This is my first Frozen Four, how about some good stories from past on

[siouxhockeygirl14]

Let's bring #8 home! GO SIOUX!!!!!

[Siouxdio Apartment]

Let's bring #8 home! GO SIOUX!!!!!

This will be my 6th FF ... and the best stories I have are all about the people you meet ... old friends, new friends that seem to be sitting in your section each year ... great hockey fans (no matter what team they are there with), and of course, SIOUX fans everywhere (even if the Sioux aren't there).

Boston, Columbus, Denver, Washington DC, Detroit, and now St Paul ... this year's should be great!

[farce poobah]

Oh gosh, where to start. This will be my 19th Frozen Four.

I guess I should start at the beginning (a very good place to start). For me, that would be Detroit in 1979. Both Sioux and Gophers beat eastern opponents in the semifinals. Sioux vs. Gophers in the championship game. I was there with about 25 Farce members and a few hundred more-normal Sioux fans. Minnesota had several hundred fans, there may have been a couple other thousand, so the old Olympia arena was echoing pretty good that night. It seated maybe 15,000. Our seats were right next to the visitor penalty box, of course.

In those days, the side glass was short enought that one could stand on seats in the front row and heckle converse with the players and referees. So during warmups, we were basically reading the public criticisms of Herb Brooks back to his team ... "you bunch of pathetic cakeeaters", "born with the silver spoon in your huge cakehole", and so on. They fired a few pucks at us but it was all pretty civil. Nobody wanted to get kicked out after driving for 24 hours.

Just as a Minnesota penalty was expiring, a couple Farce members knocked on the plexiglass next to the Gopher. He looked over, six flashbulbs went off, and then he stumbled heading out onto the ice. It was pretty hilarious. Any advantage we could give

Another advantage was when the Sioux could check a Gopher into the boards right in front of us. In those cases, the boards checked back. If you know what I mean.

Anyway, we all know how it ended, on a fluky goal that looked like Wheeler's 2007 goal at the final five. They still play it a lot on TV here in the twin cities. After the game, most of the Gophers came over to do a little taunting. Our reaction, universally, was to offer a handshake. Definitely the only time I can remember the winning team shaking hands with the losing team's fans. Most of the Sioux came over too.

After the game, we came out to get our cars/vans and were happy to see the barbed wire fence hadn't been clipped, and that our hubcaps were all there still. It was a long drive back, but a great college experience: The Great American Road Trip.

[farce poobah]

OK, its late but I'll do one more.

1980 (my 2nd) was in Providence. The trip itself was a great adventure too (car, plane, car), and included "defacing" (or at least lampooning) early American history.

Imagine our shock when the band was there (remember it was a recession and budgets all over were tight, plus people just didn't fly as much back then ... it was my first flight). Upon further conversation, we realized these were rented imposters from Warwick, Rhode Island high school. Most of them were stunned that we had driven all the way from Boston in just one day, but they were having a blast.

As we arrived in our seats for the beginning of warmups (blue line, next to the opposing penalty box and across from the opposing bench), some Dartmouth fans were encouraging their players. "Come on Buddy, get a hat trick!" (Buddy Teevins, all-american captain of Dartmouth) To which a Farce member replied "Your whole TEAM isn't going to get a hat trick."

After that the tweedy Dartmouth fans, more of them wearing tweed sportcoats and ties than not, ceded our seats to us referee-shirted helmet-wearing Sioux fans. The evening was like being on a giant stage, because the Providence CIvic Center was so quiet. Every time we fired off a one-liner, we could hear a buzz of laughter behind us. Standup hockey comedy.

After two periods, the Sioux trailed Dartmouth 1-0, and a reporter for Hockey News came down. He started with "You guys are obviously crazy." We looked at each other (nobody even smiled) and said in unison "yes". He asked if we were concerned, and again in unison "no, we're a third period team. We'll win this one going away." Of course the SIoux did, hammering in 4 goals in the 3rd period to win, 4-1.

During the final game, Mark Taylor (all-time leading scorer at that time) went down with an injury, and Doug Smail ripped in a record 4 goals that night as the Sioux won 5-2.

But the final wasn't without a bit of heartstopping tension. Earlier, Smail got checked into the boards right in front of us. He crumpled, and it looked like we'd be forced to continue without his heroics. As we informed the referees to reconsider whether a penalty might have occured right under our noses ("and I can call it if you give me your whistle for a second"), Smail lay on the ice. So we were yelling at everyone on the ice, when Smail looked up at us and winked. After a momentary pause of astonishment, we continued our yelling.

A highlight for me was meeting several parents. More than one dad wanted to give us some money, but we were not ready to give up our amateur status, even if it would have enhanced the quality of beer we could then afford to purchase.

Ahh Providence. UND's first title in 17 years, and the beginning of a stretch of 5 in just 20 years.

[brianvf]

Great stories farce!

Please keep them coming if you don't mind writing them.

[Sioux-cia]

This will be my 7th F4 in a row! My first was Columbus. Where's MafiaMan? I met him in person that weekend. He can tell the story of the 'Silver Fox' (or was it the 'Spotted Cheetah? The 'Mangy Lion'? I don't remember. ). It was a strip joint across the street from our seedy motel. It's his story.

[farce poobah]

For 1981 and 1982, I plead impoverishment and work. In 1981 the Sioux were only so-so, having lost 8 guys who turned pro early after the 1980 title. The NHL realized all of a sudden (after the Miracle on Ice) there was not only talent in the college ranks, but fan appeal. So 1981 (Duluth) and 1982 (Providence) are TV memories for me.

What I did see in person in 1982 were the events leading up to the title. That included a fantastic sweep of the Badgers in February to win the MacNaughton, with Phil Sykes getting back to back hat tricks at the old Winter Sports Building. It was never louder at the old tin can than that weekend. And the horrific sweep just 3 weeks later by the Badgers 9-0, 3-1. The old tin can had never been quieter.

That rolls us up to 1983 in Grand Forks. The games were sold out (nearly a first for the NCAA), but it was SIoux fans of course who had done so. When Wisconsin beat UND in triple overtime in the WCHA playoffs, and the NCAA committee which included UMD AD Bruce McLeod stiffed the conference runnerups UND in favor of lower ranked teams including magically UMD, our season was over. (I've never seen a pairwise for 1982-1983 season, would be interesting to do the math some day.)

So the Frozen Four was Wisconsin, Minnesota, Harvard and Providence. By acclamation, also magically enough, Wisconsin became the local favorite. Maybe it was because about 3000 of them descended on Grand Forks and partied their way to the title. (Interestingly enough, there was a pipeline that distributed tickets that went mostly to Madison but not to Minneapolis ... still surprised more Gopher fans didn't come.) The bars were a sea of red, Elroy Hirsch and Carl Miller were dancing on the tables, and I learned a fair number of Wisconsin songs that weekend.

Anyway, Wisconsin dominated (and Minnesota lost, which made most local happy because Brad Buetow had been ripping on the Sioux fans in the papers) I also got to see a few hundred Badger fans on the ice dancing one the ice for about 30 minutes after the game, along with the players, which was a unique aspect of the weekend. Somewhere, I still have a "Go Badgers! This Sioux's For You" button.

So 1983 was bittersweet because NCAA home ice is so rare for UND, but the Sioux-Badger rivalry became more friendly that weekend. (Remember that previously it had been extraordinarily bitter - pregame brawling bitter - water bottle brawl bitter - think current Denver x 500% bitter.) In fact, I went to the games in Madison the following winter and didn't even get ripped on once. The opposite happened, in that people were welcoming us.

[NorthDakotaHockey]

Great stories Farce. Very fun to read.

I wish I had discovered the thrills of the Frozen Fours long before we started going with the first trip to Columbus in 05?

Had too many balls in the air for too long a period of time before then to be able to go.

Do remember the '83 hosing by the selection committee. We were all set to go then but the taste of the selection was so bitter

that we simply could not bring ourselves to go. Sold our tickets to some very grateful, and gracious, Badger fans.

[siouxhockeygirl14]

Awesome stories Farce.

Maybe you should write a book on your Frozen four adventure.

[Siouxmama]

Awesome stories Farce. Wish I knew the F4's like you.

Mine started in 05 in Columbus. Was a great time and met some GF people that have turned into some wonderful friends. We have traveled together to Frozen 4's and Final 5's since then.

[Eggs412]

I have been going to the Frozen Four since Cinci in 96'. Meet the same group of friends there every year. 2 Gopher fans, 2 Maine fans, and us 4 Sioux fans. Nothing like watching the Sioux at the FF. This may be the most excited that I can remember being for this week. I just don't want the same feelings I had after the 01' title game and after the 1st period of the 08' semis. This is a different year, been waiting for this moment since Yale last year. Time to bring home #8. Long live the Sioux.

[Siouxman]

How about a future story?

The year is 2016 and the United States has just elected the first woman as President, Susan Johnson. A few days after the election the president-elect calls her father and says, 'So, Dad, I assume you will be coming to my inauguration?' 'I don't think so. It's a 30-hour drive, your mother isn't as young as she used to be, and my arthritis is acting up again.'

'Don't worry about it Dad, I'll send Air Force One to pick you up and take you home. And a limousine will pick you up at your door.' 'I don't know. Everybody will be so fancy. What would your mother wear?' 'Oh Dad,' replies Susan, 'I'll make sure she has a wonderful gown custom-made by the best designer in Washington.' 'Honey,' Dad complains, 'you know I can't eat those rich foods you and your friends like to eat.'

The President-to-be responds, 'Don't worry Dad. The entire affair is going to be handled by the best caterer in Washington, I'll ensure your meals are salt free. Dad, I really want you to come.' So Dad reluctantly agrees and on January 20, 2017, Susan Johnson is being sworn in as President of the United States. In the front row sits the new president's Dad and Mom. Dad noticing the senator sitting next to him leans over and whispers, 'You see that woman over there with her hand on the Bible, becoming President of the United States.' The Senator whispers back, 'Yes I do.' Dad, beaming with pride, says proudly, 'Her brother played hockey at UND for the Fighting Sioux!'

[NorthDakotaHockey]

Good one Siouxman. Does this mean that young Mr. Johnson will be coming to the UND to play his college game?

[AZSIOUX]

great topic. here are short recaps of the frozen 4's ive attended..great times with great fans! have met many of you from this board and propbably many more this weekend! go sioux

2000 - Providence, RI - first frozen 4. was 19 at the time (no fake id yet, but this is where the super cool uncle comes to the rescue) went with some family and friends. best frozen 4 city ive been to up until this point im going to imagine come thursday. when i say that i mean the overall atmospehere and people were just awesome. beer tents everywhere, street hockey games, fans everywhere as the streets were blocked off. first time being out of the midwest to watch the sioux (living in arizona) and that was the start of "i want your jersey" or "ill trade my jersey for yours or my hat for yours" as many of the eastern fans from all teams were simply in ahh and amazed with how many sioux fans were in providence. did cape cod friday morning and boston celtics game friday night. saturday was just awesome watching the sioux win it all with my uncle, his good buddy and my grandpa. oh yeah, #7 was won that saturday. one thing ill remember from this trip is my grandpa introducing me to ralph engelstad before the game. glad to have met ralph!

2001 - Albany, NY - couple flights from phx to newark for the soon to be rematch vs boston college. same group with a couple new ones this time. id in hand, we were ready to win another title!! first let me tell everyone who will be making your first never frozen 4 trip THAT WINNING THURSDAY MAKES THE TRIP A HELL OF A LOT BETTER, especially if you are traveling far to attend so the sioux take care of business thursday with a solid win. did new york city friday afternoon/night (always fun to have a nice side trip friday). decided to drive in from albany. 5 white guys rolling in a crown victoria tinted windows. may have just threw some cop uniforms on us with that ride. so my uncle does all the driving thank god, he just likes to get to where we want to go which is my style as well but sometimes the road you thought was the right cut across doesnt end up being that way. if i rememeber right we were just cruising down malcom x blvd then realized that this didnt look like the espn zone, mtv studio or anything that we were heading for ate at espn zone, no yankees game as it was rained out so just hit up time square. grabbed the wrong subway trying to get back to our car so did a 2 hour subway ride with some of new yorks finest.. we made it alive, maybe the car did work! saturday was awesome, pre game was great with all sioux fans (everyone should at least stop in for one of these) as its a hell of a atmosphere to be apart hours before the sioux drop the puck. well great exciting end to the game but that nhl bust krys kolanos made a hell of a move to get bc a title. bummed out heading home then lost my wallett at the newark airport. oh yeah, did a quick 2 hour visit of the baseball hall of fame before flying out sunday afternoon.

2005 - Columbus, OH - all wcha frozen 4 in the buckeye state. fun surroundings with the horseshoe across the street. good party tent set ups around the area and tons of sioux fans compared to providence or albany obviously being closer to home. the gophers stand in the way and they literally stood around on the ice thursday in columbus. game over (this may have been the beginning of what they are going there now, maybe not but the sioux hit them and just didnt let up) du up next. again pre game for thursday was tons of fun. former players, thousands of sioux fans and as always the frozen 4 has great fans from around the nation. fans just as passionate as this fan base but on such smaller levels if that makes sense. maine fans are always cheering for the sioux with the solid relationship the teams and now the teams fans have after blais honored the late coach walsh when all sioux players wore jerseys with WALSH on the back. i love seeing all the different jerseys and you will even see d2 or college club jerseys around as well. denver takes care of business vs und. SILVER FOX comes into play here, lets just say i noticed it was all boarded up 2 days after i made my way into that fine establishment. i think many from this board can chime in on the fox.haaa. mm? this is the first i met al pearson and his groups that he puts together. i think a couple of guys in our group ended up taking als bus and we stayed at the same hotel as that group. we rode the bus to the games each time and that was a experience in itself!!

2006 - Milwaukee, WI - the start to the BC nightmares began in malwaukee. first off this was the worst fan experience set up i had seen to this point of my f4 trips. yeah uw was in it so that saved their butts but it was a boring setting as a whole. bc made me realize how fortunate it is to watch the sioux and how much they win. thursday night wasnt as exciting when the boys are back on the plane back to grand forks and im stuck in milwaukee until sunday...should have just drove to chicago friday-sunday brewers game friday night where it was pretty cold iirc. went to a pool hall that friday night and introduced my uncle and a few others to my friends red bull and vodka. we had fun! saturday rolled along and many had already begun their drive back to g forks so i was the ticket king for that day. lets just say nobody in our group ended up paying for their tickets and some thanks to wisconsin making the title game. oh, well i did almost screw up big time. a buddy who was there is a huge uw fan and i had his center ice 20th row tickets in my back pocket, well with the mad scrambling of selling all of our extra tickets i accidentley sold his. im sure he wanted to actually kill me and then we remember we had 2 more of similar seats back in our hotel. thank god! fun times as always and all the college hockey fans were awesome but just not a great frozen 4 feel there.

2007 - St. Louis, MO - the normal group wasnt able to form together for this one but i flew in from scottsdale and 3 others drove from g forks. st louis was a fun atmosphere i thought. stayed right down by the arena and there was a little extra buzz with tj oshie turning into the player he was being property of the blues. blues fans were awesome to talk to. fast forward to the bc nightmare #2. friday was seeing duncan win the hobey! got to meet ryan who was just super nice and humble. sioux fans were loud and made it fun even though we were eliminated again. changed my flight to saturday morning and got home. st louis had a nice fanfest area with bars, tents ect...i thought they did a good job. met the hansen brothers for slap shot. few pics as they were doing some sort of bud light promotions i believe.

2007 - Denver, CO - shortest flight ive taken to a f4 from az.bemidji buddy and i made the trip. met 6 others and convinced my az friend who had no hockey knowledge to book a flight to denver 2 nights before we went as they were 149.99 round trip. now hes a sioux fan! denver pre game by the arena was insane. my uncle got there 2 hours before we did at noon and barely got a big table. i think they may have had to stop letting people in as it was so crowded up and downstairs. sea of green is a understatement. my cousin dipped out of pre game festivities for a hour as he walked and found a local barber to clean up his beard and turn it into a mustache as that was the hockey teams "thing" that season like their beards this season. dedication right there! so its game time and the bar goes from 2,000 people maybe to 20 and then after the first period it went back up to 1,000 sioux fans im guessing with gerbe and friends putting a quick cap on that game. bc nightmare #3 is in full effect at this point........bar time and a NCAA staff member sees my buddies shirt that read" FU NCAA" he had taken his jersey off right at gametime and he had that on. well we were sitting glass and the tv crew and espn i guess saw him and he was told he had to put his jersey back on. so back to ncaa staff member, he walks up to dave and asks to get about 3 photos with him then it turns into a photo session with drinks in between went to the hobey ceremony for something to do. lets just say nathan gerbes sisters who i sat next to were the best part about that night!!

2009 - Washington DC - had plane tickets so ended up just going because bemidji state makes it!! so it worked out alright. got to see several older bemidji friends but its not even close to the same level of fun when the sioux are there but still had a great time. sight seeing, wondering around dc where i gave a bum 5 bucks and he was pissed at me. i actually laughed. thats pretty funny! so watched bemidji lose then watched miami choke away a natty title. dc was fun but still not a great place to host imo.

2011 - St Paul, MN - thursday is a given, im sure ill see and meet many more from ss this weekend. but up all of those tickets sioux fans if possible and get #8!!

one observation from my f4 experiences - there are a sh#$ ton of sioux fans out there and come thursday the rest of the college hockey world will be blown away...go sioux

[siouxhockeygirl14]

great topic. here are short recaps of the frozen 4's ive attended..great times with great fans! have met many of you from this board and propbably many more this weekend! go sioux

2000 - Providence, RI - first frozen 4. was 19 at the time (no fake id yet, but this is where the super cool uncle comes to the rescue) went with some family and friends. best frozen 4 city ive been to up until this point im going to imagine come thursday. when i say that i mean the overall atmospehere and people were just awesome. beer tents everywhere, street hockey games, fans everywhere as the streets were blocked off. first time being out of the midwest to watch the sioux (living in arizona) and that was the start of "i want your jersey" or "ill trade my jersey for yours or my hat for yours" as many of the eastern fans from all teams were simply in ahh and amazed with how many sioux fans were in providence. did cape cod friday morning and boston celtics game friday night. saturday was just awesome watching the sioux win it all with my uncle, his good buddy and my grandpa. oh yeah, #7 was won that saturday. one thing ill remember from this trip is my grandpa introducing me to ralph engelstad before the game. glad to have met ralph!

2001 - Albany, NY - couple flights from phx to newark for the soon to be rematch vs boston college. same group with a couple new ones this time. id in hand, we were ready to win another title!! first let me tell everyone who will be making your first never frozen 4 trip THAT WINNING THURSDAY MAKES THE TRIP A HELL OF A LOT BETTER, especially if you are traveling far to attend so the sioux take care of business thursday with a solid win. did new york city friday afternoon/night (always fun to have a nice side trip friday). decided to drive in from albany. 5 white guys rolling in a crown victoria tinted windows. may have just threw some cop uniforms on us with that ride. so my uncle does all the driving thank god, he just likes to get to where we want to go which is my style as well but sometimes the road you thought was the right cut across doesnt end up being that way. if i rememeber right we were just cruising down malcom x blvd then realized that this didnt look like the espn zone, mtv studio or anything that we were heading for ate at espn zone, no yankees game as it was rained out so just hit up time square. grabbed the wrong subway trying to get back to our car so did a 2 hour subway ride with some of new yorks finest.. we made it alive, maybe the car did work! saturday was awesome, pre game was great with all sioux fans (everyone should at least stop in for one of these) as its a hell of a atmosphere to be apart hours before the sioux drop the puck. well great exciting end to the game but that nhl bust krys kolanos made a hell of a move to get bc a title. bummed out heading home then lost my wallett at the newark airport. oh yeah, did a quick 2 hour visit of the baseball hall of fame before flying out sunday afternoon.

2005 - Columbus, OH - all wcha frozen 4 in the buckeye state. fun surroundings with the horseshoe across the street. good party tent set ups around the area and tons of sioux fans compared to providence or albany obviously being closer to home. the gophers stand in the way and they literally stood around on the ice thursday in columbus. game over (this may have been the beginning of what they are going there now, maybe not but the sioux hit them and just didnt let up) du up next. again pre game for thursday was tons of fun. former players, thousands of sioux fans and as always the frozen 4 has great fans from around the nation. fans just as passionate as this fan base but on such smaller levels if that makes sense. maine fans are always cheering for the sioux with the solid relationship the teams and now the teams fans have after blais honored the late coach walsh when all sioux players wore jerseys with WALSH on the back. i love seeing all the different jerseys and you will even see d2 or college club jerseys around as well. denver takes care of business vs und. SILVER FOX comes into play here, lets just say i noticed it was all boarded up 2 days after i made my way into that fine establishment. i think many from this board can chime in on the fox.haaa. mm? this is the first i met al pearson and his groups that he puts together. i think a couple of guys in our group ended up taking als bus and we stayed at the same hotel as that group. we rode the bus to the games each time and that was a experience in itself!!

2006 - Milwaukee, WI - the start to the BC nightmares began in malwaukee. first off this was the worst fan experience set up i had seen to this point of my f4 trips. yeah uw was in it so that saved their butts but it was a boring setting as a whole. bc made me realize how fortunate it is to watch the sioux and how much they win. thursday night wasnt as exciting when the boys are back on the plane back to grand forks and im stuck in milwaukee until sunday...should have just drove to chicago friday-sunday brewers game friday night where it was pretty cold iirc. went to a pool hall that friday night and introduced my uncle and a few others to my friends red bull and vodka. we had fun! saturday rolled along and many had already begun their drive back to g forks so i was the ticket king for that day. lets just say nobody in our group ended up paying for their tickets and some thanks to wisconsin making the title game. oh, well i did almost screw up big time. a buddy who was there is a huge uw fan and i had his center ice 20th row tickets in my back pocket, well with the mad scrambling of selling all of our extra tickets i accidentley sold his. im sure he wanted to actually kill me and then we remember we had 2 more of similar seats back in our hotel. thank god! fun times as always and all the college hockey fans were awesome but just not a great frozen 4 feel there.

2007 - St. Louis, MO - the normal group wasnt able to form together for this one but i flew in from scottsdale and 3 others drove from g forks. st louis was a fun atmosphere i thought. stayed right down by the arena and there was a little extra buzz with tj oshie turning into the player he was being property of the blues. blues fans were awesome to talk to. fast forward to the bc nightmare #2. friday was seeing duncan win the hobey! got to meet ryan who was just super nice and humble. sioux fans were loud and made it fun even though we were eliminated again. changed my flight to saturday morning and got home. st louis had a nice fanfest area with bars, tents ect...i thought they did a good job. met the hansen brothers for slap shot. few pics as they were doing some sort of bud light promotions i believe.

2007 - Denver, CO - shortest flight ive taken to a f4 from az.bemidji buddy and i made the trip. met 6 others and convinced my az friend who had no hockey knowledge to book a flight to denver 2 nights before we went as they were 149.99 round trip. now hes a sioux fan! denver pre game by the arena was insane. my uncle got there 2 hours before we did at noon and barely got a big table. i think they may have had to stop letting people in as it was so crowded up and downstairs. sea of green is a understatement. my cousin dipped out of pre game festivities for a hour as he walked and found a local barber to clean up his beard and turn it into a mustache as that was the hockey teams "thing" that season like their beards this season. dedication right there! so its game time and the bar goes from 2,000 people maybe to 20 and then after the first period it went back up to 1,000 sioux fans im guessing with gerbe and friends putting a quick cap on that game. bc nightmare #3 is in full effect at this point........bar time and a NCAA staff member sees my buddies shirt that read" FU NCAA" he had taken his jersey off right at gametime and he had that on. well we were sitting glass and the tv crew and espn i guess saw him and he was told he had to put his jersey back on. so back to ncaa staff member, he walks up to dave and asks to get about 3 photos with him then it turns into a photo session with drinks in between went to the hobey ceremony for something to do. lets just say nathan gerbes sisters who i sat next to were the best part about that night!!

2009 - Washington DC - had plane tickets so ended up just going because bemidji state makes it!! so it worked out alright. got to see several older bemidji friends but its not even close to the same level of fun when the sioux are there but still had a great time. sight seeing, wondering around dc where i gave a bum 5 bucks and he was pissed at me. i actually laughed. thats pretty funny! so watched bemidji lose then watched miami choke away a natty title. dc was fun but still not a great place to host imo.

2011 - St Paul, MN - thursday is a given, im sure ill see and meet many more from ss this weekend. but up all of those tickets sioux fans if possible and get #8!!

one observation from my f4 experiences - there are a sh#$ ton of sioux fans out there and come thursday the rest of the college hockey world will be blown away...go sioux

Great stories. Is it Thursday yet?!? Let's Go SIOUX!!!!

[Sioux-cia]

The SILVER FOX!! That's it's name. :lol:

[AZSIOUX]

The SILVER FOX!! That's it's name. :lol:

i think i got that right

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I was also in Milwaukee for the BC beatdown of UND. Here is my account of that, my only Frozen Four trip thus far:

Wow, talk about a letdown.

Driving all that way, finally getting there a few hours before puck drop,going to the alumni party, packed shoulder to shoulder, tip back enough cold ones to feel good...walk to the arena with the band, stood outside the arena chanting and getting pumped up. Then, we get in the arena, took our seats in the upper level, no real atmosphere, other than the Sioux sections below us by the glass. BC comes down on our end and scores 3 quick ones in the first, snipe shots. The alcohol starts wearing off, and we are dumbfounded. Sioux make it close at the end, but still lose. That walk out of the arena, with tons of Wisconsin fans asking if we were selling our championship game tickets(which we didn't have) , was one of the worst as a fan for me.

We stayed in Milwaukee for an extra day, we went to the Miller Brewery the next day, saw lots of Sioux fans walking around, looking as lost as I felt, and a few smug BC fans. Left town, watched title game at my buddies in the Twin Cities, hit the road for GF on sunday.

Damn, that was a depressing rant by me, but it made me feel better, I think I had some repressed bad feelings!

I HOPE THIS YEAR IS BETTER!

[siouxhockeygirl14]

I was also in Milwaukee for the BC beatdown of UND. Here is my account of that, my only Frozen Four trip thus far:

Wow, talk about a letdown.

Driving all that way, finally getting there a few hours before puck drop,going to the alumni party, packed shoulder to shoulder, tip back enough cold ones to feel good...walk to the arena with the band, stood outside the arena chanting and getting pumped up. Then, we get in the arena, took our seats in the upper level, no real atmosphere, other than the Sioux sections below us by the glass. BC comes down on our end and scores 3 quick ones in the first, snipe shots. The alcohol starts wearing off, and we are dumbfounded. Sioux make it close at the end, but still lose. That walk out of the arena, with tons of Wisconsin fans asking if we were selling our championship game tickets(which we didn't have) , was one of the worst as a fan for me.

We stayed in Milwaukee for an extra day, we went to the Miller Brewery the next day, saw lots of Sioux fans walking around, looking as lost as I felt, and a few smug BC fans. Left town, watched title game at my buddies in the Twin Cities, hit the road for GF on sunday.

Damn, that was a depressing rant by me, but it made me feel better, I think I had some repressed bad feelings!

I HOPE THIS YEAR IS BETTER!

If it made you feel better, than its all good. Hopefully this year will be the complete opposite!

[Sioux-cia]

Milwaukee was my daughter in law's first F4. She had only been dating my son for a few months and at that time was fairly reticent and 'proper'. She was born and raised in Connecticut. I was born and raised in a blue-collar neightborhood in Chicago so we took a trip to the 'old neighborhood' and had dinner at a store-front resturant where no one spoke English but the food was to die for. I think she was a little scared and stuck pretty close to my son. We went to a 'Hawks game. Bochenski was suppose to play his first game with them but didn't.

We took a long interesting cab ride during that trip; my two sons, my future daughter in law, my younger son's best friend from HS and me (single mom for the majority of my sons' lives). Our cab driver mistook us for... well I'm not really sure what. He started talking about gay men and single mothers. He said all men who were raised by single womern were demasculinized. That's why all men raised by single women were homosexuals, without exception. He went on to say a few more, derogatory, things about single mothers. My younger son was sitting in the front seat with the driver and I could see he was physically restraining himself. I was worried that he would hit the driver and made a few comical comments to try to diffuse the situation. Had Phats hit the guy, we would have been without a driver because he would have been thrown through the door! Yes, he is that strong!!! My older son taught JuJitsu and many of his students were in law inforcement. I wasn't too worried about him. He was very calm and made comments the driver mistook for agreement when in fact Rob was ridiculing the guy. The guy kept talking and made a horrible comment about rape. Out of no where, a fist went flying from the back seat and hit the guy on the side of his neck!!! It was my future daughter in law!!! My son had to hold her back, she was so angry!! She wanted to keep wailing on him! Gone was Miss Manners!!

We didn't win a national championship that weekend but we gained a new member to our family. Rob and she eloped a few week later. She fits in perfectly!!

[Knickball2]

1997 Frozen Four was a magical experience, I got my two tickets, upper deck, from a guy in Denver, the tickets arrived in the mail on Wednesday just prior to my wife and I

heading out to Milwaukee. Once there we stayed at the Park hotel on lake Michigan, at that time a favorite spot of celebrities. After the team dispatched with CC in the semi-final, we

walked the streets bumping into the Sioux players, the Hoogsteens, Jason Blake, gave Kevin Hoogsteen the thumbs up, and he responded on the street after BU defeated top ranked

Michigan on thursday night. Sioux were down early in Championship game, BU and Chris Drury were on a 5 on 3 power play when Matt Henderson picked off a pass and went the length of

the ice to score, starting an onslaught by the Sioux. Everyone remembers David Hoogsteen scoring and jumping into the glass in front of the Sioux crowd. Then, Kendall Baker and his wife, my wife and

I ran up the street together to the Holiday Inn for the post game party, we were let in through a locked back door due to President Baker's clout, ended up with great photos with the players. An awesome

and very memorable experience.

[Going48]

2005-Our first FF. Took the wife to celibrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Closed the bar in the hotel at 2:00 am and headed back to our room after beating the gophers. A couple doors down from us there were a bunch of pizza boxes piled up by the door and it was propped open. You could hear a party going on. I told the wife, lets go in but she didn't want to. I figured it must be Sioux fans so I finally confinced her to walk in with me. So we walked in and it was a large corner suite. Sitting in the living room area was Blazer, Coach Dave, Coach Brad, Coach Cary, steady Eddy, just to name a few. I wasn't there 10 sec and someone offered me a beverage and welcomed us in. We stayed only for one but still laugh about it today. good times !!

[The Whistler]

But the final wasn't without a bit of heartstopping tension. Earlier, Smail got checked into the boards right in front of us. He crumpled, and it looked like we'd be forced to continue without his heroics. As we informed the referees to reconsider whether a penalty might have occured right under our noses ("and I can call it if you give me your whistle for a second"), Smail lay on the ice. So we were yelling at everyone on the ice, when Smail looked up at us and winked. After a momentary pause of astonishment, we continued our yelling.

Wasn't there something in the paper that someone had an equipment problem and Smail was just giving him time to get ready to play. A contact lens comes to mind, but it's been 30 years so I'm not sure.

[iluvdebbies]

Wasn't there something in the paper that someone had an equipment problem and Smail was just giving him time to get ready to play. A contact lens comes to mind, but it's been 30 years so I'm not sure.

as promised!

[Siouxman]

2006 in Milwaukee - As soon as the championship game was over (WI beat BC) my sons and I scooted out a door to get away from the WI fans. I am wearing my UND leather coat with the name and logo on it. A TV camera and microphone are suddenly in my face and a guy asking me how I enjoyed the game. I replied that it was rather boring. His comment was" Aren't you a Wisonsin fan?" To which I said "Does this look like a Wisconsin jacket?" He just said "oh" and moved on.