redwing77

I thought Blake Kessel went to UNH because UNH was the school that impressed him the most, that recruited him, that was close to his brother? If Phil was drafted by the Wild and signed to play with the Wild, something tells me he would have ended up at Minnesota. I don't care what your thoughts of Lucia are.

I'm ok with disallowing it provided that the big $$$ donors are held to the same accountability. If they are saying it too, then they should be kicked out as well. But then again, words even like the F word shouldn't be grounds for ejection unless it is directed at abusing an individual such as a coach, player, REA staff, or security. And as silly as this is going to sound: If you want to get rid of a lot of swearing, stop or restrict the sale of alcohol. booze loosens the tongue.

I don't agree with a lot of what he's saying, but MplsBison has a point. The tribe IS dragging their feet and really... wouldn't you like some sort of resolution one way or another sooner rather than later? Will the RHHiT supported people win or not? Letting it drag on and on until the NCAA deadline (which is a real possibility at this point) is any better than simply giving them until November 30th and then shutting the efforts down? As for Iowa not playing us in a flipping swim meet... Too bad for the swim team. Refusal on non-sports related issues such as a nickname should be graciously accepted by the NCAA and UND...as forfeits by the team refusing to compete. So, congrats to UND for beating Iowa without getting wet. Iowa can protest the nickname. That's fine. But then again... it IS swimming. As painful as this sounds, UND could shut down all non-revenue DII/DI sports and then try to work something out with basketball and football scheduling wise. I'd perhaps investigate a women's fastpitch DI softball team to replace the cut women's sports and lacrosse as well. Ok, softball won't be revenue making.... but I don't see much other than women's basketball and maybe someday women's hockey as being revenue building anyways. Sexist sounding sure, but reality.

Ah, the memories. I remember the old Ralph where the whole student section was so loud and in unison doing this it was darn near deafening. Then again, you could do it in that barn. I remember at one point the students rattling a goaltender (I can't remember which team... it was a school with brown or maroon in it... tUMD or DU... doubt it was Minnesota) so badly that he actually left the crease and skated halfway to the student section during a game! Unfortunately, it was during a break in the play and he turned around and went back to the crease before the puck was dropped.

How could they? They don't have Childress or Risebrough making the calls.

WHAT??

Do I hear Red McCombs yelling in the background "DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!"

Actually, you are correct. He plays for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. Stats.

Uh.... I don't think the Wild would be that bad defensively if they could play good offensively. The Wild this year are proving that Lemaire isn't a bad coach after all... on the flipside, it IS proving just how awful a GM Risebrough was. I guess that's why Lemaire is regarded as beign a good coach: He gets the best out of what he's given. He was given nothing offensively for the Wild by Risebrough, so he built a defensive juggernaut. The problem with the offensive system that was brought in (assumedly the one modelled after Pittsburgh), you need quality goal scorers in order to be effective. Remember back when Fleury was a rookie with the Pens? They had a lot of young, but potentially great goal scorers, but they couldn't play defense in their own zone to save their hides. Plus, Fleury was a maverick and was almost Huet-like in his sieve-ness. Right now, the Wild don't have anything to build on offensively at all. They just got Havlat back, which will help, but still, Koivu and Havlat on the same line... pretty easy to nullify. So, when that happens, they take chances and they're going to give up a ton of goals. Backstrom, Havlat, and Koivu... right now, they're the best the Wild got. There aren't many teams out there who have less. But they desperately need scorers. Bochenski would be a good choice for them and they could give up only marginal talent or even a late round pick for him. I think the Wild will recover, but it will take a little while. The good news is that, assuming they spend money on big name free agents now, and continue on the trend they are going, they could end up with #1 and #3 overall picks (or in that neighborhood) the next two years. That means scoring.

Hey... if you doubt yzerman's comment, just ask JS Giguere. He won a Stanley Cup because of it. Giguere isnt a great goaltender. He's good, not great. He's not a hall of famer. But that year, he was always in the right position to make the save or, at the very least, make the goal difficult to score. If Dell keeps it up, great. Do I think he'll continue playing as good as he did last night? No. He'll have some "Freshman" mishaps. But he's good. And I'll say it again: I think Hak should give Dell another start.... tonight.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: University of Minnesota Hockey: If you try to outspeed us, we'll kill you. If you try to out finesse us, we'll kill you. If you try to out physical us and miss, we'll kill you. However... if you play fundamentally sound in your own zone, we're dead. If you play fundamentally sound in our zone, we're dead. If you make the game a defensive contest, we're dead. If you succeed in playing overly physical, we're dead. In NHL terms, what the Gophers are is the Avalanche offense with the Islander defense with Capital goaltending. Their offense will improve. They're far too talented for it not to be. Kangas and Patterson are legit goaltenders and they will not be the detriment to the team overall. Their defense, however, is awful. And I think it falls entirely on the coaching staff. Why? Because all they recruited was one type of defenseman: The mobile offensive minded puck mover. They did not recruit any shut down defensive defensemen really. They do have Helgeson and Lofquist but really, how much of the shut down role do they play in the Gopher scheme? Watch UND, UW, or even UMD in their own zone. Watch how they handle the opposing offense. Next watch UMN do the same thing. It's almost like they're uncoordinated, unprepared, and praying that they'll catch a break or their goaltender will bail them out. Heh... it's like watching Red Wing hockey right now. Sure, we're loaded up front and pretty darn scary offensively and in the transition game. However, Osgood sucks AGAIN and the Wing defense believes that they can play more aggressive in the defensive zone because Osgood will save their hides. He hasn't on a consistent basis and the Red Wings look rather mediocre even in many of their wins. It kills me to say this but: Look at the Colorado Avalanche. No way can they keep up with teams like the Hawks, Penguins, or Red Wings last year. No way. But they get a goaltender who knows what he's doing and a defensive system that is starting to work and... well, now they don't suck so much. The Wild.... they have the goaltending and the defensive system. They don't have the personnel to make the system work though. Not yet anyways.

Depends. If you don't like IE, it won't work. I couldn't get it to work at all on Firefox. Also, the quality was good. The feed was slower than the radio.... which is pretty standard, I think. The only thing I criticized was the fact that the camera operators weren't as good as they could've been. There were times when they lost track of the puck and zoomed in too far at the wrong times.

Heh. I can see it now: Hakstol throws recruit down the river. It would be Hak's first. Certainly not uncommon in CCHA (I believe Michigan State is the leading contender in doing stuff like this). UW was the latest school to do that (that goaltender that switched committments to UMD). I have to wonder about Fink too, but hey.... maybe he's the next Scott Foyt.

I think this precisely. Who says a "locker room issue" has to be something disciplinary? Maybe that's the new PC way of saying the flu bug is going around? I mean, Toews is out with a concussion but it's listed as an "upper body injury." Maybe players' hair care products are starting to walk off? A problem with not washing used socks and its stinking up the room? Maybe the "locker room issue" has to do with the facility itself? Maybe there's an electrical fault and the part that is needed to fix it is on order? I dunno.

I wonder if the frequency of the chant correlates to the limited nature of the number of chants collectively the students have in their repertoire and are able to use without some sort of risk. I know, what risk since the chant in question has an expletive in it. The risk is that no one else will know the chant and you will be singled out if it is a vulgar one and removed. Diggler and I commented on it right after the new Ralph opened. Who knows all the old chants? I mean, can anyone in the student section nowadays say what the Mickey Mouse chant is? The Black Hole Chant? The Cheerleader Spell Out chants (though these are somewhat edgy in content )? and the list goes on. I see this with young children in an analogous way. When a child learns a new word, they use the word over and over, sometimes incorrectly. They will do this until they get tired of using the word, forget the word entirely, or learn another word that they are interested in learning. The more words they learn, the less frequently the initial word is used because the child has more options. It's the same thing here folks. So, the solution to this dilemma is simply put and difficultly implemented: Come up with several new (or reintroduce old) chants and get the students to use them in games. It won't eliminate the chant, but it will decrease its frequency.

I'm not sure I agree fully with this. The State Board IS spineless or it wouldn't have set a deadline in the first place. I think they have no problem letting the minority dictate policy. Most hardcore liberals don't mind it. Why? Because they want to make everyone happy.... you know the song: Dream the Impossible Dream? Yeah, well, they live that. It's also called a Pipe Dream, a false hope, or most accurately living with bulls**t for brains. Those who aren't as far left as these buffoons (and not all Democrats are liberals) realize that there is no such world where everyone is being happy. So, you cater to the majority. In this case, votes are taken and the minority can learn to live with the results any way they can.

Say what you will, but Slap Shot is right when he said that we like our program and Minny likes theirs better. It would be ridiculous to sit here and say that, as a Sioux fan, "Hey, I love the Sioux but gosh darn it... I love the Gophers and their fans more." Could you imagine Slap Shot saying "I really enjoy Sioux hockey and their fans more than I've ever enjoyed life among the fans and students of Minnesota." I can't. We're rivals/archrivals perhaps. I can't see tOSU football fans being fans of Michigan and vice versa. I can't see Red Wings fans loving Avalanche hockey (I find it hard even when an Av win would help the Wings). The question itself is stupid. And yeah, there ARE such things as stupid questions.

I agree with dagies. Plus, a few things: 1. Leadership, imo, had little to no reason why Minny lost last night. From what I read, defense did. Not to mention that our PK was simply en fuego. 2. If there WAS a leader on the ice for Minnesota, it would be Kangas because he was the ONLY player (pretty much) for them that showed up. 3. UND has had 3 games now that have mattered. UMN has had one. IIRC, we didn't look too terribly sharp until the 3rd period of Game 1 vs. Merrimack. 4. We may dislike Lucia. He may say some dumb things about UND, but he's not retarded. There is NO WAY IN HELL that UMN comes out looking like they did last night tonight. NO WAY. I WILL say this: UND will not win if they score 2 goals or less tonight. I have no idea who will win the game, but I'm betting that Minny will score at LEAST 2 goals tonight.

Wasn't Columbus a butcher in his own right? Yet we celebrate him every year. We have people get feathers ruffled about two birthday parties and one Nevada license snafu and yet we glorify Columbus? My history is fuzzy, but I'm sure there are others.

It seems pretty cut and dry to me the way you put it. Oh well, we can now claim superiority over FSU, Utah, and CMU...or injustice whichever way you may paint it. We're held to higher standards then the big $$$ Universities.

I'm appauled by this allegation, but I should state this: Fargo has a very small, very poor Jewish community. Every year, I don't know how Temple Beth El stays afloat. I'm surprised they can even pay the monthly bills. Yet every year, the Chapmans (or Carnivore Catering, whichever NDSU-related entity) provides food for our community seder... at least the brisket for it as well as (I think) several supplies and cooking staff. This means that Temple Beth El can allow the Jewish community to come to the seder free of charge. This is HUGE for them. Why? Because every time they've tried to charge for congregation members to attend religious functions such as this, they've never even come close to breaking even, much less making any sort of profit. So, this coming spring, the question is: What's going to happen? More than likely, if this was a Chapman-based donation, the function will simply cease. And, yeah, that seems very leech like and negative to say...and I admit that those problems aren't really Chapman's concern nor especially NDSU's. And this certainly isn't the Temple's primary issue (which I think is mainly a congregation that doesn't tithe or even give any semblence of membership dues), but it is sad to see happen. I thought all this Chapman bashing (and rightful most of it) could use a tinge of some positives they've done for the community. From a staunch UND supporter to boot.

Touche'

Hey... Anyone know if Gaborik's game has changed any with a different system? Anyone? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

It's been somewhat common for the Boston schools in the past few years to have kids flake out, hasn't it? Adam Pineault, Bourque, Ryan, and others... BC isn't a cakewalk school academically. He probably got onto campus, got overwhelmed, couldn't hack it and knew he'd be heading for Weslosky land so he bolted. The OHL and MJ in general is built for these types of players. Sure, it hurts BC and the NCAA to lose high caliber players such as those I have mentioned, but it's certainly not going to stop.