fightingsioux4life

roper1313, So the Bison finished 8-3 last year playing a creampuff schedule that included Montana Tech (NAIA), Valparaiso (D-IAA non-scholarship) and South Dakota State (a very weak D-IAA probationary team) and that proves that they are competitive? Give ME a break! If the Bison are so good and competitive right now, they should have went 11-0 with that schedule. I don't care what the polls say, national polls are usually not accurate. Just wait until NDSU starts playing legitimate D-IAA programs on a regular basis and they'll realize that there is a learning curve to moving up one whole division. Look at Northern Colorado. They were a D-II powerhouse and looked decent at first, but I think they finished 2-8 last year. NDSU will be competitive on a national level, but it won't happen without some growing pains first. This is my last comment on this thread since this is a hockey board. Perhaps we can take this conversation over to a different board?

You are right about DI-A teams, the top teams in I-A are more professional than college. But I don't know if I-AA is that big of a jump from D-II. I have heard Dale Lennon talk about how the jump from D-II to DI-AA is not as big as it sounds. Also, there are a lot of non-scholarship "D-IAA" programs (like Valparaiso) that are a joke compared to programs like ours. Yes, programs like NDSU have hurdles to climb in their move to Division I (finances, scheduling, etc.) but I think their football program will become competitive at the I-AA level at some point within the next 5 to 8 years. Their other programs will probably never contend nationally like they used to. Bottom line, we have the best of all worlds; D-I hockey (men's and women's) and D-II in everything else. And three of our programs are national contenders year in and year out (Men's Hockey, Women's Basketball and Football). A lot of schools have only one decent sport, if that. I'm not totally against moving up under the right circumstances, but I like what we have now. And I enjoy each sport for what it is.

WCU was better than what that conference and region usually have to offer, which is not much. Good receivers, good running backs, some very athletic linebackers (sound familiar?). Teams with this much offensive talent will rack up yards, even on our defense. Remember the UC-Davis playoff game in 2001? We gave up more yards than our seasonal average, but we kept them off the scoreboard. That being said, there are some things we need to work on. WCU's third down conversion rate was unacceptable. I lost count of how many third down's they converted, and some of them were long-distance situations. We also fell for some misdirection plays that a veteran defense like ours shouldn't fall for. Their lone scoring drive was way too easy for them, we didn't make them earn it. Still, it's hard to complain about a 41-7 win. We've become spoiled over the last 4 years or so. We have a tough schedule this season, so we better get used to being in tough battles on both offense and defense. It's better to play quality competition like West Chester instead of Moorhead and Crookston. Playing and beating good teams will look good when playoff selection time rolls around.

Sioux run out the clock! FINAL UND 44 CWU 20 Dale Lennon says a lot left to work on, left points on the field. Fumbles are a concern, along with giving up generous chunks of yardage on kickoffs. Home opener next week vs. West Chester.

A meaningless TD for Central Washington. PAT is good. 0:53 left in the game. UND 44 CWU 20 Defensive stats won't look as good, but a win is a win.

Sioux score another TD! Late into the fourth quarter now (3:51 left) UND 44 CWU 13 Reed Manke looking good at QB.

Central Washington scores, set up with big pass play on third and long. PAT is good UND 37 CWU 13

Drive stalls inside the 10. Glas makes 24 yard field goal. UND 37 CWU 6

RB Beatty limps off field, hope it's not serious. Sioux knocking on the door! UND 34 CWU 6

Another fumble, this time we lost it. What is going on? BREAKING NEWS! Digger Anderson gets interception!!! UND 34 CWU 6 End of third quarter.

2:49 left in third quarter UND 34 CWU 6 Reed Manke is now in at quarterback. Sioux starting inside own 20 yard line. Time for a clock-eating drive!

Jeff Glas finally makes a field goal. UND 34 CWU 6 More problems with the exchange between Belmore and the center. Could have cost us a touchdown on this drive. Needs to be fixed....soon.

CWU quarterback taking a beating in this game. Sioux defense forces another CWU punt. UND 31 CWU 6

PAT good despite penalty. UND 31 CWU 6

Weston Dressler returns a punt for a touchdown! 67 yards! 7:50 left in second quarter. PAT pending UND 30 CWU 6

Jeff Glas misses FG, he's 0-2 today. Middle of the second quarter. UND 24 CWU 6 A lot of fumbles by the offense today, fortunately they've all been recovered by the Sioux.

Belmore throws interception, returned for touchdown. PAT is no good. UND 24 CWU 6 Sioux better be careful, we are on the road and we don't want to give the Wildcats any life. Time for a nice, long drive to put it away.

Second half is underway! Central Washington kicks off to UND, Sioux will start on own 20 yard line. UND 24 CWU 0

Central Washington drives inside the 5 yard line, but is stopped on 4th and Goal. UND takes over on their own 4. UND 24 CWU 0 4:47 left in First Half

Second Quarter: UND 24 CWU 0 Glas just missed a field goal, but Sioux are still in firm control. Defense looks as good as expected. Offense has some glitches, but is doing okay.

Here's a short list of things I would do immediately: 1) Get basketball out of The Ralph and into The Betty where it belongs!!! It's time to give up this fantasy of increasing the fan base for basketball by having it in an 11,500 seat arena. It's not going to happen. They are drawing the same crowds now that they always have. Have all games in The Betty. If you have a game that you think will draw a big crowd (like with NDSU), then have it in The Ralph. But otherwise, 99% of the crowds will be small enough for The Betty to handle. 2) Fix the cotton-picking ice. Does it make sense to have a $104 million arena with ice worse than the old one? I say no. I am so sick of hearing how poor and cash-strapped our athletic department is. This arena is a cash machine and yet we can't afford to fix the ice, the most important part of the whole building? Ralph Engelstad didn't spare any expense building this arena. REA management should take the same attitude towards making The Ralph a top-of-the-line arena for both the players and the fans. If they "pass the hat" to pay for something like this, I'll tell them where to stick it. I give The Ralph enough of my money as it is! 3) Find a common-sense solution to the student seating controversy. Our student section is the heart and soul of the atmosphere of Sioux hockey. But ever since the opening of the new Ralph, REA management has been determined to muzzle the student section and make it a nice, quiet and sterile environment for cell phone snobs and corporate suits. As a result, I don't think opposing teams fear coming to Grand Forks like they used to. We need a better balance between school spirit and the wishes of the luxury box and season ticket holders. And if the corporate types don't like it, they can pick up their toys and go someplace else. REA will continue to rake in the cash from beer, concession sales and season ticket holders (like myself) with or without their patronage. Those are my solutions for a better REA. But don't hold your breath waiting for them to happen.

This weekend was the final nail in the coffin for this team and season. This was our chance to move up in the standings, with Duluth and Minnesota still struggling and Denver being above us, and we didn't get it done. This team just does not have enough offense to win the close games against teams like Denver, Colorado College, etc. Our upperclass forwards are very average at best at finishing their chances. Our freshmen and sophomores are outstanding, but you are not going to win at this level without at least some upperclassmen providing leadership and scoring. Add to that our lack of depth and you have a team that just isn't going anywhere this year. The great teams of the 1990's had good depth and could roll 3 to 4 lines for 60 minutes, which would wear out other teams. That is why in the 1990's, we owned the third period. Tonight, Denver owned the third period in our own barn. Denver reminds me of those 1990's Sioux teams. They have all the pieces in place to make a run at repeating as NCAA champions. I don't want to knock Blaiser at all, but with a few obvious exceptions (Parise, Bochenski), our overall recruiting classes over the past few seasons have lacked the depth and quality of those in the 1990's. Look what has happened to this team's offensive production this year after losing just two star players. That tells you just how much depth we have been lacking over the past three to four years. Without Parise and Bochenski, the previous two seasons would have been just as bad, if not worse. Ever since Sandelin went to Duluth after our last NCAA Championship in 2000, our recruiting classes have lacked depth. Yes, we've landed some stars here and there, but the overall quality and depth of the classes has been missing. Blais and Sandelin were a lethal combination, both in coaching and recruiting. But after Sandy left, the recruiting classes haven't been the same and neither has the discipline and focus of the team. Now, Dave Hakstol has to try to win with subpar recruiting classes and undisciplined players and people are calling for his head. I for one will be giving him more than one year to prove himself. Our recruits for next year look really good and we'll have some good forwards coming back next year. I think Hak and his staff will have a good chance to start building this program back to championship status within the next couple of years.

This is a bad idea for all the reasons already listed and more. Grand Forks already has too many low-wage, low-benefit service jobs. We don't need more of the same, we need better paying jobs with benefits or our youth will not stick around. A casino will not improve the situation, it will make things even worse. Grand Forks needs to tap into the growing technology sector, attract small manufacturing firms (not big corporations), develop and attract more businesses connected with UND (the proposed bio-lab is a good start), and encourage more local business start-ups by local citizens. All of these things will grow our tax base, improve the quality of life of our citizens and strengthen the businesses we have now. These are the things that will make Grand Forks more attractive, not a big gambling operation. End rant.

I went to UND for 7 years (undergraduate and graduate school) and now work on campus. Parking was always a pain in the butt when I was a student, but with increases in enrollment it has gotten much, much worse. I now have the "high privilege" ("high" as in higher fees year after year) of an "A Zone" permit, but it's still very difficult to find a spot when you need one. I take advantage of the shuttles whenever I can, but there aren't enough buses to handle all the new students we've been adding to campus. Despite what certain "experts" think, there is not a surplus of parking spaces on campus, and it's only going to get worse if enrollment keeps going up. So I am in favor of building a parking ramp to help ease the burden. That being said, I have a sneaking suspicion that the location of the ramp was not decided solely on the basis of the reasons announced. I think the idea of being able to charge people who already park in that area for hockey games probably had something to do with it. It's just too convenient to be a mere coincidence. The next thing you know, REA management will try to take over the ramp during hockey games so they can rake in the cash for themselves. That would be the straw that broke the camel's back. I hope if they do charge people for parking for events on campus that the money goes to UND or to pay for the ramp, not REA. If it goes to pay for the ramp, I think more people would tolerate it. Just my 2 cents.