fightingsioux4life

That is the one bad thing about finishing first; we would have to play Tech two straight weekends. I am always concerned when that happens, but Tech is soooo bad this year I don't think we'll have too much trouble winning the playoff series 2-0. And even if we don't win the league, I want us to finish at least 2nd because this year at the Final Five the top two seeds get byes into the semifinals on Friday. So we would have to win two games in two days instead of three in three. But in order to accomplish either of those goals, we will have to start taking care of business at home (Hint: Sweep), which we haven't been doing since Christmas. If we can do that, we'll be in great shape for March and beyond.

What a joke, this guy doesn't know what the heck he is talking about. All he has to do is come on down to Grand Forks and get a ticket to one of the annual UND-Manitoba exhibition games we open every season with and he'll see there is a big, big difference between Canadian college hockey and American college hockey. Either he is ignorant about the subject (likely) or is one of those Major Junior sycophants who has a life-sized poster of Don Cherry hanging in his bedroom (possible). In any event, I think this game will be well-attended for the simple fact that Canadians love their hockey and will go just to watch a game, even if it features two teams they know nothing about. I definitely plan on going to this and I hope we can fill the stands with our loyal, rabid followers. GO SIOUX!!!

I am with you on that one. YMCA has been beaten to death at games over the years, so has Rock and Roll Part II. I would prefer a mix of rock tunes (from 1980's onward); that always fits in nicely at hockey games.

Both Neil Diamond and Jane's Addiction should be banned from the list of music used at games; otherwise I am okay with what is used.

Every Legislative session there are bad bills introduced and every session they are shot down as they should be. This one is no exception. This bill has exactly a .00001 percent chance of passing and not a decimal point more. I would be surprised if it gets more than 5 votes total (including the sponsors).

I think the duo of Dell and Eidsness are good enough for this team to win consistently and I think if Gothberg needs more developmental time that we should just let him do that. I am not one of those fans that blames our goaltenders every time we lose and I think we are better than average in this area right now. Nothing to worry about unless someone gets hurt or leaves early.

I see your point that scheduling D-II schools does nothing to get us in the playoffs. I guess I am open to it if we get into a scheduling pinch (if someone cancels on us and we can't find another FCS team to fill the date), but you are right that we should have a pure FCS schedule with one FBS money game whenever possible. My message to the athletic department is simple: Start running our Division I programs like Division I programs or else just go non-scholarship in everything except Men's and Women's hockey. Anything in-between is a waste of our time.

If it's not "feasible" to run this program like a DI FCS program, then we shouldn't have moved up in the first place. If balancing the budget is all that matters, then Tom Buning should have gotten a lifetime contract extension. Yes, it's expensive to get FCS teams to come to Grand Forks. Everyone knew that when we moved up and now some people around here think we should keep running this program like a D-2 school to help keep costs down. Well, that's just unacceptable for the flagship of the NDUS. If we want our athletics at the Division I level, then we have to start running the whole athletic department like a Division I program, not a D-2 program with a D-I label. One D-2 game each year and one FBS money game a year would be acceptable. But once we join the BSC in 2012, all of these NAIA programs had better get taken off the schedule for good.

That is a very dangerous intersection; especially during the winter. It used to be even worse before they put stoplights in.

That was a big goal. Just play solid D and close it out.

I know, I was just seconding your motion!

This team is banged up, shorthanded and is coming off a long bus trip to Mankato which was extended one day because of the weather. They also are playing in a game that doesn't count in the stats or the standings. I don't blame them for being a little off tonight. And as I type this, Mario Lamoreaux makes it 1-0!

Marginally. Mankato is expected to get 6-10 inches, MSP 12-18 inches. I think that will make a difference. At least it better. I didn't drive all the way down here for one game.

But Vindy, NDSU is very happy in the Summit!!! It's the best mid-major conference in the whole world (according to them, anyway).

Mankato is forecast to get 6-10 inches, the MSP area anywhere from 12-18 inches. I think our game will go on as scheduled.

I am staying at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is attached to the arena, and I saw the team downstairs this morning in the lobby watching television. So I think the game will go on as scheduled.

Getting back on topic here, I think that College Basketball is starting to get sucked into the media hype machine that generally ruins most things it touches. College Football started to lose it's shine as soon as the media started to hype every big matchup as "The Game of the Century". When the game doesn't live up to it's hype, people feel let down and start to lose their interest and excitement levels. More exposure ususally leads to more fans and more interest, but there is a level where you start getting diminishing returns and I think we have reached it and/or passed it. As to the comments that March Madness is getting too big and it is making the regular season meaningless, I agree to a certain point. The tournament should not be expanded beyond the current 68 teams. But with over 300 teams in Division I, the playoff field is not excessively large. And what are the alternatives to the current system? A BCS-type system where the media and coaches vote on who the National Champion is? With all it's warts, College Basketball has a pretty good system for crowning a champion. But I really don't expect the BCS-ites in that other sport to ever understand that.

I do think that the Bison went D-I in everything in part because Fargo wouldn't approve of money for the "multipurpose" arena that was to be used in part for Bison hockey. It might have happened anyway, but that decision by Fargo voters sealed it for NDSU's move up. As for flood protection, I don't think anyone from either party will play politics with things like that. It will always backfire on you in the end. Fargo needs, should get and will get the diversion project. It is simply unacceptable to just rely on temporary clay dikes and sandbagging efforts to protect Fargo in future flood events.

More apples and oranges from our friends in Bisonland. We are a third year transitional program and you are several years out of transition and are just now having your first real football success at Division I. But if that makes you feel better, than by all means, roll with it.

Most people I tell this laugh, but I think this could be a nice addition to our athletic department. I think we should think about dropping both baseball and softball (our spring weather rarely cooperates) and start up men's and women's lacrosse. We could play in the Alerus Center so weather won't be a problem. If we start it in the next couple of years, we will establish our programs at the same time the sport is growing nationally. It could give our athletic department a big boost at a time of increased costs and travel.

Good point. I think Augustana is getting better D-II players because all the competition for those players (UND, NDSU, SDSU, USD) have moved up to DI FCS and are targeting different athletes and are recruiting more nationally than they used to. Add to that the fact that Augie is far enough away from the Minnesota D-II programs to have an edge in landing local kids and the quality of education you can get there and it's not all that surprising that they are having more success than they used to.

Nobody stays on top forever. Everyone else works hard to catch up and will give you their "A" game every time. The law of averages always wins in the end.

One of my favorite UND sports moments of all time.

I personally am not that obsessed over playing the Bison again. If it happens, that's great. If not, life will go on, the sun will come up every day in the East and Bison fans will continue to insist that hockey doesn't matter (mainly because they don't sponsor it). I also have ZERO patience with some of our fans who wanted us in the Summit/MVFC because "I want to play the Bison again". We cannot make big decisions like that based on what NDAC does or doesn't do. Let the process play itself out. I think the game will be back on a year-to-year basis at some point, but until then let's focus on our own program and getting it back to what it was five years ago.

We beat GVSU 17-14 in the 2001 D-II National Championship game and 19-15 in the 2004 D-II Quarterfinals in the Alerus Center (the last really big home game for our program). It looks like "Tradition doesn't graduate" isn't what it used to be. I would love GVSU to move up so we can get some payback on these guys. I just hope our program is decent by the time that happens.