The story that won't go away.

When I first read this story I thought it was a joke, so I checked the calender for the date and it wasn't April 1st. This story contiunes to keep motoring on and won't die, maybe it will die once MSU-M gets rejected by the WCHA.

Earlier this week I said, "Immediately we hear the pontifications about Dean Blais coaching the team." Wow, that didn't take long and Blais angle came full circle in just one short week (three - four days). I wonder if MSU-M realize how expensive it is to have a division one men's and woman's program? Also, coaches like Dean Blais don't work for free either.

MSUM hockey plan includes Blais ---- by Eric Peterson

Metro Sports Foundation proposal outlines potential Division I hockey team

A proposal presented to Minnesota State University Moorhead last month outlines launching Division I hockey with well-known coach Dean Blais leading the men's team.

The Forum obtained a similar proposal through an open records request to North Dakota State.

MSUM is responding to a similar request from The Forum, but had not provided documents as of Thursday.

"I would not be surprised if both of the presentations were exactly the same, exchanging the logos and names of the universities," MSUM Athletic Director Doug Peters said.

MSUM is holding a news conference at 10 a.m. today in the Comstock Memorial Union to discuss its potential move to Division I hockey.

"At this point in time, we are exploring the opportunity," Peters said.

Peters said he received the proposal from Metro Sports Foundation President Todd Berning and Urban Plains Center General Manager Lance Johnson in early March.

The MSF owns and operates the UP Center, which would house the potential Division I program.

Peters said the proposal he received was dated March 7.

"It's a good starting point and a good reference point, and it's been prepared by people that are very, very experienced," Peters said. "We're taking a good look at it. It doesn't mean we have adopted it. It's a good starting point."

The 14-page plan NDSU received is titled, "North Dakota State University Men's and Women's Division I Hockey Plan." It's dated March 25.

On Page 10 of the plan, a section reads:

"Finally, Dean Blais, who will serve as the head coach of the men's team, was the head coach of the Sioux for 10 years."

Peters confirmed the MSUM plan contained the same statement.

Links to the Story

In Forum --- MSUM AD says chances better than 50 percent the school will add D-I men's and women's hockey.

McFeely: No harm in MSUM's push for D-I hockey.

Could we see the Gophers playing the Dragons in a weekend series at the Urban Plains Center in the next few years? Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor and give a urine sample just for writing that sentence.

Reality check time: The odds of this actually happening, of the Dragons actually fielding a Division I hockey program and playing in the WCHA, are so in excess of astronomical that it is not even worth discussing beyond the hallucinatory level. Drop two acids and call me in the morning.

In Forum --- Dragons, Szymanski set hockey press conference for Friday