University of North Dakota Hockey

For quite a while, I've been a passive onlooker to the University of North Dakota Men's hockey team. This is a team from a state that doesn't have much else to offer. The cold blustery, flat corn fields leave little room for graduates to want to stay there. I wouldn't want my family to have to live in such a place. In fact, any hockey traditions in Grand Forks have less to do with the community and more to do with the University?

Well that's simple: Fans. The thing about UND is their following. It's not like a Colorado College fan base, or a Denver fan base. This fan base is only concerned with one thing, and that thing is their beloved men's hockey team. So when the Badgers show up, it's not necessarily all hockey fans, but fans of the UW sports system. Not with UND. These are all hockey fans, and if you scale the number of pure hockey fans showing up to a UND away game to that of a Michigan or Wisconsin or Minnesota game, you would be shocked.

Tradition is something that is built on the past. UND has a great past. They also have a great future. Right now they are sitting pretty good. One must ask though: how much will this school change with a new logo? Will fans finally stop shouting "Sioux" at the end of the national anthem and replace it with the new mascot? I doubt it.

Take a look around the NCAA and look at it's two darlings: Boston College and Minnesota. These are the two schools that I would consider to be heavyweights. Every year these two schools account for about 40% of the nations top NCAA committed talent. To put that into perspective, Wisconsin and Michigan would probably account for 10% at best. The next best school is probably North Dakota. This cornfed community in the middle of no where, with nothing to do is the 3rd best recruiting program in the nation. How is this possible? Well, everyone know's the UND culture. Every player is coddled by the fans. That's just the way it is. As much as Alabama's football players are treated like royalty, their basketball players are more like the decked out Lincoln Navigator than the Rolls Royce.

At UND, their is no Lincoln Navigator. There is no, "other team". While they do have a football program and many other sports, no one really cares. This school recruits some of the best talent in the nation to a program with one of the best traditions. How is this possible? Take a a look.