Friday Links and College Hockey to take center stage.

Seawolf (Photo credit: Travis S.)

The dog days of summer are finally over and for UND Hockey fans the season couldn't come fast enough - especially with all of the news that has happened off of the ice, during the preseason.

Once UND gets past the team imposed suspensions and the self created adversity - UND should end up having a pretty good season based on the personnel that UND has coming back and the new recruits coming in.

With a sigh of relief, the exhibition season will finally begin a week from this Saturday as the UND Fighting Sioux Hockey team will take on the Manitoba Bison at 7:05 pm on the 6th of October at Ralph Englestad Arena.

Ironically, the UND Hockey team was suppose to see former UND forward Taylor Dicken who was reported to have transferred to the home town Manitoba Bison - looking at the Manitoba roster I was unable to find Dicken's name.

UAA Seawolves might need a temporary home away from home

If there ever was a case for UAA Seawolves to get a their own arena on their campus - that time is right now - the Seawolves have some arena issues right now that might not get solved before the Seawolves play their first home game.

I also think that it's time that UAA athletic department look into the possibility that they might need to get a new on campus arena for the Seawolves. The Seawolves share an arena with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL... UAA is going to get a new 109 million dollar basketball arena on their campus, but the new building will not have an ice surface for hockey. This also doesn't sit well with Seawolves fans either.

Its the opinion of some UAA fans that I have chatted with, that the UAA Athletic Department isn't as committed to UAA hockey as the University should be and UAA Seawolves fans aren't real happy with the UAA Athletic Director Steve Cobb.

According to Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News the Seawolves might not have their arena to play in when the season begins. Chris Dilks of the new revamped SBN, does a pretty good job of breaking down the options that the Seawolves have if their arena isn't fixed in time for their first home game.

Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey --- Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb has begun making preparations in case the repairs can't be made in time, or in case the repairs don't hold through the season. The Seawolves' practice facility, the 750-person capacity Wells Fargo Sports Complex, is being given a press box, and being set-up to accommodate television broadcasts and video review.

With it being Alaska, there aren't many other viable options if ice can't be made at Sullivan Arena. The Menard Center in Wasilla, roughly 45 minutes from campus, can seat 1500 people. The Kenai River Brown Bears' home in Soldotna can seat 2000, but at nearly three hours drive away, it's likely not much of an option. There aren't any other arenas in the area with a capacity over 1000 people.

A new on-campus arena has been discussed for Alaska-Anchorage for a few years now. Perhaps these issues at Sullivan Arena could help add some momentum to the project.

President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney are kicking the Denver Pioneers out of their own hockey arena so the two candidates can have their first presidential debate.

"Homeless" DU hockey team picked third in its final season in the WCHA; Air Force top pick in AHA | The Denver Post blogs.denverpost.com/colleges/2012/…
— Mike Chambers (@MChambersDP) September 26, 2012

Yesterday, Brad Elliot Schlossman beat writer for the Grand Forks Herald released his preseason UND hockey preview - that preview is now available for all to read on line. Good stuff there. [Click to view]

Former Central Knight's and Future UND defenseman Paul LaDue was named the assistant captain for the Lincoln Stars.

RT @rehockeyacademy: Congrats to @pdue54 on being named an Assistant Captain for this year's @lincolnstars squad
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) September 26, 2012

UND's now infamous hockey part actually made The Hockey News as well - you can read the story by clicking on this link to a story that Ryan Kennedy wrote.

Why the latest college hockey drinking incident drives me nuts: bit.ly/PG7SBh
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) September 26, 2012

Ron Borges sticks his foot in his mouth

A friend of mine from twitter made me aware of this ridiculous, buffoonish and moronic tweet. Is this supposed to be funny? Borges also posted this retraction or apology at the Boston Herald.

I am getting sick and tired of people ripping on Tim Thomas; he's a solid American and one of the best American goalies in the game of hockey. I wish people would also realize that Tim Thomas failed to go to the White House because of his political views not because he is racist.

 Ron Borges, Boston Herald --- Few would argue that among the very rarest of things in North American team sports are hockey players of color, although Grant Fuhr was among the greatest of goaltenders, and certainly Willie O’Ree and Anson Carter acquitted themselves with distinction during their years with the Bruins.

Lastly, the team that sent Thomas home was, of all teams, the Washington Capitals, the team representing the city where Barack Obama lives and works ... apparently not to Thomas’ satisfaction.

Karma, in case you are unfamiliar with the concept, is considered “the sum and consequences of a person’s actions during the successive phases of his existence, regarded as determining his destiny.’’

So what struck me was this karmic notion: Thomas refuses to go to Washington, thus snubbing the first black president in our country’s history, and is a few months later eliminated by a black hockey player who had only six goals all season — and only that one in the seven-game playoff series.

It didn’t strike me as racial, it struck me as ironic.

If you look at the comments that are connected to this article you will see that the readers weren't very impressed with  Borges' comments either, this guy is probably lucky to still have a job with the Boston Herald. [Click to view]

Lastly, the game and series winning goal was scored by Joel Ward - who is a hockey player. 

Related articles

• More hating on Timmy Thomas?
• Tim Thomas not done yet
• Here's How Racists On Twitter Reacted to Joel Ward's Series-Winning Goal Against Boston [Joel Ward]
• Thomas Clarifies the We/They statements

Jack Todd is dead wrong

Wow!!! So this is supposed to be journalism? I want to make sure I read that right. If you disagree with the president of the United States Barrack Obama you're a racist? So Jack Todd is suggesting that Tim Thomas is a racist for not attending the White House Celebration? What a buffoon.  David Webb who is a leader in the Tea Party that happens to be black, talked about this subject on his radio show recently. 

Jack Todd, Montreal Gazette --- Thomas’s decision to skip a team visit to the White House because he buys the garbage pumped out by Glenn Beck and his ilk was bad enough. But then, having pulled a highly public stunt to call attention to his whacko politics, Thomas blamed the media for paying attention.

Look, if this cretin wants to stand outside the White House and spew his drivel, that’s free speech. But standing up the president? All that does is show that Thomas has the class of a swamp-rat.

What’s worse, you know Thomas would not have done this with the liberal Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House. Truth is, he felt free to dis Barack Obama, because Obama is black.

At least he accomplished one thing: Thomas earned himself a lifetime membership in the MMQB’s zeros section, right next to Jeffrey Loria and David Samson. May he suffer many a groin pull for the rest of his sorry career.