MARILYN HAGERTY: Dippin’ Dots, Crazy Bread await fans at UND hockey games

• Marilyn Hagerty

Marilyn Hagerty

Talk about it

Crazy Bread, Super Pretzels, Dippin’ Dots, cotton candy, bratwursts and beer. Popcorn, prime rib sandwiches, freshly roasted almonds.

If you can dream it, you can find anything that suits your fancy at the UND Sioux hockey games. The wide corridors with marble floors that surround the rink are a study of people in green and white jerseys having fun on winter weekends.

There are little kids dancing to the music of musicians. Students from UND are selling chances on tickets and hollering “Fifty-fifty!” The corridors are more crowded than the streets of Hong Kong.

Inside the huge arena, the student band is cranked up and playing. One of their favorite songs seems to be about having no beer in heaven because “we drank it all while we’re here.”

Between periods the band marches with carefree abandon through the corridors with fans following behind. There are graceful cheerleaders on ice waving the UND banner. There are nimble cheerleaders romping up and down the stairways in the arena. Smiling. Always smiling and waving green and white pompons.

There is nothing like the atmosphere at a UND Sioux hockey game. This weekend’s games with Michigan Tech are near the end of the regular schedule. But Minnesota State will be here for the first weekend in March. And then it’s playoff time.

The games draw 11,000 to 12,000 fans who scream, moan and groan in unison — depending on how the game is going. There never is a dull moment.

The fan camera mounted high above the ice rink has a constant array of information. Not too long ago, a guy was shown saying, “Nicole, will you marry me?”

Nicole must have said yes because they were next shown hugging and kissing. And the game went on.

Skate the Alerus

The third weekend in February arrives with hockey pucks flying around Grand Forks...And UND sports fans are gathering at noon today in the Alerus to talk about weekend events...The first two of four annual Daddy Daughter Dances sponsored by the Park Board will be held tonight and Saturday in the Alerus, and “Skate the Alerus” Community Inline event is set for Sunday...Regional B hockey games are going on this weekend at Purpur Arena...North Dakota Museum of Art concert series continues Sunday afternoon featuring clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and pianist Sri Lankan Azmeh...Trinity Free Lutheran Church is presenting a concert of sacred music by Association Free Lutheran Bible School at its Sunday morning service...And the Grand Forks County Historical Society is sponsoring another “Entertaining History” talk Sunday afternoon about patent medicines by Gordon Iseminger...UND students will have Monday off to celebrate President’s Day.

Ask Marilyn

Q. What did Coach Gene Roebuck used to look for when he went into the town of Velva, N.D., to shop as a little boy?

A. He was collecting baseball cards.

Q. Who will never see 79 again?

A. Esther Grabanski. She’s a grand lady who will celebrate her 80th birthday with family and friends Sunday afternoon at Holy Family Church.

Monica and Jay

Cheerful people of the week: Monica Musich, Jay Almlie.

Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.

Tags: gene roebuck, alerus center, gf and egf, marilyn hagerty, und hockey, community, columnslides, und, updates, columns, food