fightingsioux4life

Sorry sagard, but any schedule that is full of teams like Wayne State (MI), Ohio State, Ferris State, Alabama-Huntsville and the two traditional "powers" of the Crappy Collegiate Hockey Association (Michigan and Michigan State) cannot be considered a "top six schedule". If your overall schedule is ranked high numerically in terms of toughness, that is because the WCHA is very strong right now. It's not because you have beaten the top teams from other conferences. I'm not making predictions on the rest of the season (anything can and usually does happen in this league), but so far your non-conference schedule has been soft.

Yes it is, it will help us catch the Tigers by their tails! Sorry, couldn't resist!

Well, despite having the deck stacked against us all weekend long, we are now 20 minutes away from a sweep in Rodentia for the first time since 1980. And even if we don't get it, this has been a great weekend for this team. Third place in the league is still within reach. If they can keep performing like this down the stretch, I think we can make some noise in March.

Trunk Monkey, You are 100% correct. The only way we avoid the box in the first period is to not touch anybody. That isn't hockey. Campion should either let them play or call everything on both teams. The favoritism is obvious this weekend!

Hey State of Hockey: M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A Minnesota (Sucks!) Minnesota (Sucks!) YAAAAAY, GOPHERS!!!!! (SUCK!) Go for the sweep Sioux, it hasn't happened in Rodentia since 1980! GO SIOUX!!!

Let's not get too carried away just yet. We still have 20 minutes of hockey left on Olympic-Sized Ice against a team built to play on it. That being said..... What a great period of hockey for our boys!!! GO SIOUX!!!

If we can stay out of the freaking box, we'll have a chance to win this game. Gophers making some poor defensive plays with the puck, we have to take advantage of them when they happen.

In my opinion, any discussion forum that doesn't have a diversity of opinions and viewpoints isn't worth wasting time on. GPL looks like nothing more than a Gopher lovefest, with no other opinions or viewpoints present or welcome. I like the fact that we have Gopher and Bison fans on SS.com. I like it even better that they like to stir the pot and offer different viewpoints than what those of us who bleed Green and White hold. Do they get on my nerves sometimes? Yes. But am I glad they are here? Absolutely. Any discussion forum that is nice and sweet all the time or that only offers one viewpoint on everything is boring. Give me more verbal battles and less preaching to the choir. My 2 cents.

People were talking about how unbeatable and unstoppable the Rodents were last year, too. And we ALL know how that ended. And this year, they have less senior leadership (Potulny and Irmen are off to greener $$$ pastures) and more freshmen expected to carry the load. And I am still not convinced that Briggs is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Last year, he had some good games during the regular season and melted down in the playoffs (again). If he can do better in the playoffs this time, I'll believe the hype. But not until then. PREDICTION (SPLIT): Friday: UM 5, UND 2 Saturday: UND 3, UM 2

This weekend's game against Augustana will have huge implications on the playoff picture and on who hosts the regional; provided we take care of business against Mankato.

No, I don't like the negativity on the Hockey forum. But I like the fact that our fans are passionate about hockey and they hate losing with a passion. You can still be a supporter and hate losing. I support ALL of our teams. I will never give up my football season tickets in the Alerus Center; I look forward to football season. And I think we have some of the best student-athletes in college sports. But like I said above, a program's legacy is built on National Championships, not Conference Titles or winning a lot of games every season. And we haven't been doing that. You are correct, it is always a gamble. You'll win some and you'll lose some. I just wish we'd win more championship gold.

I respect your opinion and I admire your attitude, but I guess I don't agree with you on this. I mean no disrespect or emnity towards anyone (we aren't talking about NDSU or Omaha), but I just can't cheer for another team to win it all. I always want our teams to be the best and that hasn't happened very often over the past 5 years in several sports. It is very frustrating to get so close and then having to settle for second place or worse. It took us years to get the football program to the point of contending nationally year in and year out; and now we are taking a back-seat to someone else. It's a very bitter pill to swallow. I guess I am too passionate for my own good. You might disagree, but I don't think this situation would be tolerated as much if it was Men's Hockey involved instead of Football. I look forward to the day when football defeats are mourned as much as hockey defeats. I think the move to Division I will help make that a reality.

That is apples and oranges and you know it. The move up to Division I will involve a probationary period and I have no problem with that. It will take at least that long to build a contender at the next level. Once we get up and running, we'll have no problem contending for championships in Division I. The win over Northern Iowa proves we'll be competitive sooner than some think. Winning 10 games, a share of the conference and going to the quarterfinals are nice; don't get me wrong. But a program's legacy is built on National Championships, not on conference titles or winning a bunch of games. And we aren't doing that. The expectations for football at this school are much higher than they were 10 years ago. And I like that, even though right now we aren't living up to them. Next year is our last chance before moving up. As usual, we'll be contenders.

I'm glad you're happy about it SiouxMeNow. I'm not. I am sick of being the Wanna-Be/Runner-Up program.

Uh, yes I was. And Lammy would have gotten roasted for giving up either of those goals; there are some people on here who blame him for everything. They would have blamed Lammy for giving up the rebound on the first goal and for being out of position on the second one (defensive breakdown or no defensive breakdown). Last week's Friday night game against the Badgers featured two defensive breakdowns that led to two second period goals, which led to another home loss. And people were blaming Lammy for it. Grieco gets a free ride from some posters on this forum and I am sick and tired of it. If we're going to have high standards for Lammy, let's have high standards for Grieco. He got lit up in Anchorage and he got lit up in Mankato, but we swept in Mankato because they have even worse defense and goaltending then we have. And there are some people on here who think he can take us to St. Louis? Yeah, right. I have zero confidence in either of them right now. They are just not consistent enough. Lammy and Grieco look good sometimes and bad other times. That isn't going to win many games for you. And even if they were consistent, we'd still be losing games because we aren't scoring enough goals and our defense has been mediocre all season. I don't really care who steps up in goal as long as someone does step up. If that doesn't happen, we are going to lose a lot more games this year. Now, which game were you watching again?

You mean the big, fat rebound he gave up that led to the first goal? Or maybe it was the big, fat opening between his legs that led to the second goal and his benching? I think it's time to give Walski a chance. The other two guys haven't been consistent enough and they've both had plenty of chances. Walski hasn't had a chance; give it to him. Of course, that won't solve our goal scoring and defensive problems.

I'm definitely NOT trying to start a feud with Runninwiththedogs, she is a good poster on this forum and she's from UMD, a school which I consider the Anti-Rodentia! However, when she comes on here accusing us of being "spoiled rotten babies" because we are not satisfied with our team's effort, I had to respond. I just don't think that expecting a solid effort from your hockey club equals being spoiled. We know we won't win every game, but we want our team to go down fighting. That hasn't happened this year and that is very, very frustrating. Maybe if Runninwiththedogs (and other Bulldog fans) would complain and voice their opinions more often, the athletic department would put a more competitive team on the ice more often, maybe even a championship contender. Nothing gets the suits moving faster than complaints from alumni and fans. The new arena in Duluth might help with this, but it also takes committment from the top. And I honestly think that has lacked over the years in Duluth. That is all I am going to say about this. GO SIOUX!!! (Hopefully in an upward direction! )

Are you finished? If you are, then I want to talk about the concept of excellence. Excellence means playing hard every shift, every game. Excellence means winning your games at home. Excellence means beating the teams you are supposed to beat. Excellence means expecting a high level of performance from players, coaches, trainers, you name it. Excellence is the foundation of all success. If you don't have excellence, you WILL NOT have success. That is what built the great teams of the 1980's and 1990's. That is what will bring home Title #8 (when the time comes). And that is not what we are seeing right now from the Green and White. If this team was short on talent, but was still working hard every shift, I would be pleased. This was the case during the first couple of years of the Blais regime. Less talent than most teams they faced, but they worked so hard and never gave up. They won games on pure effort alone. And even in losses, they were entertaining and fun to watch. I fell in love with those teams based on things other than wins and championships. Of course, the championships followed because Blais had established a standard of excellence that rubbed off on the players and incoming recruits. Tonight, other than Oshie (who I think is banged up), there wasn't much effort on this team. I don't know what passes for excellence in Duluth. I don't know why Sandy can't seem to turn it around (maybe the DECC isn't a good draw for recruits). But I do know that the level of mediocrity sustained by the Bulldogs (except for the Frozen Four appearance in 2004) would never be tolerated in Grand Forks. Ever. You guys put up with Mike Sertich and his inability to land top recruits and put winning teams on the ice for years and years before you made a change. And if Sandelin can't get it done in Duluth (the jury is still out on that), you will probably put up with it for a long time before you make another change. I have nothing against you or your team (I love it when you beat the Rodents), but I think the standard of excellence in Duluth is much, much different than it is in Grand Forks. If this team was working hard, skating hard and giving 110% every shift, I don't think you would be reading the types of comments on this forum that you have been for the past couple of weeks (and even before that). But that is not the case right now and that is why we are upset. And if that makes us "spoiled rotten babies", then so be it.

Just got home from The Ralph. Is anyone else as sick and tired of the "Duckies and Bunnies" crap coming out of the mouth of Hennesey (sp?) and Bernstrom? I like those guys, but all of this "they're playing really well, they just aren't getting the bounces" stuff is getting really old. You CAN lose one or two games in a season because of "unlucky bounces", but not this many and not this many at home. For pete's sake, this is our house! If we can't win at The Ralph, it's going to be a long, painful second half. Attention WCHA teams: If you are struggling to win games, just book a weekend at "Club REA". Tomorrow night is the most important night of the season so far for this team. Another loss at home to Tech will make it very difficult for this team to regain it's confidence for the second half.

Football does not have to (and will not) become the most important sport on campus. This might happen if we dumped the hockey program , but that is not going to happen. Hockey is not this little novelty alternative sport; the WCHA attracts well over 1 million fans to it's games each year; Hockey East is located in prominent East Coast media markets. When we go to the Frozen Four, we get media coverage. Even Buning knew about our hockey program before he applied to work here. Hockey has a life of its own. We can afford to take some eggs out of the hockey basket and put them into the football basket, and hockey will continue to function just fine. Football can, however, become a solid complement to hockey and help improve our national profile as an all-Division I institution. As I've said, there is no reason football cannot be promoted and hyped more than it is. It just needs more support from Buning, Kupchella and those of us buying tickets. If we all chip in, we can do our part and help make it happen.

This is the biggest problem in Grand Forks right now (and for many years): "Fargo has this, Fargo has that, so we shouldn't even try. Let's give up and wait for the end to come." This attitude will get you nowhere. If you don't believe that you can accomplish special things, you won't. Ever. And unfortunately, this attitude rubs off on UND sometimes. This is one of those times. So what if the Fargodome has more seats than the Alerus? You should still try to pack the place. 9,500 is pretty good. But 10, 11 or 12,000 is even better. Stop treating football as the red-headed stepchild of hockey and it might grow into something special. Hockey is promoted as the greatest thing since sliced bread, and sure enough, it's one of the top programs in the nation. Football could achieve the same status in Division I....IF the program is promoted and hyped up enough. This is one area NDSU is performing well in, promoting ALL of their major sports (Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball and Football), while UND focuses almost entirely on Men's Hockey and whatever REA management wants. UND will continue to grow and become more important in Grand Forks and in the State of North Dakota. Research is taking off. Enrollment is strong. These things should rub off on athletics as we move into the transition period after next year. But if we keep putting all of our eggs into the hockey basket, all of our other programs will suffer when they should be prospering. And as a Fighting Sioux Club member, I don't want that to happen.

The problem with Sioux Football isn't the coach (Dale Lennon is one of the best around). It isn't a lack of tradition (We have a long, proud history of football). It isn't a lack of success on the field (We've been a playoff contender for a long time now). No, the problem is hockey. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Fighting Sioux Hockey. I've been going to games since I was six or seven years old. I rarely missed a home game when I was a college student. I go to the Final Five every single year. But there is this unfortunate mentality in Grand Forks and among UND fans in general that if it isn't Men's Ice Hockey, it doesn't matter. At all. And as a season ticket holder in both sports, that pains me. Earth to Fighting Sioux fans: YOU CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE MAJOR SPORT!!! Having football as another major sport to complement hockey would help the athletic department in particular and the school in general. Football starts in late August or early September. Hockey starts in October. They do overlap some, but as long as home football and hockey games are at different times, it shouldn't be a big problem. The attendance at home football games is inexcusable. There isn't enough promotion of football at this school. The Alerus Center is already a great atmosphere for football with an average attendance of a little over 9,500. Imagine how awesome it would be with 10,000 + for home games? And please get off of this whole "The Fargodome is bigger, so we'll never have as good of a program" nonsense. I've been hearing that crap ever since the Grain Bin opened in 1993 and we've done pretty well against the Bison in football since then. The Alerus seats fewer people, but with a low ceiling and fans right on top of the field, it's a great environment for our team to perform in. The old REA seated 6,067, the new REA seats 11,500. And the atmosphere has gone down the toilet. Bigger doesn't always mean better. All the tools are there to make football in Grand Forks a solid #2 sport. It would be a big boost to the Grand Forks area and to our athletic department. All we need is a strong commitment to make it happen. The move to Division I might make this possible.

I was a third-year undergraduate in 1996. The year before the big flood. The year before our program regained it's status as a national power. As a student, I was able to watch the resurrection of a fallen College Hockey dynasty. In the OLD Ralph Engelstad Arena. Great memories.

I see your point. College programs should be run with class, within the rules and they should make the athletes better people. They should also graduate their athletes. Whether or not they lose their jobs for not winning sometimes depends on what sport is important at what school. Hockey, Football and Women's Basketball are the championship sports at UND. Men's Basketball has not been a championship-contending sport for a long time. It flies under the radar, which is why Glas was able to survive for so long while running an average program. Roebuck, Lennon and Hakstol would not be able to get away with that. Volleyball has been average at best for years, but again the public interest in that sport is limited, so the outrage isn't there. Wrestling was dropped with little public outrage because the interest wasn't there to begin with. However at some point, if the program struggles for a long time and it isn't getting better, a change has to be made. This change is often good for both coach and school (example: Glas and UND Men's Basketball). Hockey switched from Gino Gasparini to Dean Blais. There was outrage at the time, but history has been kind to Terry Wanless for making the tough, but necessary decision. But the decision should be based on not only winning, but graduation rates, quality of kids in the program, any rules violations, ect. Winning matters, but it should not be the only thing. This isn't the NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB. Winning is great and I want all our programs to win, but I also want to win the right way. That's what Hakstol, Lennon and Roebuck do on an annual basis and that is what all coaches should strive for.

With all of this talk about what our biggest problems are as a team, I'd like to simplify things a little. Just as football is composed of three major components (Offense, Defense, Special Teams), hockey is also composed of three major components: Offense, Defense and Goaltending. There are also two subcomponents that supplement the main three components: Powerplay and Penalty-Kill, sometimes collectively known as Special Teams. I believe that if you can be solid in two of the three main components, you will have a chance to win any game. If you are solid in all three areas, you probably should win a championship, but this is pretty rare. Let's look at some real-life examples: 1) North Dakota 1996-97, NCAA Champions: Did not have great defensemen, but blueliners played well enough to slow down other teams. Goaltending was solid. Offense is what drove this team (Blake, Hoogsteens, Panzer, Calder, Ulmer, Kallay, you get the picture). Don't remember Special Teams, but I don't think they were a big liability. Two out of three (offense and goaltending). 2) North Dakota 1999-2000, NCAA Champions: Had one of the greatest goaltenders in College Hockey history (Karl Goehring, I don't care what the critics think), solid defensemen like Travis Roche and Mike Commodore, and a productive, but not explosive offense with players like Lee Goren and Jeff Panzer leading the way. Not as good of an offensive team as 1997, but better on defense and in goal. Special teams not a liability. Two out of three (defense and goaltending). 3) Minnesota 2001-02, NCAA Champions: Average in goal (Adam Hauser), solid on both offense and defense. Special teams an asset. Two out of three (offense and defense). 4) Wisconsin 2005-06, NCAA Champions: Great goaltending (Brian Elliott), solid defense in front of him and just enough offense to get the job done. Special teams an asset. Two out of three (defense and goaltending). See the pattern? Two out of three gives you a chance, along with special teams that either don't hurt you or make you even better. After that it's up to solid coaching of the talent you have, staying healthy and having good team chemistry, the latter two of which are impossible to quantify and/or predict. Three out of three (North Dakota, 1986-87; Maine 1992-93) are rare and tough to pull off, which is why those teams are special and remembered so vividly for so long. Right now, North Dakota isn't solid in any of the three major areas I discussed above. They are clicking on the Powerplay, which is usually an area this team struggles in. Penalty-Kill is a trouble spot, so special teams are a wash right now. Based on this, we should feel fortunate that this team has only one more loss than win. The Powerplay has probably helped prevent a worse record. We are probably doing as well as can be expected based on our play so far. Whether we can fix what is wrong before it's too late is another matter.