NDSU Hockey

[VanClubPres]

On a lark, I went to the hockey game against SDSU. I had never been to one and it was fairly entertaining. We had a friend on the team. After two NDSU was winning 8-2. We left. I am assuming they won. Good job Bison!/

[BadlandsBison]

I've been to a couple games, good time

[ndsubison1]

want beer at an "ndsu sporting" event go to ndsu hockey

[IndyBison]

Not sure if the atmosphere is still the same but in the early 90s the hockey games were crazy fun. The crowds were small but lively. It wasn't an athletic department function so a lot of rules didn't apply. It was essentially a student organization in a competition with another student organization. They had a pep band made up of people who didn't make the basketball pep band and they got to do whatever they wanted whenver they wanted. I remember them playing 3 blind mice when the officials came on the ice (deeply offended by that now :biggrin:). They led several vulgar cheers that would never be allowed at a basketball game.

[pike51]

I thought you guys didn't have hockey? Is it a club sport? I grew up playing hockey just south of Pittsburgh, PA and it will always be my favorite sport! I know UND has big time college hockey so it surprosed me you guys didn't as well. Can someone give me the scoop? I think a Bison Hockey jersey would be a sweet addition to my collection.

[aces1180]

I thought you guys didn't have hockey? Is it a club sport? I grew up playing hockey just south of Pittsburgh, PA and it will always be my favorite sport! I know UND has big time college hockey so it surprosed me you guys didn't as well. Can someone give me the scoop? I think a Bison Hockey jersey would be a sweet addition to my collection.

Yeah, its club hockey at NDSU...I don't think we'll ever see NCAA hockey here as long as we live. Football is king in Fargo. Grand Forks can have hockey and suck at football. ;)

[tony]

I thought you guys didn't have hockey? Is it a club sport? I grew up playing hockey just south of Pittsburgh, PA and it will always be my favorite sport! I know UND has big time college hockey so it surprosed me you guys didn't as well. Can someone give me the scoop? I think a Bison Hockey jersey would be a sweet addition to my collection.

Club sport. Hockey just was never that big of a sport in North Dakota (but it's getting bigger as more people from Minnesota move in.)

There are only 17 high school teams in the state and 7 of those are on the Minnesota border. 20 years ago, there were probably only 10 teams.

[IndyBison]

Club sport. Hockey just was never that big of a sport in North Dakota (but it's getting bigger as more people from Minnesota move in.)

There are only 17 high school teams in the state and 7 of those are on the Minnesota border. 20 years ago, there were probably only 10 teams.
That depends on where you were from. I grew up in Minot and the hockey games got just as much attendance as the basketball games. And we won a state BB championship my junior year and took 3rd my senior year. The hockey team usually won the west easily but lost in the first round of the state tournament when they had to play the eastern schools. The state tournament was also packed. It's definitely not a sport in the Class B schools.

[CAS4127]

I thought you guys didn't have hockey? Is it a club sport? I grew up playing hockey just south of Pittsburgh, PA and it will always be my favorite sport! I know UND has big time college hockey so it surprosed me you guys didn't as well. Can someone give me the scoop? I think a Bison Hockey jersey would be a sweet addition to my collection.

Ya, it's just a club team now, but, if we were to get into it as a sanctioned sport, we would start at a little lower level, transition to D1, and then win a NC in 6-7 years ... it is that easy here, it really is!!:p:innocent:

[tony]

That depends on where you were from. I grew up in Minot and the hockey games got just as much attendance as the basketball games.

Well, I didn't say that there aren't pockets where high school hockey isn't popular, just that North Dakota isn't a big hockey state.

Of course, maybe it depends on how you measure it. While 90% of high schools in ND don't have a hockey team and very few kids participate in the sport compared to football, basketball, golf, baseball, wrestling, track etc, I suppose that compared to most other states, ND could be considered a big hockey state if only because there are enough teams to hold a high school championship.

And CAS... NDSU wouldn't start at a lower level... it'd be DI from the git-go and Frozen Four from the git-go. :)

[CAS4127]

Well, I didn't say that there aren't pockets where high school hockey isn't popular, just that North Dakota isn't a big hockey state.

Hadn't heard that one before!!!:hide:

[56BISON73]

Ya, it's just a club team now, but, if we were to get into it as a sanctioned sport, we would start at a little lower level, transition to D1, and then win a NC in 6-7 years ... it is that easy here, it really is!!:p:innocent:

CAS I think Lakes hacked your account.

[acf2]

Yeah, its club hockey at NDSU...I don't think we'll ever see NCAA hockey here as long as we live. Football is king in Fargo. Grand Forks can have hockey and suck at football. ;)

NDSU should definitely add hockey in my opinion. The second biggest sport in Fargo after Bison football is Force hockey. There is no doubt UND hockey is right up there with Bison football as the top two sports in the state. And as for hockey's popularity in the state, I'd say its pretty good. We have good highschool hockey, good junior gold hockey in many smaller towns. Bismarck and Minot both have junior hockey. Hockey is a popular sport in this region.

[aces1180]

NDSU should definitely add hockey in my opinion. The second biggest sport in Fargo after Bison football is Force hockey. There is no doubt UND hockey is right up there with Bison football as the top two sports in the state. And as for hockey's popularity in the state, I'd say its pretty good. We have good highschool hockey, good junior gold hockey in many smaller towns. Bismarck and Minot both have junior hockey. Hockey is a popular sport in this region.

We'll go back on the forth on this, but I disagree and here's why:

1) Where are they going to play? The Scheels Center is 20 minutes or so away from campus (depending on traffic) and already has a full-time tenant. We sure aren't going to be able to build a new venue, considering that NDSU can't even fund the BSA remodel
2) How are they going to pay for it? Does the football team have to play 2 FBS games each year with huge guarantees to fund hockey and a women's equivalent? How do you pay for the increased number of scholarships for both men and women? Teammakers membership has increased a lot since the move to DI, but now they are expected to even contribute more? Unless, by some miracle, NDSU were to get a decent hockey venue to play at, a men's team would be lucky to break even. And we all know that a women's team would be a huge drain on financial resources, which is the norm for most women's sports nationwide.
3) How long would it take to be competitive? When you have to compete for players against established programs including the likes of Minnesota, UND, SCSU, UMD, Mankato, Bemidji and hell, even Concordia, its a uphill battle from the beginning.

Don't get me wrong, I think Bison fans would support it, much like they support ALL NDSU sports, but I also think the negatives outweigh the positives.

[onbison09]

Haven't we won a bunch of national titles at the club level? My dad talks about that and sneaking booze in

[Thundar]

If NDSU were to get hockey now would be the time with all the transition going on starting next year with the new big 1o hockey conference

[HerdBot]

If NDSU were to get hockey now would be the time with all the transition going on starting next year with the new big 1o hockey conference

Long term maybe but now we need to focus our efforts on football, completing the shac and taking basketball to the next level, and upgrading other facilities first. Basketball will lead to teammakers revenue necessary to fund something like hockey. There is a solid facility but if we spend revenue on hockey, other sports will suffer. Revisit in 3-5 years