Alberts is also investigating a possible move from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to the WCHA. The WCHA is seeking a program to pair with Bemidji State as candidates to create a 12-team league. It was rumored that WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod was in Omaha last week to speak with school officials.
When contacted Satur?day in Denver, McLeod would only say that the WCHA has had contact with Omaha and is in the preliminary stages of talking about possible membership in the league. He also noted that the WCHA has been contacted by other schools about admission.
During WCHA meetings in April in Marco Island, Fla., Bemidji State made a presentation to the league, but no vote on admission was taken, although a straw poll vote was reportedly 5-5. Schools making application need eight of 10 votes to gain admission.
The 10-team WCHA gave McLeod the OK to negotiate with potential members if needed, and it’s believed that there will be some bargaining with Bemidji State and Omaha. The league has indicated that new teams would not begin league play until 2011-12, however it’s likely neither school would want to wait that long. Also, in the WCHA criteria for consideration of admission, it’s noted that new schools do not share in WCHA postseason revenue during the first three years of membership, which wouldn’t appeal to any financially strapped athletic program.
The per-school share from the 2009 WCHA Final Five, which isn’t officially totaled, is estimated to be $91,000 or more, McLeod said.
(read the whole story here)
FORT YATES, N.D. — It’s disturbing to watch what is happening on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and in North Dakota.
In both places, leaders are ignoring those whom they’re entrusted with representing.
Standing Rock is a failed democracy. Likewise, some state government entities are backing (and imposing the views of) a radical few over the common sense of the progressive many. All in the name of political correctness, or maybe it’s fear of being called racist — who knows?
Standing Rock voted overwhelmingly to keep using our nation’s “Sioux” name a year ago. That issue was part of the anti-nickname activists’ continuing effort to deny tribal members a chance to vote in a UND nickname referendum.
The tribal council imposed a moratorium on such a referendum for one reason: to silence and deny the inevitable truth.
Standing Rock will vote in favor of UND and its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, the same as Spirit Lake did. Otherwise, why would nickname opponents make such unethical political efforts to deny tribal members a chance to vote?
It completely contradicts democracy.
Instead, the nickname opponents spread racist propaganda throughout the reservation, using UND as reference in their efforts to change our nation’s proud Sioux name to Oyate. But they failed miserably, much like the anti-logo movement at Spirit Lake did.
Spirit Lake members forced the UND issue to a ballot — and the results were not surprising in Sioux country. We’ve known this all along: The “Silent Majority” is 2-1 ratio in favor of the UND nickname, the same ratio that emerged in the Oyate-vs.-Sioux vote.
The collective Sioux voice has been heard consistently but still is ignored: Is this not enough evidence?
But even so, North Dakota along with the rest of country continues to submit to this vocal few.
The facts are these: We are proud to be Sioux, and we are proud of the UND Fighting Sioux.
Democracy has proven this time and time again. However, this issue has proven that democratic leaders are not obligated to represent the majority.
The North Dakota Board of Higher Education has its reasons for their deciding as it did, but one would assume that North Dakota traditions, democratic evidence, progress and common sense would hold much more weight than would baseless rumors and the availability of an athletic conference.
The board is failing North Dakota’s heritage, much like the leadership at Standing Rock has failed us.
At the moment, the politicians are winning, but there is still time. Where are our leaders?
Long live the Sioux, and long live the UND Fighting Sioux.
Steve Fool Bear
Leipold's guy made clear his philosophy.
"I want an up-tempo, aggressive, fast style of hockey," Fletcher said. "We want to dictate the pace of play to our opponent."
That should be welcome news to Minnesota fans who had grown weary of Lemaire's counterpunching style, which relied on a strong neutral zone trap to force turnovers and create rare scoring chances. (Read the rest of the story here)
Appearing at his introductory news conference in the main lobby of Xcel Energy Center, Fletcher promised to bring "an up-tempo, aggressive, fast style of hockey" to an organization that has been known for its neutral-zone trap and close-to-the-vest approach throughout its nine-year existence.
Fletcher stressed that he's not instilling "run-and-gun" hockey, but changes are coming. "We want to dictate the pace of play," he said.
(read the whole story here)
TSN --- The NHL has handed Carolina Hurricanes forward Ryan Bayda a $2,500 fine as a result of the match penalty he was assessed in the third period of Game 2 Thursday night.
Bayda was given a match penalty at 18:41 of the third period after cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Kris Letang in the chin. It was considered a deliberate attempt to injure, but Bayda will not be suspended for his actions.
Bayda was assessed the match penalty after exchanging high sticks with Letang behind Pittsburgh's net toward the end of the Penguins' 7-4 win. The incident led to two fights and Letang also received a game misconduct.
• Let's see: Ryan Bayda(notes) took Kris Letang(notes) hard to the boards on an icing call with 1:19 left in the game and then cross-checked him to the face. Intent? Check. Stick work? Check. Blow to the head? Check. "Message sending" at the end of the game? Check. Match penalty? Check. It doesn't get more cut-and-dry for supplementary discipline by the standards the NHL has established this postseason. Which of course means Colin Campbell will instead nominate Bayda for the Nobel Peace Prize ...
Bayda facing possible suspension
newsobserver.com blogs --- Ryan Bayda faces a potential suspension after he was assessed a match penalty for an incident late in Thursday’s 7-4 loss to the Penguins.
Bayda exchanged high-sticks with Kris Letang during a scrum with 1:19 to play, sparking a pair of fights — one between Tim Gleason and Letang, the other between Patrick Eaves and Miroslav Satan.
Letang was assessed a game misconduct and Bayda a match penalty, which denotes an attempt to injure and carries with it an automatic review suspension pending a review by the league office. Bayda was unavailable for comment after the game.
“I didn’t get an explanation as to what happened,” Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. “Two players came together and it was a high-sticking match, but I didn’t get any more than that.”
An NHL spokesman said the match penalty was assessed for a cross-check with intent to injure.
Omaha --- Earlier this week, Minnesota assistant Mike Hastings, a former Lancer head coach, said he hadn't decided whether he would apply.
Guentzel, 46, who coached the Lancers from 1992 through 1994, was one of four finalists when Kemp became the program's only head coach. He withdrew after interviewing when he was promoted to associate head coach at Minnesota, his alma mater. He stayed with the Golden Gophers until last season, when he moved to Colorado College.
"I've been an assistant for 15 years, and the people who have worked with me understand that it's been my dream to be a head coach at the Division I level," Guentzel said. "Every year I sit back and see if there's anything out there to pursue, but there's not a lot of turnover in our sport, and after 14 or 15 years you start to wonder if it's ever going to happen."
Quinn, 42, was Kemp's top assistant from 1996 through 2004 before returning to his alma mater. He helped guide the Terriers to the national championship last month.
"I'm in a situation where it's difficult to leave for any reason," Quinn said. "But my goal is to be a head coach and I'm not getting any younger. For me there are two jobs that separate themselves, and that's UNO and BU."
Besides Kemp and Guentzel, the other finalists for the job 13 years ago were former Lancers coach Frank Serratore, now head coach at Air Force, and Greg Drechsel, now associate head coach at Clarkson. Neither has returned phone calls to The World-Herald.
Other prospects include former North Dakota coach Dean Blais, now coaching Fargo of the USHL; Miami (Ohio) assistant Chris Bergeron; New Hampshire assistant David Lassonde, and former UNO assistant Steve Rohlik, now an assistant at Minnesota-Duluth. None has returned phone calls.
ALSO there is talk that WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod will be in Omaha this week to talk with Nebraska-Omaha officials about joining the league. At the same time, Omaha's new athletic director, Trev Alberts, is in the midst of a search for a hockey coach, to replace Mike Kemp. The most recent rumor is that Dean Blais is the coaching front-runner, while UMD assistant Steve Rohlik is a former Omaha assistant.
Give us your ideas for a new UND nickname
What is the perfect nickname for the University of North Dakota? Alumni,
fans and regular readers have been passionate about the nickname issue.
Now that the Fighting Sioux name is likely on its way out, it's your
turn to suggest a new nickname. Post your ideas below as a comment.
Our normal commenting guidelines apply - nothing offensive.
– Had a nice conversation with freshman defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, the gifted NHL-bound Canadian, about his looming decision to stay at DU or sign with the Ottawa Senators. Wiercioch previously said he intends to stay, but he probably hasn’t heard Ottawa’s best pitch yet. One thing that could help keep him around is the chance to play for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. If he stays at DU, he almost certainly will have the opportunity to play in the WJC, but if he signs and is a regular for Ottawa, he almost certainly wont. Patrick noted that there were eight NHL rookies last December _ TB’s Stamkos and LA’s Doughty, to name two _ that could have played for Team Canada, but none were released from their NHL teams. In my humble opinion, Wiercioch is better than Ottawa’s Brian Lee, who would have been a senior at North Dakota last season, so signing with the Sens could quickly end Wiercioch’s dream of playing in the WJC. Of course, DU would love to let him go in December, and possibly be a WJC teammate with Pioneers classmate Joe Colborne. The publicity of having two Team Canada guys in the WJC would be enormous.
On Friday, as news spread out of the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy hearing that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that if the team had to be relocated in Canada, the league would favour Winnipeg over Hamilton -- the reaction, as always, was cautionary.
First, we stressed that Bettman's "alleged" comments came in the form of an affidavit quoting a third party, Coyotes' lawyer Earl Scudder.
Second, we stressed that Bettman qualified the statement, that "if the Coyotes had to be relocated to Canada," the NHL would prefer Winnipeg over Hamilton.
Well, turns out there's no need to stress anymore. According to documents filed in court, the Globe and Mail reported Monday that Bettman e-mailed deputy commissioner Bill Daly on April 4, after talking to Scudder, and wrote: "I told (Scudder) that at some point, if we don't have an alternative, I will have to start looking at the moving (of the Coyotes) option."
When Scudder asked about Southern Ontario and Hamilton, Bettman said, "I responded that it's a league opportunity, the building (Copps Coliseum) is too old etc. and, frankly, if this team had to move it should first be offered to Winnipeg."
Note that Bettman did not qualify the latter statement with a "if we have to move to Canada." He said if the Coyotes had to be relocated, they should be offered to Winnipeg. Period.
It really makes you wonder what the folks at True North Sports and Entertainment aren't telling us. Do you think the NHL -- which has several (probably more than we know) financially troubled franchises other than Phoenix -- hasn't lined up a list of potential locations in a worst-case scenario?
Do you think Bettman or Daly haven't called Chipman or a True North representative, or even met with them, to say, "Hey, remember when you guys (Chipman and TNSE president and CEO Jim Ludlow) flew to New York 18 months ago to pitch Winnipeg as an NHL city to our board of governors? Just wondering, are you still interested? Do you have the financial wherewithal to afford an NHL team?"
(Read the rest of the article here)
NHL decides not to suspend Penguins winger Cooke
Pittsburgh--- Penguins left winger Matt Cooke will not be suspended for a knee-on-knee hit on Carolina forward Erik Cole during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final Monday at Mellon Arena.
It was not immediately known if Cooke will be fined by the National Hockey League office.
Cole was injured on the hit, which occurred during the third period, and played sparingly after that.
Neither he nor teammate Tuomo Ruutu, who also was injured Monday, participated in Carolina's practice today. Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice said their status for Game 2tomorrow night has not been determined.
Dave from the illegal curve had this posted up. I must say that I am bored with watching the Redwings play hockey. It's like I am watching a team from the Finnish or Swedish elite league play. I am holding out hope that the Chicago Blackhawks will rebound and win two games in Chicago and turn this series around.
