UND and C.C. Lines game one

Joe Paisley from the Colorado Springs Gazette had the lines up for tonight's game. Per Brad Schlossman Scratches on trip: Derek Rodwell (coach decision) and Joe Gleason (coach decision). Dillon Simpson is ill and did not travel.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux Lines

Forwards
Trupp-Malone-Frattin
Gregoire-Knight-Hextall
Nelson-Cichy-Kristo
Davidson-Lamouruex-Rowney

Defense
MacWilliam-Genoway
Forbort-Blood
LaPoint-Marto

Goalies
Dell
Eidsness

Colorado College Tigers lines

Forwards
Schultz-R. Schwartz-Rapuzzi
Hamburg-Dineen-Winkler
Eveland-Skalbeck-Johnson
Krushelnyski-Civitarese-Collett

Defense
Guentzel-Marciano
Lowery-McDermott
Boivin-Leaverton

Goalies
Howe
Thorimbert
O’Brien

Friday links the calm before the storm

There is a lot of good stuff going on today as we head into the college hockey weekend. There is only one NHL game this weekend and that is the NHL All Star game. In my opinion I think the NHL All Star Game is a bit yawner with no hitting or defense, however, that being said, I will probably watch the game because there is no other NHL hockey on this weekend... I am already suffering from withdrawals because of the NHL All Star break.

Looks like Yale freshman Clinton Bourbonais is a little confident about his teams chances this weekend against conference foe Union. [Yale Daily News] Ah yes! Does it sound like bulletin board material? Maybe!?! Let's see if Union can make the young Bourbonais eat his own words. Union is 10-1-1 on their home ice.

Roman Augustoviz from Goal Gophers has his weekly predictions up on his blog and Roman has the Fighting Sioux splitting with the C.C. Tigers, while Dan Myers of CHN thinks the Sioux will sweep [Goal Gophers]

USCHO has their weekly WCHA predictions up - Tyler and Theresa both pick the Fighting Sioux to sweep the C.C. Tigers this weekend as well. [USCHO.COM]

The Weekly INCH Podcast returned this week and it's worth a listen if you have some time. [INCH Podcast]. It was an interesting Podcast but the boys at INCH really didn't talk about the WCHA all that much this week. I do agree with them on the HD thing, the FSSN broadcasts are like stepping back into the 1980's as far as the quality goes...

The USCHO Hobey Watch is back again this season. Miami Head Coach Enrico Blasi is promoting two of his Miami RedHawks players Andy Miele and Carter Camper [USCHO Hobey Watch]

The INCH Four-Cast is up as well. [INCH.COM]

The weekly INCH Chat is up and you can read it here. Glady has Yale, B.C., Michigan and UND making the Frozen Four.

RWD favorite beat writer has a nice story about the Fighting Sioux's shutdown defenseman Ben Blood and Andrew MacWilliam [Grand Forks Herald]

UND Fighting Sioux Men's Hockey: Tigers find offense minus Schwartz [Grand Forks Herald]

Former Bulldog and current Dallas Star Matt Niskanen finally won an NHL fight check out this video [Click to watch]

Delusions of Grandeur has the game plan on how to beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers up on his blog. It will be interesting to see if the mighty Minnesota Golden Gophers can sweep the UAA Seawolves this weekend since their fans say this is a series their team should win. You can bet that UAA will take it to the Minnesota's Pansies on Ice in the physicality department. It will be interesting to see how many Gophers Jade Portwood smokes this weekend with his body checks. You’ve got to love a name like “Portwood.”

Ryan Cardinal from Gopher Puck Live had this to say about this weekend's up coming series between the Gophers and the Seawolves. [Click to listen]

Over on WEEI hockey analyst Mike Milbury checks in on the Marc Savard concussion situation. [Click to listen]

Over on Versus NHL Overtime they picked their top 10 goalie saves for the first half of the season. Former University of Vermont Catamount's and current Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas had the number one save of the first half of the season.

David Ramsey of the Colorado Springs Gazette has "yet another" article about the Sioux logo... Supporters of Fighting Sioux moniker always talk about Fighting Irish [click to read] It’s pretty obvious that David Ramsey is anti Sioux and he usually uses this weekend to push his liberal P.C. anti Fighting Sioux views down our throats. Good for him…

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

This is the last weekend in January, which means we only have one full month of the regular season left, February (plus one weekend in March). We'll have to wait and see if a middle of the pack team(s), step up in the following month or so of the season. Currently 5th thru 8th is separated by 5 points with UW leading, but having played 2 more games than the other teams there. The standings looking like teams will need a five-hundred record or better to get home ice in the playoffs. That being said, it appears DU, UND, UMD are locks for home ice, UNO should get home ice, but they have a hard schedule. It also looks likely that BSU, MSUM, and MTU will be on the road come playoff time.

WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. Denver………………12-3-3…27
2. North Dakota……….13-5-0…26
2. Minnesota-Duluth.....12-4-2…26
4. Nebraska-Omaha…..10-6-2…22
5. Wisconsin………….…9-7-2…20
6. Colorado College……8-8-0…16
6. Minnesota……………7-7-2…16
8. St. Cloud State….......7-8-1…15
9. Alaska-Anchorage….6-10-2…14
10. Bemidji State……….5-11-2…12
11. Minnesota State……4-11-3…11
12. Michigan Tech………1-14-1…3

WCHA

#8 Wisconsin @ Michigan Tech
Last weekend the Badgers swept the MSUM Mavericks in Madison and the Huskies got swept by the UMD Bulldogs in Houghton.

The Badgers and Huskies played in Madison back in October, with UW getting the sweep (5-2 and 4-1). Bucky has lost only once in their past 10 games going 9-1-0 over that stretch. The Huskies still haven’t won a game since October. The Badgers put some distance between them and the teams vying for the sixth and last home ice spot. They also kind of jumped into the title race. After these games, Bucky’s schedule gets tougher - @UNO, UM, @SCSU, CC. Those are the current teams right around UW in the current league standings. Tech is again playing the role of spoiler. IF they can find a way to win some games they can hurt other team’s chances of getting home ice. BADGERS SWEEP


#4 North Dakota @ #20 Colorado College
Last weekend the Sioux split with the UNO Mavericks in Grand Forks and the Tigers swept the UAH Chargers in Colorado Springs.

The Sioux might have cooled off a little the last two series they played but still are in great shape to win the conference. The Tigers are in good shape to get home ice, but still have some tough series on the schedule. After losing three in a row, CC got some much needed wins against the lowly UAH Chargers. UND can reclaim the top spot in the league this weekend with some points, while DU and UMD are on their bye week (the Sioux are on a bye next weekend). The Sioux have an easier schedule down the home stretch, so getting points now will really help them in the title race and put the pressure back on DU and UMD. I’m going to take the easy way out on this series. SPLIT

Alaska-Anchorage @ Minnesota
Last weekend the Seawolves were swept by the Pioneers in Denver and the Golden Gophers enjoyed a free weekend.

The Gophers are just two points of the Seawolves in the standings, but the Gophers have two games in hand. The Seawolves have a 2-6-0 road record and the Gophers have a 5-6-3 home record. The Gophers have a nasty schedule stretch after this - @UMD, DU, @UW. The Seawolves need to get points this weekend to stay in the home ice race, same for the Gophers. The Gophers have gotten some wins against some of the top WCHA teams, but have also lost to some of the bottom teams too. SPLIT

Minnesota State @ St. Cloud St.
Last weekend the Mavericks were swept by the Badgers in Madison and the Huskies swept the Beavers in Bemidji.

The Huskies are on a roll in 2011 they ended 2010 by winning the Florida College Classic. SCSU is riding a six game winning streak, heading into this in-state rivalry games. The Mavericks are win less in their last four games (0-3-1), and those losses were by one goal. MSUM has gone on four game streaks this season, for better (two 4 game winning) and for worse (two 4 game win less), for what it’s worth. Are the Huskies finally turning into the team everyone thought they were going to be to start the season? SCSU has a rough slate of games after this weekend to end the season (@UNO, @UMD, UND, UW, and @DU). The Huskies are now back into the race for home ice, and getting over the hump isn’t going to be easy. SPLIT

NON-CONFERENCE

Alabama-Huntsville (3-23-2 overall) @ #15 Nebraska-Omaha (13-9-2 overall)
Last weekend the Chargers got swept by the CC Tigers in Colorado Springs and the Mavericks split with the Sioux and Grand Forks.

The Chargers have not won a road game this season going 0-12-2 on the road. The Mavericks are 7-2-1 at home at the Qwest Center in Omaha this year. This should be a nice easy weekend for UNO, as long as they don’t have any let downs. MAVERICKS SWEEP


BYE week
Bemidji State University – Beavers
#3 Denver University – Pioneers
#5 University of Minnesota-Duluth – Bulldogs

Textbook embellishment by Ovechkin

My buddy Redwing77 will like this dive by Ovie, this is textbook embellishment by Alexander Ovechkin and If I was the diving judge I would give him a score of 3.5, meaning he could do better. Lol! It was the right call by the on ice official, for that I must say bravo... Shameful! Diving and flopping all over the ice, for what the hopes of getting a power play. I think refs in all levels of hockey should call this penalty more often. s/t Fan House

Matt Frattin on the Pipeline show

Matt Frattin was on the Pipeline show last night with Guy Flaming. Click here to listen to Matt Frattin on the Pipeline show. [Click to listen]

Erik Johnson scores on his own net.

If you haven't seen this video, former Golden Gophers defenseman Erik Johnson scores on his own net trying to clear the puck out of the front of the St Louis net.

Phoenix Coyotes Update

This could be good news for the city of Winnipeg.

Bob McCown & David Shoalts ----- Sportsnet Radio FAN 590's Bob McCown has learned from sources that the $100M public bond issue which was a requirement to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix has failed. The future of the Coyotes in Phoenix is now in question and once again the possibility of the club returning to Canada has resurfaced. McCown discussed the story with the Globe and Mail's David Shoalts, who has been covering the Coyotes story intimately.
[click for the audio]

Slashing someone with your stick is considered sticking up for them… Right!

You can't make this stuff up. It’s too bad that Jacob aka C-Piss Cepis isn’t good enough to play in the Swedish Elite league because his bush league tactics would probably be a hit over there, they may swing stick in the Euro Leagues but its frowned upon over here in North America. North American settle their differences on the ice like men. Check out Roman's latest blog post about Jacob Cepis...

ELECTRIC PLACE

"You like playing the best teams and North Dakota is probably the best team we've played all year," Cepis said. "No. 2 in the country [at the time]. Don [coach Don Lucia] gave us some pretty interesting stats. Their record at home on Fridays was just ridiculous. How can you not like playing games like that? It is going to be crazy like it was.

"I enjoyed it. It is the best atmosphere to get it going."

Cepis did his part to stir things up, too, at the end of the second period in the first game. After Sioux center Brad Malone checked Gophers defenseman Kevin Wehrs hard into the endboards, Cepis came to his teammate's aid and got a slashing penalty during a big scrum involving almost every player from both teams..

"I just wanted to back up Kevin to prove a point," said Cepis, the smallest Gopher at 5-8, 170. "If a guy gets hits like that whether it is clean or not clean, there has to be some room to say something to somebody and let them know that is not going to happen. I just thought it was the time to get in there and help a guy out."

Cepis liked the way his teammates responded to his lead.

I like I said last Monday on R.J. Richards radio show on KNOX 1310; C-Piss is lucky he doesn’t have to answer for his antics on the ice by having to fight when he does something questionable or bush league. There is also no way C-Piss would fool around with Ben Blood or Andrew MacWilliam if he had to fight, both players would wipe the ice with C-Piss. This is why I refer to the Gopher as “Minnesota’s Pansies on Ice.” They are a bunch of pansies that run their mouth and then hide behind the on ice officials and beg that one of the refs save them.

The other bush league tactics of cross checking a player when he already had two guys laying on him is looked at as standing up for your teammate; I look at it as being gutless chicken. If you want to stand up for a teammate you do what Mario Lamoureux did when he challenged Tony Turgeon to a fight. You don’t pick out the smallest guy you can find and challenge him you take on the guy that did the hit or act that you took issue with. This is one Gopher hockey player that I wont miss when his eligibility is done.

The Herald reads Sioux Sports...

I am the author of the infamous thread, “Fire head coach Dave Hakstol Dusting off an old thread - Actually it's a new one.” In the past we have had fans that after one bad loss or a rough start of a season are calling for the head coach Dave Hakstol. I have been guilty of this in the past as well and till I kind of got a feel for the kind of coach that Dave Hakstol is. One loss or sweep doesn’t’ seem to rattle the head coach and he never seems to lose focus even when it seems like times are bleak. Sure he has lost a few NCAA games over the course of his coaching tenure but so have other great head hockey coaches. The “Hockey Messiah” Jerry York took something like 12 seasons to win an NCAA title at B.C. But I digress… The bar is set pretty high in Grand Forks, ND. It also looks like the local media reads the fan message boards as well.

Apparently, it takes an 8-4 Nebraska-Omaha pounding on UND at Ralph Engelstad Arena to usher fans to their ledges.

Most goals given up in 19 years in Grand Forks? Hakstol’s a hack.

Mavs start 5-for-5 on the power play? Genoway can go away.

Dumb penalty after dumb penalty? Hextall might as well join Hakstol on that first bus out of Grand Forks.

And it just had to be Nebraska-Omaha, headed by former Sioux coach Dean Blais — the leader of the Sioux during their 1997 and 2000 national titles.

That meant as of Saturday afternoon, it was reaffirmed for a good chunk of Sioux fans that coach Blais does indeed walk on both frozen water and water.

The online message board Siouxsports.com even saw its legendary and laughable “Fire head coach Dave Hakstol” thread re-emerge. It’s five pages of babble and counting.

During each game throughout the season, Herald UND hockey writer Brad Schlossman and UND sports information director Jayson Hajdu conduct a live chat online that includes reader comments.

Instead of strictly providing updates Friday night, Schlossman and Hajdu supplied more therapy than Dr. Phil. Their voices of reason soothed a panicky fan base so often that they should have charged for the session.

Where, oh where, has perspective gone?

You’d think UND was scrounging in a season of mediocrity, fending off Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage to battle back to the middle of the pack in the WCHA.

If you happened to just stumble upon some of these fan meltdowns, you wouldn’t think UND was ranked No. 2 in the country at the time. Or in first place in the WCHA. Or that the Sioux are 14-3-1 in their last 18 games after Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Mavericks. (Oh yeah, those UND bums found a way to somehow pick up a win Saturday).[Read the Whole Article]

What brought Sioux fans to the ledge this time? This time it took an 8-4 thumping loss at the hands of former Fighting Sioux head hockey coach Dean Blais to bring out the fans that wanted Dave Hakstol to be fired as head coach of the UND Fighting Sioux hockey team. I posted this thread with my tongue in cheek because I thought would illustrate how impassioned our fan base can be some times, but it’s also silly to expect a hockey coach that has an 18-7-2 record, that’s sitting second in the college hockey’s toughest league having played the toughest schedule to date to be fired from his job. My friend Amy aka LGM’s thinks Sioux fans are cult followers, maybe she is right?

Will the ECAC get more teams than Hockey East in the NCAA tourney?

This is an interesting article that I found over on UCHCO.COM. In looking at the PWR right now, I know we aren't really supposed to look at it until all of the conference tourney games have been played. The author of the blog post is right, there are three teams from Hockey East (B.C., UNH, MC) in the top 15 of the Pairwise Rankings that would get in today if the NCAA Ice Hockey Selection Committee were picking the NCAA tourney field, barring tourney upsets.

On the flip side of the argument there are four teams (Yale, RPI, UNION, Dartmouth) from the ECAC in the Pairwise rankings, again barring any upsets in the conference tourney there would be four ECAC teams in the NCAA tourney "if the selection was today". I think this discussion is a little early as Dartmouth is sitting on the ledge and could fall out of the top 15 if they lose a few games. Personally, I still see Miami leap frogging over Dartmouth in the end based based on the fact Miami plays a tougher strength of schedule. Also, Maine is sitting on the bubble at 17th and could move up with a few wins. Their sweep of UND would help them a lot. There is a lot of hockey left to be played.

Warning: before you begin to read this blog post, know that it might sound a bit elitist.

And it should. Hockey East is home to the last three national champions. In the last 14 seasons, a Hockey East team has been in the NCAA title game in all but one season (we all remember the infamous all-WCHA Frozen Four in Columbus, don’t we?)

When it comes to the NCAA tournament, Hockey East is likely royalty, a least for the last decade of so.

The antithesis of Hockey East has been the ECAC. It’s been 22 years since an ECAC team won the national title (Harvard, 1989) and 21 years since an ECAC member reached the title game. Heck, the league hasn’t had a team in the Frozen Four since Cornell lost to New Hampshire in Buffalo in 2003.

So what if I told you that there is a decent chance this season that the ECAC could have two times as many entries as Hockey East in this year’s NCAA tournament. A quick look at the current USCHO.com PairWise Rankings indicates that four ECAC teams would qualify for the tournament. Hockey East would get three entries if the season ended today (Boston College, New Hampshire and Merrimack). But the line of demarcation, right now, is very thin.

This isn’t necessarily about Hockey East having a down year, though if the league were to get only two entries to the tournament it would seem that way. It’s equally as much about the ECAC having an excellent season as a whole. [Read the whole article]

Source: UND pushed early resolution of Sioux nickname

How nice! The truth will set you free. This is an interesting revelation; I think someone should be in trouble for this. We were basically told all along that the Summit wanted the Fighting Sioux name gone… I think someone needs to get to the bottom of this. Somebody is lying. I also think someone has got some explaining to do.

FARGO - UND asked an athletic conference it once considered joining to publicly come out against accepting the Fighting Sioux as a member until the controversial nickname and logo issue was resolved, according to Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson said Monday and repeated Tuesday that university President Robert Kelley “categorically denies” UND officials ever made such a request to the Summit League.

“False. Not true at all,” Johnson said. “Neither the president or the athletic director or anybody else from UND ever talked to (the Summit League) from that angle. In no way, shape or form did we ask (Douple) to make that an issue.”

If Douple’s statement is true, it would be a 180-degree reversal of what has commonly been reported for more than two years: that Summit League officials insisted the nickname issue be resolved sooner than the NCAA-imposed deadline of Nov. 30, 2010, so UND could be considered for inclusion in their conference.

In trying to meet the hurried deadline for the Summit League, the state board of higher education last April moved up the deadline to retire the nickname, not exhausting the timeline earlier given to them.

Commissioner Douple did not want to go into further detail on the issue, but when asked why he agreed to UND’s request — that the Summit League would publicly forward this idea — he said, “In support of the (UND) president. He thought it would help them and the board move quicker.”

The Summit’s message did help the state board of higher education act more quickly.

UND and the Summit League first started having serious membership conversations in 2009 when the Summit said it would make a site visit to the University of South Dakota, but not UND. At the time, Douple was quoted as saying the Summit would not visit UND “until the logo issue is resolved one way or another.”

Here is another juicy nugget. Sioux fans were lead to believe that Douple wanted the Sioux logo gone.You can be assured that there are going to be some Sioux fans that are not happy with these revelations. As a Fighting Sioux fan and as an Alumni of the University of North Dakota 1996, 1999 this really upsets me.

“He didn’t care if the Sioux name stayed or left,” Smith said of Douple. “He made it pretty clear that until the NCAA said the matter was resolved, that UND would not be admitted.”

Shawn Thornton vs Kyle Clifford

I watched this game last night and this was a good fight between two middle weights Bruins Shawn Thornton and L.A. Kings Kyle Clifford. Of course being a Bruins fan I would say that I would give the edge to Shawn Thornton.

A few things

This week the Fighting Sioux play the Colorado College and it looks like the Tigers freshman Jaden Schwartz will not be back from his injury until the Tigers play the UMD Bulldogs on the 25th and 26th of February. That is a big loss for the C.C. Tigers, before his injury Schwartz had (11g-15a-26 points) in 17 games.

Gazette.com ---Injured Colorado College freshman wing Jaden Schwartz would love to be on the ice, but for now he’ll have to sit in the World Arena press box to watch, learn and hope for a quick recovery from a fractured left ankle.

Schwartz said he hopes to practice as soon as three weeks from now, if not earlier.

“I’d love to say it’s ready right now,” he said during Saturday’s game. “Hopefully in three weeks I’ll be out there.”

After three weeks, building up strength and confidence in his repaired joint may take until just before the home series against Minnesota-Duluth.

This weeks "Bracketology"

The Badger hockey blog Sixty Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets has their latest bracketology up, this week they have the Sioux in St. Louis.

East Regional (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
1 Yale vs 16 RIT
8. RPI vs 9 Notre Dame

Mid-West Regional (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
2 Minnesota-Duluth vs 15 Union
7 Wisconsin vs 11 Western Michigan

Northeast Regional (Manchester, New Hampshire)
4 Denver vs 13 Dartmouth
5 Boston College vs 10 New Hampshire

West Regional (St. Louis, Missouri)
3 North Dakota vs 14 Merrimack
6 Michigan vs 12 Nebraska-Omaha

Fire the coach!!!

Yesterday Brad Schlossman had an interesting post on his twitter account, it's rather amusing, there are some Sioux fans that actually that want the Universityhof North Dakota to fire Dave Hakstol.

@Schlossman
UND is first in nation in wins, third in Pairwise, 10-2-1 in last 13 & fans are having discussion on msg board about firing the coach.
----------------------------
@SchlossmanGF
You can't make this stuff up.

Hum! I guess I missed the "memo"

Yesterday I posted the article Wranglers Paukovich finally at peace because I liked the article and I thought the article actually showed a different side to a player that many of us thought was the villain for many years.

I never would have guess that such a mundane blog post about a feel good article would have gotten so much attention from some… After blogging for the last four years; you never really actually know what is going to be a bust or a success when you post a blog article, you never really know what is going to get a lot of attention and what wont. There are mornings when I get up and find my email blog full of emails of the responses to a blog post one of us has put up.

Moving forward, I also didn’t know there was a memorandum written and issued that said you can’t use a hit or incident from the past to illustrate a point, I guess I deleted that email. (Sarcasm meter should be on if it isn’t) I didn’t know mentioning a story about said incident is considered out of bounds. I guess my next question would be, who is the self appointed arbiter that makes these decisions?

Bruins Marc Savard is out with another concussion

This is the hit that put Bruins center Marc Savard on the shelf and out with another concussion, this is his second of the season. Marc Savard has missed 23 games to start this season. The irony in this is the hit came from the shoulder of former Bruins teammate and former Michigan Wolverine Matt Hunwick who was traded to the Av's this season. There was also no penalty called on the hit. I was also surprised that no one challenged Hunwick for the hit.

ESPN.COM --- Bruins center Marc Savard has been diagnosed with a concussion and is out indefinitely, general manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed Monday night.
"After being examined by the Bruins medical staff today, Marc has been diagnosed with a moderate concussion," Chiarelli said Monday night. "There is no timetable on his return and no further updates at this time."

Savard is expected to be re-evaluated after this weekend's All-Star break. This is the fourth concussion of his career.

Savard crashed head-first into the end boards early in the second period in Saturday's game against the Colorado Avalanche and did not return. He left the team and went home to Boston on Sunday to be examined by team doctors Monday.

Savard also took a blow to the head Jan. 15 on a hit by Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Deryk Engelland, but continued to play.

I have watched this video numerous times and it would probably be a penalty in college but in the NHL it's questionable hit and you probably won't get a penalty on the hit, I bet you can ask 10 fans and you probably wouldn't get much consensus on the hit either.

Leafs 'disgusted' after punch on Kulemin

This is the latest incident in the NHL to get some discussion. If you watch this video you will see the Leaf's player Nikolai Kulemin is swinging at Tim Gleason. Seriously! I don't feel sorry for Nikolai Kulemin one bit, he brought that on himself. My advice for the young Euro is, this is north American, if you don't want your nose broken don't swing at a guy that is known for having fought 33 times during his NHL career, he isn't going to kiss you if you hit him with your fist, you better be ready to fight. Gleason didn't get into 33 fights by accident. It's that simple Kulemin bit off more than he can chew.

Globe and Mail --- "I was disgusted with that," Kulemin's linemate Clarke MacArthur said. "There's certain match-ups on the ice and I don't care what [Gleason] says, you know when you're in the right match-up. A guy like Kulemin's never been a guy to fight and Gleason does it a lot. He knows better than that."

Drinking ban at North Dakota college sporting events defeated in state legislature

Thank God this moronic rule was defeated in the legislature, cooler heads have prevailed. This bill was flawed and ill conceived. Seriously, we don’t need anymore rules. This bill stunk of nannystateism, we don’t need the government telling us how to raise our children and how to live our lives, back off already. This is North Dakota, not some blue state.

Another reason this bill was ill conceived and poorly thought out was it was counter productive, is I don’t think these people that proposed this bill realized or had a clue what the economic impact would've been on the Alerus, REA and possibly the Fargo Dome. Rep. Chuck Damschen, the man that proposed this moronic bill also said that he didn't drink so he was trying to push his values on the rest of us.

BISMARCK — A proposed ban on drinking at North Dakota college sporting events has been beaten in the state House.

Valley City Rep. Phillip Mueller says the issue should be left to the colleges themselves. He says some college arenas serve alcohol to adults, and the bill would prevent them from doing it.

Representatives voted 78-13 today to defeat the proposal. It sought to ban drinking at college games, and on nearby property, if anyone younger than 18 was there.

Hampden Rep. Chuck Damschen sponsored the measure. He says it was intended to fight underage drinking in North Dakota.

Damschen says opponents of the bill claimed it was an attempt to ban tailgating at college games. He says it would have only prohibited drinking at tailgate parties.

Wranglers' Paukovich finally at peace

Never Summer gave me a heads up on this article about former Denver Pioneer Geoff Paukovich. The article mentions Robbie Bina and his relationship with Geoff Paukovich and how they put the hit behind them.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL --- Nearly six years removed from the play that changed his life, Paukovich has since made his peace with Bina, who he now considers a friend.

The two cleared the air a couple of years ago when they were in Edmonton's training camp together, and they also were teammates in Springfield during the 2008-09 season.

"The biggest thing for me was when Robbie and I played together, one of the things we both got was closure," Paukovich said. "It's a true credit to him. He actually came up to me and was basically like, 'Hey, things happen. It's not going to be an issue.'

"Obviously, I apologized -- as much as I could at that point. We talked probably five minutes about it, and that was it. Ever since then, any talk we've had has been as teammates and friends."

After sitting out the season following his injury, Bina bounced back strong for the Fighting Sioux and is now playing professionally in Germany. He was named an ECHL All-Star last season for Las Vegas before leaving for Europe.

"The thing I'm most thankful for is he was able to continue his career," Paukovich said. "He's healthy, and he's still able to do what he loves."

Poll Monday - Sioux 5th in both polls

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[January 24, 2011]
1. Yale (46) 17-2-0 995 1
2. Boston College( 4) 17-6-0 915 3
3. Denver 16-5-5 877 4
4. North Dakota 18-7-2 846 2
5. Minnesota-Duluth 17-5-3 841 5
6. Michigan 17-6-4 765 6
7. New Hampshire 13-5-4 663 7
8. Wisconsin 17-8-3 631 9
9. Notre Dame 16-9-3 590 8
10. Rensselaer 15-6-3 466 14
11. Miami 14-9-3 448 11
12. Maine 11-6-5 446 10
13. Union 16-7-3 397 12
14. Merrimack 13-5-4 379 13
15. Nebraska-Omaha 13-9-2 340 16
16. Boston University 11-7-6 246 15
17. Western Michigan 12-6-8 234 17
18. Dartmouth 11-6-2 179 18
19. Princeton 11-6-1 88 20
20. Colorado College 14-11-1 53 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Ohio State 37, Minnesota 23, Niagara 16, Alaska 8, St. Cloud State 6, Rochester Institute of Technology 4, Robert Morris 3, Clarkson 2, Minnesota State 1, Northern Michigan 1
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USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Jan. 24, 2010]
1 Yale (34) 17-2-0 510 1
2 Boston College 17-6-0 455 3
3 Denver 16-5-5 415 4
4 Minnesota Duluth 17-5-3 413 5
5 North Dakota 18-7-2 404 2
6 Michigan 17-6-4 334 6
7 Wisconsin 17-8-3 276 9
8 New Hampshire 13-5-4 270 7
9 Notre Dame 16-9-3 224 8
10 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 15-6-3 201 13
11 Maine 11-6-5 134 11
12 Union 16-7-3 122 10
13 Miami (Ohio) 14-9-3 117 12
14 Merrimack College 13-5-4 87 14
15 Nebraska-Omaha 13-9-2 59 15
Others receiving votes: Western Michigan University, 27; Dartmouth College, 18; Boston University, 12; Niagara University, 2.

Nathan Gerbe's big night.

Nice to see other teams suffer at the hands of former Boston College Eagle Nate Gerbe. I still have night mares of Gerbe ripping through the Sioux defense during the 2008 Frozen Four in Denver, Co. In the new NHL the rules allow a player like Gerbe to flourish and be successful.

INCH Power Rankings

As always I include the INCH Power Rankings for discussion purposes. As expected the UND Fighting Sioux drop a place with their loss on Friday night. There are no real surprises this week.

1. Yale
2. Boston College
3. North Dakota - The eight goals scored by Nebraska Omaha in Grand Forks Friday are the most scored by a visitor in the 10-year history of the new Ralph Engelstad Arena and the most allowed by the Fighting Sioux at home since Minnesota hung a 10 spot on NoDak back in 1992. 18-7-2 (13-5-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 8-4; W vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 4-2. THIS WEEK: at Colorado College, at Colorado College
4. Minnesota Duluth
5. Denver
6. Michigan
7. New Hampshire
8. Rensselaer
9. Union
10. Merrimack
11. Wisconsin
12. Notre Dame
13. Miami
14. Maine
15. Nebraska-Omaha
16. Western Michigan
17. Boston University
18. Dartmouth
19. Ohio State
20. Princeton
Dropped out: Alaska
Bubble-licious: Colorado College, Minnesota, Niagara, RIT