NorthDakotaFightingSioux

True...it does hurt...but I also laughed at myself (along with all my friends) when I forgot to take my skate guards before stepping onto the ice at practice. You have to enjoy the humor of it. But it would be embarrassing to do it in front of 11,000 people. Oh well, s&!t happens, everyone fumbles now and again.

Who wouldn't....i laugh pretty hard when the players fall as well

Or...judging by the picture....jealous about not being able to fit in to the 'skirts that are too short'? That would probably make me angry as well.

And what year did she graduate and cheer? I have known everyone on the team since 2002. No one has been removed from the hockey cheer team for a DUI. There have been many girls removed for many other reasons, but none for a DUI. Maybe she happened to get a DUI, but that information was never divulged to the team, and that was probably not the reason for her removal. It probably had something to do with her attitude, demeanor, medical problems, grades or something else. What were you saying, if you weren't saying they shouldn't party? If I recall correctly, you stated that "lots of those girls liked to party." Exactly what were you trying to prove by saying that?

With all due respect, your son doesn't know what he's talking about. None of the hockey cheerleaders, from 2001 to present have ever gotten a DUI, nor have they gotten kicked off for one. In regards to partying, they are normal college girls who do what normal college students do....what the hockey players do, as well. Don't judge them for that, and don't start rumors that aren't true. As far as damaging the ice, the toepicks are what normally do damage to the ice and the cheerleaders are told not to use their toepicks when jumping or skating on the ice

Many of you have been misinformed, so allow me to enlighten you. Meetings were had last spring between the cheer team coach and Bunning/his assistants, i know Betty Ralston was one of them there. Mind you, for some strange reason Betty has always been trying to cut the hockey cheer team. The new cheer coach of last year and this year also doesnt like having hockey cheerleaders. She was the assistant coach up until she took over last year, and at the end of last year, she had gone to a total of maybe two Sioux hockey games in her life. She doesn't like hockey and, based on the cuts this year, doesnt like wasting her time on the hockey cheerleaders. In her original email to the team last year, she told them that there might not be any hockey cheerleaders, or to have the football/basketball cheerleaders cheer at hockey games too, instead of having a separate team. The girls fought it, and were able to keep their team, but as for going on the ice, that is still very confusing to me, because it makes no sense. The cheer team does not get charged for ice time. They have always gotten it free, since 2001 when hockey cheerleaders first came back. I can't imagine that they would have to pay any more to insure them than they already do. All of the cheer and dance members are covered under the athletic department's insurance. In no way is going on the ice a financial burden to the cheer and dance budget, trust me. The cheerleader you talked to in the above conversation was most likely one of the newer girls, and has not seen all this drama unfolding the past few years. Two years ago, they tried to cut them off the ice as well, the Ralph was telling the cheer team that they did not have ice time for them. The cheer team uses an hour of ice time a week. They didn't have time for that? come on. One of the girls that year went into the Ralph and pretty much let the woman who schedules the ice time have a piece of her mind. That team stood up for what the hockey cheer team was meant for, and that is to be on-ice cheerleaders. And what do you know, they magically recieved ice time. This isn't Buning's doing, its something that has been attempted before, the girls just need to stand up for themselves more. IF they all can skate this year...thats a big IF....highly unlikely that they will be on the ice by the end of the year. It would take a lot of practice for a lot of them...however, quality has been slightly declining the past few years, so who knows. You may not like them, you may think that they don't need to go on the ice, your opinion is respected. But many people think they contribute to games, so please respect that as well.

Gopher Cheerleaders do the M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A cheer at home games. They do not do chants in the stairs like ours, they just dance. So you are correct, they do perform one cheer. The budget for the ENTIRE cheer and dance program is VERY low. I want to say its about 10-15000, but closer to the 10 mark. It was cut drastically last season. That leaves about $3000 for hockey, if even that much. So yea, these girls do pay a lot out of their pocket to cheer. But the main point here is, why would you cut cheerleaders from the only D1 sport we have? It makes no sense to have 6 cheerleaders cheering for hockey games, while you have 16 cheerleaders and a 10-20 person dance team cheering for football and basketball games. Why not cut a few cheerleaders/dancers from those programs? The initial reason the girls were given for not having hockey cheerleaders directly from the coach Amber Bruns is "We have almost 50 people involved in the cheer and dance program and the athletic department has been trying to cut our number to around 35 for quite some time. The lower number of athletes makes it easier for the training room resources, strength and conditioning program, insurance, grade reporting ect." So once again, what sense does it make to cut back hockey, and why does it make any type of a difference if they go on the ice? The hockey cheerleaders only use one hour of ice per week for practice.

Alright, first of all, the cheerleaders do not mess up the ice. They do not use their toepicks to land when they jump, which is what messes up the ice commonly at high school hockey games. They are not allowed to do this at UND for that very reason. Second of all, our cheerleaders are amazing. You compare them to the Gopher cheerleaders, which isn't even an accurate comparison. The gopher cheerleaders dont CHEER. They never once do a cheer. They are figure skaters and dancers who, for some reason, like to call themselves cheerleaders. The only thing they do that is related to cheerleading is stunting which -by the way- our hockey cheerleaders are not ALLOWED to do. The Athletic Dept won't let them, it wasn't the cheerleader's decision. They do a kick ass job of dancing to the light shows. It makes the light shows a lot more interesting. They just recently started doing some minor figure skating to liven things up a bit. The girls make the best of the situation which they are handed in the stands and do cheers to liven up the crowd that you all bitch about for not cheering with you. The coach's new idea of only having hockey cheerleaders in the stands, and less of them, is ridiculous. Yea, lets cut down the cheerleading program for the ONLY D1 SPORT THAT WE HAVE. Sounds like a good idea. NOT. Our team has made it to the Frozen Four and/or the Final Five for the past 6 years that we have had cheerleaders. The cheerleaders paid a bunch out of their pocket to attend these tournaments, and they didn't miss one. Just a couple thoughts.

As I'm sure much of you have read in the paper, there will be rallies to show support for our base and military personnel this week. I encourage all of you to attend, we need to show the committee members that we are not going to settle for a 'Realignment.' Bring American Flags and signs of support to the places listed below: Wednesday Where: Along Highway 2 and at base's east gate Time: 8am to 3pm Contractors will be lining the highway with their vehicles...public should go to the base Thursday Where: Chester Fritz Auditorium Doors open at 7am, BRAC hearing follows at 8:30am

Is this where the alumni gathering is?

Thank you NorthStar, I'm with you on this one. Last time I checked, we had a CHEER team. Not a figure skating team. The cheer team did a pretty d*** good job of getting our crowd fired up. It would be pretty hard to cheer in that arena filled with gopher fans. Our cheer team doesn't stunt because it is not allowed at UND. And what's this crap about a mascot?? That would be very degrading. Think a little before you make comments like that. This is why we have a big controversy over the Sioux name.

Yea, the band didn't play hardly at all....the REA, of course, still played just as much music as usual. I think Claude pretty much just took away time from the band. They only played after goals and during period breaks.

One of the REA staff said that 'Crazy Claude' is from Canada and comes down for the games....

yes

we can do this. 4-2