Northern. Naturally.

Did you know that is the slogan on the Northern Michigan website? Well, no, you probably didn't. But now you do.

I would like to point out that the Bulldogs are also naturally northern, however, Marquette is beating Duluth in Northern-osity by about a quarter of a degree of latitude. (Marquette is at 46.543 degrees and Duluth is at 46.79 degrees) So, okay, I'll concede that. Not very important to the hockey, but still worth pointing out.

Now on to the hockey. I'm sorry, I just don't know much about the Wildcats. I have seen them play before, in previous WCHA Final Fours, but that was a long time ago. It was in the St. Paul Civic Center, for crying out loud. I think a little compare and contrast is in order.

Let's look at the results so far. Wildcats in green, 'Dogs in maroon. In case you're colorblind... just guess.
Record: 6-4-2 2-5-3
Conference Standing: 4-way tie for 4th All alone at the bottom
Against Canadian Universities: 5-2 win 8-1 awesomeness
Against UW-Madison: loss, tie tie, loss
Against Michigan Tech: 2 goals (1 loss, 1 win) 1 goal (1 tie, 1 loss)
Scoring Leader: Mike Santorelli (17 pts) Matt Niskanen (10 pts)
Power Play: 11.1% 22.4%
Penalty Kill: 87.0% 80.7% (seriously??? Whoa.)

Okay, this is a must win. Seriously. We are off this weekend, this is a non-conference game, we have got to still play strong. I know it's going to be hard, but if we have to stitch some people's arms back on and shoot them up with morphine for the pain, we've gotta do it. WE NEED TO PUT SOME WINS ON THE BOARD. OKAY? PLEASE?

I'm going to the Northern-UMD game in Duluth with a friend, but I'm going to be missing this one. I'll be sitting at home listening, of course, but it's just not the same. Please, a 4-2 win would be nice. Mike Curry needs to find his Michigan Magic. Michael Gergen needs to get his breezers in gear. Andrew Carroll needs to step up and lead, like his teammates believed he could do. And some freshman, I don't care who, needs to make a statement so we know what they're about.

C'mon 'Dogs... it's all about North Country Pride.