ethanm

I don't like the fact that UND could get no higher than 3rd if MTU and Northwood win out. It'll be interesting to see the Ferris St.-Northwood score. If Northwood doesn't win big, UND would have the most impressive result of the one comment opponent of the three which it seems the current system doesn't really take into consideration.

I would think the Sioux would move up in the rankings with both Grand Valley and St. Cloud losing (although I think UNO could jump UND). Winona's position couldn't have been helped by beating Moorhead. I would think that MTU and Northwood would be 1 and 2 in the next poll, and it seems like it's possible that they could end the season with the top two seeds. This weeks results: 1 Michigan Tech beat #9 Ferris 28-6 2 St. Cloud lost to #7 UNO 28-13 3 Northwood beat #4 GVSU 35-14 4 Grand Valley lost to #3 Northwood 35-14 5 Winona State beat MSU-Moorhead 42-0 6 North Dakota beat MSU-Mankato 20-3 7 Nebraska-Omaha beat #2 SCSU 28-13 8 Saginaw Valley beat N. Mich. 42-7 9 Ferris State lost to #1 MTU 28-6 10 South Dakota beat Upper IA 45-12

If this does get built (and I seriously doubt it), they would have to build a parking ramp. I don't think the proponents of the last arena effort fooled anyone with the claim about downtown parking being equal to the Fargodome. There may be the same number of spots, but most of the ones downtown are already used without an event unlike the dome's lot. I also don't see NDSU even considering a D-I hockey team. They won't have the money to fund it (and the women's team that would likely be added) with their D-I move. If they do try the hockey push again, maybe they'll bring back that lame commercial promoting the chance to see MN, BC, and Notre Dame (I guess they must have put a football guy in charge of that ad because who really wants to see the Fighting Irish in hockey?). I think this is an interesting quote from the Bison AD. He mentions playing in the Fargodome for a bigger arena, but what about better. I don't see how NDSU can be competitive at the D-I level in the BSA. There appears to be only speculation about the plans to upgrade the basketball facilities. You could renovate the BSA but would likely sacrifice intramural space. At least NDSU has their thinking right about the possibility of playing bball in the proposed arena, I don't think you'd have the same atmosphere with it being off campus. Plus, those students that would go downtown would probably get detoured to one of the bars and never make it to the game.

They played "Sandstorm" by Darude during the laser light show two years ago.

I think they really overdid the siren today. It got old really fast when they started using it for every turnover and FG. Either get rid of it (which I'd prefer) or use it for TD's only.

The pass interference call did have an impact, but NDSU still should have been able to stop SDSU from going the length of the field. The (attempted) tackling on the game-winning touchdown was terrible. I'll admit that a very small part of my wanted the Bison to win only to see what their post game reaction would be towards the granite marker. I figured the NDSU players wouldn't even care or that any celebration would look faked since they did just beat the Jackrabbits. The Bison will care about winning the trophy next year, but I still question the rivalry. I didn't really care when UND would beat USD for the Sitting Bull trophy, and I figure most NDSU fans felt the same way about the granite marker before the SDSU game. It just seem like the media is trying too hard to make NDSU-SDSU out to be rivals. I would think that NDSU-UNC is the better rivalry based on past success.

Being of a Norwegian-Swedish background, I'm offended about the use of the Vikings nickname since the NFL team protrays them not as a fearless, savage warriors but as a group who chokes when the battles/games really count. Maybe that's why I'm not a MN Vikings fan.

From the Oct. 11,2004 SI's Go Figure section I'd have to say I was surprised at how low that number is given that there is a negative image attached to the Redskins nickname.

There's a column in the Forum today about Pennick going to NDSU. It appears the chance to play DI despite the postseason limitations was a factor. I think Park Christian went a little overboard with the press conference to announce the decision. It was compared to Marbury's conference. Granted he says it was scaled down, but Marbury was going to a major DI school while Pennick is not. I guess Park must be really excited about having their first big recruit considering the high school is so new. Pennick staying at home

If the Olympic ice is so great, why have schools like MN and NH (I believe) looked at switching to NHL-size ice? And don't say it's just about the money gained by adding more seats. If the Olympic ice was so great, they wouldn't sacrifice the extra space to earn a few more dollars.

Interesting story on Spirko (aka Sparky) in the Herald today. It's nice to see his unbiased family advisor helped Spirko make the right choice for college. Sparky Slovakian happy at UND

Maybe somebody already pointed this out and I missed it, but it seems like the recent UND recruits are along the lines of Blais's early teams (smaller guys with speed). Blais's last few classes seemed to have an emphasis on size to combat the clutch & grab employed to slow down those smaller, quick teams. Looking at Heisenberg's site, most of the recruits are in the 5'11", 175 lb range. Not that I'm complaining since we won two titles with small guys, but it's nice to have a few "big guys" to camp out in front of the net on the PP.

It's too bad that the IceSharks couldn't make it in Fargo. I worked for the Sharks for a while. They scheduled a home game one Sunday while the Vikes were playing. They could have had a "have your own section" promo for that game with the number of people that showed up. It was interesting watching UND recruits (or potential ones) playing. Plus, it was something to do when the Sioux were on the round. McFeely's column in the Forum points out the problem hockey has in Fargo (competing with HS/college football & bball). Of course, you can say that playing in a dump like the Coliseum doesn't help. [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=71747

This same rule changing happened with the BCS this year (what a surprise). Oklahoma added Oregon to its schedule last spring and played Bowling Green instead of Arkansas St. (or somebody like that) because it would help them in the strength of schedule component. Then after everybody's schedules are set, they drop that from the BCS formula. Hopefully, the DI BCS schools will complain enough about changes being made so late to the formula that it will have a trickle down effect to the lower divisions.

2004-05 North Dakota Season Preview 2004-05 WCHA Season Preview

Saw this in the Herald today.

I know they're the defending champs, but how did Denver get four first-place votes? I guess they are four voters out there who think they should be #1 until somebody beats them.

If Bowenkamp's injury is more serious, does anyone know if Shad Carney is getting more of a look in practice? I thought he was suppose to be one of the top guys they brought in a few years back. He didn't get much time in some of the blowouts earlier this year. The few throws he made looked pretty good (one of his incompletions was flat-out dropped by the WR).

I'd read that Augie's coach was all upset about the fumble recovery for a TD saying that the ball was out of bounds. After watching a replay from the back of the endzone, it looked like the refs got that one right. I can see how Augie's coach thought it was out since the first angle I saw sure looked that way.

I played 11-man football in high school. We scheduled a game one year against a 9-man team where whoever was on offense determined the number of players on the field so we played 11-man when we were offense and 9-man when they were. Based on that experience, I don't think either team benefits from a game like that because of the extra time we spent in practice for one game. If it ever happened, I'm sure the Canadian team would have to use US rules which wouldn't really benefit them for their season.

INCH named Murray to their preseason All-America 2nd team, Jones was on the 3rd team. Zajac and Radke made the all-rookie team. You could make an argument that what could have been the preseason All-American forwards and defense all left early (Parise, Bochenski, Vanek, Suter, Ballard). I guess I'm showing a WCHA basis with that statement. http://www.insidecollegehockey.com/7Archiv.../preaa_0302.htm

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm...&section=Sports The UND fan in me is happy to see Chad get another shot in the NFL, but my fantasy football side is still pissed about Winslow breaking his leg on special teams on the second to last play of the game.

I forgot to mention that the tickets include one for the USHL All-Star game on Feb. 8th. I don't remember hearing that this was part of the season ticket package.

I received my tickets in the mail today. The first thing I noticed is that Brandon is on every one. They must have printed them quite a while ago. Otherwise, why would the put someone on the tickets who might be gone? There is also a letter included that details the addition of the netting and the Club Lounges being closed to the public. It mentions a new bar, The Penalty Box, on the main concourse which will sell "a full range of cocktails and beer". The one new thing I saw on the letter is that the temperature in the bowl will be lowered to around 50 degrees to help improve the ice quality. I know the ice quality has been one of the few complaints so hopefully this will solve that.

I believe UND and NDSU are also playing each other in softball.