John Reynolds, who has followed Gophers hockey for 40 years, is not a happy camper.
He can't understand why the Gophers will not play North Dakota the next few seasons.
The Don tried to explain why on his weekly radio show on Monday. He said, in matter-of-fact fashion, that the U could not schedule a team with an American Indian nickname in a nonconference game by school rules. That dispute -- to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname or not -- at UND has only been settled recently.
In late September, UND and the NCAA agreed which signage could stay and which had to go at Ralph Engelstad Arena. A month later, workers took down the "Home of the Fighting Sioux" sign on the front of the building.
By then, Lucia seemed to imply, the Gophers' schedule, which will include a whopping 14 nonconference games -- the U will have only 20 conference games in the six-team Big Ten -- was all filled up for the next few seasons. The U will be playing the other Division I teams in the state and schools like Notre Dame, where his son Mario is a freshman, Boston College and Northeastern, Lucia said.
UND? They might return to the U schedule in three, four years, Lucia said.
Last year on the Gophers' trip to Grand Forks, UND coach Dave Hakstol told boosters at a Friday lunch that he would love to play the Gophers every year. He would keep a spot open for them. He even proposed a home-and-home series so fans of both teams could see the other team every year.
Because it's such a long bus trip from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, a home-and-home series would have to have a travel day in between. So games would be either Thursday-Saturday, or Friday-Sunday if the Gophers agreed. No sure thing.
