Good Ride, Cowboys

tUMD 1, Violent Repeat Offenders 2

Hey guys.

We made over 20 signs. We wore togas. We spent a lot of money. We drove a lot of miles. We wore out our voices. We blew .15 on MEg's breathalyzer. We acted like total buffoons on ESPNU (which no one saw because the game was not shown in its entirety.) We bruised ourselves and risked indecent exposure celebrating when you scored. We pounded our hands sore on the seats.

All because we believed in you, and we were all so incredibly grateful for these last 5 games, games we could never in our craziest dreams have imagined. These games were gifts for a battered fanbase and we will never, EVER forget this season.

Thank you.

Final Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: +6!

My Guy Of The Year: MacGregor Sharp (highest scoring My Guy ever! [Not counting Schwabe, but I wasn't writing RWD then])
Freshman Scoring Champion: Mike Connolly (highest scoring freshman since RWD started!)

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 50!
Jack Connolly: 29!
Michael Gergen: 18!
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 42!
Jack Connolly: 29!
Travis Oleksuk: 5!
Brady Lamb: 2!
Scott Kishel: 2
David Grun: 0

That Just Happened

tUMD 5, Ivies 4 (OT)

"Either I just had a brain aneurysm and this is heaven, or this just happened." --Inebriated Mike

I will write more tomorrow. But I am so happy. When Obi scored... I didn't even know it was Obi... because I was in the middle of a sea of togas... and my own toga nearly fell off. Biddco, MEg, and I were almost crying. My legs were shaking and I didn't know what to say or do or think. It was incredible.

Okay, guys. Let's not be so scary tomorrow... DOMINATE. I love you guys.

Also, to my fellow toga-ers: YOU ARE ALL AMAZING.

A Moment Like This

Well, I've certainly waited a lifetime. And some of you have, for this post.

Well, I still don't know what to say. Seriously, I have been avoiding writing anything all day and now I am sitting here staring at the computer screen.

I feel really terribly that I half-arsed the recaps this weekend. It was the greatest weekend of hockey I have ever witnessed and I was speechless. Or, typeless. Partially because I had 2 final exams on Saturday in rather challenging classes, and 1 more today, so I was completely out of it mentally. Not to mention that the games made me UNBELIEVABLY STRESSED OUT. And we all know how I stress out under normal circumstances.

Last night I watched the most amazing game of my life. I mean, wow. tDogs were locked and cocked. 4 lines of forwards, 3 pairs of defencemen, and 1 goalie who were rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin'. MacGregor Sharp has been My Guy for two years now, and he just EXPLODED in this tournament. It was like a giant SCREW YOU to the WCHA All-Conference Team voters (other than me). And Stalock proved why he is HEAD AND SHOULDERS AND KNEES AND TOES above every other goalie in the WCHA. And tUMD showed everyone who watched exactly what kind of team they are: the deepest, most complete team in that tournament. What did UMTC's superstar top line do against them? How about Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan? DU, the most potent offense in the WCHA? Yeah. One lousy deflection off a skate in the play-in game.

tUMD's defence was so incredible that in the 9th period they played this weekend, they allowed one shot on goal.

I care very much about what happens next weekend, because of course I do not want this delicious insanity to stop. But this weekend stands on its own. Many of the highlights of this program are bittersweet. Making the Frozen Four... making the championship game... league runner-up: all have a patina of loss tarnishing the accomplishment. The Broadmoor trophy is the result of 5 thrilling wins against improbable odds. And it is a championship. UND fans, Gopher fans, BC fans will probably laugh at us for our glee; they only care about the "real" trophy. Well, that's fine. Take your 5, or 7, or however many National Championships, and tell me what it was like to win the first one. Oh, you weren't alive in 1949? Or 1959? Hmm, maybe more of you were alive in 1974. But for the fans at the time, the first Broadmoor, the first MacNaughton, the first NCAA title... those were a big deal. This is tUMD's first Final Five championship, and I was there to see it. Amazing.

It has been a day now and I am still exhilarated every time I think about it. I can't imagine how our team feels right now.

I'm just rambling like a crazy cat lady right now, so I'm going to stop. I'll probably write more tomorrow, if I can get my thoughts together.

It's still amazing.

Incredible

Champions 4, Runners-Up 0

There will be a real post later, when I figure out what to say.

The Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: +5!

Things never done before: 3! (Play-in winner winning the Broadmoor, beating DU at the FF, UMD winning the FF)

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 47! (Brought the arena to their feet with his hatty!)
Jack Connolly: 28! (Eeeeeeeeee!)
Michael Gergen: 17!
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 38! (EXTREMELY unselfish play at the end to get the puck to Sharp for the ENG!)
Jack Connolly: 28!
Travis Oleksuk: 4!
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
David Grun: 0

On Notice
Everyone has been taken off notice. Every single one of you are amazing.

It's Friday, I'm In Love

tUMD 3, Stalock-wannabe's team 0

Dear Brad Eidsness,
You are not Stalock and never will be.
Love,
RWD
p.s. Thanks for the SHGWG!!!!!

Oh you guys. I am so happy. So incredibly happy. It does not matter that I am going to fail a test in 7 hours. I will still pass the class. I think. Yes. I hope. Maybe. Ee.

I had a thousand and one heart attacks during this game. It matters not. tUMD is going to play for a Broadmoor and they are going to the Little Dance. Hockey is extended for another weekend. I am so happy. I'm just not ready to let my seniors go and they are not ready either.

Again, really can't recap as I might try to get a few hours of sleep. I am going to post my motivational speech since I will not have the chance tomorrow.

Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the WCHA. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Pioneers have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it.

Herb Brooks in Miracle

The Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: +4!

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 44! (Simply amazing.)
Jack Connolly: 27
Michael Gergen: 16
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 35! (ENG!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Jack Connolly: 27
Travis Oleksuk: 3
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1 (But was a naughty boy tonight... eek!)
David Grun: 0

On Notice
Rob Bordson
Andrew Carroll
Cody Danberg
Trent Palm
Kyle Schmidt

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Jay Cascalenda
Evan Oberg
Alex Stalock

Great Speeches, Vol. 2

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Bulldog name, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's hockey team-every man of them. That is the will of RWD and the Bulldog Nation. The UMD offense and defence, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Minnesota and many old and famous schools have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Sioux and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in the Xcel, we shall fight on the PP and PK, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the 3rd period, we shall defend our goal, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the red line, we shall fight on the blue line, we shall fight in the corners and along the boards, we shall fight in the goal crease; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this team or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our 4th liners on the bench, armed and guarded by the mighty Stalock, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the Bulldogs, with all their power and might, step forth to the rescue and the liberation of the team.

Winston Churchill

Nirvana

tUMD 2, Rodents 1

I am at peace.

tUMD lives to fight another day, and I am guaranteed 2 more games with my seniors. I was NOT ready to say goodbye.

Sadly, as I have an incredible amount of work to finish, I will not be able to recap this glorious triumph for the penalty killers and the outstanding defensive effort by tDogs.

I LOVE the mohawks.

Time to catch some zs!

The Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: +3!

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 42! (Wooger called him the Most Improved Player in the WCHA)
Jack Connolly: 27
Michael Gergen: 16
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 34
Jack Connolly: 27
Travis Oleksuk: 3
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
David Grun: 0

On Notice
Rob Bordson
Jay Cascalenda
Cody Danberg
Mike Montgomery
Trent Palm
Kyle Schmidt

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Andrew Carroll
Mike Connolly
Evan Oberg
Alex Stalock

War Cry

Once more unto the crease, dear friends, once more;
Or close the goal up with our Bulldog dead.
In off-season there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the Huffer;
Stiffen the laces, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest Bulldogs.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Marinuccis,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in Duluth, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for RWD, Duluth, and Saint Lessard!'

Shakespeare, Henry V Act III



Go get 'em, Dogs. Obi-Wan Kenobi commands it!

Final Five Scavenger Hunt!

As if the Final Five isn't fun enough, RWD is making it even more fun! In order to assist you in your maximum Final Five enjoyment, I am providing a list of must-sees for you all!

If you are truly insane, you can actually send me your scavenging results. If someone actually does it (other than MEg and me), there may be a prize. Other than the satisfaction of a job well done, I mean.

Here's the list!

- The Bunny
- Player from a team that is not in the Final Five
- A member of every pep band in attendance
- A couple who are wearing jerseys of rival teams (i.e. UND/UMTC, DU/CC, etc)
- A person with a mohawk (this should be easy!)
- A team's mascot or another cartoon character (like the Keebler elf)
- The mulleted Sioux fan
- One person wearing a jersey from each of the WCHA teams (I mean several people each wearing different jerseys, not one person wearing several jerseys. Although if you find that, wow.)
- A CHA jersey
- MeanEgirl holding a sign
- A Gopher fan doing a jersey pop
- The guys wearing presidents masks
- Someone in a jersey from a foreign country
- Someone wearing a sombrero
- RWD!

Good luck and happy hunting! See you freaks tomorrow! Or, to be more accurate, later today!

RWD's Definitive Guide To The Final Five

It's been a long, long, long, long, long time since tDogs made the Final Five, and I realize some of you fans may be out of practice. Fear not, because I am a member of the VFF Club. The Veterans of Final Fives Club. I have been doing this for YEARS people. Since it was at the CIVIC CENTER. Since NORTHERN MICHIGAN was in the league. And only 4 teams played. So I'm here to help. My sole purpose in life is to serve my reader(s?).

It's at the Xcel Energy Center. I hope you are all aware of this. I know it's the Gopher Invitational, but it's at Mariucci East, not Mariucci West. Here is how to get there.

Game information
Thursday
tUMD vs. UMTC - 7:07 - $20 lower bowl & club, $15 upper deck

Friday
UW vs. DU - 2:07 - $35 lower bowl & club, $15 upper deck
tUMD(!) vs. UND - 7:07 - $45 lower bowl & club, $15 upper deck

Saturday
UND vs. UW/DU - 2:07 - $20 lower bowl & club, $15 upper deck
tUMD vs. DU/UW - 7:07 - $45 lower bowl & club, $15 upper deck

I wouldn't park in the Xcel ramp. It's just not necessary. Neither is parking in the Science Museum ramp. The people who work there can't count and they may end up sending you in when they are actually full. Pretty much anywhere will gouge you on parking. I located this helpful map of where you can and can't find such gougers. Fortunately stupid St. Patrick's Day is about an hour away from ending, so it will NOT be during the Final Five and stupid parade-attenders will not be taking up valuable parking spots.

The Gopher Puke Live tailgate will be in the parking lot behind the Dairy Queen.

On Thursday, tUMD fans will be gathering at Patrick McGovern's. UPSTAIRS. Other than that, you're on your own. Alary's has a shuttle they run to their bar, if you like chicks in hotpants (who doesn't!!), cops, and the Chicago Bears. I would recommend running to catch the shuttle BEFORE it makes it to the X, as they will pack as many people into it as they can. I've never been to Tom Reid's but I don't feel any reason to go. I think lots of Gopher fans go there.

Suggested drinks:
Windsor & Diet Coke/Pepsi/RC
Jag Bombs
Beer

Lyrics to tUMD's school song.

There are always lots of free things at the Final Five. I have gotten a foam puck keychain, Thunderstixxxx, foam hockey sticks, a poster that referred to UND as NDSU and made a bunch of Sioux fans crap themselves in unison, and once I would have won a t-shirt but I wasn't in my seat when they shot it out of the t-shirt cannon. My dad also took this weird cloth backpack thing that was only supposed to be for kids. Some of these free things are for everyone, and when you get back to your seat for the championship game, you find a surprise! Like Christmas morning! There are also a few contests/row giveaways. Red Baron pizza always has a giveaway, as does Tony the Tiger, and the Keebler Elf (the real one, not Benny Royer) likes to "toss his cookies" as well.

The main contest is DanceMania. It is between periods and goes all weekend. You will not win DanceMania on Thursday night. Thursday is the night you establish yourselves for the camera. Friday you keep it going, and then Saturday night you bring it on home. A costume is almost necessary, although last year this middle-aged lady won. Past winners include SpongeBob SquarePants, the bunny, and the bunny dressed as something else.

If you need any further assistance, please come to the RWD Base Camp at the top of Section 116, or look for me on the jumbotron.

I Think I Can

This team just wouldn't be denied. I love it. The Little Bulldogs That Could.

I stated on USCHO that attending the Final Five without tUMD was like celebrating Christmas with someone else's family. It's fun, but just not the same.

I don't know if you all aware of this, but UMD was never losing in this game, and once they scored, they never allowed CC to tie it up. You would not know that UMD played well. According to the media in Colorado Springs, a team of hobos and vagrants could have shown up and beat CC. But, enough about Bemidji State. Patesy was left back in Duluth to write his recap at the mercy of B2 and the evil Floating Tiger Head. Thankfully, FTH was MUCH less prominent than he was last year, and he didn't really block the action.

Power play dominance continued, as UMD struck early after Stalock started the play up the ice (gaining his FIRST ASSIST ALL YEAR, and getting him Off Notice for the first time. Seriously, Al. If you are going to scare the crap out of me by leaving the net, I expect more points. And also, I expect goals!) and Travis Oleksuk got the puck to MY SWEET JACKY who FINALLY GOT A GOAL. This is it, people. The floodgates have opened. I predict Jacky will set a WCHA Final Five record in goals scored this weekend. Captain Kangaroo and Peppermint Patty (who will come into the game once Kangy commits seppukku on his hockey stick) will have whiplash from watching Jacky put pucks in the net. I'm very excited about Mr. Oleksuk, too. Brucie said last night that the coaching staff was very smart in holding him out of so many games, as he has really infused some energy into our lineup just when we need it. Those 3 guys were the stars of the game according to College Hockey Stats.

The second goal occurred on the power play as well, with senior Nick Kemp putting one in thanks to the MSJ-T.O. Express. The CC players did not like that, and instead tried to kill him. Some giant jerk smashed Nick's face into the glass and no penalty ensued. Nicky ended up missing the 2nd period and returned in the 3rd only to have some CC butthead go right after him again.

CC played ultra-sketchy in this game, I should point out. Now, tUMD are no angels (and I would not expect it! This is hockey, not ballet! Although ballerinas are very cutthroat.) but CC was being ridiculous. They were elbowing like crazy brides at a wedding sample sale, but they also went down faster than a mobster wearing cement shoes in the East River. How can they be tough sissies? It does not compute. For example, after Nicky got elbowed, My Sweet Jacky got called for holding. It was a very horsecrap call, although not as horsecrap as the one he took in the second for interference. I did not know a puck carrier could be called for interference. I think I missed that page. I suppose the referees are not used to seeing players, um, trying. I just looked at the stats and we came out only one penalty ahead. I was surprised to see that, but it is so.

The whole time it was 2-1, I was stressing big time. Gergzilla must have sensed that, because he jumped in on the Fuzzy-Sharpie line while Little Nicky was being poked and prodded to make sure he was good to go, he decided he'd better make the most of it and made Richie Rich look like an idiot. Obi-wan and Sharpie had assists. And like that it was 3-1 and it relieved a little of my stress.

I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so excited you guys are in the Final Five. Thank you for playing 120 minutes of BULLDOG HOCKEY this weekend and showing everyone what I already knew: you guys are awesome! SEE YOU THURSDAY!!! (Well, I will see you. If you see me it's probably a bad thing as it most likely means I am humiliating myself in public. Again.)

Screw Kangas. Stalock for Defensive Player of the Week! And get well soon Nicky, Jordy, Trent Palm, and anyone else who is playing through an injury!

Teaser

tUMD 3, Golfers 1

I have to defer my real post until tomorrow, as I am too sleepy to give it the effort my darlings deserve. But the Numbers are so awesome, I'll post them now!!!

Take THAT, Bulldog haters, negative Nellies, whiners, Sandelin axers, and all-around grumps!

The Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: +2!

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 41! (Just contributing to his all-time My Guy record!!!)
Jack Connolly: 27! (Eeeeeeeeee! My Sweet Jacky is gonna go on a tear!!!)
Michael Gergen: 16! (YEAH GERGY!!! WHAT AN AWESOME GOAL!!!)
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 34
Jack Connolly: 27!
Travis Oleksuk: 3! (Have I told you lately that I love you???)
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
David Grun: 0

On Notice
Rob Bordson
Jay Cascalenda
Trent Palm
Kyle Schmidt

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Andrew Carroll
Mike Montgomery
Evan Oberg
Alex Stalock

Friday XIII

In the late winter of 1957, Colorado College hockey players attended a diversity education camp on the shores of an undisclosed mountain lake. While they were at this camp to learn about treating others fairly and not dressing up in offensive costumes, they were far more interested in "hooking up" with other attendees at the camp, spreading mono and making sure their recruits were "taken care of." They were, in fact, too busy making out with other campers to notice a young boy out in the middle of the lake, struggling to stay above water. Finally, he succumbs to the cold water and goes under, but the CC players don't even register anything is amiss.

Fast forward to 2009. Again, it's late winter, and the CC players are spreading mono just as though no time had passed. But unbeknownst to those players, they are about to pay for the negligence of the players from long ago.

The young boy that appeared to drown in the lake? He's still alive, fully grown, and is seeking revenge against CC. He has donned a goalie mask and he's got a thirst for blood. His name is Alex Stalock.

The CC Tigers begin what they think is a normal playoff game against the UMD Bulldogs, a team not even in the WCHA back in 1957, a team that struggled the past few weekends against lesser foes, and who appear little threat to the Tigers.

It's no ordinary game. Though it begins slow, the CC players start to notice things aren't quite right. Forward Cody Lampl leaves the game early for a major penalty, and mysteriously disappears. No one can find him, and the Tigers start to worry a bit. Then UMD's Drew Akins takes a slashing penalty, and the Tigers think they're going to mount an offensive assault.

CC's power play unit has no idea what hits them. They pepper the net with shots and yet nothing can break the impenetrable wall. Behind the mask, they hear a voice snarling "You left me to die!!!!"

In the locker room between periods, the Tigers are confused, and one of them brings it up to the coach. As he listens to the story, he visibly pales. "I... I... I thought he was dead!" he stammers.

"You thought who was dead?" Chad Rau asks.

"S-s-s-s-stalock!" And rather than strategize how the Tigers might defeat this monsters, he spends the rest of the intermission telling the story of how the 1958 CC Tigers were killed by a murdering lunatic whose son had drowned the previous summer. "Only one player survived, and he thought it was a dream. But now I know... it's no dream."

The Tigers are so terrified they go into the second period unable to go anywhere near Stalock, allowing Jack Connolly to send Jordan Fulton into their defensive zone to score without hindrance. The team finally musters the strength when they see that the Bulldogs have left Stalock with only 3 players to defend him, but the tenacity of the Bulldogs is unmatched by their opponents. Eric "Traitor" Walsky finally musters the courage to go directly for Stalock, but he's so terrified by Stalock's blocker, which appears to be stained with blood, that he quickly shoots and runs away. The puck ends up in the net, but only due to an unfortunate deflection from a Bulldog skate.

In the third period, the Tigers try once more to muster their courage and defeat the rampaging goalie, who sends Steven Schultz to the penalty box barely alive after he interfered with Stalock, and Stalock strikes his final blow, a post-to-post save on Scott McCulloch that dooms the entire Tiger team to the same fate as the 51 teams before them that have had to pay for the sins of the 1957 squad.

Meanwhile, in a pawn shop nearby, some hockey players are thinking of trying to play another game against the Bulldogs. Behind the counter, Crazy Randy tries to warn them of the danger awaiting...

Negative

tUMD 4, DU's Ugly Stepsisters 1

Well. This game was certainly everything that last Saturday's wasn't. I hope all the haters out there just continue to complain, as tUMD was FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS tonight.

I've got nothing but love for you guys tonight! No, really. No recap or anything. Just love.

The Numbers
Playoff wins until we equal last season's total: SUCCESS!

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 40! (20/20!)
Jack Connolly: 25! (Justin May creepily said he has "special hands!")
Michael Gergen: 15
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 34!
Jack Connolly: 25!
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
Travis Oleksuk: 1 (Justin May made a call! You're going to get a goal!)
David Grun: 0

On Notice
Rob Bordson
Jay Cascalenda
Nick Kemp
Trent Palm
Kyle Schmidt
Alex Stalock

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Andrew Carroll
Jack Connolly
Michael Gergen
Mike Montgomery
Evan Oberg

The All-WCHA Bias Team

****Attention interested parties***
The B2 network error has been corrected and updated to 7:37 Mountain Time. No promises about Floating Tiger Head.
****************************************

Yet another reason why I'm not given a ballot.

All-WCHA Team Ballot, RWD

First Team
F Jack Connolly
F Justin Fontaine
F MacGregor Sharp
D Josh Meyers
D Evan Oberg
G Alex Stalock

Second Team
F Mike Connolly
F Jordan Fulton
F Andrew Carroll
D Mike Montgomery
D Brady Lamb
G Brady Hjelle

Third Team
F Travis Oleksuk
F Michael Gergen
F Drew Akins
D Trent Palm
D Chad Huttel
G Kenny Reiter

Rookie Team
F Jack Connolly
F Mike Connolly
F Travis Oleksuk
D Scott Kishel
D Brady Lamb
G Brady Hjelle

I'm behind you guys 100%. BEAT CC!

Filler

Not ready to write about Saturday's game yet, but I just had to share with you all the quote of the weekend.

RWD: Dad, you're driving off the road.
DA: Well, it's a big road.

About Face

tUMD 4, Angrywolves 5

Oh man, guys. You are sosososososososososo lucky that the Aaaahj made me change the television away from the Golden Girls marathon. Because the post I was going to write... well, it wasn't very nice.

Instead, I was inspired by this:


Win tomorrow. Please. I'll be there, ready to be loud and proud for my seniors, whatever happens.

Also, thanks to everyone who pointed out there was a Mike Curry game-worn up for auction! If it hasn't closed, I'll probably bid. I'm sure it's not up to more than $10.

The Numbers
Wins until we equal last season's total: -1 (Puke)
Points until we equal last season's total: -4 (Vom)

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 36!
Jack Connolly: 23!
Michael Gergen: 14
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 31!
Jack Connolly: 23! (Needs a touchdown and a 2 point conversion!)
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
Travis Oleksuk: 1
David Grun: 0

On Notice (TECHNICALLY EVERYONE PLAYING IS ON NOTICE because of my unhappiness)
Rob Bordson
Jay Cascalenda
Trent Palm
Kyle Schmidt
Alex Stalock

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Andrew Carroll
Jack Connolly
Justin Fontaine
Mike Montgomery
Evan Oberg

Forget Pretense

I'm just going to tell you what you want, and you are going to like it.

Comrades, you want:

Tech to annihilate Minnesota-Twin Cities

Mankato to pulverize St. Cloud

North Dakota to disembowel Wisconsin

Denver to incinerate Colorado College

and

your UMD BULLDOGS to sweep the Seawolves!!!!

If these things occur, then I'll have one more trip up to Duluth this season!!!

Andrew, Jay, Josh, MacGregor, Nick, Matt and Michael: I'm counting on you, just as I always have for the past four years.

Additionally, I should announce the winner from the previous poll. With 14 votes (well, really 13, because I voted once), the winner is... THEY ARE ALL CREEPY!!!! Thanks to everyone who voted early and often.

Beautiful Loser

tUMD 3, Lucky Stiffs 5

Ode to MacGregor Sharp
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee for the first and second and third
Goals you scored, when feeling out of the game
When down 2-nothing early in the second.
I love thee for the level of every game's
Most stellar play, by Friday and Saturday night.
I love thee freely, as you strive for goals;
I love thee purely, as you turn back opponents.
I love with a passion put to use
In my creepy blogs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
The past seasons, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if hockey gods choose,
I shall but love thee better after sweeping UAA.
(because I am not Bobby Goepfert, the original)

I don't know which is creepier: that poem, or my Star Wars birthday post. Let's see ask the folks at home!



Okay, now I can commence recapping. Maybe. I'm not sure.

All day in class yesterday I was stressing so much. I was feeling really good about how the Bulldogs played on Friday and how they are usually even better on Saturdays, but I'm always nervous. It's kind of the same way I'm always nervous when I come up to bat in softball; there's a limited number of at-bats, and I don't want to waste one with a strikeout. And, more often than not, I do, but whatever. There were only 39 guaranteed games this season (including Lakehead), and that is not a lot of games. I need to see wins, yo!

We actually arrived at the game on time AND I convinced MEg to wear one of my tUMD jerseys, and then I gave my mom one of my other ones, so we all had tUMD gear. I had some pre-game socializing duties to attend to, as I had to find FHG and the Ciskies. I didn't find The Beard, but he even admitted he was probably swilling lukewarm domestic beer from a plastic cup. UNSURPRISING, I should say.

I managed to meet up with some other tPBers and we decided to snag seats in the student section. I am a cougar, and yet I've sat in various student sections for 4 of the 5 games I have most recently attended. I guess it is probably convenient when cougaring to sit in the student section. It's like camouflage for the hunt. We had a pretty good group of folks together ready to be loud and proud for our boys.

And then the game started, and the first period was uggggggggggggggggggh as Ryan "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" Stoa (AS IF HE WOULD STAY, FOR REALS PEOPLE) scored 5 minutes into the game. Akins went all Akins on Ryan Flynn later in the period. MEg was wondering if we should go talk to him, but I pointed out we'd probably get over there just as the penalty was ending. One of the characteristics I love most about Akes is his ability to GET OVER IT ALREADY after he mixes it up with a guy. ZACH JONES, TAKE NOTES. Or don't, and continue your craziness if tUMD and UND ever meet up. tUMD then had to kill 2 penalties with a very short interval between, and then failed to convert on their own PP.

During the first period, 2 weird things happened in the stands. First of all, some moron a section over started hassling us. No one in our group is one to back down from a heckler, especially if 1.) the heckler(s) is(are) funny or 2.) they are embarrassing themselves and we can embarrass them further. Biddco was all over this guy, practicing his newfound skill of "projecting from his diaphragm" rather than "screaming like an anorexic dog." This upstanding young man made some dumb comments about tUMD that Biddco quickly rebuffed with "It's the same system," to which I added "It's the same name on the diploma!" This guy also had on NO gopher colors at all. He was wearing a gray and black t-shirt which prompted a short "Let's go Raiders!" chant which was genius. He didn't have any interest in the hockey game, just in us, because we are so awesome. Also, a weird person wearing neon green spandex over his entire body arrived midway through the period for no reason. He brought us peace and love, I think. Like Urkel. He disappeared after the first period, ostensibly because he had gotten enough attention, was too much of a pansy to stick it out for the whole game, or had suffocated and died.

The second period got way worse. Justin Bostrom scored, assisted by Benedict Arnold Cade Fairchild and a hobo off the street. (Seriously, who is Joe Miller? I have never heard of him. And probably never will again.) I was very, very, very, very very verybv eyrfeveyreyrawe stressed. It was not good. Then Aaron Ness (who is interchangeable with Aaron Marvin to me) cheated, and our power play came out locked and loaded and MacGregor Sharp put in the only power play goal of the weekend. Some other things occurred and 1:21 later, the Sharpshooter had another kill shot. And we were back in it! So much that we started chanting "We're back in it! [clap clap clapclapclap]" tUMD had 2 additional power plays in the 2nd, and I yelled "COME ON MACGREGOR!!! I WANT A HAT TRICK!!!" Hmm... interesting.

He must have heard me. 6 minutes into the 3rd, MacGregor put another round through the heart of Captain Kangaroo for a NATURAL HAT TRICK, the first hat trick since MARCO PELUSO, and also his 17th goal of the year. THAT EQUALLED HIS TEAM-LEADING POINT TOTAL FROM LAST YEAR. Can anyone say Most Improved MVP Amazing Awesome Genius Scorer???? More importantly, would anyone other than me use that terminology? Sadly, only one hat made it onto the ice. I KNOW there were more people close to the ice who were wearing hats, BRUCE CISKIE. We were so gleeful and had many chants, including "We Miss Frazee," followed by "You Miss Frazee!"

Our glee did not last long, as the backcheck breakdown allowed T-Lu to score as no one decided to cover the pass. Then Nico "I Wish I Was As Cool As Nisky" Sacchetti scored the game winner on an apparent call from Doug Woog (what?). Somehow the Gopher fans remembered they were at a hockey game, and the 3 wastes of skin in front of us decided to stand, after sitting for the whole game prior to that point. Ok, it's the student section, I know, but we were sitting there when they came in (somewhere during the second period before tUMD scored) and they were sitting for most of the game, so it was extremely lame of them to keep standing. I expressed this by cheering for the Bulldogs by SCREAMING IN THEIR EARS. Yes, it was very low-class and unsportsmanlike of me to do that, but I don't even care. They weren't wearing Gopher gear, were texting for a lot of the game, and didn't even know how to do any of the cheers. Don't freaking stand in front of me if you don't even care about the game. I hope you morons are deaf. The game pretty much fell apart after that, although there was some hope when the Gophers put a puck in the net with a high stick and the play was reviewed and correctly overturned after Meyers took an elbowing penalty that morons who couldn't even see the play thought would be a 5 minute major (like the idiots in front of us. I asked them if they even know what they were doing or why they were doing it, and if they knew no one was going to high five them) so we had to PK for awhile, then they pulled Al and Mike "I'm A Spoiled Brat From A Gated Community Of Snobs" Hoeffel got an empty net goal and it was all over.

Things can still go tUMD's way. They really can. I'll break that down later, but this is long enough already.

The Numbers
Wins until we equal last season's total: -1
Points until we equal last season's total: -4

My Guys
MacGregor Sharp: 35! (jDJKOEhsf9aw4th08a!!!)
Jack Connolly: 22
Michael Gergen: 14
Rob Bordson: 0

Freshmen
Mike Connolly: 29! (Pulling away with the competition!)
Jack Connolly: 22
Scott Kishel: 2
Brady Lamb: 1
Travis Oleksuk: 1
David Grun: 0

On Notice (TOO MANY PEOPLE! Hopefully rectified this weekend!)
Rob Bordson
Andrew Carroll
Jay Cascalenda
Jack Connolly
Cody Danberg
Jordan Fulton
Mike Montgomery
Kyle Schmidt
Alex Stalock

Goals Only
Drew Akins
Mike Connolly
Evan Oberg
Trent Palm