It's Time to Move on from "Fighting Sioux"

By Zach Hawkins -- For roughly 80 years, the University of North Dakota embraced the nickname of "Fighting Sioux" for their athletics program as a tribute and an honor to all of the Sioux tribes as the university saw them as great warriors and strong willed people.

Four years ago, the NCAA made serious threats to the university stating that if the nickname of Fighting Sioux was not retired, or honored by all three Sioux tribes in North and South Dakota, then severe consequences would be taken against the athletics department which would ultimately diminish the competitive nature of it.

With the University making the transition then to become full division one President Robert Kelley and Athletic Director Brian Faison had no choice but be the "bad guys" and retire the Sioux name as of January 1st, 2012. However, at the same time, the North Dakota legislature was in the process of making a state law where the university could not drop the nickname and logo. So with being just the University of North Dakota for three weeks at the start of 2012, the Fighting Sioux name was back, or so all of us thought.

With the NCAA implying many sanctions against the university's athletics program if they did not change the name, it simply needed to be done. If the Fighting Sioux name was to continue to be recognized, the university would not be able to grant any athletic scholarships to any athlete playing for, or coming into the university. Along with that, this year's NCAA men's hockey regional in Fargo would never be able to happen. The NCAA would not allow UND to participate in any NCAA sanction tournaments or host any NCAA sanctioned events like this year's regional in Fargo.

It wasn't until the NCAA tournament that year where losing the name became a reality. New hockey jerseys were unveiled, which are the team's current jerseys right now. From that point on, it was simply the University of North Dakota. It was an ear sore for everyone at first, but as I look around the Ralph and many other places I see UND fans, they have accepted this and realize that the

university is still the university and they are still the same athletic teams on the ice, field, and court. It is still the Kelly Green and White we are all used to seeing every weekend, every game, every season. Just because there isn't a name or a logo anymore, doesn't mean the history and tradition of it is dead.
You can hear that during the end of the National Anthem at every home hockey game.

Fans for many generations will be upset about everything that happened with the name and logo, but these fans should be happy that they had the greatest name and logo in college sports and that they are fortunate enough to watch these great teams play, or for the athletes, play for these great teams.

As for now, it is in the best interest of the university to move on from the nickname and logo, but do not jump to find a new one just because the sanctions have finally been lifted. Simply being the University of North Dakota is probably the only thing that will ever be accepted and I think it is time for the university to realize that.

Tweaking the Pairwise and other NCAA Hockey issues

Todd Milewski Executive Editor of USCHO has a couple of interesting blog posts that are posted up on USCHO and think there are a couple of points that are worth addressing… They are as follows.

Minor discussions on rules

The rules committee is in the middle of a two-year rule book cycle, so no changes can be made this offseason. There were some small discussions, however, on giving on-ice officials the ability to use video to review major penalties and ways to increase offense.

Anastos, the rules committee chair, said the most prominent idea presented to increase scoring opportunities was to not allow players to intentionally leave a skating position (i.e., kneel or lay down) to block shots.

First off, shot blocking is part of the game of hockey and any talk of taking shot blocking out of hockey should immediately be dismissed and discredited. I can't see that going anywhere and any talk of this needs to stop. This would be a good way for college hockey to lose the top blue chip recruits to the CHL immediately.

To quote BSU head coach Tom Serratore, shot blocking is part of the game of hockey. “You got to block shots,” Serratore said. “That’s hockey; that’s not a key, that’s automatic, that’s non-negotiable, that’s part of being a hockey player, that’s sacrifice.

As far as tweaking the criteria for the Pairwise Ranking for road wins. I am all for it. Bravo! Let’s do it. There are teams that for whatever reason, that refuse to travel, that’s a fact. The teams that travel for nonconference games should be rewarded for their travel; it’s harder to play in another team’s rink. That team should get a bump in the pairwise, especially when they get a quality win against a top-ten opponent.

I still think that there is going to be a movement by some to get the NCAA regionals back to campus. Starting in September 2013, UND Athletic Director Brian Faison is going to be part of the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules committee, so there will be an advocate of moving the NCAA Division I Hockey regionals back to campus.

Earlier this month, the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee heard ideas from coaches on changes to improve the regional atmosphere, but there was no consensus. The movement to return NCAA games to campus sites has its supporters but there also has been a good amount of pushback. [USCHO]

I am interested in seeing what others think about some of these issues. I would love to see what schools actually pushed back against bringing the NCAA regionals back on campus. I have not heard yet, but I have my suspicions.

UND AD Brian Faison selected to NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The NCAA announced today that University of North Dakota Director of Athletics Brian Faison will represent the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) as one of three new members selected to serve on the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee.

Faison, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Athletics Director Jim Knowlton, and Minnesota associate athletics director Tom McGinnis each begin their 4-year appointments on Sept. 1, 2013. The appointment runs until Sept. 1, 2017.

“We couldn’t be happier with the selection of these three individuals,” said Kristin Fasbender, NCAA associate director of championships and alliances and operations manager for the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. “They all bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, and will be tremendous assets to Division I men’s ice hockey.”

The Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee is in charge of oversight of all aspects of the championship, which includes team selection, seeding and bracketing. Also, managing any administrative issues on site at all rounds of the championships, which includes any misconduct issues (reprimands, fines, suspensions). The committee serves as on-site representative at the regionals and make up the games committee at the Frozen Four. The committee also selects the regional and Frozen Four championship sites.

“Brian will be an excellent representative for the NCHC, and for all of college hockey, as he moves into his position as a committee member for NCAA hockey,” said UND Head Men’s Hockey Coach Dave Hakstol.

The Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee is made up of one person from each hockey-playing conference and currently consists of: Rick Goeb, director of athletics, Bemidji State University; Tom Nevala, senior associate athletics director, University of Notre Dame; Rand Pecknold, head coach, Quinnipiac University; Kevin Sneddon, head coach, University of Vermont and Col. William Walker, deputy director of athletics, United States Air Force Academy.

Faison is currently in his fifth year as athletics director at UND.