fightingsioux4life

Whoa, there is way too much negativity on here. This team went from 3-13 to 10-6 and back into the playoffs. The defense has good, young talent on it. The offensive line has stabilized. AP is in the prime of his career. What we need now is another great draft in April. That means getting some WR talent that wasn't taken off the practice squad of another team. That means adding depth to the defense. That means getting another QB prospect to back up Ponder and give him some competition in practice (I don't think Webb is the answer). If we can do those things in the offseason, we'll be a solid team again next year with the chance to take another step forward. Patience people. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is an NFL team.

Yeah, but Jones would have been a one (maybe two) year player at best. We'll just have to settle for him helping Team USA win medals in international tournaments.

I was in the 6th grade. That team was the talk of class every day.

I was clapping and my cat, who was curled up in my lap, didn't like the noise and got up and left! Congrats to Team USA and Rocco, who represented himself, his country and our program very well.

On a Saturday, that is early. I still enjoy sleeping in on weekends, though not as much as I used to.

Yeah, I think we should all just enjoy the success of Team USA and talk about the gold medal game on Saturday morning. Is anyone dragging their butt up to watch it live?

I wasn't "lecturing" you or targeting you. I quoted you because you brought up Blais in 1994 and it inspired my comment to everyone that we shouldn't judge a coaching choice on such narrow and myopic criteria.

It is totally fair to ask what criteria USA Hockey uses to pick coaches for our national teams. But I also believe that giving an untested and unproven coach a chance to show us what he has is appropriate. I am sure USA Hockey did their homework on Housley and decided that his coaching style and philosophy were appropriate for coaching the IIHF U-20 team. If this was the Olympic team, that might require a different type of leadership. It all depends on the age, experience and maturity level of the players on the team. I think choosing a high school coach to coach high school-age kids has a certain logic to it and it certainly has worked out this year. But in a tournament like this, when you have to build a team out of a bunch of individuals in a very short period of time, it is a very inexact science. Blais won gold in 2010 and finished 7th in 2012. You just pick the best people available and/or interested and see what happens. I, for one, am enjoying this tournament and the success that so many people have made possible with all their hard work over the years. Go USA!!!

Agreed.

To be fair, the US talent pool in 1994 was a fraction of what it is today. Housley has a lot more talent to work with and it's taken a long time to get to this point. Let us please focus on that and not bicker about how Housley got this job. It's all about the results and he is getting them.

There is something to be said for sticking with your team through good times and bad. I have been watching the Vikes since I was 6 or 7 years old and was old enough to understand the game. And I will continue supporting them, win or lose. That is the one thing I respect about Packer fans; they sell out that stadium whether they are 12-4 or 4-12. We need more of that from fans of the Purple. Go Vikings!!!

I think an All-Canadian concept would work much better than that whole "Minnesota Pride on Ice" thing did. They definitely have more than enough players to fill all three leagues.

Please don't go back to that. I for one want nothing to do with the CHL, the mortal enemy of NCAA Division I Hockey. Time for College Hockey, Inc. to step it up and even the playing field.

If Canadians don't like U.S. kids in the CHL, just make it an all-Canadian league. Of course, that means a lot of talented kids would stay in the U.S. and Europe. But if patriotism is that important to them, then please go right on ahead. NCAA hockey will step in and fill the void for you!

ButtTeamRulesAreAllThatMatter

If all these recruiting "chest bumps" don't translate into W's in the record books, then we know what the problem is. And it wouldn't be "players not making plays".

I certainly don't feel sorry for them.

ButtSuccessAtAnyCost.

Yeah, I hate the conflict with our home series. I so wish we were on the road this weekend.

Yeah, and Whiskey Joe Chapman had no idea that unilaterally increasing the cost of the President's house would cause an uproar.

You reap what you sow. You want to come on here and trash talk and stir crap up? Then you get the horns attached to the bull. Like I have told you before, all this crap you and your fellow Bison trolls are dishing out will be used against you when the tables are turned in the future. So please, by all means, keep it coming.

If the answer to this question is no, we shouldn't have moved up in the first place. We could have joined the NSIC and kept winning at the Division II level on a shoestring budget. But we didn't, so we better not take the frugal-prudent-close to the vest approach and settle for middle of the pack teams in our Big Sky sports. This was an issue discussed on ss.com (and in other communication mediums) when we were talking about moving up and I hope that the athletic department took into account the financial costs of being a winner at the Division I level.

Grant Potulny did a lot of North Dakota bashing after he signed with the Gophers. So please excuse us if we don't bless the ground he walks on. As for Blais not doing well last year, that was tough to swallow. But he did put together a great team that won Gold in 2010. Shutting up that Canadian crowd in Saskatoon was priceless.

"Anyone, Anytime..........as long as it's in the FFD (Fabulous Fargo Dome)" "Anyone, Anytime..........as long as it's a team we have a 99% chance of beating" "Anyone, Anytime..........as long as it's a team good enough for the media to hype up into a strong opponent" But you are right, unconditional "Anyone, Anytime" simply does not exist in Imperial Cass.