fightingsioux4life

As soon as the new Ralph opened less than 5 years ago, the administration has pretty much been determined to tear down the old Ralph. Why did they wait this long? I am guessing it's one of, or a combination of, the following: 1) To give people time to "let go" of the old building. It may be old, rusty and obsolete, but a lot of people have fond memories of that place. And a lot of people didn't like leaving it in the first place. Time may not heal all wounds, but it sure helps people get over losing an old arena and embrace a new one. 2) To allow more deterioration of the old structure, which makes the case for demolition stronger. I think when the old Ralph closed in 2001 (after the farewell game against Manitoba), the cost of renovation and demolition was about the same. Now, it's tilted in favor of demolition. It looks like a no-brainer at this point, while back in 2001 it was a tougher case to make. 3) To give the administration more time to talk about how old and decayed the building is and how it cannot be used for anything again. Personally, I think all the talk about how bad of shape the old Ralph is in has been a little exaggerated. If you listen to some people, you would think it's not safe to walk inside of. Sure, the outside is rusted, the roof probably needs work and a lot of the inside is obsolete after years without any serious renovation. But I would have to guess that the overall structure of the building is still sound. I think there are some offices in part of the building right now. If it's falling apart, why would you be able to have offices in there? Enough said. Personally, I always felt that the old Ralph should have been turned into a basketball facility. It would have given us more seating than the Betty and that is critical if we are going to move to Division I, which I think will happen during the next couple of years. Another possible use I have pondered is turning it into a College Hockey Hall of Fame. What better place for that then one of the best College arenas of all time? If it's better for UND's future that the old Ralph meet it's demise, then I guess I can live with it. But I will miss that old building something awful. The noise. The comebacks. The atmosphere. We still haven't duplicated that in the new building and I don't know if we ever will. Back to reality.

I hate to say this, but you are making some of the same arguments that the defenders of Cheryl Littlejohn (long-ago fired head Women's Basketball coach at Minnesota) made when she was leading teams to single-digit win totals (and that was overall, not conference). All I heard from the apologists was that the players should shut up and "toe the line" and that Littlejohn should get to stay as long as she wanted. I'm not comparing Littlejohn to Rivard, but when a program loses players left and right for no apparent reason and players anonymously bash the head coach in the press, there is something very, very wrong. You can pretty much bet that the Wooster sisters leaving the team was about more than "educational opportunities in Canada they couldn't get here". It's happening with Gopher Women's Basketball right now. This program has not made very much progress and it could get much worse before it gets better.

It doesn't matter that the CHL still produces more NHL talent than D-I. Don Cherry won't be satisfied unless the CHL is producing all the talent like back in the early days of hockey. Cherry represents the Canadian monopolistic view of hockey, which says that "only Canada should have hockey because Canadians invented it". Well, the people in this group better get used to seeing more Americans and (gasp!) Europeans in the NHL, because that trend isn't going anywhere. I acutally like Don Cherry, his entertaining style of commentary makes it worth watching HNIC. He's a lot better than Kelley Hrudey (enough of "Behind the Mask" already!). I just don't like his narrow-minded, xenophobic views on hockey at all levels.

A legend has been taken from us much too early. Kirby Puckett died this evening from a massive stroke at the tender age of 45. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer and one of the best clutch players ever to play the game. His performance in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series was one of the best ever. If you wanted to win a ball game, he was one guy you wanted in your dugout. Every time he stepped to the plate, there was a sense of anticipation and excitement. My prayers go out to his family, friends and former teammates. Does anyone else have any memories or thoughts of Puckett?

Excuse me for being biased toward the NCC, but I think the region title will come down to UND vs. Augustana or St. Cloud. I don't think UND will get tested until the semifinals and I don't think either Wayne St. or Concordia-St. Paul will be able to knock off either Augie or St. Cloud. I am not sold on the strength of the NSIC this year or the RMAC (the Really Mediocre Athletic Conference). The committee is always head-over-heels in love with that conference. If UND wasn't undefeated, they probably would have found some excuse to give the regional to Wayne St. But that's another topic. Anyway, I think we're going to have to beat either St. Cloud or Augustana to get to Arkansas. And based on what happened today at The Betty, I hope it's St. Cloud.

HockeyMom, Okay, I stand corrected on this year. But Rivard has used that in the past. I don't think she should get canned now, but if there isn't any progress during the next couple of years (finishing in the top half of the league, for example), then I think it might be time for a change.

I voted yes, it's time for Glas to go. I think Buning should offer him an administrative job if he steps down on his own. Otherwise, tell him to clean out his office and hire some new blood. One thing I am tired of hearing from Glas is that he just can't recruit big guys to his program. Then, we'll get the crap beat out of us by a big man in the paint and lose. It seems that all the good programs in the NCC can get big guys, except for UND. It's time for a change.

The program is extremely young, so it's a little silly to start talking about the program going in the wrong direction. That being said, I am getting a little tired of finishing at the bottom of the league every single year and losing to other teams in the bottom half of the standings in addition to losing to the national powers at the top. And if I hear Rivard talk about how they can't win because "other teams have 'The Olympians' and we don't" one more time, I am going to throw up. That is like Rich Glas of the Men's B-Ball team complaining about how D-II teams can't recruit big guys when almost every good team in the conference has at least one big man, or even two. Should we expect a conference or national title this soon? No. But if the program doesn't start showing at least some tangible signs of progress in the next couple of years, it might be time for a change at the top. Getting the Lamoreaux sisters to come here could pay immediate dividends and legitimize our program instantly. If not, it could be years and years before it happens. Having said all of that....Let's keep hope alive!!!

This is one of the most frustrating parts of our team. We take shots from the face-off circles, the blue-line and we always want to fire the puck into the goaltender's chest. Then people wonder why every team we play has a "hot goaltender". I am so sick and tired of hearing about how every goaltender we play is great, while our own goaltenders don't get the recognition that they deserve for being consistently good every night. The new hockey writer for the Heraldo always names the opposing goaltender as the "Key Player" of the game when we lose. A couple of weeks ago, Colorado College goaltender Matt Zaba was the "Key Player" of the game in our 3-2 loss, even though we were outshot by a considerable margin! How often do our goaltenders get that type of positive press? Not often enough! And this is our own media doing this, not sportswriters in Minneapolis or Madison. Are there hot goaltenders? Yes. Can you use that line every single time you lose? No. The solution to the above problem is the topic of this thread: Get guys in front of the net, create screens, create chaos and get some deflection and rebound goals. Goalies at this level will stop most long-range shots if they can see them. This is one problem with having skill on your team, players get too fancy. I think that is part of the problem on the Power Play as well.

Sioux win and St. Cloud loses at Augustana. Sioux women clinch outright NCC Championship and will host the NCC Semifinals and Championship game. Shooting was a little off tonight, but otherwise another solid performance. GO SIOUX!!! 28-0 and counting!!! PS: I wonder how much the men will lose by?

Pass Interference call was a total joke. I am sick and tired of some people saying it was a blatant push-off and an obvious penalty; the receiver barely touched the defensive player, who was completely out of position in the first place. The TD was a TD. If you watch the replay with the camera pointed down the goal line, it's pretty obvious that the ball broke the plane of the goal line. On the first and goal pass negated by holding: I thought I saw a blitzing Steeler get dragged down in a headlock-type move from behind. I think that's what they were calling. The 15-yard penalty on Hasselbeck was almost as bad as the offensive pass interference call. Since when is tackling a crime? What was he supposed to do, let the guy run it all the way back? Wait, don't answer that..... As for the Vikings and the Super Bowl, give them a few years. The Wilfs are cleaning house and they'll spend money that Red "I want to be like Carl Pohlad" McCombs wouldn't. Brad Childress is an up-and-coming coach (not a retread like Jim Fassel) and the team he is inheriting is not talent-depleted like the Texans and 49ers are. I am looking forward to the draft and to seeing us upgrade the running back and offensive line positions. I just hope that when the Vikes get to the Super Bowl, they won't get the Seattle Seahawks Treatment. Oh wait, they already have. Hail Mary anybody?

After what happened on Saturday, I think our team would love to get another crack at Omaha (either at home or on the road). And I think the results would be different as well. But we have to get it done this Saturday or it probably won't happen. One question I have is this: How can a team with Oklahoma Panhandle State on the schedule have a stronger strength of schedule than UND? I would think that just having one team like that on your schedule would cause major damage to your SSI. But I guess winning in Vermillion will solve a lot of these problems.

If you are refering to the Potulny brothers and Danny Irmen, I think the answer is no. I think most UND fans recognized that those players would have been big contributors to our program, but it just wasn't meant to be. I for one think that giving up on Grant Potulny too soon was one of the biggest recruiting mistakes of the Blais era. That led to younger brother Ryan following Grant to the U of M and taking his best friend Danny Irmen with him. I guess I can't complain about that since we've taken advantage of family connections to get players in the past (Hoogsteens, Ulmers, Panzers, etc.). But if more North Dakota kids start picking Minnesota in the future, I suppose that sentiment could start creeping into our fan base, too.

Looks like I screwed up a little bit here. Usually when I think of Fox Sports and College Hockey, it's Fox Sports North (formerly known as Minnesota Sports Channel) and that means pro-Gopher bias. This ranking was apparently not done by the FSN crowd. My mistake. Sorry. That being said, it has been true for years that whenever UND lands a top Minnesota kid (especially during the Blais era), a sizable portion of Rodentia immediately cried out that the Gophers didn't want him and weren't recruiting him. I guess all that matters is that they perform on the ice in game situations, but it's one of the reasons I have always disliked the Rodents and probably always will.

Joe Finley doesn't rate a mention because the Gophers didn't get him. One of the Rules Of Rodentia is that if a Minnesota player chooses UND, then either that player wasn't quite good enough for the Rodents or "the Gophers really didn't want him anyway". We've been hearing that garbage for years and years. It's almost to the point where I'm totally deaf to it. Take it for what it's worth (not much).

This team is starting to click on all cylinders. The offense has found an identity (pound the ball up the middle with Beatty, utilize the short and medium range passing game with Dressler, take the occasional shot down the field and throw in a couple of designed QB runs). Both Belmore and Manke look sharp. The defense is already settling into clamp-down mode; we could have had the shutout today if we had chosen to leave our starters in. Even the reserves did a great job for most of the second half. Special teams continue to be special. And the coaches keep coming up with great game plans week after week. As for the concerns that this team hasn't been tested yet, there is some validity to that. But I know that if these games were close, people would be on here worrying about how we will fare in the conference schedule and wondering if we are any good this season. The object of football is to score as many points as possible on offense and give up as few as possible on defense. The fact that the Sioux are executing so well in all areas should not be a cause for concern, but a cause to be excited. What is scary about this team is that they are blowing out teams that are not devoid of talent. We are not talking about UM-Crookston or MSU-Moorhead. We are talking about programs that have had some success in recent history and that have talent. Most people expected this team to have as much talent as any in school history. The big question (Will all that talent mesh?) is being answered with a resounding "yes". The conference season starts next week with a team that we have had our hands full with in the past. But Dale Lennon and his staff know how to prepare a team for any situation and I am confident that they will prevent the team from becoming overconfident. I think everyone should just sit back and enjoy what could be the most talented team UND has ever had.

If we can grab the Lamareaux sisters, the program could establish itself as legitimate WCHA contenders very quickly. But if the Rodents grab them before we can, it might take years to get the women's program where the men's program always is.

It's over. FINAL UND 51 WSU 6

Glas to attempt a short field goal (20 yards). FG good. 0:37 left in game UND 51 WSU 6 Time to start talking Potato Bowl!!!

Shad Carney now in at quarterback. 2:14 left in the game. UND 48 WSU 6

Sioux recover fumble at WSU 17 yard line. That should put a wrap on this one!

TOUCHDOWN! Brady takes it in from inside the 1; nice drive by Manke and the backup offense. PAT good, despite 5-yard penalty. 16 play, 84 yard drive, 7:00 off the clock. UND 48 WSU 6

Sioux drop pass on third down, but Winona is flagged for late hit. Ball on Winona 12. 5:00 left in game. Brady carries ball to 1, Sioux knocking on the door (again).

Sioux advance ball to Winona 41. 7:30 left in fourth quarter. Offensive reserves looking good today. UND 41 WSU 6