I saw this article in my Star Tribune this morning and some of the information
 is interesting and also pertains to the other teams that replaced the touring
 Czech team with the U of Calgary.
 
 CALGARY FILLS THE BILL FOR "U" SKATERS By John Gilbert (Staff Writer)
 
 Thanks to some quick maneuvering, the Gophers hockey team will play the
 University of Calgary Dinosaurs at 7:05 tonight at Mariucci arena. The
 Dinosaurs are a late fill-in, playing the Gophers because Minnesota's series
 against a Czechoslovakian team fell through. Calgary tied North Dakota 4-4
 Friday and lost 5-2 to Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday.
 
 The Gophers would have preferred to play the U.S. Olympic Team tonight, but
 couldn't because of a new NC$$ rule. The NC$$ has limited teams to 34 games
 this season -- making exceptions for games already scheduled and for teams
 playing Alaska-Anchorage or Alaska-Fairbanks as a means of aiding those
 faraway schools. The Gophers' two games at Michigan were allowed because they
 had been scheduled before the new limit went into effect. The Gophers also
 played two games at Alaska-Anchorage.
 
 The Gophers traditionally have played Team USA in Olympic-preparation
 seasons. But games against Team USA now count against the 34-game maximum --
 even though games against national or Olympic teams from other countries do
 not count against the limit.
 
 So the Gophers, with their schedule full, could have played the Dukla Jihlava
 team from Czechoslovakia. But it was a strange arrangement. "We all look a
 little foolish now," Gophers coach Doug Woog said Sunday. "A woman who has
 previously arranged such international tours contacted us and we made the
 commitments to meet the guarantees and everything. But after all of us got
 the Czech team scheduled, nobody seems to be able to find the woman who
 arranged it in the first place. Next thing we knew, the Czech teams weren't
 coming, for whatever reasons."
 
 At that point, officials from USA Hockey tried to get the NC$$ to allow Team
 USA to fill in for the canceled games, but got nowhere. "We could have
 scheduled the Olympic teams from Sweden, Finland, Czechoslovakia, or Russia,
 but not the U.S.," Woog said. "Luckily, Bruce McLeod (athletic director at
 UMD) solved it by getting Calgary to come in and play us all."
 
 GOPHER NOTES: Woog is planning to play some different line combinations
 tonight, but said that John Brill will miss the game and the weekend series at
 Tech due to a broken bone in his foot. Calgary, like other Canadian colleges,
 doesn't have athletic scholarships, but also doesn't have age restrictions on
 eligibility.
 
 Carol
 U of M
 GO Gophers!!!   (I'm off to the game now!)