redwing77

Actually, there was flak about Ralph before the $100 million dollar donation was finalized and he still made the donation. My impression of him is not one of first person (I've never met him). However, I believe, from what I've heard, that he was a man who really didn't care what other people thought about him or his practices. If Las Vegas is as cut throat in the casino/hotel industry as it seems to be, this would also explain why he was so successful there. I don't think all these editorials and name calling really did much to waver his support at all. So far, UND hasn't detoured from their original stance that got them the $100 million donation in the first place. Now, we'll have to wait and see (should the NCAA ever make a ruling) what happens if they are sanctioned (failed appeal and court case) what they do.

"little toasted?" Isn't that a reference to illegal drugs?

I love that. Europeans brought viruses with them intentionally to kill off the Native Americans. Classic. While we're at it, I heard Jews were "crawling with money" the other day. Though I'm not rich, I hope I'll be inflicted with money every day.

Schneider, at last report, was still in the Penguins NHL camp but he is expected to be sent down to the Penguins' AHL affiliate at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Andy Schneider was signed by Pittsburgh. Last time I checked Rory McMahon plays for the Greenville Growwwl of the ECHL No word on Quinn Fylling or James Massen. Perhaps others can fill us in. FYI Colby Genoway is with Hartford of the AHL

You miss him now, but just wait until the NCAA rejects the appeal. He'll be back. This time gloating and stating how the NCAA has finally put the people of the nation in its best interests blah blah blah. Then, like the types of people GK is, he'll try to start up a thread or two to suggest names that would be good replacements. You just wait. If the NCAA approves the appeal (unlikely), then it's a crapshoot whether or not he'll return. If he does, he'll whine about how the NCAA is once again in the pockets of the Universities (not true or else they never would have adopted this stupid resolution in the first place) and that the indiginous peoples are once again going to be exploited (which IMO is the real reason they are anti-name. They don't get any $$$ out of the deal) for the rest of time. Feed us sob stories and curse us all. Or he could disappear. Who knows. I know that I'd rather put this issue to rest either way. Stupid NCAA. MAKE YOUR RULING!!!!

Did the research else thread. According to the rules set up as a result of the 1995 CBA agreement, the roster size now for regular season play is 23 players. At the time (1995) it was 24, but the league decided that, in the event of any expansion, the limit would decrease to 23. Don't know why, but that's what the writing said.

He's not Canadian enough either.

If they weren't going to give the goal the same amount of volume the others got, why announce it at all? Since few people heard the announcement, it's as good as being ignored.

Couldn't agree more. I'm lucky I saw the Panthers goal because they didn't care to announce it. That's bad form. Very bad form.

I agree. He's been at the 'sudo' level for so long that I think it's time that he take it to the next level to see if he can hack it.

I don't think the Illini appeal would help nor hurt the Sioux. Why I think it is a barrier is because I firmly believe that the NCAA wants to get all the DIA appeals approved before taking on the "lesser" schools. It would then prevent the possibility (not that it would actually happen) that the court case could get bigger than the NCAA could theoretically handle. My imagination run wild again, I'm sure, but it is in the realm of possible.

Went to the game. Here are my thoughts: Rastislav Olesz for the Panthers could turn into something special. I thought he was good at the World Juniors, but generally I thought that was because of the lack of physicality and openness the games were. I think he will be great. Pouliot looked tentative and utterly lost on the ice IMO. That's ok, he's new to the NHL. He's big though. Koivu is like Olesz. He did a great job today and provided most of the offense (1 goal during regulation and the only goal during the shootout). He's got wheels and good stick handling skills. Watch for Koivu, Rolston, and Gaborik to be the only scorers Minnesota has. Nevertheless, Koivu's a rookie so I 'm not sure how that's going to go down. Whether he'll come firing out of the gate or will it a gradual thing. Rolston's goal tonight was because McLennan fell asleep while the Panthers sat in the Wild zone shooting away at Manny. When the Wild scored, it was their 10th shot on goal. Florida already had 20 at the time. First and THird period were seriously boring. It's hard to say it was good defense because of all the bad passes, and poor decision making going on. Florida played more undisciplined than the Wild, taking more penalties. Foy (83) got a lot of ice time but did relatively nothing with it that I noticed. Fernandez was very very sharp. The goal he gave up to Olesz was the only lapse he had. In all probability, Manny should have made the save (same with Rolston's goal). Some good hits. The way I see it, the Wild are still the mediocre team that we saw in 2003-2004. Their goaltending is excellent and their defense adequate. No scoring. Gaborik goes down and this team will be lucky to go .500. They beat the Panthers, sure, but if there had been a team like the Red Wings, Devils, Flyers, Senators, etc. (any team with a known good offense), I doubt they would have won.

I doubt we'll lose (Yeah I'm over confident) but I do believe that this is our first true test this season.

Did they send in their statement to the NCAA so that they can bloody reject the appeal already? Good grief! Everyone knows it's going to be rejected so why wait for Spirit Lake? Just reject it and let's get the court case over with!

For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to quote Mory's post. I'm just going to respond to it. Bettman, as you say, is a problem, but he's not THE problem. So, yes, I'm agreeing with you. Bettman is a lot like Selig in many ways. He's very deep in the owners' pockets. From my understanding Faye Vincent got fired from the MLB top spot because he was in the middle and didn't care whether his moves pissed off the players or the owners. Selig and Bettman don't care about pissing off the players provided the owners are happy. That's part of the problem. The other part, as you mention, is the owners. I seem to recall the players union making a last ditch effort to compromise, one that would have made things closer to the original mark but still gave the players some privileges close to the February deadline but the owners didn't bat an eye at shutting it down because they'd rather stay off the ice than try to salvage a season. This was the ONLY reason why I was supportive of that Florida conglomerate that wanted to buy the entire NHL. It would solve that problem by getting rid of all the greed and consolidating it into one greedy corporation, eliminating the headache of trying to remember who it is you hate. You can just point to the corporation and there you go. Whether Bettman really is the problem or not still makes the biggest loser stay the way it is: the fans. There isn't one fan out there of the NHL that benefitted from the lockout. Right now, what are the NHL clubs and the NHL front office doing to get the fans back? Some are doing something. Others, Minnesota is one of them, just expect us to shrug our shoulders and say "Well, we're stupid so we'll blindly go back to support the greediest stingiest organization in the NHL" Sad as that sounds, I expect Minnesota's assumption to be what will actually happen.

Actually, that lineup doesn't work. Florida (Miami) and Tampa Bay were both expansion teams. Hartford moved to Carolina, Winnipeg to Phoenix, and Quebec City to Denver. EDIT: I do agree though. Hockey should still be in these three venues.

COuld the Illini appeal be another reason why the ruling on us hasn't come out yet? It seems pretty simple to me that the NCAA would accept the appeals from DIA schools and reject all DII schools if it means winning the battle, even only once. How long can the NCAA wait to approve or reject the appeal? Could they just wait past the deadline and then say "Sorry, too late?"

You're talking to Bettman here. This guy doesn't care about new markets. He only cares about the ones he's contractually obligated to care about.

The big pros are: 1. It's the closest to the NHL we'll get in Grand Forks (if you don't consider the future prospects to be NHL just yet) 2. It's hockey in September!

I read somewhere that the oldest you can be and still play on the boys team is 12 or 14. If someone could figure that out for sure, that'd be great! I'm not sure. All the sites I've visited don't give the age requirements for mixed teams, only the history of women's hockey etc.

This will be my third exhibition game. I went to the Thrashers game and the Blues game. Both were dead. The only time it got lively was when Panzer and Bombardir were announced. I expect this to be more dead than the Thrashers game.

Girls are "too fragile." For a while, the Lamareaux sisters played on the boys team.

Nice, though not this Friday. They're already back in Houston and won't be at the Ralph unless they bring them up just for the game.