Regarding Steve Christopher's posting on the story about the NMU fan
and Minnesota's assistant coach going up into the stands after him...
 
Having been there and having witnessed most of what went on at the
St. Paul Civic Center that night, I have to say that yelling Golden
Chokers and using profanity at Minnesota's players and coaches as
they were coming off the ice was not a particularly sportsmanlike
thing to do.  However, as poor as that type of conduct may be, going
up into the stands after a fan and swinging your stick (hitting the
railing, as a Gopher player did -- I was surprised when I saw who the
player was that did this) is totally out of the bounds of acceptable
conduct (win, lose or draw), especially when the NMU fan made no
physical contact (to my knowledge) with any Minnesota personnel.
We've all been in many different college hockey rinks and verbal
abuse is, unfortunately, part of the game.  In my mind, yelling
Golden Chokers is no better or worse than yelling "Sieve" at a
goalie.  What's the difference?  Players and coaches unfortunately
have to be thick-skinned enough to ignore this type of behavior from
so-called fans.  I hope nothing more comes from this incident than
apologies from both sides.
 
Justin Doherty, Northern Michigan