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My brother and I were sitting along the goal line a 5-6 rows up during warmups for a Sioux-Badger game. We were watching the Sioux at the other end of the ice. He just got finished making a comment about wanting to get a puck when he got drilled in the knee from a puck that a Wisconsin player shot that must have climbed over the end boards. The puck ended up landing about 20 feet away where some kid picked it up. Being the caring brother that I am, I told him he just got his wish for wanting a puck. Having the protective netting back then would have saved him from a sore knee.

I just got a letter in the mail about the netting being put up in The Ralph. Since the netting shouldn't affect me too much where I sit, I'm assuming these letters are being sent to everyone that might even be slightly affected. The letter seemed to be comparing the netting system to the one that was installed in the Xcel Center. The letter also gave increasing insurance costs as a reason for REA being proactive and putting up the netting despite neither the NCAA or WCHA requiring it. If the insurance cost is the real reason, I wouldn't be too surprised if the netting is put in most of the college rinks.

You'd think after Hermes has lost his helmet at least three times this year that he'd strap the thing on a little tighter.

To be fair to Groeschl, Dressler had a few problems against Mesa St. If I remember correctly, he mishandled both a kickoff and a punt. But since the coaching staff pulled his redshirt, I would like to see him utilized more often. I hoping as the season goes on we'll see him out there more as he learns the offense better. Otherwise, I'd hate to have a year of his eligiblity "wasted" to be a second-string returner/receiver.

I've noticed the same thing with the screen passes being thrown too high. It's like the QB's still think they are throwing to guys who are 6'2"-6'3" (Lueck, Ahlers, Stattelman) rather than the receivers they have now that are basically all between 5'7" and 5'10". I was curious and actually went and counted how many have gone out-of-bounds. I found that Glas has kicked 8 out-of-bounds in the last two years and Saunders kicked his one and only kickoff out of bounds this year. That's 9 times in the past 17 games. I feel that's way too often, but I guess the coaching staff can live with it since they haven't changed their philosophy.

I found this while I was reading a column Gary Miller posted on ESPN.com. I guess bringing the whole league to him is a lot more convenient than being the guy slowing the whole draft up by drafting online.

Maybe this has been discussed before and I missed it, but the one trend I see unfortunately continuing from last year is the high percentage of kickoffs that are penalized for going out of bounds. Glas seems to do it at least once every game. I

I have the feeling that ESPNU will get picked up fairly quickly by the sat. and cable companies. If not, they could do what they did when ESPN2 was launched and put a huge bball game (ex. North Carolina-Duke) on the channel every year to get people to call in and complain.

ESPN announced they are creating a new network set to launch next spring called ESPNU that will cover college sports including hockey. I'm guessing you'll see the opening round NCAA playoff games on this network. Hopefully, they'll also have a game of the week or something similar to give college hockey more national exposure during the regular season. ESPNU: College sports initiative to launch in March 2005

I see that Mesa State lost its opening game 35-14 at home to nationally ranked Central Oklahoma. It probably should have been 35-7 since Central Oklahoma botched a punt giving Mesa a fumble recovery for a score just seconds before halftime. Mesa put itself in an early hole by fumbling twice on its first three drives of the game. The Mavericks were only able to gain 119 yards rushing on 39 attempts and were just 6-17 passing for 106 yards. Based on that, you'd think the Sioux should be able to shut down Mesa's offense. I'm not sure how much of a passing team Central Oklahoma is, but they completed 68% of their passes so hopefully the Sioux's passing game can have a better showing than it did against Delta St. For those you care about national polls, UND should be #1 in next week in the Don Hansen's Football Gazette poll based on Saginaw Valley's loss to Northwood.

At halftime, I just had a sense that Delta St. would come back. Going into Delta St.

I saw that Nashville resigned Hrkac. Hopefully, he'll get a chance to play in the NHL next year.

The NCAA is considering a proposal from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to add a 5th year of eligibility. The rational behind it is that it takes about 4.8 years to graduate so players will be able to graduate before their eligibility runs out. This would, hopefully, cause graduation rates to rise. This appears to only apply to basketball. I would assume it would apply to all divisions, but I can't say for sure since I couldn't find the actual proposal. If this would go through for all divisions, the extra year would have a big impact for lower division schools and DI mid-majors as their players aren't usually candidates to leave early for the NBA. Another reason I

INCH has a story about Phil Kessel being the top 87 recruit. It doesn't look like the Sioux are at the top of his list as he lists BU, Mich, MN, & WI, but they do list 5 other top 87 birthdate players including Zach Jones who besides Kessel is the only one who hasn't committed. The Next One

TheHockeyNews.com updated their mock draft. They still have Stafford going #12 to the Wild, but Zajac dropped from #15 to Dallas at #34. TheHockeyNews.com Mock Draft Phase II

I saw the EPSN article with Stafford going #5 and wanted to see what others are projecting. TSN.ca has him going #9 to Anaheim with comment that "The Ducks would be getting a character forward with good offensive upside." Hockeynews.com has Stafford going #12 to the Wild: 12. Minnesota Wild: Drew Stafford, RW, U of North Dakota (WCHA) The Wild may be tempted to select whichever netminder the Kings leave them--if one of Schwarz or Montoya is still on the board. However, look for GM Doug Risebrough to prefer local kid Stafford at No. 12. With 2003 pick (20th overall) Brent Burns converting from right wing to defense, adding Stafford to the club's right side makes a lot of sense. Hockeynews.com is going to have an updated mock draft out tomorrow according to their site. I'll be curious to see if they move Stafford up. TSN doesn't have Zajac going in the first round, but Hockeynews has Zajac going #15: 15. Nashville Predators: Travis Zajac, C, Salmon Arm (BCHL) The Predators will focus on the center position in Round 1, since it's their greatest organizational weakness. Zajac, Chipchura, Jakub Sindel, Johannes Salmonsson and Petteri Nokelainen may all be considered at No. 15 but it may come down to Zajac's long-term potential versus Chipchura's all-around game. Nashville GM David Poile could go in either direction.

I guess I didn't think about losing a year of eligibility so transferring wouldn't make much sense then. I'm not sure if he was on the field for the play or not, but I figured it was just a player venting who wasn't able to block Digger on 4th down in OT. But maybe Digger wants to move up and test himself against powers the likes of Montana Tech.

I'm guessing this is nothing more than wishful thinking by some NDSU players, but some guys I know work with two current Bison players who were saying something about Digger wanting to play DI-AA and thinking about transferring to NDSU. I don't believe it myself, but I'm curious if anyone else has heard anything. On a related note, I've wondered how the coaching staff, given all the talent at the position, manages to give all the LB's enough playing time to keep everyone happy. Winning helps of course.

My uncle has gone to just about every game the past three years by buying tickets from people selling at the main entrance. I don't think he's ever paid more than $25 for a Gopher ticket (opening night excluded). He did make it sound like most people were asking for $30-40+ for the Gopher tickets. For most other games, he can usually get a ticket for $10-15, or sometimes even a freebie. Of course, driving all the way to Grand Forks might not be too appealing without tickets in hand.

Adam Pineault, who would have been a sophomore, has left BC according to USCHO. He didn't do much last year, but with the seniors they lost, he sure would have helped them next year. Pineault Departs BC

As an Oak Grove graduate, I've heard allegations of recruiting. It seems like if you don't enroll as a freshman, you're just about guaranteed to be ineligible for your first semester. I

I'm watching the game on channel 464 right now on Dish Network.