fightingsioux4life

That was one of the best tributes to a person I have ever read. No exaggeration. I lost a good friend a couple of years ago and it was very, very hard to accept and live with. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I met Troy at a pre-game tailgate party outside the Old Ralph several years ago (I think it was in 2006) and saw him at various football and hockey games after that. He was always willing to talk about sports and the whole nickname issue. He was very passionate about our hockey program and always felt the team would do better than the naysayers said before the season started. And I will miss his policing of SS.com; absolutely NO ONE was better at keeping the trolls in line! Goodbye Troy. You are gone, but not forgotten.

American network news legend Walter Cronkite has died at age 92. He came from the era before 24-hour cable news and set the standard for network news coverage that hasn't been matched by anyone else. I was in the first grade when he retired from the CBS anchor chair in 1981, but I vaguely remember watching him deliver the news and I also remember the skit Johnny Carson did portraying his last night in the anchor chair. All the legends I grew up watching are dying one at a time. Very sad. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/07/17/w...r-cronkite.html

After we scored and kicked the extra point, I was so nervous about the kick-off I was almost hyperventilating! And to my horror, we gave up a long kick-off return. But then it was called back for holding and I was able to breathe easier again. What a rush! What a win! A moment over 100 years in the making.

If you had paid attention to what I bolded in AZSioux's original post, you would have known that I was talking about Justin Johnson, the very leaky former back-up goaltender for the Gophers. He made Adam Hauser look like a Hobey Baker finalist by comparison.

The old regime (Roger Thomas and Charles Kupchella) made their mind up that the Old Ralph would be torn down, period. I honestly believe that no other options were considered. Around the time that our hockey program moved out of the old REA in 2001, I saw a quote that the cost of renovating the old arena was about the same as tearing it down. But all I heard from the Administration during that same time was how old the building was and how it wasn't safe and how it was "cost prohibitive" to renovate it and so on. How it can go from being our home ice to being unsafe in a very short period of time is beyond my understanding. I think this recent development proves that the safety concerns raised about the Old Ralph were overblown to support tearing it down. I also think leaving it there all those years unused to allow further deterioration was an attempt to obtain more justification to tear it down. But it looks like it was built to last and it has withstood whatever the elements (or the bureaucrats) have thrown at it. I say if we can turn it into something useful and save some money, then we should do it. It would benefit our whole athletic department and the campus.

I hope everyone is safe after all the wild weather we have gotten tonight. Several tornadoes west of Grand Forks. Street Flooding. A truck blown off the road north of Hillsboro. Thankfully, I was home when all this went down. Stay safe everyone.

Penquins win Game 7 2-1 and win the Stanley Cup. I'll bet Hossa wishes he had stuck with the Pens.

That's right, I forgot that our league is courting Omaha to join so we can admit Bemidji State without Bruce "Good Business Sense" McLeod having a hissy fit about an 11 team league. Recruiting in the USHL just got harder.

Wow, if this is true, this will change the landscape of the CCHA and college hockey in general. UNO will definitely take a big step forward if this happens.

I remember going to a lot of hockey games at the Old Ralph with my dad starting when I was 7 years old. That was during the era of general admission tickets behind either goal, so we would go stand in line a couple of hours for tickets. To a grade-schooler, that seemed like an eternity! But it was worth it; I saw a lot of classic games growing up. I remember Bob Joyce's six goal game against Michigan Tech in 1987. I saw a lot of the Hrkac Circus both live and on television (Pat Sweeney and Travis Dunn were the broadcast team). I used to get up for the Badger games the most; I absoultely COULD NOT STAND Chris Chelios or Bruce Driver! I didn't get into football until I was a UND student in 1993, but I did make it to some games as a kid. The team was awful during the 1980's, but I still liked going. I went to a lot of Potato Bowls and Homecoming games. Basketball I went to sporadically, but I didn't learn to appreciate our basketball programs until my college years. Simply put, I was raised on UND sports and I have always bled green and white and always will.

I think the result this year could be different. The Penquins are a year older and wiser and are playing their best hockey when it counts the most. The Red Wings are still a formidable team, but they are not as dominant as last season and they are banged up at the worst possible time. This is the first time since 1984 that we have had a Stanley Cup rematch and the situation is very similar. In 1983, the Islanders won their fourth straight Cup by beating the Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers. In 1984, the Oilers won the first of four Cups in five years (and five Cups in seven years) by beating the Islanders. I think history is about to repeat itself. My pick: Penquins in 6.

Honorary degrees are stupid anyway. Degrees should be earned, not given out as cheap tokens.

Fargo doesn't deserve the State High School Hockey Tournament. Fargo doesn't deserve the U-18 Tournament. Fargo doesn't deserve these things until they can prove that they can support hockey on a consistent basis. And they have never proven that they can do that. Every time a junior hockey team has been tried in Fargo, it has failed. The jury is still out on the Fargo Force and the verdict won't come in until the novelty wears off. NDSU has shown zero interest in adding Division I hockey and I think one reason that has been overlooked is the fact that the F-M community has shown little inclination to support hockey with their wallets and their leisure time. MSU-Moorhead's flirtation with D-I hockey is in all likelihood more about trying to inject some life and cold hard cash into a nearly-lifeless athletic department than it is the school's belief in untapped hockey potential in the F-M area. The fact that the UP Center (which I think was and still is a fantastic idea for Fargo) has had trouble generating solid community support to go along with the corporate sponsorship proves that hockey is still the red-headed stepchild of sports in Fargo. The one exception to this rule is the Moorhead Spuds program, but even that program hasn't been able to generate any excitement for hockey on the west side of the river. I would rank hockey as the #5 sport in Fargo, behind Football, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball and College Wrestling. And they think they should host the State HS Hockey Tournament? The math doesn't add up. Moving the State HS Hockey Tournament from Ralph Engelstad Area to the overpriced, overrated and overhyped UP Center is the cosmic equivalent to moving the State Class B Boys Basketball Tournament from the Alerus Center to Hyslop. If Fargo can prove they can support the Fargo Force on a year in and year out basis, the UP Center "complex" can be completed as originally proposed and the UP Center can do a good job hosting the East Region Hockey Tournament, I would support giving Fargo a chance to host something like the State HS Hockey Tournament. But until then, this is a proposal without merit and one that totally smacks of Cass County Imperialism. End Rant.

Sorry Goon, but I am sick of Boston teams dominating the Frozen Four. Enough of this Beantown BS!

I like Fargo's current mayor (much more than their previous mayor), but the upcoming fight for permanent flood protection for Fargo will test his leadership skills to the limit. People will whine and moan that they cannot have the dikes on the banks of the river itself. People will scream bloody murder at the cost of the project. People in small-town North Dakota (especially west of a Jamestown to Devils Lake line) will howl at the prospect of helping to pay for it. Fargo will run into a lot of the same obstacles as Grand Forks did in the 1999 ND Legislative Session, with one major difference. We have a living, breathing example that this type of comprehensive and permanent flood protection works and is worth every penny; the system that Grand Forks fought so hard for. That will make it hard for the "no" crowd to claim that it isn't a "feasible" use of taxpayer funds or that "there is no proof that it will ever work". I wish Fargo (and don't forget Moorhead) all the best in this fight.

UND is small (13,000 enrollment) in a city of 50,000 and we still sell out a 12,000 seat arena night after night after night. That is passion and dedication by our fan base and it is what makes College Hockey successful. And it will make Bemidji State successful, especially if you put them in a first-class league (WCHA). Recruiting will improve, as will strength of schedule. They've managed to succeed in a low-rent league (CHA) for years and have even made it to the Frozen Four as the 16th (and final) seed. They've earned their stripes. Now it's time we reward them for it. This is why losing a program is not acceptable for college hockey. D-I Basketball could lose a program and nobody would notice it was gone (there are over 330 D-I basketball programs). But take one college hockey program out of 58 and it does significant dammage to the sport as a whole. The fact that it isn't a national sport is why we have to protect our own, especially traditional hockey schools like BSU. I would rather lose Alabama-Huntsville then Bemidji State, just because the Beavers have a better chance of surviving in the long-term. And that is what this should be about, the long-term. Not short-term scheduling difficulties or the biases of Mr. McLeod. I am comfortable with it, but we cannot get too small. We don't want to lose what we have gained over the last 10 years or so (16 team tournament, more competitive teams, more talent, ect). If we can keep the number of teams at around 60, we'll be okay. I don't think saving one program is analogous to the over-expansion of the NHL, but I see your point. If we start admitting MIAC teams, then I'll start worrying. But I think this is a prudent and responsible action by the WCHA; IF our league has the guts to pull the trigger on it.

Sounds interesting, as long as the infernal shootout is not included.

In that case, the logical vote is yes. Because if we keep losing programs, we will go back to a 12 team NCAA tournament instead of the 16 team field we fought so long to get. Fewer playoff spots mean less $$$ for programs that would otherwise have gotten in. Another point to consider: If schools start thinking entirely in terms of what's in it for them and nothing else, college hockey as a whole is in big trouble. There is strength in numbers, especially in sports. Letting programs die an untimely death will weaken college hockey as a whole and cause a whole laundry list of problems in the future. If Bruce McLeod wants to maintain "good business sense" in making decisions as commissioner, he should consider these points.

If established hockey power Michigan had taken this attitude towards us in the 1940's, we would not have a program to worry about. All "established successful programs" started out like Bemidji State, including us. They became "established succecssful programs" because other "established successful programs" were willing to schedule them and, at some point, allow them to join an established conference. This is how college hockey has survived and thrived and developed a rabid, passionate fan base that sustains it through tough times and an overall lack of media coverage by the ESPN's of the world. With all due respect, your viewpoint on this issue is very shallow, short-sighted and totally unbecoming a Sioux hockey fan considering our own history of overcoming big-school snobbery and lack of resources (until recent times) to build one of the best (if not the best) Division I hockey programs of all time. If we lose the Bemidji State program, I will blame Bruce McLeod first and foremost for shamelessly lobbying against their admission into the league. But I will also blame fans like yourself who have forgotten the very roots from which programs like North Dakota sprung so many years ago. If all we focus on are scheduling difficulties and the annual share of the playoff pie, we risk losing much more than the 16 team tournament that we fought so long to obtain. We risk losing the heart and soul of College Hockey itself, which is what makes it so special to those of us that follow it each and every winter. Programs like Bemidji State embody that spirit and they are the programs that will sustain us through tough times (economic or otherwise) and maintain a quality product for years to come. End Rant.

Today I received a postcard from Midcontinent informing all Sports and Variety Tier Subscribers that the NFL may terminate Midco's right to carry NFL Network as of April 30th. I say get rid of NFL Network and replace it with ESPNU.

If it were McLeod's decision, I would agree with you. But it's not his decision, it's the decision of each of the 10 member schools. McLeod works for them, not the other way around. I say in with Bemidji State and out with McLeod and Greg Sheppard.

The bottom line in this is that Bruce McLeod is against admitting Bemidji State into the league and he has latched onto this "we just cannot have an 11 team league because of scheduling problems" rationale to try to convince enough member schools to vote no. You need 8 of 10 schools to vote yes, which means the anti-expansion crowd only needs 3 no votes to kill it. I am convinced that McLeod is getting some heavy pressure from two schools in the league (I honestly don't know which ones; we can speculate all we want on that) to campaign against this proposal so that one more school votes no and therefore kills expansion (and the BSU hockey program). I don't want the league to get bigger (I think 10 is too big as it is), but letting the Bemidji State hockey program die is simply not an option. Period. It doesn't make "good business sense" or any other kind of sense. We should admit the Beavers right now and keep looking for #12. It will happen, just not right away. College hockey must maintain the health and vitality of programs like this to remain strong in the present and future.

Agreed. There probably is some political BS going on behind the scenes. It takes 8 out of the 10 member schools to add a school to the league. I wonder if a certain Big Ten school in a state just to our east is lobbying McLeod and a couple of other schools in the league to prevent the Beavers from getting in? I certainly hope that isn't the case.

And I suppose going back to a 12-team NCAA field is a smart "business decision" too, right? If we keep losing programs left and right, that is what's going to happen. We have to keep the number of D-I programs as close to 64 as possible or we'll be back to having two 6-team regionals again. Our esteemed commissioner is clearly against the Beavers joining the league, citing the need to focus on "good business sense" when voting on this issue. I guess he thinks losing a solid, healthy program at a traditional hockey school is better than dealing with some scheduling headaches. I think the next thing WCHA member schools should do after admitting Bemidji State is to get another commissioner. And as far as Bemidji having "too small facilities", our facilities weren't all that great for most of our history as a program. The "Old Barn" was unheated, for goodness sakes! What Bemidji State is going to have is 10x better than the old UND Winter Sports Building. Bottom line: If the WCHA votes to sentence Bemidji State's program to death, the league (and the rest of College Hockey) will regret it for a long, long time.