fightingsioux4life

I am looking for two tickets to the Saturday afternoon, February 28th game vs. Colorado College. Any reasonable offer will be accepted. Please respond to this message or e-mail me at siouxhockeyrules@yahoo.com. Thank you.

I think it's a little early to draw that conclusion. For starters, the Force and the Urban Plains Center are new and still a novelty in Fargo. People are going to go to games just to see what all the fuss is about. Once the novelty wears off and the focus turns to the team and the game of hockey, we'll find out how many of these people will continue coming to games. Another factor is that NDSU is still finding their way in Division I. Yes, they've had a successful transition and they are now eligible for the postseason. But fans are still getting used to playing different teams from longer distances away. The Summit League is still unfamiliar for most Bison fans and it will take time for people to get fired up about games against teams most people still aren't all that familiar with. Give it a couple of more years and we'll have our answer. One thing for sure: If anyone can make Fargo a hockey town, it's Dean Blais.

There's still time for them to set it up.

Well, back in 2000 the Sioux-Badger series in Madison was on Grand Forks Cable TV (before the advent of the Fighting Sioux Sports Network). We lost both games to the Dany Heatley-led Badgers, but we got even with them in the Final Five Title game at the Target Center and went on to win our 7th National Title. Let's hope that FSSN can pull it off this year because it's looking like a big series at this point. Pat Sweeney, are you listening?

I think after his performance in the playoffs last year that the expectations have been a little unrealistic for Mr. Kangas. It's hard for anyone to play at an extremely high level for a long period of time. He's the best goaltender they've had in many years, but he isn't Superman and you still have to play well in front of him to get results. And with a shaky defense in front of him, that has to have a negative impact on his confidence. I'm sure that he isn't playing his best, but even if he was I don't think the results would be much better right now for the Goofs. And yes, I am enjoying it!

I honestly don't think Kangas is the problem in Arrogantland right now, it's that their defensemen don't know how to play defense. The Mavs had all kinds of room to operate tonight; their goals were too easy for this level of hockey. The Don had better figure out somthing or it could get ugly in Gooferville.

Would you care to explain yourself? Or are you just going to shoot off your mouth?

Really? They've given up a ton of goals since we swept them in Grand Forks. They've given up 6 vs a struggling Minnesota State team tonight. Some of the goals they've given up were way too easy for the Mavs. Most of it isn't Kangas' fault, their defensemen are not playing good defense right now. And beyond their top line, they are nothing special offensively. It's a whole heck of a lot more than a case of "$h!t happens". Not that our own team doesn't have problems of it's own the past two games, but right now the Goofs are NOT a playoff-calibre team. Period.

Knowing Hak's penchant for mind-numbing coach-speak in every media interview, it probably wasn't much different from his previous post-loss comments.

This is what happens to a one-line team with a leaky defense that is finally getting exposed for what they are. Gooning it up is all they have left.

Well, let's make it official. Now that Stu Prickel is not on that team anymore, I have to find someone else to rip.

I suggest we start calling him Hack.

As I recall, we tied them the next night and after that we went on a long winning streak and kept it rolling thru the playoffs to Providence, where we made poor little Doug Flutie cry!

The Gophers also got lit up by SCSU and Minnesota State tonight, it's becoming a trend for the Gophers to give up a lot of goals (bad defense more than Kangas). My point is that Weslosky hasn't been a great goaltender this year and now all of a sudden we are making him look like an All-American. Agree with you on one point: We must win tomorrow.

It's ridiculous that we can't score one freaking goal on Weslosky. The Rodents didn't have any problems scoring on him or the SCSU defense. Tomorrow is shaping up to be a must-win.

If we can't win tonight, we had better win tomorrow. We cannot afford to be swept this weekend. If we are, we can kiss the MacNaughton Cup goodbye and a top 3 finish would be tough to accomplish.

One thing I don't want to hear about this weekend is "running into a hot goalie". Weslosky looked like absolute garbage against the Goofs a couple of weeks ago and we shouldn't have problems getting pucks past him. SCSU also has a young defense that we should take advantage of. At least 2 points is a must, but a sweep on the road would be a big help right now.

Well, that means that Denver won't be as battle-tested for the playoffs when you can't be a home all the time. And as for having our work cut out for us, that statement applies to most of our opponents in the league and nationally. If we're going to hang a banner, we will have to beat teams like this, especially at home. I am looking forward to it. Bring it on, Pios!

This series had better feature nothing less than a full house at The Ralph. And that goes double for the corporate suiteholders. We need the same energy and excitement that we had for the Gopher series. These next two games could help determine whether we finish in the top three or struggle to get home ice for the first round.

That probably holds true for all of those schools except Wisconsin. The Badgers have always treated our program with respect, even during the 1980's when both programs hated each other. Minnesota.....Michigan........and Michigan State fit that profile. Notre Dame hasn't had enough success to start acting like that, but if they keep winning they will no doubt act like they do in football circles.

It would be fun to be able to listen to the 9am to 12pm time slot on KFAN without cringing. JG is an absolute tool; often times he'll make an uninformed, smart-mouthed remark that makes me sit in my office and say outloud "Oh....shut....up!". As for PA, someone needs to tell him that this isn't a radio version of "American Idol" and we want sports talk and speculation and not some local radio host singing off-color verisons of songs. There are times I have had to turn the radio down or shut it off. If I have to listen to PA or JG sing about "the love we lost" one more time, I think I'll throw up. With Dubay, it was worth putting up with that stuff because he talked about stuff that most of the MSP media didn't talk about. But since he was fired, I rarely listen to the "PA and Producer" craphole production. End rant.

Virg's original column has brought the anti-athletic crowd out of the woodwork. If these people were in charge (and thank God they are not), we would adopt a non-scholarship athletic program across the board (including hockey) and would never win anything of significance again. I hope his collection of Division I supporting comments are as strongly worded, but I don't think they will be.

Sid Hartman is in favor of it. That's reason enough to be against it.

I think SiouxMeNow was talking about the attitudes of the TV networks to satellite providers and the viewing public; I don't think it was directed at you. And I think he is spot on with his comments. I have always had a very low opinion of TV executives at the local and national level. They think it's good business to screw over the viewing public (the same people that make it possible for them to have the jobs they have) and then they whine and moan when things don't work out in their favor. Look in the mirror boys, that's the problem with television today!

I'm sure Hak will provide his usual dose of coachspeak and TH will bring out the "hot goalie" excuse again.