when we turned our season around last year to become Mcnaughton cup champs when you read the articles on INCH regarding us it feels a little like they are pulling teeth when giving us credit. Almost like they really had to try to find good things to say about our team. I also think UND should have had at least one guy on the Hobey Baker top 10 list, I mean come on! All I can say is Chay Genoway! This kid has a 3.64 gpa and is one of the best defencemen in the country, last time I checked that pretty much meets the criteria for a Hobey Baker canidate. I'm not even saying he is the best candidate out there, I am merely saying he will probably be a finalist or at least he deserves it. We have a pretty amazing team coming in for next season, a lot of fresh blood but it seems we play very well with a young team. And we do have some pretty solid upperclassmen coming back, I think the combination of the new talent and the time-tested old talent will prove to be very successful. I guess we're just gonna have to kick ass and prove INCH wrong... again! haha

Not to change the subject but I had to share my thoughts... Check out Goon's Moron of the week http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/2009/02/are-whe...inneapolis.html Why is it that every time the Sioux are doing good and goofs are losing do they have to turn it around on us? I don't see Sioux fans talking !@#$ about the goofs... in fact I kinda feel bad for them. On top of that I don't think there is a single Sioux fan who doesn't wanna see us play the goofs in the final five cuz no matter what the outcome it would be a great game! Then I read this article from Denver regarding the UND vs CC series http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_11770553 Now I understand how Denver would love to see a CC sweep so they don't have to worry about a tie with us on top the WCHA but what I don't understand is how a coach (dasher troll) can even consider making a public statement about hoping a Sioux loss (or any teams loss for that matter)! They should be concentrating on their upcoming series and not be so worried about ours. The thing that drive me most crazy is that even if we win the WCHA title and/or the NCAA championship we will most likely still not be given credit by any other team! They're still gonna say "oh the Sioux are cheap players and only won because the refs sucked" or some other really stupid excuse like that. Why can no one just say "Hey you know the Sioux played really well and had a great season! Congrats!" and just leave it at that. I don't remember hearing Sioux fans talking !@#$ about BC when they knocked us out of the frozen 4 last year even though they kicked our ass... we just know we played like !@#$ and we look towards the next season. Bottom line: The Sioux are a great team and I don't see how anyone can argue that! Look at all we have accomplished and then tell me again why we suck...