Denver Gazette Writer Mark Kizla Trolls UND fans

Déjà vu, the feeling that you've already experienced a current situation. It's a French phrase that means "already seen." 

That was what I felt today when I clicked on a link from Sara Folkestad; there it was, another Denver writer taking a shot at the University of North Dakota hockey team. 

Again, Denver is a big city, and their local newspaper doesn't need clicks, but this is clickbait. Here's the Link to the article in question.

https://t.co/SNbUrICz09 pic.twitter.com/MHxUN7BIlg

— Sara Folkestad (@saraj323) February 18, 2025

On a Valentine’s Day when there was no love lost between Denver and the fighting mad Hawks of North Dakota, Pioneers star Zeev Buium was lucky to get off the ice in one piece. The game was no contest, with the No. 6 Pioneers winning 4-0 Friday for their third victory of the season against a team nowhere near the grand tradition of North Dakota hockey. The visitors could not score. But that didn’t stop No. 17 North Dakota from taking a scary cheap shot on Buium, the Pioneers’ premier defenseman.

None of us should be surprised; it is the modus operandi of the Denver writers to troll the North Dakota fanbase. Mike Chambers of the Denver Post spent most of the mid-2000s trolling UND fans about how their team was a bunch of knuckle-dragging goons. It was remotely entertaining for a while, but it got old after the 15th article complaining about the UND hockey team being dirty.

Finally,  I wonder if Kizla missed the dirty hit on UND forward Dane Montgomery after he was knocked out of Friday's game with a dirty elbow?  

Mike Chambers wrote this tripe following a heated series between UND and DU. This was the infamous game where George Gwozdecky walked out onto the ice to chat with WCHA official Todd Anderson. 

My thoughts: Gwozdecky is the most mild-mannered coach I know, and in 14 years, I’ve only seen his blood boil twice — both times against North Dakota and with referee Todd Anderson blowing the whistle. 

See a pattern there? The “Sioux Fighters” and their fans want minor-league entertainment, Anderson is an emotional official who sometimes jaws at players, and Gwozdecky is a class act. At some point, those styles clash, and the mild-mannered coach can’t stomach it. It becomes disgusting, and the coach erupts into what he doesn’t like. 

Gwozdecky doesn’t deserve anything except a pat on the back for being the way he is 99 percent of the time. He might be embarrassed to have been ejected, but shame on DU for throwing him under the bus. I think DU is using Gwozdecky to remind the Sioux that it is better than them. But to publicly scorn your respected coach is a bad way to do that.

I can appreciate the Sioux and their fans. They are to North Dakota what football is to Nebraska. The players are hard-nosed, and the coaching staff gives them a long leash, maybe too long, but … I don’t hear any apologies from Grand Forks, and there shouldn’t be any from Denver. ( Link to post; the Denver Post link is no longer active.)