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With Sioux Nickname Gone, North Dakota Hockey Fans Are Fighting Change

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Every few weeks at the University of North Dakota, the Champions Club booster group throws a fan luncheon with coaches as the featured speakers. A recent luncheon at the Alerus Center football complex included a well-known guest: the former North Dakota hockey captain Scott Sandelin, who was in town coaching Minnesota-Duluth against the Fighting Hawks.

Yes, the Fighting Hawks.

North Dakota was famously known as the Fighting Sioux from 1930 until the university retired the nickname in 2012, ending a seven-year battle with the N.C.A.A. North Dakota had been one of 18 institutions the N.