fightingsioux4life

I was responding to the question of whether I would give them credit for finally getting over the hump and hanging #8. But your point is well taken.

The 2007 team was not a one-line team, the D-O-T line was simply their best. They had good to great players from top to bottom that year, just like most years in the Hakstol era. I would say last year's team did overachieve and I do think that 0.6 second loss to the Rodents was a bad bounce, a one in a million shot that just happened to go in. So I am not too critical of how last year ended. My main beef is with some of the Frozen Four debacles during the mid to late 2000's. And lastly, back in 1997, Blais took a sophomore dominated UND team to the National Championship. And in 2015, he has taken a freshman and sophomore dominated Omaha team to the Frozen Four, just two wins away from their first National Championship. So youth isn't always an impediment to success in March and April.

I will come on here and give him and his staff all the props they deserve. I have said that many, many times on this forum. I give credit where it is due and I give criticism where it is deserved.

So you want a longer explanation? Well, here it is: Hakstol has had a long laundry list of talent come through this program since he took it over in 2004. Cripes, he had Toews (future NHL Hall of Famer), Oshie (NHL All-Star) and Duncan (2007 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner) on the same team and on the same line. And that wasn't enough to hang #8. If you really want to sit there and say Hakstol hasn't had the players, go right on ahead. That doesn't make it true. Because it isn't. That is one example of how Hakstol's teams produce in the regular season and the conference tournament (most years anyway, certainly not this year), but then crash and burn in the NCAA's. And I believe a 1-6 Frozen Four composite record is crashing and burning, especially some of those blowouts to Boston College. You know, the team that doesn't use excuses like "parity", "one and done", "hot goalie" and so on and just gets it done when they have the players to get it done. And please don't tell me that Tom Izzo has the same caliber of talent that Duke and Kentucky have had over the years. Those two programs are always stacked with McDonald's All-Americans and future NBA lottery picks. I don't think Izzo has sent all that many kids to the NBA or had a bunch of McDonald's All-Americans on the roster at the same time. His teams simply are well-coached, well-prepared and take advantage of match-ups that the coaches find for their players to exploit. Kind of what Wisconsin did to Kentucky last night. And what UConn did to Kentucky last year. Even without the athletes that Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky have on a perennial basis, Izzo has done more with less during his entire tenure. Meanwhile Hakstol took over a program with a full cupboard left behind by Blais and hasn't won a single NCAA title. And, like it or not, hanging NCAA banners is what separates the elite hockey programs from the merely good hockey programs. And I honestly care more about the status of the program as a whole than how many guys we send to the NHL (more often the AHL or Europe). That is the point I was making. And I will stand by it. End rant.

Is it possible they are interested and haven't told anyone? Yes. Is it very likely? No. I think that is what MafiaMan was getting at.

Cripes, I think I liked Dave Starman better! Down with PUKE!!!

Well, considering that some people already think Fargo is just as big and influential as a Minneapolis, I am surprised they haven't tried to lure the Vikings or the Twins!

One other thing, is anyone else sick of seeing Coach K's smiling puss all over the media? On Wisconsin, dump Puke (whoops, I mean Duke)!

I would say that Izzo has done more with less, while Hakstol has done less with more. Flame away if you wish, but that is the truth.

Welcome to Faisonland!

And he did a lot of housecleaning; guys that weren't on board either left or were given the boot.

And that's all the rationale they will need to disqualify him.

gfhockey adds a different dimension to the forum. I like that.

That is fair. However, I should point out that in 1998, 1999 and 2004, we didn't make the Frozen Four. 2011 was the perfect set-up; coming off a 6-1 thumping of Denver in the regional final, playing in St. Paul in an arena we know very well, in front of a large, partisan pro-Sioux crowd and then......a big, fat clunker. I didn't wear Sioux gear for one whole month after that; that is how upset I was. But I think this year's team has the tools to make us forget all that. And Blais did more than bring two NCAA titles to Grand Forks, he took over a total train wreck in May 1994 and rebuilt it faster than anyone dared believe possible. We were close to becoming another Alaska-Anchorage and Blais pulled the fat out of the fire before it was too late.

Hey, don't get him suspended again!

Hope she doesn't read this forum!

And without waiting for Jerry York to retire!

www.newsmax.com isn't much better!

Really? Some people on here haven't accepted the fact that the name and logo are gone and aren't coming back. I have. What say you?

This issue died the moment the State of North Dakota signed that legal agreement with the NCAA. I don't like it that the name and logo are gone, but I also don't think it makes sense to keep banging our heads against the wall when we won't make a dent in it.

Fetch, why don't you just go back to talking about a Grand Forks AHL franchise. Because that makes more sense than this rambling post.

IALTO

Yes it would, big time. At the same time, however, every fan on this forum knows what Dean Blais is capable of. And he's on that other bench now. And you better believe I will fear him if it's UND and Omaha on Saturday night.

Count me as one. Better pull for Providence.

If Faison gives Jones an extension next year for having a winning season, it is Faison that needs to be fired on the spot. Then we'll let his replacement fire Jones.