The Gloves are off - UND and UMN

I thought I would get this open thread started. UND Fighting Sioux Hockey vs. the Minnesota Gophers is one of the premiere match-ups in college hockey. I am not sure how many more of these series we have?

One of the bad things about the formation of the NCHC and the B1G Mistake is that there might not be a yearly dismantling of the Gophers by the team from University of North Dakota formally known as the Fighting Sioux... I guess this will make this weekend's series historic.

Minnesota's Pansies on ice are coming to Grand Forks, ND to play the UND Fighting Sioux Hockey Team in a two game series. Some of the hockey pundits are already penciling Minnesota in for a two game sweep.

Of course we are going to hear how UND is a bunch of knuckle dragging  Neanderthal Goons, even though UND is ranked 11th in the WCHA for Penalty Minutes.

We will also hear how Grand Forks, ND is a back water sewer from Gopher fans but you will see many Gopher fans enjoying the game in the picturesque Ralph Englestad Arena. 

Like I said over on Sioux Sports... There really isn't much difference between teams one through six in the WCHA. UND non-conference record is better than UMN. If you take away Minnesota's three wins against AHA cupcakes teams Minnesota is 12-7-1. UND is 11-8-2 not much of a difference in records.

If the Gophers lose this weekend's series to the UND Fighting Sioux Hockey team there will be two prevalent excuses. Refs were unfair and penalized Minnesota too much, see game against Northeastern last weekend. They were tired, referring to the two players that traveled all the way to Alberta to play in the WJC tourney in Calgary Alberta.

NOTE: This is a fun series and this post is meant to be humorous, if you cant see the hilarity or humor in this post you might need to check yourself into an anger management clinic.

 Related articles

• Fighting Sioux 1930-2012 R.I.P. (mvn.com)
• UND Races Past Harvard on New Year's Eve (insidehockey.com)