fightingsioux4life

You used more restraint than I would have. I would have had the guy kicked out on his butt for picking on my wife.

My comment was not aimed at you; it was aimed at Gopher fans that don't even think UND belongs at the same level as their team. Those are the fans that get my blood boiling.

But you are forgetting, all Rodentia cares about is Wisconsin!

Wow, a lot of negativity on this forum this week. We don't match up well with them, so we better slow the game down, our #1 goalie is in a slump and they have the greatest goaltender in the world, blah, blah, blah. I know splitting at home sucks and nobody is pleased about how we've played the past couple of weeks, but this team still has plenty of talent and has the potential to be great in March and April. I don't know what will happen this weekend, but I am a little disgusted that a good number of our fans are already writing this weekend off as a lost cause. Whatever happens this weekend (good or bad), remember that championships aren't won in January. There will be important games after this weekend for both teams.

Just like Minnesota's real hockey rival is Wisconsin. Yeah, right.

IALTO!

A lot of teams in the league have better defensive stats than we do; which is something all of us are worried about. But we have the potential to play much better in our own end if we can just pull it together as a unit. Whether it happens or not is anybody's guess.

I think the hardest step in any rebuilding program is to go from good to great. Going from bad to good usually doesn't take as long (one example of this is UND football in the late 80's). Idalski and the Lamoreaux sisters have helped get this program from bad to good in a very short period of time. The next step will take longer and require more patience from all of us.

We started the season poorly in this area, got better before Christmas and have regressed again. We did fine when we picked up three of four points vs. Denver at home. If we can get back to that, we should do fine.

Isn't this the case every time we go down there? Also, if Saunders plays well and we get back to covering the front of our own net, we'll be just fine on the defensive end. We did a good job vs. Denver and they are also good up front.

I knew this was coming. Every freshman goaltender for the Gophers is hailed as "the next Stauber". Adam "Doogie" Hauser was. Jeff "Long Island" Frazee was. Kellen "Five Hole" Briggs was. Alex "How's my goaltending?" Kangas was. Only Kent Patterson came close to being the shut-down goaltender that the Gophers haven't had since Stauber. Whether Wilcox can sustain his current level of success beyond his freshman year is the question. A lot of freshman goaltenders come into the league and are lights-out their freshman year. Then, as teams watch game tape and find some weaknesses and tendencies, they struggle as sophomores. A lot of us hailed J.P. Lamoreaux as TNK, The Next Karl (Goehring). While Lamoreaux had a solid career, he didn't rise to the level of Goehring, whom I rank right up with Belfour and Casey in the annals of UND goaltenders. Time will tell how Wilcox measures up with the great Gopher netminders of the past.

Stu Prickel was one of the biggest pieces of work that ever pulled on a Minnesota sweater. I can still see him standing behind Lucia, yelling at our players "No Class, No *bleeping* Class!". Part of me wants The Human Bulldozer (MacWilliam) to demolish one of those Rodent hit and hide hacks in a fight, but he's just too valuable to lose to a game disqualification. A four point weekend would hurt them much worse. GO SIOUX!!!

You were saying?

Amen. I am getting really tired of hearing "We don't match up well with (insert team)", unless we are playing a big, physical, slow team. It's time we take the bull by the horns and take control of our season and I can't think of a better time than now. Let's make a statement to the rest of the league. GO SIOUX!!!

I think it is almost impossible to keep politics out of any issue right now, considering the polarization in America today. I can get news about these things elsewhere; I come to ss.com to talk about UND sports. Keep the rule as is.

The people the saddest about the Packers being out of the playoffs? Fox Sports; now they'll have to find another NFC team to slobber over. My guess is the 49ers will be it.

You are right, the playing surface there is horrible and the stadium isn't even that old! Put in some field turf and protect your investments.

Putting the cornerstone of your franchise on the field in that condition was pure stupidity. The Redskins have a solid backup in Kirk Cousins, who looked good in relief before and might have been more effective. The Vikings did the same thing last year with Adrian Peterson; his knee was banged up, the team was hopelessly out of contention and they put him out there vs. Washington on Christmas Eve and look what happened. The Vikings lucked out of the potential consequences of that decision; the Redskins had better hope RGIII has the same type of comeback next year. If he doesn't, some heads should roll.

I think the long-standing relationship the X has with the WCHA has something to do with it. But if the attendance tanks like I think it will, I think they will tell the WCHA to find another venue for it.

Making long-term projections based on short-term trends is very foolish. How many times have we seen a team get red-hot in the middle of the season, only to burn out by playoff time and get bounced by a lower seeded team? It has happened to us and it has happened to Minnesota. I think by March we'll have at least some idea as to which teams are poised for a playoff run and which teams are poised for a flame out.

How about Bemidji? That's all the seating they will need from now on.

If we start shooting the puck into the logo like we have in the past, the Schlossman Rule will make an appearance at least once this weekend. If we don't do that, look for 5-6 goals per game this weekend.

Since when are professional sports franchises immune to negative media coverage caused by protesters? The owners of these teams like to maintain a positive image of themselves and their franchises in the media and amongst the general public. It is entirely possible that in the future, these teams will make the decision that having these nicknames is more trouble than they are worth and will change them. I don't want it to happen, but the word 'racist' is a powerful one in all sectors of our economy. Professional sports are not exempt from that. I see at least one of those teams changing their name within the next 10 years. After all, Jesse Taken Alive and Ron His Horse Is Thunder need something to attack and destroy and this would be a perfect target to satisfy their never-ending quest for media attention.

I bet attendance at the WCHA tournament will drop without Minnesota and North Dakota in the league. I think it's safe to say that both of those schools were responsible for most of the fans at the Final Five during the past 10 years or so.