SiouxSports.com has received a transcript of UND coach Dave Hakstol’s stirring timeout speech during the WCHA Final Five semifinal clash with rival Minnesota. The audio feed was picked up by a microphone placed near the UND bench, recorded by FSN, and made available to the media for the first time today.
Dave Hakstol called his timeout with 5:53 remaining in the second period. At the time, North Dakota trailed 23-4 on the shot chart and 3-0 on the scoreboard. After rallying his troops, the Fighting Sioux outshot the Gophers 24-2 and scored six unanswered goals, leaving the Maroon and Gold with few answers.
In the post-game press conference, the UND coach stated that there was nothing special said at all. What follows is a verbatim transcript of the timeout speech. It is left to the reader to determine if Hakstol’s words were special.
“Alright, boys. We’ve got 5:53 left before the break and we need one. We need one goal, we’ve got all our fans here and they’re waiting for a reason to get behind us. Some of you were in this building last April when we couldn’t get that first one, and if we had, the whole thing would have gone our way. So let’s change some of that tonight. Look around you, there’s a lot of green out there, and those fans want to wear green again tomorrow. And remember, this may be the last time you ever put on the Sioux jersey. So think about how you want it to feel when you take it off ninety minutes from now. Courage, pride, honor, overcoming adversity, and winning battles. That’s what it means every time you put that logo on. You’ve got it in you, and it’s yours for the taking. Heck, if we get the first one, we might get seven tonight. Let’s go.”
Ralph Engelstad Arena plans to use the audio from the timeout at UND men’s hockey games next season in much the same way that the “Kid Herb Brooks” speech has been used in the past.
I sent an email to FSN inquiring why it took so long for the audio transcript to be released, and received a reply which said, in part: “We chose not to release the audio until after the two teams met on the ice during the NCAA tournament. We knew that North Dakota’s rabid fan base would seize on this information and create an unfair advantage for UND over the host school Minnesota.”