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And since it is rivalry week do yourself a favor and track down Casey Mitlestadt’s shootout attemp vs Michigan on Saturday. I would post a link but it is buried deep in the Minnesota archives.

A matchup in the regional is a likely scenario. Remember the “mid-west” regional is in Allentown, PA this year. So assuming DU gets the overall #1 seed it would be hard not to put them in Sioux Falls unless UND is also a 1 seed or a high 2 seed.

So if we lay a big enough hit on Borgstrom on Friday does Lucia ask Monty to sit him on Saturday? #AskingForAFriend

In summary... ugly win > pretty loss (hot goalie) in every scenario

I’m not saying it was all a staged plan but I’m sure the coaches had this conversation; not the worst thing to get our backup a game and maybe it lights a fire offensively to break our Friday funk. So I’m sure Cam did have an injury but I think it is easier to pull the trigger as a precaution when it makes sense to do it at some point any way.

My guess...UND has been shaky on Fridays + you want to get a backup goalie at least one start just in case + you want the pressure off of him as must as possible = road start with an “injury” to Cam that keeps him out as a precaution.

What is suspicious is Don’s continued theme about the goons of North Dakota ruining the game of college hockey? Is there a better way to push that narrative than to claim they took out your prized player? I heard him on the radio on Sunday talking about how UND only has a “local” tv contract and they were unwilling to work with anyone in the cities. Of course you heard nothing about FSN already having programming lined up. His goal has been to rip into UND and paint the worst possible picture to keep the conspiracy theories going in the cities. It is like a co-worker that thinks the way to promotion is pointing out the flaws of their peers rather than rolling up their sleeves and putting in hard work. It is a choice...the wrong one...but it is his choice.

I had the same thought. I would have to go back and watch the tv broadcast but I remember a scrum after the whitstle with a late shot on a UND player that lead to the official having a lengthy conversation with MN minutes before that hit. So my guess is the conversation went something along the lines of “I should have put you the box for that one and anything borderline I’m going to call” then queue that hit. In that context a message had to be sent. Sometimes game flow has as much to do with the penalty as the hit itself. For the record I was good with the original no call but also good with the 5 min major.

Any word on special events for this weekend? In articles earlier this year REA mentioned “special festivities” during this series. They were also talking about wearing different colors in different sections to create a checkerboard or other pattern. I’m not saying these are overly exciting but I’m surprise nothing has been announced yet for this weekend.

You mean like this.. In 2016-17 they played a series in Minneapolis In 2017-18, they’ll play a series in Grand Forks In 2018-19, they'll play a single game in Las Vegas. In 2019-20 and 2021-22, they'll play series in Minneapolis. In 2020-21 and 2022-23, they'll play series in Grand Forks.

I disagree. Sure it has lost some steam with a few years off (and it now being one non-conference series a year) but the building will be jumping more this weekend than our series with Denver. Until we are competitive the NDSU rivalry took a much bigger hit.

Since it looks like it is going to be 60+ degrees on Saturday I would love to see REA/UND organize an outdoor band/beer garden leading up to the game. Make it a little mini outdoor fan fest to add to the atmosphere. Short notice but it wouldn’t be too tough to put it all together especially for this series. Tailgate, football game, fan fest, hockey game seems like a fantastic plan.

So about that upcoming 2017-2018 season...

Video surveillance outside of the United Center showed a male Duluth fan violently fall as if he had been shot. However after a 30 second rest on a nearby park bench he was able to return to his previous activity. A suspect was captured and charged with a minor crime but has now been released after his time served. The video evidence that would have resulted in the suspect's acquittal was ruled inadmissible in court.

They announced the largest Frozen Four crowd at an NHL venue (see Ford Field note above). Disclosure- we sat upper deck and on an end so I'm not sure if that had an impact but Thursday was a bit lacking for atmostophere. Notre Dame seemed have the most fans but not much to cheer for during their game. Saturday was better and lots of Duluth fans made the trip for the championship game. They were the more vocal group throughout the game but more Pios fans were there than I expected. It was one of the best non-UND championships I've seen live. The UC had an atrium attached and served beer in there which should be a requirement for all potentially cold weather frozen fours going forward.

My guess is a verbal commitment has been reached on both sides but it won't be signed/publically announced for a few weeks. Possibly they wait until finals are over. The optics of cancelling three programs to give a coach a raise will provide the primary fuel source for the twitter-storm going forward.

If we rally around bringing something back to The Ralph I have a far cheaper and more gratifying option: #NotMyUNDWithoutTrunkMonkey

But UConn's streak of dominance was snapped at 111 games immediately after UND's streak of dominance was ended by their administration. Coincidence???

I get what you are saying but why is this solely on Brad's shoulders? He has an editor and Forum Communication should want to get this right. To be fair, Miller wrote the "it could be good for other sports piece". And ultimately they are using what is fed to them via press releases and quotes from UND's administration. If you want to be mad at the message UND is the source and did a terrible job of laying out the black and white position based on the financials and cutting the smallest amount of athletes. This also has to be said. For all of you embarrassed, upset, mad at UND and/or Brad, remember the real source of the issue is the North Dakota budget. Instead of directing all of your anger at the school realize every administrator from UND was put in a lose-lose position based on events almost entirely out of their hands. Did they handle it perfectly?...no. Was there a perfect way to handle it?...no. Being upset is justified just always make sure to point it in the direction best positioned to deal with it...in this case your legislator if you live in ND. PS- Please do not make this a political thread. I'm simply pointing out the problem was bigger than UND and therefore blame should be bigger than UND.

With Cam coming back Tomek (and Philly who drafted him high for a goalie) are in an interesting position. I would assume he gets a little more playing time next year if he stays but he wouldn't be the full time goalie until his senior year assuming he beats out the youngsters. But if he jumps to another NCAA team he has to sit out a year. With very limited NCAA experience I don't see him in the AHL at this point so signing becomes less appealing. I'm intrigued how this will play out.

Hak's teams always had "unfinished business" to attend to the following year however. Please don't turn this into a blast Hak thread but a natty does trigger a mass exodus of talent, it puts a target on your back the next year, and there seems to be a bit of a hangover effect.

Here is the summary of key talking points to anyone fighting this; 1). Financials- the "buck" stops here. UND needed to cut $1.3 million and women's hockey loses more than $2 million a year if you apply their share of REA expenses. With having to maintain 16 teams I'm not sure cutting any other combination of programs would have made the numbers work especially if they want to invest more in some of the remaining programs. Financials are as black and white as it gets but IF you aren't a numbers person here are a few more; 2) Support- Attendance simply is not there despite being a fixture in the national polls. The lack of support for good teams points to a limited market that will consume this product at the present time. Even if attendance is increased dramatically it won't raise much revenue because kids get in free, champions club members get in free, and many weekends tickets are $5 or less for everyone else. 3) Chance at a natty- As I said above they are a bit of a long shot between perrieniel powers out west, how scheduling/pairwise works, etc. Please note this item is in the #3 spot behind financials and support Sure other UND programs are long shots or no shots but they arent losing $2M a year either and have better attendance. Then there are counter arguments mainly olympians. How often when the twins are on national tv like on the Today Show do they mention UND once? It just doesn't come up in interviews. And sure they mention where they play during the tournament which attracts more future olympians to UND But even with all of these olympians coming through the program the financials still do not work and people are still not going to the games. U of M has had tremendous success in women's hockey and their team loses just as much money as ours. We could justify keeping women's hockey as long as we had the money to support it but those days have come and gone unfortanetly. Full disclosure the fact that any programs were cut is sad and I feel aweful for those impacted. But if people step off their social media soapboxes and research this move not only does it make the most sense it might have been the only option to make the numbers work. End of story. And we are still Title IX compliant and hiring the consultant is one of the things UND did right IMHO

I've seen a few posts pointing to a good chance they could have won a natty in the near future. I would argue evaluating their chances of winning a natty could have led to the opposite conclusion. With perineal powers Minnesota and Wisconsin in the west and how the scheduling/pairwise works (or doesn't) for women's hockey it was a bit of a long shot. Several times UND was arguably the 3rd or 4th best team in the country and didn't even make the tourney. Unless they could find the magic bullet to all of a sudden beat those schools consistently going forward, making the tourney was far from a given. And women's hockey is not like the men's side in which any team that makes the tourney has a chance. It is 2 or 3 schools that have a legitimate shot year in and year out with perhaps one senior heavy team sprinkled in.

You're right. I read a story when Brock signed that talked about them being only a few months apart in age. But I just doubled checked and they are over a year a part in age.

Tyson Jost's Family Advisor - 1 UND's PR Team - 0 Bury the lead of being a one and done by signing on the day other massive news breaks which will eat up local media. PR 101 right there. Congrats to Tyson. I suspect he was originally planning to be here two years but since we were loaded at forward during our run to #8 he stayed in Penticton an extra year. In that regard we are lucky he honored his commitment. Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.