One could say that the shoe is now on the other foot – recently there has been a lot of press about our friends to the south at NDSU as their football players had gotten into trouble with the law, when as many as 10 players have been involved as what has been described as a voter petition fraud. Also, one of NDSU’s star linebackers also managed to get two minor in consumptions violations in the last year.
UND wasn’t immune to it either – as we now find out in recent weeks that two of UND Hockey players have gotten cited for minor in consumption charges – one player received his minor in consumption about one week before his 21st birthday – checking the North East court records – it appears that one of the players in question – actually has received two citations for MIP’s in the last four months (4/27/2012 and 8/30/2012).
Some are going to say that, it is what it is… History tells us that college kids; more specifically, college athletes are going to get into trouble with alcohol from time-to-time. What’s more important is said schools response to incident(s). I would think that coach Hakstol probably has everyone attention now. While other fans in the WCHA are yucking it up and having a good time with UND’s expense this too will pass.
So going forward – UND hockey and NDSU football has had a few off the ice/field incidents the past few weeks as well – one school gets out in front of the incidents and responds to them in appropriate manner while the other school makes excuses and provides cover for their athletes.
This morning we find out this that there must have been one hell of a team party – the end result is UND suspending all four captains of the UND Hockey team for the first game against the UAA Seawolves during the Brice Alaska Goal Rush in Fairbanks - sounds like the head coach is holding the captains responsible and this "should" serve as a wake up call for the rest of the team.
As an alumni of the University of North Dakota, I applaud the UND Athletic Director Brian Faison and the head hockey coach Dave Hakstol for getting out in front of this incident instead of letting it fester and give the appearance that UND condones this type of behavior. It should be noted that all four captains are of legal drinking age as far as I know – and at this time there are no charges that have been filed. Details of this incident are sketchy at this time.
Here are a couple of links to the story.
UND's hockey captains suspended for weekend party - Star Tribune
Make A Liar Out Of NDSU’s Dean Bresciani - Say Anything Blog
North Dakota Will Be A Little Light For Its Season Opener Against UAA (4 Sioux Captains Susended One Game Each)- Woody On Hockey
Hakstol Fed Up With UND's Bad Boyz Antics - Lets Go DU
North Dakota Suspends Captains - Western College Hockey
Captains suspended for season opener - UND Hockey Blog
