fightingsioux4life

With as tough as this league is week in and week out, I won't feel comfortable unless we do sweep this weekend. St. Cloud won't lose too many games down the stretch, so we have to keep up.

A sweep would also put us in the driver's seat for the Penrose Cup.

Really? So you are the arbiter as to what is and isn't "message board fodder"? Thanks for telling me that, I didn't know.

Immediate gratification? I am more than willing to be patient in waiting for good things, but after 10 years of basically .500 basketball, people were starting to question if it would ever happen under Jones. Now it looks like it may be happening. But we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out.

Yeah, but early on this season they looked dreadful (the Northern Iowa game, the second half vs. NDSU). Now they look like they could beat just about anybody in the conference.

I have no idea why this team is all of a sudden playing well and winning, but I love it. Let's keep it going all the way to Reno.

Their QB's strange rant at the press conference afterwards is how some rivalries start.

Not a bad idea.

You are right, part of Minnesota's bad attendance is their poor performance on the ice. But I also hear from a lot of Gopher fans how much they HATE the Big Ten Hockey Conference. I actually feel bad for you guys being stuck in a weak 6 team conference and I hate not being on your schedule on a regular basis anymore.

This year's Duluth team is underachieving; it probably has the fans discouraged.

Holy Cross? Don't you mean Sacred Heart?

It's telling how bad the Gopher program is right now that this is all you have to hang your hat on. We have ended your season many, many times as well.

It is a fact that people with college degrees make way more money over the course of their careers than people without one. So I do think a college education still matters. And if it doesn't matter which school you graduate from, why all the rankings of colleges and programs? Obviously, there is some level of importance to which college people attend. And I think everyone here is just proving my point for me. An expensive Big Ten education is not necessarily worth more than a UND education. Heck, community colleges do a solid job of educating students who like the smaller class sizes and one-on-one attention from professors.

What does it explain? I happen to have pride in my alma mater. We could use a little more of that around here, if you ask me.

Yeah, it's a wonder anybody who graduates from UND ever does anything in their chosen field. I guess Ralph Engelstad was just plain lucky.

Again, the only reason they made it last year is because the Big Ten was weak and they won the auto bid. They will have to do that again this year.

With all due respect, I will put the value of my UND education against any of the almighty Big Ten schools.

I suppose you want to go FBS in football too? Because the Big Sky is a "rinky-dink" conference?

What is "right" is different for every kid and that is a decision they have to make.

There are some good schools in the NCHC as well (Denver, Colorado College, UND).

Hmmm, let's see: A program that has done absolutely nothing in Division I hockey (UConn) and a program that is just beginning its transition from ACHA to NCAA Division I (Arizona State). Yep, that'll really boost the PWR of the league.

I think you have spent too much time on Bisonville; you are just spewing Bison talking points. RPI......UND is a "bottom feeder".....blah, blah, blah. Let me explain this to you: the Slummit is not one of the top mid-major conferences in the country. Not....Even....Close. You are a one-bid league, not the second coming of the MVC (not to be confused with the MVFC). Half the schools in the Slummit want to get out and the other half are there because no one else wants them. I don't want UND in that way-station, hodge-podge of a conference. If anything, UND would make the Slummit better more than the Slummit would make UND better. Believe that.

Have you seen attendance at the Kohl Center and Mariucci Arena this year (and the first two Big Ten years)? It is pathetic; how can the NCHC have poorer attendance than that? Only if you are counting tickets sold vs. actual butts in the seats. And I don't care how big the hockey budgets are at Big Ten schools; it's getting results on the ice that matters. The fact that UND outperforms schools with bigger budgets on a regular basis proves that money does not equal championships. The Big Ten is currently not getting much bang for their buck. UND in the Big Ten would weaken our program considerably and damage the special connection our fans have to the program.

Most of Michigan's titles were won when chicken wire was used instead of plexiglass. And hockey isn't followed in Ann Arbor unless they are winning and winning big. Wisconsin and Minnesota haven't won one in awhile and aren't as dominant as they used to be. Michigan State is even more hit or miss. And my main point is how the administration at each school looks at Division I hockey and its place in their athletic departments. Aside from Minnesota, it easily ranks below FB or MBB in importance. The proof is how anxious Barry Alvarez and company were to bolt for the Big Ten Hockey Conference. They knew it would destroy decades-old rivalries and screw up the best postseason tournament in the country (WCHA Final Five), but they couldn't wait to do it. Only Minnesota complained about it, but they were outvoted and outnumbered. This is not something I want UND to get stuck in.

Again, you keep focusing myopically on won-loss records, just as Bison fans focus myopically on MBB RPI when telling us how great the Slummit League is. Yes, programs like Minnesota and Wisconsin will be back at some point in the future (will probably require coaching changes, but it will happen). But that doesn't change the fact that 5 out of 6 schools in the conference treat hockey like a red-headed bastard stepchild. And that is not something I want UND to get stuck in. The Big Ten Tournament will likely never reach the heights of the old WCHA Final Five. The NCHC tournament has much more upside in the future and I look forward to seeing the Target Center full for the NCHC tournament championship game in the future. That is why we should stay put.