Minnesota hesitant to play North Dakota in hockey for now…
Score board from Ralph Englestad Arena on January 10, 2009
Recently, I wrote a blog post about the UND and UMN rivalry and from the outside looking in; it would appear that UMN is shying away from the historic rivalry. If you ask UND fans, a lot of them will tell you it appears to be for egoistic reasons. From this UND fan’s perspective, it smacks of “elitism.”
Seriously!
I have seen some UMN fans try to blame UND’s former moniker on the lack of a scheduling agreement. I think that excuse is convenient when you have nothing else to fall back on.
After the state wide vote this past summer – that objection has been overcome – they can no longer blame the Fighting Sioux nickname, that’s a nonfactor – the Fighting Sioux nickname is gone. One has to wonder if this goes deeper than a nickname or wanting to play teams from Minnesota… Does this smell like a possible riff between the two athletic departments?
Like I said before, the University of Wisconsin kept dates open on their future schedule with the caveat that if UND didn’t change the Fighting Sioux nickname the future nonconference games would be canceled. There is no reason that the University of Minnesota could have done that as well unless they really didn’t want to play UND in the first place.
I’ve had UND fans ask me, why the heck did we change the name to appease the B1G schools, only to have them turn around and tell us that they don’t want to play us anyways.
I have also read where UMN has said that they need to focus on the team in the State of Minnesota first as well. Really! How many times is UMN going to “actually” travel to BSU, Duluth, Saint Cloud and Minnesota State? Yeah! I can see Minnesota saying, sure we will play you but at our rink, with the possibility they “may” make an occasional trip from time-to-time.
UND Hockey beat writer Brad E. Schlossman has this article in today’s Grand Forks Herald and this is what UMN’s head coach Don Lucia had to say about the rivalry last winter.
Minnesota coach Don Lucia was unavailable for comment Thursday, but has said in the past that he may not want to play the rivalry every year.
“We will go back there as a nonconference team,” Lucia said at a media gathering in January. “We have a great rivalry. Sometimes, it gets a little over the top and I’m not sure that is healthy for anybody. So we will continue to play, but I doubt we will continue to play each and every year.”
Wait, what? When I read Don Lucia’s comments last winter I thought those comments were over the top. I have learned that coach speak at times is tough to decipher at times and you have to be able to wade through some of it to actually figure out what they’re trying to say. This time it’s pretty evident.
What is Luica really saying? If I am reading his comments right, and I think I am, Lucia is saying in so many words, that he didn’t want to play UND in hockey for a few years because they [UND] have beaten us up pretty bad in the physicality department.
I can’t imagine Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves, Denver head coach George Gwozdecky or Nebraska Omaha head coach Dean Blais saying something like this. Honestly, does that not make you ask the question; what the heck is that?
If you think that I am being melodramatic this is like the Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma telling the Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette that his team doesn’t want to play the Flyers anymore because the games got a little rough.
Is Men’s Division I Hockey not a game played by men? College sports are about heated rivalries and at times rivalry games do get a bit out of hand. But so what?
Since the 2004-05 season, when Dave Hakstol took over the coaching duties the University of North Dakota has a 18-13-2 record against the University of Minnesota. All you have to do is go to YouTube and do a search of Sioux vs. Gophers and you will see hours of highlights of fights, dustups and handshake lines that have gone awfully wrong. One could liken the rivalry the feud between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s.
But again; so what?
Finally, the UND and UMN series is one of the best rivalries in all of college sports. I agree with Coach Hakstol, “The rivalry, tradition and history is important.” I also think the fans deserve to have this historic rivalry continue. Let’s hope the two schools can set aside their differences and get this done
Comments
Gophers would rather play in a cupcake league and not play old division rivals that were great games. Going to have a lot of great games and rivalries with Penn St. Not to take anything away from Penn St’s team but they are just getting started. They will improve and already are raising some eyebrows with their play, but a rivalry that has been going on for roughly 50+ years. Been one of the greatest rivalries in college hockey for years. This hurts the programs $ wise a little bit, but this is one of the series that people would sell their first born for tickets to. Some of the greatest games ever seen and loudest games at either facility were Sioux VS Gophers. Also, like that you put Blais, Gwoz, and Eaves would never shy away from a rivalry.
lol, one of the best in college sports? That is ridiculous.
Really, what rivalry in college hockey is better?
Boston College vs. BU
Spoken like a true NDSU fan. Let me guess you’re a Gopher fan as well.
Of course. By the way, if you really think it is one of the best rivalries in college sports, ask people around the country what the best rivalries are….UND-UM will not be mentioned.
You can go about anywhere and find a UND jersey or wear a UND hockey jersey and have people ask you about it and know what it is. I was at training in West Virginia there were people that know about UND. I was in New York I saw someone wearing a Sioux Jersey. You don’t see that with an NDSU shirt or cap.
You didn’t prove any points there. If you ask people about college rivalries, UND/Minnesota won’t be mentioned. Auburn/Alabama, Ohio St./Michigan, Oklahoma/Texas, Duke/UNC.
Proof that blogs are nothing more than graffiti w/ grammar….this guy is an idiot.
Lucia says about the Sioux-Gopher rivalry “We have a great rivalry. Sometimes, it gets a little over the top and I’m not sure that is healthy for anybody. Hakstol says “The rivalry, the tradition and history is important” Sioux-Gopher games are games that you need to strap it on…not sure Lucia wants to do that. Glad Blais never went there.
Lucia is trying to pretend like he has a say in who they play…..the B10 is stepping in and screwing things up. This is 100% out of Lucia’s hands and he’s at the top of a very short list for the Big 10 Hockey conference commissioner job so he’s not going to speak up.
Duane Fierstine what is it that your taking issue with? It’s easy to be a jerk and say that the writer is an idiot without backing up your argument with anything in the way of fact. I can tell you, that there is a feeling at least up here that Minnesota just doesn’t want to play UND right now and is using the nickname as an excuse.