Most memorable Fighting Sioux games.

[Siouxperfan7]

As we begin this transition away from the official Fighting Sioux era, I was thinking of starting a thread where everyone can go back and remember their most memorable Fighting Sioux game they either attended or saw on TV, for any sport I think that we could really dig up some great momories of what a great program we have.

I will get it started by telling my greatest Fighting Sioux sports memory. The 2001 football National Championship game in Florence, Alabama against Grand Valley State. We loaded up a car with 5 of us and drove through the night both ways to get there. The morning was dreary and rainy in Florence that day, but that didn't stop everyone that made the trek fom North Dakota to have a huge tailgate party before the game. The game itself was rainy and sloppy. It wasn't looking good for the Sioux late in that game. But that all changed with the final drive where we converted 2 4th downs, the second one being maybe the most famous play in Fighting Sioux history. The 58 yard pass from Klosterman to Schleusner that will go down in the history books as simply "the play." I went from the biggest low to maybe the biggest high I have experienced at any sporting event!! Could not believe my eyes. I actually thought we scorred on the play. When I saw us lining up for a play I was wondering why we were going for 2. By the time I realized that we hadn't scored yet, Perkerewicz was running the ball in the Endzone for a touchdown!!

So after the celebration of scoring that touchdown with under a minute to go, most Sioux fans were making their way to the bottom of the stands to rush the field ofter the game. the last play of the game seemed to last forever as Grand Valley State was lateraling the ball around. When they finally made that final tackle, everybody went crazy!! Fans rushed the filed, players were jumping around, I was waving my flag around. It was a victory over a century in the making. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team were the National Champions!!!

I know that I have probably picked one of the most momorable game, but I know that there are other games out there that you all remember that will live on forever. Lets have fun and relive them!!

[Feff]

I wasn't able to go to the NC game that year but watched on TV and it really was quite exciting. Although I think my favorite game(s) of all time were the two leading up to that on. The quarter and semifinals against Pitt St. and UC-Davis in a packed Alerus. The Alerus was so loud those games that you couldn't hear the person yelling right next to you and our defense completely dominated both teams about as much as anyone could have ever hoped for. Pitt St. was supposed to have a great rushing team and we ended up holding them to negative rushing yards in probably one of the most impressive defensive games I've ever seen. Absolutely amazing the team that UND had that year.

[BigGreyAnt41]

Sioux vs. St Cloud State.

Oct 4th, 2003

The Sioux were trailing 28-3 at halftime of Military Appreciation Day and the majority of the crowd had filed out. They're the ones who missed out, though.

The Sioux came back to win 29-28 on a last second 50+ yard field goal.

[darell1976]

1993 UND vs NDSU. The game that broke the 12 year curse. Watching fans run around on the field with the goal post was a sight. That year has been the only year I attended every home game, and that game capped it all off.

[gfhockey]

Mine was the football game. Took the charterd flight down there. Only to find out it was a dry county. we all rented cars. got smashed. then cam back for the game. Some of the best memories i will ever have. waving that sioux flag on the field. dale and bubba crying.

[Siouxperfan7]

One of the best hockey game I have ever attended was during my freshmen year at UND in 1998. The gophers were in town for a rare Saturday/Sunday afternoon series. We had just beaten the Gophers the previous day and the crowd at the old Engelstad was buzzing before the game anticipating the sweep. That was quickly silenced as we failed to score in the first two periods and had fallen behind 3-0. I was not looking good until around the 10 minute mark of the 3rd when we finally scored. The place was just bursting to celebrate and it finally did when we got that first one. That pretty much opened the floodgates as we scored 2 more goals within 4 minutes. But when Jason Blake came out of the penalty box and scored a breakaway goal to give us a 4-3 lead, the roof came off the building. Loudest I have heard the Old Ralph ever!! My head hurt from yelling and screaming so loud. We added one more and won the game 5-3. It was a great comeback game against our biggest rival, and probably the most momorable Sioux hockey game I have attended in person.

[BobIwabuchiFan]

Football: Beating the Bison in 93 to break the curse...NC was simply a miracle...Perkerewicz from the one yd line to win! Too many Potato bowls with my Dad and winning all of the little plastic football games played at the end zones of the memorial or on the practice field behind the stadium

Hockey: Watching Holy Cross beat the #1 gophers in our own hockey palace....The Lammy Ladies coming back to the home team..Opening of the ralph with my wife and father....watching late 70's and early 80's Sioux teams and imitating them as a kid in street hockey and then having the Sioux team visit my school after the Wisconsin super-fight...watching the 80 olympic gold medal game and knowing a Sioux player was representing on the team, watching neighborhood kid, Jason Blake, play for the Sioux, not enough space....

Basketball: Can't stand the sport, but I got to hang with my Dad as kid when he took me to the 2 for 1 games of early basketball during the Gunther days and then off to a Hockey game...totally sweet deal....womens championship and the vonesh/goldseth games against the turds down south; remember the games at the Hyslop as a kid where you could go jump on the track and field mats and chase your friends around until the horn sounded the end of the game.

Wrestling: Good friend who worked his ass off, knowing they were going to cancel the program and still put in the best matches of his career

Swimming: Hidden gem of UND...no one paid much attention to the ton of achievements and championships generated by this team...Had a few friends who swam and understood how good they really are....

[Teeder11]

Football: Klosterman to Schleussner with a buck 40 and change on the clock in the 2001 NC game against Grand Valley. Then Perk wide around left tackle at the 1 yd line to seal the victory. Grand Valley fans in the stands went from sheer joy to utter dismay in less than 2 minutes.

Hockey: UND-BU 1997 NC game, when Matt Henderson intercepted a point-to-point pass by BU's d and skated the length of the ice to bury the puck shorthanded. Runner up: Travis Roche scoring on a slapshot from the left circle with 9 seconds left in the third period of the 2001 Final Five championship game, after the Sioux started the third period down 3 goals. Nothing like being in St. Paul on St. Patty's Day!

Basketball: UND Guard Mary Perrizo drilled the game-winning three pointer against her former team, North Dakota State, as time expired to give UND a 71-68 win (11/22/02). The game was on statewide TV. I can still see Mary getting mobbed by her teammates at the top of the key on the east basket end of Hyslop. Great times. Great memories. Couldn't have happened to better opponent.

Volleyball: UND wins 3-1 against NDSU before 2,400 raucus fans at the Betty, ending a 0-forever winless drought against the dreaded herd.

[Siouxman]

For atmosphere, the night of the Gopher debacle against Holy Cross was incredible.

For Sioux hockey, one of the greatest was in January 1979 against Michigan. Michigan was up 8-5 with 6 minutes to go. Sioux wound up winning 9-8. This was the first UND hockey game my wife experienced and she has been hooked since. The old Ralph was so loud that night I could not hear the buddy next to me yelling.

[fightingsioux4life]

One of the best hockey game I have ever attended was during my freshmen year at UND in 1998. The gophers were in town for a rare Saturday/Sunday afternoon series. We had just beaten the Gophers the previous day and the crowd at the old Engelstad was buzzing before the game anticipating the sweep. That was quickly silenced as we failed to score in the first two periods and had fallen behind 3-0. I was not looking good until around the 10 minute mark of the 3rd when we finally scored. The place was just bursting to celebrate and it finally did when we got that first one. That pretty much opened the floodgates as we scored 2 more goals within 4 minutes. But when Jason Blake came out of the penalty box and scored a breakaway goal to give us a 4-3 lead, the roof came off the building. Loudest I have heard the Old Ralph ever!! My head hurt from yelling and screaming so loud. We added one more and won the game 5-3. It was a great comeback game against our biggest rival, and probably the most momorable Sioux hockey game I have attended in person.

I still have this game on tape, back during the old Midwest Sports Channel era. This game also was on WDAZ. That game is a great example of why the Old Ralph was one of the best college hockey arenas ever. I still get nostalgic when I drive over the Columbia Overpass and realize we will never play there again.

[fightingsioux4life]

As we begin this transition away from the official Fighting Sioux era, I was thinking of starting a thread where everyone can go back and remember their most memorable Fighting Sioux game they either attended or saw on TV, for any sport I think that we could really dig up some great momories of what a great program we have.

I will get it started by telling my greatest Fighting Sioux sports memory. The 2001 football National Championship game in Florence, Alabama against Grand Valley State. We loaded up a car with 5 of us and drove through the night both ways to get there. The morning was dreary and rainy in Florence that day, but that didn't stop everyone that made the trek fom North Dakota to have a huge tailgate party before the game. The game itself was rainy and sloppy. It wasn't looking good for the Sioux late in that game. But that all changed with the final drive where we converted 2 4th downs, the second one being maybe the most famous play in Fighting Sioux history. The 58 yard pass from Klosterman to Schleusner that will go down in the history books as simply "the play." I went from the biggest low to maybe the biggest high I have experienced at any sporting event!! Could not believe my eyes. I actually thought we scorred on the play. When I saw us lining up for a play I was wondering why we were going for 2. By the time I realized that we hadn't scored yet, Perkerewicz was running the ball in the Endzone for a touchdown!!

So after the celebration of scoring that touchdown with under a minute to go, most Sioux fans were making their way to the bottom of the stands to rush the field ofter the game. the last play of the game seemed to last forever as Grand Valley State was lateraling the ball around. When they finally made that final tackle, everybody went crazy!! Fans rushed the filed, players were jumping around, I was waving my flag around. It was a victory over a century in the making. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team were the National Champions!!!

I know that I have probably picked one of the most momorable game, but I know that there are other games out there that you all remember that will live on forever. Lets have fun and relive them!!

This was a special accomplishment for the entire UND family. I had been waiting years for this moment. We had teams in the past that could have won the national title, but just didn't put it all together like they could have (the 1996 and 1999 teams come to mind). But after this game, we finally had our championship and the football program was elevated to a level it could only have dreamed about 15 years earlier when Roger Thomas took over.

[Sioux_FF]

The 2001 NC game, with the added "pleasure" of the Al Pearson bus trip down and back has to be the ulitimate. My personal, most memorable would have to be as a grade schooler when my older brother brought me to Memorial Stadium for the first time. I got to watch a hero I had only read about it, Dave Osborn carry the ball for the Sioux. The older I get, it's still my favorite experience as a lifelong Sioux fan

[Hayduke]

I remember February 22, 1980. We were on our way to the UND/Michigan game but we're trying to get updates on the USA/USSR Olympic game. At the old Ralph, they announced that the USA won and both teams and all fans celebrated! Then, UND took care of business and beat Michigan 5-2. I think they clinched the WCHA that night, but I don't exactly remember if that is true.

Great day!

[Siouxperman8]

When I was in HS in 1977 I saw the Sioux men's basketball team beat SD 87-84 in 4 OT. Hyslop was packed and the atmosphere was electric. The top of the upper deck was about 3 deep with people standing and watching.

Football - the 1993 SU game was incredible and lots of fun to be at. For the NC game I only got to see the beginning and end of it because of a funeral. There were TVs on in the church cafeteria during the luncheon afterward. The deceased was a big sports fan and the priest told everyone he would have wanted us to follow the game. Most people were pretending not to be watching while they sipped coffee and ate cake. When 'The Play' happened the place exploded as people jumped up out of their seats. Very surreal. I did make it to the next NC game and even though we lost it was a great time to be a Sioux.

[Wilbur]

Although the Sioux didn't end up winning the NC, my favorite football game of all time was the Northern Alabama game in the semifinals at the Alerus Center. It was an unreal crowd, and an unreal effort from a UND squad that was a lot less talented than that group from Northern Alabama. I'll never forget the Sioux scoring a TD on their first offensive play on a play action pass and the place going absolutely crazy.....what a game...

All time favorite football moment would have to be when Digger Anderson stuck Rod Malone on 4th and one in overtime to end the last UND-NDSU football game. That is the loudest I've ever heard the Alerus Center.

[farce poobah]

For me, the first game of the Gino Gasparini era was memorable. You have to recall this was when UND had not been to the frozen four in over a decade, had missed the WCHA playoffs a couple years, and it was a rather quiet and not-full Winter Sports Building in the years leading up to that era.

Game 1, Sioux beat Michigan Tech 5-3, and this was the Michigan Tech that was only 1 year removed from 3 straight NCAA Championship game appearances. Beating them was something special indeed. Some of the new guys that picked up points that night included Kevin Maxwell and Cary Eades. More important, the SIoux played with heart and skill.

We left the building that night totally stoked, because the dream of UND winning a championship had a chance of coming true.

[GF_siouxfan]

The atmosphere at any Fighting Sioux Athletics event is awesome. The National Anthem, huge plays, and the people. The people are what make the games great. This will not change, its !@#!$ are cherished name is going down the way it is. But, the people the atmosphere of the games will always be the same. Also, let's get real. The "Let's Go Sioux" chant will never disappear at least not in our generation. The chant of the crowd and the pure awesomeness of our athletes will bring fans and championships until the end of time.