06 December 2009

The Thrill of Victory

tUMD 3, Nazis 2

Ah yes, the hockey game. Sorry, I'm busy watching a travesty of a football game.

Saturday was an interesting day. I was very nervous all day. MEg, Biddco and I went to Carlton to watch Ciskie's kid in his goaltending debut. He did a good job, considering he had not even played in practice. He just needs to work on not looking over to the sidelines to see if we saw his save. Especially when the rebound is lying in the crease. I think that happened to Brad Eidsness on our Oleksuk goal; he was looking at his mommy. Although if his mommy was in the stands she probably wasn't very happy with the things said about her.

We busted out the banana last night. The banana, I should mention, is 2-0. We also debuted Sieve-mas carols, which are not new (Michigan Tech does them), but new to us! No one threw up behind us, or in front of us, or near us. We had a few signs, including Ron His Horse Is Thunder for Hobey. In case you did not understand the sign, Mr. His Horse Is Thunder was until recently the tribal leader of the Standing Rock Lakota, and is a key opponent of the Sioux nickname. And nothing gets the undies of Sioux fans in a bunch faster than he does, now that Myles Brand is dead. If that sign made even one UND fan angry, my mission was accomplished. (In response to the dismay from one of my Twitter followers at my usage of "Nazi", I'm sorry you were disappointed I am not classy, but I don't think I've ever tried to uphold any standard of class.)

Please note, opposing fans: Connolly-Connolly-Fontaine is not a line. And when you said "I bet we won't see Reiter in net on Saturday," it's not an astute observation. We have what's called a goalie rotation.

Ah yes, the game. I have turned off the football one.

The pre-game did not go so well, as a DECC security, um, "woman" told us we could have signs but not hang them over the railing. Nor could we hang it at the top of the section, where we hang signs oh, pretty much EVERY OTHER GAME. And then ANOTHER person came over to tell me I could not have a Sioux Play Like Pioux sign. However, that sign lived to fight another day, which was awesome! And then ANOTHER cop told us to stay off the railing, and that there was a ZERO TOLERANCE policy because we had too many people in the row. Which we did. But he also kept letting people go by us when the puck was in play! I'm always trying to help people improve themselves, so I loudly stated "PUCK IS IN PLAY!"

The first period was unpleasant. I was very unhappy. The second period began much in the same way, and I made some very angry tweets. And may have loudly stated my displeasure. Which can carry in a nearly silent arena.

The third period was awesome, of course. Kyle Schmidt (how about this guy? Our juniors are stepping it up! Kyle is as stealthy as a ninja!) broke the shutout. I feel like MEg, Biddco and I should get the 3rd, 4th, and 5th assists because we were raining a torrent of SHUTOUT heckles at him as the puck went in. You are welcome, Kyle.

Ben Blood took a penalty and the power play was just what tUMD needed... although we hadn't been particularly successful. (Something that has been frustrating fans, and which I agree. Denver puts Big Joe Colborne in the crease. We can put Big Danny Delisle there, as someone on Pates' blog suggested.) Until Bordo took a penalty to negate that. But then Farmer MacWilliam took a penalty as well! Excellent.

As far as Safetynetgate, I didn't see it. I mean, really, I have enough trouble following the puck ON the ice let alone when it deflects and flies through the air. Whatever. tUMD was the beneficiary of a blown call, and that's that. Don't quit til you hear the whistle.

So some stuff happened and the puck was on net and then I saw it lying there and I was FREAKING OUT because how many times in the series did crazy stuff happen where tUMD could just not drop the hammer? and then the puck was in the net, and I was hugging MEg and screaming and then we ran and hugged the cop (the guy, not the, um, "woman") and freaked out.

And then the game went into overtime and I honestly could not tell you what happened because I suck at watching games analytically. I'm unable to dispassionately watch a hockey game, and thus I was unable to even tell who was on the ice, just that the puck was in the net, and I was in the midst of a pile of about 50 people. Glorious! I know I'm too old to sit with the students, but really, I can't enjoy an overtime win as much sitting alone in my regular seats.

Damn, do I ever love hockey.

Oh yes, Numbers.

Numbers
Wins until we reach last season's total: 3! (AWESOME OVERTIME WIN!!!)
Points until we reach last season's total: 12! (W000T!)

My Guys
Jack Connolly: 23!
Brady Lamb: 8
Mike Seidel: 7!

Freshmen
Dylan Olsen: 9!
Mike Seidel: 7!
Keegan Flaherty: 2
Wade Bergman: 1
Dan Delisle: 1
Jake Hendrickson: 1
Drew Olson: 1

Connollys
Jacky: 23!
Mikey: 15!

Olsen/Olson
Drew: 1
Dylan: 9!

Drews
Olson: 10
Akins: 15

On Notice
Dan Delisle
Keegan Flaherty
Chad Huttel
Brady Lamb
Drew Olson

Goals Only
Rob Bordson
Mike Connolly
Jordan Fulton
Scott Kishel
Dylan Olsen
Mike Seidel

10 comments:

USAFA Bulldog said...

Someone really needs to tell the team that giving up a 2 goal lead is not a good thing.

Security: Don't pay them no mind. DECC security, actually all cops in general, don't pay atttention to such things as consistency, it's more of getting whatever they can on who's pissing them off at the moment.

Safetynetgate: The four of us definitely saw it hit the net. My Dad talked to a guy at his church Sunday, who was 1 section over (1 section farther away from the student section) and they didn't see it hit the net. Regardless the players have to keep playing until the whistle does happen.

Jeremy Waschek said...

I clearly picked the wrong game to B2...

Hextall for Hobey said...

That game reminded me of New Hampshire last year.

Connollys 4 Hobey said...

Personally, I enjoyed your signage. Don't hate on us.

Regardless of safetynetgate...the game is over. a win is a win. who will remember it after next week, in which the Sioux will get swept my Wisconsin.

DC said...

Aha, but Connollys 4 Hobey, if I was not the writer of RWD, what would have happened to that sign?

It was a frustrating night with DECC Security because they (not you, but others) were not allowing us to do many of the things we normally do. We could not even hang a sign at the top of the section, which we have done at pretty much every other game. We couldn't be on the rail. Normally the security guards and police are more than fun (in fact a police officer was the first person to buy a Peanut Butter Hjelle Time shirt), but Saturday it seemed like everyone tightened up. The Scrioux the Sioux sign was taken, too, and when its maker when to pick it up at guest services, it wasn't there. Another gal had to tape over her F*** the Sioux shirt, although there were like 10 people with Minnesota F***in Duluth shirts. What happened? Was there some kind of mandate to crack down on the signage? Is this because of the Mankato thing? Please enlighten.

I do appreciate that we are able to do the lap, hold up signs, bring the blow up doll, and bring in bags of supplies. I know at many arenas that would not be allowed, and I DO recognize we are lucky in that respect. We want to be able to bring in a white board so we can get everyone on board with cheers and chants at once, but we got stopped when we tried that. Can you help us out?

Connollys 4 Hobey said...

As much as it is frustrating to be a fan at the DECC, it can be just as frustrating to work there at times. We want you to have fun. Believe me. I enjoy your playful antics, being a huge fan of UMD hockey. But we have to weigh the students' desire to have fun with the desire of the other fans to enjoy the game.

In addition to the rules that the DECC enforces, we have to employ the rules of both the University of Minnesota and, believe it or not the University of Minnesota-Duluth, WCHA, and at times the NCAA.

These rules are constantly fluctuating. And given the antics that transpired at the Minnesota State Mankato series, have been more closely enforced this year.

However, for as much as students are not allowed to get away with, you have been allowed to have the blow up doll and continue to run after goals (limited to 5, which is agreed on between the AD of UMD and the student section).

For clarification, you are usually allowed to hang things above the student section, but not on the railing, as this space is reserved for advertisements. Signs are supposed to be no wider than the width of your seat, and cannot be derogatory. Flags are allowed, so long as the handle does not extend unreasonably beyond the length of your palm.

As for the white board, that is tough, as it is constantly being altered, what may be acceptable one moment, once changed could be deemed offensive. You know what I mean?

Hope that clears up some of the rules that are explained to security before the game.

Love your blog, so don't hate me!

DC said...

Don't worry, I'm not hating on you, I appreciate your situation entirely. I'm just trying to help the kiddies out.

We were told that we could not tape up a sign at the top of the section. Now that I understand WHY we can't tape them to the railing, it's fine, I'll pass it on, but now I know that we are allowed to have (appropriate, of course) things hanging at the top of the section, we'll act accordingly.

Like I said in my previous comment, we realize we get away with a lot of stuff that we could never do at other arenas, and are thankful. It does not go unnoticed.

One of the advantages of having the whiteboard is to stay organized and in control. If you can see who has the whiteboard you KNOW who is starting the chants, so there's more accountability. We were told before that we couldn't have the whiteboard because it could hurt someone, not because we might have inappropriate things on there. MEg had a whiteboard at Tech and it worked well.

You can email me at runwiththedogs{at}hotmail{dot}com as well.

Biddco said...

I was not surprised at all when we took that thing off the railing. I was surprised when she wouldn't let us hang it up on top of the student section like we have for Peanut Butter Hjelle Time stuff.

The whiteboard will be used to help students out with chants and will not be used to avoid the infamous Mankato incident.

We are trying to make the student section louder and better and I feel we have done a solid job so far. We have lots of work to do and it will never stop. Hopefully we can bring it in!

DC said...

Translating from Biddcoish into English:

"The whiteboard will be used to help students out with chants and will not be used to avoid the infamous Mankato incident."

means

"The whiteboard will be used to help students out with chants and will be used to avoid the infamous Mankato incident."

Biddco said...

Major fail on my part.

The board will make the student section better. :)