North Dakota

Hennen: It's morning in North Dakota again

Published

1 year ago

February 15, 2025

Hennen: It's morning in North Dakota again

A famous political advertisement from the 1984 re-election campaign of President Ronald Reagan reminded voters: “It’s Morning in America again”! I cast my very first vote that year at the age of 20.

I had recently witnessed my dad lose his dream of owning a radio station in our hometown of Montevideo, Minnesota. The economic destruction of President Jimmy Carter and 20% interest rates crushed us. I was in search of a new dawn, and thankfully, it was unfolding before my very eyes. With the family business gone bust, I was out of a job. I set out for a new frontier: North Dakota. For the last 41 years, it has been a joy to call this great state home. And this journey has been a gift from God.

I started in Grand Forks working for an innovative local broadcaster, David Norman. We used grit and determination to launch North Dakota’s very first all-talk radio station in 1986. My first foray into politics was covering the heartbreaking loss of Sen. Mark Andrews to long-shot candidate Kent Conrad. It was a lonely business at the start, until we had the good fortune of meeting a radio legend in the making: Rush Limbaugh.

We were with Rush from day one when he launched his nationally syndicated radio show to a grand total of 47 radio stations in 1988. He never forgot us, even after he grew to a 600-plus-station network with 20 million listeners a week. Despite his on-air bravado, he was one of the most kind and humble people I have ever known. I wonder what Rush would be saying on the radio today? He was America’s anchorman, and I’m quite confident he would be giddy over the change America has witnessed unfold since last November.

After the early success of Limbaugh, I found myself attempting to mold my talk show into a regional version of his. I was humbled when the Wall Street Journal called me “The Rush Limbaugh of the Prairie.” It was high praise and totally unwarranted. He was the greatest of all time, and I was still a small-town radio kid at heart.

Eventually, my show was syndicated to other stations in North Dakota, including the iconic WDAY Radio in Fargo, North Dakota’s oldest radio station. That led to me accepting an offer from Bill and Jane Marcil to join Forum Communications as the general manager of WDAY and bringing my talk show to Fargo. From there, I was blessed to expand the show statewide, including acquiring a radio station in the heart of the Bakken in 2010.

What I have witnessed unfold in North Dakota over those years is nothing short of a miracle. Western North Dakota was tumbleweed territory. Now it’s a shining city on a hill that funds Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot. For four long years, our country has suffered under the Carter-like reign of Joe Biden. But we’re back. It’s definitely “Morning in America again,” and in North Dakota, too!

Scott Hennen hosts the statewide radio program “What’s On Your Mind?” heard on AM 1100 “The Flag” in Fargo and on AM 1090 KTGO “The Flag” in Watford City/Williston. Email him at ScottH@FlagFamily.com.

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North Dakota

Broncos won’t repeat as NCHC hockey champs, lose to N. Dakota: ‘We broke down’

Published

3 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Broncos won’t repeat as NCHC hockey champs, lose to N. Dakota: ‘We broke down’

Kalamazoo — There’ll be a new champion in the NCHC.

Will Zellers scored the game-winning goal in the third period as No. 3 North Dakota downed No. 4 Western Michigan, 5-3, Friday night at Lawson Arena. The Broncos never led and trailed all of the third period, though a late push nearly tied the game with the net empty.

“Overall in the game, I thought it was a pretty tightly contested effort. I thought they just scored too easy,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You know, for us, we had a couple breakdowns, and they’re so talented, so good, they took advantage when we broke down.”

The teams finish the regular season Saturday night. Western Michigan came into Friday’s game tied with Denver in standings points and five points behind North Dakota, needing that many to get a share of the Penrose Cup it won last season en route to an NCAA championship, too.

As far as regular season results go, the Broncos will play for second seed in the NCHC Tournament, needing to outpace Denver, which plays Arizona State this weekend.

Western Michigan (23-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while North Dakota’s Jan Spunar stopped 22 of 25 shots. It was a battle of two of the NCHC’s top netminders, and each made key stops in a tight-checking, physical game.

Zellers put North Dakota (25-7-1, 17-5-1) up 4-2 4:42 into the third period off an assist from Detroit Red Wings draft choice Dylan James.

“He kind of made a play out of nothing there,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who is in his first season as head coach after being on the coaching staff since 2006. “And that was a really nice kind of moment where you go OK, we got a little got a little leeway here, and we can just kind of play a little bit more free.”

North Dakota took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from defenseman Sam Laurila alongside forwards Ollie Josephson and Josh Zakreski. Defenseman Zach Bookman and forward Liam Valente scored for Western Michigan.

One too many times in the second frame, Western Michigan’s blue line let a North Dakota forward in all alone to face Slukynsky, who stopped a couple of rushes in the opening minutes of the period.

With four minutes until the intermission, the Broncos finally got burned. On a feed from linemate Anthony Menghini, Lakreski cut to the glove side of a sprawling Slukynsky and beat him with the backhand. The goal gave North Dakota the 3-2 lead, after a seeing-eye shot from Bookman along the right wall had tied it up two apiece 8:10 into the period.

“I actually thought the second period was our best period,” Ferschweiler said. “… We started to take over. We got the goal, tied 2-2, and are kind of just humming along. Four minutes left, we just hand them a goal. Blown coverage. That was inexcusable, honestly, with some of our better players on the ice.”

The opening period played out as a back and forth track meet through the neutral zone as each side settled in. Laurila put North Dakota up 1-0 with his first career goal. After Slukynsky denied him on a trio of tries earlier in the shift, he fired a shot to beat the Western Michigan netminder 4:40 into the game.

It took just a minute and 34 seconds after Laurila’s opener for Western Michigan’s top line to get it right back. A blue-collar shift from captain Owen Michaels fed linemate Will Whitelaw along the left boards, and he sprung Valente for a breakaway goal that evened up the score.

“I thought we gave it to them too easy a couple times tonight,” Whitelaw said. “And I think when you’re playing a team like that, obviously they’re gonna put it in your net. But I think it’ll be a big lesson for our group going forward.”

For the better part of the first period, the Lawson Lunatics peppered North Dakota defenseman Jake Livanavage with jeers, but he got his own licks in with 7:48 left in the first period as he fed Josephson right at the net for the 2-1 goal. That score held through the first period.

With 2:02 remaining and Slukynsky pulled, forward Zaccharya Wisdom pulled Western Michigan within one. He nearly had the equalizer with 40 seconds on the clock on a backdoor try, but he mistimed the shot. Mac Swanson scored an empty-netter with 20.7 seconds on the clock to clinch the win, and with it the Penrose Cup, presented to North Dakota in the locker room and then paraded around the ice.

“It’s the hardest regular season championship to win, in my opinion,” North Dakota forward Ben Strinden said. “So it’s awesome. Obviously, it’s not our end goal, but we’re going to enjoy it for sure.”

cearegood@detroitnews.com

@ConnorEaregood

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