fightingsioux4life

PCM, I'm positive we'll pick up a road sweep in the second half someplace. Doing it in Duluth against a desperate team that has more talent than they have shown so far is tough. We have been showing slow, steady progress the last few weeks. I'm looking forward to getting back to the Final Five and making some noise. Hopefully, that will lead to an NCAA Tournament appearance. Without the pressure of being the #1 overall seed like last year, maybe we'll perform better.

State of Hockey, I just had to comment on your cute little sig line. We still have had (and will continue to have) WAY more North Dakota kids in our program than you will EVER have. You got lucky with Grant "Sour Grapes" Potulny and his kid brother (Ryan), who also brought along his best friend ("Danny-Boy" Irmen). But most of the really good ND talent will usually wear the Green and White. At least now I won't have to listen to Gopher fans rip North Dakota hockey talent, they really can't do it anymore. At least UND can steal Minnesota High School kids from the Rodents from time to time. But oh, that's right, I almost forgot: "If UND gets a good Minnesota kid, the Gophers really didn't want him anyway." Go back to POI and quit polluting this forum!!!

U2Bad1, I don't think anyone is suggesting that people that live as far away from Grand Forks as you come back; I think the message is for people that live relatively close to campus and are very capable of driving back for the game. This is one of the biggest home games we've ever had, at least the biggest since the UC-Davis semifinal game in 2001. We need a lot of people and a lot of noise. I think this game will be like a heavyweight boxing match, two fighters slugging it out until one of them can't continue. With both teams thriving on defense and being somewhat inconsistent on offense, I think special teams might decide it. If that is the case, I would have to say......UND 17, GVSU 10

At least we HAVE a legitimate hockey program, not some cheeseball club team that probably couldn't beat the ND High School Champions! As for when we move up to D-I in all sports, we will do it when it is the right time for UND, not because we want to show up our rivals or because we are jealous of what our rivals have and we don't have (UND has hockey and NDSU doesn't). Now, onto the subject of the playoff bracket: I was hoping to draw Winona, as I think they would be a somewhat easier opponent than St. Cloud. But I think all the teams in the Northwest Region are good and there are no really easy games, especially when you are on the road. I think there is a very good chance of Sioux-Lakers III at The Al on November 27th. But both teams need to take care of business the next two weeks first. I have a feeling that both these teams are ready to start winning games when it counts. Too bad for the rest of the region.

Good analysis, here are a few thoughts of my own....... Agreed. Stop Matt Birkel and you stop the Huskies. I don't think their quarterback is good enough to carry the team if he has to. Roland and Strouth will have to play well, but I think we are going to have to use the pass to set up the run. Our running game hasn't been dominant this season so far. We got to Florence throwing the ball last year and I think we'll have to do it again this time. Spreading the ball around will be a must. Belmore (who I think will be starting) will have to make plays for us to win. This game is a chance for redemption. The defense needs to get back to its usual level of nastiness. We've given up some big plays the past two weeks. We can't let that happen in the postseason. The special teams are fantastic right now. And special teams can win or lose games for you all by themselves. Taking the redshirt off of Dressler was one of the best decisions the coaching staff has ever made. This is a must in the playoffs. All the teams are good and if you aren't on top of your game, your season will be finished. I said after the loss in October that if we played this team again, we would win. I still feel this way. UND 28, SCSU 17

I agree with you, but that's where the state legislature is taking us. But that's another topic for another time. The point I was trying to hammer home is that with students paying more and more of the bill (in tuition and in other fees), students shouldn't be treated like dirt at hockey games or anywhere else. I guess I could have picked a better example. Anyway, if I remember correctly, the legislature voted back during the 2001 session to not help pay for any maintenance or operating costs for the new REA, so this whole "taxpayer" discussion is somewhat irrelevant to the topic at hand. My mistake, again. You are partially right. UND wouldn't exist without state sponsorship and support and with the support of alums and other private organizations. However, without students continuing to chose UND as their college, UND would be in a tough spot. I went to hockey games as a student and now as a season ticket holder. I never have detected this "attitude" you are talking about, either sitting in the student section or now sitting a couple of sections across from the student section. All I've seen is a bunch of college kids having fun on a Friday or Saturday night. Sure, there are always a few bad apples and malcontents, but it is wrong to paint the entire student section with this label. If anyone needs an attitude adjustment, it's the REA management and some of the staff. Again, what "behavior" are you talking about? Is it the standing up for the whole game? I've already stated that I think both sides need to sit down and hammer out an agreement that everyone can live with. Profanity? I don't use it and I don't like it. But you will always have it to a certain extent in sports crowds in this country, whatever the sport. At least we don't fight each other like soccer crowds in Europe. Throwing stuff on the ice? Other than hats after a hat trick, it hasn't happened much in the new Ralph. I think it happened much more in the old Ralph. Again, I haven't seen much inappropriate or rowdy behavior on the part of student fans. The only inappropriate behavior I've heard about is on the part of REA management and staff, based on the comments I've read on this forum and on what I've heard from others on campus. I am one of those people who pays good money to watch our team play. And the only bad behavior at the games has been on the part of REA management. You know, the most outrageous thing about this whole ordeal is how the whole student section has been blamed for the actions of a few jerks that you will invariably get at sporting events. That green-colored 'riot act' that showed up last year at the CC series is an example of blaming one whole group for the actions of a few jerks. By all means, kick out those that are causing trouble. But don't look for any excuse you can find to kick students out of the Ralph. A little balance and common-sense goes a long way to preventing problems. The old Ralph had rules: No banging on the glass, No throwing garbage on the ice, basic common-sense things that probably 99% of students had no problem with, including myself. People who couldn't behave were tossed out. And deservedly so. But people who were behaving were left alone. That is not the case in the new Ralph, if the posters on this forum are telling the truth, which I think they are. If we can fix the seating arrangement so that students aren't bothering season ticket holders and vise-versa, that would fix most of the problems we've had since the new Ralph opened in 2001. And I don't think the atmosphere would suffer much, if at all. I think it might even be better. As for troublemakers, toss them out but leave everyone else alone. That makes sense, probably too much sense for REA management! The bottom line is, I want a good college atmosphere where everyone has a good time and no one feels unwelcome. This is as a former student, season ticket holder and FSC member. There's my viewpoint, fair and balanced!!!

PCM, Don't start with the "taxpayers of North Dakota" B.S. (of which I am one, by the way). The "taxpayers of North Dakota" are funding less and less of UND's budget with each passing legislative session. As a result, the students are paying more and more of the bill for UND to operate. You can't ask students to pay more in tuition, fees, hockey tickets, ect. and then treat them like second-class (or worse) citizens. And the university does exist because of the students. If our students are treated like crap, they might decide to go someplace else for their education (perhaps NDSU! ) and we'll lose out on tuition dollars and future alumni contributions. And they'll tell all their friends back home about it and they might not come to school here either. And thanks to dwindling state appropriations, we can't afford that. And that's what this issue is really all about, is it not? If students are treated like dirt at athletic events like hockey games or in other departments on campus, when they are out making money in the "real world" (something some people on this forum think they are experts on), they might decide not to contribute one cent to the athletic department or to any other department on campus. This issue goes beyond college athletics. It goes to the heart of how we treat our students (a.k.a. future alums and potential benefactors). There is no reason why we can't work out a deal that protects student interests while insuring that REA continues to generate the revenues we need to fund our athletic programs. That is what it was built for in the first place. A lot of people, particularly in REA management circles, have forgotten that. All I want, as a season ticket holder and a FSC member, is to bring back the atmosphere of the old Ralph to the new one. That is what the team deserves and it's what all the fans deserve as well.

Sorry, I didn't see it. I don't watch the "Worldwide Leader in Hype" very much.

Okay, I stand corrected about yesterday's game. But in a lot of games this season, our O-Line hasn't gotten it done. I hope they can pull it together again next week and give us a shot at getting into the post-season. Whatever happened to Lennon's "If he's not 100%, he doesn't play" rule? It's a good rule and he should have stuck with it. Good question and the answer is we shouldn't. I'd rather lose because of young QB's mistakes than because an injured senior can't put the ball where he wants it. I certainly hope we get into the playoffs and make another run at it, but I just don't think it is meant to be this year. Next year could be the best season ever for this program, assuming injuries don't come up AGAIN. I'll be there on Saturday. Win or lose, playoffs or not, it's been another fun year!

ESPN has always hated all of our athletic programs. When our Women's Basketball team was winning National Titles in the 1990's, the 4th string announcers they put on the air always rooted against us. Same with the 2001 FB National Title game; they were getting all excited about a Grand Valley State victory right before "The Play" put us on the one yard line, setting up the game winning TD. And who could forget the Doug Flutie love fest back in 2000 during the Frozen Four championship game. At least we got the last laugh on THAT one! Screw ESPN and their cheesy, hype-filled style of sports reporting! We know what the team should be called and that's all that matters! GO SIOUX!!!

I hate to say this, but I think we're going to be out of the title picture for a few years at least. The senior and junior classes of forwards are nothing special. Some of the freshmen and sophomores are special, but we can't lean on them to carry the load up-front on a night-to-night basis. Next year, we lose a big chunk of our defensive core and will have a very young team again (just like in 2001-2002). I think that after next season, we'll be able to shoot for another championship (both WCHA and NCAA). But until then, get used to being average to slightly above average.

Goon, What did you expect? There wasn't anything to cheer about tonight, so the fact that the building was a morgue shouldn't surprise anyone. We never got close to mounting a comeback. If we had scored on that 2 on 1 rush in the first period instead of hitting the crossbar, it might have woken us up. Or maybe I'm just grasping for straws at 12:15am on a Sunday morning! Let's hope for better next weekend on the road.

I think Bowenkamp has already used his redshirt year (I heard that on the radio someplace), so he is out of options. As for which young quarterback should start, I like both of them and if Lennon wanted to make a change I wouldn't object. But I'd like to point out that Bowenkamp was a junior last season and a lot of fans (including myself) were not pleased with his performance early on. I think we are all a little spoiled from watching Kelby Klosterman for three years. I don't know if any of our current quarterbacks will be as good as Klosterman was, but I think we are in good shape for the present and future. This year, I think the equation is simple: Great Defense + Great Special Teams + Solid Offense = National Title I think the addition of Weston Dressler to special teams will raise the performance of that unit several notches. Add to that the best defense in D-2 and all the offense has to do is be solid, opportunistic and not turn the ball over. I think that if the offense develops some consistency (like they did last year), this team will be tough to stop come playoff time. I'm not worried about the Duluth game, the one game I am concerned about is at Omaha in a couple of weeks. The Mavs aren't as good as they usually are, but we haven't won down there since 1995. And I don't think we've ever played all that well down there, either. If we can get past that game, I think we'll be in good position for the playoffs.

This weekend is Homecoming for both UND and former Defensive Coordinator Kyle "Bubba" Schweigert, who will bring his UMD Bulldogs into the Alerus Center to face his old team. Before the season, I was a little concerned about this game just because Bubba knows our defense inside and out and probably knows our offense as well. But after having watched the Bulldogs get beat by MSU-Mankato and have trouble with MSU-Moorhead, I don't think Bubba's inside information will have an impact on the outcome. Sioux 35, Bulldogs 7.

SDSU beats NDSU 24-21 in Brookings to win the "prestigious" Mile Marker Trophy (or whatever it's called). The Jacks drive 80 yards in about 2 minutes to take the lead and then seal it with an interception. There was a lot of whining by the TV color analyst about a pass interference call on the Bison during that drive, which I thought was a good call. The Bison drop to 0-2 in the Great West Conference. Any thoughts?

I have a couple of things to say to both of these posters: dakotaboy: I went to UND for 7 years and got 2 degrees (one Bachelor's and one Master's) and now I work at UND. I don't know what your situation is and I won't speculate because I don't think it's my place. But I can tell you that my experiences at UND have been nothing but positive. Sure, there are a few bad apples here and there (every place is like that), but for the most part the professors and staff are top-notch. Financial aid, like any other government-coordinated program, is bureaucratic and slow-moving sometimes. I'm sure the staff at UND are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Which brings me to...... Goon: You are one of the best posters on this forum and I think you know a lot about hockey and sports in general. But I am getting a little sick and tired of your preaching to people about "the real world" (this is not the first time I've seen you do this). Your version of the "real world" doesn't jive with common sense. You said UND doesn't owe it's students anything? Baloney. Students pay big tuition bills to go to school and a lot of them work part or even full-time to pay the bills. UND collects tuition, fees, room and board from over 13,000 students every year. The suits at UND darn well owe the students something......respect, consideration, and a committment to provide the best college experience they can. If they don't, students will go elsewhere (maybe even NDSU! ) and UND will struggle to pay it's bills. If UND is a big business, that makes the students the customers. But based on your very short-sighted view of the "real world", I guess Wal-Mart doesn't owe IT'S customers anything, even though without customers, it would cease to exist. So if dakotaboy has a problem with the financial aid office, he has every right to complain about it. Comparing him to the trouble-makers on UND-fraud.com is completely out of line and shows a lack of perspective on your part. Now to comment on the actual topic at hand, I think the student seating issue needs to be solved as soon as possible. Have a summit meeting with REA, the Student Senate, Kupchella, and Roger Thomas and work out a sensible, fair and common-sense solution so we can get back to what's important, cheering on our team and making the Ralph the most intimidating building in College Hockey. I now yield back the balance of my time!