fightingsioux4life

That's right and this year, there is a banner at one end of REA showing all of our league playoff titles and another one showing all our Frozen Four appearances. We have hung two banners total during Hak's regime (2004 for the MacNaughton Cup and 2006 for the Final Five title). With the talent we have had in this program, we should have more than that.

The bigger question here is how the heck did Kazakhstan even qualify for this tournament in the first place? Was it a fluke or something?

A Final Five without the Green and White just won't be the same. It's starting to look like winning the Final Five will be our one and only ticket to the NCAA tournament.

New year.....same underachieving team.

Home ice for the first round is looking more remote with each passing week. I might be getting a discount on my season tickets next year!

One thing I don't want to hear after this weekend (assuming we lose again today) is talk about "hot goalies" or "not getting the bounces" or how these are "good teams we lost to". Other teams don't have problems scoring on MTU or MSU, so why do we? Because too often, we don't go to the net with the puck, we don't shoot on the power play enough, we don't get a stick on the rebounds that are available, we shoot into the goalie's chest (which just doesn't work) and we spend too much time cycling the puck without generating any scoring chances. The games we have won this year, we have been good at these things, but we aren't doing them consistently enough game in and game out. And until we start doing them, this team is going absolutely nowhere.

I think their staff was a little too "professional" (a.k.a. snobbish). Go to Texas Roadhouse and you'll be served by a staff that is down-to-earth and easy to relate to. The food was good, if a little pricey. I think a less formal, more laid-back atmosphere would play to the college crowd and the Grand Forks culture in general.

None of the players you mentioned won an NCAA title during their time here. Not that it was entirely their fault that we didn't, but having a team full of first round draft picks doesn't guarrantee you a championship of any kind. The 1997 team wasn't loved by the Central Scouting Bureau, but they were loved by us because they worked hard, had great team chemistry and had a coaching staff that demanded excellence every shift, every period and every game. Those are things that are missing from this year's team. The talent is there, but those other crucial elements are missing.

Please, I haven't eaten yet.

Okay, good point. I just always automatically think of Fairbanks when I think of bad hockey.

I want to believe in this team as much as anybody, but every time they look like they are developing some consistency, they go back into mediocre mode again. Until they develop some consistency from one week to the next, I will remain a doubting Thomas.

I didn't get to listen to much of the game, but there is no excuse for losing to a craphole team like Michigan State. I don't want to hear "Well, they're a good team, you have to give them credit, blah, blah, blah" because they are not a good team. This is the cosmic equivalent of losing to Alaska-Fairbanks or one of those mediocre EZAC teams. And I really don't want to hear about Jeff Lerg, either. If we can't beat a lousy team who has a good goaltender, how are we going to beat a good team with a good goaltender? The answer is we won't. These games are absolutely critical for our NCAA tournament chances and we are squandering those chances with losses like this. It looks like we will have to win the Final Five to get an NCAA bid. Assuming we even get there. End rant.

Let's just hope that nobody gets hurt and that everyone gets some playing time, including all three goaltenders.

The individual you are talking about, Bob Gallagher (not the guy that smashes watermelons), is retiring. I remember Kendall Baker closing UND on numerous occasions.

It was also raining in Minneapolis/St. Paul with temps in the upper 30's. That is not a northern winter, that's more like an Oklahoma or Kansas winter. At least when we get snow, it sticks around until March or April.

Well, the Chester Fritz Library is closed today, but I can't make any predictions about tomorrow. I suppose some of the morning finals could be postponed if the blizzard conditions last long enough into the morning.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the latest Forecaster Discussion from the NWS in Grand Forks as of 3:14pm CST today: Here is a link to the full discussion Simply put, if you don't have to travel, don't. I for one am staying home watching the Vikings kick some Cardinal butt (14-0 Minnesota right now).

How do you even measure the snow with all this wind? Outside my apartment building, I have patches of bare ground with big drifts up against buildings. Good luck trying to measure that.

This is a little bit different. We have lost the last four Frozen Four semifinal games, not championship games. It's almost as bad, but not quite. NW Missouri is now the official "Buffalo Bills of Division II Football". They had a young team this year, so hopefully they'll get another chance to win one. There is not much worse in sports than to finish "Runner Up". I have heard NHL players say that it's better to miss the playoffs than to get to the Stanley Cup Finals and lose. I would have to say I understand that sentiment completely and I might feel the same way if I was in that situation.

It's over, UMD wins their first ever Division II title of any kind. FINAL UM-Duluth 21 NW Missouri State 14 It also marks the fourth consecutive title game loss for the Bearcats.

Idalski will get the top-end prospects, it's only a matter of time. This coaching staff has turned the program around in just two seasons and I think they will be able to sell the school and program to top-end talent even with the lack of a tradition and the disasterous Rivard regime still casting a shadow. This year's team has a chance to finish in the middle of the pack in the league. The next couple of years, with some recruiting success, they could do even better. One step at a time.

I understand what you are saying and I have been thinking about this since Saturday as well, but I have come to the conclusion that the Bulldogs got it done when given the opportunity and our boys just didn't play well enough and didn't deserve to win those games against the Lakers. We lost games in the regular season that put us on the road at Allendale instead of getting to play in the Alerus Center. And when we went to Lubbers Stadium, we got off to horrible starts and played like we were intimidated and didn't have any confidence in ourselves. I do think the 2007 team was really banged up and just didn't have the horses to pull it off, but the 2005 and 2006 teams (especially the 2005 team) were tremendous disappointments. This could have been the greatest era of Sioux football ever and for a variety of reasons it just didn't happen. The Bulldogs proved on Saturday that the Lakers are not unbeatable and that "Tradition doesn't graduate" is a bunch of hot air. Let's hope that when we get opportunities to win NCAA DI FCS titles, we don't squander them. My 2 Cents

My point is that arrogance usually comes back to bite you in the arse later on. What goes around comes around. Even if our men's hockey team is winning and winning big, I work to hold my ego in check because I know what it's like to be on the flip side of the coin and it's not fun to be on that side. Arrogance isn't right just because you can back it up. And I love it when arrogance is paid back with a big slice of humble pie. I like Canadians, I am always treated well when I travel to Winnipeg and they are good for our economy in Grand Forks. But I find it very hard to support any of their teams (even if they are playing Russia, whom I probably dislike even more than Canada).

Canada's arrogance and holier-than-thou attitude will be their undoing someday, just like it was for Team USA Basketball in the Olympics until this year. Other countries like Russia, Sweden and Finland will continue to work on building their hockey programs (I won't put the United States into that group until they stop being political about their personnel decisions). The day is coming when Canada will have to settle for silver more than they are prepared to accept. Last year for instance, Canada lost both the Men's and Women's U-18 IIHF tournament finals. I don't think that ever used to happen. Don Cherry can run his mouth all he wants that those losses don't matter, but they do in a country that doesn't have much else to hang their hat on (except for some good rock bands). In closing, GO TEAM U.S.A.!!!

Two words as to why they are wearing Maroon and Gold instead of Green and White: Shantel Rivard.