redwing77

Sicatoka is right. How can you gauge which team the fans tuned in for? Kansas isn't exactly a puny team. I'd bet most of those who tuned in were Jayhawk fans. As for ratings, I'd certainly hope the NCAA basketball tourney is better rated than a regular season hockey game. After all: 1. It's the playoffs 2. With 2000 teams involved and national tv for most of the games, there has to be the numbers that can overwhelm any non-playoff hockey event and even, to a certain extent, playoff hockey. 3. Name brand recognition on at least one side of the court. Folks, if it was NDSU vs. Radford, would this game even have been televised? Would almost 16,000 people even showed up? NDSU fans travel pretty well regionally. I loved their performance vs. UMN in football both times. However, if it was a nobody team NDSU was playing (nobody vs. nobody which, outside of this region, sorry guys, NDSU is a nobody), I can't believe it would have been this well attended. Look, I'm not going to sit here saying how UND BB is going to be as good or better than NDSU. I don't think UND is "there" yet. They might be sooner or later. They might not. Who knows? But I'm not going to continue getting into a pissing match comparing apples to oranges. UND Hockey is nationally known. You can call hockey a niche sport and you'd be right, but nationally known is nationally known. NDSU was, even to the bloggers that covered the game, a "Cinderella" story. More news because of getting there in their first year of eligibility than because of their skill. And for the record, they acquitted themselves pretty well. They only lost by 10. And you can look back through this message board and you'll find me congratulating NDSU on the accomplishment. But you're not going to make headway trying to explain how one NCAA appearance for a newly DI basketball team is going to be superior in any way to a perrenially nationally ranked hockey team that has about 18 alum in the NHL or minor leagues or coaching ranks. One might also be remiss in stating that UND also holds one alum among the NBA coaching ranks. Quite the feather.

Can anyone answer me this question? I've watched NHL hockey games and, every now and then, North Dakota gets a mention when referring to a UND alum playing on that team. For someone who watches the NBA, or any televised basketball game that isn't a Summit League game (meaning it is a pro game and not in association with DI basketball, the Summit League, or anything like that), how often is NDSU mentioned? Are there any NDSU alum in the NBA? That is an honest question, btw. I don't know. You are right though. The Summit League and the WCHA are equally recognizable but for different reasons than you are trying to state. You see, when I walked down the concourse in Washington DC's MCI Arena watching the Capitols play the Red Wings, I didn't go up to everyone and flash the WCHA insignia on my jersey in everyone's face. Nor did anyone approach me and comment to me about the WCHA. I did have two fans that commented on having watched UND in the Frozen Four earlier (we lost to DU or was it BC? I can't remember in the NC game that year). She said we played great and our fans were a lot of fun to hang out with. I took her word for it because I wasn't there. The others said that my jersey rocked. Huh. I asked them if they went to UND and they said "nope, but we love the jersey man! Go Sioux!" Odd. I should've asked them about NDSU basketball. Maybe they would've said the same about the Bison. I'm guessing that they more than likely would have thought I had too much to drink. Oh well. I don't give a damn what conference is sewn onto the jersey. All I care about is the name on the front of the jersey and what it represents.

WOW! NBC actually found a way to make CNBC and MSNBC to be relevant! Well, it's temporary, but still!

Hook line and sinker. MplsBison running around with a hook and stupidity as bait and we're biting like we're starving. Seriously people.

This comes from a member of a political party that looks to spend trillions of dollars that the US doesn't have....but hey, tit for tat. I'm done.

The motto tonight should be: FINISH or BE FINISHED.

I think "the U" is an awful idea. Why? Because it is so regional. Every time I heard of "the U" around ND and MN, it was in reference to Minnesota. My brother's in-laws know of "the U" as Michigan. In Florida, visiting my grandparents, I talked about "the U" in reference to my sister's acceptance (at the time) to Minnesota and they said, "What, Coral Gables? Congrats! Go Hurricanes!" USD is calling themselves the U now. The only time where it has actually caught nationally is sort of a tangent of it. Of course, I'm talking about THE Ohio State University. So, here's my take: Question #1 - Going by what the PResident said, I suspect UND students will get the lowest priority. Alumni will get a sugar coated mid-level importance. The most important voice? The PR department. So, the minority of the minority is going to get the loudest voice. Not saying their choice will be selected, but I bet the options put forth by the anti-nicknamers will get a lot more attention than those put forth by pro-nicknamers and especially students. Question #2 - This is VERY dependent upon the name. I know nothing about the UMiami Ohio Redhawks, but I do know about the Marquette Golden Warriors. They decided to change their nickname to "The Gold" the Alumni decided to change their donations to savings accounts under their own name. Marquette changed their name to their current moniker, The Golden Eagles. I'm not sure as to how much they recovered in terms of Alumni contributions, but no one supported the initial nickname change....except the person that implemented and came up with it. Question #3 - No. The liberal agenda (sorry politicos, but how else can you explain the PC crowd suddenly getting more powerful than the majority?) prohibits the word of the people en masse from being heard. They only go towards those that were "downtrodden" to make sure their voice is heard above all else. So, no. Not a chance. The nickname's a'changin and I dread what abomination they'll come up with. I don't have faith in those people.

I agree. The way this has been taken assumes that the only one in charge of development is Lucia and not the player himself. And I don't think Leddy is all that bad. Really, the top two Minnesota born players to drop off the map that I can say with certainty has been AJ Thelen and David Fischer. AJ is in the ECHL. Who knows if he's under contract with the Wild. Fischer is still a prospect but he seems destined for the Sasha Pokaluk path... except Pokaluk bolted Cornell early and, from what I can tell, had a pretty good performance record while playing in Ithica.

I wish people would stop quoting him so I can ignore him completely.

Wasn't it only a few years back that "everyone" was calling for Payton's head? Questioning every move he made? Guess he answered the questions. And I second the Detroit Lions being the doormat of the NFL. The amount of damage Millen did to that team is going to take years to resolve and, even then, it will take even longer for them to become remotely Super Bowl contenders. Tampa Bay were jokes... No more. New England were jokes... No more. The Saints are the Aints no more. The only one's left not to do anything in the Super Bowl? Cincinnati Bengals Buffalo Bills Cleveland Browns San Diego Chargers Jacksonville Jaguars Houston Texans Tennessee Titans/Tennessee Oilers/Houston Oilers Arizona Cardinals/Phoenix Cardinals/St. Louis Cardinals Philadelphia Eagles Detroit Lions Carolina Panthers Seattle Seahawks Minnesota Vikings Atlanta Falcons Of these listed, only the Lions aren't doing much. The Browns are on the poor side of mediocre. The Eagles and Chargers are more of a quandry (especially the Chargers) as to why they've not been MORE successful. The Jags underperform and the Vikings and Cards overperform.

Outcoached? HA! You want to see outcoached, wait until Brett leaves. Then all the Vikings will have to rely upon is the coaching and they'll start losing... but they got him wrapped up until 2013!! (Childress mind you, not Favre). Favre made the team come together and do well. Childress just rode the coat tails. And Favre will be back... no wait he won't... no wait he will... nope.. yep... noyep...no wait, nope.

Well, maybe I am.

Detroit is partially right. I'm not sure the last time a pro nicknamer was kicked off the board. However, all the anti nicknamers that were kicked off the board violated the rules of the board so it didn't matter what the stance was. I don't recall fourwindsboy being kicked off the board. I do recall GrahamKracker though. He did some stuff that were questionable legally.

My opinion is still the same and I've said it over countless threads: Finishing has been our problem. Chances have been there. Offensive strategies by our coaches (as much as several here would wish to deny it) has placed our players in good position to make em pay, but we haven't. I can say finishing overall despite the fact that our powerplay is still atrocious because it's the same on the power play. Teams with incredible power plays are a double threat because they could beat you 5 on 5 AND 5 on 4. Right now, teams don't have to worry about us if they go down a man. This means they can play more physical or, thanks to officiating, bring back clutch and grab without worry. If the officials actually do call them according to the rule book (instead of just us... fancy that. We have to play by the rules but they don't), they don't have to worry because, though we might be able to put on some pressure, we don't have the finishing. We've heard the other excuses "hot goaltender," "lucky bounces," WCHA officiating... well, appart from the last one, it doesn't exist. Sure, we've seen goaltenders stand on their heads against us, but it's not why we lost. Cheverie in the Friday game made all the saves he should have made and got lucky on the rest. That's it. As for bounces, that's bull. You make your own luck on the ice. WCHA officiating is a problem but even with that crap they call it, we still were in positions to win both nights. So... it's back to finishing. And I'll tell you this much: Hextall and Genoway isn't going to help VV and crew finish even if they do. And if they come back and do start finishing, though it will help the team when they score, relying upon them for it entirely will be disasterous. Oh and don't include Knight on the list. This is a guy that was almost derided as much as Cichy is now earlier this season. He can't just suddenly be a key. For those of you who saw him as a FRESHMAN and view the season as a whole rather than the usual "What has he done for us lately" nonsense, yeah, he is a key as he has been improving every game, much like Fienhage. Oh, and since I'm a homer already, Cichy will be JUST FINE.

No thanks. If UND ever needs to participate in a gimmick game like an outdoor game, I think it will be a sad day. One was unique, but now...it's overused.

I'm still around. Not posting as much (especially in game threads) but I'm still around.

I am betting the penalty count is FAR more even tonight.

UND leads 0-0 but there still is 60 minutes remaining for DU to mount a comeback.

There you go with stats again. You must like being attacked.

Exactly. Look at how many first rounders haven't panned out. Or some did partially and were ran through the wringer for not living up to the hype (See Daigle, Alexandre)

I wouldn't even go that far. I think we've only been beat through and through 3 or 4 times this year. All the 1 goal losses are hard to swallow, but we've not been outclassed in any of them. They haven't gotten lucky, nor have we been unlucky. They simply capitalized on one more mistake than we did. It rolls like that sometimes. I agree. I want home ice badly, but I want the NCAA more. I'd also like better officiating but we can't be too greedy. True enough. I think our offense has been more inconsistent this year than our D. We're still doing pretty darn well all things considered. We're not going to beat many teams if we don't score more than 2 goals. Goehring, JPar, and JPL wasn't a "high profiled goaltender" either really. Goehring became a big name after 2000's NC. I doubt JPL and JPar were really that high profile outside of those who faced UND. We just pedestal those three because they all seem better now to us than Eidsness and Dell. I argue that Eidsness isn't a shut down goaltender (which no one will argue against me on), but is HARDLY bad or even mediocre. He's not great, but he is solid AND pretty darn consistent. As for Dell... what can you say about him? 5 games... What does 5 games tell anyone? Well... nevermind. We ran Grieco out after that many games. Yeah, I'm a homer. Yeah, I blindly support all Sioux players. However, I do truly believe that blaming Eidsness for our woes, even some of them, isn't fair and, in some cases, utterly ridiculous. So, yeah, he's no Goehring/JPar/JPL, but he's a helluva lot better than many posters here give him credit for. Recruiting flashy players is great if we can get them but... tell me... DU doesn't have many flashy players. Colborne, Ruegsegger, Rhakshani are all great players, but hardly flashy. UW doesn't have any flashy players and those that did come fared how well? I mean... How did Turris do for UW? RIght now, the teams with the most flashy players on it top to bottom are.... yup... Michigan and Minnesota. How're they doing? I'd DIE for another coming of Toews/Oshie/Parise/Zajac/etc. However, I'd rather die than have a team full of them. We'd be destined for 7-9th place. I have no argument for this. Not sure about this one. It's hard to prove. Teams with bad chemistry issues give up. They don't respond to coaching. If you need an example, look at MTU, UAA to a certain extent, or in the NHL you can look at STL, Columbus, or Toronto. This team is in a slump. Their body language shows stress, frustration, high emotion to me. This is not a chemistry issue. This is just reality not going the way they'd like. Maybe my definition of chemistry is different than yours. I think they miss a calming influence ON THE ICE. I've argued at length that's where Genoway's absence is greatest. Chay can only lead so much from the locker room or press box. Unfortunately, this problem falls on the shoulders of VandeVelde and Zajac really. They're the leaders that are on the ice. They need to step up and Zajac has played very well, but VV has faltered a bit. I could understand this in the context of our special teams. PP has no chemistry at all. I guess I don't follow you on this one either. You can't really claim that we're not playing all that poorly one on hand and call the players cement heads in hockey iq on the other. If they were really playing stupid hockey we'd be getting blown out far more often. And I think there are a lot of players who have hockey IQ. Marto and Gregoire are great, but there have been a lot of bad things happening in our games that are being placed upon the shoulders of our players that aren't that player's fault. A great example: Blood's penalties. Yes, he has taken some dumb penalties this year, but those are greatly outnumbered by how many times the officials have simply reacted to Blood's play and called a questionable call on Blood. Nevertheless, Blood is blamed for it. I honestly believe he's just like Matt Smaby and Smaby got called A LOT for using his size. Blood uses every inch and pound of his frame out there. And I really think he has been one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dull as all get out powerplay. Yeah, I'm blaming some of this on the officials, and that's stereotypical of me, but I can't help but look at Blood's play and saying to myself "He'll be rid of that garbage when he gets to the pros." How sad is that? In order for Blood to play at the higher level he must overcome the officials and in order to do that, he has to go pro? Depressing. This is the point that I can say I agree with the most. VV and Zajac are good and, though Zajac has played VERY well lately, I think VV has been the most absent in this category. I remember watching a player like Andy Schneider before he was named Captain. He played like he had no cares in the world and he scored points like a mad man. He got the C and....where'd his offense go? I know this isn't a popular opinion and I'll get flamed for this but... I say strip the A off of VV's sweater. Let him go back to just playing hockey. Give the A to Marto. It would be a slap in the face, no doubt, especially seeing how VV has helped UND over time, but even in the NHL, players have benefited from it. Some people, like Chris Porter, take to the leadership aspect. Others, not so much. I think VV is a great player, but I don't think he's letter material to be blunt. Doesn't solve Chay's absence though. I'll admit the reffing thing is a problem for me. Heh, you couldn't tell by now? But I think that this team can win and it will.

I agree that we need to plant someone in front of the net... however, I really like Blood's shot. I recall at one point UND had Dmen like Greene, Smaby, and even Finley streak down the off wing and set up for a one timer down low. I think Blood should do this too. Actually, last night, I noticed one such attempt. It was saved by Cheverie, but I loved the idea. Kristo swung out wide and whipped the puck cross ice from the boards to the center ice side of the faceoff circles where Blood was. Blood ripped the puck at the net. Unfortunately, he carried the puck a bit before shooting it. If Blood works on his release and his one timer, that could be a LETHAL combo. Also, I might be more in favor of putting Marto with Kristo on the first unit. Put Blood one the second unit. Blood has become a great QB of the PP. Not as dynamic a scorer as Genoway, but that's not his game anyways. I know it would split up Marto and LaPoint, but that's ok. I think being opposite Kristo will help Marto and being opposite Blood will help LaPoint on special teams. Also, I think having a trailer on carry-ins would help. If a player breaks into the zone even marginally alone, it's a useless action unless he can break free of the D, which is VERY difficult to manage. So... have a trailer come in. The trailer can either set up center ice for a centering pass or go far corner so the one with the puck can send it down the boards. We don't follow so we get players like last night who get into the zone alright but are pretty well covered, manage to break free to make a centering pass...to no one. I like the fact we're throwing the puck at the net, but I don't like the fact that we're not following the puck in to hunt for a rebound. If Cheverie mishandles the puck, we should make him pay. I hate to use Hakstol's cliche' but... we're almost there. We just need to follow through and finish. That's harder than it is for them to do than for me to say though. We are in a mighty offensive slump right now. Oh, and 82 - I'm right with ya on the stat thingy.

I get frustrated like most of us (hence why my posting on game threads have dropped drastically), but I agree with Goon. We got to keep optimistic. We've had a lot of adversity this year. I rant about several disappointing aspects, sure, but if the worst occurs and this year turns into a rebuilding year, then I can honestly say this team looks to grow into an absolute beast. I can remember some years past (like 2001-2002) where I had no such feeling. Down years suck... and this year isn't a down year...yet. I argue that a down year can only be determined either very early or very late in the season. As long as we're in the running mathematically we're not in a down year. This team is still very competitive. We have flaws right now, big ones, but we're still in the mix.

They did, to be fair. But it is frustrating when 3 skaters can out play 5. Every time the PP goes down the ice, especially on a 5 on 3, they have an odd man rush. There shouldn't be ANY reason for them not to put the puck on net. And I'm growing weary of the timely goaltending garbage. If we score more than 2 goals, we're always in a great position to win. Period. The fact that we can't score on the PP or finish otherwise is the problem. Sorry guys, pine away for JPL, he's gone. Nice to see though, that our faith in our netminder who is certainly not the top but is among the top goaltenders in the WCHA is rather sad. I can't wait to see all the criticism that will inevitably be thrown Gothberg's way. I just hope the guy leads the league in shutouts every year he's a sioux, has a GAA of round about 1.00 and a save% of around .960 Because, .900-.920 isn't good enough apparently. Whatever. One last question to the Eidsness haters: How does Eidsness steal a game for a team that can't score? OH I KNOW! If Eidsness gives up 1 goal or more, he's a failure. Gotcha. I love it when the bar is set about 4000 feet higher than is reasonably attainable. "Criticize" away. In Hak I trust. In Eidsness I trust. PERIOD.