2-2, 2-2, 2-2

UMD Attack Dogs 2, Lake State Lakers 2.

Well, here we are folks, the long wait is over, the season is underway, and there's already controversy! Not in tDogs game, of course, but in the Gopher/RPI game, where the hometown call was in full effect. I don't want to get into it, as this is not a Gopher site, but I had the game on TV while I was watching tDogs, so I did see what went down. And it was UGLY.

Conversely, in the Bulldogs game, I wouldn't say the officiating was that poor. I mean, I may have raised my arm a few times when I felt the officials missed something, but I did appreciate the Bulldogs were allowed to play with a physicality unseen in the past few seasons. Kemper the Wrecker was breaking skulls all over the place, and overall the guys were playing the body a lot more. I can't wait to see what Mike Curry can do with the New Bulldogs. Elbows will be flying!

I was pretty disappointed with some of the first power plays, as I like to see a lot more shots on the power play, and for crying out loud, when you go into the corner with someone, YOU COME OUT WITH THE PUCK WHEN YOU HAVE THE MAN ADVANTAGE. You just do, okay? I don't care how you do it. But then I was placated with a power play goal, and our penalty kill kept the streak alive, so all in all, I'm pleased with the outcome. We did have some interesting PP units, as I saw Fontaine out there quite a bit (the B2 feed makes it hard to see 1. numbers on jerseys and 2. the puck, which is a bit challenging), but hey, we got a goal.

And the freshman. Oh mother, were they fun to watch! When I got the lineups for the game, I thought hmm... an all-freshman line... I don't know about that. Then I figured they'd just see limited ice time. And yet, they were out there regular-shifting (it seems... can't tell who was on the ice, remember?) and they seemed pretty good. We already know that I am a big fan of Rob Bordson (he is #15, and I tend to like players with #15!), but The Danberg is quickly becoming my favorite freshman. Those guys seemed to cycle fairly well and hustled. I felt they had a few pretty good scoring chances as well.

It was very, very wrong for there to be a player named Schwab (except, no e) from Saskatchewan playing, and have it not be the Almighty One.

Trent Palm = awesome. We are going to get so many freaking goals from the defencemen this year. Garrison was letting it rip, Chaser was letting it rip, Palm was letting it rip, Oberg is known to give some offensive production, Meyers has proven himself offensively already, and Gawryletz looks like a serial killer, so no one is going to score on him. We have not seen Chad Huttel yet, but I have heard he likes to bang around the body (The Hutt was also a halfback/middle linebacker for the Hawks), which I always appreciate.

Al made some crucial saves, but I could always, always, always use more rebound control and puck awareness. I'll never get tired of that, so don't stop, baby. I am overly critical of goalies, so I'm going to stop there, because seriously, what do I know?

My Guys played well, as they ALWAYS DO, for they are My Guys. MacGregor Sharp was a one-man playmaking machine, and he assisted on Trent Palm's goal, which was totally sweet and right off the face-off. I love goals like that, and I feel like we have the defencemen to score a lot of those. I love the element of surprise. Gergen created a scoring chance out of absolutely nowhere, and let me tell you, it is no surprise that Sharp and Gergzilla led the team with 5 shots apiece. Matt McKnight played to his usual Matt McKnight awesomeness, although he did not stand out as much as the other two. I probably should have taken notes on the game, as I'd have more to say. Mike Curry, as we all know, did not play. I can only assume that he would have had a hat trick and prevented both LSSU goals.

I am SO GLAD I am able to watch the games on TV now. Seriously, it has made recapping WAY more fun, and I can get a little more technical, although that is not my strong suit. $50 is SO worth it for the season pass!

Tomorrow's forecast will be a little late, as I have something going on all day, and then have to go in to work for an hour or so. I can't say that it will be all that exciting, excecpt that I'm not very happy Tech lost to Northern, as we don't need Northern to come in with any momentum. However, they do have to bus it over to Duluth, so that should wear them down a bit.

THE NUMBERS (back despite zero demand!)
Wins Until We Surpass Last Year's Total: 8 (conference-only)
Points Until We Surpass Last Year's Total: 20 (ditto)

My Guys:
MacGregor Sharp: 1
Everyone Else: Zipparoo

Freshmen:
Nobody scored... yet

On Notice (for those who don't know, people are On Notice when they go more than 4 games without a goal):
No one, obvs.

TOMORROW: Win! Win! Win! Let history repeat itself, copying last year's opening weekend! Then don't let history repeat itself ANYMORE, as the rest of the first half kind of sucked a lot.